"STOP!" Njeru shouted as he grabbed Kola and pulled him back.
With that action, everyone took a defensive stance, believing Njeru must have seen some danger.
"What is it?" Chege asked as he eyed his surrounding warily. Njeru had come to earn his respect over time, and for him to react like that, there must have seen a credible threat.
"You're telling me you don't see it?"
"See what?" by now, even Kola was getting anxious. He had absolute faith as he walked forward previously, but now he was beginning to wonder. As far as he could see, the boy had no reason to lie.
"The giant hole ahead of us?" Njeru explained patiently. "Am I the only one who sees it?"
"Dude, there is no giant hole anywhere," Ruitha answered him.
Everyone now was looking at Njeru as though he was crazy. They could see no giant hole ahead of them, and they half believed the man was playing a trick on them.
"Help me with a coin," Seeing this, Kola turned to Jamie and borrowed some money. Not for any particular reason, he just felt more comfortable around her, one could say they were kindred spirits.
"I don't have any," Jamie replied awkwardly. Who brings money in such places, and why would the idiot put her in the limelight like that?
"Here!" Kola tossed him a coin, understanding what Njeru wanted to accomplish.
Catching the coin, Njeru tossed it up ahead. Everyone watched the coin fall, and they even knew what to expect.
A coin falling on the fall would jingle and bounce back, making a lot of noise. This was something they had done a lot of times, they knew what would happen.
The next moment, their faces changed color. The coin had simply disappeared. The moment it hit the floor, it seemed to go right through it and disappear.
Shocked, Warai took out his gun and fired at the floor. A portion of it was shot, but as he extended his weapon forward, he realized that at some point the bullets were not hurting the floor.
It was as though there was no floor. Everyone turned to look at Njeru, shocked by what they had seen. Had he not been there, they would have lost a lot in this junction.
"What a powerful Illusion magic!" an old adventurer commented upon seeing this. They now understood that there seemed to be some magic that made them see a floor where there was none.
"How do we go around it?" Nangi was quick to move to the crux of the matter. With such an obstacle ahead of them, there seemed no way.
Many wanted to hear the answer, after all, no one wanted to remain in a place where death could so easily sneak up on someone.
"Why not just turn left?" Njeru asked. Even now, he assumed that the left turn was obvious, just as he had assumed they could see the hole and all the side tunnels they had passed since it was clear as day for him.
"And go where, against a wall?" Kelim vehemently protested, for which Njeru stood up and walked to the wall.
"What are you waiting for?"
While everyone watched, Njeru had just walked through a wall. It took a while before he came back with a shocked expression, but not one that matched theirs.
"Come on, let's go," he urged and turned. As he had been speaking, half of him was embedded in the wall, at least that was what everyone saw.
Keshi stepped forward and followed him, closing her eyes when she got to the wall. As she walked, she didn't feel anything odd until she reached where Njeru was.
Turning back, she was the turn for what it really was, a right turn. She also saw the hole they'd have walked in.
Others were closely following, and when they turned back and saw the danger they would have fallen into, they were grateful.
Just as they were grateful, questions gnawed their hearts. From what Nangi knew of Njeru, he was a noob who had come out of nowhere.
For someone who loved to be in control, an anomaly like Njeru was quite the headache.
After Njeru's outstanding performance with a gun, Nangi attempted to dig up his past. In his mind, there was no way a simple noob could be that good with a gun.
To his surprise, the man's life had begun a fortnight ago, at least that was how it seemed. There had been no trace of his existence before. He himself did not know his own past, couldn't even remember his own name.
Nangi did not buy the whole loss of memory story. Whatever the case, the man was an enigma, and the more mysterious he was, the more uncomfortable Nangi became, despite him having saved his life.
Already he was finding Kola's mysteries a bit too much, but it was common for an adventurer to have secrets. He just felt more apprehensive the more powerful and unknown Njeru became.
Even after a thorough interrogation, Njeru stuck to the story that he did not understand or did not know how he was able to see through the illusion. Eventually, Chege had to step in to defend his man.
Nangi was shocked. Either the man truly did not remember, or he was extremely good at acting. Nangi wouldn't let that goofy look fool him one bit.
Chege did not buy the whole memory loss story either. His thoughts were much simpler. He decided to let Njeru's secrets remain as just that, secrets.
Every adventurer had their own skeletons, and as long as the man did not mean him and his team harm, he would allow him to be part of them. Even he had to admit, Njeru's abilities terrified him, but he was grateful. He was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Look who's shining now!" Sallie startled Njeru as he was walking.
"What do you want now?" Njeru retorted with a sour expression. He couldn't speak to her since she was invisible and only he could see and hear her. He was using his thoughts.
"Are you not curious how you were able to see through the illusion?" Sallie teased with an evil smile.
Perplexed, Njeru almost turned but he managed to maintain his composure.
"You know?"
"Of course I do,"
"Then tell me,"
"What are you willing to give me for it?"
"What do you want?"
Sallie kissed her index finger and placed it on Njeru's lips before saying, "This one comes for free, next time you won't be so fortunate."
"Alright, tell me how I can see through illusions."
"The simple answer, you can't, because that is not an illusion, but a hologram."
"A what?"
"They are like illusions. Basically, they overlay over something to show something as though it's there. There should be an emitter somewhere near there. You should claim it, it'll be good for you."
Sallie tried to explain as simply as she could, but she could tell Njeru was stymied.
"Sorry to say, this is one of those things that you'll understand better once you find it. For now, just go with the flow, I'll show you where to go."
"You haven't answered me yet," Njeru said, "How come I could see through the illusion, or whatever that was?"
"That's because your eyes don't just use light to see," Sallie winked at him as she vanished. Njeru wanted to ask her more, but she was nowhere to be found.