Time… stood still.
Not in metaphor. Not in awe.
It truly halted—caught in the breathless space between now and never—as the dragon's maw, mid-roar, froze in midair. Its attack, a devastating spiral of death, halted inches from consuming all in its path.
And above them… it descended.
A giant, translucent creature—neither bird nor fish, yet somehow both—floated with divine grace in the storm-ripped sky. Vast ethereal wings shimmered with golden runes, each one ancient as stars, unfolding with celestial elegance. Its limbless body, tinged with hues of oceanic blue and faint violet, pulsed like the memory of a forgotten dream. The clouds parted for it, as if the world itself dared not block its path.
Murmurs of awe rippled through the battlefield.
"What is that...?"
"Is that...a spirit?"
"No, it's something else... something beyond..."
