Time froze…

Ethan laid motionless, staring at the scene before him. The look of terror on the girl’s face as she saw the monster lurching forward with its mutated arm that was now a spear pointing directly at her.

Ethan’s muscles ached in pain, and dizziness began to take over. His arm reached out, in an attempted to somehow grab the girl out of harm’s reach…before losing his strength and succumbing to unconsciousness.

…

…

…

It felt as if he was drifting in space. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or closed because all he could see was a somber void of nothing. He tried moving his limbs to his face, but it felt like they were frozen. He even tried to call for help…but no noise came from him. All he could do was listen…

‘And here I thought you were unbreakable, Ethan. Pathetic.’

‘Aw, look. He’s about to cry, pft, what a wimp.’

‘What, don’t like what you see, Ethan? Maybe you need some, persuasion…heh.’

He knew exactly who those voices belonged to…’they’ were the reason for his life to take a horrible turn. He couldn’t…HE COULDN’T LISTEN TO THIS!

‘STOP! NO MORE!’ His voice in his head protested, but it couldn’t be heard over the disgusting words of ‘them’. He wanted to curl into a ball and shield himself from the voices, but he couldn’t…

…Until…

“You know…deep down, they’re wrong.”

Those words, they didn’t have the cold and despairing edge that the other voices had. This voice sounded…warm and friendly. But, it didn’t give any help.

‘I can’t…’ His voice felt drained and empty.

“You ‘can’t’ what? Speak out? Do something? Why can’t you do that?” The voice questioned him, pushing him to answer.

“…because those I care about will get hurt…”

‘How do you know that if you’re not willing to try?’

Try? What good would that do? He already knows nothing will chan-?

A hand was placed on his, it felt warm…He…he could feel again.

His eyes open, revealing a white silhouette in front of him. He couldn’t see any distinguishing features to tell whether or not the being was a man or a woman.

‘You say you know…like you can predict what will happen…’

It did seem that the being holding his hand was talking but he couldn’t see their mouth.

“Because I know how they ar-“

‘No one can know how someone acts, that applies to you as well…nobody can predict what you can do…’

“…Then what should I do?”

The being stayed silent, before letting go of his hand. Ethan was confused until he felt his feet touch onto the…ground? He looked down, but he didn’t see any surface.

A hearty chuckle came from Ethan’s ghostly companion. HIs gaze shifted to the white being, who seemed ready to leave since their body was disappearing.

“Hm, well, let’s see?” As they say that, their arms shift to pose as if they were thinking about something, before snapping their fingers, and gave a reply. “Oh! I know! You can start by rescuing my granddaughter from that monstrosity, then...put faith in others.”

As they say that, they turn to walk away, only to disperse into white dust.

‘…that…sure was enlightening…wait, GRANDDAU-?!'

...

His vision swiftly changed to the event that was transpiring before he blacked out. His outstretched hand still laying on the ground, the girl frozen in fear, and the black beast sprinting towards her.

He…He can’t let this happen…no…HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN.

HIs adrenaline kicked in, the pain in his head gone and muscles no longer sore. It almost as time was slow down for him because he went from laying on the ground to standing up and arm spread out, the young girl from the beast. His entire body felt like it was on auto-pilot, yet he didn’t’ fight it. He knew that the mindless beast wouldn’t stop, he needed to think of a plan, he needed to protect…PROTECT!

Suddenly, light began to shine around him and the girl, enveloping them before the monster was upon them. He…somehow made a shield of light form around them! While Ethan was enraptured by the miracle he just performed, a sudden screech of pain was heard.

“SCREEEEEEE!”

The beast’s mutated arm that became a spear was now sizzling away after making contact with the shield. Even as it tried to pull its arm away, it was somehow attached to the shield, making it impossible to escape. While that was a crisis diverted, Ethan still remained stoic. He didn’t know how long this shield will last, and he isn’t keen on dealing with a now enraged monster that had its sights set on him. He needed to…FIGHT!

As if his body knew what he was thinking, his right arm swung over until it was outstretched toward the beast’s chest. Then, he felt some sort of power flow through his hand, causing a white glow to emit from his palm. His senses were on fire, it was too much for him, but he needed to push on, to protect the young girl behind him. He needed to…

“RRRAAGH-!?”

His mind couldn’t keep up after that. It felt like he was watching a slideshow. From what he could tell, a beam of light shot out of his hand, passed through the barrier that he had created, and made contact with the monster’s chest, ceasing its howling from pain. After that, a large gaping how was left in its chest, which started to grow in size as the area around the hole started to fall like ash.

He didn’t know how his face met the concrete again, but his head now had a pulsing pain and his body ached worse than before. He did feel himself being pushed slightly every second or so and a voice kept asking if he was ok.

“At…*cough* l-least you’re safe…”He said weakly to the girl he saved. As he drifted off to unconsciousness again, he saw a blur of red rushing towards them before passing out.