Chapter 167: Book 3: A Stitch in Time
My mind is still whirling, but I don't have the time to dissect exactly what it is I'm looking at—not when it's full of corrupted Temporal Firmament and powerful enough to completely erase any person it kills. Best as I can tell, it's a literal manifestation of the Tear, a collection of all the fear and anger that created it in the first place coalescing into a creature intent on killing.
No surprise that it targeted Naru first, considering he's responsible for all of Carusath.
More to the point, if this is one of the ways the Trial's so-called monsters are created...
I think back to all the times Temporal Link and its variants have allowed me to connect with a monster. To the glimpses I catch of past moments every time I do. I haven't tried doing that for a long while, and part of me now dreads what I might find when I do—these Tears are collections of tragedy, misfortune, and poor circumstance. It's no wonder every memory I've seen has ended badly.
Now's not the time to linger on those thoughts, though. Now's the time to figure out what to do and how to fight this. I feel the Knight's presence pulse within my core, a silent and subtle assurance of support. It pulls my Firmament into an amplified version of Quicken Mind that guides my thoughts on the rails of its experiences.
Assess. What are my immediate concerns?
Naru's safe for now. I can't tell what he's doing back there, but I can't afford to care—Premonition doesn't so much as tingle in his direction, and that'll have to be good enough for now.
Guard is standing by, his systems on full alert. I can hear the quiet hum of his engines as he analyzes the situation, but for the most part, he's waiting for my direction. Good.
The mother and her child, on the other hand...