The Loopmaker's Paradox

Embedded between the wrinkles of an old hill in the quiet city of Eridge, it was home to a retracted watchmaker named Elias Vern. His business "Timeless Tick" sat at the corner of a cobbled alley. Most of the time, Elias was a man of the time - even in the summer, he wore a long wool coat and a brass pocket watch that was never carved. , but Elias had a secret.

What was hidden beneath his business was a machine - a wide network of gear, lights, and summer: highlights of decades of work. Not only theoretical, but also functional time machines. He was built from a blueprint he had never created, but was called in the box at his front door on a stormy night: *Elias, Elias.

He never spoke of his soul. Until now.

---

On a cold night, a young woman named Nora came across the shop, soaking and trembling.

"I need your help," she said. "You are the only one who can stop it."

Elias raised her forehead. "What should I stop?"

She pulled the folded photo from her coat. It showed an abandoned city - the clock tower broke in half and broke. Date: April 21, 2025. Just three days away.

"This is impossible," Elias whispered. "This isn't - how did you get it?"

"I came from the future. From your future."

Elias felt a slow heartbeat. His eyes drifted over his pocket watch with his coat.

"Come with me," he said.

He led them into the machine.

"I made it," he said more about himself than she did. "But I've never used it."

"You have," she said. "You do. You did that because you had to stop me in advance?"

Nora's hands tremble, he opened his backpack, a small device picked up and picked up, making a compact time jump.

"You invented it too," she said. "In the future, you can jump or back up to 72 hours ahead. But something goes wrong."

She took a break.

"Send me back to stop myself. To stop finishing the core drive.

"But I'm not evenly - "

" You will. You always do that."

Elias stared at the machine. He never dared to take care of it completely. But when Nora said the truth, he might have already had it.

"Time is not a line," she said. "It crushes. It folds. They keep trying to go back and try to fix it, but every time they start making another version now."

he stepped towards the machine. His hand hovered over the main switch. "So if I destroy it..."

"The past will not change," Nora said. "But it can stop the future."

---

 Together, we dismantled the machine. Nora guided him and warned him about the components that were too fleeting. As they worked, Elias noticed her watch - it was the same as his. Brass, worn edges. Same inscription on the lid: *For each tick, a second chance. *

She hesitated when he asked about it.

"You gave me that," she said. "Before you die,"

Something twisted in Elias' chest.

---

The final component was a small crystalline core illuminated with weak blue. Elias remembered the creation, although her memories felt like dreams.

"If you delete it, this loop will end," Nora said.

"Or reset," Elias muttered.

She nodded. "Or worse."

He hesitated. After that, we reached it.

A fluctuation in light filled the cellar as his fingers touched the nucleus.

---

He fell. Time is passing by.

Moment Flash, an alternative version of the same day. Nora from childhood. Nora with gray hair. Eliasville. Elias dies. Machines are always built and always destroyed. The infinite loop collapses.

Then silence....

---

Elias woke up at the bottom of his workshop.

The shop looked the same. But something felt... out. He checked the calendar. April 19, 2025.

3 more days away.

He rushed underground.

No machine.

Dust and old furniture only.

However, pictures of the destroyed city were still in my pocket.

Did it work?

He opened his coat. The pocket watch is gone.

Notes instead of

.

Loop stopped. That doesn't stop time. It just buys more. Continue to make careful choices. There were no signatures. However, the manuscript was written by him.

---

The next day, the mayor of the city knocked on the door of Elias' store.

"We will begin repairing the old tower," he said. "The city council voted for a digital upgrade. You've always been an expert - and did you help us to dismantle the original?"

Elias stared at him.

"No,Stand up. It's better than all of us."

The mayor smiled and left.

Elias returned to his clock. He agreed with everyone, and the tick filled the room like a throbbing heart.

Nora was still there no matter where she was. Or it will. Or was it? He could not change what had already happened.

But he could choose what happened next.

---

** Three days later. **

Eleridge was calm.

The tower was big. There is no fire. There is no destruction.

Elias sat under his shadow and drank coffee. He felt the weight of the past, the future, and everyone pushed it against him - but only for a while.

And it overcame it.

The girl passed by and held her mother's hand. She took a break, turned around and shook Elias.

She wore a brass watch.

Same inscription.

*Each tick, a second chance. *

He smiled.

Perhaps that was enough.