Afterimage 5

The Archon wandered towards the all too familiar place of solace and quiet - a field of flowers and grass among forested area, inhabited by tiny critters all around. It was perfect for a Trance session.

It was ought to be usual, too; Zaruma certainly had plentiful of actions, of history to reflect upon. Such thoughts kept his mind occupied, especially away from the fact that his city was currently claimed by the likes of Tragedy and Kayeliun, but--

Something bizarre caused him to stop in his tracks. The Archon halted his movement, if only to briefly look around - the world seemed... dead, moveless, silent. He had indeed heard of places where the veil is thin, where Arcane thrives and where spirits could linger with ease.

Did he wander into a spiritual realm? That was his first thought.

Yet, the answer would be something entirely different. Flying butterflies in the distance, a caress of a flower by the wind, a brush of leaves upon each other - it was all taking too much time, more than usual.

And by large margin, too. Has he been hallucinating?

"What is this..."

It wasn't a common occurrence that Zaruma would be left baffled and confused, but this one was certainly that. A pair of crimson hues travelled around in attempt to acknowledge the reason to such. He stood in place, pondering, and yet--

Once he made a step, everything seemed to move in it's proper pace once more. The butterflies kept on flying, the wind caressed the flower, and the tree leaves brushed upon each other as they should.

Has he been stuck in the temporary loop?
(Zaruma)

Zaruma took a pause. The Tempest stood in one place, wondering what was that just now.

But then it shined upon him - of course, the Archons embodied specific nature rather often. Tragedy embodied Death itself, the withering, the passing... the tragedy, with no irony intended. And what of Zaruma?

He embodied speed and strength of the wind, of hurricane, of tempest. The aging certainly had it's role too, causing the Archon to develop and grow even further beyond current limits. Perhaps it was his time to develop?

While such thoughts crossed his mind, the world was overwhelmed by that stillness, lack of movement and time. It could possibly be this place, the very place where many Arcane masters have practiced their arts - the place of Power which allowed for such energies to unlock within.

This was new. Deciding to go with it through testing to discover a pattern, Zaruma began to take small steps, if only to see whether the world's stillness would immediately break apart - to his surprise, it did not this time.

Waiting. That's what he assumed this energy was doing.

Positioning his hands behind himself, much like they were thrusters of sort, the Archon gave himself a boost, a propelling force which would launch Zaruma ahead at unfathomable speed - there was naught but a silhouette that he left behind while moving, almost immediately appearing in another place.

The time moved again.

"Odd."
(Zaruma)

The mind-boggling games of speed were vanishing just as soon as they appeared. Had the time truly stopped as he thought at first, or he merely moved fast enough to make it seem like it was stopped? Now that he pondered of it--

Zaruma shot a glance towards his very arms he used as thrusters to launch himself forward. Given new meaning through their odd use, the Archon positioned himself in a stance that would resemble that of a panther that is about to pounce it's victim - the energy was felt, rather than seen or directly acknowledged.

He had to give this a try. If his theory was correct, then he may have been close to a breakthrough of something... entirely new about himself.

The launch was about to happen- and yet, just as the Archon was about to take off from the ground in such way, the time ceased it's flow; he could note the faint silhouette of his own body surrounding his visage, but further inspection for any detail was not really possible.

He indeed moved- no, transferred to another location ahead of himself. That speed, that resemblance of wind - it defied the definition of space, of time, of speed.

It simply worked. Perhaps the Archon was that fast by now, perhaps it was a new power within awakening him due to presence of Arcane energies, or perhaps it was unknown magic that was instilled in his body, that he didn't know.

Yet one thing was certain - he just defied correspondence and time.

He stood up, and a pair of crimson hues were pointed back at the place where he came from. The Archon narrowed his eyelids in thought, but without a word, decided to move elsewhere.

Maybe he didn't get his meditation, but he certainly discovered something new.
(Zaruma)