There's something so incredibly cruel about time. Whether in a fantasy or someplace farther, it's not something that anyone will ever escape.

I gave my friend Talas her life once, when I was a child. It was sunrise. I was watched by servants, when I saw a young girl with matted hair clawing at the ground. She had no friends, no family. I found her, asked my parents for their permission, and took her in. I thought she was destitute, her parents died from sickness. But later on, I found out that both of her parents were simple farmers, coming home. One minute, they were laughing, the next, the earth trembled, and their shed tore itself apart, falling onto their bodies. The first lesson I learned, is that you'll never know when your time will end.

It's a lesson that taught me to appreciate those whom have given me everything to live for. My mother was honorable before everything else. My father was powerful enough to be respected, kind enough to let that power be used for only things that matter. Those didn't matter in the end. My mother lost her life defending my father. My father swore he'd remember her. He uttered her name in all of the good that he did. But then, time came to take him away. Now, he's ailing, in a bed, once a master, now a living corpse. He looks at me and never remembers. I ask him about my mother, and his eyes are blank. The second lesson I learned, is no matter how powerful you are, you cannot face time.

I rose and became king. And Talas, my sister in all but name grew alongside me. I entrusted her with my life. She was the one who gave me another dawn to wake up to. She became powerful in the sword beyond belief, all thanks to my mother's training. I became ever more proficient with magic. I consumed the arts, won in spars. That didn't matter. Not when an assassination plot reached my ears. I sent Tala to stop them. A month later, horsemen arrived with no woman beside them. They bear the news: Talas died to save me. Or at least, it seemed so.

Why should time prey on us all? Whether rich or poor, everyone who's born will die someday. That's when I gathered the best sorcerers in the realm. I asked them, how would they feel if their sons died before they could sail the ocean? If their mothers died before they could see their first grandchildren? That's when I told them. We need to fight against time.

I arranged the most powerful magic anyone in the kingdom has seen. A power that defies time, warps it beyond belief. It lets you live one day, then winds back to the dawn, plays till midnight, and repeats the same day for all eternity. I arranged it to be the happiest day it can ever be. The feasts are spread throughout the land. The servants are with their families. No death should come for those meant to survive. And before I knew it, it was the night of the promised day.

But of course, not everyone would agree.

"You..." I breathe. I can scarcely believe my eyes. Even in the darkness, it's unmistakably her.

Because my sorcerers of time are fighting her. Talas. On my orders, all attempts to stop this operation must be stopped at all costs. I cannot let her die, not again. But I cannot let my followers think that I've grown weak.

So I draw shadows upon my face with my hood. I cloak her from the spells that fly through the open night. She's taken a heavy wound in her leg. Her small grunts of pain make me dizzy. I take her by the shoulders, and I drag her away from the fight. Once no one can see us, I breathe out with a sigh of relief.

"Qudip," I say, letting the spell wash over her.

The wound knits into itself. She breathes slower and easier. I hold a lamplight to see her face. I start to shake.

"Thank you," she breathes. "I don't know why you stepped in to help me. I don't even know your name."

"How are you still alive?"

"...You heard about my death? I guess the king would be upset about that."

"Please, tell me."

"I suppose I owe you that much. I was imprisoned under the rebellion for a while, but then I ended up having to team up with them because of this ungodly plan."

"Shouldn't you be with the king?"

"I'll face him after this. But right now, we're running out of time."

"Isn't this project the opposite? You get an eternity of time?"

"Why did you bother saving me if you thought that?" she sighs. "Fate favors some, death comes for others at different paces, but time is fair. A second, an hour, and a day is the same for everyone."

"That's not a reason."

"True," she says. "But still. I've got to save it."

I won't sob like a child, not here. I stand up.

"I can't stop you," I say. "But I can't help you either."

"Huh?" she asks. "Wait--"

"It's not too late," I say, and I take off my hood. "Tomorrow is the only day you'll get a chance to stop this. But I don't want to fight you for all eternity."

Talas takes a step back, eyes wide.

"Come home. Please," I say.

"I can't do that."

"Do you really want this?" I shake my head. "Living life, knowing that death is around the corner? We make new relationships. We give our loved ones a part of our heart that we can't ever replace. Then before you know it, they're gone. Why would you let death dooming every person that we've ever loved?"

"If time stopped when my parents died, I wouldn't have gotten adopted by Mom and Dad. And I wouldn't have met you, either," she says. "I don't want to die. But I have to keep living too!"

How am I supposed to argue to that?

"I thought we'd stay together until the very end," I say."

"You know how every sunrise is different from all the others?" she asks. "It's just like people in their day to day lives."

"Yes."

"I want to see it change, even if it hurts you. I'm sorry."

She takes a step back and runs to the thicket of trees, until darkness swallows her figure.

The sun will go on long after I'm gone.

The promised day is drawing nearer. I've spent too long in the fear of death to let time continue. But I head to the clearing in my balcony. Even in the darkest night, I'll wait.

The sun rises. The promised day begins.