CHAPTER 88: Back with the Uber Lycan

CHAPTER 88: Back with the Uber Lycan

The whisper of wind rustled the treetops, and the silvery light of the full moon filtered through the leaves, creating dancing patterns on the ground. Phoenix stood in the middle of the forest, wrapped in the cloak of night. The place was calm, so quiet that even the crunch of a branch under his boots sounded like a distant echo.

For a moment, he remained motionless, as if listening to something that wasn't there. Then, he began to walk slowly, his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat as his gaze got lost in the shadows.

"Curious, isn't it?" he said aloud, even though there was no one else there to answer. "Everything that happened... it seems so unreal, almost like a story. One of those you heard as a child and didn't know whether to believe or not. But no, it was real. Every blow, every decision, every loss..."

The silence of the forest answered him.

"Months have passed since the incident with Adam. Life goes on, or at least we try. Everything is, relatively, normal. I'm doing well, surprisingly. And yes, everyone else is fine too. Lucian, Vanessa, Marcus... even Enid. We're still working at Enid Corp as always, but with a different air. I don't know how to explain it, it's as if, after all we went through, something in us changed."

Phoenix stopped beside a tall, sturdy tree, leaning against the trunk as he contemplated the starry sky.

"Sometimes I think all of this could have turned out much worse. That maybe Adam was right about some things, but..." he sighed, shaking his head with a slight smile, "...no, I won't give him the satisfaction, not even now."

His gaze hardened slightly, though the tone of his voice remained calm.

"You, those who are still here with me, those who are reading this... I suppose you've already realized that my life has never been simple. Nor will it be. But for the first time in a long time, I feel a sense of balance. Although, well, we know how this goes. The calm is always the prelude to the storm."

Phoenix smirked, his eyes gleaming with a hint of mischief as he stepped away from the tree and continued walking through the forest.

"For now, I'll allow myself to enjoy this silence. Who knows how long it will last."

As his figure disappeared among the shadows of the forest, the echo of his footsteps resonated like a melody announcing that, although this part of his story seemed to have reached a pause, the true struggle was far from over.

Phoenix stopped for a moment, looking ahead as the wind picked up slightly, rustling the leaves that fell softly at his feet. The stillness of the forest, that profound peace which always surrounded him, seemed so alien to the violence that had accompanied him for so many years. Yet, he knew the calm never lasts long.

"Well," he continued talking to himself as he started walking again, his steps crunching on the leaf litter, "it's not that nothing happened. Some things did happen... of course, not everything was as peaceful as it might seem. Sure, I wasn't wrong in saying that all this seems like a story, a strange story that, if someone told it to me, I'd probably think it was too full of fantasy to be true. But, you know, that happens to me a lot. What surprises me the most is how in life, after so many battles, you end up appreciating moments of calm as if they were gold."

Phoenix cast a glance at the starry sky.

"Fighting my own father in a battle to the death, don't forget... That happened. Sometimes, when I think about it, I can't help but smile bitterly. The last time I saw my old man, it was like seeing a reflection of everything I feared becoming. His power, his determination, his ideas... everything. It wasn't just that we fought, it was the representation of what my life was before all this. An endless cycle of destruction, repeated over and over, until the last part of him, the part that remained for me, simply vanished. The truth is, if it had been a different kind of battle, one with a different outcome, it could have turned out worse for me. But you know, I'm not going to get sentimental. The war against him ended, and although there was pain, at least we know who won."

Phoenix raised his head, as if thinking of something distant.

"And then, well, the Reptilians. Who would have seen them coming, huh? The truth is, the world is full of surprises. I thought the worst was over. After all, you always expect the worst enemies to be the ones who come after you personally, or those you face head-on. But no, the Reptilians turned out to be one of those enemies you don't even know how to define. Are they aliens? Are they part of some secret conspiracy? Did they really exist before I ran into them? It's crazy to think that, in the middle of all this, I had to fight a race that shouldn't even be on this planet. Anyway, I'm no expert on these things, nor do I want to be. I just know it was close, much closer than I would have liked. In fact, at that moment, I was forced to use almost everything I had learned in my years of fighting. And after all, it was just that. A fleeting, but intense, confrontation. Nothing I couldn't handle, of course."

A sigh escaped his chest as his mind refocused on more recent memories.

"But, well... at least I didn't lack for fun. After all, who can deny that a little chaos always helps keep things interesting? I'm not saying I seek it out on purpose, because I know my adventure days don't always happen as one expects. Some of those confrontations, like the one with Adam, are things that just... happen. You have no control. But yes, there were a couple more fights that could have been even more destructive if I hadn't played my cards right. And those are the ones that surprise me the most. I never thought I'd get so involved in struggles for power, for survival, for all that stuff that in the end doesn't even matter that much."

As he walked through the forest, his thoughts continued to flow as quickly as his legs moved. Despite the serenity of the landscape, his mind seemed never to rest, always searching for the next thing that could shatter that peace.