Chaos' Heir-Chapter 1189: Instability

Khan didn't know what was happening. His heightened sensitivity and deeper emotional spectrum worked against him, giving birth to symptoms capable of affecting his incredible body.

Khan saw the balcony and the universe beyond before his vision abruptly changed, showing a familiar cave and two white lights shining at its bottom. He even smelled the place's dampness and heard the waterfalls outside.

The world in Khan's vision changed again, bringing him back to the Kros' structure, but that peace was short-lived since more images replaced it. He suddenly found himself in the sky, clinging to a body of white feathers. A sense of freedom invaded his mind, and an entrancing figure stood in the distance, smiling at him while riding a dark Aduns.

Khan's vision kept switching, alternating between memories and reality until he fell, kneeling on the floor. Some stability finally arrived, and Khan brought his right hand to his chest to experience his wild heartbeat. An earthquake afflicted his rib cage and showed no sign of stopping.

'What the fuck is happening?' Khan cursed in his mind, seemingly incapable of rational thought. He felt he was going crazy, pushed toward insanity by his own brain.

Khan gave up on attempting to stabilize his heartbeat and held his head in his hands. However, he suddenly lowered his right arm, called by a familiar, intense sensation. His glowing eyes shone on his wrist, highlighting the spot where Liiza had touched him, and different emotions surged.

Sweat started to accumulate on Khan's forehead and back. His body felt hot, longing for something to cool it down. Actually, only one thing in the universe could work to fix his condition, and he experienced a desperate need for it, similar to a drug addict going through withdrawal.

Unknowingly, Khan was going through a more intense version of what Liiza had experienced in the past. Her feelings had affected her body, making her cold in Khan's absence. He didn't suffer like that in the past, but his new status allowed him to sense that unnatural reaction now.

'Dammit,' Khan cursed in his mind again, diverting his gaze to look for anything that could help. He reached for the nearest bottle, only for the container to explode into a rain of glass shards. His element reflected his mental state, raging wildly and escaping any form of control.

"Fuck!" Khan ended up shouting, and the whole balcony shook. Various cracks appeared on its dark-grey surface, and the artificial lights in the area sizzled, blinking to no end.

Clearly, Khan couldn't stay there anymore. He was a ticking bomb inside a structure in the middle of space. He had to leave to avoid causing a disaster.

Nevertheless, Khan was too unstable for his ship, so he entered his bedroom and sealed every door before sitting on the floor. He had to calm down before doing anything and could only think about the safety of his meditative state as a solution.

Still, meditating didn't interrupt Khan's thoughts. As time passed, his wildness waned, making room for a proper study of the previous event. Something big had happened, and Khan didn't need to ponder long to learn what.

Khan knew he had moved on, his version of that, at least. A decade was a long time, and while he didn't forget Liiza, he had managed to love someone else, suppressing that naïve, toxic attachment to a relationship that had lasted a mere year or so.

The initial meeting with Liiza seemed to have proven that. It had also shown that she had done the same. Khan and Liiza had grown into different versions of who they had once loved. They should have, at least.

Yet, that simple, short touch had revealed a completely different truth. Those feelings weren't gone. Khan and Liiza had buried them under everything that had happened in those years, like a chronic pain they had both become so used to carrying that it had become part of their normality.

Khan and Liiza didn't notice it anymore until they did.

'No, no,' Khan thought. 'This is wrong. I have given up on all that.'

Khan was both right and wrong. He had rejected anything that could taint his desperation and had pushed away others after Monica. Yet, he had never abandoned his way of experiencing feelings. Khan had been almost ready for that, but that trip had ruined his plans.

All kinds of ideas rose toward Khan's mind, but he did his best to focus on Liiza's last words. The panic in her voice confirmed that she was in the same condition, but her situation was different. She had offered herself for an arranged marriage, and that wouldn't be her first time.

Liiza had lived as an outcast on Nitis for years after refusing to marry Illman for political reasons. She had been alone until Khan had arrived, and their time together had eventually brought her closer to her species.

Now, Liiza was in the same situation. She was about to do a great service to her species, and Khan couldn't be the one to make her betray it again. It wouldn't be fair to her, and he knew he wouldn't control himself.

Control didn't even suffice as a description. Liiza had a way of making Khan dizzy, but he had been a mere first-level warrior in the past. Now, he was a walking calamity, and even gods would crumble if they dared to stand in his way. Chances were they wouldn't even attempt to stop him.

So, the solution was simple. Khan waited until he felt calm enough before interrupting his meditation and standing up. He didn't know how long he had been on the floor, but the bedroom's ugly state tried to provide an answer.

That neat room full of luxurious furniture had transformed. The floor, walls, and ceiling had deep cracks running through them. The bed had crumbled down, and part of its mattress had disappeared. Even the bedside tables, shelves, and wardrobes had fallen, replaced by broken, unrecognizable debris.

Khan only needed to glance at the destroyed room to reaffirm his decision. He stormed out, rushing through the structure's floor to return to the hangar. Khan planned to leave on his ship as soon as possible, but his legs froze when he noticed he wasn't alone.

Someone else was in the hangar, sitting before Khan's ship. A dark-blue figure with glowing white eyes and red and white hair rested there, leaning her back on the ride. An elegant white dress that exposed her shoulders and ended in a long, ample, partially transparent skirt enhanced her beauty, but everything disappeared when she lifted her gaze.

And, once again, the blue and white eyes met, this time with no hindrance from the long time spent apart. Khan and Liiza looked at each other, both seeing deep into their respective souls.