A spray of drool flew across the shaft as the soft hiss of burning and the smell of decay assaulted anything it touched. The creature let out a taunting breath as it snapped its jaw shut. Its mockery meets a fierce gaze from my Coda. The space barely lit in gold and amber light takes on the feel of film noir in my eyes as we all wait for that something to happen. Suspense as thick as the dark. The ooze slick on the cable below began to chew away, a sign the standstill was coming to an end. The jitters have long left me as a welling up of anticipation rises.
"Surely, we're broken. This isn't how the sane feel toward danger." I say under my breath.
I breathe a sigh, knowing this willingness to throw ourselves into the fray will cause us trouble again, right here and now. Even so, the vague feelings from before start to surface and encourage me to plunge deeper. A spot below us on the cable began to split as two wires break free from the tightly wound cord. A third snap and Lily dropped a measure as she shrieked out, desperate to hold on.
Coda jumped to the entryway, straight into the trap of the reptilian tyrant blocking our path. The world around us crawled forward as he drew further from me, but he feels ever closer. As the maw closed around him, the last strand snapped and Lily fell. Just as this standoff reached the climax, everything stopped. I see his eyes, not on the beast, but on me. I feel it burning across me, as fear ripples across my being followed by an onslaught of confidence in everything he is. What I saw was a part of me swallowed by death itself, anyone would be convinced he would be devoured without mercy. Even so, that wasn't what would happen. What I felt, what reality would witness, was death itself at our mercy. Beyond the wake of fear I feel only freedom. And so loosed the chains.
"Dear, this is no time to show off", I tell him as our eyes are still locked. Even now, there's time for us. He wears a smirk. We both know he chose to taunt the beast, to leave it feeling cheated out of its meal. I break our gaze first, and I feel a pang on my heart like I've taken a great loss. I'm so drawn to him, it's hard to look away. For just a minute, could we not be on the edge? Could we savor this longer?
The jaws pull away as Coda lands between them. His feet touch the ground and the beast backs away just as fast as it had lunged at him. Forced into a rewind, the cord below me returns to its weak and final hope. Lily hangs in the balance as time fights for every inch. I reach down for her and pull her into my arms as a shocked look starts to appear on her face. To them, we must be moving at impossible speed. Even the monster is too slow to react as Coda ducks beneath the teeth of this behemoth and slides a black knife across the same. A shallow arc, but the teeth begin to drop as time starts to gain ground once more.
It seems there's still a limit to how long we can walk back time, but it doesn't feel right. I feel like there's more to us we haven't discovered yet, that we're still just waking up. If only we had more time. The irony.
As it feels the cut, the beast's body bubbles and writhes. The snout becomes attached again as the teeth regrow with fervor right where they fell. Fast as a blink. Even with time crawling forward, it was restored in only an instant. This fight would not be over so quickly. The beast hissed in displeasure as it roiled with rage. New spots of acid flew.
He tosses the knife to me with a wink, his thought reaches me before it leaves his hand. "Catch this, like you've caught my heart." It vibrates over me as he becomes of shadow. I melt and soar all at once as he reaches for the blade buried in the side of this monstrosity. Everything else becomes small. In this moment, I feel it truly doesn't matter if these feelings are manufactured. They must be ours.
The knife flies, crashing against linear flow. As the grating friction reaches a breaking point, the blade sang and even cut through time itself to reach me. This was Coda's daring on full display. The stronger this connection, the more potent it seems the effect we have on everything around us becomes. Time in full reverse again, the blade continues to move to me as it matches our pace instead of the world's. Between the blade and I still stood this overgrown gator's grin. With a swing from the cable, Lily and I make for the ledge and I leave her suspended in a fall to safety. When time picks up pace she would find her footing on the platform. For now, it's safer if she isn't beside me. Landing face to face with a very angry splatter of spit, I stand. A fire in me refused to give way as I reach for the knife.
"You can't melt me."
As if it understood me, the acid parted away at my breath. What was left turned spots of my suit black as it came in contact, and as bits splashed against my cheeks it smoked and whistled. I can feel my skin tighten where it touches, but there comes no pain. I reach through and my fingers wrap the Nephilim Feather for the first time. "You will never get away from me." I say to the blade in my hand, the foe before me, and most of all to the boy I can't see. My blood runs hot as the blade strikes true and buries deep into its crown. As realization hits it and time floods forward again, I feel I've lost my grasp on something so close. Like we were almost able to hold that moment longer. The beast winces and its huge frame effortlessly throws me to the side as it recoils. The cut gone before the blade even left the wound.