Chapter 12: Real World?
"No, no, no, not again. Fuck all this," Evel felt like crying, but the world was so cruel that he didn't even have any eyes to begin with.
Evel was not just a little frustrated; he was extremely frustrated. He wanted to beat someone like crazy and eat them alive.
He was sure that he would finally return to the real world, leaving this hellish nightmare behind.
"Will I always be stuck here and never return? If that's really the case, I should just die. What's the point of even living like this?" he thought of ending it all.
"No, no, I can't lose hope. I have already endured this a million times; it won't be a problem to endure it again," Evel knew that hope was the most important element of life.
He controlled his emotions and devoured all the unwanted feelings like frustration and anger.
He was used to these kinds of situations after facing them over a million times, but it still hurt when his hope was broken.
"Where am I this time? Is this the nightmare again?" Evel looked around, his thoughts calm with no ups and downs.
Around him was a dark void, but not just any void. It was like an ethereal realm filled with thousands upon thousands of light particles.
Each particle glowed with its own unique luminescence, creating a mesmerizing spectacle that was both beautiful and mysterious.
The particles floated gently, not obstructing each other's path, as if they had their own orbit.
The void itself seemed to stretch on infinitely, with no discernible beginning or end.
The particles were of different sizes, giving off different intensities and frequencies of light.
Some of the particles were tiny, almost imperceptible, while others were larger and more defined.
Despite the overwhelming number of particles, there was an order to their chaos. They moved with a purpose, orbiting around a central point.
Evel's eyes were drawn to this focal point, where the largest and most radiant of all the particles resided.
This particle was not just a simple light; it had a shape and form. It resembled a bird, with wings spread wide, its body glowing with a brilliant crimson red.
The bird's light was so intense that it cast long shadows across the void, highlighting the other particles that revolved around it. The bird-shaped light particle was captivating.
It pulsed with a steady rhythm, like a heartbeat, and Evel could feel its energy radiating outward.
It was as if the particle was alive, its presence commanding the attention of all the other particles in the void.
He watched in awe as the smaller particles were drawn towards it, their light dimming as they got closer.
The bird absorbed their energy, growing brighter and more powerful with each passing moment. The process was slow, almost unnoticeable, but it was continuous.
The aura of the bird looked very strong, almost breathtaking, but Evel knew this was only an illusion.
The bird-like particle looked powerful and almost without weakness, but he could tell that it was very weak, like it was almost dying and taking its last breath. It wasn't really breathing, though, neither was he.
How did he know this? It was simply because of his strong perception as a master and his million times of enduring a painful illusion.
Evel didn't manage to notice at first, but when his vision once again met the particle resembling a bird, he felt a strong sense of familiarity and, at the same time, a feeling of suppression. He felt like kneeling and praising it without any pause.
The feeling was coming from his innermost soul, like he was born with it.
Evel quickly used his talent to devour those feelings without any hesitation or delay. That was very dangerous; it was like there was another person in him eager to offer his life to this bird-like thing.
How could he allow that, even though he was already dead? Oh yes, I am dead. I nearly forgot that. It felt like I had spent more than a couple of centuries in that hell.
"That place was created from my memory or the extreme emotion I felt during my life, but I don't think this is the same," he thought.
"Is there a reason why I feel such an emotion with that thing, or are all the particles here the same?" Evel turned his vision to the other particles of light.
But he didn't feel such emotions like suppression or superiority. Instead, what he felt was 'Hunger' that was originating from the depth of his own talent itself.
"This again... Is my belly made of some kind of black hole? Why do these stars-like things arouse my hunger? Oh shit, I forgot I don't have any belly," he was confused. This was truly a miracle.
He had no eyes, but his vision was still present. He had no brain, but he could still think. He had no blood, but his talent was still with him. And he had no belly, but he was still hungry.
In short, Evel didn't have any body present, and he was sure he himself was a particle of light like these things present here and there around him.
"If my talent is attracted to those particles, does it mean that I will become stronger after consuming them?" He began to observe all the particles present in his vision and locked onto one of those which looked the weakest and about to disappear.
"What if something unexpected happens? I shouldn't act too rashly. After all, this whole problem was the result of my rash and stupid act back then," Evel began to think logically.
"What other choice do I even have? I will risk it all. If it fails, I die. If not, I will gain something," after some time of thought, he locked onto that weak particle, his talent activated.
That particle began to shake violently and suddenly shot out of its place, its speed so fast that it appeared like it had vanished as it already looked so weak and seemed about to disappear.
But just then, it appeared just in front of him and suddenly collided with his particle.
Evel's vision turned blurry again, and everything turned into darkness after a while. "Now, after so many times, I find this process so natural," his vision turned off, but his thoughts were still there.
But his vision went dark for a very little time, only for a few breaths of time, and returned again.
The first thing he noticed was a ceiling, a stone ceiling painted with some green color like that of green grass.
Evel stared into the ceiling for a while. "Have I returned to the 'Real World'?" he wondered.