The Zero Countdown

Chapter 2: Fantasm Ability

Chased by the impending death above Brina's head dictating how long she's gonna live, the seconds of her life kept waning, declining, and closing to her fated demise.

Elyon can't do anything other than watch the immutable ending Brina would suffer at such a young age. She doesn't mean anything to him but the fact she'd die under his gaze was no different from how he lost his precious family.

Fearing she'll pass alone in a dark cold alley, he followed her not because she lost the bet, instead, he wants to know what secrets she holds involving the details of the game they got themselves into unknowingly.

"You said you are a Fantasm right? What is your ability anyways?" Elyon managed to pace Brina's sprinting acceleration.

He started believing the impossible by poking into the unknown he dismissed. And his acceptance led to the possibility that if the game is real and true, then the winner earning a wish is undoubtedly within his reach.

"Wait!" Brina halted midway, Elyon abruptly stopped and he still bumped onto her shoulder.

She didn't care much because she's too focused looking over the array of notes on her smartphone as if her life depended on it.

"What now? What are you looking at on your phone?"

Secrecy poking his inquisitiveness, Elyon slightly but peeks at whatever she's reading and Brina turned over and pushed him aside.

"Back off. I'm not telling you even if you beg for it. Focus on looking at the surroundings and watch out for people. Once they approach us, just act according to my play."

As Brina had a scheme of her own, Elyon had no choice but to stop bothering her regarding the secrets she holds. He tried discerning what he can do on his own without relying on a high school girl who blackmailed him into following her.

"Alright. But do you have a firearms license? I heard the main rule of the game is to survive amongst other Fantasm. I'm not letting a girl of your age pull the weight of manslaughter at her guilt."

To take someone's life is a sin in the eyes of the creator and humankind. Elyon possesses guns to defend himself since he's aware of the increasing crime rate plaguing his home district.

A subtle pause she takes from his preach, Brina looked promptly at his eyes and suddenly she burst into laughter, to which Elyon was rendered speechless. She then paced her steps slowly headed the north street forward as if the notes she's reading guide her path.

"Hah... You have no idea of the true horrors of this game. Stay smart, you end up hesitant. Stay wise, you end up reckless. So what you do is adapt and change." Brina sounded like a wise paragon preaching wisdom to her student.

"Huh?'"

The street lights at the end of the alley where they stride flicker in the dimness of the night. Barb wires crown the wall on both sides, a few large trash bins are left unattended nearby the sidings of the houses, leaving no path other than the initial entrance or the way forward.

All the time Elyon has kept annoying her, she, on the other hand, stayed sharp and attentive. She counts every footstep she takes, sniffing the correct path down to the small details, connecting the pieces of information she gathers around herself to make sure everything goes according to her plan without mistake.

"Oh really? You would never fathom what I—"

Out of the blue, Brina closed his mouth shut and yanked him next to the garbage bag beside the bins, hiding under the shade where the lamppost can't reach. They heard close footsteps coming from both directions, their throbbing heart synchronized in uncertainty and fear of the unknown.

"Did I not tell you to be attentive? Just how many more seconds do I still have?" Brina whispered, her face still glued on her with her phone in low brightness before she hid it in her pocket.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Your remaining seconds should be..."

And it was the moment Elyon guessed wrong of the exact remaining time she has. He just stared above her head, pondering how his calculations were wrong.

After all, her remaining seconds decreased drastically to the point she exactly has one minute and nine seconds, deviating from the internal countdown he set inside his head so he can concentrate on their spatial surroundings.

"Just tell me!" She pulls his left ear and silently raised her voice, annoyed by how he reacts to things than answering her concern.

"Right now, one minute and it's steadily going down... What should we do now?!" Elyon already had seen his ability working in real-time, undoubtedly functioning regardless of how laws of physics work.

He gritted his teeth and imagined how the old woman from earlier met her end even though it was a completely normal scene in his eyes.

Trepidation consuming his numbing sanity, Elyon shakes in distress and anxiety. He started an argument in his head once again that if his power predicts death, then his life would be in danger as well.

But the clues he fears to learn were answered by the loud bang across the path where they came from, causing them to flinch in dismay.

The person who's walking under the street light fell on the ground. His head was shot straight to his forehead, his death was assured before Elyon could even see the countdown of his remaining life.

"I can't believe this... So my powers are real! I became powerful!" The man in tattered clothes pointed his index finger on the wall with his thumbs upright.

Setting a finger g*n on his hand, he acted shooting in the air, and unexpectedly, a bullet flickered out of his index finger faster than the speed of sound.

A series of gunshots were fired in quick succession, resounding in the silent alley of darkness and gloom. He's merely confirming the power he received upon becoming a Fantasm. His fingers were generating smoke as if he's holding a real g*n even though he's empty-handed.

It was then Brina and Elyon though he is a player of the Zero Countdown as well. They both agreed by eye contact that the beggar's ability can shoot bullets from his hands.

As the ticking time runs slow, Elyon speculated that Brina would be killed by the homeless man at that very moment.

In hopes of preventing her from meeting such a cold end, he set aside his fear and came out of hiding, facing the empowered mendicant alone.

"Ah... Hello! Is anyone here? I heard a rough bang around the area, I can't see anything, would you mind guiding me around? I'll reward your kind effort for helping me of course." Elyon's crooked smile was conspicuous. He pulled his disabled card and acted as if he's blind.

This means in his presence, he should have never seen how the beggar killed the civilian at the end of the alley. He prioritized his survival over pulling out his g*n for a counterattack. But he would come to regret his tactics against the first man he confronted in the game of death he thought was fake.

"Ha... Do you have no idea why I'm here?" He scratches his back, his finger g*n pointing over Elyon.

"Huh...?" It was then he knew he messed up.

"I'm blind. My real Fantasm Ability is to see other Fantasms from my impaired eyes."

In a slight motion that he's going to fire his finger g*n, Brina with her head covered in a dirty and rotting plastic bag she found lying on the footing, jumped into the scene and snatched Elyon away from danger just in time the beggar pulled the trigger.

They both successfully dodged the shot so before their adversary finds them hiding under the shade of the night, Brina compelled Elyon to wear a soiled plastic bag over his head to try to calm him down.

But to his surprise upon looking at the ticking time above her head, it was then Elyon realized the remaining time of a person's fates can be changed.

After all, Brina's time increased even though she should have been dead from the remaining minute of her life and now she gained a few more minutes, giving them a chance to fight against the adversary before them.

"Listen to me right now. That homeless person who somehow gained a Fantasm Ability is bluffing." She told, confirming they have a chance against him.

"What is his ability then?" Elyon thought he's going to die and yet he still lived. He ended up leaning towards Brina just because she understands more than what she's supposed to know.

"He can see the head of his target regardless of distance. However, he can't see through things. Right now, using these plastic bags covering our head, we're invisible so you take this chance to sneak on his rear and kill him. I will distract him and make sure his focus is directed to me."

The fact the beggar couldn't detect Brina behind the trash bins means her conjecture is correct.

Brina pushed Elyon to the other side of the alley and she took his place and made audile footsteps on the opposite standpoint.

Before they part ways and initiate their plan, he took a deep breath and asked, "I have no idea how you predict what is uncertain. But are you sure this is the right path?"

In response to his questioning to gain his trust, Brina shook her head bearing a genuine smile under the transparent plastic bag, still elegant under the moonlight's embrace in their impending death.

"Haha... Are you afraid to lose a stranger then? You need a few more years to worry about me Elyon... Because I can see the future." Brina confided her Fantasm Ability to him once and for all.

Now that they know their other's ability and they understand they need each other to survive, both of them took the first step they should take to win the game.