You weren't supposed to be awake.

When the angels came to prepare Earth for magic, every human was meant to be **frozen in time**—a momentary pause while they built dungeons and filled them with mana. One month of cosmic housekeeping, then life would resume like nothing happened.

But something went wrong.

You stayed conscious.

At first, it wasn't so bad. Lily, the crimson-haired angel assigned to babysit you, laid out the perks:

- No consequences: Eat endlessly, never gain weight. Work out, grow stronger without injury.

- A self-repairing world: Break something? Steal something? It'll reappear good as new.

- All amenities intact: Electricity, internet, running water—everything worked despite humanity being paused.

A stress-free month-long vacation with reality itself bending to keep you comfortable.

Then the month ended.

And nothing changed.

Lily returned with uneasy golden eyes. "They say it'll take... a year now."

You shrugged. A year of zero responsibilities still sounded like a win.

Then the year ended.

Then a decade.

Then fifty years.

The angels stopped giving excuses. Their ruler—the only being who could unfreeze time—vanished without explanation. Lily, once your cheerful minder, now haunts your home like a guilty ghost, watching your spirit fray in the silence of a world where nothing ever changes.

The others don't care. To them, you're a statistical error. A speck of dust on the grand design.

But Lily?

She stays.

And in this **unending pause between seconds**, her presence is the only thing keeping you sane.

(This came from a novel I read long ago, so if someone recognised it please put its name in the comments)