Jay was stunned. The power of his Thunder Miasma felt insignificant compared to the overwhelming might of the Abyssal Field.
The clash with his doppelgänger had been brutal. Every time they made contact, Abyss Energy seeped into him. He had no defense against it.
His stats dropped sharply, leaving him weak and exposed. Even though the debuffs were temporary, their impact was devastating.
Jay realized his only real chance came before the Abyssal Field had fully activated. Once it was in play, he was completely suppressed.
The desire to obtain the ABYSS FRAME grew stronger.║Abyssal Field║was also a passive. Aside from meeting a few conditions, it didn't require activation or any expenditure.
Just these two abilities,║Abyssal Drain║and║Abyssal Field║, were enough to convince him. And he expected more to come.
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
﴾║ABYSS FRAME║Orientation's Final Instance Commences ﴿
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
Jay's guess was partially correct. There was indeed more to the Orientation, but he had been mistaken in expecting more; there was only one ability left.
This time, though, he was in no shape to fight.
His stats were still suppressed to 25%. His stamina and Spirit Energy were nearly depleted. He hadn't recovered from the last Instance.
Yet the doppelgänger didn't move. It stood still. Jay stayed cautious. Then suddenly, he felt it.
Something was pulling him down, into the Abyssal Field. But it wasn't his body being dragged. It was his soul.
He watched, horrified, as his physical body slumped to the ground, covered in Abyss Energy. It convulsed violently, as though enduring unbearable pain.
Seeing himself like that shook him. He wasn't just watching his body, it was like watching himself die.
Jay struggled to resist, but the pull was too strong. The Field drew his soul in, and the world around him turned black.
When his awareness returned, he was no longer in the white void. He was standing in a hospital hallway, outside an ICU room.
His siblings were there. His parents too. Their faces were filled with worry and tears.
The harsh fluorescent lights flickered faintly overhead. Sterile white walls, the hum of medical equipment, and the steady beeping of monitors filled the space.
The ICU door opened, and a doctor stepped out, still in surgical scrubs. His mask hung around his neck, revealing a tired, worn-out face.
Jay's father and uncle stepped forward with worry etched across their faces.
The doctor took a deep breath. His expression was calm, but his eyes gave away the seriousness of what he was about to say.
"Your father is out of immediate danger," he began.
But the look on the surgeon's face offered little reassurance.
After a pause, he added, "We've done everything we could. But he's slipped into a deep coma. At this point, we can't predict when, or even if, he'll wake up. Considering his age, the outlook is uncertain."
Jay's uncle, Umesh, reacted immediately. He stepped forward, anger and frustration taking over, and grabbed the doctor by the collar.
"Don't you dare write him off! There has to be something else you can do!"
The doctor didn't resist. He had seen this before, grief pushing people beyond reason.
Ankith, Jay's father, quickly pulled his brother back and embraced him tightly. Both men wept after Ankith apologized to the doctor.
Jay watched it all unfold. It was the day everything changed for him. The weight of that moment still pressed heavily on his chest.
Through the small ICU window, he saw his grandfather, motionless, hooked to machines, surrounded by beeping monitors.
The slow, steady rhythm of the heart monitor echoed like a cruel reminder of how fragile life could be.
As Jay stared at the motionless body, his phone vibrated sharply in his pocket. The jolt pulled him back, but not fully. Jay wasn't in control. This was a memory from his past, and he could only watch.
He didn't need to look at the screen. He already knew who it was.
Sana.
Normally, he wouldn't have answered. But this wasn't the present self, but his past self. His body moved on its own, pulled by memory.
He reached into his pocket, took out the phone, and answered. The voice on the other end was familiar. Gentle. It was a voice that had once meant a lot to him.
"Jay… I need to talk to you about something important," she began, her voice trembling slightly.
"I've been thinking a lot about us, and where we're headed. You're an amazing person, and I've treasured every moment we've shared. But… I don't think we can be together anymore.
It's not that I don't care about you. I really do. But I've realized our paths are going in different directions. And we both deserve to be with someone who shares the same future.
This decision wasn't easy. I hope you'll understand. Please take care of yourself, Jay."
Her voice faded away before the call even ended.
Even now, reliving that moment felt like an arrow piercing his heart. Jay was only seventeen back then, and that call, on that very day, had shattered what little emotional balance he had managed to retain after seeing his grandfather slip into a coma.
It didn't matter that his current self was more mature. The pain in that memory was real. And it cut just as deep.
It was as if he'd been forced to relive the pain and heartbreak of his younger self, the feeling of being abandoned at the exact moment he had needed her the most.
The phone slipped from his hand, hitting the floor with a dull thud. The screen cracked as it landed, the fractured glass reflecting the state of his heart in that moment.
He stood frozen, overwhelmed by a storm of emotions that raged within him. It took everything he had just to move. Slowly, painfully, he pushed the turmoil back, forcing himself to breathe, to think.
Then the phone buzzed again. He glanced at the screen through the fractured glass and saw the caller ID read 'Vikram,' his closest friend after Rownak. Jay's heart sank further, caught between the wreckage of past pain and the uncertainty of what this call might bring.
Jay hesitated, but in the end picked the call.
Vikram's concerned voice came through immediately, "Hey, man. Are you alright?"
Jay didn't respond right away. He fought back tears, trying to keep his voice steady.
Vikram continued, speaking quickly.
"Don't go quiet on me. We're here. Shaswat, Divyanshu, Jaswinder, and I, we're in the hospital parking lot. Shaswat's driver had to leave suddenly, and we've got some bags. Divyanshu's passed out drunk, and now we're stuck with him. You know how it is… Only you can deal with this oversized idiot."
Despite the chaos, Jay felt a faint flicker of comfort. His friends were still there for him, even if everything else was falling apart.
He turned to his mother and said, "Mom, my friends are downstairs. They need help with something. I'll bring them up."
His aunt, standing nearby, added, "If you see Lokesh, bring him too. He should be here by now, but he's not picking up. I've been calling for half an hour."
Jay gave a quiet nod. Lokesh was his cousin. His uncle's kid.
They hadn't been close. Hardly even talked. But Jay knew where Lokesh was. And more than that, he knew the trouble Lokesh had gotten into in the parking lot, because of him.
He turned and started walking. The memory unfolded exactly as it had before. He knew what was coming. And it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He was angry at his younger self, for placing trust in people who didn't deserve it, for clinging to friends who hadn't stood by him when it mattered.
Despite his feelings, the situation was unfolding as it had before, and the bitterness of it all weighed heavily on him.
≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾
Author Note:
The revamped version of Volume 1, 2 & 3 are now live on Kindle. You can find it on Amazon by simply searching the book title. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy the new editions!
≿━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━≾
Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :
https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯