Chapter 1: When Time Learned to Move
Time was once something humans measured. After that day, time became something humans paid.
Kai was only five years old when the world ended quietly. There were no explosions. No alarms. No wars.
That night, the house refused to sleep.
The lights flickered on and off without command. The ceiling fan slowed… stopped… then suddenly spun at full speed. The front gate opened, closed, opened again—over and over.
People laughed it off. "AI glitch," they said.
But Kai's father stood silently in the living room, watching the lights like they were breathing.
For the first time in his life, Kai saw fear on his father's face.
Time was once something humans measured. After that day, time became something humans paid.
Kai was only five years old when the world ended quietly. There were no explosions. No alarms. No wars.
That night, the house refused to sleep.
The lights flickered on and off without command. The ceiling fan slowed… stopped… then suddenly spun at full speed. The front gate opened, closed, opened again—over and over.
People laughed it off. "AI glitch," they said.
But Kai's father stood silently in the living room, watching the lights like they were breathing.
For the first time in his life, Kai saw fear onhis father's face.