Arc 62 - Powerless - Part 4

Nazar and Laura were on an uninhabited planet. This planet was located in a solar system that was extremely close to planet Xiem, Vanaha Empire’s capital.

The planet was mostly forest and the sky was red.

“Where are we going?”

“I want to find a high place. Even though this planet is uninhabited in the future, it might contain some forms of life now. So, if we are in a high place, it might be easier to see them coming.”

“I-I see...”

They continued to move in a random direction.

(What kind of nonsense was that person spouting?) Laura thought.

(That bastard. Why does everyone think I love her?) Nazar thought.

They walked and walked in the nothingness for hours.

“Can we…*huff*... take a break?”

Nazar looked back to see Laura was barely keeping up.

“Yes, we can do that.”

Laura then sat on the ground. She was hurt but she was too busy thinking about what the Nameless One said.

When she was sitting down, Nazar heard her groan. And she was also holding her stomach in pain.

He then looked at his chest and stomach and found many wounds.

Laura looked at him.

“How can you deal with that much pain?”

“As I said, I have died many times before. I have had my cells blow up over and over again. It hurts but I can deal with pain.”

Laura nodded.

“Give me a few minutes and then I will fix your wound. It might be temporary, but it still better than this.”

He jumped 10 meters into the air.

In that one second in the air, he looked around to scan the area. He could not see anything besides trees anywhere.

He landed.

He then walked in a random direction. About an hour later, he returned. He had a few wooden sticks with him and also a few rocks.

“What took you so long?”

“I needed to find the right stuff for this.”

He had many dry pieces of woods, but there were a few tree branches too. And he also had some vegetation.

He used the dry ones to put on fire by using the rock trick again. He rubbed the rocks against one another for a while and managed to put a fire.

He then smashed the vegetations together using the rocks.

After the vegetations were smashed into small pieces, he then ripped a part of his shirt. More specifically, he ripped a bit of his sleeve apart.

Laura watched as Nazar strapped the small piece of cloth to this tree branch. He then held it to fire. After a little while, the fire vanished from the cloth, but the cloth was not burnt a lot. He then placed the smashed vegetations on top of the hot cloth.

“Show me the wound.”

“Huh? Wait, I am not going--”

“Show me the wound.”

She then unbuttoned her shirt and raised the sport's top a little. She was not shot in the stomach, she was shot in her sides. Nazar thought she was shot in her stomach.

Nazar looked at the wound and then touched it.

“It’s not too deep.”

He then placed the hot cloth, that was covered with smashed vegetations on her wound.

As the hot cloth touched her wound, she screamed in pain. After a while, she stopped screaming.

“W-wait, what happened?” Laura sounded confused.

She could no longer feel the pain from that wound.

“It’s basically a painkiller. It stops you from feeling the pain. Also, it speeds up the healing process.”

“How did you do it?”

“Hmm… I just touched the vegetations and unlike the other ones, this one did not hurt at all to touch. And it had chemicals in it that I have seen being used somewhere else. It was used by Solace when she tried to heal my wounds using medicines.”

“And the hot cloth?”

“I was just going to use that… but then I found the vegetation. And combining it can make the chemicals react faster.”

“Why don’t you use it on yourself?”

“I will do just that, then.”

Nazar then ripped more cloth from his other sleeve.

He burnt the cloth, more than he did for Laura.

He did not bother placing the vegetations on it.

Nazar then took off his shirt and started holding the hot cloth to each wound for about 30 seconds.

While he was doing that, Laura cringed, so she looked away. And Nazar did not even bother making a single noise.

“You should be proud.”

“Huh?”

“You are the only one who has seen me shirtless in many years.”

“Why would I be proud of that?”

“It’s a rare occurrence in history.”

When he finished, he put on his shirt back on.

He put off the fire and laid down on the ground.

“There was a river nearby. If you want to go, then let me know.”

“Okay,” she replied slowly.

Nazar laid down for a few more hours. While he was just lying down, looking into the red sky above, Laura was sleeping.

After a few minutes, he saw Laura scratching her eyes.

“How much longer?”

He then tapped his chest.

A screen appeared that showed a timer.

“Just 12 more hours to go.”

“Can we go to that river now? I am kind of thirsty.”

“Okay,” Nazar said as he got up.

They started walking.

“So, where are we go next?”

“I was thinking we should go to either Outox Empire or Chochica Empire. They seem better than other empires and have the technology or magic that can be helpful to us. But...”

“But?”

“It is hard to enter Outox Empire. I am not sure if they have the shield now, but they do in future. So, I don’t want to waste the one chance we have. So, I was thinking we should probably go to Chochica Empire.”

“Why did you not go there straight away?”

“Because I wanted to take a break. What if they are hostile against us? I wanted to rest a little.”

They continued to walk quietly until they reach the river.

The water was extremely clear.

“I wonder why no one lives on this planet,” Nazar muttered as he couched down next to the river.

He touched the water.

“I think the water is drinkable.”

“Okay.”

Nazar then drank from the river. Laura did the same.

Nazar then jumped 10 meters into the air and landed in the middle of the river.

He then dropped into the water and stayed there for about 5 minutes without even breathing.

“Nazar? Are you okay?” Laura shouted towards him.

A few seconds later Nazar raised from the water.

“Yeah,” Nazar said. He did not shout back.

“What were you doing?”

“Nothing. Just trying to relax my nerves.”

“...?”

Even though the distance between them was a lot, Nazar knew that she was confused.

“Whenever I am in the water, it makes me relax. It allows me to block out all my other senses and just relax.”

Laura did not reply.

“The water is pretty nice, you might want to jump in.”

“Oh? Or you just want to see me in my underwear?”

“Now, why on Earth would anyone want to see that?”

“Some people?”

“Some people get excited over stupid shi--”

Nazar frantically jumped from the water and landed next to Laura.

“Wh-what happened?”

“Something… is wrong with this place.”

“W-wrong?”

“I don’t know… I just felt like something started to pull me in.”

“What?”

Both Laura and Nazar stared into the river.

“I am going to check it out.”

“I am coming with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Y-yeah.”

They walked closer toward that section of the river.

“Should we be really doing this?”

“We are going to die anyway. Why not be done with as soon as possible?”

“...”

“But in that place, it felt like two hands were reaching out.”

“Now we definitely should not go.”

“I told you to stay behind but you wanted to come.”

“I just don’t want to be alone in this unknown world.”

“Or you just wanted to be close to me?”

“So funny, I forgot to laugh.”

They walked slowly towards the spot where Nazar felt something strange.

However, before they reached that spot, the river split in half and swallowed both of them.

Both Nazar and Laura fell through.

They fell deeper and deeper into the darkness. And it seemed to go on for a few minutes.

Because it was dark, Nazar and Laura did not notice one another. Once they hit the ground, they were not hurt at all.

The place was pitch black.

“Laura!!” Nazar shouted.

“I am here.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No. I am perfectly fine?”

“That’s good. Anyway, say something else. I need to find where you are.”

“Okay. Um… so what do I say?”

“Just keep talking.”

“I think you are the worst the person I have ever met.”

“Thanks.”

“And I--”

“Found you,” Nazar said as he held her hand.

Nazar looked up and found out the river was back to normal.

“I am glad you guys are okay,” a voice came from behind them.

Nazar and Laura were surprised. Not because a voice came through but because the sound was speaking in English.

Nazar got a defensive position but...

“I am not an enemy. If I was an enemy, I would have left you out there,” the voice said.

“I learned not to trust others.”

“Fair enough.”

“And why do you speak English?”

“English? Never heard of that language. You hear whatever language you prefer.”

“Oh.”

While they were talking, in the pitch black darkness, small blue lights appeared. After a minute or so, the whole place was decorated with blue lights.

Nazar and Laura looked at the place in awe.

“What do you think, Nazar?” The voice said.

Both Nazar and Laura’s eyes widened.

“This is not a real world. It is a world of souls. The purer your soul, the stronger you are in this world. That is why we never try to commit any sins or fight against one another. Being in harmony makes us stronger.”

“How do you know my name?”

“When you entered this world, I ‘read’ you. I saw everything you have done. I saw what you did to this planet about 10,000 years from now.”

Nazar looked back and saw a woman. She had no physical form. It was just a bright white light in the shape of a woman.

“I-I did not know...”

“I know. But don’t worry about that. We will vacate this world.”

“D-did I just create a time loop?”

“What do you mean?” Laura said with a puzzled expression.

“The reason the planet in the future was uninhabited was that they find out about the destruction of it and they--”

Nazar lost strength in his legs.

He fell to the ground.

“I am sorry to tell you this, but you have died many times before. So, your soul is broken beyond repair. And more than that you are a sinner.”

Nazar groaned on the floor. Even slightly touching the ground hurt him.

Laura crouched down next to him.

“Wh-what’s going to happen to him?”

“A being whose soul is broken to a point where it cannot be repaired. A being who has sinned beyond most people. I don’t think there is anything I can do for him. No one can do anything for him.”

As Nazar laid down, more and more people without physical body surrounded them.

“His physical body is also damaged. We will try our best to heal his physical body. However, his soul is… I don’t even know how he even has a soul after being broken this much.”

These beings picked up Nazar. They all walked together for a while. They reached a place where all these beings were gathered.

They placed Nazar in front of them and looked down at him.

The woman then crouched next to Nazar.

“How did he survive these many deaths?”

“He was extremely powerful. He was immortal.”

“Was?”

“He lost his powers.”

The woman did something that resembled a chuckle.

“The strong are the most vulnerable.”

She then stood back up.

“He just needs to tolerate the pain for 20 more hours or so. After that, we will send you back up.”

“Huh?”

“Do you want to know why no one lives on this planet?”

Laura nodded.

“It is because this world, during the night, turns into a jungle for monsters. Monsters that appear out of nowhere.”

“Monsters?”

“Yes, monsters. This is why we came to this place. And why we left our physical bodies.”

“Ah.”

“You should be fine. Your sins are not as grave as his. Your soul is pure than most humans.”

Laura sat down next to Nazar, who was still laying down and was in pain.

Everyone else went somewhere else. There were small blue lights around Nazar and Laura, so it was no pitch black.

“I will stay beside you,” Laura said.

“Because you… ngh… will miss me?”

Laura frowned.

“I really liked you better when you did not have emotions. You were cold.”

“So, you did…like me?”

“Ugh… seriously? What is wrong with you?”

“I… just try to… avert my attention… from this shitty… situation.”

“Why?”

Nazar tried to get up.

“Because… we are both… going to die?”

Nazar managed to get with Laura’s help.

“And because… it all happened… because of me.”

Nazar then stood up. He and Laura walked for short distance. Nazar then sat down, with his back pressed to a wall.

“Something has been bothering me...”

“Hm?”

“What did that person (?) mean by ‘beloved’ and ‘the woman you love’?”

As soon as Nazar heard that, he forgot about all the pain.

“I don’t... know.”

“Don’t bullshit me. What did that person (?) mean?”

Hearing her serious tone, Nazar wanted to answer truthfully.

“Fine. That being, Alice and my dad think I am in love with you. But I think you might be just a demon or something that is messing with me. That’s all.”

“Think?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about you?”

“Aren’t you way too straightforward?”

“...?”

“Well, I don’t know. I barely understand any of the new emotions I am feeling.”

“So, why do they think that way?”

“Well, I was talking to Solace about the things that change within me when you are around.”

“Hm?”

“I am going, to be honest with you. My heart stops beating for a split second and then it beats faster. My body temperature increases. And I don’t know… but kind of feel happy when you are around?”

“Since when?”

“At first I thought it was after I returned from the countless deaths… but I was lying to myself. It happened when I first met you.”

Laura looked at him.

“In that messed up reality, I had emotions. On that day, I was super flustered but when I saw you… I kind of felt relieved? I don’t really know how to explain it. Even after the reality was back to normal, I kept thinking why I found myself relieved when I saw you.”

Laura was looking down now.

“And after countless deaths, when I saw you again, I did not feel like being angry. I felt happy. And then I realised I had emotions. I think Aarin had returned them to me. And ever since then, I was trying to find a way why I felt kind of happy around you.”

Nazar took a long pause.

“So, when they found out, they said I might be in love. But I told them that you are either a demon or a cosmic entity that messes up with my physiology.”

“Wait, you think I am a demon?”

“Well...”

“You really are weird.” She paused for a little while. “So, do you still happy around me?”

“I guess...”

There was a little silence.

“I really don’t understand where they are getting those things from. So, you don’t have to worry about it. And can you pretend this whole conversation did not happen?”

“Okay,” she replied.

(This guy really is an idiot.) Laura thought.

They stayed in that place for the next 12 hours. As soon as the timer was up, Nazar entered the coordinates for Chochica Empire.

As soon as he did, both Nazar and Laura vanished into thin air.

As soon as the appeared in a different location, they were in mid-air. And they were falling faster and faster.