A Dramatic Encounter (2)

'Celestia'

This wasn't just a normal Hunter—no, it was something far more terrifying. A Hunter with intelligence. Something I had never encountered before. My legs trembled with fear. He was much stronger than I had anticipated. At first, I thought he was a Tier 2, maybe Tier 3. But no. This being was in an entirely different league, beyond anything I had ever seen.

I needed to keep this conversation for as long as possible going. Rhys, standing to my right, was completely paralyzed. He couldn't even move.

"You're not an ordinary Hunter, are you?" I asked, my voice slightly unsteady.

I tried to maintain my composure, to keep my mind clear. I couldn't afford to let my guard down.

Unexpectedly, his expression shifted. His malicious grin disappeared, replaced by something colder—disdain.

"Don't compare me to those mindless beasts," Umbra replied, his voice laced with irritation.

His presence was indescribable. Overwhelming. Suffocating.

Then, the grin returned. "Shall we begin?" he asked, his tone dripping with amusement.

I turned my head slightly toward Rhys, lowering my voice. "Rhys, please… run. As fast as you can."

But he didn't respond. He just stood there, staring at the creature before him. His usual emotionless face was gone—what replaced it was pure, unfiltered terror. Or was it something deeper? Something I couldn't quite grasp? In the short time I had known him, I had come to realize that there was more to him than he let on.

Then, Umbra attacked.

In an instant, he was in front of me, his fist aiming straight for my head. His entire arm was coated in "Force"—a powerful energy used to enhance physical strength and amplify attacks. It could even be used to cast devastating spells.

With minimal movement, I dashed to the side, barely dodging his strike. I needed to keep this fight in close combat, where I stood a better chance. I retaliated with a swift counterattack, but he evaded it effortlessly, his movements fluid and precise.

"Not bad, Celestia Dawnveil," Umbra said, leaping a few meters away, his eyes glinting with amusement.

'Rhys'

Finally, I could move. My lungs burned as I gasped for air, each breath a desperate plea for life. She stood in front of me, fierce and unyielding, her silhouette a fragile shield against the darkness. But even her strength felt like a flickering candle in the face of a hurricane. That monster… its very presence was suffocating, a force of nature that crushed my will to fight. Just being near it had almost killed me.

She's going to win.

The thought flashed through my mind, a fragile hope I clung to like a lifeline. But deep down, I knew it was a lie. A cruel, comforting lie. She didn't stand a chance. Not against him.

Why now? Why now?

The question screamed in my mind, raw and unrelenting. I had just woken up in this world—no memories, no past, no sense of who I was or what I had been. Just a name: Rhys. A hollow shell of a person I couldn't even remember. And now, in this fleeting moment of existence, I was already facing death?

I didn't even get a chance to live. To remember. To find out who I was.

What would Rhys have done? Would he have fought? Would he have known how to survive this? Would he have been brave, or clever, or strong? I didn't know. I didn't know anything.

The questions swirled in my head, relentless and unanswerable. They bounced around like a ball in an empty court, each one echoing louder than the last. Who am I? What have I lost? Why can't I remember?

But there were no answers. Just silence. A void where my memories should have been.

And now, that void was going to consume me.

I looked at her again, this stranger who had stepped into the path of destruction to protect me. Why? Why would she risk her life for someone like me—a ghost of a person, a shadow without a past? I wanted to scream at her to run, to save herself. But the words caught in my throat, drowned by the crushing weight of my own helplessness.

I didn't want to die. Not like this. Not without knowing who I was. Not without understanding why I was here, why any of this was happening.

But the monster didn't care about my questions. It didn't care about my fear, my regret, my longing for answers. It only cared about destruction.

And as I stood there, trembling and broken, I realized something worse than death: I wasn't just losing my life. I was losing the chance to ever find out what it meant to be me.

ECHO: Shards. Pieces. Putting together.

'Celestia'

Umbra floated high above. His presence was suffocating, like the air itself had turned to lead. His hands moved with deliberate precision, weaving a spell that made the atmosphere tremble. Shadows coalesced above him, twisting and sharpening into jagged spears—hundreds of them, maybe more. Each one glinted with a malevolent light, their tips aimed directly at me.

"Release," Umbra said, his voice cold and detached. The grin that spread across his face was anything but human. It was the grin of a predator toying with its prey.

The spears surged forward, a relentless storm of darkness descending upon me. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat a frantic drum of survival. I had no time to think, only to act. I channeled Force through my body, feeling the energy ripple through my veins, strengthening my muscles, hardening my skin. It was a desperate measure, but it was all I had.

I needed more. If I wanted to survive this, I needed to counter. My mind raced, fingers twitching as I began to cast my own spell. The incantation spilled from my lips, a whispered plea for power.

[Series of Slashes]

The spell erupted from me just as the shadowy spears were about to pierce my flesh. A flurry of razor-sharp energy sliced through the air, meeting the spears head-on. The clash was deafening, a symphony of destruction as each spear shattered into fragments of darkness. For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.

I didn't wait. The instant the last spear disintegrated, I launched myself into the sky, my body propelled by raw determination. My sword, already wrapped in a shimmering aura of Force, pointed downward like a beacon of defiance. Umbra was still there, floating calmly, as if my survival was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

When I was close enough, I swung my sword upward with all my strength, aiming for his ribs. The blade cut through the air, a flash of light against the oppressive darkness.

But it didn't connect.

Umbra moved faster than I could comprehend. His palm met the edge of my sword, and with a single touch, the blade shattered. The sound was like a scream—sharp, piercing, final. The remnants of my weapon fell to the ground, useless and broken.

Before I could react, his other hand pressed against my chest. There was no pain at first, only a strange, numbing pressure. Then the force hit me—a tidal wave of energy that sent me hurtling toward the ground. The world spun, a blur of sky and earth and shadow.

I hit the ground with a force that drove the air from my lungs. My vision blurred, darkness creeping in at the edges. I tried to move, to fight, to scream, but my body refused to obey. The last thing I saw was Umbra, still floating above, his expression unreadable.

And then, nothing.