Rain dripped from Elias' hair as he sat on his dorm bed, clothes soaked, breath catching. His fingers trembled around the pendant. Alone, finally. No roommates—just him and the storm in his mind.
"It can't be real..." he whispered.
The pendant was cool again. Ordinary. A relic. But the heat had been unmistakable. And the impossible? It had touched him. And her.
He tried to recreate it—grasped the pendant, invoked the terror of death and the desperation to save Serena. Nothing. Just silence.
Until suddenly—
Heat pulsed through his palm. Gold light flickered from the stone's veins, like magma awakening in miniature. And time—once again—stopped.
Rain froze against his window. Footsteps in the hallway halted mid-step. The clock ticked no longer.
And Elias stood among it all, trembling. He touched a raindrop that hovered like starlight. It was cold. Wet. Real.
This time, he pushed further. He opened the door. Walked through static figures in the hallway. Outside, rain crystallized in midair. He raced to the 24-hour store, every step a battle against syrup-thick time.
Inside, everything hung motionless. Steam from hot dogs paused mid-rise. The cashier smiled mid-scan, frozen in routine.
Elias took what he needed. Paid in silence.
And collapsed.
The world resumed. Sound returned. And his hand—his skin—carried thin, unnatural wrinkles. Hairline white at his temple. Time had been traded—for power.
He stared at the pendant.
Was this a gift from heaven?
Or a curse from something far older?