Chapter 12: 12: Worst Fears

I was falling, just falling.

I did not know where I was falling but the fact that I was falling somewhere, at a rapid pace, was indeed true.

I had my eyes shut, but could feel the gust of wind hitting my entire body. And my feet or any parts of my body were not touching anything else.

'How did it come to this? Why am I even falling?'

I had no recollection of that.

'Should I scream?' I asked myself, then again it made me smile. ‘Is it even gonna reach anyone…? Well, let's just open my eyes.'

I slowly opened my eyes which took a little too much effort but it was worth it as I could see everything except there was nothing otherworldly to see.

I was falling from the sky towards the ground, precisely towards my house.

‘Sounds familiar…Yup… I should probably scream!’

“Son of a bitch...”

I yelled on top of my lungs as my speed increased. I blew through the clouds like a meteor entering the atmosphere.

I did not know how this was possible, but all this was happening once again.

“Oh God, Oh… Oh shit….”

Having no control over my body I rotated uncontrollably as the clouds flashed with lightning.

Thunder!

The roars of the igniting clouds devoured my ears as the rainy wind bestowed upon me with all its glory.

“This is not good… not good…”

No matter how I tried my velocity did not lower, it increased beyond my capacity. I was on the verge of losing consciousness when suddenly out of nowhere everything just stopped.

Everything, literally everything.

The wind, the rain, the thunder, the lightning, and even me. We were all stuck in one place.

I could not even move my eyes to look around.

Zap!

Crack!

A pure white silver lining soared through the sky as the ground beneath me broke apart with a deafening noise.

Soon the same being whom I had just met emerged from the ground taking everything around him. Everything was gone in an instant: the houses, the mountains, the trees.

The frozen time moved and I fell again.

I now headed towards the enormous and hideous face. Soon his two scorched eyes shined and the eye on the forehead opened.

Boom!

The surrounding air blasted away as his three eyes focused on me.

“Shittt!”

In desperation, I did everything to change my course but nothing happened. I kept dropping into his third eye.

My face burned as I drew closer and in the next moment, I was inside it.

“No… nonononononononoooo…”

---

Screaming my guts out and frantically glancing around, I rose from the bed, before collapsing on the cold floor with a thud.

My head hit first and I lay there for a few moments as reality sank in.

“I am not falling… I am not, yes!”

My body felt heavy, as I pulled myself up, and then, I sat on the bed controlling my haggard breathing. 

“That was a fucked-up nightmare,” I mumbled observing my surroundings which was a dim room but a million times better than that hell hole I had seen two times by now.

Now I could think of nothing but the face of that hideous being.

Just remembering the eyes sent a chill down my spine. Whatever that thing was, it was too terrifying for me to handle. 

But who was that? What was that? Why did I even meet him?

Many questions arose but like always I had no answer. 

‘I feel like I am just an NPC in my own world.’

Heaving a long sigh I fell onto the bed, covering my eyes with my elbow.

“What the hell is going on…” 

My mind was clouded but soon another thought struck me. "Why does this look like my room?"

It had everything I recognized. My single bed, a torn-out desk with my old laptop, an always-opened closet, and many more unnecessary things.

"This is messed up man."

Things were happening way too fast for me to process. This town, my parents, and now this room copied to minuscule details.

"Who the hell is doing this?" I stomped my fists on the mattress, irritated that I had nothing to follow or prove anything even to myself.

“I can’t let this go on for long. I need to find him.”

Wasting no time, I made my way towards the door with a tranquil face and a raged mind.

Only one person knew something and that was the old dude aka my grandfather. I was not sure about his identity, but he was my best shot here.

I strode through the empty corridors and stood before the room. Took a deep breath and opened the door expecting the worst.

I hoped he would be asleep since it was midnight, but he was wide awake. He was sitting on the bed with all the lights on and the room good as new. It was as if he was expecting me.

Taking the chair beside the bed, I got to my point without beating around the bush.

“Tell me what is going on?” I said calmly, in return the elder chuckled.

“Easy my boy, easy.”

“I am trying to be at ease gramps but that black rod you gave did not let me be at ease.” I sighed leaning on my seat. “For God’s sake tell me what that thing I experienced? I had a nightmare about it just now. It is terrifying.”

“I know!” He shook his head, intertwining his fingers which looked like a buddha pose.

“What are you doing?”

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“Calming my soul!” He smiled. “And I am not your grandfather!”

“…” I blinked twice to process his words and somehow came to terms with them instantly.

I lost my grandfather twenty years ago and already accepted the loss. Meeting him again was creepier and more painful than knowing he was fake.

“So, what are you?” I let out a broken smile. “Alien, chupacabra, dinosaur, or anything else?”

“No! None of that.” His tone became heavier than before. “I am an Asura or what you people call a deity. I go by the name Ilec and I am acting as your grandfather because of a curse.”

“Asura huh?” I sighed, scratching my forehead. “Did that curse force you to copy my dead grandfather?”

“No!”

“Then why? You could have told me from the beginning.” My tone came out a bit raspier than usual.

I was both relieved and dejected at the same time. My gramps was dead, that was for the better but still, I wanted to be with him a little. And that remained just a wish.

‘Don’t be indecisive, Tim.’

“To give you the experience of what Kali is like,” Ilec mumbled falling back on his bed, closing his eyes for a second before opening them. “And I think I was successful. You saw him.”

“First things first, what is this Asura thing?” I questioned in misperception. “And who is this, Kali?” I had no recollection of adding some characters named Kali or Asura with that much terrifying background. I must remember if I ever attempted to do something like that.

“Even if you are the author, you don’t know us.” Ilec nodded considerately, but not enough to lift his head. “That is an impressive feat.”

“You know I am the author of this world?” My voice rose a few octaves as my cool façade broke.

“Yes, and you should know that this is not your world anymore.” He responded, staring at the dimly lit ceiling with a serene look in his eyes. “Things have changed, Tim walker. You need to adapt and change with it.”

“I thought so too.” I exhaled a deep breath, pushing my brain to admit this illogical reality.

“Really!”

“Yes, or how do you explain this entire town coming into life or you guys ever existing. I never penned anything like these.”

“You have a brain." Ilec shrugged his shoulders with a casual smirk. "I thought you were some egoistic dumb guy, too idiotic to realize anything.”

“Thanks for the compliment but can you explain what you are?” I put on the blank face and leaned forward shifting to my bottomless tone. "I don't know what an Asura is. I never wrote you, did I?"

"You are not capable of becoming our God Tim Walker." His voice neither high nor low, carried the perfect authority to stand over me. "You are just a mere human having the power of God's, but that is balanced now."

"..." Staying silent I listened to his words.

"Some of us exist well beyond time, guiding humanity to reach where they are now. We are strong beyond your wildest imagination. Knowledgeable beyond anyone can ever comprehend. And lastly, we are the Gods of our own fates. We don't call some nonexistent almighty to regard our wishes, we fulfill it by ourselves."

"You guys existed in this world before I even created this world." I added caressing my hair, face turning sour and mind a bit overwhelmed.

Everything made perfect sense and did not make any sense at the same time. But nothing surprised me anymore.

I was now an open book, accepting everything.

"Yes. We were mere observers, but were forced to act when Kali broke free." Ilec glared outside the window with a gray mien on his face. "To stabilize this world, we came down. Not the first time, that is."

"So, this is how you guys look? Like normal humans!" Leaving every important aspect of the topic, I asked the mundane question of all with an inquisitive look in my eyes.

"No human has ever seen an Asura's true form. We have always been in the shadows. Our clan members are scattered throughout your legislation to guide you in the right path. Or you all would have long gone by now."

"So, how do you guys look?"

"You are asking the same thing twice, Tim Walker." Ilec screeched, shifting his senses back to me.

"Yes. Yes." With a light leer, I shook my head in agreement. "I am just curious. I want to know how an entirely new species looks. I didn't imagine an Asura in my head, you know." 

"Well, I can't take my true form because of this nonsense curse. And even if I did, this room can't hold me. I will need a football field for that." Ilec mentioned, taking pride in his words. 

If his words were actual then how enormous this being was? I tried to imagine but stopped soon enough everchanging my attention elsewhere, to something important as raising my internal spirit did not work.

"What curse are you talking about?" I asked, unable to comprehend the absurdity as I stepped back to reality. "Who can curse a supreme being like you, if you can control fate?"

“Remember Genesis?” The Asura replied with another question.

“Yes...” I tilted my head. I was confused why Genesis of all things came up now.

“Well, he did!" He continued. "He put the curse on me."

‘Wait, what?! I thought it was...’

"If Genesis cursed you then who is this Kali guy?" I frowned. "Why do you keep adding him to our talk?'

"They are two sides of the same coin."

“What?” My mouth gaped as I gawked at Ilec for a few seconds. “You mean Genesis and Kali are…"

"Yes, they are the same." Ilec paused for a second to let the new revelation sink in. His face grimaced, as his lips stirred again, "Chasing after the same dream, along the way, they merged together and became one.”

‘What the fuck is he saying? Nothing makes any sense anymore.’

"You mean my Genesis evolved into that monstrosity?" I was dumbstruck, beads of sweat gathered over my forehead.

‘How the hell even two things merge into one.’

The villain I imagined was supposed to be a simple power-hungry fella who just wanted to conquer the earth and must be defeated by Arthur the protagonist.

Yes, he was powerful but in comparison to Kali, he was infinitesimal. I did not perceive Kali’s power firsthand but the hell I witnessed was something so terrifying that proof was needless.

“But ho-w, wh-y?” My entirety shuddered as my words imbalanced.

“Power, sleaze, losing sight of who he really is,” Ilec spoke evenly, taking away his gaze and directing on the window where droplets of rain could be seen. “He was one of us, but the Darkhold corrupted his mind. He now seeks nothing, but revenge and eternal strength.”

“Dude, that is too much. I mean literally too much.” I laughed nervously, resting my face on my palms, and taking deep breaths one after another. “My book was supposed to be simple. Hero defeats Evil and restores order. That’s it. Nothing more, but…”

“But your hero is not capable of defeating Kali.” Ilec snickered, heaving a small snuffle. “Arthur is not designed to face Kali, who can manipulate everything. Mind, matter, space, time, nothing stands a chance before the God of Hell or that’s what Kali calls himself.”

“…” saying nothing but breathing heavily, I made my way towards the window. The vast garden was clearly visible with a light shower conferring upon.

“This is madness.” I said, my hands trembling in anticipation of the worst to come. “I can’t understand how things turned out like this.”

“Me too kid!” He rose from his bed, pain clearly visible in his appearance. “I tried to stop him and he gifted me this curse. I can’t use my powers anymore. I am stuck here.”

“I will ask the same thing.” I still was not able to safely wrap my head around his words. “How can you be cursed when you claim to have the power of Gods?”

“Darkhold can do anything and everything. It is the mother of all problems and solutions. The one who has it rules the world. He will be indestructible, invulnerable, immortal, and powerful beyond anyone can imagine.” Ilec’s face went increasingly paler as he shivered worryingly.

“And Kali, has it?” I asked, adjusting the situation in my head, and piecing the entire picture together.

“He has parts of it. Most are stored safely somewhere unknown.” Ilac assured both himself and me.

“I see!” Lowering my head, folding my arms, and resting my back on the glass panel I did some calculations. “What is my role in all this? You could have asked Arthur, the real hero. I am practically a nobody before Kali.”

“Still, you are the key to unlock everything!”