In a quiet forest, a lone figure lay motionless on the ground—Mixarnt, a Timekeeper tasked with aiding the world's destined heroine. His mission was simple: protect her, stand by her side, and be her beacon of hope in times of darkness. "What happened? Ah… I’m dying…" Mixarnt thought, his mind hazy. He could not speak, his body unresponsive, the pain overwhelming. He tried to move but couldn't. Even screaming was beyond him. "That’s right… another anomaly… or was it three? Aelrie and I were attacked… They pierced her heart, and when I tried to catch her, I was struck from behind. My body… it's probably riddled with wounds..." As his thoughts faded, so did his life. His body dissolved into shimmering particles of light, vanishing into nothingness.

In a vast structure suspended between space and time, countless Timekeepers resided. They shared identical faces—both men and women—differentiated only by their hairstyles, hair colors, eye colors, and personalities.

At the very top, in a grand penthouse office, sat Xarnt—the leader of the Timekeepers. Some called him Godxarnt, but he preferred "Boss" or simply "Xarnt." He never considered himself a god, for he knew he could still die. However, his unparalleled achievements and leadership earned him the reverence of deities across multiple universes—much to his exhaustion.

"Hm? Another one of us died again?" Xarnt muttered, his expression twisting in frustration as he sensed Mixarnt's soul returning to the Timekeepers' domain.

Long ago, the title "Timekeeper" belonged solely to Xarnt. However, as he took on the responsibility of overseeing countless universes, he realized his own limitations—he could only intervene in a fraction of them. To remedy this, he shattered his soul into a thousand fragments, creating an army of Timekeepers to aid him. Despite being pieces of his essence, each one developed a unique personality of their own.

"Mixarnt of Universe F01, huh?" Xarnt mused, his voice calm. Resting his hand on his chin, he closed his eyes and delved into Mixarnt's memories, watching the final moments of his fallen fragment. 

As Xarnt watched Mixarnt's memories, he saw that his fragment had done well—but the sudden appearance of anomalies had changed everything. Even before Mixarnt was ambushed by three of them, he had already fought several during his journey with Aeriel. Their deaths caused a ripple effect, altering the timeline of Universe F01 and leading to the downfall of its gods.

"Sigh... This is the problem. Those bastards need to be erased," Xarnt muttered, his expression darkening.

He understood all too well why these beings were called anomalies—they had the power to disrupt the flow of time by targeting and eliminating the destined hero or heroine of a world under a Timekeeper’s watch. Unlike stable universes that required no intervention, the worlds assigned to Timekeepers were inherently fragile. If left unchecked, these disruptions could bring catastrophic consequences.

"Boss, you look serious," Luxirial, Xarnt’s secretary, remarked while organizing his schedule. She had noticed that he had stopped working on his paperwork, deep in thought.

"Ah, well, one of you guys died again—this time to an anomaly," Xarnt replied casually, letting out a yawn. "It wasn’t due to negligence, but because there were too many of them. Universe F01 is gone now." There was nothing he could do at this point except retrieve the souls trapped in the Time Stream.

"Hmmm… I see. So, you’ll be soul-gathering in the Time Stream again," Luxirial said with curiosity. "Boss, if I may ask, what exactly is the Time Stream? Unlike you, we fragments don’t have the authority or ability to retrieve souls. Also, why does a universe and its gods vanish just because an anomaly succeeds in killing the hero or heroine? A universe has multiple worlds—how can the fall of a single world affect all the others?"

Xarnt sighed, rubbing his temples. He had never bothered explaining the complexities of his work to his fragments, assuming they understood. But hearing Luxirial’s questions made him realize they didn’t. His expression tightened in frustration.

"Alright, let me break it down for you, Luxirial," Xarnt said with a sigh.

"In every universe, all worlds are connected by the Threads of Time. The gods of a universe create these worlds simultaneously, and each world has its own natural timeline for when it will end. Even if a god decides to destroy a world on a whim, the Threads of Time remain unaffected. However, that’s where anomalies come in. These beings have the power to disrupt those threads. Now, you might wonder why anomalies don’t just attack random worlds. The reason is that each universe has one main world—the core that anchors its timeline. If the hero or heroine of that world strays too far from their intended path, the anchor weakens. This isn’t an issue if the world ends naturally, as the Threads of Time remain intact. But if an anomaly destroys that world, or if its hero or heroine dies unnaturally, the Thread of Time collapses, causing the entire universe to unravel. This also affects its gods because their creations are tied to their divinity and soul.

As Timekeepers, our job is to stabilize these main worlds, so they become self-sufficient. Once a world reaches that point, it achieves a perfect past, present, and future, making it immune to time disruptions."

Xarnt rubbed his temples. Explaining time mechanics always gave him a headache. It was already complicated to understand, let alone simplify for someone else.

"Now, about the Time Stream—think of it like a river," Xarnt began. "This is where the souls of those who died due to time disruptions end up. In the past, it was rare for a soul to appear there—maybe one or two every 100,000 years. But ever since anomalies started interfering, I've had to compress the Time Stream, extract the souls, and store them in Time Orbs."

Luxirial blinked, her mind struggling to process the image of Xarnt literally squeezing a river like a wet cloth before hanging it to dry.

"As you can see," Xarnt gestured around the room, "I have ten Time Orbs here. Each one holds the souls from a destroyed universe. Don't worry—they're suspended in time, so they won’t deteriorate. The real problem is finding a universe willing to adopt these souls. Most gods refuse because adding too many souls would overpopulate their worlds. Technically, I could create a new world myself, since I have the authority, but world creation is complicated and time-consuming, and I already have my hands full as a Timekeeper."

Xarnt stood up.

"Where are you going, Boss?" Luxirial asked.

"To a universe where those damn anomalies are hiding."

"But—! We aren’t allowed to interfere, especially you! You can't just ignore the rules set by that universe’s gods!" Luxirial protested, panic creeping into her voice.

Xarnt chuckled, flashing a mischievous grin. "Who said anything about breaking the rules? Don't worry—I have a plan."

With that, he strode out of his office.