Ch - 95 A living Paradox or...?

Although Swayam was monitoring Eobard and future Barry's conversation through his minuscule clone, his main body remained active. Thanks to his unique ability to multitask, Swayam was with Cisco, who was examining Hartley's sonic gloves to understand how they worked. Swayam's role wasn't merely observational; he was there to ensure Hartley didn't try anything while working with Cisco.

Meanwhile, back at the team's base, Caitlin was engrossed in her work when a sudden rumbling noise startled her. She spun around to see a shadowy, dementor-like figure approaching her. Panic surged through her, and she instinctively used her cryokinesis, trying to freeze the creature. While it didn't stop the entity completely, her manipulation of matter destabilized it just enough for her to escape.

Caitlin bolted from the room, sprinting toward the pipeline prison where Cisco and Swayam were. "Cisco, Sam! That thing's here! It's coming!" she shouted, her voice trembling with urgency.

Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Cisco didn't hesitate. "Inside the cell, now!" he yelled, opening Hartley's cell and pulling Caitlin inside with him. Hartley, usually smug, was bewildered by the sudden chaos. Before he could ask what was happening, the door closed, trapping the three inside.

Just as the door slid shut, Cisco realized his mistake. "Sam!" he gasped, panic gripping him. He had forgotten Swayam, who was still outside the cell. Caitlin's eyes widened with horror as she realized the same.

They turned to see Swayam standing outside, fully exposed to the shadowy wraith. Caitlin's heart raced as the entity floated closer to him. She was on the verge of screaming when something unexpected happened.

The wraith, known as a Time Wraith, suddenly stopped in its tracks just three feet from Swayam. Its dark, ethereal form wavered, as if uncertain. Then, as though recognizing something in Swayam, it began to back away, moving cautiously. The Time Wraith, feared by even the most powerful speedsters, seemed to sense something about Swayam—something it didn't want to challenge.

Swayam stood his ground, maintaining a defensive stance, though he was just as confused as everyone else. Why had the Time Wraith stopped? What was preventing it from attacking him? His mind raced through possibilities, and one conclusion stood out: his existence was an anomaly in this timeline. He wasn't originally part of this fictional reality, and perhaps that was why the Time Wraith hesitated.

But another question followed—if he was an anomaly, wouldn't the Time Wraith want to eliminate him? Weren't these creatures meant to cleanse the timeline of deviations?

As Swayam mulled over this, Caitlin, still inside the cell, grew more anxious. She tried to rush out to help him, but Cisco grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Don't be reckless," he warned. "We need to think this through and find a solution."

Hartley, who had been silently observing, couldn't resist a sarcastic remark. "Well, isn't this a fantastic situation?" he quipped, his voice dripping with mockery.

Frustrated, Cisco shot him a glare. "Hartley, could you not be a dick for once? We're trying to figure this out!"

Inside the time vault, future Barry and the disguised Eobard Thawne were also witnessing the standoff. Future Barry, newly informed by Eobard about the Time Wraith's danger to time travelers, was unfamiliar with its behavior. He only knew that these entities pursued speedsters who disrupted the timeline. But Eobard Thawne knew far more. Time Wraiths enforced the Speed Force's rules, appearing when the timeline veered too far off course or when anomalies—like speedsters recklessly traveling through time—threatened a paradox.

As Thawne watched the Wraith hesitate before Swayam, his mind raced. The Wraith should have attacked. In fact, it should have gone after Swayam first, given that he was a living anomaly whose very existence had altered the timeline. Yet it didn't. Thawne's eyes narrowed, trying to make sense of the situation.

"This isn't possible," Eobard muttered. "An anomaly like him... the Wraith should have consumed him already."

But instead, the Wraith floated there, backing away as if it had encountered something beyond its understanding. Eobard couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't just a matter of Swayam being an anomaly. There was something deeper at play—something the Time Wraith feared or respected.

Back near the pipeline, Caitlin's worry peaked. "We can't just leave him out there!" she pleaded with Cisco.

"I know, but if we go out there, we'll be in even more danger. We need to figure out how to deal with that thing," Cisco replied, his mind racing for a solution.

Hartley, still smug, raised an eyebrow. "And how do you plan to do that? You can't just hit it with some fancy gadgets, Ramon."

Meanwhile, Swayam remained still, his senses heightened, analyzing the Wraith's every move. Its behavior suggested it recognized something in him that didn't belong but also couldn't be erased. He wondered if his existence wasn't just an anomaly but a paradox the Wraith couldn't touch without further unraveling the timeline.

Then it hit him. Perhaps his connection to both realities—his origin outside this fictional world and his presence within it—created a barrier, something the Wraith couldn't fully comprehend or risk disturbing.