CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48: WHISPERS OF TIME

I ran along the path we had taken together in the previous days, with my [Lunar Senses] active at full power. I could see every detail, feel every presence, every insect, and even the wild animals running through the forest, but no matter how much I searched, there was not a single trace of Lira. I went back along the entire path, passed the battlefield, and ignored the corpses and the beasts that were devouring them. My only goal was to find her, but it was as if she had vanished into thin air.

My mind began to panic. I stopped and opened my system panel; there had to be some option that would let me determine her location, like in games where you can put a pointer on a target. Desperate, I searched, but there was no such option in the guild skills or in my own personal skills.

I opened the main guild panel and saw Lira’s status. A shiver froze me when I saw her health bar. It was at 1/4 and her life was blinking a bright red color like an open wound. Worst of all, it was slowly decreasing. "Damn it, what can I do?! If anything happens to Lira, I’ll exterminate everyone who had anything to do with it!"

I activated Forge Mode, hoping I could see people, but it only showed objects, minerals, trees, and rocks, with no single indicator, no pointer that would tell me where she was. The system was powerful, yes, but useless in this situation. My desperation grew. There had to be some way. I searched my guild skills one more time, praying they would appear like a gift from the gods... but there was nothing. Sometimes, no matter how much you beg, no one will grant your wishes.

"Damn it, I don’t have a single useful skill!" I cursed out loud as Lira’s health bar continued to decrease.

Desperate, I ran back to the battlefield. Maybe she looked for me there while I was ’playing’ with Jayde...

"It’s all my damn fault. If I hadn’t let my dick do the thinking, I wouldn’t be in this situation and Lira wouldn’t be missing. I would have found her on the way back and nothing would have happened."

I arrived and started running around the battlefield like a headless chicken, looking for a trail, a piece of clothing, a shoe, anything I might have missed. Lira is very smart; if something had happened to her, she would have left me a clue to find her. The adrenaline made me scream and curse at the wind. How could this have happened? I told them to just stay at the entrance. I wanted to wash away some of my guilt, but an even deeper voice reminded me of what I didn’t want to think.

"Was it her fault? They worried about you while you played with your new ass, so why are you acting like a saint?"

The guilt was consuming me, but I didn’t stop searching. I went back to the goblin village; when I left, that was the only destination I had told them, so she must have come here to look for me. When I arrived, I looked at my panel one more time. Lira’s health was even lower. Desperation made me fall to my knees, screaming with impotent rage.

"Aghh...!!! Damn it...!!! Gods, help me find her, don’t let her die!!!"

Kneeling, I began to beg the heavens. If they had heard my blasphemous thoughts last time, they could hear my pleas, right? Then, the rain began to fall; it wasn’t just a few drops, it was a full-blown storm. It seemed that the gods, instead of helping me, were mocking me. Now, how was I going to find her? The clues and tracks would be washed away by the rain. All her traces would be hidden under the storm that was falling on me. I couldn’t move. My mind told me to move to find shelter, but my heart was breaking with guilt, forcing me to stay seated under the cruel storm descending from the sky. The water soaked me. I was about to give up. I lay down under the storm with the rain hitting my face mercilessly. I can’t find her. There’s no way to track her...

A sensation of coldness filled my mind. Then I remembered something and sat up abruptly. My breathing quickened. "Yes, there is. I can find her!" It now seemed that the gods weren’t mocking me, but sending their sacred rain to help me find the way.

"I have it, the divine skill from the god of time!"

With a new determination, I activated the sacred skill that the god of time had given me, [Whispers of Time]. Everything around me began to distort, as if time were being rewound. The clouds in the sky moved in reverse, the wind blew in the opposite direction, dust rose from the ground, and insects seemed to be absorbed by an invisible force, flying in reverse.

I watched intently at all the scenes before my eyes, looking for a trace of Lira. Suddenly, a scene formed before me, one that tore my heart apart. Lira was there, while two Sealakels were holding her by the neck.

"Stop...!"

Time froze, and the scene was still. Lira’s face was one of fear and pain, her body full of wounds. There was a Sealakel lying with a knife plunged into its eye, dead, while her two arms were twisted in unnatural directions, clearly fractured with brutality. I fast-forwarded the scene and saw them hit Lira again and again; the sound of her bones breaking was terrifying. Her face was disfigured by the wounds and her eyes were completely lost, as if she could no longer feel any pain.

When she finally fainted, they threw her to the ground and grabbed her by one leg, dragging her toward the forest, tearing her clothes and her back on the rocks of the ground.

"You sons of bitches...!"

I deactivated the skill and launched myself in the direction they had disappeared. There’s no time to lose. Lira, I’m coming for you. I swear by all that is sacred that I will annihilate them all.

Tears streamed down my cheeks while my eyes were completely red, about to explode with the fury that filled my heart.