The lesson began with a scream.
It came from everywhere at once, slicing through the city like shrapnel. Elias felt it hook into his spine and yank.
PRIORITY CONFLICT DETECTED.
The Arbiter's voice overlapped itself, each word arriving half a second too late.
LOCAL COLLAPSE IMMINENT.
Mara was already moving.
"Run," she said.
Elias ran.
The street tore open ahead of them, asphalt peeling back like skin. Beneath it churned a mass of moments—birthdays, funerals, first kisses, last breaths—compressed into a screaming slurry.
A building folded inward.
People spilled out of its windows mid-life.
They hit the ground and reset.
Hit again.
Reset again.
"Make it stop!" Elias shouted.
The Arbiter appeared beside him without moving.
SELECT A VECTOR.
Three paths ignited in Elias's vision.
—Save the building.
—Stabilize the street.
—Contain the spill.
All three glowed red.
"All of them," Elias said.
The Arbiter tilted its head.
INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY.
The scream sharpened.
A woman clawed her way out of the collapsing building, dragging a child behind her. The child slipped.
Elias lunged.
Time slowed.
Not everywhere.
Only where he looked.
He grabbed the child's wrist.
The moment stretched—then snapped.
The building stabilized.
The street collapsed instead.
People vanished mid-step.
Gone.
Elias staggered.
"What did I do?"
Mara didn't answer.
She was staring at the empty space where the street had been.
"You chose," she said quietly.
The Arbiter spoke.
MERCY APPLIED.
COST REDISTRIBUTED.
Elias felt something tear inside his chest.
Not pain.
Weight.
Names flooded his mind—hundreds of them—burning themselves into memory before fading to ash.
He dropped to his knees.
"Stop," he gasped. "I can't—"
The city lurched again.
Another conflict.
Faster this time.
A train emerged from nowhere, derailing in slow motion. Passengers screamed, looped, screamed again.
"Decide!" Mara yelled.
Elias looked at the paths.
He didn't hesitate.
He cut the train from the timeline entirely.
It vanished.
So did everyone on it.
Silence followed.
Mara stared at him.
"You didn't even try," she said.
Elias's hands were steady.
That terrified him.
"I knew the cost," he said.
The Arbiter nodded.
ADAPTATION DETECTED.
The sky began to heal.
Red light receded.
The city exhaled.
Elias stood.
He felt older.
Not by years.
By choices.
Mara backed away.
"What are you becoming?" she asked.
Elias opened his mouth to answer.
Someone else spoke first.
"An efficient god."
A man stepped out of a doorway that had not existed before. He wore a coat stitched with dates instead of thread. His eyes were calm in a way Elias had learned to fear.
The Arbiter stiffened.
UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY DETECTED.
The man smiled.
"Relax," he said. "I'm what comes after mercy fails."
He looked directly at Elias.
"Welcome to the real work."