OC: Solus (he/they/xe)
Species: human -> angel
Universe: ???
This is my first time writing a character with neopronouns. Please tell me if I'm doing it wrong.

Time was a strange concept, and xe was determined to master it.

Earth. Water. Air. Fire. Those were the building blocks of the universe, but he believed there was a fifth - and not that 'quintessence' thing that everyone talked about. That idea was about as intelligent as a worm.

No, the fifth element was time.

They experimented with it. With time, everything decayed. Creatures died. Plants wilted. Mold spread over bread, water evaporated, fire fizzled out.

So, in theory, if one removed the fifth element, they could stop time. One could live forever.

But it was uncontrollable. It marched on and on, never slowing or stopping. All of their alchemy knowledge, and he couldn't decipher it.

All of that time.

All of that wasted time, that he knew was so limited.

It was agonizing.

Eventually, xe gave up on their mission in favor of easier subjects. He mastered healing and astrology. They achieved his master's favoritism. But time remained in the back of xer mind, looping around and around like a... well, like a clock. He fell back into study.

And then he died.

Xe wasn't quite sure how. He had been so close, so close to an answer, but it had eluded him at the last moment.

It was an experiment. An experiment that he hadn't anticipated would end in his death.

They opened their eyes on a path of cobblestones, worn smooth from millions of busy feet. Ahead of him stood two towering golden gates. Behind them shone a brilliant light in all the colors of the rainbow and some xe had never seen before, but yet it wasn't blinding.

Time is fragile, the man in the robe said, although xe didn't really hear him. It was hard to explain - something similar to telepathy, but through emotions and understanding rather than words. Break it, and many other things break too.

He had succeeded in his endeavors. Xe had stopped time, and it had killed him.

They opened xer mouth, but nothing came out.

It was then that they realized that he could not speak.

He chose not to pass through the gates. Instead, they returned to xer world.

Time was no longer a restraint. They were free. Free to search for answers, free to train apprentices, free to experiment and explore.

When time is not an issue, one tends to lose track of it.

It must have been several centuries later when they got bored. Immortality was no longer desirable. The mortals started to advance without xer help, so they faded.

~

"I see you," she said.

They saw her too. An elf, which broke all the laws of his world, but yet, she was there.

How do you see me? xe thought, but xe knew that she did not hear him.

"I came to give you a warning," she continued. "Your world is going to be destroyed soon. The humans are studying time."

What a cruel cycle.

Everything had an end, including his world.

She turned and stared directly into his eyes. Xe flinched back slightly. No one had done that in... a long time.

Her next words were the ones that convinced them to go with her.

"I also came to tell you you're not alone."