“What was that?” Will asked.“What was…” Loth paused, glancing up at Will, who had previously been right beside her as they descended. For a brief instant she seemed to have sped up, flickering forward before returning to her normal speed. “I see.”“There’s a field around Steve.” Will said as he landed. The gravity was very light, so they didn’t bother unhooking their flying gear.“Yeah,” Loth said, pointing up at Steve’s head, which seemed to have frozen mid-bite around the island he’d been eating. “We’re on Steve-time now. The field must stretch about fifty feet around Steven in every direction.”Will frowned.“Shit, he’s gotta be on the snake with us.” the worm could use the extra time to prepare…he might be way further along than we thought…“Extra time to gather Influence?” Loth asked.“Yeah, a week at this speed would have to be…a year or so?” Will thought aloud, remembering how quickly Steve had been moving. An island would have to hold still for a long time for Steve to eat it.“Or so.” Loth mused. “I’m not sure he could actually afford to do that, though. If he gave his followers more time to stop and think about their situation, the glaring problems would make themselves known. It’s more likely he is keeping his people outside the time-dilation field and in constant contention with Zodiac and Travis. Less time for them to think.”“I don’t know, you might be giving humans too much credit. I thought the tooth fairy was real until I was eight.” Will said.“Until you were eight? You disgust me, William Oh.” Loth said with a sneer, prompting Will to chuckle as they searched for a nearby constellation.“…Wait, how old are you?” Will asked.“Eight.”“…Seriously?”“Kobolds only live to fifteen or so.” Loth said.Will looked up at Steve frozen in time. It was a creature that measured time in Coils. How much of Loth’s time am I wasting (...)