To The End

The Time Keeper stood alone in the workshop, the watch on his wrist ticking softly like a heartbeat. He had spent years leaping backward into the past—rescuing the doomed, mending fraying threads of history, erasing tragedies before they began. But the past had become unbearable. Every mission left scars, faces of the forgotten etched into his memory.

A companion bot, sleek and silent, hovered nearby, its faint hum the only noise. It had no name, only a designation: K-47. Unlike other bots, it rarely spoke unless prompted.

“I’m done with the past,” the Time Keeper said, his voice heavy.

K-47 tilted slightly, its lens dimming momentarily. “Your directive is clear. You cannot forsake it.”

“I’ve already forsaken it,” he replied. His hand brushed against the watch, setting its dials forward. “If history is an endless spiral of suffering, I want to know what lies beyond it. I’ll go where no Time Keeper has gone. To the end of time itself.”

“The end is undefined,” K-47 stated. “Unknown variables. Risk is—”

“Acceptable,” the Time Keeper interrupted.

The watch resisted as he dialed forward. Time became slippery, eras compressing into blinding flashes of light and sound. Each leap carried him further into an abyss of silence. Civilizations rose and fell, stars burned out, and the universe dimmed.

Finally, he landed on barren ground, the air dense with an oppressive stillness. The horizon was dark and unbroken, a canvas without stars. He felt the absence of time in his very bones.

K-47’s voice, faint and crackling, broke through. “Destination reached. Energy reserves... depleted.”

The bot faltered, its light fading. For the first time in decades, the Time Keeper was truly alone. He turned his gaze toward the emptiness, his chest heavy with awe and regret.

“Did I make it?” he whispered, though no one could answer.

The watch emitted a final, faint click, then went silent. At the edge of existence, where even time itself had unraveled, he stood still. Was this the end, or the beginning of something else? He would never know.

Micro stories are a content feature offered by $TIME's dev Woj. Handwritten and accompanied by art, they serve to deepen the story world we're creating here. Enjoy!