[A shoutout to @Kylar_Warp_Shinkai and @Cyclops_Tempest for their support to my novel :)]
He crossed the garden in the time it took the darkness to creep forward another metre, not running, not even moving in any way the eye could track.
The grass stirred a heartbeat too late, the air folding inward after him, and the advancing shadow faltered as though the geometry of the moment had shifted beneath it, the thing it had been surrounding no longer where it had been a breath ago.
His hand found Lucifer's throat with a certainty that erased hesitation, fingers settling into place before resistance could exist, the grip closing with measured calm.
Lucifer's eyes widened in something purer than fear -- the astonishment of a sovereign discovering that speed itself had betrayed him.
