"The ground and all the rubble around it will not move."
The words cut clean through the chaos, simple, absolute.
And in the next instant, everything stopped.
The earth, which had been violently splitting apart, froze in place. The cracks stayed exactly where they were, the loose chunks of pavement hanging mid-collapse simply hung there, suspended, defying every law of gravity Jin had ever trusted. People could still move. He could feel that immediately, his own legs answering when he shifted his weight, testing it almost against his will. But the ground itself, the rubble, the debris, none of it so much as trembled anymore.
Jin stared down at the fissure that had been widening beneath his own feet seconds earlier, now locked in place like a photograph, jagged edges frozen mid-collapse. Beside him, Echo let out a slow, unsteady breath, staring at his own hands like they might explain what had just happened.
"That's not normal," Echo muttered.
