Chương 39: 039

Silas rounded the corner at a run, Dominicus on his right and the rabbit beastfolk on his left. His face was a mask of frantic fear, and satisfaction twisted sharply in my chest. This was a man who'd committed great wrongs and was finally facing the consequences. He deserved to suffer for the rest of his life—but Time was right. He was too dangerous to leave alive. For Maya. For the resistance. And for the orc woman I still needed to save. Fast Forward stirred beneath my skin, eager, hungry.

I raised a hand, willing the spell toward Silas. Power gathered, familiar and vicious, thrumming like needles beneath my flesh. Then I froze. Pain exploded through my memory. My arm disintegrating. Bone and muscle unraveling into a throbbing, screaming stump. My grip on the spell faltered. It lashed sideways, brushing the tapestry beside my head. Dread plunged through my gut as the fabric aged in seconds, colors bleaching, threads rotting away, holes blooming like disease, until it collapsed into dust.

I hadn't seen what it had done to my arm, thank every deity in existence, but I didn't need to. My stomach churned. Time's voice cut through the panic, sharp and urgent. Focus. The king is in sight now. I forced the echoes of pain down and rebuilt Fast Forward, ignoring every instinct screaming at me to stop. There was no other option. The power vibrated under my skin, a phantom ache pulsing in time with my heartbeat. Pain crept back in, rising steadily as Silas drew closer.

Instinct screamed to let go, before it lashed back on me again. When invisible hands squeezed around my lungs, every breath a wheezy rasp, I did. I hurled the spell at Silas like molten metal I couldn't hold for even a second longer. Halfway there, it sputtered. The crimson glow dimmed, then collapsed into the carpet, fading from red to gray. Silas stared at the spot, confusion flickering, then calculation burned to the surface. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform.

Support original creators! Cold dread flooded my stomach as he turned toward my hiding place, eyes snapping onto me just like before. Manic glee twisted his features as he stepped closer, smile sharp and wrong.

"Ah, there's our dimension-crossing savior. Quite the power you have. Exactly what we need in our time of crisis." He reached for me. Instinct screamed. I couldn't let him touch me, but there was nowhere to run. Stone pressed into my back, adrenaline spiking. He was a yard away, and then he froze. Not just him. Everything did. His hand hovered inches from me, one leg still lifted mid-step. The others stood just as still, their chests not moving, eyes fixed ahead. Relief slammed into me like a freight train.

Then Time materialized between us, his eyes flashing like obsidian blades.

"What are you doing?" His voice cracked like thunder.

"I cannot rewind the entirety of Nexus again. This is your only chance and you are throwing it aside?!" I flinched. His power thickened the air, choking, his rage pricking my skin like molten pins. The weight of the last day crashed down on me, and I snapped back.

"I'm not doing this on purpose, you prick! I aimed it at Silas and it died halfway there! How is that my fault?" His jaw tightened as he visibly wrestled his temper.

"It failed because you did not let the spell finish. You released it early. Magic is useless if you do not give it the proper time to cast." Maybe he had every reason to be furious–exhausted, cornered by an oncoming apocalypse–but so did I. I threw my hands up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I cast it wrong! The only time I've ever used that spell, it disintegrated my arm. Forgive me for not mastering it on my second attempt!" He grimaced, lips pulled thin, but he didn't interrupt. Good. I wasn't done.

"I've had zero training. No lessons. And Fast Forward is a level ten spell. Expecting me to pull that off cleanly is like expecting an infant to run a marathon!" And that wasn't even touching the trauma. The pain might've been in my head, but that didn't make it any less real. More than anything, I wished I could hogtie Silas and dump him at the resistance leader's feet. Let them decide his fate. They were the ones he'd wronged. Then I could focus on the apocalypse, the entire reason I was here.

I shoved the thought aside and glared at Time.

"I was a doctor, not a fighter. I didn't come here to kill people." Even if I'd already done so, accidentally, and on a horrifying scale.

"I never planned on using offensive magic. Especially not something like Fast Forward. So cut me some slack while I try to paddle through this absolute clusterfuck of a situation." I'd fix this. But I wasn't about to let him tear into me for fumbling a spell that inspired nothing good in my psych. The scowl carved into Time's face softened. After a long moment, he released a weary breath.

"I forgot that you are an infant. My apologies." I bristled. Oh, he did not just say that.