Chapter 15C: Lamentation at the Precipice

“I thought we would trigger the Array when my power expired,” Aeliana whispered as she recounted the plot we conspired.

“That was the idea, but there’s a wrinkle in the plan. I want to get my friend out of here as quickly as I can.”

Aeliana glanced at Donovan and said as if to herself, “I thought we did not care at all about anyone else.”

“I believe on some level that I was Donovan in a past life. He like me has eyes locked in a tunnel to see only his wife. Even while lost in a crowd or locked in time and space, you can see his search for her written all over his face. He and I are both bound by the same one-track mind; I see a future to forge while he sees one to find. It’s true that if I help him I have nothing to gain, but if I create his heartbreak then I will suffer the same. This only works if I can get him out of here. I can only save his heart if she is not yet here. It’s a wrinkle, but this concession is one I know I must make,” I explained to Aeliana for Donovan’s sake.

Aeliana nodded but did not say a word. The plague had poisoned her body and paralyzed her lungs. I held her closely in my arms in this timeless space, lost in the center of a motionless crowd. I silently remarked for a moment on the way in which this bizarre circumstance resembled everyday life for those of us to whom a crowd means nothing. For those of us who found ourselves uninterested in the inane interactions of ordinary people, this timeless world was no different than usual.

Even before we forced time to freeze, I never cared which words passed between strangers in pointless conversations. I never cared on any level about anything they did or said. All my life, the people who flooded the streets of this city were worth nothing more than the air they breathe; I noticed them no more than I noticed mundane decorations in stores or markets. All their lives could have ended at a glance, and I doubt I would have noticed. They were always meaningless, carrying on inconsequential conversations which did not concern me, just as they did now except that they were frozen in time. They were just as meaningless as ever before, but at least I could give meaning to their lives in death by carrying them with me into eternity.

When her power expired, the world returned to motion exactly as before. The crowds continued their inconsequential conversations, and modest waves washed ashore in the distant shallows. No one seemed to notice the faint stain we placed upon the sand, or at least no one cared enough to interrupt the course of their chatter. It almost felt like a star could descend from the sky and strike the sea beside them, but they would not notice or care enough to interrupt their inanity. They behaved exactly as I predicted. I carefully meandered my way through the crowd until I found Donovan, hardly hiding that he was the target of my quest. I found him as he himself scoured the shore in search of his family, but he emerged from his monomania in the moment he saw me.

“I never thought that I would see you again. City security went and ransacked your home,” said Donovan as he realized that I was not alone.

I whispered to him as Aeliana walked up to my side, “I need you to run far away and find somewhere to hide. That is the only way you can escape this shore with your life. You will simply have to gamble that this crowd does not contain your wife.”

But Donovan tilted his head to the side and asked, “How do you always manage to outrun your past? No one who exits the walls ever comes back alive. No one who robs a city leader manages to survive. I know that you killed the queen of the dark. Anyone else would have died a thousand times for the crimes you committed.”

I explained to him to emphasize the gravity, “This city stands just seconds from tragedy. I have survived this long by killing others in my place, and soon I will kill everyone who has gathered in this space. This city will sit quiet and hollow for decades, and I will stand at the center as all this world fades. You can be scared as long as you escape this shore, but you must run because we cannot wait anymore.”

Donovan glanced at the sand behind us and saw a stain engraved upon the sand. His green eyes lit up with recognition as he came to realize the unfolding tragedy. He took off running toward the street in a full-force sprint, but I could tell by the way he ran that he did not care to save himself. He did not run with his face held motionlessly toward his self-prescribed finish line. Instead, he bobbed his head side-to-side as he sprinted, scouring the crowd one last time for some sign of his family. The other people on the beach glanced at him for a moment with intrigue, but they quickly dismissed their curiosity and resumed their conversations.

Having failed to find his family in the crowd as he ran past, I finally realized the destination of Donovan’s dash. Starlight shimmered on the steel surface of a ladder which descended the side of a three-story building near shore. It stood just past the edge of the enormous Array, but it stood close enough to shore that he could overlook the beach and inspect the crowd from above. He had no interest in saving himself or anyone else. He cared only to find his family and save them from the inescapable tragedy. Even at the edge of oblivion, he ran for higher ground with which he could spot and somehow save the love of his life. This in itself served as ultimate evidence that he and I were different iterations of the same soul, but I feared that this also proved he would not survive my Array. He would die because he had chosen to run away instead of fighting back – a lesson which would stain his soul even if he sacrificed his memories to reroll the cosmic dice.

Having given Donovan my warning, I took Aeliana by the hand and jogged back toward the only opening in the massive Array. It would take mere seconds to complete the inscription and engulf the crowd in a burst of black fire. But even as I ran with her hand in mine, I could feel through her limp grip and her high temperature that her sickness had pushed her to the edge. After helping to stain the beach with the special ink, she could hardly move her arms on her own. She nearly stumbled six times as we made our way to the only opening in the Array. But in that moment, I saw a familiar silhouette emerge from the faceless crowd. In a group of people who served no purpose other than fuel, a single man emerged onto a stand from which he could announce to the crowd. He unsheathed a sword and pointed it at us from across the beach. A light shone upon him from below and revealed that this was Hayatama.

His voice shouted to the crowd without tact or pity, “Those are the villains who attacked our city! I know for a fact that even now they orchestrate a heartless plot. Security! Anyone! I’ll reward anyone who stops them with an exorbitant prize!”

I felt a sudden jolt like I had been shot through my soul. Without wasting any time to inspect myself for damage, I prepared my paintbrush and stumbled toward the only opening in the Array. Even if I were attacked on all sides, I could slay them all in the second I completed the inscription. But as I pushed my way closer, I felt a tremendous drag on the right side of my body. I glanced to the side in a state of shock and saw that the shiver I suffered was felt through her as if by some vicarious connection. Someone had struck Aeliana from a distance with an arrow through the chest. I let out an audible gasp and wrapped my arms around her; I could feel her warm blood rinse across my arms. She dropped onto her knees with a squeal and stared at me with tear-filled eyes. I realized in that moment that she had frozen time.