The Magician of Miracles

Inside the dark cell where Diana had been imprisoned, Diana stood staring at Adam, who had finally managed to undo the restraints around her wrists. But the moment Adam finished removing all the restraints from her hands, he began to feel a sharp pain in his head.

His facial features tightened with clear pain. He soon staggered backward, then fell to his knees while holding his head with both hands. Inside his mind he saw an extremely large collection of different images. Images of himself playing with Diana and another boy in a place that looked like an abandoned factory. Other images of him talking with Diana in an unfamiliar place.

"Adam?!" Diana called quickly, her voice carrying a mix of deep worry and confusion. She couldn't understand what had happened to him, but she rushed toward him, knelt beside him, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Adam, are you okay?!"

Adam raised his head with difficulty, his eyes half closed and his head spinning. He tried to speak but at first he couldn't manage to do so.

"Diana... did... did we meet in the past? When we were children?"

Diana's eyes widened with genuine astonishment. She never expected to hear that question from him, not here and not at this particular moment.

"Do... do you remember?"

Adam closed his eyes.

"I think so... you, and me... and Martin."

The memories were flooding into his mind with force, a massive amount of memories he had never even tried to think about. He collapsed to the ground again, and Diana grabbed his arms, trying to keep him steady.

After several minutes, the images finally stopped storming through his head. He raised his head and stood up, leaning on the wall. He looked at her for a moment.

"Why? Why didn't you say anything? Why did you act as if you didn't know me?"

Diana looked at the ground.

"I couldn't do that even though I wanted to. That creature stopped me from speaking about the past. If I had done it, I would've brought more trouble to you."

Adam approached her, reached out his hand, and held her hands.

"There's no need to apologize. Now I understand. I understand the source of those feelings I couldn't explain ever since I saw you for the first time after all those years."

Diana looked at him without saying anything, her heart pounding hard. She thought that once he remembered the past, he would distance himself from her, that he would realize all he felt was nothing but a cluster of emotions caused by that entity, but he did the exact opposite of what she expected.

"Diana, I love you."

Hearing those words, Diana couldn't respond. Her mind stopped for a moment. She never expected to hear something like that from him, not at this time and not in this place.

She stepped back while trying to hide her face with her hand.

"Do... do you even realize what you're saying?"

Adam smiled.

"Yes. I fully realize what I'm saying. I've always loved you, since childhood. And before you say anything, this time these feelings are not created by anyone. They're mine alone."

She avoided looking at his face.

"And you think this is a good time for this talk?"

"It's the perfect time, because I remembered who I am and who you are."

She didn't know how to respond. A large storm of emotions was clashing inside her.

"I..."

But before she could complete her sentence, a loud sound shook the iron walls and the metal cell doors began trembling violently. Then the doors were ripped from their places and lifted into the air. The chairs, the tables, even the chains, everything made of metal began flying toward the lower floor of the cell block.

Diana and Adam exchanged a quick look before they ran toward the edge and looked down. Below, there was an extremely large metallic sphere.

And beneath that massive mass, Jevan was running at full speed. When he noticed them above, he ran toward them until he reached their side.

"Did you finish rescuing your girlfriend?"

Adam and Diana threw a quick glance at each other, then both stepped away in embarrassment.

Jevan raised his hand and pointed toward the metallic sphere below them.

"No time for this now, we need to get out fast. I don't know what this thing is, and I don't want to stay here to find out what it'll do."

The three of them began running outward while the metallic sphere kept expanding wildly, pulling every piece of iron in the place. Even the long metal staircase began flying toward it.

Diana stared at Jevan's back as he ran ahead of them. She turned to Adam and asked,

"Who is this man anyway?"

Adam replied as he jumped over a metal piece,

"You know the rumors about the masked monster? That's him."

"How did you convince him to help you break into this place? And... he doesn't look hideous like in the rumors or like some flesh eating beast as people say. He looks like a normal human, though that hole in his chest doesn't help you assume that."

"Rumors are always a pile of exaggerations. And he's done things worse than eating human flesh, I think."

Jevan turned toward them while still running.

"I can hear you, by the way. I'm not deaf."

Huge metal rods shot toward them from behind. Adam merged with the shadow of the wall to escape, while Diana jumped aside. As for Jevan, he had no time to dodge. When the metal rod was about to hit him, he felt a strong push that made him fall from the upper floor straight to the ground below.

He didn't feel the pain thanks to the mask, but he knew very well he would feel it once he removed it. But he had no time to think about that or even how he fell. He stood immediately and ran toward the prison exit.

The three of them exited the building seconds before its collapse. They stood outside, away from the structure, catching their breath while watching the prison crumble under the influence of the metallic sphere that had become enormous. Then that sphere also exploded inside and turned the building into rubble.

For a moment they did nothing but watch.

Then Adam slowly turned toward Diana.

"Diana, I love you. Can you accept my feelings?"

Diana smiled and flicked Adam's forehead.

"Even though the timing is stupid, I accept, you big idiot."

In the back, Jevan watched the scene. He smiled sarcastically behind the mask while watching the building collapse and Adam confess to Diana at the same time.

"What a perfect timing..."

But before he could finish his sentence, right in front of his eyes, Adam and Diana's bodies began shaking, then shrinking, before exploding into pieces. Their remains scattered through the air and splattered all over Jevan's mask and clothes.

"We meet again, little bastard."

Jevan turned around. Grivus was standing behind him. In his hand was a small white paper that he was crushing tightly in his fist.