𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝☆

𝑿𝑿. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓☆

The never-ending corridor appeared to defy all the laws of physics.

"Something is wrong..." Jace was the first to voice what the others had been feeling. "We've been walking endlessly."

"Yeah, but... weirdly enough, I'm not as tired as I'd expect to be." Cole shrugged.

Their heartbeats were slow, and time— even slower. Running through the corridors should have left them worn out, but not a muscle in their bodies felt tired.

Cassie looked at Justin, whose eyes shone with confusion, but there also seemed to be a glimmer of realization. "Everything's slower."

Everything's slower.

Cassie didn't know what to make of that. Neither did Jace or Cole.

"Look at the watch." Justin pointed at his wristwatch. "It's slower, don't you think?"

They took a minute to analyze his words. He was right; after all, the needle of the watch did seem slower than they'd expect.

Cassie's hand leapt to her chest. If she wasn't wrong, her heartbeat had become slow too.

Were they dying?

Panic coursed through her veins at the thought. They were too young to die. Coughs racked her body as she tried to subdue her discomfort. Her inner voice mocked her for being so weak, and her mind was barely holding onto sanity in the dark corridors.

She had a major phobia of darkness. Everybody knew that, even the clone. Realizing her discomfort, Justin rubbed her back. "Shh... breathe, it's okay. We'll get out."

"M'okay." Cassie protested. Now was not the time to let the demons win; she could fight them.

"Our hearts... they're slower too, I think. That's why it feels so weird."

Jace looked at his brother in fear. "If our heartbeats slow down too much, we can die..."

"No... no... We can't afford to die right now!" Cole said.

"J-just keep moving, alright? Keep exercising our bodies; it'll help maintain our heartbeats."

The last thing Justin wanted was for all of them to die due to his lack of preparedness to deal with the situation. They had called him the "brains" of their team; he couldn't let things go wrong due to a lack of knowledge.

As everyone walked, Justin lingered behind, trying to get to the root of the problem. Time was distorted; he just needed another indication to confirm his fear.

If there was some kind of distortion of their shadows or any object in general, maybe he could jump to a conclusion. He turned on the torch, carefully scanning his surroundings. The first things his eyes landed on were the corridors. They seemed to have some curvature, but as he moved along the curve he could see, he couldn't really follow along. He'd collide with the wall as soon as he took a step forward.

"Justin, you okay?" Cole asked worriedly.

"Uh—" He sighed, his senses dulled from the strange distortions in the surroundings. "I'm not sure, but... gravitational anomaly..."

Everyone immediately turned to him. "What?"

"This place could be experiencing a gravitational anomaly... there's a space-time distortion. Optical illusion. Something inside us feels messed up. I think we're experiencing everything slower than the rest of the world."

"There's distortion," Jace emphasized the word.

"—which means there could be possible openings... or loopholes in the fabric of reality that could lead us to other realities," Justin continued.