Kael Verin | $TIME Micro Story #29

This is $TIME micro story #29, a glimpse into the greater world of the epic story coin we are creating. Enjoy and if you like it, find out more about the project below.

+++++

The room shimmered with the usual cold blue light. Kael Verin adjusted her gloves, then took hold of her watch, ready for the jump. Around her, the chamber was silent save for the hum of power. Behind a pane of reinforced glass, Coalition handlers observed, their faces as blank as the steel walls.

Kael didn’t need them to speak; the mission briefing was etched in her mind. A Time Keeper’s interference had created a ripple in 1937 Berlin. A political dissident who should have died in a police raid had survived, triggering a cascade of minor but accumulating deviations. The Coalition’s mandate was clear: preserve the timeline—their timeline. She was to neutralize the dissident and erase the ripple.

The silent nod came. Kael activated her watch, and felt herself being pulled back into the familiar falling sensation.

Kael’s boots crunched against the thin layer of frost as she moved quickly through the alleys. Her black coat blended seamlessly with the shadows, and the lightweight pack on her back carried tools she hoped she wouldn’t need. She had a name, a face, and a location: Jakob Weiss, a fiery writer whose survival had led to a radical underground movement in this timeline.

Kael’s comm implant hummed softly in her ear. “Target is stationary,” said a clipped voice. Handler Drei. “Checkpoint Charlie. South corner.”

Kael nodded, though no one would see. She liked Drei; she was efficient, no unnecessary chatter. Following the directions, Kael navigated the labyrinthine streets until she spotted him. Jakob Weiss sat on a bench, hunched against the cold, his overcoat too thin for the winter night. He clutched a notebook, scribbling furiously under the dim light of a streetlamp.

Kael paused, taking in the scene. He didn’t look like a revolutionary. He looked… tired. But Kael had learned long ago that appearances were deceiving. This man, left unchecked, would pen words that would inspire uprisings, disrupt trade routes, and lead to a fractured future—one the Coalition had deemed unacceptable.

She approached slowly, footsteps silent on the icy path. Jakob didn’t notice her until she was a few feet away. He looked up, startled.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice tinged with both fear and defiance.

Kael didn’t answer. She rarely did. Words complicated things. Instead, she slipped her hand into her coat pocket, gripping the stasis injector. One dose, and Jakob Weiss would vanish without a trace, his body absorbed into the timestream, all the world’s memory of him going with it.

“You don’t have to do this,” Jakob said, standing now, his notebook clutched to his chest. “Whatever you think I am, you’re wrong.”

Kael hesitated. It wasn’t the first time a target had pleaded their case. It wouldn’t be the last. But something about the way he spoke—calm, resigned—made her pause.

“I only want to help people,” Jakob continued. “If that’s a crime, then maybe the world needs criminals.”

“You don’t understand what your help will cost,” Kael said quietly, her voice muffled by the collar of her coat.

“And you do?” Jakob’s gaze was piercing now, cutting through the layers of Kael’s training. “Who decides what the future should look like? You? Them?” He gestured vaguely, as if sensing the invisible hand of the Coalition.

Kael’s grip tightened on the injector. This was why she avoided conversations. They planted seeds of doubt, and doubt was dangerous. The Coalition’s purpose was clear: maintain the timeline, prevent chaos, ensure stability. And yet, for a moment, she wondered if Jakob’s words carried more weight than the file on her datapad.

A faint beep in her ear reminded her of the observers back in the chamber. Time was running out. Jakob took a cautious step back, his breath visible in the frigid air.

Kael moved swiftly. Before Jakob could react, she pressed the injector to his neck. There was a soft hiss, and his body froze in place, caught in a bubble of distorted time. The notebook fell from his hands, pages fluttering open to reveal lines of impassioned prose. Kael stared as the words faded from the pages.

Back in the Coalition chamber, Kael removed her gloves and placed the injector on the debriefing table. The handlers were waiting, their expressions as unreadable as ever.

“The ripple has been contained,” she said.

“Good work. We’ll analyze the impact to confirm stabilization.”

Kael turned to leave, but a handler’s voice stopped her.

“One more thing,” he said. “Do you believe he was innocent?”

Kael hesitated, then met the man’s cold gaze. “I believe he was a threat to the timeline. That’s all that matters.”

The man smiled faintly. “Precisely.”

As Kael walked away, she couldn’t shake Jakob’s words from her mind. Who decides what the future should look like? The Coalition had given her an answer long ago. She only wished it still felt like the right one.

+++++

If this piqued your interest, come check out the project. Here’s why $TIME is worth your, well, time:

• MC-based chapter unlocks

• A token that ties into a story

• Community milestones with cool rewards

• Awesome art, including an upcoming NFT collection

• A team of 4 equal owners with publicly shared wallets and a profit-taking strategy that does not initiate until $10M MC (at which point we only unlock 1M tokens)

• An organic growth strategy. We do not like fake volume and “KOLs” with bot armies. We’re keeping it real and we’re looking for real investors

• A unique project TG bot, Tempo, that’s part of and grows with the story

• Different narratives on each social channel, like our micro stories on Reddit

Come chat with us if you’d like to know more! The ca will lead you to all our socials.

ca: bdBSkhCjcnG1ieLdYu32qaEm1FfJyiMeJspvtRJmoon