His words were carried away by the wind, he had to be patient and resist a little longer if he wanted an answer. He did not resist, he let himself go, but during the journey he felt a headache and severe body pain. He screamed to complain, he felt like his bones were breaking, it was impossible to hold on, he demanded that Evander deactivate the loop because he couldn't take it anymore.
"Now get me out, you fucking blond shit, you steal women!" he exclaimed, thinking that those words would make him angry, "I mean, I admit it, you're too strong, you're better than me in every way, please free me."
The hot flush was getting worse as was the bone pain.
"Nix, what's happening?" he asked.
"I don't know, it hurts too," she answered with a sob, "I feel like something is separating from me."
Evander, for his part, was aware that something was wrong inside the loop, there was also that uncomfortable feeling of bad foreboding, he tried to look for fire within the wind but there was not a trace, perhaps he was exaggerating, he saw Zev suffering in some way and he it seemed strange. Finally he released him but Zev still had the same discomfort.
"Please help me," he said with a broken voice, "my body hurts, something is wrong with Nix or me, I don't know, help me."
Zev was pale with pain, when touched he writhed in pain. Evander called the others and they took him to the infirmary area. Between screams, Zev asked them to kill him because he couldn't take it anymore, however, they didn't plan to do it.
"Did he not manage to get out of the loop?" Barret asked, "did you have something to do with it?"
"What?" Evander responded, "he didn't come out, I had to deactivate it, he was acting very strange and that wasn't caused by my loop, much less me."
Zev screamed in horror, they even had to put him in the soundproof cabin so as not to alert the few survivors who decided to remain with The Resistance. He was sweating too much and his voice sounded distorted, a fusion between his own and Nix's.
Ayden approached and used his power to see through Zev's eyes, maybe then he would understand what was happening.
"Hey," he called them.
Everyone came very curious about his discovery. Ayden used her water mirrors to reflect inside Zev and they saw something that Ronda and Luna immediately recognized.
They looked at each other while the others remained puzzled. Ronda interrupted the vision and commented that the day they went to rescue them, Ocean offered to go in alone but a strange shadow followed her.
"Why didn't you say anything about it that same day?" The commander asked.
"We didn't give it importance, sir, there were so many things involved," Ronda said in her defense.
"Well, you did wrong! You should share everything, no matter how irrelevant or unimportant it may seem, okay?"
They both nodded with concern on their faces.
"I think Zev could be possessed by two entities," Ayden said.
Evander put his hand on his chest and wrung his shirt, maybe that was the bad feeling he had. Kylen asked him if Ocean had any powers that they didn't know about, to which he said no.
"First of all, where is Ocean?" Kylen asked.
"She's not here," Evander responded before the others did, he would answer for her.
"Explain Evander, now."
He told them everything. Kylen didn't take it very well, especially because of that dark entity and scolded them like a father would with rebellious children. Between Zev's heartbroken screams and the theories of those present, Evander was fed up with the noise so he decided that he would go to Zev's dimension to bring Ocean back.
"Evander, it's risky," Barret said. "Besides, you need Zev to go into a loop, otherwise you won't be able to cross."
"Ahhhh!" He exclaimed, hitting one of the walls of the cabin.
"Lock him in another loop now, as it is, it's the only solution."
"Evander, No!" Luna exclaimed, "that's very selfish of you."
He looked at her with disdain and approached her very determinedly, Luna began to back away slowly.
"It's for the good of both of us," he said, standing a few meters away from her with a frown.
Ayden defended him, he was the most sensible and understood perfectly, Evander was right, they would kill two birds with one stone if Zev was induced into another loop in his current state, the pain might not be real since physically his bones were not broken, so that entering the last loop would force those two entities to exit.
"We have to try it," Ayden suggested. "If it doesn't work, I'll bring Zev back."
Everyone agreed, the only ones who remained inside were Zev, Evander and Ayden. They were ready for whatever happened, even without Zev's consent, they had to try.
"Infinite water loop," he pronounced while Evander watched as a sea current approached both of them.
Soon they were both in the middle of the sea. Evander had never been inside any of his brothers' loops and strangely, Ayden's was disturbing to him.
"I want to go for her, react," he said to Zev, who continued to complain about the pain.
After a few minutes, Zev's screams died down, he felt calm. Little by little he regained his senses when he noticed that he was floating in the sea with his nemesis, the last place he wanted to be was there with that company. Evander told him what happened and Zev was shocked by the situation.
"I also saw that beast following Ocean when she went to rescue you, it was as if he protected her."
"Did you send that entity to take care of her?"
"Of course not! I had no idea."
"I see," he looked down, "well, do your thing."
Evander's body faded until it became air, one that stirred the sea where they were a little. Zev began to swim aimlessly, surprisingly this helped calm his bones. The sky darkened, he was scared but he felt that Evander was still close to him, it was a bad time to suffer from thalassophobia.
The infinite sea in front of his eyes did nothing but torment him, even if the water was calm, at any moment it could turn into a terrible storm or worse still, some unidentified sea creature could appear under his feet.
"In here I'm sure I'm going to die," he thought.
Zev felt himself crying tears that were not his own, but Nix's.
"I fear pain and I suffered a lot from that separation," she confessed.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know, it's time for you to show your face," he said, very upset.
"I thought we were one but we are two, I'm confused but it seems like he's not…"
Zev was taken aback, he didn't understand what Nix was saying.
"Are you talking about the three-headed dog?" He dared to ask to challenge mother ether.
"Zev, look at the water, tell me what you can see through it, tell me."
"It looks dark and deep if that's what you want to know."
"I'll lend you my eyes."
He felt itchy in his eyes and after rubbing them he saw the water clearly, many things were reflected in it. Suddenly he was sucked to the bottom, where Evander saw some kind of portal and entered through it.
Zev felt his body fall into the depths of that infinite water, he stretched out his hand trying to touch the sun that was beginning to rise but a scene was shown in front of him, the same one he had already had where chaos ruled and the four elements were present.
"The greatest war is about to begin, things are beginning to get complicated," she said with a strangely calm voice, "there is so much you must do, starting with joining forces with the first traveler…"
Zev's eyes widened. Was there a first traveler? Wasn't he the original traveler? So many questions, so many inconclusive answers and many problems involved.
"Why me?!" he shouted with all his might, causing the water to vibrate.
Crying took over him, he did not want to carry a responsibility as great as helping a god to save a lost humanity blinded by selfishness and evil, he definitely did not feel capable nor had any interest in doing so.
"What am I going to gain from all this?"
"Freedom," Nix responded, "I will free you from all those emotions you feel, I will protect you, you will live if you destroy evil, you and yours will live, you are not alone if that is what you think, forget about Ocean, Evander, the reinforcements, you have genuine support, just open your eyes…"