ENTITY: iota (PART II)

[SAIFUR stopped, he witnessed ECTO getting into the portal, & the portal itself disappearing into thin air, his heart sinking down with negative thoughts, he turns around, only to see that iota was again floating & was staring at him, he lowered his gaze, but, he was not scared of it, rather, he was disappointed, & his feelings were hurt, he forms a sharp wind blade, he wanted to get back at ECTO as soon as he could:

SAIFUR coldly says: Close it's eye huh?

[He stares right at the eye of iota, which he was not supposed to, as soon as he did so, numerous small red veins appeared in white region of iota's eye, with its black pupil completely dilated, as if it's locked on SAIFUR.]

[But, SAIFUR remains unfazed, his one eye had turned green, the symbol of wind appeared in his eye, as to imply that he has developed a new power, his gaze remains sturdy & focused, leaving no time for unnecessary emotions.]

[He vanishes from where he stood & was found running at fast pace in circles around iota, the wind swirls at his feet, boosting his momentum. Until he lunges & attempts to slash iota from the back, but its skin was too thick to penetrate through the blade SAIFUR had formed. Needy of fire in this case, he mutters:

SAIFUR: I COULD USE BAPO HERE!

[Without wasting a moment, he took a step away & attempts countless times to attack its body with wind blade he formed at his hand's tip, but it rendered inefficient.]

[SAIFUR was thinking about the eye of iota, about why he didn't fall under any illusion:

SAIFUR thoughts: I looked into his eye, but… I don't think I fell under any illusion…

[iota did not move a single inch, it stood there, rotating at its place, while fixating its gaze on SAIFUR]

SAIFUR: It's not looking away from me, I need to do something!

[He decided to change the terrain for fighting, he ran away from iota, & so, it began floating & followed at fast pace, when it came up in the sky, it couldn't find SAIFUR anywhere. Suddenly, two long dark tentacles emerged from its body & began rampaging the surroundings, as to make SAIFUR show up, until it found SAIFUR rushing at him while lunging off the cliff, his school tie wobbling in air, yelling in exhilaration by long height, & repeating a certain sentence.]

SAIFUR: GOTTA TRUST MY POWERS GOTTA TRUST MY POWERS GOTTA TRUST MY POWERS GOTTA TRUST MY POWERS!!! WOAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

[iota reflexively turns towards SAIFUR & ambushes him, SAIFUR didn't expect it, he was startled by its sudden quirky movement & so, his posture staggered, his acceleration dropped in air, & he started falling, screaming in fear.]

SAIFUR: NO NO!!!

[As he was falling down, before the impact, he applied wind pressure against the gravity, breaking the fall, while still getting hurt, he heard iota slam into the cliff, causing it close it's eye, SAIFUR saw that a portal opened again, but, he was too far, & he can't make it, so, he didn't bother going towards it.]

SAIFUR: I knew it won't be easy… That thing is too scary…

[He immediately runs away from it, & hides under the cliff where the portal opens, while he was huffing for breath:

SAIFUR thoughts: Damn it!!! I can't help it!!! That thing is just too scary!

[Until…Something happens.]

SAIFUR: What…?

[He found himself standing in open, eerie environment, near the pond, under the bright red sky, where iota was crushed down, he heard someone shouting his name, while making a run towards the portal, as SAIFUR turned around, he saw ECTO was calling out to him, it seemed as though he was under the illusion that ECTO abandoned him back then.]

SAIFUR: ECTO…?

ECTO: C'MON! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME!

SAIFUR thinks: Was I… under the illusion, all this time?

[As SAIFUR takes a step, everything around him crumbles into pieces, causing him to fall into abyss, screaming in curiosity, his eyes open up into reality, where he was still huffing for breath after hiding from iota.]

SAIFUR: What was THAT?!

[Confused as he was, he sat still, thinking about the best way to strike iota down, his eye was still glowing green, until, he saw blood stains on his shirt.]

SAIFUR: Wait… When did I--- grunts in pain

[He had multiple clean slashes on his hands & arms, which were hissing faintly, as they were healing over-time, he hadn't realized when he took that damage.]

SAIFUR: When did I even... Did that thing do that? Even though it didn't even got close to me?

[He was beginning to lose consciousness, probably because of blood loss, but he forcefully kept himself awake.]

SAIFUR: Can't fall asleep here… Since sharpness of blade is not that effective… then… I need to use a better shape of a weapon!

[That was the base of idea in SAIFUR's mind, keeping that in view, he tried to form a long wind blade, which went alongside his arm in a curvy path, originating from his palm, for grip, it's sharpness was not guaranteed, since it required precise control over the element, but, surprisingly, SAIFUR was handling it pretty well, even he was surprised by that.]

SAIFUR: Let's try attacking it again…

[As he peeked outside the cliff, he saw iota was still floating, looking for another enemy, it seemed to have forgotten about SAIFUR.]

SAIFUR thinks: I can't reach that thing at that height! Gotta get him near me!

[Without wasting a moment, SAIFUR steps out hastily & deliberately made a noise to call iota upon him, as soon as iota turned around & came down near the cliff, SAIFUR, while keeping his gaze downwards, rushes towards iota. As a reflex, a tentacle emerges out of iota to thrash SAIFUR away, but, SAIFUR swiftly dodges that, as if he saw that coming.]

SAIFUR: Keep narrow & steady view.

[As he made his way to the cliff so that he could attack its skin with his newly formed blade, the path behind him was turned into a better ruin than before. SAIFUR could see the red intensity of sky was illuminating far brighter than usual, & the white moon was visible, where numerous dark small eyes were staring at SAIFUR. Finding that creepy, SAIFUR tries his best to not look at it, while gulping down the horrible views he was witnessing.]

SAIFUR: This place is getting more and more weird & scarier than before…

[As he reached the starting point of cliff, he saw that iota was floating right at the edge of cliff, staring at him, with 13 tentacles emerging from it. Avoiding the eye-contact, when he looked at iota in that state, he felt an impulse of fear in his spine, he was already creeped out by floating movement, he thought about turning back & hide, but:

SAIFUR: I should turn back… BUT! THIS IS THE MOST IDEAL TIME TO STRIKE IT TO CLOSE ITS EYE! I CAN GO BACK BY PORTAL!

[Overcoming his fear, he dashes towards iota while dodging the swing attacks of iota's tentacles towards him. As he lunges to twist around & slash iota's eye, Suddenly, a portal opened, & someone, screaming with all his might jump kicks iota, throwing it on the ground harshly, & swings his hand down violently, causing iota to stay down on ground, forever. When SAIFUR saw the person, he was shocked, because it was the person he least expected.]

SAIFUR: ECTO!!!!!!

[iota was found lying on barren plains, motionless, devoid of life, merging with the ground as if it was part of nature from the very beginning, the red sky illuminating it was absorbing its skin moment by moment. On the other hand, ECTO steps on the cliff, & looks at SAIFUR, he seemed relieved & began blabbering.]

SAIFUR: ECTO, I thought you---

[Before he could finish his words, ECTO approached him & stabbed his gut with his blade. Feeling the pain, his eyes were filled with tears, unexpected by this move, SAIFUR cries "WHY?!", as he asks in desperation, ECTO stabbed SAIFUR countless times with his blade, until agony & cries of SAIFUR went down. Giving up, he closes his eyes to his demise…]

SAIFUR: Is it my end…?

[Not too long, until he finds himself standing in front of iota again, who was at the edge of cliff, with 13 tentacles emerging out of it writhing, it seemed as though the entire situation had reset to a certain point. Out of confusion, SAIFUR uttered:

SAIFUR: An Illusion?

[Instinctively he checks that the stabs on his body were also gone.]

SAIFUR: When exactly… did he put me under an illusion…?

[Not so long after that, he held his body tightly in fear, because he just felt the pain of being stabbed all over his body, he was shivering in fear & pain.]

SAIFUR: No…. I don't want to die!

[He cried in pain, he falls onto his knees crying his lungs out, iota did not move an inch, it kept staring at SAIFUR, mercilessly.]

SAIFUR: I WANNA GO HOME!

[SAIFUR was bawling his eyes out in dread, he just sat still, his eyes swollen by weeping.]

SAIFUR in dismay: Someone will surely come & save me…

[SAIFUR was bent on that hope, because he neither had the courage nor enough power to kill iota, he wasn't bothered by any of that, he was afraid of being stabbed to death again.]

[As time passed by him sitting there doing nothing, he thought about his cousins, who are waiting for him on the other end, he couldn't feel any better about it, his green eye was still shimmering, as if it was giving him another go.]

SAIFUR: What should I do… What if it was not an illusion next time?

[As the doubt was rising within him, he got up on his feet, shivering in fear.]

SAIFUR: I need to see where I'm lacking, then attack him. His blind spot, I need to find it, only then I'll be able to escape!

[He took a deep breath, & grits his teeth, even though his body was hurt to some extent, he was not feeling any pain, he formed a long blade again, & the dead grass around him was stained with his blood, keeping up his guard up to his chin, he whispered:

SAIFUR: Here… we go.

[As his slow walk turned into wind speed rush, iota responds harshly by attacking him with tentacles, it was not holding back.]

SAIFUR: It's okay… I just need to die before ECTO kills me in that illusion…

[Saying that ironically, he again lunges & twists around to slash iota, while looking for blind spots, but, again, the portal opens again & ECTO kills iota in an instant.]

SAIFUR: This is where the illusion begins…

[He sees ECTO again, but not happily, he stared at him with anger, without wasting a moment, SAIFUR forms a wind pressure at his fingertip & points it at his head, his hand was shaking the moment he came up with that idea.]

SAIFUR: That's the f-fastest w-way…

[Stuttering as he said those words, he finds himself hesitating to kill himself.]

SAIFUR: I n-need to kill myself.. t-to find it's b-b-lin-blind spot!

[As he was saying that, ECTO was approaching him, which was exponentially added tension in his mind.]

SAIFUR: GOTTA DO IT!

[Gritting his teeths to keep himself together, & bear the pain, he penetrates his finger through his skull & dies right there, without letting out a single gasp.]

[Not so long ago, he, again, found himself in front of iota, with his whole body intact & working, he realized that he did not feel any pain that way, except for a millisecond.]

SAIFUR: I didn't feel pain at all… but… I'm better off not dying this time…

[Gathering the same courage & determination, he attacks iota in the multiple ways, while preparing himself mentally to feel the pain of dying 23 times, crying every single time filled with pain, & suffering, those 23 times dying were wasted looking for a blind spot to kill iota, & SAIFUR did not succeed in finding a single spot.]

[SAIFUR was on the verge of going insane, his eye, that was once shimmering with green light, was beginning to diminish, but he seemed like, he didn't care about any of that, it seemed as if, HE WAS NOT SCARED OF DEATH ANYMORE.]

SAIFUR smirks: This TIME! I'll find the blind spot! For SURE!

[He rushes towards iota, while looking for blind spot, until he noticed the spot:

SAIFUR thinks: That thing huffs it doesn't have a tentacle near the lower eye-lid huffs, & it is by-far, the most huffs impossible place, for me to reach, if, I go by normal means…

[He smirks, as he finally gets the gist of blind spot, immediately after realizing, he falls under the illusion to reset the situation, making it to 24th death. As soon as he thought that he will kill iota this time, he was already worn-out, because of emotional trauma of feeling the pain of dying many times, those re-attempts had exhausted his will. His green eye had lost its glow, & was returning to normal, which represented his tired self after dying so many times, it seemed as though, those deaths were not illusion at all.]

SAIFUR thoughts: Even though I'm repeating the same path after dying, why didn't iota attacked me the first thing I reset…? I'll be off-guard at that moment; I can be killed… so why?

[All of a sudden, a hypothesis ran through his mind, which was a crazy one, but he did not pay any attention to it. Keeping up with the pace, he readies his wind blade again & takes a deep breath to finish it for the kill.]

SAIFUR: One last time… Then I can go back to them.

[He rushes towards iota with positive mentality, grinning with hope, while keeping his gaze down to avoid eye-contact]

[But his body couldn't keep with his intention & stumbles onto the ground & unintentionally looks into the iota's eye.]

SAIFUR: Oh no… not again…

[As he looked into iota's eye, he closes his eyes, giving up on his life. When he opened his eyes again, without any hope of being alive, he finds himself in his High School, standing in the 2nd floors hallway alongwith with THEBE & TACKLER, who were constantly nagging about Biology teacher, who just gave them a new assignment because they didn't do their homework, just like a normal regular life...]

SAIFUR: What...….?