CHAPTER 25: THE FLOW OF FROZEN TIME
The sky above Azura had changed.
What once rolled with drifting clouds now churned in uneasy silence, as though the world itself held its breath. Lee Kung stood at the center of the clearing, boots planted firmly into the earth, his chest rising and falling with measured resolve. His fists clenched slowly, knuckles whitening as he tilted his head upward.
Something was wrong.
Not wrong in the way of battle or blood—but wrong in the way of destiny shifting its weight.
"Dehaska has done far more than we imagined," Lee Kung said at last, his voice low but firm. "And that is why… that is why we must stop him."
A sharp scoff escaped him—not from doubt, but from the bitter realization that the enemy had always been several steps ahead.
Mia stood close by, her hand hovering near the hilt of her blade, eyes scanning the tree line. Sio Jun said nothing, but the tension in her shoulders betrayed her thoughts. She had felt it too—the disturbance. The pull.
Lee Kung turned suddenly, his gaze narrowing.
"So… you said a dragon called?" he asked, confusion etched across his face.
The woman standing before them smiled faintly.
"Yes," Okachu replied calmly. "I was with you."
Lee Kung frowned. "With us?"
"Yes. Your dragon called for my help the moment you unleashed your fury at the Whispering Caverns." Her eyes gleamed faintly, reflecting something far older than the forest around them. "That roar didn't just echo through stone—it tore through time."
She stepped forward lightly, almost floating rather than walking.
"I have been with you ever since," Okachu continued. "Watching. Waiting. But I would not reveal myself until I was certain."
"Certain of what?" Mia asked.
Okachu didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she leapt forward.
The world shifted.
Lee Kung felt it before he saw it—a sudden pressure in the air, like the tightening of an unseen thread. His instincts screamed.
"Down!" he shouted.
Something whistled violently toward them.
Lee Kung moved without thought. He sprang forward, arm flashing upward, and caught the object mid-air with a sharp clang. An arrow.
His eyes widened.
More followed.
From every direction.
They sliced through the air with deadly precision, emerging from invisible points in the forest, as if reality itself had turned hostile. Mia spun, deflecting one with her blade. Sio Jun ducked as another grazed past her hair.
"Where are they coming from?" Mia yelled.
"I can't see the attackers!" Sio Jun added.
Lee Kung raised his sword, heart pounding. "How do we dodge something we can't see?"
The arrows surged closer.
Too close.
And then—
Everything slowed.
Not gently. Not naturally.
Time itself shuddered, then fractured.
The arrows froze mid-flight, suspended inches from flesh. The wind died. Leaves hung motionless in the air. Even sound vanished, swallowed by a suffocating stillness.
The world had stopped.
Lee Kung blinked.
He could still move.
Slowly.
His limbs felt heavy, as though pushing through water. He turned his head and saw Mia—eyes wide, breath shallow—moving the same way. Sio Jun took a careful step, her foot dragging through frozen dust like liquid glass.
"We're… moving?" Mia whispered.
"But time isn't," Sio Jun replied.
The arrows remained perfectly still.
Just as Lee Kung tried to understand what force could command such power, a soft sound echoed through the silence.
A giggle.
Light. Amused.
Lee Kung turned.
Okachu stood among the frozen chaos, completely unaffected. She walked freely, her steps effortless, her hair flowing as though untouched by the halted world.
She laughed again.
"Oh, relax," she said playfully. "You're safe. For now."
Lee Kung stared. "You… you stopped time."
Okachu tilted her head. "Not stopped. Bent."
In one smooth motion, she reached out and pulled Lee Kung's sword from his grip. He tried to resist—but his slowed body obeyed her effortlessly.
Before he could protest, she moved.
A blur of motion.
She slashed through the frozen arrows, each strike precise, elegant. The blades hummed as they cut through suspended steel, redirecting every projectile back toward its origin.
With a final sweeping arc, she released the sword.
Time snapped back.
The forest exploded with sound.
The arrows shot backward, vanishing into unseen shadows. Somewhere in the distance, cries rang out—short-lived, silenced.
Okachu turned, tossing the sword back to Lee Kung.
He caught it, stunned.
"Who… are you?" he asked.
She smiled, but there was sorrow behind it.
"My name is Okachu," she said softly. "And I am the keeper of broken hours."
Silence followed.
Then she added, "And Dehaska took everything from me."
Lee Kung felt the weight of her words sink deep into his chest.
"The dragon told me to watch you," Okachu continued. "To test you. Because the path you walk… is the same one that destroyed my realm."
Mia stepped forward. "Then help us stop him."
Okachu's gaze hardened.
"I already am."
Far away—beyond time, beyond mercy—Dehaska smiled.