The explosion was an annoyance, and a distraction. I shake it off like I shake off the dust and bits of plaster it lands on my head.
But the damage is done. I can still sense the time-traveling slug, but Maya… Maya is gone.
I close my eyes and focus on what my mind could see. Through the entire castle and beyond, I reach out my awareness. I glimpse the flashes that bring me hope for a moment—before I sense myself near them, too. And he senses me as well.
It's the reason I'm careful when feeling for things out there. It's too easy to disturb the timeline, and giving my past self an idea that I could lose Maya somehow is exactly something that would disturb it greatly.
I have to focus on the present, and on my immediate surroundings. The cold logic is what keeps me in check, even as I feel boiling anger rising under the surface.