Ethan stopped checking the time.
It didn't matter anymore.
Every second felt… used.
Not passing. Not flowing.
Spent.
He stood at his window, staring at the city below. Cars moved. People walked. Lights flickered on and off like nothing had changed.
But everything had.
"You're wasting it."
Aval's voice cut in.
Ethan didn't turn. "Then tell me what I'm supposed to do."
A pause.
Then—
"Listen."
Ethan frowned slightly.
"Listen to what?"
Silence.
At first, there was nothing.
Just the faint hum of the city.
Wind brushing past buildings.
Distant movement.
Then—
Something else.
A sound.
Sharp.
Like glass cracking.
Ethan's head snapped to the side.
"What was that?"
"Call."
The word landed instantly.
Ethan moved.
Not thinking.
Not questioning.
He was already running.
The cold hit him before he even reached the location.
Wrong cold.
Not natural.
The street ahead was empty.
Completely empty.
No cars. No people.
No sound.
And in the center—
A man.
Standing still.
Barefoot.
Looking up.
At nothing.
"…Hey!" Ethan called out, slowing as he approached.
The man didn't respond.
Frost covered his skin.
Thin at first.
Then spreading.
Ethan stopped a few feet away.
"…Can you hear me?"
The man's lips moved.
"…cold…"
Ethan's chest tightened.
Not again.
"Stay with me," Ethan said, stepping closer.
The moment he did—
The temperature dropped.
Violently.
His breath froze mid-air.
His vision sharpened.
And then—
He saw them.
Icicles.
Not hanging.
Floating.
Dozens of them.
Thin. Sharp. Perfect.
Suspended in the air around the man.
Ethan froze.
"…What is this…"
"Ego."
Aval.
Ethan's jaw tightened. "That's not an explanation."
"His."
The icicles shifted.
Slightly.
Like they were breathing.
Watching.
Then—
One moved.
Fast.
Ethan barely reacted in time, stepping aside as it shot past him and embedded itself into the ground with a sharp crack.
"…Yeah, that's new."
The man's head tilted slowly.
His eyes—
White.
Empty.
"I… don't want to disappear…"
Ethan clenched his fists.
"You're not going to."
The icicles trembled.
Then surged.
All at once.
Ethan moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
His body reacted before his mind could catch up, weaving through the incoming spikes with unnatural precision. One grazed his arm, slicing through fabric like it wasn't there.
Pain.
But not enough.
"Focus," Ethan muttered.
Think.
Pattern.
The alley.
The creature.
The mark.
Ethan looked at his arm.
The X glowed faintly.
"…So it's you again."
The icicles paused.
Just for a second.
Then—
They turned.
All of them.
Toward him.
"Good," Aval said quietly.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
"Yeah… didn't miss this."
They launched.
Ethan stepped forward.
Not back.
Forward.
His hand shot out, grabbing one mid-air.
The moment his skin touched it—
It cracked.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
Like something invisible shattered.
The rest hesitated.
Ethan didn't.
He moved through them, closing the distance to the man.
The cold intensified.
His vision blurred.
His body slowed—
Then—
The mark flared.
Heat surged through him.
Balance restored.
Ethan reached the man.
Grabbed his shoulder.
"Stay with me."
The man's body trembled violently.
"I don't… want to vanish…"
"You won't."
Ethan pressed his marked arm against him.
The reaction was instant.
The icicles shattered.
All of them.
Exploding into fragments of light that dissolved before they hit the ground.
The cold vanished.
The silence broke.
The city returned.
Cars.
Voices.
Life.
The man collapsed.
Ethan caught him.
Alive.
Breathing.
Barely.
Ethan lowered him carefully, his own breathing heavy now.
"…That's two," he muttered.
"Three."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
"You."
Silence.
Ethan looked down at his arm.
The mark.
Brighter.
Sharper.
More defined.
"…What does that mean?"
A pause.
Then—
"You are no longer untouched."
Ethan's chest tightened.
"That's not helpful."
"No," Aval said.
"It is accurate."
Ethan sat back slightly, running a hand through his hair.
"…Every time I do this…"
"You change."
"Yeah, I got that part."
A longer pause this time.
Then—
"Faster."
Ethan stilled.
"Closer."
"…To what?"
Silence.
Of course.
Ethan let out a slow breath, looking back at the man he had just saved.
Or delayed.
Or something in between.
"…Living fast," he muttered.
The words felt heavier now.
More real.
"Dying young."
The mark pulsed.
Once.
Like it agreed. just interacting