THE RISE OF AN OMEGA-Chapter 52: Unfinished Game

Kira’s POV

"I will be back," his voice fading away, followed by an eerie laughter.

I opened my eyes; he was gone. I stood up abruptly, looking around, trying to make sure he was gone, as I didn’t want to be taken by the element of surprise anymore.

The maggot-infested bush meat still lay on the floor.

Disgusting.

I ran off to the nearby grass to throw up.

What just happened?

Was he the entity himself or the messenger of the entity? I still couldn’t figure that part yet, but one thing was certain: with my current level, my current strength, there was no way I would be able to defeat the entity.

The most surprising part of it all was the fact that it absorbed my attack. I wasn’t quite sure what exactly it did to him, if it increased his strength immediately or if it just got stored up in his body.

As I walked back home, one question lingered in my heart.

Why didn’t he end it right there? He had me to the ground already; if he was after my powers, then he could have taken them right there and ended everything, but he didn’t.

This left me confused; this entity was planning something, and it was killing me to know that I had no single idea about it.

This entity definitely had a special plan or use for me.

I need to find out what it is.

Coming out of the forest, getting to the road just opposite my house, I saw Ryker pacing to and fro worriedly.

I took in a deep breath.

Immediately he sighted me from afar, he came running towards my direction. His expression changed the moment he got to where I was.

"Kira! What happened to you?"

I looked straight into his eyes, and it looked like I saw tears in them.

Tears?

No, that couldn’t be.

Ryker was definitely not crying about me; he couldn’t be crying that he didn’t meet me at home.

I tried so hard to deny what was obvious.

He pulled me in, hugging me tightly.

"Ouch!"

"I am so sorry, Kira. What happened? Why are you coming from this direction? Who did this to you? I thought I lost you."

I looked at him, a quick smile appearing on my face. "I need to sit," I said as my legs began to wobble.

Before I could say another word, Ryker lifted me from the ground and ran towards my house.

"The key!"

I brought it out of my back pocket and handed it over to him. He placed me gently on the ground, making sure my back was resting perfectly on the wall. He lifted me up, taking me inside and placing me on the couch.

"Can you stay for a while, so I can get Emilia to attend to your injuries?" he asked, his gaze searching.

"No, I will be fine."

"No, you are not. I insist," he remarked.

As he stood up to leave, he already got to the door when I suddenly said it out loud: "Please don’t leave me; I am scared." I bowed my head, biting my lips, regretting why I said it. But what’s the use? Medicine after death is quite useless.

He turned back, rushed back to me, and hugged me tightly, assuring me that everything would be fine.

After a long moment of silence, still hugging, he finally asked, "What happened? I had been waiting in front of your house for about three hours."

"Three hours?" I exclaimed.

My jaw dropped in amazement.

If he had been waiting for three hours, that meant that he was supposed to see the lightning, the darkness that enveloped the forest.

"Yes, three hours," he said, making the sign three with his fingers.

"Then you should have seen the thick cloud of darkness."

"What cloud of darkness?" he asked, seeming confused.

"The one that enveloped the forest; the darkness was everywhere."

"Are you sure you are alright, Kira?"

"Do I look like I am insane?" I shot back at him angrily.

"Calm down, Kira. I didn’t mean to annoy you. I am just saying maybe—"

"Maybe what?" I retorted.

"Come on, you don’t have to be so—"

"He was there," I blurted out, interrupting him.

"Who was there?"

His questions were beginning to annoy me.

The black cloud was everywhere; even the black lightning bolt was visible.

How did he not see all of that?

Was he just trying to play dumb?

No.

I knew Ryker; he would never make me look like a fool.

I stood up from the couch and began pacing to and fro in my living room.

"You didn’t see the black lightning too?" I asked.

"Kira, honestly, for the three hours I stood in front of your house, I didn’t see anything. It was just the normal blue sky—no darkness, no eerie phenomenon, nor black lightning."

"How’s that possible?" I lamented, my arms raised in frustration.

"Calm down, Kira. Walk me through everything that happened from the beginning."

I exhaled deeply. I sat back on the couch.

"I was hungry. I decided to go into the forest to hunt for some bush meat, and then when I got there, I saw a stranger. I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t because I knew the forest was not a safe place for a human to be. We talked, and when he turned, I saw him holding three big bush meats."

"A human with three big bush meats? That’s suspicious."

"I thought so too, but he said he had been training for a very long time."

"Then what?" he asked impatiently.

"He offered me one. I collected it, but all of a sudden, it turned into rotten meat infested with maggots. And that was when I knew that the stranger wasn’t who he said he was."

"The entity?" he inquired, his eyes widely opened.

"I am not sure if he is the entity, but he sure had the same abilities as the entity, the same dark tendrils," I paused, chewing on my fingers.

"What’s wrong? Talk to me, Kira."

"I blasted it with my magical powers, but... but..."

"But what, Kira?"

"He absorbed it."

"What! He absorbed your attacks?"

"Yes, he did, Ryker. He had me; he could have killed me, taken my powers, but he didn’t."

"Kira! I am so sorry I wasn’t there to help you."

"If you were there, I am sure he wouldn’t have hesitated in killing you."

"But he didn’t kill you."

"Yes, and that’s the part I don’t quite understand yet. Why didn’t he just kill me there and then? The elders said he had been taking the powers of moonkeepers. If he was the entity, then why didn’t he just finish the job?"

"He could be waiting for the right time," Ryker replied calmly.

"Right time? I doubt that. I guess he probably enjoys humiliating me, reminding me how weak I am, how I will never be able to defeat him."

"But the dark entity we saw during the great battle didn’t have a face, just a voice," Ryker recalled.

"About that, the voice was similar. When he showed his true nature, their powers too were similar. It could be his human form," I said, clenching my fist.

I thought I was going to die. As I paced to and fro in the living room, I wondered how he was able to make the darkness appear in the forest but away from the eyes of every other person outside the forest.

He probably cast an illusion spell.

If he did that, that meant the stranger, the dark entity, or whoever he is, was quite stronger than I thought he was. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Creating such illusion, hiding the true reality from the sight of people, was something no being should be able to do.

With that kind of power, he could imprison the whole world, lock them in an illusion spell.

The thoughts sent chills through me. If he could conjure such strong illusions, what more could he do? My hands shook as I grasped the arm of the sofa.

"Kira, we must inform the elders," Ryker stated, his voice breaking into my swirling thoughts.

I moved my head side to side. "They can’t provide a solution or assist me."

Ryker’s jaw became tight. "Then, we must train more intensely. You must grow more powerful."

"It just won’t be enough," I murmured, the defeat still lingering in my bones. "You can’t understand the emotions I experienced today. His strength... it surpassed anything I’ve ever faced."

As I spoke, the lights in my home began to flicker. Once. Twice. Then came the darkness.

"Most likely it’s just a power a power outage," Ryker remarked, grabbing his tiny flashlight.

However, the cold sensation rising along my spine indicated otherwise. Something felt off. The atmosphere felt dense, filled with a force I identified instantly.

"He’s here," I whispered, hardly noticeable.

"Who’s here?"

A gentle laugh resonated in the darkness, appearing to originate from both all around and nowhere simultaneously.

"Quite insightful, Moonkeeper," remarked the voice, the identical voice from the woods. "Did you think our small game had ended?"

The temperature decreased. I noticed Ryker becoming tense next to me, finally realizing what I perceived. But he tried to remain composed.

Then, much like ink dispersing in water, dark tendrils started to snake out from the room’s corners, creeping along the walls, ceiling, and floor.

"Shall we continue from where we stopped?"