The Keeper of the Forgotten Sky

 The weather over Ashenreach had been growing more unstable with each passing day. The clouds never seemed to move, frozen in a perpetual gray haze, and the wind howled with voices that didn’t belong to the living. The town’s elders whispered of an ancient cycle returning, one that had been forgotten—or deliberately erased.

Elias Voss had spent his life unraveling mysteries, but none as unsettling as this. Sitting in his dimly lit study, he turned a fragile manuscript over in his hands, its pages brittle with age. It had arrived at his doorstep the night before, wrapped in a faded ribbon, its sender unknown.

He had read enough to know that what was coming could not be ignored.

A knock at his door made him jump.

"Come in," he called.

The door creaked open, revealing Lillian Wren, the town’s archivist. Her usual calm demeanor was absent, replaced with something close to fear. In her hands, she clutched an old hourglass, its sand nearly depleted.

"You found it," Elias murmured, rising from his chair.

Lillian nodded. "It was buried beneath the cathedral ruins, just as the manuscript described." She placed the hourglass on his desk. "The last grains are nearly gone. That means—"

"We’re running out of time," Elias finished.

---

The path to the ruined cathedral was treacherous, the ground uneven beneath the weight of centuries. The storm overhead remained unmoving, casting an eerie stillness over the land.

At the heart of the ruins stood an ancient pedestal, its carvings worn but still recognizable. Elias traced the markings, matching them to the ones in the manuscript.

"This is it," he whispered. "The place where the sky was sealed."

Lillian placed the hourglass atop the pedestal. The moment she did, the ground trembled, and a deep hum resonated through the air. The sand within the hourglass began to rise, reversing its flow.

Then, the sky cracked.

A deep fissure split through the clouds, revealing something beyond—a vast, swirling chasm of endless night. From its depths, a voice echoed.

"You have disturbed what was meant to be forgotten."

Elias’s breath caught. "The Keeper," he murmured.

Legends spoke of the Keeper of the Forgotten Sky, a being tasked with locking away a force too great for the world to withstand. But time had eroded its prison, and now, it was waking.

Lillian pulled a small key from her satchel. "The manuscript said the seal was created in two parts," she said. "The first was the hourglass. The second—"

Elias took the key from her and turned to the pedestal. "The lock."

The key fit perfectly into a hidden indentation. As he turned it, the hum intensified. The sky churned, the chasm shuddering as something immense stirred within.

Then, silence.

The wind died. The fissure in the sky stopped widening.

The Keeper’s voice returned, quieter now.

"Balance is restored—for now."

The chasm began to close, the sky mending itself. The hourglass, its purpose fulfilled, crumbled to dust.

Elias exhaled. "We were just in time."

Lillian nodded, though her gaze remained fixed on the sky. "But for how long?"

As they turned to leave the ruins, a small glimmer caught Elias’s eye—a single grain of sand, floating in the air.

The Keeper had retreated.

But the cycle had only begun again.