In the park, my thoughts were racing, desperately searching for a way out of the situation. I needed to find Victor, Emily, and Laura — and fast. But how? Just wandering around aimlessly, hoping to bump into them by sheer luck? That would be useless.
Not only would it waste precious ti, but the chances of actually finding them — and of the three still being alive by the ti I did — shrank with every passing minute. It’s not like I had so kind of anomalous area-tracking ability or anything like that.
Maybe the only thing I had that could even vaguely resemble that was my telepathy... Even then, even if by so miracle it worked that way, I had no idea how far I’d have to reach to pick up their thoughts. And honestly, I doubted my mind could stretch that far — especially in a place as dense and silent as this.
Though my telepathy had beco far steadier and broader compared to when it first manifested, it didn’t change the fact that trying to cover long distances still gave headaches — which was ironic, considering that, as far as I knew, my body didn’t even have a brain. In the end, all I could do was sigh, surrendering to the irony of it all.
(Anyway) I thought, letting my gaze drift across the empty, silent park. Dry leaves danced with the wind, a faint creak of a gate echoed sowhere distant, and then everything returned to that sa uncomfortable stillness: (I don’t have many options left... so this is going to have to work, one way or another)
The next mont, I closed my eyes and let the world around fade away. I pushed my senses outward as far as they could go, taking in the entire park like a vast ntal field, with my presence at the center — the quiet epicenter of everything.
Normally, I used my telepathy just for communication, since I couldn’t speak, but the truth was it went far beyond that. At its core, my ability was nothing more than sending and receiving thoughts. If I could reach their minds, then I could hear what they were thinking... and find them.
With that thought, I kept expanding my senses, sweeping every corner of the park for any sign of movent. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves in the trees, but aside from that, the silence was almost absolute. After about thirty seconds of hearing nothing, it happened — a small spark flickered inside my head.
It felt like a sharp, electric jolt — quick and unpleasant, a faint snap of pain running through my mind. I knew exactly what it ant: the farther I pushed my senses, the more that “little spark” would turn violent, as if my own mind were rebelling against the strain.
A minute into expanding my senses, a new wave of pain hit my head — sharper and more persistent than before. It was almost funny: even with a body practically immortal and immune to external pain, I could still hurt myself internally by overusing my own powers. Each pulse of that pain echoed inside my skull, as though my mind itself were turning against .
Lost in my thoughts, my eyes snapped open when my telepathy finally caught sothing far off. They were definitely thoughts — vague, almost imperceptible fragnts — but too distant for to understand clearly.
A sharp pang throbbed in my head, making it impossible to fully focus. Still, that was the least of my worries. Even if they didn’t belong to the three of them, I had to check. I couldn’t just ignore it.
In the next instant, with a single thought, thick black smoke began to rise from my body, converging at my tailbone. The wings already there were suddenly engulfed by sothing soft and velvety, molding and expanding around them. A strange sensation ran through — part ticklish, part uncomfortable — but I honestly didn’t care.
Now much larger, my wings beat once and hurled my body upward, leaving a powerful gust of wind that shook the vegetation below. In one smooth motion, I soared into the air at high speed, following the direction of those distorted thoughts.
It didn’t take long — about thirty seconds later, the place ca into view. Just ahead, the anomaly of fragnted mosaics slid slowly toward Victor, Emily, and Laura, its presence warping the air around it like a cracked mirror ready to shatter.
As strange as the scene was, I didn’t care in that mont. For a brief second, I worried the anomaly might have already done sothing to the three while I was gone, but there was no ti for that now. The instant I saw what lay before , I didn’t hesitate — a blazing heat surged through , rising like a molten wave.
Within seconds, I began to glow again, just like I had in space. I funneled all that heat into my hands and, the next instant, released it all at once, pouring the energy directly onto the point where the anomaly manifested.
I didn’t worry about Emily, Victor, or Alice — not only were they at a safe distance, but my Alter Ego had already moved ahead, wrapping them in a dense, protective darkness. The air around trembled with the sudden release of power, and a wave of heat distorted the space in front of as if the very air were about to catch fire.
In monts, a thunderous explosion tore through the spot where the mosaic anomaly stood. The impact sent up a dense cloud of dust, and the ground gave way, opening a small crater at the center of the detonation.
For a few seconds, I kept my eyes fixed on the swirling gray vortex, watching the suspended particles dance in the flickering light. Only then did I look away, turning my attention to the small black do ahead — motionless, silent, and untouched by all that chaos.
I beat my wings lightly and began to descend. The night wind slid through my feathers as I neared the do. I touched down softly, my feet barely making a sound on the cold surface.
I took a few steps toward the gleaming structure, and at that mont, the dark wings at my tailbone dissolved like smoke, fading into the air. In their place, my true wings erged — broad, feathered in shimring white down that reflected the light as if made of living moonlight.
As I approached the do, it began to unravel slowly from the top down, as if consud by so invisible force. A dark line sank to the ground, spreading a brief flash before drawing back into my body like a breath returning to its source.
Inside the do, Victor, Emily, and Alice were taking in their surroundings, their eyes filled with confusion and anxiety. The mont they noticed , their gazes snapped toward —and all at once, their expressions splintered into different reactions.
Laura smiled as if she’d just seen her savior return from the dead. Emily let out a long, almost trembling sigh, as though the weight she’d been carrying in her chest had finally lifted.
Victor kept his cold, impassive stare, but there was a subtle trace of relief hidden in his expression—a barely perceptible glint in his eyes. Seeing the three of them alive and well stirred sothing deep inside ; no matter how hard I tried to keep my composure, the relief inside was imnse, almost comforting.
I thought about stepping toward them, but at the exact mont that idea crossed my mind, a presence appeared at my side. I didn’t even need to turn to know who—or what—was there. It was the sa dense, oppressive sensation I’d felt before being teleported, like the very air around had grown heavier.
My first thought was instinctive, almost reflexive. My body began to emit a thick black smoke, dense like living shadows, and in the blink of an eye, a massive black spike erupted from the ground, rising beside like a dark obelisk, right at the spot where I’d sensed that presence manifest.
But unlike what I’d imagined, I didn’t “feel” the strike hit. I blinked—just for an instant, a single second—and in that brief lapse of ti, it was there. The being made of mosaics had suddenly appeared in front of , as if it had sprouted from the air itself.
A mont before, the space was empty; the next, its presence filled everything, so natural and inevitable it felt like it had always been there. The mosaic being raised what I could only assu was its arm again.
At the sa instant, a shiver ran down my entire body—the vivid mory of being suddenly hurled into space ca rushing back, overwhelming and sharp. My thoughts scattered, and any attempt at reasoning was wiped from my mind; there was no room left for thought, only instinct.
My body reacted on its own, before I could even understand what was happening. Heat surged through , burning intensely, as if every cell were being consud by an invisible fire. The do re-ford around Emily, Victor, and Laura, shielding them instinctively.
A bluish glow began to radiate from , growing stronger until the light beca almost blinding. Then, without even thinking, it just happened: an explosion of energy burst from my body.
There was no intent, no control—just raw, unavoidable force. In the blink of an eye, a field of energy expanded in all directions, sweeping everything around with devastating power, as if the very air had been torn away.
In seconds, the park simply ceased to exist. The trees? Reduced to blackened skeletons, completely charred. The grass? Gone—just a carpet of scorched, cracked, lifeless earth.
Even the paved walkways had been ripped from the ground, as if they’d never been there. What remained was a scene of absolute desolation—a perfect image of what would be left after a nuclear blast: silence, ashes, and the bitter sll of destruction hanging in the air.
anwhile, I—the epicenter of all that chaos—was breathing hard, trying to steady my racing breath as I took in the surroundings. There was no sign of the mosaic being. Honestly, I didn’t know why, or how, but just thinking about that thing made anxious, restless in an almost suffocating way.
I’d never seen it up close, and maybe that was exactly what made it worse. For the first ti, the feeling that I could actually lose washed over completely—and losing here, now, ant leaving Emily, Laura, and Victor at its rcy.
I scanned every corner of that space, searching for the mosaic being, but there was nothing—not a flicker, not even a trace of its presence. My senses also failed to pick up anything; it was as if it had simply ceased to exist. The do behind , where the three of them waited, remained firm and intact, resisting the destruction that had just happened.
For a mont, a flicker of relief dared to cross my mind, warm and brief like a spark: (Did I... do it? Even it couldn’t co out of that unscathed... right?)
If I could smile, my serious expression right now would probably show a deep sense of relief. Seriously... even held back, that had still been a mass-destruction strike. Not to brag, but I know what my power can do: fully charged, it’d be strong enough to wipe an entire planet to dust. I have no idea how far my regeneration goes, but I honestly doubt I could survive if it ever reached that point.
For a brief instant, I felt genuine relief. I lowered my head, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, letting the air out in a heavy sigh. But when I opened them again, sothing was staring at —upside down.
The shock froze in place. The figure in front of had a face impossible to distinguish, made entirely of shifting fragnts like a living mosaic, reflecting the light in broken, distorted tones.
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