THE RISE OF AN OMEGA

Kira’s POV

The dark tendrils had released their grip on Ryker, due to the effect of the bright light that illuminated from my body. I rushed ahead to where he laid, lifeless and barely breathing.

He had several cut injuries on his body from which blood was oozing out. At this rate, if I stood up to go get Emilia before she could get here, he would have died.

"No, no, no, Ryker! You can’t die here please," I lamented, tears in my eyes.

"You will pay for this," the entity said.

I felt its tendrils moving fast towards my direction. Without turning back, I made the light appear again, this time shining brighter than before. As the light rested on the tendrils, it made them emit screeching sounds as they coiled up back to wherever they might have emanated from.

And then the lights came back on.

It was over.

For now.

"Ryker! Ryker!!" I cried out.

He managed to open his eyes, and then the next thing that came out of his mouth amid the blood that was coming out was, "I love you."

How could he say that now when he was dying?

"Why are your injuries not healing?" I said, talking to no one in particular.

I guess there was something in the dark tendrils that prevented one from healing. I began to crack my head for ways to help him. I couldn’t allow Ryker to die. Just then, I remembered the goddess’s words about the powers of the mind.

The mind has no limit; as far as I can picture it, then I can do it. Then I pictured myself healing him with my moonkeeper abilities.

I lifted him up, laid him on the bed, placed my hands above his body, and began to imagine myself healing him. I tapped into my power, then I began to feel my fingers tingle.

It was happening.

It felt different, unlike my normal moonkeeper abilities, this one felt different. I opened my eyes to see bright light shining from my hands onto his body. I looked at his injuries and found out that they were closing up gently.

I looked at his heart and noticed that he had stopped breathing.

"No, no, no, come on, dammit!" I lamented.

But I didn’t stop. I allowed the injuries to be healed completely. When it was done, I waited, praying to the moon goddess to help me.

After a while, he coughed.

"Oh my goddess, you are alive," I said happily, hugging him while still on the bed.

"Ouch, it still hurts though," he said calmly.

"Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to—"

He shut my mouth with a kiss. "It’s okay, you don’t have to explain, Kira."

I blushed.

"But, how am I still alive?" he àsked, looking at his body. "There are no injuries too? How is this possible?"

"There’s a lot of things I need to tell you, Ryker, but first you need to rest."

"The bright light I saw before collapsing, that was from you, right? How did you do that?"

"Come on, we’ve got to go see Emilia first so she could check your vitals to know if you are okay."

"I am okay, Kira. I feel better, just the normal body aches that come with engaging in a battle with an opponent that’s out of your league, but you saved my life." He said, smiling.

How could he be smiling? He almost died, and he still had a big wide grin on his face.

I heaved a sigh. "Are you sure you don’t need to see Emilia?"

"I will after you’ve told me how you managed to heal me and to send the dark entity away. If I remember very well, you were almost dying."

"Yeah, you are right, Ryker. I was almost dying, but something happened." I paused.

"What is it?"

"I met the moon goddess."

"For real?"

"Yeah, for real, Ryker. She visited me in my mind space and made me realize how wide but empty my mind was. She made me understand that I had not been making use of the power of my mind. She made me understand that the mind of a magical being like me is my greatest weapon."

"Did she tell you anything else, like how to defeat the entity?" He asked, leaning closer.

"Not exactly, but she told me to find something."

"And what’s that?"

I stretched forward my arms, showing him the object on it. "She asked me to find this, the crescent moonstone."

"What! Something like that exists?" Ryker asked, his voice laced with surprise.

I nodded.

"Did she tell you where to find it?"

"I asked her, but she said the elder, Elder Anthony, would know about it."

"Elder Anthony? How?"

"Honestly, I don’t know, but that’s what she said."

"Then let’s go and find out," he said, about to stand up from the bed.

"You ain’t going anywhere till you’ve rested, Ryker, so lay back down and rest."

"I am fine," he tried standing up to showcase his strength, but his body failed him.

Yes, his injuries were healed, but his strength was not yet back; his body had not recovered from the energy he had used in fighting the tendrils.

"I am gonna find something for us to eat, then we rest for the night."

"Here in your house?" He teased, a wry smile appearing on his face.

My back was facing him. I smiled as I understood what he was trying to say. "Would you rather you slept outside in the cold?" my tone firm.

"I am sorry," he chuckled.

I went to the kitchen to find something to make for us to eat. As I made something from what was available, I couldn’t help but relive what had happened, and how everything had happened in just one day.

But at least I was glad for one thing: I got to understand the strength of my mind. I got to understand that the mind of the moonkeeper has no limit; if I can think of it, then I can create it.

After I was done, I served the food and we ate. I slept on the couch so I could give him enough space to move when he feels restless.

The next morning, I woke up to see that he was nowhere to be found.

"Ryker? Ryker?" I called out to him, but no one was answering.

So many things began to go through my head at that moment.

Did the entity come when I was asleep to take him?

Or was I just imagining that I had healed him?

Or was this an illusion spell from the entity?

I ran out of the house, stopping abruptly when I saw him coming from the other side of the road carrying two bush meats. I heaved a deep sigh of relief.

As he got closer with a big smile on his face, he said, "I went to hunt."

I hugged him, telling him how I thought he was dead or the entity came overnight to take him.

I released myself from his embrace.

"We really don’t have time for this now," I stated.

"What’s wrong?"

"We have to go see the elder."

"That can wait a little bit longer. I want to make something special for you this morning."

I tried to convince him that we had limited time, but he insisted, saying that a little spare time to make something delicious wouldn’t kill.

I finally agreed.

He went straight to prepare what he wanted to prepare so I could eat.

After about an hour and thirty minutes, we were done. He asked me if I enjoyed the soup he made. He said it was a native soup common in his pack.

Honestly, it tasted really delicious, but that wasn’t what was on my mind. My battle with the entity had created a need for urgency.

While tidying up after breakfast, my thoughts remained uneasy. Each moment we were here seemed like a wasted opportunity. The entity wasn’t absent—it had merely been driven away. And if what the Moon Goddess revealed was correct, we didn’t have long before it came back, more powerful than ever.

"Ryker, we have to leave," I insisted, rising from my chair.

He exhaled, extending his arms in a relaxed manner. "I know, I know, we just battled for our survival, Kira. A little bit of silence and rest won’t harm us."

I felt like arguing, but something in his gaze caused me to hesitate. He wasn’t merely being negligent—he was attempting to savour this moment, possibly feeling that circumstances would only deteriorate from this point onward.

Nevertheless, we couldn’t bear to postpone.

"Let’s go," I stated decisively.

We gathered some necessities and ventured outside into the fresh air. The early sun hardly broke through the dense forest cover, creating haunting shadows all around us. Ryker moved forward, but as we got closer to the trail that led to the elder’s hut, an unexpected chill swept over me.

There was a problem.

"Ryker, hold on—"

A soft growl resonated among the trees, followed by the distinct sound of rustling leaves. Ryker halted, his body becoming stiff.

I spun around, heart racing, as shadowy tendrils slithered through the air again. However, this time, they were not extending their hands toward Ryker.

They were extending their hands toward me.

A pull pulled me back before I had a chance to respond. I hardly had a moment to fight back before everything turned dark.