The sand rose, revealing an aberrant being that emerged like a freshwater beast poking its head above the surface of a river. Its large black shell, shaped like an upside-down plate, covers the upper part of its body. The shell itself had yellowish spots that moved and slid across the top of the shell as if they had a life of their own.
What lay beneath that shell was even worse.
What were supposed to be its jointed legs, and in general the entire composition of its body, were in fact dozens of thick, fleshy gray tentacles covered in sand dust. The palms of the tentacles were covered with small spikes, with circular, toothed mouths at the ends.
The shell cast a shadow over the top of the tentacles, where two yellow eyes, as bright as they were dangerous, could be seen.
The beast was about six or seven meters tall, and the thickness of its body was proportional to its height.
'It's giant!' Nova shouted to himself.
The Aberration was slightly smaller than the fire colossus Kayn had fought, but that didn't mean it was any weaker.
Besides, estimating the category of an Aberration by its size is usually a good decision. This one was surely a Category 6.
But this was no time to stand around thinking. Nova had to run!
The Aberration looked at Nova with curiosity, but also with the mysterious silence of a predator. A second later, the deformed mass of tentacles lunged at him with overwhelming speed. Its fleshy, boneless limbs crawled across the ground in a disorderly fashion, stretching and contracting disgustingly from side to side, but giving it substantial speed.
Nova didn't hesitate to run for his life.
No matter how tired he is, being beaten by an Aberration is very painful, and the last thing Nova wants to feel before he dies is painful agony.
Ironically, painful agony was what awaited him if he stayed lying in the sand. However, his survival instinct won out.
'Why now? Why don't you send me a small Aberration with a bottle of water?!'
Almost desperate, he put one foot in front of the other, lunging forward in order to cover, and extend, as much distance as possible between the Aberration and himself. But he wasn't succeeding.
The bastard is too fast, and apparently, its tentacles make it extremely agile.
The sand echoes with every tentacle that crawls, like countless snakes chasing their prey. In turn, Nova's burnt boots push the earth heavily and steadily.
The boy could barely stand.
'A solution. I need to think of a solution. Quick!' he thought, giving himself enough encouragement to continue.
The Aberration, however, would not allow him to feel hope. Its tentacles, quick and agile, extended as they finally reached the weakened Nova.
A single touch from a tentacle was enough to send Nova flying to the side, propelled by the overwhelming force of the tentacled monster.
He rolled on the ground again, just like the first time he arrived in this world, and slid across the sand until he came to a stop.
Exhausted, he tried to stand up, resting his knees and hands on the burning sand, but his entire body failed him. Drops of blood spilled from his mouth and nose.
If the kick that sent him to this world had cracked his ribs, this bastard's tentacle had finished the job by breaking them.
Shattered, broken, sharp bones dug into his organs, causing superficial cuts and internal injuries.
'I can't... I can't breathe…'
The climate of this place did not help at all.
Seeing the pathetic strange being, the Aberration slowed down and crawled leisurely toward him. Its tentacles caressed the ground, and slowly stretched toward the dying Nova.
'I'm going to die…'
It was something he already knew, but dying far from home, alone and in agony, was quite sad.
Anyway, what is sadness, happiness, anger, or fear? They are complicated emotions for someone as relaxed as Nova.
He continued to appear calm on the outside despite this disaster. Inside, it was the same. Nothing he said involved real emotions, at least not like other people's emotions, because feeling less than others is not the same as feeling like others.
That's why Nova remembered a person who made him promise something related to that very thing.
'Mom…'
In his agony, he saw a mirage in the distance; a mirage that trembled in the hot desert air. There he saw a small child holding hands with a young version of Adelaide. Of course, that child is Nova, but there was something different about that little Nova compared to the current one.
The expression on his face was completely dead, without any real facial expression. The child looked like an adorable glass doll without emotions.
His best friends, Viktor and Loki, also appeared. They were all gathered in front of him to say goodbye.
'Everyone…'
His friends. His family.
However, Nova's true face came out once again. From a very young age, he always had these kinds of episodes.
'I... What should I feel right now?'
Like that child, his gaze faded completely, turning into dull amber-colored eyes. A deep, inhuman calm desecrated his heart with a hot chill that ran through his entire body.
Rising from the sand with irritated hands, staggering, falling, and getting up once more, he turned to look at the damned monster.
It was not the time to reflect, however, Nova—
'I am dying. I am supposed to be afraid of it.'
Disconnected from his own mind, in a state of absolute emptiness, he faced the Aberration in silence.
The many-tentacled monster stopped in front of him. It brought its dark face under the shell closer to Nova and chewed loudly with its teeth in the darkness to make an unpleasant noise.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
Its breath is horrible. Its face under the shell is even worse. A hideous, enormous mouth, elongated at the ends, occupying half of its face, smiled with the malice of a psychotic predator, revealing hundreds of sword-like teeth in its monstrous mouth.
Its small, bulging eyes, stuck on a small white face, reflected Nova's expressionless face.
The boy looked at the horror in silence. When a tentacle wrapped around his body and lifted him off the ground, he sighed wearily.
'I guess this is where it all ends.'
No one who enters a portal ever returns. Nova now understood why no one ever came back. This kind of thing happens to all those who are unlucky enough to fall into the hell of a Dimensional Portal.
The only good thing about all this is that Serenity prevents him from feeling horrified by what is about to happen to him.
The Aberration opened its mouth, chewing over and over again.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
The tentacle's strength increased, squeezing Nova's torso and causing him to spit blood. His bones cracked, his organs crushed against each other, and his field of vision became blurry.
On the verge of fainting from the wounds and pain, Nova saw the bastard's mouth. There were thin threads of saliva connecting tooth to tooth next to the small, pink, triangular tongue.
In the split second he noticed this, the sparkle returned to his eyes. His survival instinct made him think quickly, reaching a conclusion.
'Looks like you made a mistake, jerk.'
He smiled with blood in his mouth. With difficulty, he took three seeds from his pocket and dropped them into the Abomination's mouth a second before being crushed by the hundreds of teeth.
Then, it finally happened.
Energy flowed like water, causing the branches and roots to explode, growing and spreading from inside the Aberration's body.
Completely weakened, Nova heard the Aberration's shell crackling, breaking, and cracking where the branches and leaves came out.
The monster growled, screamed, and writhed. Its tentacles contracted and extended disgustingly, dragging the sand beneath its body. Some of its tentacles exploded, but most pleasing of all was that ridiculous, terrifying, satisfied smile wiped away as death exploded inside it.
Black blood splattered from the Aberration's shattered body, with dark, viscous visors hanging from the cracks. The beast lost its strength, causing the tentacle to release Nova.
The boy fell to the ground with a thud. Once lying on the sand, he looked up at the clear sky. His blood spilled out like a puddle drying in the heat, and his eyes began to show signs of inevitable death.
'It hurts too much...'
He took a couple of difficult breaths.
'I…'
His eyes closed.
'I'm sorry, Mom.'
And silence fell.
Long minutes passed in that place, during which time the branches, leaves, and everything that had once been a seed spread out among the dead.
Thus, in the middle of the desert, lies a large tree with round, whitish fruits at the ends of its branches. The leaves of the tree are blue, shiny, and beautiful.
The tree itself expelled small snowflakes from its leaves that painted that small area white.
So, in this lifeless desert, that tree was the only one that did not have the color of fire. Its branches grew out of the corpse of an Aberration, and its snowflakes filled the wounds of Nova Asmodai.
The wind that pushed the sand dust stopped, as did all living and non-living activity in this lonely desert.
***
In Terra, night falls over the forest like a dark and depressing blanket. Silver clouds fly across the night sky alongside the moonlight, and the cold wind accompanies those who have lost a friend.
There are voices talking about the subject in front of a campfire. There are those who remain silent, staring into nothingness and reflecting on what is known about the Dimensional Portals.
However, far away from everything and hidden behind a tree, there is a girl crying inconsolably. She wipes the tears from her face, but they reappear at the corners of her eyes.
With her little cat ears sadly resting on her head, she keeps saying Nova's name over and over again as she remembers all the moments they lived together. From elementary school to this very moment.
Miyu regrets not having done anything about it. She keeps telling herself that she is weak, that she can't do anything without him.
"Nova... Nova... Why?"
She has wiped her tears so many times that her face is sore. She has been crying for so long that her voice is broken, and her breathing trembles painfully.
All this time, she continues to blame the ethereal window that lies before her eyes.
[
—Name: Miyu Hoshino
—Age: 20 chronological years.
—Rank: Seventh Level Empath.
—Spectrum: Anticipation.
—Spectrum Skill:
❖ Future Vision: Skill to see a moment in the near and possible future. Excessive and frequent use causes blindness.
❖ Omen of Danger: Skill to detect future danger within a few seconds. Activates automatically when the user or someone close to them is in danger.
—Calem Energy Control:
❖ Low control of Calem energy.
❖ Low control of Aerokinesis.
❖ Low resistance to Status Effects.
—Personal Abilities:
❖ Street Fighting.
❖ Feline Style.
]
"Why didn't you warn me earlier?"
She wanted her skill, Omen of Danger, to have warned her in advance, but unfortunately, that's not how it works.
She could only continue to lament through her tears.
Nearby, Elara and Rober stared silently at the campfire in the center of the camp, their faces somber and their expressions gloomy. Neither of them has said anything since that moment. Neither of them cried, but you don't need to cry to know that they are desperate and sad.
Viktor, on the other hand, watched them from afar, with the same somber expression.
"Maia..." he whispered, his voice breaking. "What do you think I should tell Ada?"
He smiled, trying to make this a joke too, but...
"Maia... My nephew... I wasn't there..."
Laughing painfully, he gave up, falling to his knees and leaning on Maia. He closed his eyes tightly, keeping everything he felt deep in his heart.
"Again... again my family is breaking apart..."
A single oversight ruined everything. Was there anything for Viktor to react that way? Of course, it's obvious, but there was something else besides that. That is the trauma that has haunted Viktor for a long time.
The smile of a woman smiling beautifully surrounded by burning flames.
***
Adelaide couldn't sleep for some reason. She stared at the ceiling in silence for hours, tossing and turning in bed in a futile attempt to fall asleep.
She sighed in stress. She got out of bed in her small, cozy room. She went out to the kitchen, but as she looked at the refrigerator in the darkness, she inevitably looked at the memory of her son.
"Nova..."
It was strange. Something hurt. She touched her chest, trying to understand that pain. Then, she opened the window and looked at the stars.
The sky showed the beautiful stars that hung overhead. One of those stars shone brighter than the others. That big star made Adelaide sigh wearily.
After drinking some water, she returned to her room, still unsure of what that feeling that touched her heart was.
The next day, she would learn that her only son had been swallowed by a Dimensional Portal.