ENTITY: IOTA (PART III)

[As Saifur stared into Iota's eye, a wave of resignation washed over him. He closed his eyes, accepting his end. But when he opened them again, expecting only darkness, he found himself standing in his high school's second-floor hallway.]

[The familiar scene played out before him—Thebe and Tackler were beside him, arguing as usual.]

THEBE (18) groans in frustration: The hell?! Why do I have to do an assignment with a junior?! 

Tackler (17) shot back, exasperated: I'm not a junior! This is my final year!

[Saifur blinked, his mind racing. What just… happened?  ]

Thebe corrected him for his misunderstanding: Hell no! This is your third year, dumbass! And there are four years in total. You're still a junior! 

[Tackler cried out, dramatically collapsing into academic depression.]

[As the two continued their bickering, Saifur stood frozen, overwhelmed by confusion. His uniform was clean—unstained by blood, untouched by battle. He felt no power surging through him, no trace of the fight he had just endured. He whispered under his breath.]

SAIFUR whispers: What am I doing here…?

[Thebe, now staring at his assignment sheet, groaned louder than before.]

THEBE: Seriously?! Fauna species in the herb lab? That's way too much for me!

[Meanwhile, Tackler was grinning in relief.]

TACKLER: Haha! I only have to report on chromatography for leaves. Easy work for me. He flashed a smug smile at Thebe.

Thebe clenched his fists. "Damn you…"

[Amidst their squabble, Saifur finally lost it.]

SAIFUR: Seriously, where am I?!"

[His sudden outburst made both of them pause and turn toward him.]

TACKLER gave him a weird look. Uh… we're in school, in the hallway? It's May 12th, 2022.

THEBE frowned: Are you okay, Saifur?

[Saifur barely heard them. His mind had locked onto a single realization]

SAIFUR thoughts: May 12th… That's the day before we were pulled into that world!

[Fragments of memory flooded back. He remembered Thebe and Tackler getting scolded badly by their biology teacher, which was why Thebe didn't want to come to school the next day.]

SAIFUR thoughts:  No way… Did I… travel back in time?

Thebe glanced at Tackler. "Is he right in the head?"

Tackler shrugged. "Dunno. He's your brother."

[But Saifur had no time to answer them. He grabbed both of their hands in a rush.]

SAIFUR: C'mon, we gotta hurry! I don't know how long I have—

[But as he tried to move forward, he realized something horrifying. He wasn't holding anyone. Thebe and Tackler were still standing where they were, staring at him, unaffected.]

SAIFUR thoughts:  I… I can't interact with them…?

[Saifur's heart pounded as the truth settled in. His consciousness was here, but he was trapped inside his past self. His body was just replaying everything as it had happened before. He couldn't move out of it. He couldn't change anything. His words would be the same as they were back then.]

SAIFUR thoughts: But… I know what's going to happen. If this is truly the past, then I have a chance—a chance to uncover the truth, to find out who was behind all of this.

[The school day ended, and the three of them walked outside together.]

TACKLER mutters to THEBE: I tell you, I hate this school the most!

[Thebe nodded aggressively in agreement.]

SAIFUR in the past laughed & said:  "Don't do that too much, idiot! Your head will fall off."

[Saifur's present-self felt an unexpected warmth in his chest as he saw THEBE again.]

SAIFUR thoughts: It's really good to see Thebe again… I didn't think I'd ever get the chance.

[As they walked home under a golden sky, the light pierced through the gray clouds, casting a warm glow over everything. The chirping of birds gradually faded as the sun lowered.]

SAIFUR: How long has it been since I've seen this sky?

THEBE suddenly muttered: I don't plan on coming to school tomorrow… I'll be sick.

[Tackler, used to Thebe's excuses, didn't react until he processed the last part.]

TACKLER: Wait—how do you know that?" Tackler squinted. "You just predicted the future!"

[THEBE only giggled in response, keeping the mystery to himself.]

[As they passed a nearby shop, Tackler decided to buy crepes, giving Saifur more time to scan his surroundings for clues.]

SAIFUR: Nice, Tackler! More time to investigate.

[That was when Thebe suddenly stopped. His gaze fixated on a man sitting on a wooden bench.

The man was older than them, wearing a black hoodie, and seven dolls lay beside him—five boys and two girls, all in school uniforms. He was whispering in a strange language.]

Thebe turned back to Saifur and muttered:

THEBE: Hey… that guy looks suspicious.

Saifur's past-self dismissed him by saying: "We shouldn't pry into other people's business, Thebe. You really need to understand that."

Saifur's present self internally screamed. WHAT THE HELL?! THAT GUY WAS CLEARLY SUSPICIOUS! WHY DID I IGNORE HIM?!

[Tackler soon returned with three crepes, handing them out.]

Thebe scoffed. "Why'd you pick chocolate? What if I didn't want chocolate?"

TACKLER replies with a satisfied grin: You don't eat crepes, so I picked whatever I like.

[They continued walking home, but Saifur's focus remained sharp.]

I need to find more clues…

[Eventually, a point arrived, when TACKLER & the brothers go their ways to home, as TACKLER goes his way, he pokes THEBE by saying.]

TACKLER: PLEASEEE do your assignment, the teacher will kill us next time!

[THEBE replies back with a grin on his face, as if he's enjoying the punishment.]

THEBE: OKAY!

[While returning for home, Suddenly, SAIFUR's senses striked precisely, he saw a strange black door, lodged against a tree, hiding in the bushes. Its texture was unnatural, its presence unsettling.]

SAIFUR: Have I seen that door before…?

[Before he could analyze it further, a glitchy, dark-red distortion spread through the bushes like splattered blood, with the trails of glitches.]

SAIFUR shouts in thought:What… is that?! I NEED to check that door!

[As they neared home, Thebe whispered.]

THEBE whispers: Lately… it feels like we're being watched.

[Saifur barely processed his words. He was too focused on the door. But as they continued walking, the door slowly disappeared from sight.]

SAIFUR thoughts while gritting his teeths: Damn it! I need to find a way to control this body!

[They finally reached home. That night, after dinner, Saifur lay in bed. As soon as his past self drifted into sleep— He woke up.]

[But this time, he was in control.]

SAIFUR exclaims: I knew it! His sleeping will wake me up!

[He shot up, throwing off his blanket. But as he reached for the door, his hand passed right through it.]

SAIFUR groans: I still can't touch anything… Damn it.

[Stepping outside, his clothes instantly changed back—his bloodstained white shirt, his torn pants. His memories blurred.]

SAIFUR: Where was the door? I saw it… but I can't remember!

[A faint green glow appeared, forming a hazy trail, leading a path to somewhere.]

[Without hesitation, he followed it.]

[The trail led him to the bushes where the black door had been. As he approached, his surroundings darkened. Thick black glitch-like fluid oozed around the area.]

[He took a step forward—and froze, he saw a foot of someone, who had shoes on.]

[Curiously, he peeks behind the tree, he saw them.]

[Seven corpses.]

[High school students, brutally murdered, their faces unrecognizable.]

[Saifur's breath hitched. His hands trembled as he reached down, picking up an ID card.]

#Richard. 2nd-year student.

SAIFUR: This uniform… they were from our school…

[His stomach twisted. He reached for his own ID card, but—]

SAIFUR: It's gone.

[He heard footsteps of someone approaching.]

[Saifur turned.]

"I need to go—"

[He tried phasing through the black door, but it was solid again, it seemed that he had to go for the doorknob to pass through.]

SAIFUR dismissably: Why is this door real?!

[As he turned the knob, the door pulled him in & closes shut.]

[Floating in grey-white space with nothing in sight, he saw vivid glances of seven figures, wearing High-school uniforms, fighting off a lone, overwhelming enemy.]

SAIFUR: No way....

[The dead students, who SAIFUR found dead beside the tree, he found them fighting, wielding elemental powers, which the cousins right now possess.]

SAIFUR exclaims in horror:This… this all really happened?!

[As he was witnessing such events, his own body was beginning to lose its form, leaving behind a light-green & grey trail as he floats around, it's as if, he was running out of time in the past.]

SAIFUR panics: What's happening to me?!

[Before he could look at anything more hideous, he was pulled into another door, upon entering the door thuds closes.]

[Huffily, SAIFUR gets up on his feet, as he looks around, he got more confused, not to mention, his body was still losing its form in the mean time.]

SAIFUR: I think I'm running out of time in the past… I should head back! HOUND & others must be waiting for me! But… Where am I?

[His surroundings was filled with pitch black shadow, nothing could be seen so far, only SAIFUR's existence was found.]

SAIFUR: this place… it is NOTHING…

[The time he was left with, while waiting for him to eventually go to present, he began to collect his thoughts.]

SAIFUR: It might be possible that… Someone, Someone must have linked all of us to this world by something… AH I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH CLUES! I need to take a close look at everything… In the first place, How did I even ended up here?

[He noticed that the green glow in his eye was completely gone.]

SAIFUR thoughts: Could it be… one of my powers…? To go back in past?

[As soon as he reached that conclusion, another thing was pinching his head, which was ENTITY IOTA.]

SAIFUR: & What is up with that Entity? It should have killed me the moment I get out of illusion… Then why?

[The thought SAIFUR had back then again clicked his mind, & he began to consider that possibility in awe.]

SAIFUR thoughts in horror as he places the pieces of puzzles together in mind: What if… I was not in Iota's illusion at all? If IOTA doesn't know when I'm going to attack every time I reset, doesn't it mean that… I go back in past right after being killed by ECTO? What if… whatever happens every time I reset… is true? Does that mean that…

 ECTO ACTUALLY KILLS IOTA AT THAT MOMENT & PROCEEDS TO KILL ME?

[As soon as he comes to that conclusion, his existence wipes away from the darkness.]

[With immense light-grey & light-green trails emitting from SAIFUR, he returns to the present, where he stood in the same scenery, iota floating right in front of him at the edge of cliff, staring at him while 13 tentacles waves around in thin air, marking for his death as soon as he makes a move.]

[What SAIFUR had thought of back then, turned out to be true, in the awe of such possibility, he grins while looking at his hand, & says:

SAIFUR: What the...

To be Continued.