Ren barely had time to react before the stranger stepped forward, shadow stretching unnaturally long across the floor. The attic felt smaller. Colder. The air itself seemed to thin, as if the space around them wasn’t quite real.

Ren tightened his grip on the dagger. “I don’t know who you are, but you need to leave.”

The man—if he was a man—tilted his head. “You opened the watch.”

Ren’s breath caught. “That doesn’t explain why you’re in my doorway.”

“That watch has been sealed for nearly twenty years. The moment it opened, I felt it.” The stranger stepped fully into the attic, forcing Ren back. The door swung shut behind him, seemingly of its own accord. “And so did others.”

Ren pressed his back against the desk, pulse hammering. “Others?”

The stranger exhaled sharply, as if irritated by Ren’s ignorance. “The Watchers. The ones who keep the curse in check.” His eyes—dark, sharp—locked onto Ren’s. “And the ones who hunt those who bear it.”

Ren swallowed hard. “I don’t—”

A flick of the stranger’s hand, and suddenly Ren felt it. A shift in the air. A wrongness pressing against the edges of reality. Like something vast and unseen had turned its attention toward him.

His stomach twisted.

“Now you understand,” the stranger said. “You broke the seal. Time has marked you.” He gestured to the pocket watch still clutched in Ren’s hand. “And soon, it will come for you.”

Ren forced himself to steady his breathing. “What will?”

The stranger’s gaze darkened. “The Shadow of Chrono.”

The name hit like a whispered curse. Ren didn’t want to believe it, but the weight of the words, the cold seeping into his bones—it was real. Too real.

“What do I do?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

The stranger reached into his coat, producing a small, leather-bound book. He set it on the desk beside Ren. “You learn.”

Ren frowned. “That’s it?”

A grim smile tugged at the stranger’s lips. “Knowledge is the only weapon you have left.”

Then, without another word, he stepped back—into the shadows, into nothingness—and was gone.

The attic was silent again.

Ren looked down at the book. Its cover was worn, its spine cracked. Three words were etched into the leather in ancient script. He didn’t recognize the language, but somehow, he understood the meaning.

The Valtheris Curse.

His family’s legacy.

His burden now.

And, perhaps, the key to surviving what came next.