Dyne: “This probably isn’t your fault, but you will have to die.”
The Spectre brought his arm down, an arm that would end up ripping the soul of his target in two. However, it never reached its target.
Dyne: “What?”
He exclaimed as an arrow came out of nowhere and ripped through his hand stopping it in mid-air.
Dyne: “Who the hell did that?”
Dyne spotted a hole in the wall from where the arrow would have entered.
Dyne: “Tch! What’s going on?”
Ethan: “Uh,”
Ethan ran. He saw the chance to and started running. He had loads of things to think about but at this moment, they didn’t matter. All that mattered was to stay alive.
Dyne: “Wait, you brat!”
Dyne ran after him. He couldn’t let the boy get away. Needless to say, the Spectre closed the distance within seconds.
Dyne: “Running from me is not possible for a mere human like you.”
He said as he grabbed the shoulders of the boy but an arrow came at him again. This time it missed its mark and only scratched Dyne’s hand. No blood obviously came out but the pain did. And that pain was enough to make him let go of Ethan’s shoulders.
Dyne: “Damn!”
Ethan started running again as soon as he got free. He ran out of the police station and towards a construction site not very far away.
Dyne: “I need to take care of this sniper if I want to do my job it seems.”
He said that as he came out of the police station and saw Ethan running. Another arrow came at Dyne and he took it head on.
Dyne: “That … really hurt.”
He said as he turned to the direction the arrow came from. The Spectre tried to maximize his sight by making all his energy flow into his eyes. As he did so, he found the presence of a vampire holding something akin to a bow.
Dyne: “Bingo!”
*******************************
About 100 meters away from the police station, on a roof of a relatively large building, a female vampire was standing holding a bow.
Vampire: “Well, I need to keep shooting if I have to buy enough time for the boy to get away.”
The vampire said as she picked up an arrow from the bundles of it lying on the floor. She had so far shot three arrows and had more or less been able to do her job with all three of them.
Vampire: “Okay then.”
She put the arrow on the bow and started to take aim. Vampires aren’t called Lords of the Night for no reason. In night time like it was back then, their eyesight was beyond amazing. So it wasn’t all that much of a challenge for someone like her who, in addition to being a vampire, had also trained herself to be a sniper, to get a clear view of her target.
Vampire: “Get ready for another one, Spectre.”
She said as she shot the arrow straight at Dyne. However, the arrow was destroyed mid-air.
Vampire: “What!?”
She found herself surprised as a voice rang in her head.
“Get out of there.”
The voice said in a tense tone.
Vampire: “Wait, why?”
“I don’t have time to explain, Darcie.”
The voice was very clear and Darcie herself could feel a danger alarm going off in her head.
Darcie: “But …”
“If you don’t get out of there now, you’re dead.”
Darcie: “Huh?”
“Dyne is going to kill you. So get out!”
Darcie: “Tch!”
She had gotten distracted so she took a look at her target. But, she couldn’t find the Spectre anyway.
Darcie: “What!?”
Dyne: “Looking for someone?”
A murderous aura suddenly started to emanate from behind her as the voice pierced her ears.
Darcie: “Shit!”
She jumped away off the building she was on and as she saw the building while falling, she realized how good her decision was.
Darcie: “No way!”
The entire roof of the building seemed to be on fire with bricks breaking down and falling apart. By the time she was on the floor, the roof was a life-threatening place.
Darcie: “What the hell!”
She said as she saw the silhouette of previously her prey, now her hunter.
Darcie: “I need to run.”
She said as she started sprinting along the street. The body of a vampire allowed her to run at a very high speed. While someone like Dyne could still easily catch up to her, he decided that he would not because it will only be a waste of his time.
In the flames he had created, he stood and took a glance at the construction site that Ethan was headed towards.
Dyne: “Need to get back to the real problem.”
*******************************
In the time he had gotten to run away, Ethan had realized that just running forever will not let him get away from the monster that’s chasing him. For some reason, when he looked at that monster, Ethan saw energy and intent; huge amounts of energy, and murderous intent. So he had instead tried to find something he could fight with.
However, he was blind. He could barely run without falling so there was no way he could have found anything to fight with. That is, if he hadn’t suddenly founding his hands touching a ‘DO NOT ENTER’ sign.
Ethan: “This is … someplace dangerous.”
The letters were etched out and his fingers could feel them.
Ethan: “It’s a risk but … I might find something here that I could use against that guy.”
And with that thought, he guided himself to the entrance by touching the gates and entered the site.
It had been three minutes by now. He had realized that he was in a building. He had also realized that it probably meant it was a construction site. He was now at the second floor of the building.
Ethan: “I-I …”
He was panting heavily.
Ethan: “… need to find something.”
Dyne: “You do?”
Sound of thunder cracking came as Ethan immediately turned on hearing the voice of the Spectre.
Dyne: “For what though? Nothing will help you in fighting me if that’s what you are thinking.”
Ethan fell back in trying to move backwards to get away from the aura, the only thing that was actually visible to him.
Dyne: “Just give up, kid.”
Ethan: “Tch!”
Ethan found his hand touching something.
Ethan: “Go to HELL!”
He yelled as he threw a rod at the aura and ran in a different direction.
Dyne: “Was that supposed to hurt?”
Dyne said exasperatedly as he didn’t block the rod and let it hit him only for the rod to end up bouncing off him.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Ethan, on the other hand, kept running. He didn’t stop for a second. This floor was the highest and so he couldn’t escape any further. He had to find a way to fight back. He kept running his hands through the walls and trying to skid through the floor so he doesn’t miss some potentially good weapon. He came across other rods, cement and bricks. Nothing particularly special that may be effective against a ghost but he still managed to pick up some weapons. The only problem is –
Dyne: “You can’t expect to hurt me with normal physical objects like those. Though I suppose I can’t blame you for trying, you are a normal human who doesn’t know about things like us ghosts.”
He said as he saw the boy holding those objects.
Ethan: “G-Ghost?”
Dyne: “Yeah, I am a ghost. Are you scared now?”
Ethan gritted his teeth.
Ethan: “Like I’d care about that anymore.”
He said as he moved back.
Ethan: “Why are you trying to hurt me? What do you want from me?”
Dyne: “As I said earlier, this is probably not your fault, but you have to die. I don’t think you need to know anything past that, especially seeing how the possessor of Eyes of Truth doesn’t become a ghost when he/she dies.”
Dyne says things Ethan doesn’t understand right off the bat, but he does understand that his death is very important to Dyne.
Ethan: “Well, in that case,”
He said as he ran in the opposite direction of what he had been facing, which happened to be the direction that can lead to jumping out of the building. So,
Dyne: “What is that, a suicide attempt?”
He didn’t felt any need to rush in to stop Ethan since his objective will be fulfilled regardless but, that became his undoing.
Dyne: “What the-”
He sees the boy picking up a wire and bringing it in contact with a rod that he had let go and was now lying on the ground.
Dyne: “You brat!”
The current in the wire starts flowing into the rod and all of sudden the rod starts getting charged.
Ethan: “Yeah, I am a kid so I don’t blame you for thinking I couldn’t have come up with this.”
The energy surrounding Dyne was the catalyst and the charge flowing in the rod was the supply needed to turn the rod into a lightning rod.
Dyne: “But why is current flowing in the wire at an off work hour like this and how are you able to know my energy will act as a catalyst?”
Ethan: “The first and second are connected actually.”
Dyne: “What?”
Ethan: “I had realized that there are wires here before you showed up. When I threw a rod at you and you were busy mocking me, I had peeled off the cover of a wire and let it rest on the ground. Since your aura is so huge and compacted, it would break off from you whenever there’s any chance for it to. When you passed by the wire, that chance came and the wire started receiving electrical energy from your aura.”
Dyne: “Tch! You couldn’t have known that plan would work.”
Ethan: “Yeah, but it did. And because it did, you need to understand that killing me in killing yourself.”
Dyne: “You …”
Ethan: “Stay away!”
Ethan uses a plastic as a cover for his hands as he lifts up the lightning rod.
Ethan: “This right now is the highest point here.”
He had no way of knowing that a higher point in not present but he had to bet on it.
Dyne: “Tch!”
And that reaction told him that his bet paid off.
Ethan: “Lightning will strike on it if it does strike. And soon as that happens; your compacted aura which has broken off because of the wire sucking it out will attract that very same lightning to yourself.”
Dyne knew this would be the case. And this is why, he was so irritated. A kid who should have had no way to fight back somehow (with admittedly luck involved) was pushing Dyne back.
Dyne: “If lightning doesn’t strike, nothing will happen.”
Ethan: “Yeah, but can you guarantee it won’t. You can’t, can you?”
Dyne: “Tch!”
Ethan: “All you can do is to go below so the lightning doesn’t have a path to reach you.”
Dyne had started to move back already in order to be safe.
Dyne: “Still though, all you have done is secured yourself on this floor. Are you planning to stay here forever?”
Ethan: “Tch!”
He clicked his tongue. It’s true. He had been able to drive back his pursuer but not fully. He had not become completely safe yet. So,
???: “I think that’s enough.”
A voice came, a voice that had a hint of sadness in it.
Ethan: “What!?”
Dyne: “Now who the hell are you?”
They both said to the boy who had suddenly appeared between them.
???: “The person this body belongs to may look like a child, but don’t go underestimating me.”
He said as glanced at Dyne.
???: “I could easily kill you.”
Dyne: “Tch! Yeah, I can see that in your aura, you freak. Who are you?”
???: “My name is not really important. But I guess I have been somewhat important in this world’s history, so I may as well say it. I am Abyss.”
Abyss, the demon who had come in the body of the 8-yeard-old psychic, glanced at both of them. Ethan had heard about Abyss that morning. He was the demon that Ozyllus defeated and brought peace to this world. Dyne, obviously, knew who this demon was. So,
Dyne: “That’s impossible!”
Ethan: “That’s impossible!”
They said at the same time.
Abyss: “Impossible things do happen. But anyway, that’s not important here.”
He said as looked at Ethan in his desperate state.
Abyss: “That bastard just keeps producing more and more victims.”
Dyne: “What!?”
Abyss: “Forget it!”
He said as he started walking towards Ethan.
Ethan: “No, stay away!”
Abyss: “Don’t worry; I’m only going to help you.”
Ethan looked at Abyss with scornful eyes.
Ethan: “You think I would just believe something like that.”
Abyss: “No, I don’t. Which is why I didn’t ask you to believe me, I told you to.”
He closed the gap between them before either Ethan or Dyne could even try to stop him.
Abyss: “This will hurt a little.”
He said as he put his hands on Ethan’s eyes just as Ozyllus did. Pain comes to those eyes. Ethan shouts in that pain. But Abyss doesn’t let go.
Dyne: “What … the heck are you doing?”
Abyss: “Trying to help.”
He said.
*******************************
The next time Ethan Kales opened his eyes; he was on a bed and was seeing a ceiling that he didn’t recognize.
Ethan: “W-What’s going on?”
He said as he got up and looked at the two people in the room. One was the demon in the body of a child and one was the Spectre who had tried to kill him.
Ethan: “W-what!?”
Abyss: “Calm down!”
Dyne sighed.
Dyne: “So you are finally awake.”
Ethan tried to get back but,
Abyss: “Have you noticed any difference from before?”
As he said that, Ethan realized.
Ethan: “I … I can see normally now.”
Abyss: “Is normally it?”
It wasn’t.
Ethan: “I can … still see your aura and I can also see what I couldn’t see back then.”
Abyss: “Yes, that’s good.”
Abyss said as he smiled.
Dyne: “Yeah, yeah, that’s all fine and all. Now listen so I can finally leave.”
Ethan turned his attention to the Spectre.
Dyne: “You are going to learn a lot about things that are generally considered supernatural. You will then realize that there’s a war going on between some factions and the stakes are off the roof.”
He said as he looked straight at Ethan from his golden helm.
Dyne: “I was ordered to kill you because you could have been detrimental to the whole world in this war if you were not able to master the use of Eyes of Truth. I will report back that that’s no longer an issue. But now you can’t choose to not be in this war. I know you were dragged into it and you must be confused as hell right now, but try to catch up soon, your help will be needed in the future.”
He said and turned around.
Dyne: “That’s all for me.”
Dyne started walking out of the room and soon the noise of the door to the exit opening came.
Abyss: “Well, did you catch all that?”
Ethan looked down while thinking.
Ethan: “Not all of it.”
Abyss chuckled.
Abyss: “I see.”
Ethan’s attention turned to the demon as he sat down on a chair beside Ethan’s bed.
Abyss: “In order for you to understand everything, I have given you three things.”
Ethan looked at Abyss with a surprised expression.
Abyss: “First of all, back when I put you through that pain, I was improving your eyes.”
Ethan: “Improving?”
Abyss: “Yes, I don’t know why Ozyllus chose you as the one he wanted to have the Eyes of Truth but since he did, it must mean that you are someone special.”
Ethan: “I don’t know about that.”
Abyss: “Well, I can’t do anything about how you think of yourself. So instead let me tell you what the Eyes of Truth are.”
Ethan looked at Abyss with clear curiosity.
Abyss: “About a thousand years ago, a blind man who was a scientist of sorts created a pair of Eyes that could see everything that naked eyes couldn’t. He gave those eyes the name Eyes of Truth and they were transplanted in him. That man was called Sagax and he became the man whose eyes could never be deceived.”
Ethan: “T-That’s amazing.”
Abyss: “Yes, but there was a catch. His eyes were not able to see anything that a normal eye could.”
Ethan: “That’s what happened to me.”
Abyss: “Yes, but after much research, that man was starting to become able to see things that he had lost the ability to.”
Ethan listened to him with astonishment as he continued,
Abyss: “After that, he kept improving his sight. Eventually, he became able to see everything. We called that, for a lack of a better term, ‘mastering the eye’. ”
Ethan: “I see.”
Abyss: “I took all the formulas he had and forced them into your brain. This is why you had to go through that pain. But because of that, you have ended up mastering the eyes.”
Ethan finally understood what was going on.
Abyss: “If you hadn’t been able to master it, then terrible side effects could have happened. This is why Dyne tried to kill you. But because of what I did back there, that’s not an issue now. That was the first thing I have given you.”
Ethan understood things much more clearly than he did in the past day.
Abyss: “The second thing – is this house.”
Ethan: “What!?”
Abyss: “A few Aurals I know will act as your guardians, but this house will ultimately be yours. There are a lot of books I have left that are pertaining to the past era as well as this era that you should read to find out more about how the things have been. Those very Aurals will also protect you so you don’t need to worry about something like that attack again.”
He didn’t even have the energy to be surprised anymore.
Abyss: “The last thing I am giving you is – motivation.”
Ethan: “Motivation?”
Abyss: “Do you want Ozyllus’ reign to continue?”
A question the answer to which Abyss already knew – was asked just to remind Ethan of the burning hatred that was born within him in just a day.
Abyss: “Or do you want his reign to end?”
Ethan: “You already know the answer.”
Abyss: “Then I’ll tell you how to do it.”
Ethan: “What?”
His eagerness to listen somehow heightened even more.
Abyss: “That will be your motive and that is what will bring Ozyllus down.”
Ethan had gained a focus he never had before.
Abyss: “Ozyllus thinks you are dancing to his tune. And he will keep thinking that. You need to turn that around. You need to make this war end in a way that he doesn’t want it to.”
Ethan: “In what way?”
Abyss: “I myself don’t know that, or it wouldn’t have been so hard for me to fight back against him. But listen, the only way his plans can fail is if the most powerful psychic in the world, actually … scratch that, most power person in the world, tries to stop his plans, whatever they are.”
Ethan: “Most powerful?”
Abyss: “Yes, there is a person in this world who is as powerful as if not more than Ozyllus was. That psychic is needed to enter this war, because I know that Ozyllus’ plans mostly depend on him, I also know that he is the only one who can completely turn them around.”
Ethan: “Okay?”
Abyss: “But because of how that bastard has played his game, that boy would not want to have anything to do with this war. I had to erase the poor soul’s memories in order for him to even be able to face himself.”
Ethan: “That doesn’t sound good.”
Abyss: “It’s not. Which is why, you will need to change that. Bring him into this war, and make sure he destroys Ozyllus. Only you can do this.”
At that moment, he had gained a goal. And with that goal, Ethan Kales had become one of the most crucial pieces in Abyss’ counterattack rather than in Ozyllus’ attack.
At that moment, his resolve had strengthened beyond what one could expect and it has not wavered since.
Abyss: “In order to keep fooling him into thinking you are his tool, we will need to keep away from each other. So, this is the only time you have to talk to me.”
Ethan looked at Abyss with that resolve in his eyes.
Abyss: “Look at me. Memorize this face. This is not the face of Abyss, the demon; I just inhabit this body. This is the face of the psychic you will need to bring into this war.”
Ethan understood that. And he was ready to do what he needed to. So yes, he saw that face and never forgot it.
Abyss: “This is the face of the boy you saw the aura of a day ago as one of the two people who were alive in that mess. Remember this face so well that you will recognize it even 12-15 years later when this child has grown up.”
Ethan affirmed to it. And Abyss understood very well just how serious Ethan truly was about it.
Abyss: “And remember this name – Kais.”
*******************************