AIN: The Eyes of Deception

Chapter 6 : Without a Gaze

He stood there, at the edge of the damp alley, feeling every drop of rain falling on his skin as if it were data to be processed. Velkris merged into his back, her cold sensation creeping under his skin like thousands of black ants swallowing Arel's nerves of fear. Aelion, on the other hand, offered a false sense of peace that felt even more suffocating. Arel took a deep breath, trying to map his surroundings without having to use his eyes as his only sense.

"I can feel it," Arel whispered softly, his voice now carrying an unnatural resonance, vibrating in the air as if he were speaking in a vacuum.

"Feel what, darling?" Velkris giggled, her voice echoing in Arel's right ear, sensual yet poisonous. "The life that is so fragile around you? Or the hunger starting to eat away at your human logic?"

Arel didn't answer. He focused his mind. He no longer needed to physically look at a target to see how their reality was woven together. He squeezed his eyes shut, letting the darkness in his mind become his only screen. He imagined every heartbeat within a five hundred meter radius. He imagined the flow of electricity in underground cables, and every anxious thought being felt by the people in the apartment block next door.

"I am going to try something," Arel muttered.

He visualized a spot in an old factory warehouse three blocks from where he stood. He didn't know what was there, but he visualized a large, rusted gas pipe, a loose bolt, and a small spark appearing from a short circuit in a cooling machine.

In his mind, he pulled the thread of fate as if he were turning a key in a lock.

CRACK.

The muffled sound of an explosion echoed from the distance, followed by a tremor in the ground that traveled to the soles of Arel's shoes. Fire began to ignite in the distance, billowing into the night sky as a red streak challenging the city's darkness. Arel opened his eyes. There was no guilt. There was only pure adrenaline pumping through his heart until it felt like it would explode from his chest.

"Look at that," Arel whispered with a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. "I didn't even have to see it, and it still happened."

"Very efficient," Aelion replied, his voice sounding cold and approving. "You are beginning to understand that this world is merely a theater, and you are the one holding the script and directing. You no longer have to watch the performance, Arel. You can rewrite the scene."

Arel stepped out of the alley. He no longer walked like a loser who always looked down. Every step was full of certainty. However, deep in his soul, behind the shroud of darkness and that unnatural Cupid light, there was a part of Arel screaming, a small piece of his remaining humanity that saw all of this as a nightmare that would never end.

Is this how I stop being a loser? By becoming a monster worse than all of them? Arel thought.

"You aren't becoming a monster," Velkris said, as if she could read Arel's deepest thoughts. "You are simply becoming reality. This world has always been cruel, Arel. You are just adapting to the true law of the jungle. Weren't you the one who always said people like us lose because we are too 'good'? Now, look at yourself. You aren't losing anymore."

Arel stopped at an intersection. The traffic light in front of him turned green, but a car sped through the red light. Arel didn't flinch. He only glanced at the car with a sharp gaze, visualizing the car's front tire blowing out.

BANG!

The car swerved wildly, hitting the curb and stopping with a smoking hood. Arel didn't look back. He kept walking, his calm voice audible amidst the city's noise. "I don't need to be good. I just need to stop feeling helpless."

Suddenly, he felt a presence. It was no longer a neutral presence like the old man named Sahrakel from before. This presence was very aggressive, very sickening, and very familiar. Arel stopped. Someone was sitting on top of the street light right above him, dressed in black with an aura so thick the air around Arel felt like it was filled with heavy syrup.

Draeven Korr.

Draeven descended with a light movement, landing on the asphalt without a single sound. He looked at Arel with a look of disdain, a gaze that suggested Arel was nothing more than an insect that had caught his attention by being too loud.

"You learn fast, kid," Draeven said, his voice raspy but full of authority. "A little explosion at an old factory? Do you think that will scare Lyxaria? It only makes you more interesting to us."

Arel straightened up, meeting Draeven's gaze with eyes that now radiated two different pupil colors, one silver, one black. "I don't care if she's scared or not. I only want to do what I want."

"Desires?" Draeven laughed, a laugh that sounded very dry and painful. "You think you have your own desires? Arel, you are nothing but a conduit for them. You think they are Cupids? They are parasites. And you? You are a very greedy host."

Draeven stepped forward, his hands emitting an aura that cracked the street around them. "You just learned Level 2, and you already feel like a god. I have been here much longer than you, and I know one thing you don't: The more you change the world, the more the world will demand payment. It isn't you who will disappear, but you who will be crushed by the weight of the destiny you're trying to manipulate."

"I am not afraid of destruction," Arel replied, his voice calm, almost like a robot.

"You should be," Draeven answered as he attacked.

His movements were lightning fast. Before Arel could react, a heavy blow landed in his stomach, throwing his body against a utility pole until it bent. Arel fell, fresh blood flowing from his mouth. Yet, instead of groaning, Arel laughed.

"You're slow," Arel muttered.

Draeven frowned, confused by that reaction.

However, before he could launch another attack, he felt something was wrong with his feet. He looked down and saw that the asphalt beneath him had turned into sinking quicksand, dragging his body down.

"How?" Draeven's eyes widened, and he struggled to pull his feet out by force.

"I don't need to see you to make you stop," Arel whispered as he stood up, wiping the blood from his lips. He visualized the air around Draeven becoming so dense that the man couldn't breathe.

Draeven began to choke, his face turning red and his hands clawing at the air. However, Draeven was no easy opponent. With a loud roar, he released a massive burst of Ain energy, shattering the mud and pushing the dense air away.

"Enough games!" Draeven shouted. He lunged forward again, this time with pure murderous intent.

Arel didn't try to dodge. He realized he couldn't defeat Draeven in a pure physical fight. He had to be more unpredictable. He closed his eyes, focusing his mind not on Draeven, but on the structure of the building behind him. He imagined the structure no longer had any integrity, imagining every nail, every bolt, and every iron column losing its strength all at once.

Draeven was just about to land a punch when the entire three story building behind him collapsed in a single second, burying the entire area in concrete and steel debris.

The roar of the collapsing building shook the entire street. Dust billowed as high as the rooftops. Arel stood there, panting heavily, his body shaking violently from pushing his Ain beyond its limits. He could no longer see clearly, and he could no longer visualize. He could only feel that beneath the pile of rubble, Draeven was no longer moving.

"It's over," Arel muttered, his voice nearly drowned out by the sound of police sirens wailing in the distance.

"Not yet," Velkris whispered. "He's too strong to die from a pile of stones, Arel. And look, someone else is coming."

Arel looked up. A silhouette emerged from the fog of dust. It wasn't Draeven. It was someone more elegant, someone who radiated a far more dangerous aura. Lyxaria Venn stood there in the middle of the ruins, her expensive dress slightly soiled, yet her gaze remained as sharp as a razor.

She looked at the buried Draeven, then at Arel with an unreadable expression.

"You really are unpredictable, Arel," Lyxaria said, her voice calm but carrying a weight that pressed against his chest. "You destroyed one of my best assets just to prove you could do it without looking? What a tragic waste of such talent."

"Get out of here, Lyxaria," Arel threatened, raising his hand, ready to release the last of his strength.

"Or what?" Lyxaria smiled sweetly. "You're nearly at your limit. I can see it. Your pupils are trembling, and your energy is unstable. If you push yourself one more time, your brain will explode before you even have a chance to hurt me."

Lyxaria stepped closer. "Draeven was just the tester. I am the examiner. I didn't come here to kill you, Arel. I came to give you an offer you can't refuse."

Arel stared at Lyxaria, his eyes beginning to fade from silver and black back to their tired, natural brown. "What do you want?"

"Work for me," Lyxaria offered. "I can give you everything. Power, control over your life, and most importantly, a way to reach Level 3 without losing yourself in the process. I know you don't want to become a monster, Arel. I know you still want to be someone. With me, you won't have to hide in these dark alleys anymore."

Arel fell silent. The offer sounded like a light in the middle of the darkness. But then, Aelion's whisper echoed in his head.

Don't listen to her. She is the most poisonous snake. If you join her, you will never be free.

"I'd rather die than work for you," Arel answered firmly.

Lyxaria laughed softly. "That's a very sweet answer, but it's not realistic. You have no other choice. Look around you."

Arel looked. The police sirens were very close now, surrounded by blinding flashing lights. It wasn't just ordinary police, but several men in black suits, special forces that Arel knew for a fact had low level Ain abilities, were starting to surround the area.

"They all belong to me," Lyxaria said as she pointed toward the troops. "And they all know one thing: you are the most dangerous fugitive in this city. If you don't leave with me now, you'll spend the rest of your life, which might only be a few minutes, as target practice for them."

Arel felt the pressure in his head. The troops began to aim their weapons at him. He knew he couldn't fight them all at once in his current state.

It's a trap, he thought.

"You have five seconds, Arel," Lyxaria began to count. "One... two..."

Arel looked at Lyxaria. He looked at the troops surrounding him. Then he looked at his own shadow, which was now starting to move on its own, dancing restlessly.

"Three..."

Arel had no choice. He couldn't win, but he could choose how he would lose. He closed his eyes, visualizing one thing he had never done before. He didn't visualize destruction, he visualized a door. A door that connected where he stood now to anywhere else, as long as he could imagine it clearly.

Four...

Arel imagined his ruined apartment. He imagined every speck of dust, every shard of glass in his room. He focused all of his remaining Ain energy into a single point in front of his eyes.

Five.

"I have another choice," Arel muttered.

As Lyxaria was about to give the order to attack, Arel opened his eyes. The space in front of him seemed to tear open, creating a blinding rift of light. Arel jumped into the rift just before the first bullet was fired.

Lyxaria gaped. She saw the rift close instantly, leaving nothing but empty air in front of her.

"He's learned low level teleportation," Lyxaria muttered with a suppressed rage behind her calm face. She clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white. "Find him. I don't care how many people have to die, bring him to me alive!"

Somewhere, inside his ruined room, Arel tumbled onto the floor. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but he knew he had made it. He lay on the floor, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his entire body feeling numb.

He heard the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the door. The apartment door, which had already been broken, now opened even wider. Someone walked in.

Arel tried to stand, but his strength was gone. He looked at the figure standing in the doorway. It wasn't Lyxaria. It was a much younger figure, a little girl with a red balloon in her hand. Eluni.

Eluni smiled, a smile that was very sincere but felt so alien. "You're home, Arel," she said in a very soft voice. "But unfortunately, you brought an unwanted guest along with your shadow."

Arel turned toward his shadow. And for the first time, he saw something that truly terrified him.

Velkris was no longer attached to his body. The ink entity was now standing on its own in the middle of the room, separating itself from Arel, and beginning to form a shape that was much larger, darker, and more real than anything Arel had ever seen.

"Thanks for the ride, Arel," Velkris's voice now sounded very loud and full of authority. "Now, allow me to translate your final wish into something truly permanent."

Arel struggled to stand, but he couldn't move his legs. He realized something with horror, he was no longer a person who held any power. He was a host that had been squeezed dry.

And that open door didn't just bring Eluni into his room, it brought something much larger from beyond. Something that now stood behind Velkris, something that made even Aelion tremble with fear.

This war was no longer about Lyxaria or Draeven. It was a war over who actually held control over reality. And for Arel Virel, that war had just ended in absolute defeat.

"Welcome to the end, Arel," Eluni whispered as she released her red balloon, which then floated to the ceiling, exploding into thousands of light particles that swallowed the entire room in eternal darkness.