Tick...Tock

Tick.

That was the last real sound. The cut off so sudden, so loud in that sea of silence. Everything around was still, even your own flesh. Not paralyzed, not changed, not even sore. Just still. And then breath came again. The air around you moved sluggishly as you slowly stood up, and looked around the now silent lecture theater.

All was still.

And then it wasn’t. One by one, a couple of others stood, shaking off a tangible slowness, and gazing around the room in shock. Everything was frozen. Chairs on the verge of sliding, drinks on the edge of spilling, a thrown paper airplane carrying a message from one side of the crowded hall to the other, all stopped in their tracks.

A silent, frozen world, populated by the five, counting yourself, you could see almost wading through the sea of slowness. Some seemed to be speaking, yet there was no sound passing through the still air. How odd…

Then a crack appeared through the wall. Except, it wasn’t in the wall, and even as you watched it spread, moving through the air, the furniture, the people, seemingly without effect. A sense of profound wrongness surrounded it, a feeling of instinctive dislike and discomfort, a knowledge that, whatever it was, it was Wrong.

You were almost so distracted by its passage you didn’t notice the thing it left behind, but it’s hard to miss a jumbled together mass of tables and chairs rearing its “head” and howling in a voice which sounded like a thousand stools screeching over across an already scuffed floor. Then it turned to look at you.

Of course, you backed away. Any sensible person would back away. But a little voice at the back of your head told you this was your job. You had been selected to deal with a problem. You had no choice in the matter. The universe was broken, and it was up to you to put it back together.

You wouldn't be entirely unaided, however. That ring, the one you got on holiday all those years ago, but still fits you perfectly, suddenly felt heavy in your hand. Then it felt warm. Then you found yourself holding a ring of shining steel, a circular blade you were certain was deadly sharp, yet you held with an easy competence, an almost innate understanding of its use suddenly blossoming in your mind.

The air around moved almost freely now, and looking around the room, all the others seemed to be moving faster, more freely, and almost all were armed. The thought occurred to you that a bladed ring thrown at thrice the normal speed possible might just help with the job ahead.

This was starting to get interesting…

The air shook as the crack faded and the Aberration howled as it descended into its component parts. You felt the air start to move even as the ring in your hand shrank back to its usual size. A long awaited finish to a sound which seemed to have begun decades ago finally found its voice

Tock.

It was all over. The smile bloomed as you felt the wind on your face for what seemed like the first time in days. The others grinned too, happy to be alive, happy to feel the slow onset of time after an incomprehensible time without any standard flow to speak of. As the normal business of the lecture theater resumed almost instantly, you rapidly made your way back to your seat, careful to conceal torn clothing and working the ring back onto its customary finger. You know in your heart that, sooner or later, you’ll need it again. Time will stop, the Universe will call, and you’ll be ready.

You can’t wait.

(Credits: Earthflame)

• Back to Stories in Pause