Then everything stopped.
The memories - the grief, the shame, the centuries of accumulated guilt that had been pouring through Raizen's mind like a river - cut off. Not gradually. Not slowly. Instantly. Like a hand reaching into the current and closing, catching the water and holding it still.
The images vanished.
The emotions vanished.
The pain vanished.
And in their place - nothing.
Raizen stood with his hand extended, eyes shut, and felt the world slow down around him. Not metaphorically. Not the way people say "time slowed" when they mean their perception sharpened. Slow. Actually, physically, impossibly slow. He could feel each individual millisecond passing - could feel the space between them, the gap where time paused before moving to the next increment. Rain that had been dripping from the branches above hung in the air. The hum of the sphere stretched into a single, sustained note that lasted forever.
Everything at a tenth of its speed. Then a hundredth. Slower.
