Chapter 51 - The Night the Castle DisappearedAt precisely midnight, the western tower vanished.
There was no explosion.
No fire.
No warning.
One moment, the tower stood against the moonlit sky.
The next, it was gone.
Hundreds of guards ran into the courtyard, staring at the empty space where stone walls had stood for centuries.
A servant screamed.
"My husband was inside!"
Captain Rowan organized a search.
But there was nothing to search.
No rubble.
No bodies.
Not even dust.
The tower had been erased.
Elara arrived carrying the royal chronicle.
"The fracture is spreading."
Ethan stared toward the empty sky.
"Can we bring it back?"
"Perhaps."
"How?"
She pointed toward the Heart of the First Hour.
"We need to restore the original sequence."
King Aldric sat motionless beside the machine.
Its golden wheel had almost stopped.
Each rotation sounded like a dying heartbeat.
Ethan approached him.
"Tell me what to do."
Aldric opened his eyes.
"You must remember the final hour."
"How?"
"The seventh memory."
Ethan looked toward the underground chamber.
"The last door."
Aldric nodded.
"But Malachar already escaped."
"The door isn't what matters," the king replied. "It's what was hidden behind it."
Elara produced a folded map.
It showed tunnels beneath the kingdom, leading toward an ancient mountain fortress.
At its center was a black circle.
"The Clockless Citadel," she explained.
Ethan recognized the name from his dreams.
A fortress outside ordinary time.
A place where past and future existed together.
"That's where my father is?"
Elara looked at Aldric.
The king nodded.
"If Daniel Cole is still alive, that's where he'll be."
A second thunderous sound shook the palace.
The eastern wall vanished.
People screamed.
Beyond the missing stone, Ethan saw something impossible.
For a single second, the medieval city was replaced by a modern highway.
Cars moved beneath glowing streetlights.
Then the image disappeared.
Two worlds were colliding.
Ethan looked at Rowan.
"We need to leave."
Rowan nodded.
"I'll gather the horses."
Mira appeared at the doorway.
"I'm coming."
"No," Ethan said. "It's too dangerous."
She folded her arms.
"Then you should have thought of that before becoming my brother."
Despite everything, Ethan almost smiled.
The palace bells rang again.
But this time, there were thirteen.
May you like
A number no clock should strike.
And on the thirteenth bell, the moon disappeared.
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