Being in a time bubble for as long as they had been was a strange experience for Adelaide, to say the least. She watched as the world flicked by in fractions of seconds, time after time skimping across her vision in a melted array of faded events and leftover colours of blur. To her right, Nadier raised a brow quizzically at her stare.

What is it? he seemed to ask.

She shook her head. Nothing.

Though they moved at the same speed through time, their voices did not travel across clearly, and their world revolved around the whisper of noise that was trapped within their enclosures. To her left, The Watcher was fast asleep, mouth wide opened in uncontrolled snores. His head twitched uncomfortably as his eyes scrunched in sudden soreness, before settling back into a rhythmic breathing.

She sighed, having never sat still in the same place for as long as she did then. Her legs bounced in place, attempting to rid themselves of the pent up vigour. Her hands itched after the nine hours sit, having already slept most of the time off. She drew her bow and did what had to be the hundredth check through her equipments, before settling them back in their holsters. She glanced over to her left and noticed The Watcher was gone.

“What the–?” She stood to her feet in surprise.

Her vision blurred as a rush of light and colours bombarded her sights. Noise returned to her ears like a blaring horn. She was on stable standing, but still disoriented by the sudden restart of time. Beside her, Nadier looked equally confused, staring left at right at the sudden phenomenon. There was a faint dip in the temperature in the air. Barely noticeable, though still managing to tickle her senses. A lighter humidity, touched but a change in the cold. She was in the future.

But before long, she sounded, “Where's The Watcher?” The graveness of the situation returning to her.

She heard Nadier let out a dissatisfied huff. “That man still doesn't trust us...”

“Do you trust him?” she asked back.

Nadier did not reply. He casually approached her, and allowed her to set a hand on his shoulder. They teleported down to the ground. It was there they noticed the brutality that had occurred from the destruction of the construct that held the Overseer. The dried blood. The cracked metal. The dead bodies.

“Oh no...” Nadier let out, slowly approaching the body of Rena. Adelaide followed behind as the dark elf knelt down beside the corpse. He ran a hand over the dried face. “I really should have been here.”

Adelle replied, “You're surprisingly soft with kids.”

“We were all kids once. Even if we don't all remember it. Innocence should be given for as long as possible. Before all the negativity of reality clouds the mind, have some hope.” He let out a deep breath and his eyes settled on something brown and blood soaked on the floor. He picked up the leather scrap and read its contents before standing to his feet and pocketing the note. “I know where The Watcher is.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Without another word, he began walking towards the door.

“Hold it!” Adelaide shouted behind. “Why do you think The Watcher left us behind?”

“You used to be quite dense...” Nadier replied without turning back. She could not tell if he was being derisive or just stating an obvious. He explained, “He left us behind so we would not get involved.”

“So why are you getting involved now? Your revenge is complete, is it not? We've taken out all the dark elves that had ever wronged you and your brother, and added some!”

“What about you?” He asked back. “Your forest is saved. Why did you follow him here? What is worth enough to risk travelling into an uncertain future?”

They stood in silence. Not just the chamber, but seemingly, the entire building echoed their sentiments. Even with their enhanced elven hearings, they could not pick up any distinct noises around them. The Tower had been abandoned. Left behind, just like they had been.

“This discussion is over,” Nadier plainly puts it. “You and I both know the reason why we are here and why we're going this far.”

She knew. She had known for a while now. But uncertainty was clouding her. She had never stuck with a group for as long as the trio, nor for as dangerous a situation.

She managed one final shot and asked, “What do you see when you look at The Watcher?”

“I see myself,” Nadier simply replied.

Grumbling under her breath, she followed the annoyingly inscrutable dark elf out. As they had expected, the corridor was abandoned. Following the way back to the elevator, they called the lift down and entered. Once Adelaide had a line of vision to the eighteenth floor, she teleported them up to the level, where they stepped out into the reception area.

“Where are we?” she asked. Nadier responded by simply pointing to the sign that hung over the double door which read 'Feasting Hall'. He gave her a disappointed look and she snarled, “Smart-ass.”

Together, side-by-side, they stepped into the gleam of the dining hall, only to stop once they've crossed the threshold. Before them, trapped within what seemed to be a giant glass ball that twisted and squirmed from whichever angle they looked from, was The Watcher and Light, frozen mid battle.

Carefully, the duo approached the phenomenon. The room was an eerie quiet despite the destructiveness of the frozen scene in front of them. Light, with rays of magical hard-light beams ricocheting away from his body, was stuck mid-strike, his blade floating just short of contact to The Watcher's face, who was wide opened from head to toe, the latter's sword flung aside post-parry. If the battle had lasted just a split second longer, The Watcher would have been killed.

Behind the battle, equally trapped, was the portal of gas and the equipments that powered it. Every single mist of it was stopped in their swirl. Each arc of electricity caught mid connection from metal to metal. Every refraction of light bended to the curvature of the time bubble, distorting as they stepped to the side and circled the area.

Adelaide reached a hand out to touch the scene.

“Stop!” Nadier yelled at her.

“What?” She replied, annoyed at having been given a command.

He picked up a fork from the disrupted table. With confidence, he threw the utensil at the bubble. The metal seemingly stuck itself onto the globule, almost plastered on like a wanted poster. Adelaide took a step to the side and realized that was not entirely the case. Rather, the fork had flattened itself onto the surface of the time bubble, as if every single microscopic layer of it had been fused into the same spot they came into contact with.

Nadier explained, “This time bubble is a trapped fragment of instance. As the days passes by, layers of dust will probably coagulate onto it, until it one day turns to nothing but an unmovable orb of grey. Everything within it is trapped in the moment The Watcher deemed.”

She knew what he was thinking, but asked regardless, “What do we do now?”

“You teleport me in, exactly as I am, in a split moment of time. Whenever this time bubble expire, the battle will end.” The dark elf prepared his daggers, loading into them vials of Neverite for battle. He looked to the 3D painting of time, and practised blocking a strike that would come in from Light's direction. “Put me right in the middle of the fight. I'll block the hit for The Watcher, and we'll see how it goes from there.”

“And what do I do?”

“Live your life,” he said, getting into position, taking a stance that fits the frozen scene of conflict. “I have no idea how long this time bubble will hold, or how long The Watcher will take. It could be minutes. It could be cycles.”

“That's not–!”

“And don't try to to follow me.”

His glare was piercing. Determined. There was no talking him out. Adelaide simply nodded, and once Nadier was ready, she held onto his shoulder in a tight grip before reluctantly teleporting the dark elf as instructed. The Wanderer reappeared within the time bubble, placed between Light's strike and The Watcher's body, surrounded by the teleporting puff of rusty smog.

What do you see when you look at The Watcher?

Adelle let out a sigh, wondering at which point in the past season did she change so dramatically. She looked to the purple portal, frozen in its time, before turning her gaze to her two companions. At what point did her hatred for human died to a gentle simmer?

I see myself.

Muttering under her breath, Adelaide whimpered, “I see myself, too.”

She stretched both hands out and vanished in a puff of brown smoke.