OLAMILEKAN:
It started with a ripple.
Just as Martin's blade slid back into its sheath with an audible click, the air around him shimmered. His cold eyes scanned the field, and I felt it again—that overwhelming presence, heavier than gravity. The ground beneath our feet felt like it could give way at any moment.
"You thought my ability was foresight, didn't you?" Martin said with a devilish smirk, his voice like a blade wrapped in silk.
I barely managed to breathe.
He moved, and time fractured.
One second, he was ten feet away. The next, he was right in front of me, fist driving toward my face. I barely dodged, but his knuckles still grazed my cheek, sending a stinging wave through my skull.
Joshua was the first to recover.
He lunged forward, blades gleaming in the dull sunlight. With a shout, he split into three shadows, each attacking from a different direction. The street darkened unnaturally as his aura exploded outward, his control over shadows more refined than I'd ever seen.
"I don't need to be predictable," Joshua said. His voice had a bite, a calm rage.
Martin raised his blade.
Time: Stop.
The world froze.
I saw it happen, but I couldn't move. The very air locked around me like glass. Joshua's shadows were caught mid-swing. I couldn't even blink.
Five eternal seconds passed.
Then time resumed, and I watched in horror as Martin appeared behind Joshua, slashing. Joshua spun in the nick of time, one blade catching the attack, the other slicing Martin across the shoulder.
Blood sprayed, but Martin didn't even flinch.
He grinned, spun his blade, and used the momentum to slam his knee into Joshua's gut.
Joshua hit the ground hard, coughing.
I forced myself forward, blade shaking in my hand. My power pulsed under my skin, desperate to be unleashed.
But I hesitated.
The memories of New Dakar burned in my mind. The way my darkness almost tore through everything—friend and foe.
What if I lost control again?
What if Joshua paid the price?
Martin turned toward me, blade at his side. "You fear your power, don't you? I can see it in your stance. You walk like a soldier, but you tremble like a child."
That hit harder than his fists ever could.
Still, I charged. I tried. Blade drawn, I slashed horizontally, only for Martin to duck and drive his palm into my ribs. Pain exploded through me.
Time: Forward.
He vanished again, appearing five seconds ahead of where I was moving. He knew exactly where to strike. I fell to my knees, coughing blood.
"Pathetic," he said.
Joshua surged back into the fray, his blades dancing like wings of shadow. Chains of darkness burst from the ground, wrapping around Martin's legs.
He grunted, struggling briefly. "Clever."
With a roar, Joshua unleashed a flurry of strikes, each one harder to follow than the last. The shadows moved independently of him now, stabbing and slashing from impossible angles.
Martin countered, but not easily.
"You really have grown," I whispered.
Joshua glanced back at me, panting. "You gonna sit there forever, bro? We need you."
My fingers twitched.
My light crackled.
But the fear was stronger.
Suddenly, Martin clapped his hands.
Time: Reverse.
Everything rewound.
Joshua's attacks, the chains, the wounds, even my injuries—undone in a blink.
I was standing again, heart pounding, but Martin was no longer bound. He was standing where he had been seconds ago, fresh, smug.
He wavered slightly. The time reversal clearly drained him, but not enough.
Joshua cursed, his hands trembling. "He reset it all... he reset the whole damn fight."
We were back to square one, and he hadn't even broken a sweat.
Martin laughed. "This is the difference between children and gods. You fight with instinct. I fight with eternity."
He raised his blade.
We braced ourselves.
He blurred forward. Joshua blocked just in time, but Martin kicked him aside like a ragdoll. I tried to move, to act, to summon the light again.
But all I saw were darkness.
Dakar.
The power that almost consumed me.
I hesitated.
Again.
Martin stood over me now, his foot pressing against my chest. "You're the NSDA's secret weapon? I've seen brighter sparks from dying candles."
Joshua tried to rise again. His shadows flickered violently, barely holding shape. He was bloodied, breathless, but still trying.
"Get off him!" he shouted.
Martin looked amused. "You still think this is a rescue? No. This... is a reckoning."
He raised his blade again.
I felt the pressure of time itself bend around us.
And for the first time in years...
I was terrified.
Not of dying.
But of becoming something worse if I used my power.
Then, the darkness within me flickered.