Conquering the underworld with my beautiful dragon wives-Chapter 42: The Beginning of the Contract

Everything started when that damn door opened.

But this time... no light. No music.

Just the sound of a heavy chain dropping... and the smell of rusty iron.

Ethan was the first one who stepped in.

But what he saw, wasn’t like the other worlds before.

This place... was an abandoned city.

But not like a normal one.

The whole place was filled with broken clock towers.

Clocks that didn’t work the same.

One spinning fast, one completely still.

One going backwards — and its "tick-tock" sound was coming from the ground.

Fayra quietly said,

"What the hell... is this place?"

Luna pointed nervously at the tower in front of them.

"That clock... it’s moving backwards!"

And yeah... she was right.

The second hand was running back like a lunatic.

Alice bent down and grabbed a piece of the golden sand on the ground.

"This... is time sand."

Selena said,

"I feel like... time’s not in our hands here."

Ethan chuckled — but not like a brave guy.

"Well guys... welcome to the Maze of Lost Clocks.

A place where if you lose your way... you get stuck in that exact moment.

Forever."

Right when he said that, a muffled voice came from some old rusty speakers:

"Dear participants... welcome to the final stage of the game.

Here... every choice, every move, has its own time.

Make one wrong move... and you’ll never return to your own moment."

Fayra snapped,

"We’re participants?! Who the hell signed us up?!"

Luna was shocked,

"It wasn’t me! I swear!"

Selena forced a weak smile,

"Uh-oh... this ain’t like those silly worlds before."

Alice,

"What do we do? How do we get outta here?"

Ethan sighed, shoved his hand in his pocket...

and instead of the book, pulled out an old compass.

But instead of N-S-E-W, it said: Truth, Courage, Betrayal, and Forgetting.

Ethan,

"I think... we gotta pick a direction."

Fayra,

"You mean... one way leads to Truth, one to Betrayal...?"

Ethan nodded.

"Yeah... but this maze ain’t that simple.

Every path we take... makes us older.

If we stay too long... we slowly disappear."

Silence.

Luna said, trembling,

"I... don’t wanna be a kid anymore."

Ethan took Luna’s hand.

"No matter what... we got your back."

Then... a crossroad.

In the middle of the golden sand square, there were four paths.

Each one leading to a clock tower.

And on each door... one of those compass words was carved.

Alice,

"Do we... split up?"

Fayra,

"No! If we split... we get lost."

Selena,

"Or... maybe each of us gotta face our own fear."

Ethan made up his mind.

"No. This time we stick together.

We’re going... towards Truth."

The compass glowed.

Its needle shook on "Truth"...

and pointed to the Eastern tower.

And right then...

The ground started shaking.

The clocks started screaming.

Voices, like they were crying out from history:

"That moment you forgot...

The one who forgave you...

The one who stabbed you in the back...

The one who saved you..."

Memories.

Voices.

Feelings.

All falling out from the walls of those old clocks.

Luna cried.

Selena punched a wall.

Alice froze.

Fayra burst into flames.

And Ethan... screamed:

"Shut up, dammit!"

A green light shot out from the compass...

a door opened...

and they all ran inside.

But...

On the other side...

they didn’t land in a new world.

They stood in front of a giant mirror.

And in the mirror...

each one saw an older, broken version of themselves.

Luna — a lonely girl.

Selena — scarred and exhausted.

Alice — cold and numb.

Fayra — lifeless, no smile.

And Ethan... shattered.

Ethan whispered,

"This... is what we’d become...

if we lost those damn moments."

Fayra smiled.

"But we’re still here."

Selena,

"And we can still choose."

Alice,

"We still got time."

Luna,

"Let’s go."

And they... grabbed each other’s hands.

The compass lit up.

The light passed through the mirror...

and this time —

instead of a weird world —

they came back somewhere real.

A normal street.

A regular evening.

The sound of wild horses.

The smell of weird soups all around.

Ethan took a deep breath.

"We... we came back?"

Fayra laughed.

"Or maybe... this time we came where we actually belong."

"Our Home."

The cabin smelled like burnt wood and coffee.

The creaking sound of Alice’s chair, the bubbling kettle, and Fayra trying so hard to beat Luna at chess...

Everything felt weirdly too normal.

Ethan stood by the window, staring at the thick book called "The Secrets of the World."

The one that could tell him everything.

Everything...

But at what price?

He looked over at the others. At Fayra yelling,

"Excuse me?! You can’t move your piece there! There’s no rule that lets a dragon turn into a queen!"

At Luna, smirking and saying,

"Well, my rules do."

And at Alice, sitting by the fire with a cup of coffee, scribbling in her notebook:

"Wish today was just a peaceful day."

Ethan took a deep breath and said out loud,

"Guys... I don’t think I wanna know these secrets anytime soon."

They all turned to him.

Fayra raised an eyebrow.

"You? Ethan the nosy know-it-all? You don’t wanna know?!"

Ethan laughed.

"Yeah... ’cause I feel like if I find out, maybe... I won’t be human anymore."

Alice softly said, 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Sometimes, not knowing is prettier."

Right then — a knock at the door.

Everyone went quiet.

Ethan walked up to the door.

"Hey... who’s there?!"

A calm, smooth voice from outside:

"I’ve got a letter... from a friend."

He opened the door.

No one was there.

Just a black envelope. On it was written:

"To the residents of Shadow Cabin."

Fayra said,

"Oh come on... is this another one of those fake pizza deliveries?"

Luna opened the envelope. Inside was a black piece of paper with silver writing:

"The contract is sealed.

You’re now the prey of the Contract Hunters.

Surrender... or be hunted."

Right at that moment — the sound of an arrow.

A metal-tipped arrow hit the wall.

Ethan ducked down.

"Oh sh— this is real."

Voices echoed from the forest.

Alice whispered,

"Guys... we’re being hunted."

Outta the dark, five people showed up.

Masks on.

Dressed in black.

Each holding their own special weapon.

Karen, the Memory Thief — a woman with a silver mask and a book in her hand.

Berg, the Liar Hunter — a guy who can freeze anyone in place the second they lie to him.

Rain, the Former Black Dragon — a huge guy, used to be a dragon himself.

Mina, the Shadow Killer — a girl who melts into the shadows.

Grave, the leader of the hunters — the creepiest one, with a white mask and a black sword.

Grave raised his voice,

"The one who put a bounty on you... doesn’t want you alive.

Come out now...

or we’ll kill you."

Fayra put her hands on her hips.

"Sweetheart, I eat dragons for breakfast. I ain’t gettin’ hunted."

Ethan:

"Oh yeah? Cool — let’s come up with a plan then. ’Cause, uh... I’m tryna stay alive here."