The days following Elena's encounter with the ancient device passed in an eerie calm. The island seemed to breathe easier, the air lighter, as if a great weight had been lifted. Yet, despite the apparent return to normalcy, Elena couldn't shake the feeling that her journey into the heart of Lanzarote was far from over.
The watch had remained inert since she restored the balance, but Elena kept it with her, a reminder of the island’s hidden depths. She continued her research on the marine life, but her thoughts often wandered back to the cave, to the glowing stone disk, and to the visions of the Lost Ones.
One evening, while sifting through old maps and charts in the town's dusty archive, Elena stumbled upon something that made her heart skip a beat. It was an ancient map of Lanzarote, but the coastline was slightly different, the mountains more jagged, and in the center of the island was a symbol she recognized immediately—the same symbol etched into the cave’s entrance.
Beside the symbol was a word: "Ajaches."
Elena knew the Ajaches were a range of mountains in the south of the island, older than the rest of Lanzarote and steeped in myth. According to legend, the Ajaches were once home to a mighty civilization that disappeared without a trace. With her pulse quickening, Elena realized that the Lost Ones may have been connected to this ancient civilization. If the stone disk she had found in Timanfaya was just one piece of their legacy, then perhaps the Ajaches held more secrets, possibly even an explanation for the time fractures that had plagued the island.
Elena decided to explore the Ajaches, but she knew she couldn’t do it alone. She reached out to her old friend Marco, an archaeologist who had spent years studying the ancient cultures of the Canary Islands. Marco was skeptical at first, but Elena's passion and the strange story she told convinced him to join her.
Together, they trekked into the Ajaches, the jagged peaks casting long shadows in the afternoon sun. The landscape was harsh, the ground cracked and dry, but there was something almost magnetic about the place, as if the very rocks hummed with energy.
They searched for days, scouring the mountains for any sign of the Lost Ones. Just when they were about to give up, they found it—hidden in a narrow crevice, a doorway carved into the rock, so old it was almost invisible. The same ancient symbols adorned its surface, and as Elena approached, the watch in her pocket began to hum softly.
They pushed open the door, revealing a steep stairway leading deep into the mountain. The air grew cooler as they descended, and the walls of the passage were lined with carvings—scenes of daily life, strange rituals, and depictions of the stone disk that had altered time itself.
At the bottom of the stairway, they entered a vast chamber, larger than anything they could have imagined. The ceiling was high, supported by massive columns that glowed faintly with a light that seemed to come from within the stone. In the center of the chamber stood a massive circular platform, similar to the one Elena had seen in the cave, but much larger and more complex.
Marco was in awe, running his hands over the carvings, trying to decipher their meaning. Elena, however, was drawn to the platform. As she stepped onto it, the watch began to spin wildly, and the symbols on the platform lit up, filling the chamber with a soft, pulsating light.
Suddenly, the chamber began to change. The air shimmered, and the walls seemed to melt away, revealing scenes from different times. They saw the Ajaches as they once were—green and fertile, home to a thriving civilization. They saw the Lost Ones, dressed in robes of gold and silver, standing around the platform, their hands raised in a ritual. They watched as the Lost Ones manipulated time itself, bending the fabric of reality to their will.
But the scenes grew darker. They saw the consequences of their actions—fractures in time, causing chaos across the island. The once-thriving civilization began to crumble, its people disappearing into the voids they had created. The Lost Ones tried to stop the destruction, but it was too late. The last thing they saw before the chamber returned to the present was the Lost Ones sealing the platform, burying their knowledge deep within the Ajaches, hoping that time would heal itself.
Elena and Marco stood in silence, the weight of what they had witnessed pressing down on them. The platform had been a tool of unimaginable power, but it had also been a curse. The Lost Ones had tried to control time, but they had paid the ultimate price.
As they left the chamber, Elena knew that Lanzarote’s story was far more complex than she had ever imagined. The island wasn’t just a place lost in time—it was a place where time itself had been shattered and then carefully stitched back together. The Lost Ones might be gone, but their legacy remained, buried deep within the island’s volcanic heart.
Elena and Marco decided to keep their discovery a secret, fearing that the knowledge of the Lost Ones could once again bring chaos to the world. They sealed the chamber, leaving it to sleep beneath the Ajaches, hoping that the past would remain where it belonged.
But as they walked back to the village, Elena couldn't shake the feeling that their actions had not gone unnoticed. The island had a way of revealing its secrets to those who sought them, and she knew that one day, someone else would come, drawn by the same mystery that had led her to the heart of Lanzarote. And when that day came, the island would once again be lost in time, waiting for a new chapter to be written.
