Spells

Chapter 19: Decision

                               1961

Plague

He had read the spell once, but he had told himself he would never do it. NEVER!

Plague felt the pain spread over his cheek. He gulped it down.

"How the hell do you have the spine to look at me? You arrogant trash."

He felt another slap incoming and braced himself for it. But this one was harder, it rocked his head. He bit his tongue hard and felt the warm blood fill his mouth.

"You are getting your hands dirty." The friend of the higher said. He looked tired but amused.

"We have to teach him. Next time he will try to see eye to eye. This disgusting trash. Forgetting what he is."

Thap! Another slap.

"Finish it quickly then." the friend said.

"It will go quicker if you help." the first Higher snapped.

The friend sighed, "You are going to make me dirty my hands."

Plague watched as the friend chuckled a bit and felt the air pushed out of his lungs. It was a punch to the gut this time.

"Fine then, let's teach him a lesson he won't forget." the friend joined.

…

He could feel a pointy pebble jamming at his kidney as he lay bloodied on the stony ground. This wasn't the first time this had occurred. If he made it a week without getting slapped or punched he considered that week a gift from God. Well, he used to. This time the higher ups had gone a bit overboard with the beating, a little more and they would have killed him. That wasn't unusual for him either.

Before he used to justify to himself that there was a reason for these. Maybe he did raise his head a bit towards them, even though in his heart he knew he could never do that. The fear instilled by years of beating controlled even his involuntary movement. Now he had stopped justifying the beating. There was no reason to it all, just higher people taking their frustration out on him. And what could he do about it anyway?

Plague sat up slowly, his body groaned like an abandoned old motor trying to get started but failing. His one eye was clotted shut, the second one only giving back blurry signals. His mouth bled, his ribs fractured, his legs bruised, his hand broken.

His mind kept telling him there wasn't anything he could do, but the darker voice called out to him. It lulled him, his wandering mind now focusing on the voice. There was something he could do, wasn't there? Something he didn't want to admit he had wanted to do all this time. Plague sat there motionless, the wheels in his mind churning, bringing him towards the decision. At that moment, 144 days before the horrific event, Plague decided to go ahead with the spell of Annihilation.

                                2012

Arul

Arul was running. His face remained stoic, hiding the volcano of emotions erupting inside of him. There were people who saw him flying past them, people who might have asked what was wrong if he had stopped. But he didn't stop, he saw no point in telling them. It's not like they’d believe him anyway, there was no proof. The body of the creature had burned until only a handful of ash remained. His immense strength had left him soon after. He felt confused, frustrated, dejected and alone. He had to talk to Abhimanyu. He might believe him. No, he would have to believe him.

He reached home, taking two steps at a time to go upstairs. He knew the house was empty, he had unlocked it after all. But even then seeing the vacant room of his brother brought with it intense disappointment. He stood there for some time, hoping for Abhimanyu to appear, not knowing what else to do before giving up and returning back to his own room. He restlessly waited to hear the door and for somebody... anybody... to come home. Tiredness overwhelmed him and Arul dozed off.

It was deep in the night when Arul woke up abruptly. Lying over the crumbled blanket, he slowly recalled the creature, still not fully believing it himself.

He stood up, his muscles aching. There was a covered plate on his study table,  dinner his brother had left him. He circled inside the house, finding all his family members sleeping safely in their beds.

Arul finally sat down to eat the dinner, and started thinking carefully about what had happened, and what might happen. He thought a lot with a calmness that surprised even him. And when he went back to sleep, Arul had decided what he would do next.