Arc 61 - Powerless - Part 3

Pitch black darkness. The only piece of light they have is the little red eyes of the dark elves.

“This is going to be hard,” Nazar said to Laura.

He then brought her closer and held her tight. Without any warnings, he jumped 10 meters into the air.

“Wah?!”

(Cute.) Nazar thought. (Wait. What am I thinking?)

Nazar landed in the middle of the river.

“20 meters. Can I really do it?”

He has jumped many meters into the air but never tried 20 meters.

He was standing in the middle of the river. He is between two cliffs. The cliff to his right can lead him back to the village of the light elves and the cliff to his left lead him into unknown territory.

“I guess I will try this.”

The dark elves turned towards Nazar and Laura.

Nazar faced the cliff to his left.

He jumped into the air but it was not enough to reach the edge of the cliff.

He wanted to jump and hold onto a rock or something. If he did that, then he would be able to rock climb or maybe just jump the rest of the distance.

He tried to grab a rock but he failed every time. Nazar and Laura fell into the river once more.

“Shit,” Nazar shouted.

Nazar heard a weapon being thrown towards them.

He stood in front of Laura. Nazar managed to grab or evade the arrows that were being thrown at him. One arrow was about to hit him in the forehead, but he stopped it. Another was going to hit him in the leg, but he evaded it by moving to right a little. Another was going to hit his heart, but he managed to grab that one too. However, one arrow hit him directly in his shoulder. It was because he managed to stop the arrow that was aimed at his heart, so he did not have enough time to stop another arrow.

“Damn it,” Nazar said.

“Nazar? What happened?”

“I got shot with an arrow.”

Nazar held all of the arrows in his left hand. Then, using his right hand, he took out the arrow from his shoulder.

“Ah.”

He breathes heavily for a second.

“Are you okay?”

“Should be fine.”

He picked up an arrow from his left hand.

“Now then,” Nazar said as he shot an arrow in the dark night.

“Ack!”

Someone was shot.

He threw another and then another. He had 4 arrows and managed to hit four dark elves. He shot all four of them in the eye because it was the only part of their bodies he was sure he would hit.

“Stay here. Please.”

He then moved towards the dark elves.

He followed their red eyes. He managed to punch one in the face, breaking the bones in the elf’s nose. He then kicked one in the guts. He broke the arm of one. And punched another in the face.

And all of a sudden, the sun rose.

“It doesn’t follow the right timing,” Nazar muttered. “It happens randomly. Sometimes after hours and sometimes after only minutes.”

There was one dark elf left. He was standing behind Laura. He was holding a knife to her temples.

“”

“”

The knife was only a few centimetres away from her temples. And Nazar was about 5 meters away from her.

The dark elf moved the knife away from her temple and then swung it. He wanted to increase its damage.

Nazar moved in that time.

The knife was only about 10 centimetres away from Laura’s temples. And in that time Nazar managed to stab the dark elf with an arrow. He stabbed the arrow into his arm that was holding the knife. As soon as he did, the knife fell from his hand.

Nazar quickly got ahold of the knife that was falling into the river.

He held the knife and cut the skin of the dark elf lightly across his body. He first lightly slashed his face, then his leg, then his other arm and then a light cut through his stomach.

“You won’t die this way.”

Nazar then looked at the scared Laura and smiled.

“Why are they attacking you over and over again?”

“Your shoulder...”

Nazar looked at his shoulder.

“Oh, I got shot with an arrow.”

“Do you not feel--”

“I do but I have been hurt worse, so this is not so bad.”

Nazar looked around once more.

“This sun is confusing me.”

“What kind of planet is this?”

“As soon as the teleporter is ready, I know another planet that can support human lives… but it is uninhabited.”

“How do you know that?”

“Before I destroyed that solar system, I checked the whole system before doing it so.”

“Y-you destroyed a whole solar system?” She sounded surprised.

“Yeah. I left that part and the time freezing part out that day.“

“Wait, you seriously destroyed a whole solar system?”

“Yes. Why is that so surprising?”

Nazar just dropped himself into the water to clean the blood off his face. He stayed there for a minute or so.

“I never had to do that.”

“I thought you were not going to kill anyone?”

“I did not kill them. I managed to his their eyeball with enough force just to harm the eye. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“I am not sure if you can keep that promise for long.”

“I know… but I will try my best not to break it. It is the first proper promise I made with my sister.”

Nazar jumped once more and managed to cling to a rock. He then jumped straight up. He managed to hold on to the edge of the cliff. He jumped toward the same side where the light elves lived.

He then jumped back down and repeated the same thing with Laura. He failed a few times but managed to do it after a little while.

“That was scary. I thought I was going to die.”

“If you die, that will be troublesome.”

(The woman you love? What the hell did that person mean? I really hope it is not true.) Laura thought. She has been thinking about this one sentence for a long time now.

“If you die, then it would mean I wasted this whole time on nothing.”

“Anyway, are we going to the village again?”

“No. I am trying to stay away from the village. I want to stay away from people.”

The village was to the west, so Nazar and Laura walked towards North.

They walked and walked in the forest.

“Are you hungry?”

“No,” she replied quickly.

Nazar looked at the trees above him. There were weird fruits in it. Things he had never seen before. One fruit looked like pear and apple combined into one. Another looked like banana combined with apple.

He jumped a few meters into the air and picked one from each one. He then landed. He looked at the fruit and wiped it with his clothes. And then ate it.

“It actually tastes pretty good. Want some?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

They walked for an hour or so. While they were walking, they picked up some pieces of wood. Nazar also managed to find a way to fire it, just in case.

As soon as it was dark again, he lit up the wood using small rocks. It took a long time, but he managed to do it.

They sat next to a big tree.

Nazar then tapped his chest once more.

“Just over 16 hours to go.”

“Can you not speed it up?”

“I can but I am not sure if I can find the right equipment here.”

He took out the small device from his chest. It was so small that you could confuse it for a microchip.

He looked at it and then placed it back in his chest. He placed it under his shirt and on top of his right chest.

“Hey, do you hate my brother?”

“...No. The reason Emily is dead today is because of me. I should have removed all mentions of her and my family from all the records. I should have stayed away from her when I had the chance. I should have sent her brother right back to her instead of taking him in.” Nazar took a small pause. “But I am a little angry that he has killed so many people over the course of the last few days. I know it sounds hypocritical coming from me… but he is a child. He should not have to face horrors of killing someone. And again, that is my fault.”

“...”

“If I had just let get on with your life, this would have not happened. If I had just stayed away from everyone, this would have not happened. If… if I had just not existed… if I was not born, none of this would have happened.”

Nazar stood up.

“My whole family would have not been fucked up. I wouldn’t have ruined the lives of those around me. If I just wasn’t born...”

“Or if you did not act like an idiot, most of these would have not happened.”

Nazar looked at her.

“Most of these things happened because you were an idiot. Giving everything about yourself to an alien? Who on earth would think that is normal?”

Nazar lowered his gaze.

“And why did you not get rid of everything last year instead of keeping some of the data?”

“I--”

“Why did run away from everyone last year when you could have done something about that bastard Zerathos and the UN earlier? Why did you run away from your family if you cared so much about them?”

“I didn’t care about them then.”

“Really? Because to me, it looks like you just wanted to keep them safe. If they were away from you, Zerathos and the others would not harm them… or not hurt them. You thought that even if you died, they would not be hurt by you. Is that why you pushed them away?”

“...?”

“I think I understand why you did what you did. And why you probably do some stuff. Like what happened yesterday, threatening Ishaya.”

“What?”

“To become this world’s hero, I must become its villain. To become this world’s saviour, I must become its destroyer. To become its god, I must become its devil.”

Nazar laughed.

“Isn’t that your motto? If you really never cared about anything, then why did you save the whole world? If you never really cared about anything, then why did you run around the whole universe for months just to save it? If you did not care about anyone, why did you evacuate those closest to you? Why did you save us yesterday? Why did you save me yesterday? Why did you save me today? I am nothing to you, so why did you come after me today? You could have left me to die. So, why did you not? What am I even to you?”

“...”

“To me, it looks like you are pretending to be a villain while doing everything to save those around you.”

“I don’t even know where you get these ideas from.”

“Tell me something, why did risk your life coming here to save me? I am nothing to you. I have never helped you in your life. I hated you. I wanted you to suffer. I wanted--”

“Whatever is happening to your family is because of me. Either directly or indirectly. I just want to help.”

Laura chuckled.

“No one wants to send themselves to death by helping others. Please, tell me the real reason why you came to save me.”

“Because I-- I don’t know, okay? Can we stop talking about this? Please?”

Laura did not say anything.

Nazar sat back down.

As soon as he did, an arrow was shot towards Laura.

He barely managed to catch it.

Another was thrown. He managed to catch that too. But when two arrows were thrown towards her, he only managed to catch one. The other one shot Laura in her stomach.

“Arghh!!” As it hit her, she cried in pain… for only a second.

Nazar found her unconscious after a second.

Then 50 different arrows were shot towards Nazar. He managed to block all arrows that were about to hit him in the heart or his head. But all other arrows managed to land on him.

He fell to his side. His eyes were closing and opening. He saw elves. Dark and light elves walking towards him.

He then lost consciousness as well.

Nazar opened his eyes. He looked around and saw hundreds of elves. Dark and light elves working together. They were no longer under control because their eyes were not red. And also, they did not act like they were under control.

Nazar then noticed something. His and Laura’s hands were tied together behind their backs. They were both sitting back-to-back.

“Laura,” Nazar said.

However, there was no response.

“Laura!!” Nazar shouted.

There was no response, again.

“” Lyrei said.

“”

“”

Nazar’s eyes widened.

“”

“”

Lyrei just smiled at him.

“”

“”

“”

“”

“”

“”

“Yes, me, you abomination,” a voice said. The voice was not of a man or a woman. It was not of a child or an adult. It was not of a demon or an angel. “Your God.”

As the Nameless one appeared, all elves bowed before him.

Nazar gulped.

Next, to Nazar’s God was Marco, Laura’s brother.

“”

However, there was no response from Laura.

“I wanted to see how pitiful you are. I teleported her next to you and told her that you were hiding behind a tree. I made sure that she was friendly with you. You trusted her. Hehe… it was so stupid of you.”

Nazar gritted his teeth.

“Then I made sure that the dark elves attack her and steal her from you because I wanted to see if you could really keep her safe. And then I messed up your senses, so you could follow a decoy. And the planet was weird, like the light and dark, so it was easy to manipulate.”

A smile appeared on that faceless and mouthless head.

“And then I had them shoot her with an arrow. You cannot really keep the woman you love safe. And I really wanted to see your reaction when she was hurt. It felt amazing.”

“What the hell is wrong with you, you bastard?”

“Me? Nothing. I am just a being who require more power than anyone else.”

“What is your goal?”

“I want to destroy everything.”

Nazar froze in shock.

“I am the Ultimate Destroyer. I want to end everything.”

Nazar finally regained his senses after the shock.

“What do you want from me?”

“Submit yourself to me.”

“Huh?”

“Because you are an abomination, your power is not added to mine. So, I want you to give yourself to me. Become my slave. Unleash your energies within me. And in that way, I will be able to achieve my goal.”

Nazar heard a groan behind his back.

“Laura?” He said immediately.

“Y-yes?”

“Are you okay?”

“No. It...ngh…hurts.”

Nazar felt a little relieved when he heard her voice.

“Oh, I see she is awake too.”

As Laura heard that being’s voice, she forgot about her pain.

“Do you know why I have you both tied in this spot?”

Nazar stared at his God blankly.

“Because your friend, Reaper, is going to destroy his first planet today. It happened thousands of years ago in your time, but you are in the past now.”

Nazar’s eyes opened in shock.

“Can you really save your beloved?”

Laura’s eyes widened.

(Beloved? What is this guy talking about?)

Nazar did not tell her about Marco.

(Ah, shit.) Nazar thought.

The being laughed.

While this was going on, Nazar was slowly untying the rope that was holding them together.

“Remove it but it will make no difference. This planet will be blown apart in no time.”

The being then pointed to a mountain.

Nazar had trouble looking because the mountain was behind him.

“Laura?”

“Y-yes?”

“What do you see?”

“Something landed?”

“Shit.”

“” Marco shouted once more.

He tried to run towards but the Nameless One held him back.

“” Laura tried to look back. “”

“”

“” The Nameless One said mockingly.

“Nazar, you can still fix this failure. You can still save her. Submit yourself to me. You no longer have your powers but I can fix that for you. If I just activated your powers again, you should be as powerful as you once were.”

“Then why just no activate it and steal it?” Nazar said.

“Because I have no control over you. If you submit, it means you will give up the control of your body to me. I will suck the energies dry from you. And once you are under my control, I will make sure you unleash your full powers, so I can suck more power out of you.”

“Not going to happen.”

Nazar finished untying the rope.

“Well then, both you and your beloved will die together.”

“She is not my ‘beloved’, okay?”

“I don’t care. If you survive, I will meet you again. But she? She won't survive. It will be fun to break both you and this kid.”

As he said that, the Nameless One and Marco vanished into thin air.

“Laura, do you trust me?”

“No,” she replied immediately.

Nazar removed his hand from the rope. However, the rope was pretty complicated, so he did not manage to open Laura’s at the same time.

“Fair enough but tell me what is happening.”

Nazar quickly brought her hand to his chest. He tapped it and the time was up.

“A white light is starting to radiate.”

“Less than 20 seconds left,” Nazar muttered.

(Remember. Remember the coordinates, damn it.) Nazar thought.

Nazar thought for a second and then he put down the coordinates in the small screen that appeared from his chest.

“It looks like he blew up.”

“Shit,” Nazar muttered.

(What was the last number? What was it?)

“The whole area--”

“Damn it,” Nazar shouted.

(Oh, right. It was 1.)

He placed the coordinates.

He then turned around to Laura, whose back was to him.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

As the planet started to crack beneath them, they vanished into thin air.

Nazar and Laura appeared somewhere else. They found themselves in a forest again.

Nazar untied Laura’s rope.

“Where are we?”

“It is an uninhabited planet that can support human life.”

“What did that person--”

“Let’s go.”

As soon as he said that, he started walking in a random direction.