*yawn* "Ugh, that wasn't comfortable at all. I should go to bed. What time is it?"
23:21 Three hours of sleep is not bad but not nearly the amount I need so let's migrate to the bed shall we.
"VIA, turn off all alarms for tomorrow please."
VIA "All alarms set for tomorrow have been disabled."
"Thank y— huh?"
I fell to the ground. My body was shaking violently.
"I'm a-alive, I'm okay, I'm okay."
In disbelief I frantically pat my body all over, no blood, no physical pain.
"I'm fine I'm fineimfineimfinefine…"
That was no dream, that was no premonition, that was real, just a moment ago I was leaking blood in this very place an inch away from death's door.
"That means… Oh no I need to get out of here NOW!"
VIA "Sleeping mode has been activated."
"No, I'm out of ti—" *CRASH*
Cut off by the sound of my windows shattering, I jumped back and guarded against the flying shards of glass.
"NOO!"
Noticing the shadow of the familiar man standing before me I tense up.
"Not again…"
Standing there the man with a white mask didn't move but broke his silence in reaction to what I said, he instantly focused his gaze on me.
"Again?" He said with the same voice.
*THUNK * he started coming closer to me and I couldn't help but back up, my heartbeat is going at a 100km an hour *THUNK* all of my senses are screaming at me to not go anywhere near him *THUNK * with every step he takes I get a shill running down my spine.
This time though I ran.
The Masked Man "Hey! Don't move!"
He threw the same short sword in the doorway, centimetres away from my face but I didn't stop.
The Masked Man "What? What are you doing?"
I found myself in the kitchen again, he was still approaching me, this time a lot more agitated than I had seen of him the first time.
The Masked Man "Listen Fake, the only reason I didn't kill you yet is because I want you to speak. I thought you would be smarter than resisting."
I didn't care. The only thing on my mind right now is looking for a way out of here.
Attacking him outright will just end in him easily outmanoeuvring me.
I looked around the messy kitchen and found no other solution than throwing random things at him.
He was unfazed, everything I threw at him ended up sliced in half quickly by his blade.
The Masked Man "You are wasting my time. I don't think you will start cooperating soon so…"
He took his other sword from the doorframe.
The Masked Man "You are of no use to me."
Damn it, he is serious now. I look around the kitchen one last time… wait...
I threw one last thing at him.
And he goes for a double slice.
"Got you."
*PUFF* The flour pack spreads in the air obscuring his vision.
The Masked Man "You… YOU'RE DEAD!"
He sounded mad but that didn't matter, I instantly took my chance and left the apartment closing the door behind me. That wouldn't stop him for more than a second but every second counts.
I ran across the hallway at full speed.
"AARGH the elevator is broken."
So, I turned to the emergency staircase but where do I go. If I go down, I would need to go down 42 floors and this is an 80-floor building so going up will be faster.
I am fully panicking. I don't know what to do hence I followed that logic.
As I started sprinting up the stairs, I heard the sound of a door breaking and that was my signal to sprint even faster.
45, 47, 49 I slowed down and looked back down, the man in the mask was climbing the stairs in his usual cadence, a foot after the other resulting in a heavy *THUNK* that reverberates throughout the staircase.
53, 56, 60 The gap between us was expanding but the constant sounds of his steps kept me on my toes.
64, 67, 70 All the adrenaline pumping through my veins is dulling my exhaustion, the 3 hours of sleep I got are not enough to refuel me but that doesn't matter in the face of death.
80 I made it to the last floor; I walked the last set of stairs and touched the door. I can't hear the sound of footsteps anymore; I don't know if that's a good thing or not.
Greeted by the same cloudy sky, the rain touches my face, and the air violently enters my nose. I hold my breath, pull on my necklace and put it up to my face.
"Urgh, the air instantly burned my nose. Good thing I made my mask into a necklace otherwise I would always forget it."
Closing the door behind me, I walk towards the centre of the rooftop.
"…I didn't think this through…"
What did I think I will be able to do on the rooftop?
"AAARGH I was panicking and thought quicker meant better."
And that wasn't completely false the faster I got out of his sight the safer I would be. But what am I going to do on top of the rooftop?
Looking around, the rooftop was completely empty, absolutely nothing for me to use as self-defence. Looking over the guardrail to adjacent buildings I find none with less floors than mine.
"But even if there was, did I really think I would be able to jump?"
I'm completely stuck, hopeless. I look down over the rails again.
"Falling from here would end with my death, that is a certainty."
*BANG* The sliding door flew over the guardrails barely missing me.
"You finally made it."
I can't see his face under his mask, but his mannerisms clearly indicate his wrath.
The Masked Man "You made me follow you all the way out here, tell me you at least have a plan of some sort."
"I have none sir."
The Masked Man "So you are just wasting my time… Do you think this is some type of joke?"
"I know what you're capable of."
The Masked Man "Yet you willingly try to provoke me?"
I'm trying to buy time. I can't come up with anything… But…
"I have a question."
The Masked Man "You have a question for me?"
"Were you trying to kill me even before now, around 6?"
The Masked Man "The reason why I'm here right now is because you didn't show up. Tell me how you knew."
"So, it was you. I don't know why but I dreamt about you killing me twice now."
The Masked Man "Dreamt?"
"And I don't plan on going through that again."
The guardrails were pressed against my back, I supported my body with my hand and stood over it.
The Masked Man "Are you insane?"
"I just might be."
I jump.
"…I'm falling again…"
"…But it's my doing…"
"Is this another dream?"
"Will I wake up again?"
This time I understood.
With the wind brushing violently against me
and the pavement getting closer to my face.
My mind is clear.
I turn around to look at the roof.
The man with the white mask is staring at me.
"I won't let you get me this time."
The tingly feeling is back.
"Huh?"
My body is lighting up.
Small lightning-like shocks are travelling across my body.
Now that I think of it, I've never focused on my body the last two times.
"What is this?"
It's getting more intense by the second.
But before anything else happened, I was caught in a net-like electric field. The net was attached to a small van that was speeding through the sky.
The van doors opened, and another masked figure appeared inside it. This is going to get confusing. I'll just call them white mask and purple-black mask.
Purple-Black Mask "Hey you, what were you thinking?"
"And what do you want?"
Purple-Black Mask "We save you and that's the attitude you greet us with?"
We? Now that I look closer there are two people by his side, a woman and a man. Unlike him they aren't wearing masks so that's probably not a requirement to join whatever group they're in. The black and purple mask this guy is wearing is different from the white one the other wears, but I can't rule out them working together even if they saved me from falling to my death.
Purple-Black Mask "You better not have motion sickness; you're going to get thrown about."
"Yeah yeah, just make sure I don't hit anything."
*CRASH* A row of windows in the building next to us break in succession.
Purple-Black Mask "Damn it, he's catching up. Angelo, take reins."
The cause of the crash was none other than white mask. His speed rivalled the speed of the van, and he was on foot running horizontally on the building.
"So that's what was making the loud sounds!"
He has leg modifiers, but I've never seen anything like this. He is literally running on the side of a building, though that would be possible with the speed he's displaying. With every step he takes a window shatters creating an unreal scene; glass shards shining falling down like rain particles, a man with a white devil mask is running on the side of buildings following another man caught by an electric net connected to a flying van.
The sound of sirens ring through the sky, the APD are finally on the move.
The drones quickly caught up to the van.
Drone "STOP THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY."
Purple-Black Mask "So that's what happens when you go above the 10th lane. DRONES THIS IS A PRESERVATION MATTER DO NOT INTERFERE."
At the mention of the preservation all drones cease chase like it was some kind of magic spell.
"Hey purple mask, couldn't you order them to stop the other guy?"
Purple-Black Mask "Look, they don't stand a chance."
I looked where he pointed and saw multiple explosions, White Mask was slicing every drone that came close to him with ease, still focusing on me.
His movements were fast, his slices precise and his silence deadly.
"Hey purple mask, what's his problem?"
Purple-Black Mask "I think he wants to make friends with you. Didn't he make it clear that his objective is to kill you?"
Well, I know that, but I wanted to know why. I don't think this Purple Mask guy likes me.
The van was still soaring through the sky at speeds that would be illegal in space all the while I was hanging back. This Angelo is pretty skilled manoeuvres through the myriad of cars about barely missing the ad holograms and the flying lamp posts. But white mask wasn't slowing down quite the opposite, he's making a great case for the leg mods that he's using. Whenever the side of a building ends, he jumps to another not even slowing his movements, with each step he takes he gains more momentum accelerating his speed and reducing the space between us. Angelo probably took notice of this because of the sudden turn he took, he might be trying to lose him. However, the sudden direction change resulted with me swaying forward messing with the van's balance. At this point I was turning counterclockwise; I'm not motion sick but at this point I was getting a bit dizzy.
The imbalance caused by my weight slowed the van ever so slightly but that was all the white mask needed. He leapt from the building he was on and slashed the electric wire connecting me to the van.
"I REALLY DON'T LIKE FALLIIIING!"
I was descending down but at a speed that rivals a racer car.
"URGHHH!"
I hit a car dead on, I was already sore from running earlier but now it's unbearable pain, my ribs twisted in ways I didn't know possible, blood gushed out of my mouth and my eyes started losing focus. The momentum that I gained pulled by the van stopping suddenly spelled certain death, but the car was moving too so I didn't receive the full force of impact. However, that didn't stop my fall. I was still confined inside the electric net unable to hang on to that car so continued my descent. Hitting another car, the net broke, I hung onto the car with all of the strength I had yet my arm gave out. I fell into an alleyway landing inside of a trash bin. While the first impact was by far the worst one that doesn't devalue the other two, I can barely breath at this point. All of my muscles are screaming in pain even with all the adrenaline shaking my body.
*THUNK*
"O-oh no…"
*THUNK* I know that sound too well.
*THUNK* My heart was beating like it never had before, pumping blood into my veins trying to give my body any chance of survival, so I responded to its last hurrah.
"AAAGGGHHH!!"
I stand up. He was there. As he Drags both swords on the ground they shriek.
White Mask "I played enough with you."
Without missing a single beat, I jumped out of the bin to run away.
White Mask "Where do you think you're going?"
I blink. He is right in front of me.
White Mask "You die here."
I froze again, his speed is incomprehensible by me, at any moment he wanted he could have slashed my head clean off of my shoulders but he chose to toy with me, no he didn't even toy with me he doesn't think anything of me, that is why he allowed me to run, to tire myself out. Would you acknowledge an ant that was running from you if you decided to step on it? I was dead the moment he put his sights on me.
As I drown in despair, I see his hand move exactly the same way it moved last time. I forced my eyes shut awaiting the painful experience…
White Mask "…"
*BANG* *CLING* A gunshot rang through the alley and multiple others followed; I opened my eyes. White Mask was evading the storm of bullets raining upon him.
It was the other three, each one of them had a rifle and all were aiming at him.
The white mask he was wearing was cracking right in his forehead most likely due to the first bullet fired that caught him off guard. But now none of them even touched him. Evading one, guarding against the other, he showed unparalleled skill with the blades and superhuman agility. The trio had great aim mind you, every single bullet would have hit him if he didn't move out of the way or guard against it.
Purple-Black Mask "Back off freak."
White Mask "You don't get to give orders dog."
Purple-Black mask "What did you call me?"
Successfully provoked Purple-Black Mask charges forward and the other two cease fire to not injure their teammate. With this opening White Mask doesn't charge back he turns to me. With a single move he a—
*CLANK* *CRACK* The cracks across his mask spread and it falls apart. I get a glimpse of his face, his eyes are red, narrow, piercing. His eyebrows thick made into a scowl, his hair short, blond. I couldn't look closer as he turned back.
Purple-Black mask "Don't turn your back to me."
White Mask "How dare you? Do you know what that mask is worth?"
Purple-Black mask "As a mask wearer myself, mine holds great significance. I guess yours does too?"
White Mask "…If it wasn't my mission to only kill the fake, you would be counting the seconds you get to live."
The scowl on his face gets narrower as his anger is radiating through the entire alleyway.
White Mask "Be thankful. Today will not be your end. Yet I Yuta Kaiser can still show you what it means to interfere with the great shaper's plan."
Purple-Black mask "The who? Listen freak this will be a lot easier if you drop those blades and ru—"
Cutting him off Yuta displays the same speed he used pursuing the van, that much force put behind his blades was stopped by Purple Masks hand.
Yuta Kaiser "W-what?"
Purple-Black mask "Yuta, was it? You don't know who you're dealing with, this will be my last warning, put down your weapons and I won't harm you."
Yuta Kaiser "It seems that I underestimated you. So, you're a fellow bearer I see."
Purple Mask is a bearer too? That means both of them are. I couldn't see what Purple Mask did, but Yuta's comment makes it seem like he used his bearer abilities, but what would he be then? What trait would allow him to stop such a powerful strike. I have no clue… I mean I am considered a bearer too, the most basic kind but a bearer nonetheless.
I'm an Observer, someone who can essentially watch their life back from the moment they were born close to recalling memories but with perfect clarity and from a different perspective with some even able to see before their birth, other people's memories or get a glimpse from their future it is rarer but still possible.
I am an exception though even if I can look back on my life clearly, past a certain point which is around the time I woke up for the first time, my abilities start acting abnormally, like I've reached a forbidden place.
I can't say that I'm an expert on time bearers, but I know the basics. observers, time control, time travel, and some special ones like the unaffected, future seekers, ancient seekers, full time control, time manipulators…
They say that each person's bearing is special to them and to the way they perceive time that's why The Preservation haven't been able to properly categorise the abilities accurately yet. Someone can have multiple traits at once or an entirely different one from the rest.
However, I've never heard of a blocking power? Whatever Purple Mask used was no normal trait. Wait, I forgot about Yuta, he's a bearer too, but I don't think he even used his trait yet. I'm curious now but curiosity killed the cat...
Yuta "I've given you my name, what's yours Preservation dog?"
Purple-black Mask "You can call me Ely, nothing more."
Ely started reloading his desert eagle, taking the empty magazine out and throwing it in the air, Yuta seems to understand why, and he readies himself.
I felt the time slow down as the magazine turned in the air, the tension between the two holding everything in place.
Ely's face still covered by his mask, his mannerisms are calm, his reaction earlier might have been an exaggeration to trap Yuta.
Yuta's mask was in pieces on the ground, his face twisted from the intense hate.
*CLACK* The magazine hit the ground.
Yuta instantly jumps forward. Ely doesn't move, he aims his gun and shoots. One Yuta Deflects it with his blade, still on the move. Two, Yuta dodges it. Three, he stops and doesn't even move, letting his armour defend against it.
Yuta "And here I thought they would be some special bullets; did you think my armour can't stop those bullets? How were you even capable of cracking my mask, it seems the round you used earlier was the special one."
Four, Yuta slices the fourth bullet in half.
Yuta "See? My blade can cut right through them."
Five, six, seven, they do nothing to him.
Yuta "You're out. What are you doing?"
Ely wasn't saying anything and was still aiming his empty gun at Yuta.
He pulls the trigger one more time; nothing happens, the gun makes a weird sound and flashes red.
Yuta "Weren't you chatty just a moment ago? What happened to your confi—"
Yuta's sword melts. He was hit by a laser beam.
Ely "Sorry about the wait. It was charging, let's start for real now."
Ely starts a barrage of laser beams, each one capable of melting metal instantly, and Yuta dodges with all of his speed.
Yuta looks even more frustrated with his situation, looking around him for a way out he sees an obvious method.
"What?"
Me. Even with Ely never ceasing fire Yuta managed to reach me. He grabbed me by the throat and stood behind me. Ely stops.
"Keough!"
Ely "Bastard… you IDIOT, why the hell were you still standing there?"
"And where would I go? Thanks to your gang I was a trash can away from being paralysed."
Ely "Urgh. Yuta, get your hands off of him."
Yuta "I've made it clear that my mission is to kill him. The only reason I haven't done it already is you. Throw that gun away and I will let him live until I am finished with you."
Ely "Fine."
With a sigh Ely threw his gun in front of me.
And Yuta released his grip on me. Walking closer to Ely.
Yuta "You're nothing without your weapon."
Ely "The same can be said about you."
As if to prove a point Yuta throws his blade away.
Yuta "I can kill you with my bare hands."
And for the first time, Yuta lands a clean hit on Ely. A single punch launched Ely across the alley. Hitting a wall, Ely groans and falls to his knees, the wall cracked from the force of the impact.
Angelo and the woman hurry to Ely's side helping him stand.
Yuta "Pathetic, physically you are nothing out of the ordinary. You were just lucky to be a bearer with a fancy armoury—*Cough**Cough*"
Ely "Haha—ow, I guess you're nothing out of the ordinary either."
Yuta "*Cough* Damn the air *COUGH*"
THE AIR! I forgot that he wasn't wearing anything to protect him from the air, if any normal person was exposed to the outside air for that long they would have been long unconscious at this point. However, Yuta is still mobile, not just that he was moving at superhuman speeds.
Ely "You had me anxious for a bit there, I thought you were resistant to it. But all I had to do was buy more time."
Yuta was noticeably shaky. He glared at Ely for a moment but turned his attention to me and started running towards me again. I'm really getting tired of this, but he can easily kill me still even if he was at the verge of collapse.
Ely "USE THE GUN!"
The gun? He wants me to shoot him?
Ely "TAKE THE GUN DAMN IT NO TIME FOR HESITATION!"
Yuta was quickly getting closer to me. The gun was right in front of me.
Knowing how to use a gun is mandatory for every employee in the company I work at, so I know how to handle one… I pick it up, aim it at him… and squeeze the trigger…
It was silent. The laser beam did not make a single sound, no recoil, nothing.
Yuta's body falls to the ground, blood oozing out of him…
Ely "You… MISSED."
Yuta forces himself up. I didn't miss, I shot him in his leg.
Yuta "Do you think that will be enough to stop me?"
Ely "SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD YOU MORON."
But I can't do that. My hands were still shaking from the adrenaline, it's a wonder I managed to actually hit him.
I did it again. But I completely missed him, Yuta was limping yet still gunning for me. He tries to wipe the dirt from his face to only make it worse with the blood on his hands. His gaze was intense, burning with wrath and vengeance. The only thing on his mind is to kill me. I pressed the trigger a third time and managed to hit his other leg. This time he didn't fall, he only stopped for a second, barely moving now, dragging his feet.
Yuta "I... huuah will… *Cough* kill… you…"
A few metres away from me Yuta falls and stops moving after struggling to get himself up. The trail of blood he left on the ground dissipating due to the rain.
A minute passes, the rain is the only thing I hear.
"D-did I…kill him?"
Ely manages to stand on his own, he gets closer to Yuta and checks his pulse.
Ely "No, he's alive. If it wasn't for the air, he probably wouldn't even be fazed by those two shots you landed."
He's alive… Why am I relieved? I should be angry at him for the suffering he caused me today.
The adrenaline is fading, and I start to feel all the pain again, all the exhaustion is catching up with me. But it's not done yet, I still can't trust these guys. Who knows what type of things they would do to me.
So, I face the other direction and start running away, more like limping away…
Ely "Hey! Come back here or you'll regret it."
Not listening to him I continue forcing my feet to move. I can hear Ely mumbling something and the *splash* from his footsteps.
Ely "Look here punk."
He is right behind me. I turned back to face him. To get punched in the gut.
"Kuergh!"
Ely "You listen to me when I tell you to do something, GOT IT?"
That hit was the last thing I could withstand. The hold I had over my mind was slipping away from me. My vision darkened and my body was becoming numb.
I tried to yell but nothing came out of my mouth.
Ely "You really are pathetic, you know that?"
The woman "Did you really need to hit him that hard?"
Angelo "Yeah… what if you accidently killed him?"
Ely "Nah, he can survive that."
The woman "How can you be so sure?"
This guy is getting on my nerves. Even in this state I can still waste energy on things like this…
"B-bastard…"
I am petty…
Ely "See? Unfortunately for us he can still use his mouth. If you can speak you can get hit more."
With that, Ely takes a hold of my collar with his left hand and hits me in the gut with his right and knocks me out.