Fate's Eternal Foe

Reincarnation River

Derrick turned and looked at the water seller.

She was running towards him frantically and she seemed to be shouting something. Her hands were outstretched and her face showed alarm.

Derrick plastered a smile on his face to reassure her.

She should not worry that much. He was going to a better place.

But he knew it was useless. Instead of reassurance, he was sure he had just given a sad smile.

Sigh!

He steeled his heart one last time and gave up control of his legs.

The murky waters of the ocean rushed towards him and a thought flashed in his mind.

" I'm coming now, Sonia".

His body hit the raging waters and an excruciating pain rose from the drag of the rioting waters.

The air in his lungs abandoned him and darkness took him into its embrace.

***

In an unknown location..........

Silent...... The whole place was silent.

No trace of light could be seen and darkness covered everywhere.

It was a dark void and nothing existed in it.

There was no sign of living beings and a grey winding substance stretched across the center of the void.

It had no beginning and it had no end. Its length spanned into an unmeasurable distance.

Inside the grey substance, a large current of blue light flashed unceasingly.

On closer look, little blue spots of light shuttled along the grey substance in an unending number.

The River of Reincarnation and the souls who traversed its path!

In those blue spots, almost transparent little figures hugged their knees and seemed to be in deep sleep.

In one of those blue spots, a little figure of Derrick hugged his knees and his face alternated between different emotions.

***

RIIING! RIIING! RIIING!

Derrick opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around himself in confusion.

He was sitting on a very familiar bed.

His mind was still disoriented as he dazedly stared.

" Where am I ?". He thought

The force of the Ocean's drag was still very fresh in his memory. Derrick knew he should have died.

" If so, what am I doing here?". he started to panic.

He felt around himself and picked up his phone. After which he checked the date.

Pak!

The phone dropped suddenly to the floor.

Derrick retreated in shock.

This was the date he had gotten fired!

"But I remember dying". He thought to himself in confusion.

Suddenly!

"Ahhh!!!".

Derrick shouted as he dropped to the floor while holding his head in pain.

" It hurts! It hurts!".

Derrick screamed.

He tried getting up to go get the aspirin in the bathroom but the moment he stood up the sudden headache vanished.

" Huh? What's going on?".

The scream that tried to come out just now had gotten stuck in his throat.

He looked up and his heart shook immediately.

His surroundings had changed!,

He was no longer in his room. He was not even standing up. Right now he could feel himself sitting on a chair.

An oily mouth moved in front of him. The owner had probably eaten oily food recently.

"Mr Derrick!!! I am talking to you will you, please focus".

An angry voice sounded in his ears.

Derrick focused his gaze on his HOD who was looking at him furiously.

"That's it. Now, back to what I was saying".

"Are you going to explain that gap in your accounts or am I going.......... ".

"What did you just call me?". Derrick interrupted him.

" What!!!". The HOD was baffled.

" My name is not Derrick ". He said firmly.

The HOD was flabbergasted.

" What in the hell are you talking about?".

" Okay then, what.......the ......fucking..... hell is your name?!".

Derrick tried to think but no recollection of his name came to him. he lowered his head slightly.

" What is my name?......I do not remember...... Why do I not remember?".

Derrick thought.

The HOD wasn't not letting up.

He sneered as he said, " Cat got your mouth? Your name's not Derrick huh?".

" Is that the idiotic trick you want to use to escape this? You want to feign insanity?".

Derrick shook his head violently and then looked at the HOD malevolently

" No...No...No..No! You don't get to speak to me like that!".

He screamed.

" It's me who gets to ask the questions. You hear that? It's ME!!!".

"Now answer this you round-faced bastard. What are you? What the fuck do you want with me? Why are you doing this? Why do I not remember my name?!".

At this point, the HOD was looking at Derrick, mouth open.

Derrick looked furiously at the silent HOD and then he suddenly stood up and grabbed the collar of the HOD's shirt.

In that moment.

Tears..... Hot tears slid down Derrick's face.

His vision had reddened and he felt disoriented.

Strong emotions of pain and extreme loss washed over him.

He didn't know why he felt these emotions.

He couldn't remember why.

Tears of grief and sorrow washed over him but he still did not know why he felt this way.

He looked around with his reddened vision and saw that his surroundings had changed once again.

He was now at a shore with the waters carrying the beautiful light of sunset.

As his vision registered the location he was currently at, the already strong emotions of grief and sorrow rose a notch.

Derrick felt like a part of him had just freshly been torn off him.

The emotional pain was tearing him apart yet he didn't know why he was feeling these emotions.

He couldn't remember anything.

With his emotions boiling, Derrick stood up and looked at the ocean.

At this point, he could remember nothing at all. but a very strong instinct plus the flush of emotions drew him to the ocean.

Derrick felt a new emotion at this point......

Boiling anger.....

An anger so hot, that he screamed and sprinted with all his strength and dived into the ocean while swimming forward with all his might.

***

Sometime earlier...........

BOOM!!!

A man wrapped in black robes was blasted away. He held a ball-shaped artifact and blood spurted out of his body.

" Senior brother, that was the last one".

A young man in white outside a floating boat informed a young man in blue robes sitting inside.

The young man in white held a broad sword as large as a door. His robes fluttered as he floated alongside the boat.

The other one in blue turned to a frail-looking old man sitting cross-legged on the boat.

The old man was holding a hand seal in front of a glass casket.

A young man lay inside the casket.

His features were perfect and he had a natural beauty.

He lay face up and his body was still. No signs of life could be seen in him, but a low iridescent light glowed around him slightly.

The old man didn't move, but his lips moved slowly.

" Frederick, what do you want?"

" The pesky rats have all been chased away".

Frederick replied.

The old man changed the hand seals he had over the casket.

" There were rats?".

"No wonder we were so slow".

The old man pondered for a bit.

" Looks like someone is trying to delay us".

The old man beckoned at Fredrick.

Fredrick moved closer to him and sat in front of the casket.

"You maintain the seals. I have some work to do ".

The boat they were sitting on was floating in a grey-like substance that looked like thick swirling clouds.

They were in the Reincarnation River!

The old man stepped out of the boat and he flew backwards.

His body started fading gradually from sight.

" Fredrick, meet up with your uncle master".

" He will continue from where I stopped".

***

Eugene flew at great speeds and the experts behind him followed closely.

This was a void ruled by the law of nothingness.

It led to the abstract void where the Reincarnation River existed.

They all knew using spatial techniques, would be useless.

The void of nothingness had an indestructible space and no spatial techniques worked in this area.

So they could only fly normally.

The group of experts flew for hours in one direction.

Eugene paused at some point and made a complex hand seal.

A shimmering light bloomed in a further location. A door vaguely formed in its brightness.

" We're almost there". He said.

"We might still not be late yet".

Efel who was beside him smirked

"You're shitting yourself. Aren't you?".

Some of the experts behind Efel sniggered.

Eugene ignored Efel completely.

Monk Agdo'l who was still sitting crosslegged as he flew looked at both of them with the corner of his eyes and said.

" Instead of thinking of how to contribute more in this crisis, you guys are bickering like little kids".

"I think the older you get, the more senile you become. You should practice some Buddhist techniques to reduce this madness. I can recommend some if you want?".

The smiles on Efel and the sniggering experts behind him stiffened while Eugene's face hardened.

" You know for an immortal who practices the art of ativism, you do talk a lot".

A voice suddenly spoke.

Eugene looked forward in shock and the other experts looked in the distance with slight fear showing on their faces.

Eugene spoke in a grave tone" Dark coalition founder Davi, you are not dead!".

A frail old man appeared in front of them, he smiled at Eugene.

" Hello younger brother, are you surprised to see me?".