Human: Paradigm (COMPLETED)

CHANGHEOM

Richard takes my hand and closes his eyes. In my skin, something is flowing. I don’t dare to move. He’s using his ability?

He opens his eyes.

“What did you do?” I ask. “Did you make a special bond between us so that you can be friends with me forever?”

He doesn’t look at me. Instead, he gets off the car.

I might’ve overdone it again, but it’s alright. I’ll just follow and do what I came for.

I run. “Don’t rush, master. There will be enough time to kill him.”

“Follow me,” he says.

Tables are placed outside, which reminds me of the mall. I guess outside tables are really popular here.

Suddenly, he crouches. He places his hands on the ground. A tingling sensation comes to my head, and something enters my mind before I even notice. Richard...He’s using his ability to cover us with the naked eye. All of the attacks we throw will be just affecting Cruz and his accomplice.

Wait,

he has an accomplice?

“Hey, what are you doing?” I call out.

“Don’t go outside the patio.”

Don’t go outside? Then, I remember uncle’s advice to act big.

“Will I die if I do so?”

“Suit yourself.” with this, he starts walking to the restaurant.

“Just kidding. I’ll listen to you, master.”

A receptionist stands at the door. Richard enters the place, but the receptionist doesn’t move. I wave my hand, and he doesn’t flinch.

The camouflage is working.

“He hasn’t welcomed us?” I ask.

“I used my ability to the people present. We should be fine as long as you don’t get out of the patio.”

“As expected of the Psionic Mas-?”

At the end of my ‘act-big commentary,’ I notice that Richard’s light is coming in my direction. I dodge.

I could’ve died from that. “A close one, master. A close one.”

A lot of tables are in the restaurant. All of them have flowers and silver utensils on the side that don’t make anything cheaper. Richard faces in a certain direction. Suddenly, his whole body glows a purple aura.

He’s staring at a table near the window. The girl is beautiful while the boy’s tall. The boy looks different. He’s a foreigner. He’s Cruz.

On the side, Richard’s aura turns to a darker shade.

Is he attacking them? Oh no.

I lift my right hand in Matthew’s direction.

Boom!

A cloud of black smoke covers everything. After it clears out, it reveals Cruz and the beautiful girl both staring at Richard. Good thing my shield works.

Richard looks at me. I shrug.

“What are you trying to do with us, braggart?” Cruz says.

So, he’s edgy too, huh. I guess powerful Skens are really garbage.

“What kind of memory do you have? Of a cock? I’ve told you before, didn’t I? I’ll teach you how to respect me.”

Richard throws a blast. Although I want to shield Cruz, I know he can deflect Richard’s attack so I just watch.

Boom!

In the air scatters the thick smoke. But the people just keep on talking and eating.

“I’ll respect you if you defeat me. Fight me.” Cruz provokes.

And since Richard is hot-headed, he dashes on.

I let them work for now. I’ll take him down later-!

Swish!

A spoon crosses my sight. Looking to my right, I see an object coming at me. A knife?! I put my hand straight and a shield appears. The knife then falls to the ground.

Looking ahead, the one who’s thrown the silver utensils is the beautiful girl with Cruz.

“Who are you?” I ask.

The beautiful girl furrows her eyebrows. “So you’re a bad guy...”

From the curls of the brown hair to the smoothness of the skin, I remember it now. She’s the one I met when I’m lost in District 2.

“So you remembered? What do you two need from us?”

“I don’t know. I’m just a customer here.”

“Really? But the people are not giving a damn with what’s happening around them.”

Far from us, Richard’s holding something long in his hands while fighting Cruz. Actually, he’s not holding it. His hands and the swords are connected to each other.

“Look, I’m not here to play games so don’t involve me with him.”

She raises her hand. “You can’t fool me.”

A pink light comes at me. Looking closer, it’s a fork that is enveloped in the aura of her energy field. I catch it. Suddenly, a certain force sends me flying backward.

Thud!

A dull pain crawls in my back, and the next thing I know is I’m lying on the floor, but even with my fall, the fork remains in my hand. The flowing energy from it awakens my blood. What’s her ability?

Having a glance, another pink light’s going to me. I parry my body and a gray shield appears in the area.

Good thing, my shield’s strong enough and much stronger now thanks to Richard and this girl it carries on.

The girl throws more objects at me, and after a while, several clashing sounds follow. I don’t want to hurt but my time is wasted. With my shield on, I sprint.

She jabs her fist as a response. The force she created emits pink energy that resists my shield.

“I don’t want to do this but there’s no other way,” I say.

Every vein in my body vibrates. From the back crawls a hot feeling to my head. I point my hand in her direction.

Chase her.

Zap!

The blue bolts I’ve thrown charge forward.

She dodges to the left, unfortunately, the bolts swerve, following her direction like she’s a magnet attracting it.

Her body drops immediately.

I’m looking at the beautiful girl with a sense of guilt. But something catches my attention. In the corner of my eye glows something bright.

From the distance, what I see is Richard’s bright purple aura. He’s kneeling on the floor with Cruz in front of him, paralyzed.

I run as fast as I can. This isn’t what it’s supposed to be.

“Stop! Hey, stop!” my voice’s loud enough, but Richard doesn’t react at all.

“Stop! Hey, stop!” I shout louder.

I raise my left hand to create a shield around Cruz while I grasp Richard on my other hand.

My vision becomes white for no reason. What overflows my body is a fuzzy feeling. My chest pulsates, and my breathing turns broken. This is ecstasy.

The white vision disappears.

Thump!

I flinch to the sound. On the ground, lying face down, Richard sleeps. I place my fingers on his neck and feel his pulse.

Atleast he’s not dead.

“You saved me.”

Matthew says, getting up while shaking his head.

Heh. He’s still alive. Good.

“I thought that you’re Richard’s accomplice?” he says.

Huh? “Sorry to break it to you but I’m not his sidekick.”

He suddenly widens his eyes. “Smile...”

“Come again?”

“Your smile...”

“My smile?” I snort. “This smile will be engraved to your brain forever... That is if you made it alive.” I throw a blast at him.

The purple energy soars. Suddenly, it turns to a slight orange color.

Boom!

Detonation, huh. I’ve already studied it but the real experience’s different from what I’ve read and seen.

“What?!” Cruz’s scream breaks my thoughts.

I look at him. From what it looks like, he’s averted his head to the right.

“What did you do to her?” his voice grits.

Ah. He noticed his girlfriend...

I wave my hand in the air. “She attacked me, I defended myself. You know, she could be fine if you didn’t pass out.”

“Why you-”

I throw an electric bolt.

He dodges, barely. Then, he leaps forward.

Thud!!

A strong force lands on my cheek, driving me to the side.

“Cough. Cough.” Ugh. My mouth tastes like metal-! Woah!

I roll to the side to avoid the kick. Suddenly, a strong force strikes my wrist. Looking at it, Cruz has his grip on me as he kneels.

He scowls. “If you want a fight, you should face me.”

In a moment, a weird sensation grows on my body. My whole body becomes scorching hot like an arsonist has set me on fire. Though painful, I allow the energy to flow through me.

“I-it’s not your place to say that,” I say.

The waves dart to his forehead, and his eyes turn purple.

“Loosen your grip on me.”

Cruz obeys my order. While removing his hands, I push him off.

Crash!

Pink-colored energy envelops his body, and he flies off the windows. I walk outside. In the middle of the patio lies unconscious Cruz’s body. Several outsiders are walking. They’re avoiding the place of his body.

Good. He didn’t pass Richard’s boundary.

Something tickles my skin. I look around. There are particles everywhere I look. Some move to the right while others go in the opposite direction. So this is what it feels like?

An urge suddenly comes to me.

Osmosis.

Suddenly, his body starts shaking violently because of my thoughts. He looks like a fish gasping for air, and he deserves it.

“You might not remember, but you took two important people in my life.”

“You killed my parents!”

The shaking and trembling become savage.

I smile. You’ll explode soon enough.

Stop!

Huh?

All of a sudden my arms freeze, I can’t move them. The next thing I know’s that there’s something pushing me to Cruz’s body.

“I’m gonna- w-wait ah! I’m gonna take you back.” my hands are holding a pair of swords out of nowhere.

The sword looks majestic. Its violet shade drips slowly of dark red blood, but in reality, this blood doesn’t exist.

What’s happening? My mind is...

I plunge the sword on Cruz’s chest. A warm feeling bursts on my lower back. I laugh. It’s good. No blood comes out from Cruz, But I’ve gained access. That’s what is important.

“You’ll finally come home.”

To clean this mess, I manipulate his body away from the scene. Also, I’ll make them forget everything.

Purple lights glow in every direction. Everything is shrouded with Lee’s ability. However, his ability only exists because I shared with it him 12 years ago.

I shake my head, and I face the direction where I sense the aura of Richard. “I pity you... But not really.”