Alex swallowed hard, his pulse drumming in his ears. He took another shaky step forward, his shoes scuffing against the pavement—the only sounds in this eerie, frozen world. 'This isn't real. It can't be real.' His hands were clammy, his breathing uneven. He turned slowly, scanning the park like he was expecting someone to pop out and yell "gotcha." But no one did. Everyone was still locked in place—trapped mid-motion like mannequins in some surreal, abandoned set.
Alex's stomach twisted. He took a few cautious steps down the stone path, his footsteps unnervingly loud against the dead silence. He reached out toward a pigeon, still hovering mid-flight. His fingers brushed against its wing. Cold. Stiff. He yanked his hand back, heart hammering.
'Okay. Okay. Think.' His mind scrambled for a logical explanation. 'A prank? Some weird dream? A side effect of sleep deprivation?' He had pulled all-nighters before, but hallucinating an entire frozen world seemed a bit much.
"Hello?" His voice came out hoarse, swallowed instantly by the void-like quiet.
Nothing. The stillness was suffocating, pressing against his skin like an invisible weight. He hated this. The way the world felt… wrong. Off.
He stumbled toward a streetlamp, gripping the cold metal, He tried to focus, to analyze, to make sense of this—but his thoughts kept spiraling. Why him? Why now? Why was he the only one still moving?
His eyes darted back to Emma. She hadn't budged. Her expression was still frozen in that half-smile, half-smirk she always gave him when he was being difficult. He took a shaky breath and walked back toward her, his fingers trembling as he reached for her shoulder again. He squeezed harder this time, shaking her more forcefully. "Emma, wake up," he muttered. His voice cracked. "Come on, snap out of it."
Nothing. His chest tightened. Than BOOM The explosion tore through the suffocating silence, a deafening shockwave that sent vibrations through Alex's bones. He flinched, hands snapping up to cover his ears as the ground beneath him trembled. The distant skyline flashed—a blinding burst of light, followed instantly by a void of darkness swallowing its glow.
His breath hitched.
Another explosion followed, then another, each one sending ripples through the frozen world. The contrast of light and shadow flickered across the motionless park. Alex's pulse pounded. He wanted to stay put, to stay safe—but he couldn't. His fingers twitched, his body frozen in hesitation.
But what was he supposed to do?
Just sit in this eerie, frozen world and pretend he hadn't just heard the world break apart?
Gritting his teeth, he forced his legs to move, one foot after another, pushing through the still park toward the source of the explosions.
The further Alex went, the more unnatural everything felt. The air grew heavy, charged with an eerie static that sent tingles down his spine. The sky above flickered wildly between deep black and blinding white, as if reality itself was splitting apart. Then he saw them.
Two massive mechas clashed in the distance. One was an enormous machine of pure darkness, its towering frame wreathed in swirling tendrils of shadow, as if it were pulling the void itself around its form. The other shone like a burning star, its golden plating radiating beams of light that crashed against the darkness like waves against jagged cliffs.
Each clash shook the ground, tearing open deep cracks as shattered buildings and broken roads were tossed into the sky. The shadowed titan spread its massive arms, and thick tendrils of darkness snaked outward, reaching for its glowing foe, trying to smother it completely. But before the abyss could swallow it, the radiant mecha raised a hand, and a flood of blinding energy burst forth, blasting the tendrils away.
Alex watched, barely breathing. His mind screamed at him to keep watching, to understand what was happening—but survival instincts overrode curiosity. He turned on his heel and bolted. His heart pounded as he sprinted back toward Emma. Staying there was too dangerous. He had no idea what those two were, but he wasn't about to stick around and get caught in the crossfire. 'Whatever this is, it's out of my league.' He forced himself to breathe, to focus. 'Think, Alex. Analyze. What's the situation? What's involved?''
The frozen world remained unchanged—except where the mechas fought. The city looked like something out of a disaster movie. Skyscrapers had been torn apart, streets cracked like shattered glass, and yet all the wreckage hovered in midair, as if gravity had stopped working. Cars, steel beams, and entire chunks of concrete hung motionless, creating a battlefield unlike anything Alex had ever seen. 'This fight is the key…'
One of them had to win. That much was obvious. The world would stay like this until the battle ended.
So what happened if he stayed here?
The answer was obvious. It was pointless. Risking his life for nothing. No matter which side won, if he was anywhere nearby when the final blow landed—if either of them noticed he was still there, still moving—there was no telling what they would do. One thing was certain: he wouldn't be getting out of this unharmed.
Alex's legs burned as he pushed himself harder, practically stumbling back onto the spot where Emma still sat, motionless. He skidded to a stop, dropping to his knees beside her. His hands shot out, gripping her shoulders, shaking her even though he already knew—deep down—she wouldn't react. "Come on," he muttered, voice tight. "Just wake up already."
Nothing. He clenched his jaw, sucking in a sharp breath. 'Calm down, Alex. You just need to wait... His fingers curled into fists.'
Meanwhile, back at the fight—
Both mechas crashed onto separate chunks of floating debris, the shattered remains of buildings hanging around them like the remnants of a dying world. The dark titan struck first, its abyssal form unraveling like smoke to reveal a war machine of black Qi-forged metal, its frame cracked and pulsing with dim red energy. Its towering frame bore the scars of battle—deep gouges, shattered plating, and flickering warning lights struggling to stabilize its systems.
Opposite it, golden radiance pulsed away, revealing its counterpart—a mechanical behemoth wrapped in liquid-metal Qi armor, shifting and reforming with every movement. The insignia of a grim reaper was carved into its battered chest plate, and beneath the golden helm, piercing blue optics locked onto its foe. A massive sword of condensed energy extended from its right arm, humming with raw power.
The black mecha moved first. Without hesitation, it tore forward, its scythe igniting with unstable crimson energy. The void around it twisted as dark tendrils lashed outward, slamming into nearby floating debris and hurling massive chunks of concrete toward its golden opponent. Kael didn't falter. His golden mecha shifted, its body flowing like liquid metal as it twisted through the onslaught, carving through the debris with a single sweep of its energy blade.