The Threads of Time

By Shah Tiya Biren

In the peaceful city of Nysara, life always felt the same. The sun never fully rose or set; the sky stayed stuck in a golden twilight. People didn’t question it—this was how it had always been. But Kaelin, a curious 17-year-old, often wondered why time felt so... still.

Kaelin loved history and spent hours digging through old books in the city’s archives. One afternoon, she found something strange hidden in a dusty box—a small silver spindle. It felt warm in her hand, almost alive, and had words etched on its side: “Fix the broken threads before time falls apart.”

At first, Kaelin thought it was just some old artifact, but weird things started happening in the city. People forgot conversations they’d just had. Days felt shorter, then longer. It was like time was glitching. Kaelin realized the spindle might not be a coincidence—it could be a clue.

She went to Valen, the town’s clockmaker. He was young but always seemed to know a lot about weird, time-related things. When she showed him the spindle, his eyes went wide.

“This… this is from the Loom of Time,” he said. “It’s a mythical machine that’s supposed to control time itself. My great-grandfather told stories about it. But... it was destroyed long ago.”

Kaelin was shocked. Could this tiny spindle really be part of something that powerful? Valen explained that the Loom had been broken by someone who thought the world needed to change. Its pieces were hidden to keep anyone from messing with time again.

“But if time is breaking now, the Loom needs to be fixed,” Valen said.

Kaelin wasn’t sure she was the right person for the job, but she knew she had to try. Together, she and Valen set out to find the missing pieces of the Loom.

Their journey wasn’t easy. One piece was in a valley where time sped up—you could grow old in minutes. Another was in a cave where everything froze in place. The last piece was in a forest where people aged backward. Each challenge made Kaelin more determined to fix the Loom and save the city.

When they finally put the pieces together, Kaelin learned something that changed everything. The person who broke the Loom wasn’t trying to ruin the world—they wanted to save it. They’d seen a future where time was too strict, forcing everyone to follow a single path with no freedom to make their own choices.

Now it was up to Kaelin. She could restore the Loom to how it used to be, keeping time steady but predictable. Or, she could weave something new, giving the world more freedom, even if it meant taking risks.

Kaelin chose to take the risk. As she turned the spindle, the sky above Nysara changed for the first time in centuries. The golden twilight gave way to a real sunrise, warm and full of promise.

The Loom disappeared, its job done. Life in Nysara felt different now—less perfect, but more alive. Kaelin knew she’d made the right choice. The future wasn’t written anymore, and that meant anything was possible.

By Shah Tiya Biren