Arin hit the ground again.
He groaned.
Mira stood above him with her arms crossed.
"Again."
Arin looked at her.
"I've fallen six times."
"Seven."
"That helps."
Arin pushed himself up.
The hidden harbor no longer looked like the place where they had first gathered.
Darian's power still covered the area, making ordinary people ignore it almost completely, but the Guardians had changed everything inside.
Wooden training posts had been placed across the dock.
Old storage rooms had become sleeping areas.
Elias had created a simple meeting room.
Riven had somehow found chairs from five different places, none of which matched.
Nobody asked where they came from.
Dev was recovering well.
His injuries from the gate ritual still caused pain, but he could walk normally again.
Veyra practiced teleporting short distances without becoming exhausted.
Kieran disappeared for hours at a time and returned as though he had only stepped outside.
And Arin trained.
Every day.
Sometimes every hour.
He was getting better.
But not quickly enough for his own liking.
"Your problem isn't power," Mira said.
Arin wiped sweat from his forehead.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because it's true."
She pointed toward a wooden target.
"Again."
Arin raised his hand.
He closed his eyes.
The voices were there.
They were always there.
At first, he had thought of them as separate beings whispering directly into his mind.
Now he was beginning to understand that it was more complicated.
Some voices were clear.
Some were only feelings.
Some came with images.
Some carried knowledge he had never learned.
Dev called them echoes.
Memories left behind by those who carried similar power long ago.
Arin breathed slowly.
A spark appeared between his fingers.
"Control," Mira said.
The spark became a thin line of light.
It moved toward the target.
For a second, everything worked perfectly.
Then one of the voices screamed.
BEHIND YOU.
Arin spun around and released the energy.
The blast flew across the dock.
"ARIN!"
The light struck a pile of empty crates.
Wood exploded everywhere.
Riven, who had been sitting nearby eating fruit, slowly lowered his food.
A piece of wood had landed in his lap.
He stared at Arin.
"I was nearly murdered while eating."
"Sorry."
"I want that recorded."
Mira sighed.
"You listened too quickly."
"The voice said someone was behind me."
"There was."
Arin turned.
Rewinder stood several steps away.
She had arrived without him noticing.
Her dark hair was tied behind her head, and she wore simple clothes with a long coat.
Arin had only met her properly two days earlier.
She looked younger than he expected.
That made her power even stranger.
She could pull time backward.
Not forever.
Not across the entire world.
Only within a limited space and for a very short period.
But even a few seconds could change everything.
She had already proved that when Demora nearly captured Arin.
"Sorry," Arin said.
Rewinder looked at the destroyed crates.
"At least your aim is terrible."
Riven pointed at her.
"I like her."
Arin shook his head.
"Why are you here?"
"Kael asked me to watch your training."
"Why?"
"Because he thinks your voices may react strangely to time."
Arin's expression changed.
"Do they?"
"I don't know."
She looked toward him.
"That's why I'm here."
Arin remembered what Kael had told him.
Time itself had folded back during Demora's attack.
Yet after the rewind, Arin had remembered everything.
Normal people had not.
Kael had found that unusual.
Rewinder walked closer.
"We're going to try something."
Mira stepped back.
"What?"
"I'm going to reverse five seconds."
Riven immediately stood.
"I'm leaving."
"You'll be fine."
"That's exactly what people say before something terrible happens."
Rewinder ignored him.
She faced Arin.
"Pay attention to the voices."
Arin nodded.
Rewinder closed her eyes.
A strange pressure filled the air.
Arin had felt supernatural energy many times now.
Kael's power felt like heat and sunlight.
Darian's power felt like forgetting something that was directly in front of you.
Veyra's teleportation felt like the world suddenly becoming too small.
Rewinder's ability felt different.
It felt wrong.
Not evil.
Just unnatural.
The waves beside the dock stopped.
Then they moved backward.
A falling leaf rose from the wooden floor.
Riven's half-eaten fruit returned to his hand.
Arin felt his body move without his permission.
Five seconds disappeared.
Then time continued.
Arin gasped.
Rewinder opened her eyes.
"What did you hear?"
Arin stared at her.
"The voices didn't go backward."
Everyone became quiet.
Dev, who had been watching from a chair nearby, stood.
"What do you mean?"
"Everything moved back. I moved back."
Arin touched his chest.
"But the voices continued."
Rewinder frowned.
"Continued from where?"
"From the future."
A cold silence followed.
Then one voice whispered inside Arin's mind.
Time changes the river. Memory stands on the shore.
Arin repeated the words.
Rewinder's face lost some of its calm.
Elias approached.
"Have you heard that voice before?"
"No."
"Male? Female?"
"I don't know."
The voice had felt ancient.
Older than the others.
Before anyone could speak again, a sudden gust crossed the dock.
Kieran appeared.
He was breathing slightly harder than usual.
That alone told Elias something was wrong.
"Kieran?"
Kieran held out a folded piece of paper.
"We have a problem."
Kael stepped from one of the nearby storage buildings.
"What happened?"
Kieran gave him the note.
Kael read it.
His face hardened.
Dev moved closer.
"What does it say?"
Kael placed the note on the table.
Everyone gathered.
BLACK COINS. VALE PORT. THEY ARE RECRUITING HUMANS.
Riven frowned.
"Who wrote it?"
"Don't know," Kieran said.
"Trap?"
"Possible."
Darian picked up the paper.
His pale eyes narrowed.
"This symbol."
Elias nodded.
"It's one of ours."
Arin looked at them.
"What symbol?"
"Old Guardian signal," Dev explained. "Used when a person can't safely approach us."
"Then another Guardian wrote it?"
Kael shook his head.
"Not necessarily. People have learned our symbols before."
Kieran leaned against the table.
"I saw the man who left it."
"You followed him?" Elias asked.
"For a little while."
"And?"
"He has a black mark on his arm."
Silence.
Dev's expression changed.
"The binding mark?"
"Looks like it."
Kael's eyes sharpened.
"Describe him."
Kieran did.
Dev slowly nodded.
"Pimo."
Arin recognized the name.
He had heard it during discussions about the enemy.
"A shadow servant?"
"Yes," Dev said.
Riven laughed once.
"So our enemy sent us a helpful letter?"
"No," Elias replied. "Pimo did."
"How do you know?"
"I don't."
Elias looked at the message.
"But if the shadows wanted us at Vale Port, they wouldn't need this much effort. They could create an attack and make sure we noticed."
Kael paced slowly.
"Black coins."
Darian spoke.
"I've heard of them."
Everyone turned.
"Where?"
"Old stories."
Darian rarely volunteered information without being asked.
That made everyone listen.
"People who suddenly became powerful without being born with gifts. Warlords. Wealthy merchants. Local rulers. Some were ordinary humans before they changed."
Dev frowned.
"Artificial power?"
"Borrowed power."
Darian looked toward the water.
"And borrowed power always has an owner."
Arin felt a whisper move through his thoughts.
Images followed.
A throne.
A black coin.
A man kneeling.
A hand made of smoke touching his head.
Arin grabbed the edge of the table.
Kael noticed.
"What?"
"I saw something."
Arin described it.
Elias looked at Dev.
"Another memory?"
"Maybe."
Arin shook his head.
"This felt different."
Another image flashed.
A city burning.
Thousands of black coins scattered across stone streets.
Then a voice.
They tried this before.
Arin gasped.
Mira grabbed his arm.
"What did you see?"
Arin looked at Kael.
"This isn't new."
"What isn't?"
"Giving powers to ordinary people."
The team became still.
Arin continued.
"The shadows have done it before."
Dev's face tightened.
"When?"
"I don't know."
The voices whispered again.
So many at once that Arin could barely separate them.
Then one word became clear.
Malrec.
Arin looked up.
"Who is Malrec?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Darian's expression changed.
For perhaps the first time since Arin met him, Darian looked afraid.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"The voices."
Darian walked closer.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
Kael looked at him.
"You know it?"
Darian stared at Arin.
"Malrec wasn't a servant of the shadows."
"What was he?"
Darian's voice became quiet.
"He was a Guardian."
Nobody moved.
Even the sea seemed strangely silent.
"A Guardian?" Mira asked.
Darian nodded.
"A very long time ago."
"What happened to him?"
"No one knows the full story."
Darian looked at Arin.
"But according to the oldest records, Malrec believed ordinary humans should be given supernatural power."
Arin looked at the black-coin warning.
"And?"
"He tried."
Dev understood first.
"The black coins."
Darian nodded.
"If those coins are based on Malrec's work, then the enemy isn't simply recruiting."
Kael's face grew hard.
"They have Guardian knowledge."
Kieran stopped smiling.
"That sounds bad."
"It is."
Kael looked at each member of the group.
"We do not rush into the port."
Riven raised a hand.
"Good plan."
"We watch."
Kieran nodded.
"We identify Corvin Vale, the properties connected to him, and anyone carrying those coins."
He turned to Rewinder.
"You stay here."
She frowned.
"Why?"
"Because your power is too valuable to expose until we understand what we're facing."
Rewinder's expression showed she did not like the answer.
But she accepted it.
Kael looked toward Arin.
"You stay too."
Arin immediately protested.
"What?"
"You aren't ready."
"But my voices know something about this."
"Which is exactly why I won't take you into a place the enemy may have prepared."
Arin clenched his fists.
Kael stepped closer.
"This isn't punishment."
"I know."
"You are important."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Then start believing it."
Arin looked away.
Kael's voice softened.
"Your time will come."
Across the city, Corvin Vale sat alone inside the highest room of his office tower.
The port lights stretched below him.
Ships moved slowly across the dark water.
A glass of expensive drink rested in his hand.
On the desk before him was a black coin.
He had found it that morning inside an envelope.
There had been no name.
No address.
Only one sentence.
You have spent your life buying power. Would you like to own the real thing?
Corvin smiled.
He picked up the coin.
The metal was cold.
Then something whispered from inside it.
And Corvin Vale listened