The lift remained still with no sign of anyone using it to enter. However, Cyris saw dark shapes moving in reverse come from above, near the ceiling, and not from below. They were massive, about the size of large horses, and wide. They crawled and leapt backwards in time extremely fast towards the central gear, nearly just blurs even with time moving at regular speed. But they weren’t the only blur Cyris witnessed.

A streak of something shimmery, like moonlight, had been what the creatures chased out to the roof. But now that streak of light was sucked into the main gear in reverse, revealing that it had come from the same area as the gear, and the large, dark creatures were clawing and tearing at it. He saw the crack in the gear heal itself and then he saw the creatures slowly stalk backwards out between the gaps of the clock face and the building.

His vantage point couldn’t move from the object he touched, so he didn’t see where the creatures went back to, just that they had climbed over the railing to get in when they first arrived.

Cyris was stunned so much that he stopped pushing the images backwards and let them flow forwards once more. But watching the creatures come in, claw and destroy the main gear, and chase a streak of moonlight at blinding speed out and up into the night still didn’t make much sense. It all left too many questions.

With the feeling of a taut string being let loose, Cyris let his hold on the images go completely, thinking, Prequel Conclude.

Once again, the floor seemed to roll before the normal darkness behind one’s eyelids replaced the images once more. He opened his eyes and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Before he had fully regained his equilibrium, he was walking quickly to the edge of the railing just beneath the clock face.

Thanks to the whipping of the wind, he barely heard Timetheo call out, “What’s the matter?” before his hand was on the railing, and the thought, Activate Prequel, crossed his mind.

Diving even more haphazardly into the rewinding images, he pushed it back until he felt he’d lose what remained of his supper in his stomach just to see those final images from this new vantage point. Rarely, if ever, did he use his skill twice in one day. He would certainly pay for this.

As the event replayed forward at normal speed, the creatures crawled right past him as they entered, eliciting an instinctual shiver down his spine–especially as one passed right through where he “stood.” The depths of the darkness that made up these creatures seemed sinister and unclean. It swirled as if they were made of hot pitch and mist, and their eyes were like dark, glowing coals.

When it came to the point where the streak of moonlight zipped past and the creatures bounded after it, he watched as the light flew outside of the creatures’ reach by a hair’s breadth and off into the distance to the east before losing sight of it between the shadowy shapes of buildings. The creatures bounded off in that direction as well, hopping from rooftop to rooftop with enviable strength and speed.

A hand on his shoulder broke his concentration, and as the image began to distort, he released it with Prelude Conclude.

Opening his eyes, he found himself kneeling, his breathing heavy, and his hand still clutching the railing painfully. Timetheo was shaking him on the shoulder, and only stopped when Cyris turned to look at his concerned companion.

“Are you alright, Commander?” Timetheo asked. At Cyris’s nod, Timetheo only shook his head and bent down to pull Cyris’s arm over his shoulder. “Let’s get you away from this railing at least.” He helped Cyris over to the wall beside the lift where the wind was less noticeable and the risk of falling out of the tower less likely as well.

Once sitting firmly on the ground, Cyris began to feel a bit better. It was enough that he began to feel concerned about Timetheo having seen him use his skill. Even if the specifics were still not evident, a clever person might guess what his skill actually did–and he knew Timetheo to be quite clever.

“Swear,” he said between breaths. “Swear that…everything you saw…will not be mentioned to anyone but me.” Cyris wanted to trust Timetheo, but at the same time the thought flooded him with anxiety.

“I swear,” Timetheo said promptly, his expression deadly serious. “I don’t know exactly what I witnessed you doing, but I swear all the same. Now, can you tell me what all that was about? I thought you were about to throw yourself from the tower or something. His Majesty and the Marquis would never forgive me if that had happened while I was with you.”

Cyris leaned his head back on the cool, stone wall and rested his arms outstretched on the tops of his knees. “What you saw was me getting a lead. I had no plan to throw myself off the tower–I promise. I can’t tell  you how, but I know what cracked that gear and tore up this place–at least in a general sense.”

“Wait. You mean who, right?” Timetheo was quick to pick up on the clues from Cyris’s phrasing.

Ha! I knew he was clever. Cyris believed Timetheo’s oath to not tell anyone anything of what he had seen, but that didn’t mean he would be forthcoming with any explanation–not of his skill at least.

Cyris waved his hand from where it dangled in front of his knee dismissively. “I can’t exactly answer that, but it looks like we’ll be going to the area you were hoping to avoid for this investigation.”

Timetheo’s eyes widened further. “The Eastern District? The ones who did this headed in that direction?”

Cyris nodded. He could already see Timetheo’s worries for his sister swirling behind his eyes. I’ll have to do something to get his mind back on task once I’m back in top shape, he thought, but time was getting away from them. They wouldn’t be able to wait but maybe half a day at most.

“We need to tell the captain to raise security in that district then,” Timetheo said, itching to take action. “If you’re feeling better, Commander, let’s get down from here.” Timetheo moved to put Cyris’s arm back over his shoulder, but Cyris shook him off weakly, instead just grabbing Timetheo’s arm and using it to pull himself up.

As Cyris and Timetheo got into the lift, he didn’t have the heart or the energy to argue that increasing security would likely do nothing against the creatures he’d seen. He tried to calm his thoughts, but they raced around in circles. There probably won’t be much rest tonight, and we’ll need to get moving before noon tomorrow. Cyrus glanced at his usually calm and unflapable companion. Perhaps we can start the search with a visit to that East District library to put his mind at ease.

Once the lift touched bottom and the doors reopened, the stillness of the night was broken by the barking of orders and the rushing of knights to carry them out.