“Valories, this book is ancient. It was created maybe a millennium after when we assume the original Gods Binding was created. A lot of time has been spent between the pages.”
“I figured as much. It doesn’t matter. We’ll stick with our original plan. You can do this and so can I. Ready?”
“Ready.”
I place my hand back on his shoulder, breathe, and release.
We both grunt as the full force of our powers ignites and collides. Unlike when I call forth my power and let it spread, right now I’m pinpointing it not only at him but at his own power.
Time in the office, the hallway, anywhere in the Godsdawn, stays the exact same. His accelerated writing is the only thing that speeds up.
I close my eyes, concentrate on my breathing and the vibration humming through my fingers.
Unlike him, I can’t focus on the pages flying by. The way they flip so fast makes the ink blend into a dizzying blur. It makes my stomach turn the longer I stare at it.
These minutes don’t speed by. Fifteen minutes is fifteen minutes, and it only takes about four for the first drop of sweat to form on my forehead.
I let my mind drift back to the first time we ever did this. To the first real conversation he had with me about his escape plan and how he asked me to use my power not on him, but with his.
He explained he’d been reading up on power dynamics and he believed as long as he allowed it, his power wouldn’t push mine away if I tried to use it on him.
Growing up, allowing someone to even use their powers to sense ours was a huge fucking no-no. We were expected to react accordingly, no matter who it was that dared do it.
Touching us and our powers was off-limits to all.
Except our father, of course. He was allowed to use his power on us or anyone he gave permission to with his supervision.
My brothers and I weren’t an exception to each other. My father was strict about not letting us work together on our powers or sense each other’s. He always said, with the abilities we had in us, we were liable to accidentally kill each other.
So when Amick proposed what he did, I was shocked and refused out of fear I’d kill him somehow. That was when he pointed out and made me realize the very obvious lie our father had been feeding us.
Riven was always allowed to work with one of us…
Like Creed’s taught Thayla, beings below us, we don’t even sense. To put it in simple terms, it’s basically because our power just brushes theirs off.
Beings with greater levels could hurt us. Our power would attempt to fight back and could possibly win, but it’d take a lot of strength, concentration, and grit.
Meeting a power of equal strength, like myself and my brothers or a Beginning God versus a Beginning God, the two forces would come to a standoff. They’d collide with equal energy and not budge until one of us allowed it.
We wouldn’t harm one another unless that was what we wanted to happen.
Once Amick convinced and showed me we could work together, my eyes truly opened. I tried to learn everything about my power he was willing to teach me. I didn’t care how he was getting the information. I was willing to help him get more.
Then I shared it with Creed and Riven. Riven wasn’t keen on any of us mixing our powers with his, but he did like the idea of me being able to use my time to move us faster or slower.
Creed said if he ever needed to make a death quicker than he already could, he’d let me know. When he said that sarcastic shit, I knew he didn’t believe he’d ever actually ask.
He has. Plenty of times, actually.
I was thirteen when Amick brought a book to my room and told me to tell him how much it had been read. I had no fucking clue what he was talking about.
By that point, I knew he could touch objects and see their truth. He swore I could do the same but with time.
He was right. It was another example of how our father was manipulating not only our lives but the possibilities of our powers.
My ability to sense time in an object has grown tenfold since then. It wasn’t something that was taken from me when we were stripped of our power, but it did weaken greatly.
Now I can tell you how long ago the object was created and how much time it’s been interacted with. Even this book he’s copying right now, if we had the time to spare and it wouldn’t take so much out of me, I could narrow it down to how much the High Chancellor’s read it since it’s been in his possession.
