“MOVE!”, Argi screamed at the guy as he held the creature tightly with his borrowed power. He could feel the invisible strands of power begin to tear and it would only be moments before the monster broke itself free. But a few moments was enough for the guy to pull away from the bone spike and quickly slip away from the immobilised deformed beast.
Argi’s concentration wavered and the creature broke free, immediately launching itself wildly towards the guy. Argi watched as it came near the guy, but the guy managed to evade and land a few strikes as it passed him. It crashed into a nearby wall, which did little but shook the crumbling dust of the stones off the building. It took off again for the guy, but its sense of direction was slightly off as it veered off the guy’s side rather than head towards his entire body.
The guy easily dodged and attacked the monster again with his fists, striking into its fleshy lumps that did little to harm it. He moved to create some distance between himself and the monster, coming near to where Argi stood. Both of them observed the monster as it collided into the wall again. A smile stretched across the guy’s face and he turned eagerly to Argi.
“It’s still blind”, the guy muttered, which was barely audible to Argi.
But as soon as the words were uttered, the beast snapped back up and charged for them. They both threw themselves away from the war path of the monster and hurried to create a safe distance away from it. Another crash unsettled the dust of the wall and the creature was disorientated. It stumbled slightly, but it remained determined to find its preys.
“How do we stop it?!”, Argi yelled as he got up. But he was forced to move as the monster came for him, drawn by the loudness of his question. As he stepped away from its path, he was expecting for it to blindly pass him as it had done before, but it relied on its other functional senses and collided into him. The heavy impact of monster sent Argi to the ground, shocking him so much that he couldn’t use his power or escape. The beast landed on top of him and proceeded to claw at him with its unbroken arm, ripping his sleeves to shreds and leaving savage cuts on his exposed arms. It let out a howling scream and seemed to widen its mouth to prepare the dive towards Argi’s head.
Before Argi could let out a terrified scream of his own, the beast was hauled back from him and tossed to the side by the guy. The guy hastily helped Argi to his feet, but the beast was heading for both of them again. Argi quickly raised his hand, but rather than freeze the creature in its tracks again, he shifted its movements and caused it to charge away from them without it giving off any indication that it had changed its course.
“What now?”, Argi asked desperately as he and the guy distanced themselves away from the creature and they saw that it had hit the wall again. In its daze, they would only have a few moments to try and plan something before it would rush towards them. A silence hung between them as the guy watched the creature staggering from its collision with the wall. Argi acutely became aware that it had started to grow cooler around him, but it apparently did not affect the guy.
“Make it run into the wall again”, the guy finally said as he dashed away and left Argi alone to be the bait. The monster started another charge towards Argi, who used his power to alter its course away from him and avoiding a repeat of his earlier mistake. It ran into the wall again, but before it could fall from the impact of the crash, the guy rushed to place himself behind the creature. He grabbed the back of its oddly shaped head and smashed it into the bricks, causing a muffled cracking sound.
The guy did not stop at that, as he quickly lifted the head back up and relentlessly bashed it against the wall again and again. The monster frantically tried to claw at the guy with its arm but it screeched in pain and its oddly shaped head was becoming more and more deformed with each hit. The guy swept his feet to bring the beast to its knees, lifted one of his feet and stomped at an angle on a point of its back. The attacks had only taken seconds, but a muffled pop later and the beast ceased moving and stopped its wailing.
-
The two men sat side by side each other against the wall opposite where the creature laid dead. They were both drawing deep breaths of air as physical and mental exhaustion from their flight and fight caught up with them. No-one spoke for what seemed like eternity, as both of them were still processing the terror of their ordeal. But they savoured the blissful moment of triumph and victory as they listened to the distant sounds of the afternoon traffic.
Argi was the first to snap back to reality and he began to rise from where he sat. Something tugged on his trousers, which Argi found to be the guy pulling weakly to get his attention.
“Leaving so soon?”, the guy murmured, his words heavily accented that Argi had only just noticed.
“I need to go”, Argi simply said and shook his leg to release the guy’s grip from his trousers.
“Before those suits find you?”, the guy said with a little more force behind the words, but it was enough to halt Argi in his place.
Argi looked down at the guy and studied his profile. He noted the guy was of South Asian descent from his appearance and accent, the dark clothing he wore, and the scar down his cheek. He also considered the guy’s actions since their first meeting, how they had fought together against the monster, and the hints pointing to the possibility of a power from the guy. Although he couldn’t figure out the guy’s intentions, Argi let out a sigh and finally said, “…yeah”.
“I have a place. You can stay with me”, the guy perked up with his offer, as if the fatigue from their recent battle was no longer an issue.
“I don’t know you. You don’t know me. Why should we trust each other?”
“Because we just took out that…thing”, the guy said as he nodded his head in the direction of the dead mass of flesh and bone. An awkward silence hung between them for a moment, but the guy broke it simply by saying: “My name is Rudraya”.
Argi watched Rudraya closely, like a predator surveying its prey. He contemplated the offer and the gesture behind it, but in the end, his mistrust overcame and reined his decision. Without a word, he walked away and left Rudraya there in the alleyway, walling him off from further questioning. He walked away thinking that that would be the last he would see of him, but he couldn’t quite shake off the urge that he would encounter the man again. And along with that, the mystery of the monster would not be far behind.
