UNLOCKED

REBORN

Isaac POV

Have you ever been in a place, a room so dark, it literally feels like a blanket around you.

Thick unexplainable darkness, blacker than night itself - you just know, even light wouldn’t be able to cut through it.

This place I was in, it felt just like that. The darkness - it made me choke. It felt suffocating and cold. It felt heavy - too heavy. I could barely lift my hand up.

It felt like wading through a sea of mud - even bringing my hands up to my face, I could not still see them through the darkness. I could hear nothing, not even my own deep breaths.

Was I dead?

I could no longer feel the stinging pain of my throat and lungs, and neither could I feel the aches in my legs. The blood that I felt trickling out of the gash in my side - I could no longer feel it anymore. The rain that had already began to pour down more heavily on my face before I found myself here - even that was gone.

Was I dead?

‘No! No! No! No! I can’t die here!’ My mind screamed.

“Why do you cling to life so desperately?”. A voice asked.

“Who is there?”. I managed to get out.

The darkness seemed to grow colder.

“Abandon all hope. There is no escape from this darkness,”. The voice, calm yet fierce, went on, ignoring my question.

“I will escape from this wretched place!”. I yelled.

There was a small cold laugh.

“No one ever gazes into the darkness and still has the courage to go on. The more you look into the darkness, the more it looks back into you. It seeps in and devours you from within,”. The voice said.

“Have you ever thought that I could also be devouring the darkness?”. I asked.

There were no emotions in my voice. I could feel it, the darkness. It felt like it was seeping into me from every opening in my body. It was almost like it was trying to take over.

“Abandon all hope. It is pointless to resist,”. The voice said.

‘Ahh.... I really must have seemed weak to whatever this entity was to think they could take over my body. I have two creatures to take care of right now, and there was no way I am dying to them!’ I screamed in my mind.

“No way in hell! This darkness! I will consume it! I will devour it! I will make it my own! You should be the one to abandon all hope!,”. I yelled.

The surge of energy rushes into my body. It no longer felt like it was eating me up. It felt more like I was feeding off it. The strength, it returned back to my body. The chill in the darkness now felt like a second skin to me.

I could not die in here. Not like this. Not knowing what the heck those things were. Not knowing what happened to me.

No!!

The rain - I could feel it falling on my face once again. My fingers twitched.

My eyes opened, but all I could see was darkness. There was a pungent smell hovering over my face. Instinctively, I threw a punch, sending whatever was there, flying.

It took a few more seconds for my eyes to adjust back to the world around me. Compared to the darkness I had just been in, the night was like it was moonlit in my eyes.

The creature got back on its feet with the other one now forming a pincer. The fear for my life was gone, and it was replaced by something I couldn’t quite understand yet.

I could tell these two creatures noticed the change also because they were now wary of attacking me blindly like they did before.

I moved a step forward, and they shifted slightly backwards. A small smile played on my lips.

“Not so tough anymore, are we?”. I chuckled lightly.

It only took a second. I didn’t have the exact concept of time in that moment, but I was sure what happened next only took a second.

I blitz from one of the creature to the other, landing a jab to the side of their heads cleanly and then, I was back to where I started from just in time to see the heads become non existent.

I watched the two collapse to the ground, leaking out some black gooey liquid from the now vacant spot their heads left behind.

I let the rain pour over me as I tried to make heads and tails of what just happened. It didn’t make any sense to me. I would have thought it was a dream if not for the throbbing I was feeling on my sides.

I stumbled backwards. My vision becomes blurry again.

“s**t!”. I said as I collapsed to the ground.

Blood loss - I had lost too much to be able to keep me standing, and I was yet to understand the energy I felt just a few seconds before. I was unable to use it to keep me standing.

Before I lost consciousness fully, I heard voices, and a face appeared right over me. A familiar face.

‘I’m saved’ I said in my mind before drifting off.

Lily POV

“Did you feel that just now?”. Eric asked

“I wouldn’t be considered an Ace if I couldn’t feel the energy ripples from an Ace going at it,”. Ivan responded.

“We are close! This power.... it’s choking...,”. I said as goose bumps formed all over my body.

We all felt it for a few seconds, and it was gone.

When we arrived at the scene, I had my hands covering my mouth in disbelief.

I wasn’t expecting to find a near lifeless friend beside the headless lumps of two Khodumodumo.

“Wait! Lily! Isn’t that Isaac!” Rebecca yelled.

My hands were still covering my mouth. I could only nod.

Eric was quicker to think rationally. He phoned HQ immediately to send a medics.

“No s**t! You mean this kid took down two Khodumodumo, all by himself?”. Ivan asked with unbelief written all over his face.

I had no idea when the tears began to fall. I fell to my knees beside Isaac’s body. The only thing I could say at that moment was

“I’m so sorry,”.....