The Phantom Riser

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - THE INCOMING WAVE (2)

Kiro, Victor, and Karenia left Nuri back at Azulon’s cave. But Azulon himself followed them. They encountered a few creatures on the way, but they avoided them upon seeing Azulon. A few teams were tempted to attack too, but for some reason, they all decided to keep their distance. It was the last day of the test. Most Risers had already fulfilled the requirements. All that was left was for them to stay alive. And that was actually the harder part. That was most probably the reason why most teams decided to avoid a fight. More coins were good, but was it worth risking their lives when they had already fulfilled the basic requirements? There was no need to try to come out on top. As long as they made it alive.

One peculiar team caught their eye however. They were walking on the same path, opposite each other. Like Kiro’s team, they had one girl and two guys. Unlike most teams that changed their paths when approaching Kiro’s team to avoid a fight, this team stayed true to theirs. It didn’t even look like they took cognizance of them until they were awfully close. Karenia took it as a sign of aggression. She would have attacked had one of them not raised his hands in a show of good spirit. “We’re not trying to pick a fight. We just don’t see why we should change directions because you’re walking on our path,” one of them said. He wore a harmless smile, but experience had taught them to be wary of those types. He was the youngest of the three. He had curly black hair and brown eyes. He was smallish too, like Isaac.

Kiro stared at them for a while. Karenia wanted to reply but Kiro spoke instead. “Theodore Grant,” Kiro said, looking in the youngest’s direction.

“Oh, am I that popular now? I haven’t done anything spectacular. Quite a surprise that you know me,” Theodore responded.

“Lucas Evans, Olivia Minerva.” The three of them took up an offensive stance as Kiro pronounced all three of their names.

“How do you know who we are?” Lucas said. He was tall with a slim build. His menacing frown was a testament to what he had experienced in the Mesh. Or maybe even way before. Olivia was a brunette. She looked the least confident of the three, but she didn’t give it away that easily. But for Kiro’s team, it was as clear as day.

“How do you know who we are? Or do you deny that you don’t?” Kiro retorted. He didn’t move a step backward nor forward. And neither did his teammates.

“Everyone knows who you are. You are popular on the feed. Especially with Jovak’s obsession with you guys. Even the audience can’t get enough of you guys. Well, to be fair, you are the most entertaining team there is---” Theodore said.

“This isn’t a joke,” Kiro replied abruptly.

“What’s the feed?”  Victor asked, with a stern frown in Kiro’s direction. He was already convinced that Kiro was responsible for their lack of knowledge about it. After all, they only knew what Kiro wanted them to know, or allowed them to.

“You mean you don’t know what the feed is? And you’ve been in the mesh all this time?” Theodore was amazed at their ignorance. The tension between the two teams had relaxed and now focused on Kiro instead, from his own team members.

“That too. I blocked it,” Kiro blurted.

“You did what?” Theodore exclaimed.

“Is that even possible?” Olivia asked.

“What are you all talking about!!!” Karenia yelled, breaking up the building murmurs.

“The feed is a broadcast signal between the Risers and the audience that are watching us. They see and hear us at all times. It’s like a reality tv show or something of that sort. Risers can see and send special messages, announcements, trends, things like that,” Kiro responded.

“I can see why you blocked it then,” Victor responded.

“Exactly. It would have been too inconvenient.”

“Would have been fun though. So how have we been appearing on the feed?”

“Whenever we encounter other Risers. Like now.”

“So basically, everyone knows you blocked our feeds.”

“Yeah.”

“Good job bro.”

“But that doesn’t explain how you know us?” Theodore said. He wasn’t too skeptical about them, but he was curious. Surely, he wasn’t that popular and neither were his team members. To top it all off, they weren’t even connected to the feed, so it was all the more suspicious.

“I’m the Phantom Riser. You shouldn’t be surprised about anything I say or do,” Kiro gloated. As insufficient as his answer seemed, it was actually sufficient enough. There shouldn’t be a surprise when he says something or does something out of the ordinary. Well, the current ‘ordinary’. He was mysterious and not even the test administrator understood him. Theodore and his team simply nodded. They lacked any desire to pursue the matter any further.

“So, where are you going? You do know that Jovak is coming for you right?” Theodore asked.

“We’re aware.”

“I know you took down Isaac and Nuri, but you three don’t stand a chance. Jovak’s teammates are stronger than Isaac and Nuri. Jovak himself is stronger than all of them put together. And he still has a lot of teams on his side. Avoid him if you can. It’s not worth the risk,” he said. Something in his voice felt like he genuinely cared.

“I’m sure we can manage something,” Karenia gloated. Everyone seemed to have eased up a bit except Lucas. He still wore his frown. Maybe even more so this time. But a glint of sadness flashed through his eyes as he stared at Kiro.

After a short debate, Theodore understood that he wouldn’t be changing their minds any time soon. They parted ways, but as Lucas walked beside Kiro, he muttered something low. Something so low, that not even Karenia didn’t get a whiff of it. But Kiro got the message loud and clear. It resounded in his head a thousand times and more. “You won’t be able to change anything.”