Henry ran a hand through his hair, a disbelieving laugh escaping him. "Great," he muttered, his mind trying to reconcile this with the stopped world around him. "First time stops, and now I'm seeing things. I mean, what the fuck is even a celestial system?"
And then, he got a reply. A literal one.
[How about you stop asking irrelevant questions and get out of there] A clear, crisp, decidedly teenage feminine British voice, suddenly rang out in his mind.
Henry's eyes widened further. "Who said that?" He spun around, searching frantically, his gaze darting between the frozen trees and the still beast. "Show yourself!"
The voice resonated in his head again, closer now, more direct. [I'm afraid I can't do that]
Henry was stunned. He heard it again, undeniably. The voice wasn't in the air; it was unmistakably, unnervingly, in his head.
"Who are you?" he demanded, his voice a mixture of awe and fear. "And why can I hear your voice in my head?"
[I am your guide and assistant] the voice replied, her tone calm and precise. [And I will be responsible for overseeing the system you just received]
Henry furrowed his brows, processing this. "So that stuff I just saw about a celestial system and the legacy of Mercury... it's all true?" A spark of intuition, a flash of something ancient and powerful, seemed to ignite in his mind, suggesting that this impossible situation might just be unbelievably real.
[Yes] she said, an almost imperceptible shift in her tone, as if acknowledging the profoundness of his realization. [You have indeed been chosen to inherit the title of the God of Speed and the great power that comes with it]
Henry exhaled slowly, a shaky breath. "Okay, good to know," he said, the adrenaline still coursing through him, but now mixed with a strange, burgeoning sense of wonder. He still had a million questions about this "God of Speed" and "legacy of Mercury," but a more immediate, pressing concern took precedence. He needed to be safe first.
"Are you the one responsible for time suddenly... stopping?" he asked, gesturing vaguely at the frozen world.
[Yes] she replied [The system is responsible for this phenomenon. It's called Chronostasis or Dead-time if you prefer]
Henry blinked. "Chronostasis? Is that like an ability or...?"
[It is an emergency mechanism that was activated as soon as host was perceived to be in danger] the girl said simply.
Henry chuckled, a nervous, disbelieving sound. "Wow. That's amazing. It basically saved my life."
Then a thought occurred to him. "So, does it, like, get activated every time I'm in danger?" He asked, already contemplating the inherent flaw in relying on such a mechanism.
[No. This is a brief, one-time occurrence] she stated bluntly, shattering his burgeoning relief. [Should you find yourself in future perilous situations, you're on your own]
Henry scoffed, a dry, bitter sound. "How convenient. But, wait a minute..." he paused, suddenly realizing something.
"What did you mean by 'brief'?" he asked.
[This mechanism is only temporary and will eventually be deactivated] she explained, her tone laced with caution. [It was simply designed to grant you a brief window of opportunity to make your escape]
Henry's eyes widened, the implications hitting him like a physical blow. "What?! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
[I did] she retorted, a hint of steel in her voice. [But you wouldn't stop asking questions]
Henry sighed, running a hand through his hair again, his frustration warring with the urgent need to act. "How long till the mechanism deactivates?"
[You have approximately twenty seconds left]
"Shit!" Henry's eyes bulged, the panic returning with renewed force. "I have to get out of here now!" He muttered hastily, his head darting to survey the frozen forest, trying to decide which direction offered the best chance of escape and evading the beast.
Eventually he chose left and quickly moved from his spot, away from the impossibly suspended lion about to descend on him.
Henry began running through the forest once again, his legs now pumping with purpose, moving through the utterly frozen world.
The stillness distorted his perception; the wind that should have been in his face was absent, the crunch of leaves beneath his feet made no sound. He felt an almost surreal lightness, as if he were skimming across the surface of arrested reality, like a speedster in a paused world.
But after running about twenty meters, a sudden, jarring shift occurred. The profound silence shattered.
Sounds returned to the forest in a confused, overlapping rush: the rustle of leaves, the chirping of unseen birds, the distant hum of insects, all flooding his senses. The trees swayed gently in a sudden breeze, and the floating leaves resumed their silent fall.
Time had returned to normal. Which meant...
Rrrrrrghh!
A deep, reverberating snarl, ripped through the air behind him.
It was the beast, undoubtedly aware that its prey had somehow, miraculously, escaped its imminent grasp. And it sounded absolutely enraged.
Henry gritted his teeth, pure terror rekindling his sprint. He didn't look back. He just kept running, the lion's furious roar echoing like a death knell in his ears.
The world blurred around him as he tore through the forest, lungs burning, his heart slamming like a war drum in his chest. The branches whipped at his face, the ground uneven and treacherous, but he didn't care. He just needed to move. Faster, faster, faster... like his legs could outpace death itself.
Rrrrrrrrrrghh!
The roars behind him grew louder, angrier. The beast was chasing him now, tearing through trees like they were paper, its massive paws setting small fires with every step. The air itself seemed to shudder with the force of its pursuit.
"Are you kidding me?!" Henry gasped between breaths. "It's literally on fire... how the hell do I outrun something that burns the ground it walks on?!"
[By running faster than it, obviously,] the voice replied in his head, dry as dust.
Henry nearly tripped. "You're joking now?! This is not the time!"
[Actually, it's exactly the time] Her tone sharpened, suddenly brisk. [Host, your vitals are spiking. Adrenaline levels off the charts. You're approaching the threshold for system synchronization]
"What the hell does that mean?" Henry shouted, vaulting over a fallen tree.
[It means if you don't die in the next ten seconds, you might just unlock something useful]
"Oh, great! Thanks for the motivation!"
GRUMBLE!
The ground shook violently, a deep tremor that rattled the leaves. Henry risked a glance back and instantly regretted it. The lion was right there, molten eyes burning through the trees, fangs bared, fire licking the edges of its mane. Each stride it took chewed up meters of earth.
Henry yelped. Panic threatened to choke him, but beneath it was something else. A pulse. A vibration under his skin. Like electricity tingling in his veins.
"Hey, uh.. Celestial lady, I'm feeling something weird!" he pointed out.
[Good. That's your body syncing with the Celestial Core. You're adapting]
"Adapting?" Henry scoffed "I don't feel adapted, I feel like I'm about to be breakfast!"
[Then perhaps stop talking and run faster] the voice said indifferently.
Henry didn't argue. He ducked under a low branch, narrowly missing a burning claw that shredded through the tree behind him.
Boom!
Sparks exploded. The heat was unbearable. He could smell the singed bark, along with his own sweat.
His mind was racing, faster than it should've been, calculating angles, speed, distance. "The beast's stride is about three times mine. It's acceleration rate should be greater. Which means it can go even faster over time. Shit! I need to get out of it's range!"
He didn't know why he was thinking like that... it just came naturally. His brain felt like a computer running at max speed.
And then, he suddenly noticed the terrain ahead... A slope, steep and uneven, leading into a stream glinting faintly in the distance.
Henry exhaled in relief. He had an idea.
"Alright, big guy," he muttered between gasps, "let's see how you handle physics."
He sprinted straight for the slope, gathering every ounce of strength he had left. As he reached the edge, he leapt.
WHOOSH!
Time seemed to stretch for a heartbeat. The world slowed around Henry, not frozen, but sluggish, like he could feel every particle of air against his skin.
Then... Splash!
He crashed into the stream below, cold water engulfing him, the shock snapping his senses into sharp focus. He scrambled up just as the lion barreled down after him.. but its weight was its undoing. The ground couldn't hold.
With a thunderous crack, the slope gave way. The beast tumbled, roaring, into the water with a fiery explosion of steam.
Henry didn't wait. He bolted downstream, water splashing around his legs, lungs burning, mind screaming. Behind him, the lion thrashed, furious and disoriented, flames sputtering as it clawed its way free.
[Impressive improvisation] the voice commented. [Not bad for a human with a twenty-second lifespan]
"Gee, thanks," Henry panted, nearly slipping on a rock. "Glad my imminent death meets your standards!"
[You might want to keep moving] she muttered.
"Oh, I am!" Henry grasped. "Believe me, I'm not stopping till..." He never finished that sentence. Because the stream ended abruptly.
He skidded to a stop just in time to see the water vanish over a cliff's edge... a roaring waterfall cascading hundreds of feet into misty nothingness.
"Oh, come on!" he groaned in frustration.
Rrrrrrgh!!
Behind him, the fiery growl rose again. The lion had found its footing. It was coming.
Henry looked at the cliff. Then at the approaching inferno. Then back at the cliff.
He sighed. "If I survive this, I'm having serious words with the guy who wrote my fate."
And before the beast could pounce, he jumped.
The world spun into chaos... the roar of the waterfall deafening, the rush of air stealing his breath. He flailed helplessly, plummeting into white mist and shimmering light.
The last thing he heard before the world blurred again was the voice in his head.. calm, almost smug:
[Congratulations, Host. Synchronization is complete]
Then everything went white.