THE RISE OF AN OMEGA-Chapter 66: Lost in the Darkness

Kira’s POV

I could feel the eerie aura thickening around us.

"Could this be what took her?" I muttered though I wasn’t expecting an answer.

Ryker and I stood with our backs pressed together, bracing ourselves for whatever might crawl out of the shadows. I tightened my grip, my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

"I’m sorry, Ryker," I said suddenly.

"For what?" he asked, his voice calm despite the tension in the air.

I hesitated before speaking. Confession lives in the stone. "I’m sorry for wanting to give up," I admitted.

He chuckled softly. "There’s nothing to be sorry about, Kira."

The cave fell into silence, an oppressive stillness hanging between us as we waited. I knew it was here. I could feel it watching us, lurking just beyond the veil of darkness.

Then—

"Ryker, it’s here."

We had already separated by then, scanning the shadows for any sign of movement.

"Behind you!" I shouted.

Too late.

The creature lunged from the darkness, its form resembling a shadow yet illuminated with an eerie, moonlit glow. Its claws slashed across Laika’s chest, followed by a powerful blow that sent him flying across the cave.

A snarl built in my throat. As the creature turned its glowing eyes on me, I reacted instantly, channelling my magic. With a blast of power, I struck it head-on, watching as its form disintegrated into nothingness.

Breathing heavily, I ran toward Laika. He lay motionless, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. Relief washed over me—he was alive. But as I knelt beside him, my relief quickly turned to dread.

His body trembled, drenched in sweat. His eyelids flickered erratically, his face twisting in silent agony. I pressed a hand to the wound on his chest—only to jerk it back immediately.

A strange energy pulsed beneath my fingertips, dark and unnatural. It wasn’t just an injury—something deeper was at work.

"Ryker...?" I whispered.

But he didn’t respond.

His body was here, but his mind... His soul...

It was trapped.

Lost somewhere in the shadows.

That creature’s claws must have sent him somewhere, somewhere very dark.

I continued shaking him, trying to wake him up, but he wouldn’t even move his fingers, not to talk of his whole body. I was confused, not knowing what to do. Tears began to drop from my eyes.

What can I do now? I asked myself that question about a million times, but no idea seemed to be coming to me at the moment; I stood up, paced around to and fro, and went around his body in cycles, my gaze fixed on him but still nothing.

Finally, I got an idea after ages of thinking. I decided to try using my magic to wake him, remembering what the moon goddess had told me about the power of the mind. I knelt beside him and began to channel all my power to my fingertips.

I placed my hands on the slashed part on his chest, but something strange happened; it felt like I was being pushed away, something repelled my magical energy. I tried a few more times, but I felt the same weird energy pushing me back.

I became more worried; the cuts weren’t healing as well, sweat kept trickling down, and his body cloth was soaking wet.

Where could he be?

This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening.

"Wake up, Ryker, please wake up", I begged, trying to touch the wound, but I couldn’t. My hands trembled as I hovered over his chest, afraid to touch the wound again. The last force of repelling the impending was more like a warning it was fierce and strange. I didn’t know what it was so I decided not to make a mistake if touching it again.

His breathing grew ragged, my chest tightening like an invisible hand, and it seemed to be squeezing the air from my lungs. His breathing was shallow. Too shallow.

Was he slipping away?

"I can’t lose you, Ryker, not here, not like this," I muttered under my breath.

A cold sweat broke out of my skin, but I felt no heat, only the chilling dread creeping into my bones.

My heart pounded so loudly I could hear it in my ears, drowning out everything else.

The cave felt like it was closing in on us; the air thickened with something unseen, something unnatural. It sent shivers down my spine. I looked around trying to be sure that something wasn’t lurking around in the shadows.

Suddenly, I noticed something; the shadows around us flickered, moving when they shouldn’t have moved. It felt like an unseen eye was watching, waiting.

The strange silence in the cave space was worse than any sound. There was still the racing heartbeat from Ryker, his gentle breath, but there was no movement, just stillness.

The scent of his blood filled the air, the earthly smell of the cave making my stomach churn. As wolves how sense of smell is impeccable

Suddenly, a strange wind blew through the cave, and the air in the cave became colder. I could see shadows shifting unnaturally.

What is this?

I began to sense something in the cave; it was exactly what I had sensed earlier, the same creature that had attacked Ryker; I could feel it. I took a posture that would make me able to defend myself against this creature when it came out charging towards me, but all of a sudden, its presence disappeared.

Just like that?

Where could it have gone?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden Jerking and jolting of Ryker’s body. I placed my hands on his body, attempting to steady him. It was tough, though, but I was able to steady his body with the help of my powers, too.

I had never been so confused in my life; seeing him lay down almost lifeless, not knowing what exactly was going on in his head, was killing me.

As I sat down beside him, holding his hands firmly an idea dropped in my head.

I could try entering his head to see what was going on. Something told me that it was probably a nightmare that he was trapped in, but I needed to be sure.

My hands hovered around his chest once again, trembling. The moment I touched his wounds again, I could feel it; it was clearer, something pushed me back, an energy unlike I had ever felt before. It wasn’t just a wound. It felt more like a link. A doorway.

Ryker’s body shook violently, pain evident in his face; he was trapped, locked in something beyond this realm. I could feel it now, unlike the first time I touched the wound. Tendrils of shadows seemed to be curling around the edges of my mind whispering, beckoning me closer.

This wasn’t the dark entity. It was something else; I couldn’t even decipher the one who had the greater power, but I knew it was something else. That I was very sure of.

I got to understand that this wasn’t à nightmare. It was a presence, a force pulling him deeper into its grasp.

Desperation flowed through my veins like burning flames. There’s no way I was going to watch and let him slip away. But how could I fight something I couldn’t see?

Then suddenly there was a shift in darkness. For a brief moment, I saw it, a glimpse into his mind, his torment. How I did it, I am not sure, but I was able to get a glimpse into his mind. He stood in a world of unending darkness.

His eyes darted around, lost, scared. Shadow figures surrounded him, their eerie, hollow eyes shining with malice and evil.

I took in a deep breath, I knew if I didn’t act fast enough, he wouldn’t make it back. I also saw something else but I couldn’t see it clearly as the energy from the wound suddenly repelled me.

My fingers curled into fists. There had to be a way into his mind.

And if there was a way in...

I would definitely find it.

I closed my eyes, attempting to çoncentrate, steadying my breath as the shadows seemed to pulsate around Ryker with energy. I reached inside my core, where my powers came from, calling forth the power of the moon, the connection and the ancient bloodline that had set me apart from others.

The energy within me burst; I could feel every single ounce of power on every part of my body, I became more sensitive, and I felt more alive. I never would have thought that I could do that.

The energy was wild and volatile as If it was scared of the darkness that was consuming Ryker.

But I wasn’t about to let myself be moved by my fear; I placed my hands on his wound again, and this time, I held it steady. As if the energy knew that ì was trying to do something, the burn I felt from it this time was immediate and worse than the earlier once the sensation travelled down my arms into my chest. The darkness pushed me back, trying fighting to keep me out, but I continued pressing forward. Teeth clenched, heart racing.

A sharp jolt ran through me, and in the blink of an eye, my surroundings changed. I was no longer in the cave, standing through the middle of what seemed like a shadow realm, cold, colourless, where everything looked and felt like a memory.

Not my memory but his.

In the distance, there he was, curled up on the floor, shaking and shivering.

"Ryker!" I called out, but my voice didn’t seem to move from where I stood; it echoed back to my ears.

He didn’t turn, of course, he couldn’t hear me.

I took a step forward, and the ground beneath me began to crack shadows hissed as I took a step forward. Clearly the realm didn’t want me there.

But I wasn’t leaving without him.