The First Encounter Part 6A

Chapter 34

The First Encounter

Part 6A

“If you don’t believe me, use your Predict skill, and you will see it.” That was it. I had to let him go and step back a couple steps. He knows two of my skills not just one but two. That is ridiculous. I have been shocked. In a manner I never had before, if it were anybody else in front of me telling me that, the first reaction that would accrue to me would have been to cut his head immediately, without even getting the opportunity to get questioned about where he got the information. But fortunately or unfortunately, the one who said that was a child, although the expression on my face changed and my hand was on the gun and the sword in my waist, a complete involuntary reaction from my side.

It took me nearly a minute to gather myself and regain my composure. During this time, I came to the realization that someone else must have informed him about my skills. Therefore, I felt compelled to find out who that person was. At that moment, the only question on my mind was, "Who told you about those skills?" And don’t dare to lie to me; do you understand?.” The boy had noticed my reaction and, of course, my expressions, how serious I was apparently, and I am sure that I scared him without doing anything to him at all, but the boy didn’t show anything, I guess, because his mind was preoccupied with whatever he was thinking. Simply put, I don’t think he was that brave to ignore me, or else he wouldn’t have said with a straight face and without hesitation, like he doesn’t care about anything, “Sir, I can explain everything for you later, but the most important thing now is our safety, so please do something." And that was the last thing I was expecting to hear from him like, excuses or explanations, lies, denials, or anything similar to that, but not a direct request or something more similar to an order.

A polite order, if I may say it myself, then I had to ask him about the anxiety showing on his face and his body shaking because of it, is based on what exactly, I needed to know that first before I do anything else, I needed to make sure that what he is saying is not just a young boy who is making things up as he goes, although a young boy who knows about my secret arts skills that no one else in this whole world knows about is not a simple young boy whoever he is, that is also a fact. A fact that needs much more carefulness to prove. Another reason that made me not jump ahead and use my skills to see what he is talking about is that there is no shame in being careful in unknown situations like these, so I asked him straight up, “How do you know that we are in danger, and what makes you sure that we will all die if we stay here?” a simple two-part question: if his answers convince me he is in luck or else. or else  I don’t know what I am going to do with the young boy, especially in my current situation, but in the worst-case scenario, I will not hesitate to take the appropriate action, whatever that is.

For the first time, I noticed a change in the boy's expression, and I saw a visible hesitation on his face. Although it lasted for only a few seconds, it was clear as daylight to me, but still, he collected himself immediately and said, “I know it’s hard to believe me without any way for me to prove it to you. But I will tell you the truth.” He looked down for a second, then lifted his head immediately and continued, “I do see things, like a dream while I am sleeping or even while I am awake, and I have been seeing these dreadful creatures and monsters for a long time.” He stopped talking and then looked me in the eyes and said, “You may think it's just a dream, although it’s more like a nightmare than a regular dream. I always see this strange monster who always kills everybody and burns them, and always he sees me, and he wants to kill me next. That is when my nightmare ends, and today he was here with a punch of more other monsters he controls. But today he came out of a strange big thing that looks like a black box, like a portal, here in this forest, and he killed every one of you within less than a couple minutes, and the time was at sunset. That is why we don’t have much time left, and we have to leave this place." Then he pointed his finger to an opening in front of our camp and said, “The black box thing that he comes out of will appear over there." I followed his direction with my eyes, but I couldn’t figure out what to do with his information. As absurd as it may appear, he seems to believe every word he is saying. My keen eye for reading people without using any skills tells me that he is telling me the truth, and he believes it will happen, but why now? That is another question that came to my mind so I asked him, “Why do you believe it will happen now? Did you see your dreams come true before? I mean, did you ever see anything of your dreams come true before?”

“No, I didn't, but today it's different. Form before.  Usually I am in a strange place that I have never seen before, sometimes in a village, other times in a big city. The places I see in my nightmare are sometimes different and other times similar, and some other times it’s the same location, and the same thing happens over and over with a slight difference; always I am the last one to die, and always someone is trying to defend and help me, and always that person dies in different gruesome ways, also sometimes the same person and other times a different person.” He stopped talking for a few seconds, apparently hesitant to say whatever he wanted to say, but eventually he made up his mind and continued saying, “Today was different though, because not just one but two of the people I used to see in my nightmare, I saw them in person here, and today also it’s the first time it happens in the place that I was actually in, with the same people that are here with me in the same location." Then he looked at me, his eyes saying, No, begging me to believe him. I sighed deeply, and I asked him the most important question in my mind. Although he told me that he would explain later, how can I wait? Simply put, I can't; I need to know now, not later.

At the same time, I can’t ignore the sense of urgency in the young boy's speech and demeanor. Also, if what he is saying has any basis in truth, then we have less than four hours until sunset, and since he didn’t provide a fixed time, the most we have is almost three hours. That is the time we have to move from this place, but the question is, where to? In that short time, where could we reach something that could be considered safe? I wish I knew what he was talking about. I wonder if it’s time to use the skill he mentioned. I don’t know why I hesitate. Maybe it’s because of this young boy standing in front of me? I didn’t laminate for long since there wasn’t enough time. If it’s true and we are in danger, that’s why I have to know myself and make sure, and then I will know what the next step is that I have to take. There was no reason for me to use this predict skill all the time; in fact, I rarely use it, and whenever I do, I don’t like what I see most of the time because, regardless of the limitations of the skill, I will never know the consequences of whatever I do after using it. And believe me, there are always consequences. I have seen firsthand, and I learned from a young age not to depend on that skill. There is no need now to dwell on the past and what happened, so I made up my mind and activated the skill.