THE EMPEROR OF TIME

Chapter 1: The Jade Pendant

Beijing, China. October 2026.

Rain hammered against the windows of the National Institute of Chinese History.

Inside a small office on the seventh floor, Chen Tianyu sat surrounded by ancient manuscripts, archaeological photographs, and empty coffee cups.

He stared at the image displayed on his computer screen.

It showed a jade pendant discovered inside a sealed tomb beneath an abandoned mountain temple in Shaanxi Province.

The pendant was shaped like a coiled dragon.

Its eyes had been carved from a strange black stone, and its surface was covered with inscriptions that did not belong to any known period of Chinese writing.

Tianyu enlarged the photograph.

There it was again.

The same symbol.

A circle surrounded by nine intersecting lines.

He had seen it before.

Fifteen years earlier, his father had drawn the same symbol in a notebook shortly before disappearing.

Tianyu leaned back in his chair.

His father, Chen Guowei, had been a respected archaeologist specializing in ancient Chinese royal tombs. When Tianyu was thirteen, his father left Beijing to investigate an underground burial chamber discovered near the Qinling Mountains.

He never returned.

The official report stated that an underground collapse had killed the entire expedition.

However, no bodies were recovered.

No burial chamber was ever found.

And the final page of his father’s research notebook had been torn out.

For fifteen years, Tianyu had searched for answers.

He had interviewed surviving members of the archaeological team, examined old excavation records, and visited every museum connected to his father’s research.

Nothing.

Until three days ago.

An anonymous sender had delivered a small package to his office.

Inside was a photograph of the jade pendant and a handwritten note.

If you want to know what happened to your father, go to the old temple at midnight.

There was no name.

No return address.

Only a location.

Tianyu looked at the clock.

11:17 p.m.

He shut down his computer, grabbed his coat, and placed the photograph inside his bag.

Something about the pendant disturbed him.

Not because it looked mysterious.

Because he had seen it in his dreams.

For years, he had dreamed of standing before an enormous bronze door while a man’s voice called his name from the other side.

Every time he approached the door, the same words appeared across its surface.

THE PAST REMEMBERS YOU.

He had dismissed the dreams as the result of stress.

Tonight, however, he had a feeling that he was finally approaching the truth.

And he intended to discover it.

Even if he had to descend into hell to do so.

The old temple stood beyond the outskirts of Beijing, hidden among steep hills and dense pine trees.

By the time Tianyu arrived, the rain had become a storm.

He parked his car beside a broken stone wall and climbed the narrow path leading to the temple.

The structure was ancient.

Its wooden doors had rotted, its roof had partially collapsed, and weeds grew between the stone steps.

Yet the building did not appear abandoned.

Fresh footprints marked the wet ground.

Tianyu crouched and examined them.

Someone had been here recently.

He followed the prints into the temple.

Inside, the air smelled of damp stone and incense.

A row of broken statues stood along the walls. Their faces had been damaged, leaving only fragments of their original expressions.

At the far end of the room stood a bronze door.

Tianyu stopped breathing.

It was identical to the door in his dreams.

Nine circular symbols had been carved into its surface.

The same symbols he had seen on his father’s notebook.

And in the center was the outline of a dragon.

“Impossible,” he whispered.

A sound came from behind him.

“You finally came.”

Tianyu spun around.

An elderly man stood in the doorway.

He wore a dark traditional robe and held a wooden staff. His long white hair fell over his shoulders, but his face looked strangely youthful.

“Who are you?” Tianyu demanded.

The stranger ignored the question.

Instead, he studied Tianyu’s face.

“You have your father’s eyes.”

Tianyu felt his heart pounding.

“You knew my father?”

The old man smiled sadly.

“I knew him before you were born.”

“Where is he?”

“That depends on which year you are asking about.”

Tianyu stared at him.

“What does that mean?”

The stranger raised his staff and struck the floor.

A low vibration passed through the temple.

The bronze door began to open.

Behind it lay a staircase descending into darkness.

“Your father made a terrible mistake,” the old man said. “And now you must decide whether to repeat it.”

Tianyu stepped forward.

“Tell me where he is.”

The old man looked toward the staircase.

“Below you.”

Before Tianyu could ask another question, the stranger disappeared.

There was no flash of light.

No sound of footsteps.

One moment he stood in the doorway.

The next, he was gone.

Tianyu remained motionless for several seconds.

Then he took out his phone.

No signal.

He switched on its flashlight and began descending the staircase.

The walls were covered with ancient inscriptions.

Some appeared to be written in classical Chinese.

Others resembled mathematical formulas.

At the bottom, he discovered a circular chamber containing a stone platform.

The jade pendant lay at its center.

Tianyu approached cautiously.

It was no longer black.

Its surface glowed with a deep blue light.

A thin line of writing appeared across the stone platform.

He recognized the characters immediately.

They were written in modern Chinese.

CHEN TIANYU. BORN 17 MAY 1998. ARRIVAL CONFIRMED.

His blood ran cold.

“Who is doing this?”

The chamber answered with a deep rumble.

Nine lights appeared around the platform.

The pendant rose into the air.

Then a voice echoed through the darkness.

“Temporal connection established.”

Tianyu staggered backward.

The voice continued.

“Destination confirmed.”

“Wait!” Tianyu shouted. “What destination?”

The floor cracked beneath his feet.

Blue light flooded the chamber.

“Historical period: Sui Dynasty.”

“Year: 618.”

“Identity: Unregistered.”

Tianyu reached for the staircase.

Too late.

The entire chamber began rotating.

Images flashed around him.

Armies marched beneath red banners.

Palaces burned.

A woman in white stood beside a river, crying blood.

A man wearing an imperial crown looked directly at Tianyu.

And behind the emperor stood someone who looked exactly like Tianyu himself.

The vision vanished.

A deafening explosion shook the chamber.

Tianyu felt himself falling.

He reached for the pendant, but it shot toward his chest and disappeared beneath his clothes.

Darkness swallowed him.

His last thought was of his father.

What have you done?

“Wake up!”

A sharp kick struck Tianyu’s ribs.

He groaned.

“Wake up, you useless dog!”

Someone kicked him again.

Tianyu opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the smell.

Mud.

Horse manure.

Smoke.

The second thing he noticed was the sword pressed against his throat.

Three armed men stood over him.

They wore ancient armor and carried curved blades.

Behind them, a wooden cart rattled along a muddy road.

Beyond the road stood a city surrounded by enormous walls.

Flags fluttered from watchtowers.

Horses pulled carts filled with grain.

Merchants shouted beneath rows of wooden awnings.

And above the city gate hung a large banner bearing two characters.

大隋.

Great Sui.

Tianyu’s mind went blank.

He knew those characters.

Every historian in China knew them.

The Sui Dynasty.

The dynasty that had unified China after centuries of division.

The dynasty that was collapsing in 618 AD.

He pushed himself upright.

“Where am I?”

The soldier holding the sword frowned.

“You dare question your betters?”

Tianyu looked at the man’s armor, his weapon, and the buildings beyond the road.

Everything was wrong.

The clothing.

The language.

The architecture.

Even the air smelled different.

He reached for his phone.

It was gone.

His wristwatch was gone.

His modern clothes had been replaced with a dirty grey robe tied around his waist with a rope.

He touched his chest.

The jade pendant was still there.

Its surface had become cold.

“No,” he whispered.

The soldier grabbed his collar.

“What did you say?”

Tianyu stared at the city gate.

He had studied the fall of the Sui Dynasty for nearly ten years.

He knew the empire was facing rebellion.

He knew the emperor was losing control.

He knew the next few months would change Chinese history forever.

But he also knew something else.

A major military confrontation would soon occur near the capital.

If the dates he remembered were correct, thousands of innocent people would die.

He could warn someone.

He could intervene.

He could change history.

Or he could remain silent and find a way home.

The soldier tightened his grip.

“Answer me!”

Tianyu slowly raised his eyes.

“Tell me the year.”

The three soldiers exchanged confused looks.

Then the tallest one laughed.

“Have you gone mad?”

He shoved Tianyu into the mud.

“Everyone knows the year. It is the thirteenth year of Daye, under the Great Sui.”

Tianyu stopped breathing.

The thirteenth year of Daye.

Six hundred and seventeen.

Not 618.

He had arrived several months earlier than expected.

Several months before the empire’s final collapse.

Several months before the events he remembered began unfolding.

The tallest soldier raised his sword.

“Enough questions. The governor ordered every suspicious traveler detained. You are coming with us.”

Tianyu looked at the blade.

Then at the city.

He had no money, no identification, no allies, and no way to prove who he was.

But he possessed one advantage that no one in this world could imagine.

He knew the future.

And as the soldier reached for his arm, Tianyu noticed a military dispatch hanging from the man’s belt.

The document bore a red seal.

Tianyu recognized the seal immediately.

His expression changed.

He knew that symbol.

It belonged to a general who, according to the historical records, would die within three days.

But the dispatch in front of him revealed something history had never recorded.

The general was preparing to attack the imperial capital.

Not to defend it.

To destroy it.

Tianyu slowly lifted his head.

“Listen to me,” he said.

The soldier sneered.

“Why should I?”

“Because if you take me to the governor, you will be executed before sunrise.”

The laughter stopped.

The tallest soldier pressed his sword harder against Tianyu’s throat.

“Explain yourself.”

Tianyu stared into his eyes.

“Your general is about to betray the emperor. The army outside this city is not coming to reinforce you. It is coming to kill everyone inside these walls.”

The soldier’s face changed.

For the first time, Tianyu saw fear in his eyes.

“How do you know that?”

Tianyu had no answer he could safely give.

He looked toward the city gate as distant drums began to sound.

One beat.

Then another.

A guard climbed the nearest watchtower and shouted something in an unfamiliar dialect.

The soldiers turned.

A rider was approaching at full speed.

His horse was covered in sweat, and blood stained his sleeve.

He leaped from the saddle and shouted:

“Emergency order from the governor!”

The soldiers immediately knelt.

The rider raised a sealed document.

“Close the gates! Arrest every stranger! By imperial command, a man from beyond the heavens has entered the city!”

Tianyu felt the jade pendant grow warm against his chest.

The rider continued.

“The man is to be taken alive. Anyone who kills him will be executed.”

Silence fell over the road.

Slowly, the rider turned toward Tianyu.

His eyes widened.

Then he dropped to one knee.

“Your Highness,” he whispered.

Tianyu stared at him.

“I think you have mistaken me for someone else.”

The rider bowed his head until it touched the mud.

“No, my lord.”

He lifted his face.

“We have been waiting for you for three hundred years.”

End of Chapter 1.