Chapter 177 - When logic escapes [18]

Putting Oliver aside for a moment, I turned my gaze to Arthur, who seemed oblivious to everything around him. In a calm but direct tone, I asked mentally: (Are we leaving... are you coming?)

The moment my question echoed in Arthur's mind, he nodded almost immediately, as if he'd known the answer before I even finished asking. Honestly, I never really thought he would refuse. From his point of view, I probably seemed like the safest and most reliable option among everyone there.

And, ironically, I was also the only non-human, except for Nyara, who stayed quietly right behind me. The fact that Arthur, a human, trusted me more than his own kind was, at the very least, a curious irony — almost contradictory, considering the nature of everyone in that uncertain environment.

"Honestly, I can't wait to get out of here. These frozen woods definitely aren't my thing" Arthur muttered, shaking his shoulder to brush off the layer of snow starting to pile up. His tone mixed irritation with exhaustion, while his eyes scanned the ice-covered trees around him, as if searching for any sign of a way out of this cold place.

I blinked at Arthur for a moment before casting one last glance at the others present. My eyes briefly settled on Eve and Adam. Adam, though he seemed a bit melancholic with his hunched posture, showed genuine happiness in his gaze as he watched Nyara — there was something peaceful in that quiet moment between the two.

Eve, on the other hand, kept that enigmatic smile on her face, almost unsettling, as she watched the scene attentively. Her hand gently resting on her cheek gave off a strangely maternal vibe, as if she were quietly proud, watching her own children — or something close to that.

Ignoring that, I shifted my gaze toward Oliver. Right behind him, the woman kept a relatively indifferent expression toward everything around, as if none of it deserved her attention. Yet, there was something strange in her look when she turned to me.

For a moment, her eyes seemed almost reverent, as if she were contemplating something sacred or untouchable. That way of staring sent a slight chill down my spine — an uneasy feeling I couldn't shake off. The man next to her gave off a completely different vibe.

He was relaxed, almost carefree, eyes fixed on the white, icy horizon of the woods, like he was enjoying the scenery without any rush. Both arms were resting behind his head, in a sloppy posture that only heightened the contrast between the two. It was as if, for him, this was just another ordinary day.

Oliver himself, meanwhile, still watched me with that typical half-smile on his face. There was something about him that always made me suspicious. Every time our eyes met, I got the same feeling: he seemed like he was plotting something, always one step ahead, scheming plans nobody else could see. Maybe it was just paranoia on my part... but deep down, a part of me insisted he was definitely pulling strings behind the scenes.

(Anyway, that's none of my business) I thought, looking away and ignoring Oliver completely. It wasn't like I needed to get involved in his problems. I had enough to deal with on my own.

Next, I turned my gaze back to Arthur, who was now watching Oliver with a curious expression, eyes half-closed and hand resting on his chin, as if silently analyzing every move.

His fingers moved slightly, a typical gesture of someone deep in thought: Let's go, I called, breaking the moment and drawing his attention back to me.

Suddenly, a completely black circle, devoid of any trace of light, began forming beneath my feet. Silent and threatening, it slowly expanded, as if devouring the ground, covering everything around it. Within seconds, it reached Arthur and Nyara, then stopped — as if it had reached the exact desired limit.

Without warning, we felt our bodies start sinking, like we were being pulled down by invisible quicksand. Gravity felt distorted, and no attempt to resist worked. We were swallowed completely.

Before my vision was swallowed by total darkness and the scenery around me began to change, I caught one last glimpse: Oliver, with his calm and enigmatic smile, staring right at me.

That was the last image I held onto before the full transition. The next moment, Arthur, Nyara, and I found ourselves in a space wrapped in absolute darkness.

My eyelids opened slowly as I cast a quick, careful look around. Oliver's enigmatic smile still echoed in my mind, persistent, but I pushed it aside, like an unwanted distraction.

Then I noticed Arthur's piercing gaze fixed on me, filled with silent questions. I just stared back for a few seconds with my golden eyes, their glow seeming to defy the darkness surrounding us.

Actually, after "absorbing" Nyara's powers, some properties that had already existed within me awoke — or rather, didn't really awaken, but simply surfaced. These weren't newly acquired abilities, but latent forces that had until then remained hidden, dormant in my essence. They never disappeared, they just hadn't manifested until I summoned and took control of them.

Then I slowly raised my hand, almost delicately. Arthur noticed and shifted his gaze to me, raising an eyebrow in clear doubt and curiosity. Ignoring his silent question, I snapped my fingers firmly.

The environment around us — or rather, the dense darkness enveloping us — began to distort in a surprising way. The space seemed to compress, fragmenting into an unstable mosaic of shadows and light, as if reality itself was breaking into tiny pieces. But just as quickly as the transformation happened, everything disappeared, and the monotonous, silent darkness returned, as if nothing had happened.

If I had to describe in a few words the transformation Nyara caused in me, it would first require understanding exactly the nature and extent of her power. Nyara isn't just a common force — she has the ability to rewrite reality, bending the laws of physics at her whim.

That power, impressive as it is, is only the surface of what she really is: a manifestation of chaos in its purest and most tangible form. Her powers know no limits, able to alter whatever exists or might exist.

What changed in me, though, was something even deeper. Now, her essential trait — this ability to defy and modify natural laws — lives inside me. It's like I inherited a fragment of chaos itself, a spark capable of transforming the reality around me.

At that moment, all I did was subtly alter the physical properties of the shadowy space around me. Technically, some might call it teleportation, but in practice, what I really did was compress the distance between my starting point and the desired destination as much as possible — like folding the very space between them.

When we finally arrived at the intended location, once again we were swallowed by darkness. However, this time it was so dense and absolute that even the idea of shape or direction seemed to have been erased. It was as if we were immersed in a primordial void where light had never existed.

It was like a veil had been lifted from our faces. In the next instant, we found ourselves on top of a building, right on the edge. The sharp wind from the height messed up my hair, and beside me, Arthur looked around, his eyes slightly widening in a mix of surprise and confusion.

I ignored his reaction for the moment and turned my attention to the horizon. The city's tall buildings were finally visible, contrasting with the previous scene, where everything seemed shrouded in thick fog. It was still there, true, but now it was slowly dissipating, as if the world itself was gradually waking from a long dream.

As I watched the horizon covered by the thick fog, a huge silhouette began to emerge, breaking through the white veil like a colossal shadow. It was so far away that it was almost impossible to make out its full shape, but one thing was undeniable: its size. Even miles away, it was impossible to ignore the sight of that monstrous leg, long and thin, grotesquely resembling the limb of a giant spider.

With each step it took, a dull thud echoed through the air, as if the very ground trembled in protest. For a brief moment, we caught a glimpse of its slow, threatening movement before the creature vanished completely, swallowed by the fog that was gradually starting to clear.

Honestly, that didn't worry me too much. As the fog began to dissipate, I knew that thing — like all other anomalies — would automatically be sucked back to where it came from. It was a natural process, almost like the world itself was correcting a temporary mistake. However, there was one important exception: only the living anomalies would return to their origin. Those that, somehow, ended up killed here... well, those would remain.

With that thought in mind, I looked down — more precisely, at the street. Several of those monstrous creatures, spider-like but with skulls resembling humans', were scattered across the asphalt.

Their bodies were torn apart, missing limbs and entire parts as if devoured by something bigger... and, most likely, that was exactly what happened. The scene was grotesque, with dark blood stains mixing with the debris, as if the ground itself had witnessed a silent massacre.

"If I didn't know how this city was a few hours ago, I'd say it's a good time to grab a coffee and watch the sunset" Arthur remarked with a crooked smile and a subtle tone of sarcasm. His eyes wandered over the horizon painted in orange and gold, almost ironically contrasting with the remnants of chaos still lingering in the air.

Hearing his words, I turned my golden eyes toward him. A sarcastic smirk curved his lips as he watched the scene before us. His gaze carried that teasing sparkle, as if the destruction around us was just another entertaining spectacle for him.

Buildings reduced to rubble, cars flipped over and crushed like soda cans, asphalt marked by huge, deep footprints like open scars on the city. No matter where you looked... chaos ruled every inch of this devastated scene.

I stayed silent for a few moments, just observing the landscape ahead. Everything seemed a little distant at that moment. On the other hand, Arthur approached me gently, almost cautiously.

His eyes slowly scanned the streets below, analyzing every detail. For a brief second, a complicated, hard-to-read expression crossed his face, as if an unsettling thought had occurred to him.

Then, he let out a long sigh and, with a tone mixing curiosity and slight suspicion, asked: "So... what exactly are we here for? I don't believe you came all the way to this place just to admire the urban scenery"

I just kept staring at the horizon, letting Arthur's words quietly echo in my mind. For a moment, I remained still, as if trying to absorb the weight of what I'd just heard.

Then, I softly blinked my golden eyes, letting their glow soften for a brief second while my attention shifted to something — or rather someone — just below.

My eyes settled on Nyara, and like an involuntary reflex, an old memory surfaced, delicate, almost like a whisper carried by the wind: the image of a little girl clutching the hem of my loose shirt, exactly where she was now.

I let out a low, almost inaudible sigh before murmuring to myself, with a determined yet nostalgic tone: (There's someone I need to see... before I go back)

***

(POV - Emily Parker)

Emily couldn't hold back a sigh of relief as she stared at the blinking charts on the screen. At some point, all communications had been restored. Moreover, the indicators clearly showed the situation was starting to stabilize. The initial contact with the [Angel of Death] had made her anxious, but to her surprise, it seemed not to have compromised the mission.

After all, if anyone had enough power to control this, it was definitely the [Angel of Death]. Laura and Victor, the only ones besides Emily in the room, also exchanged relieved looks while watching the data on the monitors and other equipment around them. The tense air was now dissipating, replaced by a slight hope that maybe the worst was already behind them.