Time froze for Milena.
Yes, time actually froze. Milena couldn't move a single muscle and her thoughts slowed down to a crawl.
For a while, the eyes kept staring at Milena in an intense sinister look. The way a wolf looks at a lamb before it is hunted down and devoured.
Then slowly, a huge mouth one meter wide appears between the eyes, right in Milena's face.
The mouth of the structure slowly unfurls into a smile, as it reveals two rows of sharp serrated teeth.
Arms pop out from the sides of the structure, looking like a mixture of stone and reptilian skin.
The structure starts morphing till it stands on its hindlegs. With the head of a serpent and the body of a stone encrusted bear, it was a grotesque, daunting sight.
Meanwhile, Milena was barely starting to register what happened to her, as her thoughts crawled in slowed down time. She knew she was looking at something sinister and her life was in danger. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Even the mechanism to scream took eight seconds to activate, and no sound was made as she was frozen in time.
The serpent-bear starts to speak in a shrill voice.
"Bow down before High Lord Amphus, God of this realm. I shall eat you now."
No further warning was given.
Raising an arm, the creature slowly inserts its sharp claws into Milena's soft body.
It was a slow arduous process and the claws pierce Milena's belly, breaking skin and flesh. No blood poured out as time was frozen.
All this while, Milena was still stuck in her current position, with her hands positioned in front of her, raised as before. She barely registered what was happening to her, but a slow but intense pain started radiating from her belly. The conduction speed of her nerves have also slowed down significantly due to the time stoppage, resulting in a huge wave of blunt pain hitting her slowly over the next few seconds. She knew she was in trouble, but what can she do against a time bending demon ?
The claws of the creature start curling upwards, making a road towards her heart, intent on ending her life.
Slowly but surely, the nails for the claw enter the left ventricle of her heart.
Then the right atrium of the heart.
Then with a vigorous gusto, High Lord Amphus chomped down on Milena's head, severing it from her neck…
—
At once, the flow of time resumed.
Suddenly, Milena became aware of where she was and what was happening.
She was in a hut, lying below the couch, while a chaos beast banged the outside of the facade.
She was also in a snowy forest, sipping on tea made from pine needles.
She was in an ocean, evading a massive leviathan, struggling to stay alive.
She was walking in a field of stars, admiring the beauty of the cosmos.
She was running through the forest of dreams, where she saw the ambitions of people play out on the branches of the trees.
She was summiting a mountain, while the gentle rays of a comforting sun warmed her body.
A smile broke out on Milena's face while tears rolled down her cheeks.
Raising her finger almost intuitively, Milena touches the space in front of her. In every scenario above, the same thing happens.
The hut she is in burns down in a massive fire, and then nothingness.
The snowy forest gives way to a blinding whiteness and then nothingness.
The ocean evaporates and then nothingness.
The field of stars explode in a supernova, and then nothingness.
The forest of dreams wilts and then nothingness.
The mountains collapse and then nothingness.
Milena found herself in a glass room, while the worlds from before faded out on projections in front of her.
She understood what was happening. Raising her finger once more, she delivers the final move.
The glass room explodes into a million shards, reflecting a blend of beautiful dancing colors.
Milena opens her eyes for the final time.
"Welcome back Afferent. You made it."
—-