Threads of Deceit

"What now?" Zazm asked himself while he sat on the edge of his bed, the clock on the wall ticking steadily, each second echoing in the stillness of his room.

The fantasy book lay open beside him, its pages filled with fantastical tales of time and space, but now it felt like a distant memory.

He was determined to test the limits of his newfound abilities, to see if he could manipulate time itself.

He glanced at the clock, its hands moving with an almost mocking precision. "Let's see about that," he muttered, rising to his feet.

He focused intently on the clock, willing it to stop. He imagined the gears grinding to a halt, the hands frozen in place. But as he concentrated, the clock continued its relentless march forward, oblivious to his efforts.

Zazm sighed, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. "Okay, maybe that was a bit....ambitious."

Next, he turned his attention to a glass of water sitting on his desk. He envisioned it freezing mid-air, solidifying into a block of ice.

He extended his hand, focusing all his energy on the glass. He could almost feel the chill radiating from his fingertips, but the water remained liquid, shimmering in the light.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "Just freeze already!" But the glass remained stubbornly unchanged, and he slumped back into his chair, defeated.

"How the hell can I use time to freeze a glass of water? That was just random shit author put in."

Hours passed as he tried one thing after another—attempting to slow the ticking of his watch, to make the shadows in his room dance, to bend the light around him.

Each attempt ended in failure, leaving him feeling more and more disheartened. "What was I even thinking? Of course, it's not possible," he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Finally, he returned to his bed, the weight of exhaustion settling heavily on his shoulders he lay down, staring at the ceiling, the remnants of his failed experiments swirling in his mind.

Just as he began to drift off, something caught his eye—a flicker of movement in the air around him. "Wh--wha?"

Zazm blinked, his heart racing as he focused. There, in the dim light of his room, he saw them.

"Wha.. are these? Threads?" They were extremely vague, almost ethereal, weaving through the fabric of reality like whispers of light.

They shimmered faintly, their colors elusive and indistinct, as if they were made of the very essence of dreams. He couldn't quite grasp their hues or how they moved, but he was certain of one thing—they were more beautiful than anything he had ever seen.

The threads danced gracefully, intertwining and diverging in a mesmerizing ballet, each one a delicate pathway.

His eyes widened in disbelief. "No way… Is this real?" he gasped, sitting up abruptly.

The threads danced before him, delicate and mesmerizing, each one pulsing with a soft glow.

He reached out a hand, his fingers trembling with excitement. "This is incredible! I can't believe I'm actually seeing them!"

He leaned closer, trying to discern their colors, but they remained elusive, shifting and swirling in a way that made them seem almost alive.

"What are you?" he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. "Are you… threads of time? Or something else entirely?"

As he watched, one of the threads glimmered brighter, almost as if it were responding to his curiosity. Zazm's breath caught in his throat.

"This is unreal! I thought I was just imagining things after all those failed attempts." He chuckled nervously, shaking his head in disbelief. "I mean, who would've thought I'd actually see them?"

He laid back on his pillow and started to think about the threads that were mentioned in the book. "According to that book these threads can discern emotions based on their colours but... They don't have a colour"

He started looking at the threads with even more focused and it was then he realized, "No! They have colours it's only that, I can't see them because of how vague they are."

He was sure what he was seeing right now we're definitely threads he read about in the book but they seemed completely different from them aswell.

"No! What if they are something completely different?" He got up from his place and grabbed a glass of water with trembling hands.

"I need to try and interact with them" He put the glass down his whole body was shaking from both excitement and fear. It was already way too late. For now, he decided to go to sleep and he'll discuss this with Jahanox tomorrow.

******

The rays of sun fell on the face on a young boy who was sound asleep. His alarm was rampaging showing no signs of stopping.

"Uhh" Zazm woke up and turned the alarm off. He has stayed up late last night and he didn't want to get up for school today. But, he had to discuss it with Jahanox.

He went to the bathroom and splashed water on his face, his gaze went to the mark on his hand. He looked around seeing thin threads everywhere around him, they were vague but he can still see them.

He put on his uniform carefully hiding the mark and rushed to school. But instead of going into the classroom he went straight to the roof.

'He will come find me up here' Zazm loved high places and Jahanox knew it, he was sure that he will eventually come here.

'Going to class would be a headache' his thoughts drifted back to yesterday where his friends laughed at him like he was an entire circus.

Zazm leaned against a wall his eyes fixed on the threads Infront of him as he saw them move. He was deep in thought as the roof's door slammed open.

"Heh! I was wondering where you were" Zazm looked at Jahanox in his same carefree tone.

"Did you find something?" Jahanox raised a brow as he glanced at him. Zazm looked into his eyes and tilted his head, "What makes you think that?"

"Didn't you just said you were wondering where I was?" Jahanox pulled his hands out of his pockets and started cracking his fingers.

"It's better if you start speaking, I'm not in the mood of games right now." Zazm knew something must've happened for him to be this pissed and he had an idea of it.

"Fine.. fine don't kill me now" He shrugged off his hands while he pointed in a certain direction. Jahanox's gaze followed his hand but he just saw empty space."What?"

Zazm sat down his back leaned against the wall his expression shifting to something more serious, "Just as I thought, you can't see them, can you?"

"Can't see what? Can you be a little more specifi-" Before he could finish he was interrupted.

"Threads" Jahanox was shocked at what he just heard but before he could say anything, Zazm continued, "I can see them... The threads they are everywhere. They move like as if they are alive."

"Are you talking about threads.... Like those mentioned in that book? The ones that describe flow of emotions or something?"

"No! They are different they don't have a colour... No! it's more like I can't see the colour."

Jahanox was confused by Zazm's words, "What do you mean you can't see the colours and why is it that only you can see them?"

Zazm leaned slightly further. He started tapping his fingers onto his other hand, "That's what I'm saying these threads are different from those, These threads are flowing out of every living thing.

While on my way here, I looked at different people, animals and even a few plants there were threads flowing out of all of them.

As for why only I can see them... I have no idea. Maybe, it's something connected to my mark or something."

Jahanox was even more confused now, he understood what Zazm what saying and at the same time he didn't, "So, what you are saying is that these threads are flowing out of every living thing like they are connected to them?

And the reason I can't see them is because my mark is different?"

"Exactly! These threads are everywhere and keeps flowing endlessly, a few of them vibrates and some even... Randomly disappears. But" Zazm looked at Jahanox with a serious gaze, he started at Jahanox for a while.

He looked at him and his surroundings which caused Jahanox to look around aswell, "But, what's the most weird thing is the threads that flows out of both you and me."

Jahanox put his head on his forehead realizing what Zazm had meant, "You mean those threads are different?"

Zazm nodded slightly, "You can't see them but the threads flowing out of you..." He pointed at ride besides him and continued,

"They are extremely unstable and not just that, unlike other people your threads keep disappearing and reappearing as if there is a conflict going on between them.... The same goes for my own."

Jahanox sat beside Zazm, his thoughts had become a mess he didn't knew what to do now, for a second he thought that Zazm might be lying but he also knew he wasn't the type of person to joke about things like that.

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