A Timewoven Tale.
1567 – The Return
Elias Merton stumbled back into the 16th century with a gasp, the crackle of lightning still ringing in his ears. The ruins of Blackthorn Monastery stood whole again, cloaked in mist and moss. The stone that had hurled him forward and back pulsed faintly in his palm before dimming to cold grey.
He had been gone only a night by the sun’s reckoning, yet he carried lifetimes in his memory.
And the stone carried something too.
Beneath its smooth surface, veins of an unknown metal shimmered when touched by moonlight. Elias had found it in the monastery crypt years ago, beside a skeleton clutching a scrap of vellum:
“Beware the lantern that lights itself.”
Now, he understood.
The Strange Boy
Elias returned to his village changed. He spoke of towering glass castles, of flying machines, of healers who cured the plague in moments. People whispered. Some feared he’d struck a devil’s bargain. The priest called it blasphemy.
But a few listened. Quietly.
