They are here, prepare yourself.
I groaned in pain as the loud sound drew me from my sleep. I don’t know how long I was down, but I was not rested.
The sound that woke me was sharp and piercing, and I sat up so fast that the world swam around me. The headache was still there, but it was nothing compared to the noise outside.
I pushed open the tent flap and stumbled into the camp.
It was chaos. People were running, shouting, and the Adepts were gathered in a tight circle, arguing. Their voices were sharp and urgent, and I caught snatches of words that did not make sense.
Somehow, the picture seemed wrong to me. I don’t know why I was expecting to see the earth broken open, the massive pyramid in the sky, and red flames pouring down over my burning flesh.
Instead, what I was seeing were groups of people going around like headless chickens while frequently glancing at the sky.
"...no one can reach the station..."
"...the sun hasn’t risen..."
"...the pyramid has to be doing something. We should not have come here; this is not a place for men."
I found Bari standing at the edge of the chaos; his face was pale, and his hands were shaking. I grabbed his arm, being mindful of my strength, and he turned to look at me with wide, frightened eyes.
"What’s happening?" I asked. "What’s wrong?"
Bari’s mouth opened and closed. "Elric," he said as he looked at me in surprise, "How long have you been sleeping?"
Looking up at the grey morning and the fact that I did not feel rested a bit, I shrugged, "I don’t know, a few minutes?"
Bari looked at me with wild eyes, "Elric, you have been sleeping for seven hours." He pointed to the sky, "But the sun... the sun hasn’t risen. It’s as if the whole world has gone still."
I looked up at the sky, and my eyes widened. It was grey, and if I slept for seven hours, the sun should be at the center of the sky. I thought I heard a loud grinding noise, as if a gigantic gear was trying to turn, and yet something was holding it in place.
A painful headache washed through my head, and I nearly screamed in pain, but thankfully, it quickly passed.
"What do you mean, still?" I asked.
Bari shook his head. "I don’t... maybe... we think that Time... It’s not moving. The sun is in the same place it was hours ago. Nothing is moving. It’s as if the world has just... stopped."
I frowned, "Have you considered if this is a local phenomenon? Perhaps it is the Caelith that is causing a visual distortion."
"Why do you think the Adepts are fighting?" Dara came from behind me, "Adept Fennara and I think Adept Torvin wants us to pack up the camp and return to the relay station, but Scholar Orath and the Commander are not agreeing to this."
"Of course they won’t," I said.
"What? Why?" Bari said as he looked at me in a peculiar manner, and I could not answer as another wave of headache passed through my head.
"Well, it would not matter what we think," Dara finally said, "We would follow the Adepts in their decision. Personally, I agree with Adept Fennara; this has to be local. I mean, what sort of power can freeze time?" She gave a nervous chuckle, but none of us laughed.
I felt her warm hand touch me on the shoulder, and I looked at her, "Elric, how is your head?"
By all the lights in heaven, her eyes were beautiful. I shook my head, "I am getting better."
"Hey, you think your headache may be caused by this weird time freeze?" Bari said, "Perhaps you are more sensitive to this sort of magic than anyone here."
I glanced at him; maybe he was telling the truth. My mind was so foggy, and my head hurt so much. I don’t know why I thought this, but I think the previous me of yesterday would be rolling on the ground screaming in pain, but now I was barely wincing.
Bari was looking at me with a mixture of concern and something else. Dara’s hand was still on my shoulder, warm and steady, and I thought that she was closer to me than she had ever been.
"We should find out what the Adepts are deciding," Dara said. "Standing here won’t help anyone. I think we would be leaving though, and the truth is that I cannot wait, strange right?"
Bari laughed nervously, "There is nothing strange about that... if not for the presence of the Adepts, I would be a thousand miles away from this place; I refuse to believe that the whole world can be like this."
I nodded, and we walked toward the centre of the camp. The Adepts were still arguing, their voices rising and falling in waves of frustration and what I thought was fear, and I think none of us wants to hear fear from the most powerful people around us.
Adept Torvin, he has a magnificent mustache, no?... was gesturing emphatically toward the pyramid. Commander Rel, the woman I had noticed earlier, was shaking her head, her arms crossed. Adept Varis stood between them, his hands raised in a placating gesture.
Hmm, their names were coming to me slowly. Was I regaining my memories?
Scholar Orath stood apart from the others. His hands were folded, and he was looking around, and I think I could feel a barely suppressed anger in his cold green eyes.
The arguments were more of the same, communication no longer worked, the morning was frozen in place, and this entire thing was apparently bigger than them, and they needed instructions on how to proceed.
While the counterargument was that it had taken decades to get the permits for this expedition, and if they left without performing all the experiments, the chance for them to return was slim, especially for Scholar Orath, who was in the twilight of his years... this could be his last chance to come to an expedition like this.
It was finally Scholar Orath who broke the arguments, with a wave of his long arms, "Commander Rel, prepare the expedition to return to the Relay Station. They are right, something is wrong, and the quicker we figure it out, the faster we can get back to work. Some of us should remain behind, while the others leave."