There was something deeply wrong.

Shirei's violet eyes scanned the familiar room of Colorno Hospital, every detail exactly as he remembered it from the previous day.

It was at that moment that the realization hit him.

The temporal rift had rebooted, erasing the events of the previous night as if they had never happened. Shirei remained still for a few moments, his face a mask of calm that hid his inner turmoil.

Ada was the first to really react. Her gray eyes spoke for themselves, reflecting the terror that ran through her soul, a fear too great to be due to the rift. In an instant, the young demigoddess leapt to her feet, her lean, muscular body as taut as a violin string.

“No,” she whispered in a broken voice. "No, no, no!"

She clutched her dark hair with her hands, almost to the point of tearing it.

Her cries rang through the room, a heart-rending wail that made Cragar's son gasp. Ada trembled violently, her legs gave out and she collapsed in the corner of the room. She backed against the wall in exhaustion, cowering as if she could somehow escape this cruel reality they found themselves in.

Havel quickly rushed towards her, enveloping her in a protective embrace. His muscular arms gripped her tightly. Shirei didn't understand and felt excluded, but Marina's voice rang in his head and told him not to ask questions. That was perfectly the case that the girl had explained to him, he had to know when to express his doubts and when, instead, to remain silent.

“Shh… it's okay, Ada.”

Havel stroked her hair and continued to hold her close. “We are here. We are together. You're safe.”

Rutia's daughter was short of breath, a sign that she was in crisis, "I... I... I don't want to go back there."

.You will never go back there again, now your home is at the Lilies Park.”

Ada raised her shining eyes towards Sidal's son.

“At the park?”

“Yes, at the park,” he nodded, “With me and the Equinox Flowers.”

Shirei found it useless to waste time, he looked away from the scene and concentrated on analyzing the rift. His understanding of the place was limited, as were the laws that governed it. Why had it rebooted? What had they done or not done to trigger the reset? Questions flocked to his mind like hungry crows.

Reno, I need you.

The tenebrae immediately responded to his call, manifesting itself in the room after exiting the Interworld.

Ada looked up at him, tears streaming down her pale face. Havel stared at him “How can you be so calm?” he asked, the accusatory tone quite evident. “Don't you understand that your partner is sick?”

Shirei approached, kneeling in front of his companions. His violet eyes shone with intensity.

“We are alive, all three of us. Ada is in no condition to solve this mystery and you know what's happening to her. This time rift is an obstacle for her. I'll help you by eliminating the problem, but I can't stand still if I want to.”

Havel stared at him, perhaps more surprised than nervous. Finally he nodded and moved his hand to caress the girl's back.

“I didn't think I'd say this, but you're not entirely wrong.”

Slowly, Ada straightened up, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. She breathed deeply, trying to regain control.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“No, he's right,” she admitted. “We must find the anchor and leave this place.”

“Sure? If you need more time...”

“We don't have time,” interrupted the girl, “I-I... I can do it. I am an Equinox Flower.”

Havel stood up, helping Ada do the same. They mentally replayed the events that had happened the previous day. They analyzed their every action, every conversation, looking for a piece of information that had escaped their attention.

Shirei closed his eyes for a moment.

“You look confused, boss,” Reno teased.

“I'm the boss here,” Havel replied.

The tenebrae looked him over before agreeing flatly, “Of course.”

“Do you think you’re so funny, undead boy?”

Shirei sighed. “Stop it, Reno. Use your mouth to give us all the information you have on the temporal rift.”

“All?”

The purple-eyed demigod nodded.

“As you wish.”

Reno floated for a moment, his form billowing like smoke in a light breeze. Then, he began to speak: “Temporal rifts are a complex phenomenon. The duration is very variable and clearly Rakion decides it. When the time period of the fault ends, it resets all the people present at the time it was established, returning everything to the beginning unchanged.”

Havel started to interject, but the tenebrae managed to beat him in time, “Yes, even living people, if necessary. But you,” he indicated the three Equinox Flowers, “You are 'outsiders'. You will not suffer the same treatment. If you die, you will not come back to life.”

“Never a bit of luck,” Havel commented.

“However, you are the only ones who can retain your memories from before the reset. The people caught in the rift will repeat the same script forever.”

Reno's words fell heavy on the room. Shirei called him to get attention.

“What happens if an outsider takes a rift-inhabitant out?”

“The moment the fault resets, the inhabitant will automatically return inside it. Once a prisoner, you are a prisoner forever.”

“Are there any exceptions?”

“Not that I know of, boss.”

“So we are the only ones who can do something to stop this cycle…” Ada said.

Shirei noted with pleasure that her voice had gradually regained strength. Cragar's son was silent for a long moment, absorbing the information. Then, in a calm voice, he turned to his companions.

“So, it is clear that the time period of this rift is set at one day, once midnight the reset occurs.”

As they spoke, a movement at the end of the corridor caught the purple-eyed demigod's attention. With a quick gesture, he signaled his companions to remain silent, then sprinted towards the door and closed it. The Equinox Flowers flattened themselves against the wall, hoping that the passage would not be opened.

Peering through the crack, Shirei watched as a group of doctors emerged from an adjacent hallway. They were carrying a cot on which a motionless body lay, covered by a white sheet. On the fabric, dark spots spread like blood flowers in a snow-covered field. The doctors passed by their room keeping their voices low, so that they blended with the creak of the wheels of the table. Shirei held his breath, ready to react if they were discovered. But the doctors continued on, disappearing around the corner of the corridor on the opposite side.

The demigod waited and moved only when the sound of their footsteps had disappeared. He turned to his companions and motioned to wait for him, then opened the door and left the room.

He noticed that he had forgotten his lab coat, which was left in the closet, so he sped up so as not to risk being seen. He wanted to travel to the Interworld, but he didn't know exactly what to look for. He turned the corner from which the doctors had arrived and continued, taking care not to cross anyone.

Finally he turned right, where the path ended at an office. He read the sign on the door: “Director.”

Did they kill the director?

He preferred to discuss that problem with the Equinox Flowers, so he disappeared into the Interworld before being seen. That's when he saw it.

What…

Cragar's son froze. Ahead, where the Interworld rippled and the aether curved, lay the shape of someone.

Or something.

An unknown being was in the office, encased in a whirlwind of magical energy. Shirei thought it was wiser not to find out what it was for now, so he headed back towards the room. He soon appeared on the bed, causing both Ada and Havel to feel shocked.

Sidal's son instinctively placed his hand on the hilt of one of his axes. “Purple, you have to stop giving us a shock, otherwise we will reach your father before time.”

“Something terrible is happening in this hospital,” the black-haired boy cut short. “Whatever it is, it's certain to have something to do with the temporal rift.”

Ada nodded, her face still pale, more than normal.

“That body... was covered in blood. Who did it belong to?”

Shirei thought about it, “I believe the original director, now replaced by a creature.”

“A creature?” Rutia's daughter echoed.

“Yes, I saw it while I was in the Interworld. He was immersed in the aether.”

Havel clenched his fists, his eyes shining with repressed anger.

“We can't let them continue to hurt people.”

“Actually, you could,” replied Reno, “Those here are already dead regardless, it doesn't matter.”

Shirei raised a hand, a sign that the tenebrae's presence was no longer required. “We could make things worse if we acted impulsively.”

“So, what do you suggest as our next step?” Ada asked.