Jim Armstrong and the Goblet's Curse

Chapter 27: Time Can Stop In An Instant

As if they were one, the group of people advanced on us, wielding their weapons. I barely had time to whip out Lumière and click it before someone was on me, slicing the air with his sword and narrowly missing cutting of my arm. I swung Lumière, but he hopped out of the way, before I kicked him in the stomach, getting him off me for long enough to deal with the woman trying to behead me from behind.

I jumped out of the way of a bolt of fire that had come so close to me that I'd felt the warmth on my face. I hit a dirt wall and rolled out from under a dagger, before elbowing someone in the jaw and kicking someone else in the neck.

I ducked under Cecy, who had almost hit me in the face with the butt of Revlon, and dodged Noah's spurt of fire he'd just launched at a bunch of people.

I fended off a man who was trying to grab me, but was too late to stop a cluster of shards of glass (where had they come from?) hitting me. I dodged a couple, but was nicked by the majority, some of them lodging themselves in my arm. They kept coming back at me, pecking at my hands and face like tiny annoying birds. I wasn't looking where I was going, only trying my best to get away from them. I knocked into James, and the hilt of his sword smashed into my neck as we both fell and hit the wall. Before we could get back up more people were on us, taking advantage of us being on the ground. I felt a hand grab me and slam me against the wall, clutching my neck and cutting of my air. I struggled against his hand, trying to loosen it enough to breathe, but I couldn't. His grip was too strong.

Suddenly, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell, dropping me. Behind him stood Shea, holding her sword backwards. She'd clearly just knocked this guy in the head. She grabbed me and pulled me up, when I saw a shadow moving behind her.

"MOVE!" I shouted, pulling her to the side where we fell in a heap, just narrowly dodging a sharp blade that lodged itself into the rock face of the wall.

We got up hastily, then jumped away from each other as a large rock shot towards us. I rolled and rose, swinging Lumière to clear my surroundings of people who wanted to kill me. I backed up, and a biting pain stabbed me in my shoulder. A gash had opened up where there hadn't been one before, and blood was profusely dripping down my arm.

"Sorry, Jim!" I heard Cecy yell, before ducking a boulder. She's probably tried to air-maim someone but had missed and hit me instead.

I turned and swung Lumière to deflect a blade that had been coming right for my head, before pushing the person off me and turning to deal with someone else. I ducked a fist, then jumped away from a swing of a sword, before a blade lodged into my side. I yelled and pulled away, but felt the unmistakable feel of blood, and the sharp stinging pain.

Something hard collided with my head, right before Noah crashed into me, bringing me down with him. I rolled away from him, dodging the tip of a dagger, and almost got to my feet when this time, Shea knocked me off my feet.

I crashed to the ground again, my head hitting the hard rock. I saw black spots, before shaking my head to clear it. Both Noah and Shea were motionless, and people were advancing on them, no doubt to kill them, if they weren't already...

Someone's foot hit me in the jaw and I fell back again, tasting blood. Cecy had just fallen, kicking me in the process. Again, I saw black spots, but I forced myself to my feet. Cecy was still moving, but I worried she wouldn't be for long.

"James!" I shouted, trying to stay standing.

James looked over quickly, before swinging his sword at someone who'd come too close. "What? You okay?"

I answered the first question, but not the second. "Can't you-" I ducked a column of hot fire, "Control them? Make them stop?"

James jumped over a fallen body and hit the wall to get away from more glass shards. "No!" he ducked a fist, and I twisted away from a blade. "Amour's hold on them is too strong. I tried and I- JIM DUCK!"

I hit the ground immediately and heard a sword whistle over me. More and more people were closing in on all sides, and I was finding it hard to breathe and see. James couldn't do anything about them, Noah and Shea were already down, and I wasn't sure if Cecy was still fighting or not. There were too many of them and not enough of us, and they were fighting us to pieces. There was no way that we could keep this up, not for much longer, seeing as almost have our numbers were gone, and their numbers didn't seem to stop coming. They needed to stop. They needed to stop so we could go and get the Sand.

I rolled over to see someone standing over me, a sword raised in the air above me. Before I could raise my sword in defense, the person brought his blade down through the air towards me.

I was so done with this.

I just yelled.

"STOP!"

All sound ceased abruptly, and it was completely silent in the cavern. I looked up. The tip of the sword had stopped an inch from my face, and the person attached to it was standing absolutely still.

What the hell.

I slid out from under the sword and stood up slowly, gripping the wall for support.

What I saw made my heart stop.

Everyone was stock still, doing whatever they had been doing before. Some people were swinging blades. Others were in the middle of falling, hovering off the ground. Noah was on the ground with someone over him, a sword in his hand. Shea was slumped against a wall, bleeding from her neck, but her blood wasn't running down her anymore. It was still. Cecy was on her feet, but falling backwards. She was still, one foot buckling underneath her. James stood in a headlock with someone else, his sword held out as if he was just about to hit the person behind him.

Everyone was completely still.

Everyone except me.

Suddenly, a crazy thought hit me.

I had yelled stop.

And hey had all stopped.

I thought back to the times this had randomly happened before.

During the Daily Challenge at GreySlash, when Cecy was getting away.

I'd told her to stop.

And she had.

In the Tim's, when those Sphalnirs were overpowering us.

I'd told them to stop.

And now.

When the fight was getting to be too much.

I'd told them to stop.

And they had.

I could stop people.

I could stop time.

Yo! Thanks for reading this week's update. Sorry this chapter was so short, but there will be longer chapters to come. If you liked this week's, make sure you comment and vote!

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