A True Rhombic Comes in Time

15

The man with jet black hair had a faint but visible long scar that encircled his neck.

It looked like he was strangled very badly sometime in the past. His eyes were dark as well, and a cruel grin adorned his thin lips. The piercing look made him a rather good-looking man, but his presence made me shudder in both fear and rage. There was no doubt that he was the villain of this film.

I instinctively knew that the man and woman on the ground were a couple. I didn't recognize them, but my body reacted toward them violently. My hands shook, and I realized that it was because I, or more accurately the character in this scene, was trying to reach out to them. My heart ached for this couple I have never met before, and my mouth opened to scream silently.

The moment I found myself here, the scene was moving in slow motion. This body I was in wasn't my own, but I still had some control over it. The problem was that I found it difficult to distinguish which movements and emotions actually belonged to me. I was going through many intense feelings that couldn't have been mine.

I was stuck where I was, but I still managed to move my head and peek around a little.

I saw two women near the couple across from me. One was on the ground, her clothes soaked in blood, while her companion with a short black bob was kneeling beside her. The woman with the bob had her face turned away, but I saw a glow of magic flowing from her hand to the wounded woman. It was obvious that she was trying to heal her friend.

My neck cracked painfully as I forced it to turn. This movie was progressing so slowly, but I was glad about it because it gave me more time to study the scene. When I finally faced to my right, I saw another guy standing near the villain. He was slightly shorter and much younger, and to my shock, I recognized him.

Black hair and deep-set eyes, it was Valiant Vesper, aka V. He was a famous young Rhombic who had recently reached an even higher floor than Ryder Reece. These two young men were considered rivals in the community. Unlike Ryder, who seemed to enjoy his celebrity status, V kept his personal life well hidden despite being just as popular.

Not much about him was known to the public, but I certainly knew what he looked like. I always thought he looked mean because he had a permanent resting bitch face with dark dead eyes. I always found it unnerving when someone didn't show any emotions, and Valiant Vesper was exactly that.

But in this scene, his usual indifferent look was gone. No, what I saw was savage madness. It was so intense that I flinched, and it felt so odd because I flinched in slow motion.

It was then when I realized the subtle resemblance between the villain and V. Same black hair, same serious eyes, and the same insanity... It was very likely that they were related, which made sense to me. I always knew Valiant Vesper was bad, and not in a good way.

Shwoom!

Suddenly, the movie began to play at a normal speed. I stumbled a little at the shock of it, but I quickly recovered. It appeared that this body I was in had a much better reflex than I did.

At normal speed, things began happening very fast.

Almost too fast for me to catch everything.

My heart continued to pound wildly, stress and anxiety building inside ready to give me a heart attack.

I could see the wounded couple on the ground screaming angrily. The villain was uncaring as he began clenching his still-raised hand in a purposeful manner. The man on the ground began to choke, presumably from the tightening of the villain's hand. This evil man must have had some kind of telekinetic power.

Why was it that the villains always got the coolest superpower?

A panicked look appeared on the woman's face as she stared at her dying partner. In that instance, she suddenly turned toward the villain and threw something at him. This something, which looked like a throwing star, split into a million stars as they shot toward the villain.

Whoosh.

What happened next made me gasp. I had expected, well more like prayed, that the woman's stars would shred the jerk into nothing. But instead, a giant set of black wings grew from the villain's back before hugging him to create a physical shield around him.

Although the wings looked like they were made of soft black feathers, the stars the women threw fell to the ground as if they hit a metal wall. Within a few seconds, all the stars shook before coming together to form a single piece. It returned to the woman's hand like a boomerang, but the woman didn't attempt another attack. It made sense since it looked like the villain had an invincible defense.

This movie was getting very interesting. At least that's what my brain thought, but the rest of me prayed for it to end. I... I couldn't watch this. Somehow... Somehow...

I just knew that things were not going to end well.

To my shock, the black wings jerked very visibly. I had no idea what it did because it happened so rapidly. But when I turned toward the unfortunate couple, I saw that they were covered in countless black daggers. I blinked a few times to realize that no, they weren't daggers.

They were the black feathers from the villain's wings.

The woman, bleeding badly now, was on top of her partner. He wasn't moving, so I assumed he was dead. To my surprise, I realized that my cheeks were wet with tears as I watched. I couldn't tell if they were mine or this character's, but I had no energy to wonder.

The dying woman weakly turned toward me. I flinched because when our eyes met, I felt like she was looking at me, not this character. It was as if she was staring right into my soul.

Her eyes filled with so many emotions as she mouthed some words to me. The movie was still muted, so I couldn't hear her. But I could read her lips clearly. Even though no sound came out of her mouth, it felt like she was screaming into my ears.

"Run."