Silver Cathedral Saga: Observer Chronicles, Book 1

Sentient Synergy

Etch turned his head frantically, seeing the pain in so many eyes. And also life leaving them. He wasn't sure what he could do to fix the problem, but then war is never a thing that could be fixed. It is the emotional rage of hate and fear that keeps war fuelled in hearts.

The prince saw more of his own drop to the ground as the minutes went on. Even two of his personal three guards fell, and Etch felt solely responsible and ashamed by it as if it was his very own fault.

There seemed to be a trigger in motion that quickened Prince Etch's pace at this time somehow. It was, of course, from loss. An understandable fear that did trigger something that only Etch himself noticed and saw that day. And it happened at this very time.

His mother, Selina Snowbridge, was to be struck down, and she was—for a time. Yet it was in these moments that something remarkable happened.

The very movement of all those around him slowed dramatically. Though not in a way from mere exhaustion. It appeared as if time itself had slowed down, and Etch was the only one moving at an ordinary pace.

His initial reaction was that none of this was happening, at least not as it did and was. It took him some time to accept this was very real.

However, it seemed to be that this dreamlike state helped the prince save his mother from a horde of Shadows rushing and flanking her from behind. He levelled the odds for his mother by taking out several of them quickly with his steel sword imbued with magick (a sword that could never break), and alarmed his mother.

The queen managed the rest on her own. And quite easily too.

Then—just like that—the movement of everyone around Etch went back to its original speed, him not feeling so emotionally intense now.