The scream did not belong to the city.
It belonged to Elias.
He felt the rule break the moment he decided—not with force, but with certainty. The world hesitated, as if waiting for permission it had never needed before.
Mara was dying in his arms.
Not theatrically. Not all at once.
She was unraveling.
Years peeled off her body in violent succession, spilling into the air like ash. Elias could see them now—thin, luminous strands of lived time tearing free and evaporating before they could land.
"No," he whispered.
The Arbiter appeared directly in front of him.
Closer than it had ever dared.
Its text stuttered.
RULE VIOLATION DETECTED.
ANCHOR OVERRIDE ATTEMPT.
Elias did not look at it.
He pressed his forehead to Mara's.
"Stay," he said.
The word carried weight.
Not command.
Refusal.
The air screamed.
Time convulsed.
Buildings warped outward, streets folding like paper fans. The bleeding sky sealed itself violently, cracks cauterizing with blinding light.
The city froze.
Every loop.
Every spill.
Every scream.
Stopped.
The silence that followed was absolute.
The Arbiter staggered.
Its text fragmented into unreadable symbols.
ANCHOR INSTABILITY CRITICAL.
Elias felt it then.
The punishment.
Not pain.
Loss.
Something inside him was being taken—not memories, not years, but possibility. Futures collapsed inward, entire versions of himself extinguished in rapid succession.
He gasped.
Blood ran from his nose, warm and real.
Mara stopped aging.
She went still.
Elias held his breath.
Seconds passed.
Then she inhaled.
The city shattered.
Time roared back into motion, furious and disoriented. The frozen figures lurched, screams resuming mid-note. The sky darkened, then split again—wider than before.
The Arbiter screamed.
Not in sound.
In failure.
ANCHOR STATUS: CORRUPTED.
HUMAN PARAMETERS BREACHED.
Ash appeared.
This time, without calm.
His coat burned at the edges, dates unraveling into smoke.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
Elias looked up.
His vision doubled.
"I chose," he said.
Ash stared at Mara—alive, breathing, trembling.
"You can't do that," Ash said softly. "You just taught time it can be disobeyed."
The sky thundered.