20 Chapter 11: Infinite Possibilities Part 1

I stand in the darkness alone. Ethan Kales left a few moments ago. The way he arrived, the way our conversation went and then the smile on his face when he was leaving (I only saw a hint of it but I know it was there) all makes me vary of everything that's happening here.

I have no idea where I am and what I am here for. For all I know, this could be a trap the dragon sent me to. I am inclining towards believing that's not actually the case, but there's no guarantee.

Kais: "Well, I'll have to get a move on."

Even if my head is full of questions, and even if I am anxious as hell because of them, I have to keep moving. Thinking about them might give a theory or two about what their answer might be, but a theory I come up wouldn't necessarily be true. I'll never find any answers unless I look for people who know them.

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Kais: "Well, I'll also have to make them talk."

That won't be the easiest thing to do, but it sure wouldn't be as hard as finding them. So, the crux of the situation is, I'm surrounded by various supernatural events, I don't know everything about any of them, and I'll have to try to know as much as I can to proceed.

Kais: "Not a very ideal island adventure, but I guess I have no choice but to do it."

With that decided, I take a step forward. But just as my feet touch the ground again, I feel a chill run down my spine.

Kais: "What … was that?"

There's darkness all around me. The torch Ethan had brought and had (for some reason) left before leaving is still here and the only source of light so far. My eyes have adjusted to the darkness and so I can see some things clearly but not everything. In which case, it won't be very hard to sneak attack me.

Kais: "So if anyone tries to attack me, I'm screwed –"

Or at least an onlooker might think that. I am constantly using Aura-Reading so I can detect any hostile movements and it is impossible to do me any harm without me noticing it. Which is why – there's no reason for me to get afraid or have chills run down my spine.

Kais: "So why did that happen?"

I don't think it was just some random happening that I should ignore. More than I trust anyone or anything else, I have to trust in my senses. After all, my entire psychic arsenal is more or less dependent on them and they have not failed me once in my lifetime. If I felt a chill run down my spine, there has to be a reason for it.

Kais: "So what just happened?"

I turn to look back but nothing appears, I turn some more and the same result repeats itself. As I keep looking, I keep coming to the same conclusion – that everything is fine. But I just refuse to believe that.

Kais: "Can someone slip through without me noticing?"

It's a terrifying thought, but one that I need to consider. One of the psychic abilities is to hide your presence. While Aura-Reading should be the counter to the ability, it's not omnipotent. I know I am not the most powerful psychic in the world. What if someone much more powerful than me tries to use that ability and sneak past me, at least my mind should notice it. In which case, a shiver running down my spine should be a warning of sorts.

Kais: "But can't they just teleport out of here instead?"

If the person was trying to attack me, then it makes sense for them to slip past me, but if all they wanted was to pass me without me noticing them, then they could just teleport away from my range.

Kais: "Unless there was some ulterior motive …"

An ulterior motive – that would make them try to get past me without me noticing. I check my own aura and I am the same as before. No changes have been done to me internally or externally.

Kais: "There is nothing dangerous on me either."

Then, what other reason could there be?

Kais: "Actually, that's a waste of time, isn't it?"

Coming up with a reason I don't even know who had for sneaking past me is absurd. There can be so many reasons and there's no way I can think of and verify all of them. If I am to think of things that might have happened, I need to make sure I am safe for now (which I already have) and to tighten up my defenses.

Kais: "This will take some effort though."

The ability I am about to use is Psychic Barrier and the name is pretty self-explanatory. It will cover me in all fronts and no one can pass unless I allow them to. Though once inside, a person can do anything to me without worrying about the barrier.

Kais: "Okay then."

I close my eyes as I focus my energy into my heart. I have to cover my heart with my psychic energy to activate the barrier. One crucial thing about this ability is that it relies solely on my psychic energy. I can't use any atmospheric energy to power it up. So as my energy runs out, the layer of energy covering my heart will get thinner and my barrier will get weaker. When that happens, there will be no instant way to replenish it.

Kais: "Finally."

The process of activating this barrier doesn't take too much time, only about 15-20 seconds for me, but it takes a lot of effort in just that much time. But while the barrier has all these negatives, it gives me huge positives too. In Aura Reading, someone can teleport from a point from one point to another, both outside of my range, and can avoid detection. This happens because in teleportation, psychic energy of the person mixes with the atmospheric energy and travels to the other point. Since atmospheric energy is used to do aura-reading, it feels like nothing is out of order. On the other hand, if someone tries to teleport in a way that their energy would even touch the barrier, I would know because it would differ from the energy of the barrier which will be purely mine.

Kais: "So I can say I am as safe as I can manage to be right now."

And now that I have confirmed that much, I should get back to the task at hand. I came here to go to do something the dragon says should become clear to me somehow. It is not clear yet, but for now I want to get to the place where Ozyllus' body is.

Kais: "Sorry about it but,"

I know the dragon doesn't want me to go near it and all that, but I can't ignore this once in a lifetime chance now that I am alone.

Thinking that, I start walking in the direction Ethan came from. I might find something there, after all I have been walking straight up to here without any chance to diverge so it's not like there are any other routes I can take. Even if there was, it can be checked later when I return.

Kais: "Being by myself helps quite a bit actually."

I don't have anything against the dragon or the girl, but since I am alone here, I have a lot of freedom I wouldn't have had otherwise and I am glad for it. I have to make decisions for myself and no one would stop me. I am not saying I want everyone to keep agreeing with me, but I hate it when people disagree without giving any explanation as to why.

Kais: "And those two probably won't explain why."

I can be sure of that with the dragon, and the girl probably doesn't know anything the dragon doesn't want others to find out.

Kais: "That being said though …"

And this is a question that has bugged me for a while now, why did the dragon send her here with me? It's hard to believe the dragon didn't know she would just disperse and get drawn back. That can mean that this is not the place the dragon intended me to be. The place should be inside the tomb but we got teleported to a different space when we stepped in. Maybe my assumption that this was as he wanted was wrong.

Kais: "And that would mean – I am in someone's trap right now."

So what should I do? Should I try to get back to the tomb? But even if this all is true and I get back to the tomb somehow, there's no guarantee it would be less dangerous there. Either way, I am in a very dangerous position. I can trust no one here – not the dragon, the girl, Sona, Ethan or anyone else.

The worst part of this problem all is that I have no idea how big of a problem it is and the mysteries just keep piling one over the other.

Kais: "I can't even decide what to do now."

I say that as I realize that I have stopped moving. That's only natural though. I thought I needed to find Ozyllus' coffin and that I might if I go in the direction Ethan came from but now I have doubts about this place even being the real tomb.

Kais: "This is risky. There's no doubt about that."

Do I have any clues that could help me here? There must be something. There must be some sort of information I can use to at least take a step forward in the right path. Think! Damn it! Think!

Kais: "Wait!"

I suddenly remember something the dragon said back then.

Dragon: "The tomb belongs to Ozyllus. No one can dare step foot in if his soul does not allow them to."

So is this what he meant? Does Ozyllus' soul send me here? As unlikely as that sounds, it is not impossible. Ozyllus' soul should be powerful enough to send me to a different space. Ozyllus would have done much more, but his soul can't be as strong as he was. Still, sending me here should still be child's play for him.

Kais: "Come to think of it, Ethan –"

He said ghosts exist. That could also mean Ozyllus exists as a ghost and not a soul, as terrifying as that may sound. If that's true though, would the tomb really be the place he would be lurking around. Unlike souls that are bound to the place the body rests, ghosts are free to do whatever they want or go wherever they want. At least, that's what I have heard. Since I didn't even know they actually exist until a few moments ago, I had never dug much deeper into their topic.

Coming back to the point though, even if he exists only as a soul, if he's capable of teleporting me here, then he should be capable of contacting the dragon somehow too. So, is he a soul or a ghost?

Kais: "Damn! Either scenario is very plausible, so I think I should just keep this in the back of my mind for now."

Ghosts exist and are free to move as they desire. But in that case, Ozyllus would probably keep interfering with the world. It's a terrifying thought that a being so powerful would keep interfering with the world. It almost sounds as if he's a 'demon' … or a 'god'. The world did call him a god but that was just metaphorically. If anyone believed him to be a real god, they would be some fools.

There's a possibility that ghosts aren't capable of interfering with the physical world because they don't belong to it anymore. In that case, he shouldn't be capable of teleporting me here either … unless he is so powerful he can break the rules, which makes this theory non-valuable, at least for now. Besides, that's far-fetched too. No matter how powerful he is, and no matter who calls him a god, he can't go around breaking metaphysical laws and controlling space-time on the tip of his fingers. All us psychics can do is bend these laws a little and get a convenient solution to problems not possible normally. The possibility of him solely being able to interfere with the physical world – I would say it's unrealistic without a doubt.

Then another possibility is contracts and conditions. What if forming contracts allows these ghosts to interfere with the physical world? It certainly becomes possible in the case of lower and middle-class spirits like that rabbit-like spirit and even a high-class one like Death. But Ozyllus would be a spirit definitely among the most supreme ones. I doubt any human on earth will be powerful enough to make a contract with such a spirit. I don't know the details of spirits and contracts but the individual ability of the spirit-user does matter when making a contract and as far as I know, in present, there exists no human being who can make a contract with that high-level of a spirit.

Kais: "Though what if –"

The dragon did it. The dragon might be able to do so and would probably be glad to make a contract with his friend. That could also be a clue for why the dragon would be here if he says Ozyllus' soul can protect the tomb by itself.

The only problem in this theory I can think of right now is that the dragon is essentially not a being that would be capable of forming contracts since that's restricted to human beings. One way around it could be that when he gained his human form, he became able to make contracts with spirits among other human-like attributes he got, but I have no confirmation on that front and there's no indication of anything like that being possible.

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