Lumumba stood over Michael, his fists still clenched, the adrenaline of revenge coursing through him. Michael was barely holding on, bruised, bloodied, but still breathing. The other students stood frozen, unsure whether to intervene or flee. No one had seen Lumumba like this—so controlled, yet so devastatingly dangerous.
Michael, struggling to gather his breath, forced out a strained whisper, his voice cracking with fear but still laced with a strange bitterness. "You'll... never see your family again, Lumumba."
Lumumba's fist paused mid-air. His family?
Michael coughed, blood dripping from his mouth, but he managed to keep talking. "Did you... did you ever wonder why your parents were never around?"
Lumumba frowned, confusion slowly replacing his anger. What was Michael talking about? His parents had always been distant, but this... there was something different in Michael's tone. Something sinister.
Michael grinned, despite the pain. "You wanna kill me, fine... but you put my life in danger, I'll make sure theirs is even worse. And your sister... you think she's safe? Didn't know your mom's pregnant, huh?"
Lumumba's heart skipped a beat. Pregnant? His mother? He hadn't spoken to her in weeks, maybe longer. Ever since returning from the other world, he hadn't even checked his phone. Was Michael lying?
With shaking hands, Lumumba shoved Michael aside, fumbling for his phone in his pocket. Missed calls. Messages. Notifications. Dozens of them. He hadn't seen any of it—too consumed with his own plans for revenge.
But before he could check a single message, the world around him began to blur. The courtyard, the faces of the students, the building itself—it all started to dissolve, melting away like an illusion.
"What the hell is happening?" Lumumba whispered, his vision distorting, his legs feeling weak beneath him.
He tried to focus, but his body was failing him. The ground slipped away, and the world plunged into darkness. His phone fell from his hand as he collapsed, his consciousness slipping with it.
When Lumumba awoke, he wasn't in the school courtyard anymore. The cold, familiar feeling of the other world wrapped around him like a suffocating blanket. He was back.
He was on his knees, dirt pressing into his palms, his breathing uneven. The anger and frustration that had been building inside him since his return to his original world now came crashing down all at once. His body trembled, and before he could stop himself, he screamed—a raw, guttural sound of desperation.
"Why?!" he shouted, his fists slamming into the ground with all the force he could muster. "Why bring me back now? Why... now?!"
He punched the ground again and again, his knuckles splitting open, but his regeneration healed them almost instantly. It was maddening—he couldn't even feel the pain he wanted. The only thing left was the anguish bubbling up inside him.
Amara and Jon stood a few feet away, frozen in shock. This wasn't the Lumumba—Ubuntu—they knew. The man who always laughed in the face of danger, who cracked jokes even when bloodied in battle, was now on his knees, weeping, broken.
Amara took a tentative step forward, her usually calm demeanor shaken by the sight before her. "Lumumba..." she whispered, her voice unsure, as if she didn't recognize the person in front of her.
Jon stayed rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with disbelief. Ubuntu, the man who never let anything faze him, who always had a sarcastic remark, was now reduced to tears. Neither of them had ever seen him this way.
"I'm trapped here!" Lumumba screamed, his voice cracking with despair. "I can't go back! I'll never see my family again! My mom, my sister… I couldn't save them. I couldn't do anything."
He slammed his fists into the ground again, creating small cracks in the earth beneath him, his voice hoarse from shouting. Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the dirt as he sobbed uncontrollably.
Amara and Jon exchanged a glance, unsure of what to do. They had fought alongside him, faced countless enemies and monsters, but nothing had prepared them for this. The mighty warrior they knew had been reduced to a broken shell, shattered by the weight of what he had lost.
Amara knelt beside him, her voice soft but steady. "Lumumba... we don't know what happened to you, but whatever it is, you don't have to face it alone. Jon and I... we're here. We'll help you."
Jon, still in shock, nodded silently, though he had no idea how they could possibly help.
Lumumba wiped at his eyes, but the tears wouldn't stop. He didn't care anymore. "I was there, Amara... I was with them. My family. I could feel them, hear them. And now... I'm back here, stuck in this nightmare. I'll never see them again."
He shook his head, his shoulders sagging with the weight of his words. "I couldn't even protect them... I couldn't—"
Amara placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We don't know what happened, but we'll find a way. We'll get you back there. We won't stop until we do."
Jon stepped forward, finding his voice. "Yeah, man. Whatever this place is, whatever these fissures are… we'll figure it out. You're not alone in this."
Lumumba looked up at them, his face streaked with tears, his eyes hollow. For the first time since he'd entered this world, he felt truly powerless.
"I'm going to find them," he whispered, more to himself than to them. "I have to. I won't leave them behind."