Chapter 48: Black Hole (Part 1)

No matter what happened, no matter what I learned, everything seemed to be telling me only one thing – Ozyllus is the source of all despair. He is the reason we all had to suffer as children and he is the reason we still suffer. He is the root of all our problems and if we destroy his plans, we would finally be able to live our lives.

On the other hand, Abyss is someone who has been trying to save us from Ozyllus' schemes. He has been the only reason we have not been completely manipulated by Ozyllus. He is the only reason we have time to prepare to strike back. It is all because he tried to take away as much pain as he could from our lives.

And in the end, Abyss is the one we called devil and Ozyllus is the one we called god. Or, that's at least how we used to call them. And that's at least how most of the world who knows of their existence calls them.

So, if we destroy his plans, if we put a stop to all of Ozyllus' schemes, will that really be enough? What are his real motives and end goal in the first place? We don't even know that much. What exactly does stopping him even mean? All I have been doing is talking about putting a stop to his plans, but I don't even know how to go about it? In order to stop him, what exactly should I do and how exactly should I do it?

Do I need to get stronger? Of course, I'd need to get stronger.

Do I need more information? I absolutely do. I barely have any information.

Do I need to team up with others? That should be the most obvious thing. I can't possibly stop him all by myself.

So, what needs to be done first? What is the most important thing here? What can I postpone for now? Is there anything I can postpone at all?

All I can think of at this point is questions. Someone out there surely knows the answers to these questions, right? I wonder, who that someone would be and how am I supposed to find them?

After questioning all this, the only thing I can think of while looking at my situation right now is that I am a hopeless idiot for trying to do something like this. But, is that so bad? Is it?

I have never been one to be very confident in myself. Even though I have never been not good at anything I tried to do; I just never felt like I could do something that I had never done before. I could just never bring myself to be confident in my abilities as a psychic or a person. Maybe I need to change that. Barry told me that I am someone who has potential to be as powerful as Ozyllus. So, maybe I should stop looking down on myself. Maybe I should try to forget about the fact that I couldn't do anything as Barry slaughtered so many people. Maybe I should try to forget that I was so powerless.

And that, as I think about it I realize, is impossible. I can never forget about it. That incident 12 years ago was what could easily be the most unforgettable incident of my life. How could I ever forget something like that? So the only way around it is to try to do something while keeping that memory etched in my mind.

I know I should try to turn that memory into an inspiration for my goal. But is that even realistically possible? I know Barry and all the people he killed were all victims. Remembering that incident definitely makes my blood boil and makes me want to kick Ozyllus' ass, but even though the rage inside me burns so much, my intellect tells me to not rely on my emotions.

As a psychic, leaving everything to my emotions is the worst possible thing I can do. If I stop using my brain, my psychic abilities will only weaken. Emotions don't matter here. This is a fact. Unlike in fairy tales, emotions of rage, hatred or sorrow can't empower me, they would only weaken me. So, I can't let my rage or hatred against that so-called god be the biggest driving force or I'll lose myself when it really matters.

So, as I lay in a pool of questions, I ask myself – what is it that I lack? What is it that I need to achieve my goal? It would be so convenient if someone were to give me the answer.

Unfortunately, time is running out and I don't even have the luxury to dream of that possibility. All I have done until now has been guided by someone else's words. I was told to destroy Ozyllus, I was told to go to the tomb and so on. As much as I hate to say it, I have never really taken one step towards my goal without someone else's help.

Now though, that help would not come to me anymore.

Now, I am forced to choose.

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Sneha: "I see. So Ozyllus truly has been manipulating everyone, huh?"

As Sona had finished telling us of her tragic experience 12 years ago, Sneha said so with a dejected face.

Sona: "Yeah, he has. He manipulated me. He manipulated Barry. He manipulated Kais. He had manipulated the dragon too. I don't know much about you, so I can't say if that holds up in your case as well though."

Sneha: "I think it does."

To Sona's straight faced summarization of Ozyllus' victims, Sneha nods and adds her name to the list of victims.

Girl: "…"

The little girl, as if wanting to say something, looks at us three one-by-one but drops her head without actually saying anything.

Kais: "What is it?"

Girl: "Um …"

Hesitation was on her face as she glanced between me and Sona again-and-again.

Sona: "If there's something you want to say, just say it."

Although her words and attitude were business-like at the moment, Sona's voice was not at all intimidating or forceful.

Girl: "The thing is-"

Hence the girl started speaking in a rather calm tone.

Girl: "I think this coffin is …"

She trailed off leaving us with a question mark above our heads. Though from what she spoke, we did understand what to do to get the answer she didn't give.

Sona: "Well?"

Sona glanced at me as if to confirm my intention and I nodded to tell her to go ahead. Seeing that, she stepped near the coffin and raised a hand as she started calling a spirit.

Girl: "Eek! Are you going to open it!?"

Well, what else are we supposed to do when you trail off like that? I almost voiced the question but before I could actually come out and say it, Sona's spirit appeared. This spirit was the size of a child as tall as the nameless girl with us.

Though, from the looks of it, it wasn't a human child but a vampire one. The sharp canines were very visible once it opened its mouth. The petite frame of the child made one feel like it's a poor boy starving to death. However,

Sona: "Don't let the appearance mislead you."

Its contractor said so in a plain voice.

Sona: "Out of all the spirits in my arsenal, he was second in strength only to Death. So I guess he's the spirit with most raw power I have right now."

That's quite impressive actually. The rabbit-like spirit that I have seen her using the most is very fast but I do think that's not the only reason its attacks are powerful. Sure, it's speed give it an advantage over others but the attacks themselves are pretty damn powerful even without the speed. She said that this vampire-child-like-spirit has more raw power than that makes it quite a powerful spirit in my opinion.

Sona: "Now Sagzear,"

As we came to know its name, I certainly felt like the name belongs to a vampire.

Sona: "Open this coffin."

She gave her order and her spirit immediately responded to it. As the spirit lifted the lid of the coffin, I was, for a moment, left amazed at how easily it had lifted what would certainly have been a very heavy lid. But soon my attention drew back to the interior of the coffin itself.

Sona: "Oh … god!"

She lost composure as she said so and the reason for it was pretty clear. Upon seeing the interior, even Sneha who had been quite while she was looking at the floor sprang up in surprise.

Sneha: "It's empty?"

That's exactly what it was. There was no body in it. No traces of it either. The only thing inside was … nothing.

Girl: "Yeah, that's … what I felt."

It makes sense that she, being made of energy, would sense something like this before the three of us and now we know why she was acting funny. But after that relatively minor question is given an answer to, a much bigger question comes blaring at us. Or, it would be more accurate to say that another big question comes at us.

Sneha: "But, this just doesn't make any sense."

Sona: "Well, it isn't the first time that's happened."

Sona seemed to be least surprised of the three of us as she regained her composure soon enough and only showed disappointment on her face.

Sona: "In either case, there might still be something here worth looking … into."

She paused once between her words. The reason for it, I presume, was because of the interior of the coffin. It didn't look like the body was taken out of it or something like that. The interior looked like it had always been empty, as if it hadn't even been opened before. That could be surmised from the shine coming from the interior.

Kais: "A coffin made of gold and one that looks unused at that …"

As I voiced my thought out loud, I had unconsciously placed a hand on my chin.

Kais: "It's obvious something like that is custom made."

Because seriously, no matter what era it was, things actually made of gold don't exist for the sake of showcasing. In fact, this might be truer for 1000 years ago than it is for now but anyway,

Kais: "And the size definitely looks like what the dragon would fit in."

Sneha: "Hmm … and since the dragon is using Ozyllus' appearance, that must mean Ozyllus would also fit in it."

Sneha understood where I was going with that and the other two probably did as well. All signs did point to this being his coffin. But, where is his body?

Sona: "Well, I can kind of help with that."

She said while turning to her vampire-spirit and nodding to it. The spirit bowed to her as if to say 'as you wish' and got to whatever she wanted it to do.

Girl: "What's it doing?"

The curious nature of the little girl got the better of her and she asked the question before either of us.

Sona: "I told it to trace the energy surrounding the coffin. If it's successful, we can find some connection to this coffin."

Girl: "Wouldn't that just lead to the dragon though?"

Sona: "Even if it does, I don't think it will lead us out of the tomb."

I understood what Sona meant but the others seemed to have not as they tilted their heads with questioning looks.

Kais: "There must be some other place that the dragon might have gone to from here instead of just the entrance. And if there is, tracing the energy surrounding the coffin could lead us there."

Sneha: "But, we both checked all the doors and the walls, didn't we? There were no hidden doors or anything like that out there. Where else would he go other than the outside?"

Kais: "Yeah, that's true. But still this girl never saw the dragon outside even once before the day I was brought here."

Sona nodded to my line of suspicion and so I continued laying out my doubts, not noticing how Sneha had gotten uncomfortable when I mentioned being brought here.

Kais: "Furthermore, Ethan Kales was completely sure that she would not see the dragon outside of the tomb even once before this stage, i.e., last days of the island comes up."

So, by taking into account all those things, there has to be somewhere in this tomb he would have been spending his time if he was always staying inside whenever the girl passed by here.

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