In 2077, Ling Chen, a college dropout from the Earth and Geophysics Department, accidentally tears through the fabric of reality while recreating his father's time-space experiment. He is swept into a fantasy world called the Esos Continent. A silver "Rift Mark" appears on his left wrist, declaring him the "Time-Space Rift Controller," tasked with maintaining the balance between two worlds.
Accompanied by Ailiya, a silver-eyed archer; Karen, a half-dragon artisan; and Lillian, a being of pure consciousness, Ling Chen sets out to collect twelve "Time-Space Fragments." Scattered across civilizations at different stages of development, the fragments are both essential to repairing the Heart of the World and coveted by Mothas, leader of the "Scar Eaters." This mysterious man, who calls himself the "future Ling Chen," believes that sacrificing one world is the only way to save the other.
From lava temples to mechanical cities, from desert oases to the land of the dead, the team crosses twelve civilizational divides, battling invaders who can tear through space, manipulated apostles, and Ling Chen's own doubts about what it means to "save" someone. As the two worlds begin to overlap in response to the fragments, the Tokyo Tower merges with an ancient elven tree, and magical energy floods Earth's networks. Ling Chen must make a choice between "sacrificing one world" and "creating a third path," a decision that transcends the laws of time and space.
This is an epic about the philosophy of time and the clash of civilizations. When the clocks of two worlds point to the same moment, the true master of fate has never been the one who submits to it, but the one who creates their own choices.
