"Time is relative in Liminal. I could be here for days while five minutes pass for the rest of them." he pointed out.

There's a faint smile at that last bit though, because there are things to have that are better than hope in his book. Hope is easy to break.

"Do not rely on hope then." Malik says slowly. "Hope cannot do anything alone, it relies too much on someone else coming to do something for you. Resolve on the other hand... resolve will turn a mountain to gravel given enough time."