THE RISE OF AN OMEGA-Chapter 51: Shadows Revealed

Kira’s POV

I remained frozen, not sure of what I should do. I didn’t even look behind me, as I wasn’t sure what he would do if I looked behind me. I tried to summon my moonkeeper powers but somehow I couldn’t feel them; it was as if the fear in me had made the powers dormant.

My hands began to tremble. I clenched my fist, trying so hard to hide my trembling fingers, but I was disappointed. Even though my fingers were clenched, digging into my palm, it still didn’t stop the trembling.

What was happening to me?

Who is this?

And why can’t I move my body?

I tried to move but I couldn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was my fear that was the hindrance now or it was the stranger that was doing something strange to me.

"What’s wrong? Can’t move?" He giggled.

"Who are you? And what do you want from me?"

"Hmm, who am I?"

I began to hear footsteps coming closer.

He was coming closer to me.

My heartbeat began to race.

What was he going to do to me if he gets here?

I closed my eyes and prayed to the moon goddess. I asked her to help me even if it was just this once.

Suddenly I began to feel free in my body. As I noticed he was closer to me, I attacked, my hands approaching him in a fist, but he was too fast. He caught my hands, broke my bones; I screamed in pain, then he flung me across the forest, but I was able to maintain my balance.

The broken bone healed faster than I expected.

The stranger smiled. "I see you’ve healed your broken arm."

My eyes rolled. How the hell did he know that I had healed my arm? I didn’t make it obvious because I thought I could use it as an element of surprise if he attacks me again.

"I see your abilities have improved," he said, folding his arms.

What!

How the hell did he know about my abilities?

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice laced with a low growl.

"It’s surprising that you still haven’t figured out that part yet," he grinned.

Seeing him grin made me angry and frustrated. I looked around me; there was a broken tree branch around. I controlled the branch, sending it with full force to him.

He didn’t even move an inch. The tree branch stopped moving; I kept on pushing it, but it felt like something was preventing it from passing that point. I knew it had to be the stranger, but the most surprising part of it all is that he maintained his composure, still grinning annoyingly.

Then before I could understand what was going on, I felt a very sharp pain on my chest, and I was in the air. Something had hit me; I managed to look around—it was the tree branch.

I landed on a tree. Blood spilled out from my mouth.

Could this be how I die?

Maybe it’s better if this stranger killed me.

At least the dark entity wouldn’t be able to take my powers if he killed me.

Except this was the entity.

No, this can’t be the entity.

The entity had a more sinister presence and aura; this one has a sinister presence but not as strong as the entity’s.

I stood up.

"Kira!"

I heard my name. At first I thought it was the entity or another voice trying to reach out to me. While I was trying to figure out which was which, I heard my name again, this time louder and clearer.

It came from the stranger. How did he know my name? When I saw him earlier, I didn’t tell him my name, neither did he tell me his.

"Who are you, and how the hell did you know my name?" I asked angrily.

I took a different stance this time. This stranger, clearly I had underestimated him, but I wasn’t going to make that mistake anymore.

"I know you are the moonkeeper, and I know that you will soon be destroyed just like the way your kind has been destroyed over the years," he laughed ominously.

I frowned. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" I shouted at the top of my voice.

He smirked, ignoring my question. I was getting frustrated.

Without thinking twice, I fired an energy beam towards him, but he dodged it effortlessly. I fired another and another and another, but it was still the same thing.

I stopped, gasping for air.

The stranger began to levitate, and then dark tendrils began to pull out from strategic places from his body.

I had seen this before. The way the tendrils wriggled and moved in the air, it looked awfully familiar. The aura coming from it and the thick tension gathering in the air looked too familiar to ignore.

The entity.

There’s definitely a connection between these two.

The energy I felt that night of the battle, the energy I felt in my visions, and the energy I was feeling in this forest were exactly the same thing.

This was definitely a trap, and I fell right into it.

But maybe it is for the best, I thought.

Everywhere was becoming dark all of a sudden with traces of lightning appearing in the sky.

No doubt this stranger was related to the entity, but I wasn’t sure if he was the entity himself.

The different times I saw this entity in my visions, I never saw its face, never saw how it looked like. I only saw dark tendrils wriggling in the darkness accompanied with his voice.

Either way, one thing was certain: this stranger was related to the entity, and I could guess why it was here.

It was either here to test my powers or to absorb my powers. Whatever it was, I was determined to fight till my last breath.

For a brief moment, pictures of Ryker, Emilia, Marcus, and the others flashed through my eyes. I smiled. I was glad they weren’t here. If they were here and they got hurt, I would never forgive myself.

I watched as this stranger kept going higher in the air. The wind was becoming stronger; his eyes were no longer sea blue, they were black.

Immediately his face turned to my direction, I was suddenly hit by a black lightning; the force sent me flying backwards, crashing on a tree.

The impact was painful. I could hear the sound of my bones crack; I coughed out blood.

Angrily, I yelled, "Is that all you’ve got?"

A wry smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He sent another lightning bolt; this time I was fast. Immediately I created a force field shield around me while I was still sitting at the base of the tree.

The lightning hit the shield. He kept on sending more and more and more and more.

My shield was getting weaker.

He sent another lightning bolt; this one was quite different from the ones he had been sending. This one was heavier and stronger. I was smart enough to know that my shield wouldn’t withstand, so before it landed on it, I swiftly moved away.

The lightning landed on the base of the tree, and it began to burn up.

I heaved a deep sigh, forgetting for a moment that I was facing a great enemy. A tiny cut on the side of my neck brought me back to reality.

Blood was dripping out of the cut; I staggered. I didn’t see him coming.

He could have killed me at that spot, but he didn’t.

Why?

What was he planning?

I soon disbanded the thoughts in my head. I was facing my most greatest enemy, who could probably be the dark entity or a messenger of the dark entity, so I needed to be focused.

My eyes glowed blue; my human strength was failing, so I decided to use my wolf strength. My claws were extended; I lunged forward towards the stranger, slashed through his body, or so I thought.

His body vanished like smoke. He appeared behind me, grinning.

Anger surged through me. I charged ahead but I missed again.

"You would die in no time if you continue to fight like that," he said, his tone laced with mockery.

I lunged forward, pretending to strike with my claws, but I changed tactics in the last minute. I sent an energy beam. He absorbed it.

The stranger laughed sinisterly, his dark eyes shining with amusement as he took my strike inside of him as if it were nothing. My chest constricted. No—this was not merely power. This was something different. Something much more severe.

Before I could respond, his shape shimmered, disappearing into the darkness. A murmur brushed softly against my ear.

"Time is running short for you, Moonkeeper."

An unexpected impact hit my back, causing me to fall to the ground. Pain pierced my ribs, my breath catching. I tried to lift myself, but a heavy boot kept me pinned.

The stranger knelt next to me, his tone oozing with hostility.

"When the night falls, will you beg... or will you break?"

My eyesight became hazy as the tendrils surrounding him twisted like snakes, extending towards me. Then—right as they hit—everything turned dark.

A solitary idea echoed in my fading awareness.

I have been defeated.