Chapter 2: To A Perpetual Journey; Part 6

  “Who gave that to you?” Trakun paused, and gazed at Karkus with great curiosity. “Oh, interesting, even I couldn’t read that piece of information. Anyway, your mission is simple: Accompany people for a certain period of time, and do what I ask. For example, in the first mission I’ll give; Cerea’s protection. It’s easy, don’t worry. After the threat is gone, you’ll automatically be brought back to this place to give you another one. He then turned his profile to Cerea. “Before we continue, I’ll just return her back to her body.”

  Trakun motioned his arms and snapped his finger. Cerea, as if a lifeless human, strolled to a wall showing a small room with another Cerea sleeping on the white bed, two windows beaming the sun’s glow, and a rack which held a sabre. There were crows reminding that morning had come. The Cerea that was beside me passed through the wall, and joined together with the Cerea that was sleeping.

  Karkus observed silently. The video faded to black.

  “It was her dream form,” Trakun said. “She was my guest for quite some time. She won’t be visiting anymore, though, when she sleeps since she already did her purpose. She is your link to her world, Omneira, the place you’ll be living on next.”

  “So this place isn’t in Omneira.”

  “Indeed, this is my own place, a haven of a Deity. I’ll be transporting you to another world because you are not allowed to live on Earth anymore. Earth shouldn’t have anything related to any form of magic. That’s why, from now on, you are to live in Omneira and follow my instructions as you live there. You must not reject my orders or we’ll have no choice but to extinguish your life, forget that the Earth had an anomaly with it, and deny that it ever happened.”

  “I don’t know why there are monsters.”

  “Perhaps. However, it is important for you to keep on living, and Earth is not a place for you to stay. This world, Omneira, doesn’t differ much in the climate from Earth. There may be thousands more extreme lethal areas in Omneira, but they still wouldn’t be compared to the Dark Miasma you faced.”

  “When do I start?”

  “Aren’t you going to ask more?”

  “Link, what do you mean by that?”

  “For you to be able to adapt to Omneira’s environment without taking too much of a shock. Cerea, although young, has scouted almost all the area near her hometown. I shared some of her experiences through the videos. You might not ever remember nor recall it, but it assisted a lot in connecting you to Omneira. The both of us have a link, too. My spell on you lets me read your mind in the present; I cannot see your past. In order to see your past, I’ve placed a curse on you.”

  Karkus felt a huge blow on the back of his head. There was no one on his back. Another blow to his forehead, and another to his temples. As if something was trying to crush his head.

  “Help me!” Karkus yelled. However, Trakun just gazing at him.

  A screeching mix of noises flood through Karkus’ ears. He covered it, but the continuous throbbing pain from his head kept on. He screamed and writhed to ease this pain. He fell on the floor. Trakun then walked to him, just gazing at him, just gazing at me.

  Karkus heard a finger snapping.

  The place around became a tunnel, and Karkus flew through it rapidly. He saw silhouetted figures. He knew them, even if they were from a long time ago, even if they were momentary, and even if he can’t see their faces — he remembered them. Those are the people he once met; forgetting them was unforgivable. The tunnel came to an end.

  Karkus sat up. Panting, and bathed in sweat, and his vision was covered with the dark miasma. A monster faced him. The monster had no figure to speak of, it was just a formless purple cloud, floating.

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  “That was close,” The monster said with its non-existent mouth. “If I were a little late, I could have lost you. That’s too much for you. I’m sorry . . . my son.” The monster snickered. “This Omneira’s disease only shows random part of your memories. Don’t worry though, I’ll keep it in check so your life won’t be in danger, young man.”

  “Dad?” Karkus asked while thinking of the threads. He was not the monster’s son. What is the monster trying to do? Illusion and tricks won’t affect him. I must . . . restore my strength, Karkus thought. Ethereal Threads formed, becoming grass on the floor. Then Karkus ripped a few out secretly, and held it tight in his left hand. The monster should not be aware of it.

  “My son, you’re back!” The monster had arms protrude from its sides. “I should bring you to Omneira soon. My hall is breaking you.”

  “Damned monster!” Karkus smirked, and embraced the monster. He arced his left hand, opened his mouth, and threw the threads, and crush the monster. However, he was stopped midway. He tried to bite, he tried to move, but can’t move any part of his body. This monster was strong, the strongest he faced, stopping his movements. No one until the monster in front of him had ever done this to him.

  The monster motioned a part of his cloud. Green sprites of lightning bolted out of the monster to Karkus. Electricity ran through his body, bursting at some point. Fortunately, it was short, and Karkus was rejuvenated afterwards. The airborne Ethereal Threads dropped gently, and slithered back to its original spot. Karkus can move again.

  “That is Relapse,” Trakun said, sternly. “You will not just relive your past again. Also if the ‘you’ from the memory held strong emotions, it will pass over the current you and act as if you’re still in your memory but in a different environment. You’ll return to your former state. You thought of me as a monster, that’s rude. I am a Deity—a Chief on top of that.”

  “This curse, or disease, or whatever it is, why would you place it on me? I have not antagonized you! I was just—”

  Green sprites of lightning bolted to Karkus again, but this time, the shock was weaker.

  “Relax,” Trakun said. “And think where you are right now. I have taken you away from that place, calm yourself.”

  “...Forcing it out from me,” Karkus said. “What else did you do? That Relapse thing made me agitated.”

  “God only knows. Anyway, I’ve told you everything you need to know for the time being. I shall talk to you again after you’ve finished your mission.” Trakun threw a scroll to Karkus, and caught it. “There are things written there to watch out for, and if you ever find yourself in a dire situation, chant the spell written there, and I’ll drive by.”

  “You haven’t explained everything to me.”

  “It took you a rather long to awoke, idle the whole time you’re here; I could only let you here for a certain period. Unlock the mysteries by yourself, you’re an adult. You don’t need another person to teach you everything.”

  A trap door appeared below Karkus, slightly opening centimeter by centimeter.

  “How am I supposed to survive there? At least let me recover a bit more.”

  “Just lift, bro!” Trakun gave the thumbs-up.

  Karkus fell through the trap door with everything around him fading to nothing.

  Chapter 2 End.