Anomaly

Chapter 390 – Worship of the true gods [36]

Amid the tight circle of people closing in around us, the priest and I became the center of the tension. Low murmurs spread like a nervous echo, and yet my thoughts completely scattered, collapsing into a single fixed point in the face of this insane situation: How the hell was this crazy priest wearing Betina floating?

Dozens of questions swirled through my mind, each more urgent than the last. Was it levitation? Some kind of ability? An anomaly... did he have something else he hadn’t shown yet? And yet, even before I could put any of them into words, my instincts were already screaming the answer, he wouldn’t say anything. No matter what I asked, this man didn’t seem like the type to explain... only the type to act.

Because more important than the mystery surrounding him was the reality around us: we were surrounded. People on all sides, eyes wide, steps hesitant, but no one dared get too close. They were all witnessing the same bizarre scene, a Betina priest, completely unhinged, hovering a few inches above the ground, his robes lightly rippling as if touched by an invisible breeze.

His eyes, locked onto mine, carried something far from benevolent. And then there was me. An anomaly... but, ironically, a harmless one. I wouldn’t hurt a fly, unless the fly was annoying. Just like this weird priest.

The people around us weren’t helping at all either. As far as I could tell, anyone with a shred of common sense would’ve run the moment they realized how dangerous this situation was. And yet, instead, most of them stayed, forming a circle around us, whispering among themselves.

Some muttered ridiculous theories, others laughed nervously, but what bothered me most was the number of phones pointed straight at us. Screens lit up everywhere, capturing every second. To them, apparently, a Betina priest floating like a lunatic and a living anomaly right in front of their eyes weren’t reasons to run for their lives... it was content. Honestly, I’m starting to worry about how people in this city think.

That said, there was an even bigger problem. If this priest decided to attack me indiscriminately, which, to be honest, seemed more and more likely given what little I’d already understood about his personality, chaos wouldn’t take long to spread. And inevitably, those same people now watching with curiosity would get dragged into the mess.

The worst part wasn’t even the situation itself, but the inevitability of what would come after. My face, I was sure of it, would be plastered across headlines by the next morning, frozen in some distorted image taken at the worst possible moment.

In short, what was already a delicate situation for Emily and Laura would turn into a complete disaster if I just let all these people die. And the worst part... was that I knew it.

Completely unaware of the storm of thoughts racing through my mind, the priest continued his monologue, dramatic, exaggerated, and almost theatrical: “I can’t see your friend...”

His gaze slowly drifted across the faces around us, studying each one with an unsettling level of attention, as if searching for something, or someone, specific. His eyes passed over people without truly seeing them, dismissing them one by one. For a moment, an uneasy thought surfaced: maybe he was mistaking me for Emily... or Laura. But honestly, I wasn’t sure which one.

“I’m not sure what trick you used to stay alive... but it’s pointless” As he spoke, he slowly raised his hands, his fingers spreading in a deliberate, controlled motion, as if feeling something invisible between them. There was a strange gleam in his eyes, feverish, sickly, like someone who had long since crossed the line between faith and madness.

“It’s impossible to escape the forces that govern our reality... I’ve been granted a mere drop of that power” He gave a slight nod, almost reverent, before fixing his gaze directly on me. And in that moment, it became clear: there was no doubt, no curiosity, not even interest there. Only contempt. To him, I was nothing more than an insect.

“It’s impossible to escape me. I will fulfill the divine will... and claim my rightful place at their side!” His hands rose higher, open, stretched toward the sky like a twisted prayer. His fingers trembled faintly, as if reacting to something that wasn’t there, or that only he could perceive. His eyes... were no longer focused on us. They seemed to be seeing something beyond.

My mind kicked into overdrive, scanning possibilities, calculating escape routes and consequences, trying to find a way out of this situation without turning everything into chaos, without buildings collapsing, without desperate screams echoing through the streets, without people running for their lives.

My foot started tapping against the ground, subtle at first, then growing sharper, more impatient, the rhythm betraying the tension building inside me. And then something changed. My shadow... stretched.

I blinked, confused, my foot stopping abruptly mid-tap. My gaze slowly dropped to the ground, where the flickering light seemed to hesitate, and there it was. My shadow was no longer behaving the way it should.

Peeling away from the sole of my foot like something alive, it spread across the ground in a fluid, unnatural motion. Within seconds, it began to rise, like thick smoke being pulled upward by an invisible force, condensing into a dark, pulsing mass, slightly rounded, like a heart made of pure darkness.

A faint crackling sound echoed, barely audible, like embers being stirred. Then, eyes appeared. Two of them. Deep, reddish eyes, glowing like burning coals in the dark. They opened slowly, without urgency... and then locked onto the priest. There was nothing in that gaze, no emotion, only absolute coldness. It was so intense it felt like it could pierce through flesh and bone... and freeze the soul itself.

The air around us grew colder. The people surrounding us reacted almost at the same time. A collective shiver ran through them, like an invisible wave passing through their bodies. Some stepped back without realizing it, others simply froze, unable to look away from that mass of darkness. Most of them wore the same expression: fear... and hesitation.

The priest reacted too, subtly. His eyes narrowed slightly, his expression shifting between confusion and a sick kind of fascination. For a brief moment, I found myself genuinely curious, what exactly was he seeing to react like that? But the thought vanished as quickly as it came.

After all, this same man, with that distant gaze and a mind possibly teetering on the edge of madness, was trying to kill me without hesitation. I took a deep breath, pushing the priest out of my mind for a moment, and turned my attention back to the shadow forming beside me.

Its eyes, two glowing red points in the darkness, burned like live embers, its presence pressing against the very air. Its body, once just a formless mass of smoky shadow resembling unstable mist, began to slowly solidify. The undefined edges pulled inward. Lines began to form. Contours took shape.

Silently, the dark mist condensed, forming limbs, a torso, a head... until, little by little, a humanoid figure fully emerged. It looked like me. The features, the posture, even the aura, everything reflected my own existence... but twisted, like a reflection in a shattered mirror. In short... my Alter Ego.

And then came the question I couldn’t ignore: What the hell was my Alter Ego doing here? The last few times, it hadn’t shown even the slightest sign of existence. And now, out of nowhere, it just decides to show up? No warning, no context. That could only mean one thing, right? Was the situation really that bad? A faint unease crept into my thoughts.

Sure, I could’ve forced it to appear before, or even made it intervene in certain situations. The connection between us allowed that... at least in theory. But there was something... off about that idea. Forcing myself to act? It sounded contradictory. Uncomfortable. Besides, I’d never really needed it.

Most of the time, I handled things on my own, or rather, we did. After all, we’re one mind split into different perspectives. Which led me to an unavoidable conclusion: If it showed up now... it wasn’t by chance. And being who it is, it probably already knew everything I was thinking.

“Interesting...” the priest’s low murmur snapped me out of my thoughts. His eyes were fixed on my Alter Ego. He looked clearly intrigued... but there was something else too. Something deeper. A subtle, almost imperceptible greed hidden in the faint glint of his pupils.

“Some kind of personal dimension between dimensions?” he muttered, more to himself than to us. Then he slowly shook his head: “No... that doesn’t seem quite right either...” His hand rose to his beard, fingers brushing through it thoughtfully as his gaze drifted, as if dismantling and rebuilding theories inside his own mind.

“It was almost like...” he hesitated, his words slower now, more careful: “... like you emerged from your friend. In that case... a split?” He closed his eyes, sinking into brief contemplation. When he opened them again, something had changed. The lucidity was still there, but now it was mixed with something unsettling. A spark of madness swirling deep within his gaze, intertwined with desire and ambition: “Well... it doesn’t matter”

His tone shifted, lighter now. Dangerously light: “When I’m done with both of you and ascend to join the divine... I’ll understand much more. I’ll have much more” For a brief moment, his voice faltered. Then came sadness, faint and artificial, as if even he knew those words shouldn’t sound so empty: “So, my young ladies... my deepest apologies”

He tilted his head slightly, in a gesture that tried to mimic respect, but failed to hide the intent behind it: “I promise that, as a future god... I’ll remember your faces” His lips curled into a thin, cold smile: “The ones who helped me reach ascension”

I had no idea what to say, not because I lacked words, but because I simply couldn’t understand what this priest was implying. Still, an unsettling thought kept hammering at the back of my mind: This man definitely wasn’t seeing Emily and Laura... or at least, not the real ones.

It was like something was out of sync, like his eyes could only grasp a surface layer of reality. A distorted version of it. Maybe sensing where my thoughts were going, my Alter Ego, standing beside me, crossed his arms with a sharp motion. His reddish eyes narrowed, glowing with silent irritation, before he let out a low, impatient scoff. Seriously... What now? Why the hell was this guy annoyed this time?