Chapter 54 – Time Fractured
"Power that isn't understood doesn't save. It consumes."
The courtyard still echoed with screams.
But Yash heard none of it.
He stood in the center of the storm — breathing hard, arms shaking, his fingers crackling with distorted light.
His eyes were unfocused.
His mind somewhere between now… and not-now.
Time had slipped.
Again.
A minute ago, he was fighting three creatures.
Now — they were gone.
One was half-melted into the wall.
One was torn apart by an invisible blade.
The third… just wasn't there anymore.
Yash didn't remember how.
He didn't remember doing it.
All he remembered was rage.
And then: nothing.
Mira ran toward him. "Yash! Stop! Look at me!"
But he wasn't looking.
He wasn't even in the moment anymore.
He saw Khushi — still alive, yes, but afraid.
He saw Rishav, burned on one arm, clutching a crying child.
He saw Ankita, blood in her mouth, dragging herself toward a fallen enemy.
And then — he saw none of them.
Because time bent again.
And Yash saw five futures at once.
In one, the shelter stood tall.
In another, it was burning.
In another, he was gone.
In another, Khushi wore his mark.
And in one… he had killed them all.
He screamed.
And the world screamed with him.
Reality cracked.
Light bent in angles that didn't exist.
Stone floated.
Ash froze in the air.
Voices echoed before they were spoken.
Time wasn't just breaking around him —
it was breaking inside him.
Mira reached him and slapped him across the face.
"Breathe!" she shouted. "You're not a god! You're still human! Breathe, damn it!"
And somehow, her voice — just her voice — cut through the fracture.
The air snapped.
The courtyard settled.
The echoes stopped.
Yash collapsed.
Khushi knelt beside him, whispering softly:
"Even if time breaks…
We're still here.
Come back."
And he did.
Eyes wet.
Nose bleeding.
Heart racing.
But he was back.
He had used too much.
Too fast.
His second form — Time — was not meant for rage.
It was meant for control.
And he had none.
Now, he realized something terrifying:
He could break the world
— if he wasn't careful.