Joseph stumbled backwards, his legs giving out beneath him.
His glasses slipped from his face and hit the floor.
CRACK.
They shattered into pieces.
"What—" His voice came out as a strangled whisper. "What is this?! What's happening?!"
Joseph's heart hammered in his chest. His breath came in short, panicked gasps. His entire understanding of reality was crumbling around him.
"What's happening to me?!" he shouted, his voice cracking with terror. "What did you do?!"
The doctor spoke into the unnatural silence, his voice echoing strangely in the frozen moment.
"Joseph, I'm going to tell you the truth that your brother and sister have been desperately trying to hide from you. The truth that the government doesn't want anyone to remember."
He gestured toward the cosmic vista beyond the door.
"This is the World of Souls. One of the three realms that revolve around our sun, just as the old scriptures used to teach before humans tried to hide the reality."
Joseph's mind reeled. "That's impossible. The three worlds are just—they're mythology. Ancient stories. They're not real."
"They're very real," the doctor said gently. "And this world—the World of Souls—was my birthplace. It was known for centuries of war and chaos between the mage clans. But peace was finally achieved twenty years ago, thanks to one man."
He paused, carefully observing Joseph's expression.
"That man was your father. Alexander Baros—General of the Soul army. He was the warrior who ended the wars and brought peace to our world."
"No." Joseph shook his head violently. "He died when I was young. He was human."
"Your father was one of the greatest warriors the World of Souls ever produced," the doctor continued. "And your mother—Lina Bennet—she wasn't from our world either. She came from the World of Life. The divine realm. They called her the Garden of Paradise because of her incredible healing powers."
"Stop it!" Joseph pressed his hands over his ears. "This isn't real! You're lying! None of this is real!"
"Your brother Johan and your sister Jennifer," the doctor pressed on, his voice remaining calm despite Joseph's panic, "were both born in the World of Souls. They're not fully mortal human, like you thought. They have powers—mana abilities inherited from your father's bloodline. They've been using those powers in secret for years, fighting to protect innocent people from threats you didn't even know existed."
"Why?!" Tears streamed down Joseph's face. "Why didn't they tell me?! Why did they lie?!"
"Because they love you," the doctor said simply. "They wanted to give you a normal life. A childhood free from the horrors they've seen. They've been protecting you from this truth since the day you were born."
Joseph sank to the floor, his back against the wall. His entire world—everything he thought he knew about his family, about reality itself—was shattering like his broken glasses.
The doctor knelt down beside him.
"My name is Dr. Arthur Smith. I'm from the Chronos bloodline—a family of time mages. That's why I can stop time like this." He gestured to the frozen room around them. "And she—" he nodded toward the nurse, "—is Freya, from the Tessarid clan. We use our mana abilities to heal and protect."
"If you have powers, why do you need my brother and sister?" Joseph's voice was hollow.
"Because our powers aren't meant for direct combat," Freya said gently, speaking for the first time. "We're healers. Protectors. Support mages. But what's attacking Anni right now requires a warrior. They are one of the strongest combat mages alive."
Arthur placed a hand on Joseph's shoulder.
"I'm sorry we had to tell you this way. I'm sorry we had to shatter the peaceful world your siblings worked so hard to create for you." His expression filled with regret. "But right now, we have an immediate crisis. Mayor Jones isn't working alone. He's employed creatures called Oneiros—beings from the World of Knowledge who can control people through their dreams. They can attack victims while they sleep, possess them, manipulate them, even kill them without leaving any physical evidence."
Joseph looked up at him, his face pale. "The things in Anni's note... the random sleeping, the lost time, the wounds she didn't remember getting..."
"All caused by Oneiros," Arthur confirmed. "They're using her as a source of suffering. Some Oneiros—particularly those corrupted by the Dark Lord—feed on human pain and blood. They torture their victims slowly, drawing out the agony to make the blood more... potent."
He stood up, offering Joseph his hand.
"We need your brother's help immediately. Anni survived the fall, but she's still in danger. The Oneiros will try to kill her before she can tell anyone what's really happening to her. And Mayor Jones will use his political power to cover everything up."
Joseph stared at the offered hand.
Everything in him wanted to refuse. To run away from this nightmare. To pretend he'd never heard any of this.
But he thought about Anni's desperate suicide note. About the girl who'd rather die than continue suffering. About that moment when he'd felt her emotions—her hopelessness and despair.
Maybe that wasn't a hallucination, he realised. Maybe it was something else. Some kind of... connection.
He took Arthur's hand and pulled himself up.
"What do you need me to do?"
Arthur studied Joseph for a long moment before answering.
"Just tell your brother what happened here today. Tell him about Anni. Tell him about Mayor Jones and the Oneiros. That's all."
"That's it?" Joseph frowned. "Why can't you tell him yourself?"
"Because Johan and Jennifer made me promise years ago that I would never contact them about Order business again," Arthur said quietly. "They left the organisation that fights these threats. They wanted a peaceful life, away from violence and darkness. I have to respect that promise."
He clenched his fists.
"But when I see innocent humans suffering at the hands of entities they can't even comprehend—when I see a young girl tortured to the point of suicide by monsters wearing human faces—I break inside!"
The raw emotion in his voice made Joseph take a step back.
"I question myself every single day," Arthur continued, his voice shaking. "Why do I have these powers if not to save people? Why was I born with the ability to stop time, to see across dimensions, to sense threats before they strike, if I'm just going to stand by and watch innocents die?"
He took a deep breath, visibly struggling to control himself.
"Your brother once told me something that changed my life. He said: 'We weren't given these powers by accident. We were given them as a responsibility. And if my life ends while fulfilling that responsibility, then at least my existence meant something.'"
Arthur looked Joseph directly in the eyes.
"An innocent girl is dying, Joseph. A fifteen-year-old student who should be worried about homework and friends, and what she wants to be when she grows up. Instead, she's being tortured by creatures she can't see, manipulated by a man she should be able to trust, and she tried to kill herself just to make the pain stop."
His voice dropped to barely above a whisper.
"I will do everything in my power to save her. Even if it costs me my life. Even if it means breaking my promise to your brother. Because some promises matter less than human lives."
Joseph felt something shift inside his chest.
He thought about all the times Johan and Jennifer had left in the middle of the night for "emergencies." All the hushed phone calls. All the secrets they kept.
They weren't just doctors treating ordinary patients.
They were warriors who saved lives.
And they'd been doing it alone, without his knowledge, to protect him from this darkness.
How many people have they saved while I slept peacefully in my bed?
"I'll tell them," Joseph said firmly. "I'll make sure they know everything."
Arthur smiled with relief. "Thank you."
Freya crushed the black sphere in her fist. The portal to space dissolved like morning mist, revealing the normal hospital corridor beyond the door.
Arthur snapped his fingers, and the blue sphere vanished.
SNAP.
Time resumed its normal flow.
Martha jerked back to life, continuing her sob as if nothing had happened. The spoon clattered to the floor with a metallic clink. Dust motes danced in the sunlight again.
"You can go now," Arthur said quietly to Joseph. "Go home. Tell your family. We'll handle things here until they arrive."
Joseph walked toward the door on unsteady legs.
As he passed through, he glanced back one more time.
Arthur stood by the window, staring out at the city below with an expression of quiet determination—a man preparing for a battle he might not survive.
Joseph turned away and walked down the corridor.
He passed the operating room and glimpsed Anni through the window. She lay in a hospital bed, unconscious, with an oxygen mask covering her face. Machines beeped steadily, tracking her vital signs.
As he watched, a single tear slipped from beneath her closed eyelid and ran down her cheek.
She's still fighting, Joseph realised. Even unconscious, even after everything, she's still fighting to survive.
He forced himself to keep walking.
Near the exit, one of his classmates intercepted him.
"Joseph! What did the doctor say? Is Anni going to be okay?"
The lie came automatically, smoothly, without conscious thought.
"Nothing important. Just routine questions about her family and medical history. The doctors say she's stable. She'll recover."
"Oh, thank God." His classmate's relief was obvious. "We were all so worried."
"Yeah." Joseph managed a weak smile. "I'm heading home now. Take care of her."
He walked out of the hospital into the afternoon sunlight.
At the gate, he paused and turned back one more time. Through the room's window on the second floor, he could see Arthur watching him.
Their eyes met across the distance.
Arthur nodded once—a gesture of understanding and respect.
Joseph turned away and continued walking.
Behind him, Arthur closed the window. He spoke to Freya in a voice so quiet that only she could hear:
"Take Martha to her friends. Don't let her see Anni yet. She's not emotionally ready."
As Freya gently guided the traumatised girl out of the room, Arthur added one more thing:
"Freya... if something happens to me today, please take care of David. Make sure our son knows his father loved him."
Freya's eyes filled with tears. She walked back to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly.
"Don't talk like that," she whispered against his chest. "You're coming home tonight. You always come home."
Arthur held her for a long moment, memorising the feeling.
"I promise I'll try," he said softly.
Freya pulled back, wiping her tears quickly. She nodded once—the nod of a warrior's wife who understood the risks—and left the room with Martha.
Arthur stood alone in the office, staring out at the city below, and prepared for the battle he knew was coming.
Please, forgive Johan and Jennifer, but no promise is important than somebody's life. Please arrive on time.