Chapter 139: Ch176. Future/Past/Over(?)
No one knew, or was even able to remember what happened during that infinitesimal second that followed the explosion of pure, raw darkness coming from Kurt.
Kurt, on the other hand, wasn’t just able to notice everything that happened, detail upon minute detail.
He was the catalyst for such change.
And as such, even wanting to forget, being able to live a common, ordinary and mediocre life, after all that...
Deep down, Kurt knew he would never be able to escape that circle of inevitability.
Overflowing with the overwhelming, searing energy that came from the power of not only Essentium, but Kha’Ur himself, Kurt screamed at the top of his lungs, unable to contain the torrent of pain that took every nerve ending in his body by storm.
However, the sensation lasted as long as a blink of an eye, seeming eternal only to Kurt, who, feeling relieved after the pain stopped, noticed everything around him with new eyes.
There was nothing around him.
Or rather, there was something around Kurt, but it was so dark that not even his own eyes were able to peer into what existed within that darkness.
Even though he was surrounded by that dark, almost palpable mass, there was no fear in any part of his mind or heart.
"What the-" Kurt tried to speak, but realized his voice sounded slightly different.
It was as if his voice was both muffled and amplified at the same time.
Like he was talking underwater, and was able to hear it with a dolphin’s sonar, or something like that.
"That’s weird..."
Even the sensation of time passing there was foreign to Kurt’s brain.
It was like being in a lucid dream.
Suddenly, something clicked in Kurt’s mind, and he remembered why he was there, and what he had to do...
***
[PLANET EARTH]
[YEAR 2023]
Kurt opened his eyes, waking up to the new day.
Comfortable, white sheets covered his body, while the air conditioning blew slightly chilly air through the modestly furnished room.
A single bed next to a window with white curtains, still closed, but letting in the sunlight of an autumn morning, a desk reasonably far from the foot of the bed, topped by some notebooks, a laptop, and an empty mug, a wardrobe on the opposite wall, and a pouf between the wardrobe and the bed.
There were nights when Kurt could only sleep when he put his head on the poof.
And even so, his dreams were restless.
Unlike the other nights, however, Kurt had managed to sleep in his bed, but still, he had been the victim of those recurring nightmares.
No...
They weren’t nightmares.
Kurt liked to remember them as bad dreams.
But he knew they were memories.
And the more he tried to distance himself from those painful, confusing and jumbled memories, the more they would try to make their way into his mind.
It’s... Memories of a past... Or would it be the future?
Painful memories that Kurt wished had never happened, but that had become a part of him.
With some effort, Kurt sat up in bed and stretched, looking at the empty mug, and then at the laptop.
"Heavens... Today could be a holiday..." Kurt murmured, his voice still a bit pillowy.
With a heavy sigh, he stood up, still only in his boxers, and left the room.
He passed through the kitchen, also modestly furnished, and put water on to heat, eager for a mug full of steaming coffee.
After that, he went to the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting the hot water run over his body, relaxing his tense muscles from the night’s nightmare.
The images were still very vivid in his mind.
A person turning into a monster, fighting him to the death.
Kurt fighting the creature, to protect some many people right below them, on the floor of a world colored only in white, black, and shades of gray.
"Ha..." The laugh came dry from Kurt’s lips. "It either seems crazy, or something straight out of web novels and comics..."
But still, it had happened.
It was real.
It had been real, at some point in the time Kurt had been alive on that planet.
After several minutes under the hot water, Kurt turned off the shower, and dried off.
When he went to brush his teeth, however, he found himself observing his own body.
The scars he had acquired through his story.
Scars from several fights, which had taught him many things.
One of them, much more important than any of the others...
"You can’t escape the past..."
Kurt’s reflection smiled dryly at him.
Why on earth did that cold day, seemingly so peaceful, seem to take such a nostalgic and melancholy turn?
Kurt looked at his shoulder, at the tattoo that almost entirely covered his shoulder.
A serpentine dragon, forming a figure eight around its own body, and biting its own tail.
"Hmm..."
Kurt studied the tattoo carefully, feeling the soft relief that the lines revealed on his skin.
He remembered having a tattoo, before waking up from what seemed much more like an exceptionally fantastic dream than a brutal reality.
But...
"Did it always have this design?"
With the coffee already ready and steaming in his mug, Kurt sat down in front of his laptop, on the living room sofa.
Kurt turned on the device, opened his email, and came across three messages from his boss.
"Damn... It looks like the commissioner is still having problems with Silence..." Kurt sighed reading the messages one by one.
They all had one thing in common.
The urgent tone with which the police commissioner called Kurt to meet him at the police station as soon as he read the messages.
The first of them had been sent at three in the morning.
"Strange... Why didn’t the commissioner call me...?"
Kurt’s eyes widened as he picked up his phone.
He pressed the button on the side of his smartphone to turn on the screen.
Once, again, and again...
"Oh, no... Shit..."
Connecting the device to the charger, Kurt realized how unlucky he had been during the night.
"Shit... I didn’t connect the charger properly."
Letting out a bitter chuckle, Kurt waited for the device to charge enough to be turned on, while he sipped his coffee.
And when he managed to call, a shiver ran down his spine.
"Thirty-seven calls from the commissioner? I’m so very dead..."
Standing up, Kurt looked ruefully at his coffee mug.
"Ah, crap... Whatever. I’ll buy a coffee at Crawford’s and it’ll be fine..."
With another heavy sigh, Kurt went to his room, changed, and headed towards the police station.
***
The streets were quite busy for that time of the morning, and Kurt could see a mixture of relief and confusion on the faces of passers-by.
A month ago, someone wearing a faceless mask, and wearing completely black clothing, began patrolling the streets at night.
Without any support from the police force, the masked vigilante had been able to not only stop several minor crimes.
No.
The mysterious figure had killed several leaders and subordinates of famous criminal organizations in the city.
Some of which bribed many police officers to get away with the iron grip of the law.
Kurt had become a fan of the guy...or girl.
Who knows?
But knowing what the system was like, work was work, and he had been tasked with the task of finding and arresting the killer at any cost.
After all, in the eyes of the police, that’s what he was, a murderer.
As Kurt continued on his way, a breeze blew, ruffling his slightly long black hair.
With the breeze came a strange but at the same time familiar scent that invaded Kurt’s nostrils like a punch to his stomach.
It wasn’t something he remembered.
That wasn’t part of his memories, but still...
It was as if that perfume reminded him of someone.
"A lot of people wear the same perfume these days..." Kurt pushed the thought to the back of his mind, shaking his head.
As he looked forward, his eyes widened, and he couldn’t stop, before slamming into a girl with a considerable amount of force.
Red-haired...
If it weren’t for Kurt’s extremely quick reflexes, the girl would have fallen onto the sidewalk, and that would have hurt.
"Sorry." Kurt said, offering his hand. "Are you okay?"
The girl looked at Kurt, a little bewildered for a moment.
"Ah, yes. I am. You should be a little more careful when you’re out there."
"Ah, sorry, I was a little out of sorts. I’m glad you weren’t hurt." Kurt replied, helping her to her feet.
"Yes. I think you could-"
"Sorry, I’m late, I need to get going." Kurt said, turning and heading towards his destination, hiding any trace of uneasiness that had come over him at that moment.
Behind him, the red-haired girl smiled.
A strange, enigmatic smile.
Her lips moved silently, saying two words.
"Kurt...Blake..."
A few moments later, the tattoo on Kurt’s shoulder began to burn, ever so slightly.
’I need to stop bumping into people from that life...’ Kurt thought, looking at the police station, at the end of the block.
From a peaceful day to melancholy, unexpected...
It looked like it was going to be a long, long day...
