by Ryan Attard
“How many of those things do you have?”
“Oh, there are about twelve. But the word ‘deva’ means ‘representation’. Each of the devas is an aspect of Kami-sama, like an avatar, if you will.”
“So, in essence, you got twelve mini-gods you can call up at any time?”
“Broadly speaking, yes,” Tenzin replied.
I made a mental note to never piss the man off again.
“You son of a bitch.” Crowley rose like a ghoul from the rubble. One of the swamp goblins threw away a boulder and helped another goblin limp forward.
“You ruined my favorite suit,” Crowley continued as he held up a torn sleeve.
“Mr. Crowley,” Tenzin said as he assumed a fighting stance. “You are just like a cockroach. It seems I will need something on a nuclear scale to get rid of you.” His aura flared into a supernova of painfully bright light, before transforming.
Fire surrounded him and a tiger’s roar echoed.
The flames coalesced together, and a large tiger, the size of a young elephant, crouched in front of Tenzin.
Crowley’s eyes widened. The goblins bumped into each other in their panic. The tiger leapt over them and exploded into a wave of fire. Soon, the area they occupied was a blazing inferno. Fire rose like a tsunami, and the ground boiled. All the oxygen was sucked away from us. The heat scorched my skin. A pair of steady hands clenched my arm and pulled me away from the fire. Tenzin pushed me behind a corner, two blocks down. I snuck a peak. The entire Carson Mansion area was one giant bonfire.
But not even a blazing inferno was enough to get rid of Crowley. He stood in the middle of the pyre with his arms outstretched and a malignant grin on his lips. His gloves shriveled up into ashen dust, but his creepy, gray-blue hands were intact. Next to him, the goblins screamed and ran as they were burned alive. Their rubbery hides seemed to melt, and once the flames died down, all that was left were two piles of cooked goo and a whole lot of stink. I could smell the third goblin, this one long dead under the rubble, as well. Worst of all, I heard the nue scream—the fires must have woken up the beast. It let out a sound that was a lot like sonar, if sonar had a roar mixed into it. The serpent tail reared up like a telescope and hissed at the empty air.
“Kill them!” Crowley screamed. He pulled out the chunky revolver and shot two of the goblin corpses. The shriveled husks swirled with a dull burst of light and reared up, moving like broken marionettes.
“Oh no,” Tenzin whispered. “The kamaitachi act like puppeteers controlling their host body until nothing is left.”
The nue slammed its knuckles on the ground and prepared to charge in our direction.
“I know of a ritual to dissipate the kamaitachi,” Tenzin said. “But I cannot do it with that nue around.”
“Can you do it with just Crowley around?” I asked.
“Yes. He is too weak to cause me any trouble at this point,” Tenzin replied.
I understood what he was trying to say. He was relying on me to take down the nue, but he couldn’t ask me to do it. It just wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t mean anything.
I squeezed Djinn’s handle. “I’ll do it.”
Tenzin looked up.
“I’ll distract the nue,” I repeated. Tenzin placed his hand on my forehead and muttered a few words of prayer in his native language.
“For good luck,” he said.
Everything, even a ten-foot tall gorilla monster coming at you at a hundred miles per hour, halts suddenly when something jumps in front of it.
A streak of azure energy crashed against its forward arm. The nue tipped forwards, crashing painfully on its elbows. A second streak shot forwards and I ran off after it, using the light as cover. Hyped up with adrenaline, I remembered a meme I once heard my sister say.
“Monkey see, monkey do.” The nue raised its arm against the streak of energy. Djinn’s magic had absolutely no effect against the monster’s thick hide.
But I had it right where I wanted it.
“Monkey has low IQ.”
Still blind from the second energy streak, the nue held its arm raised and its eyes closed—which meant it couldn’t see the awesome Jackie Chan stunt I pulled.
Using the momentum of my run, I jumped and brought my knees to my chest. I twisted sideways, my feet at its face. With a yell, I snapped both my heels against its big, wet nose. It may have been impervious to energy waves but nothing can walk away from a dropkick to the face.
The nue’s head snapped backwards and we both skidded on the hard ground. As soon as I got the feeling back in my legs, I got up. The nue, with its giant bulk, was having a tougher time. Only its tail sprung up, hissing violently.
“Hey!” I yelled at it. The monkey reared its ugly head and shifted sideways, trying to get a stable footing. “You’re one ugly-ass monkey.”
It roared back.
“What? I thought you were a hunter. So, what’s up? You’re just gonna lie there like a little bitch?” I yelled.
The nue got on all fours and reared up on its hind legs. Its shadow loomed over me. It was well over twenty feet in length and its roar shattered glass.
Oh, shit. You’ve done it again, Erik. Pissed off the big bad monster just a little too much.
I spun on my heels and bolted—away from Crowley, away from Tenzin, and away from the possessed goblins. I didn’t have to check if the nue was still behind me. The earthshaking slam of its knuckles against asphalt was indication enough.
Chapter 37
You never really know how fast you can run until you have a literal monster chasing after you.
I knew I was fast: life in the forest does wonders for your stamina and muscle build-up. But I was still only human, strictly speaking. The human body wasn’t designed for speed.
A four-legged gorilla the size of a bus, was a different story altogether.
I wove in and out of narrow corners, using my smaller frame to my advantage. The nue couldn’t stop and swerve that fast. It kept crashing against walls, sometimes with enough force to leave cracks and dents.
I skidded into an alleyway. My shoulder hit a dumpster. Pain flared, and I stumbled forwards, trying not to stop. The nue wedged its head in the opening but the dumpster smashed against its neck. The dumpster pushed against the wall and wedged firmly against the nue. The monster roared and raked with its arm, trying to grab onto something. I kept running, but I couldn’t help smiling at the stuck monster.
As soon as I cleared the block, I heard the loud screaming of metal being torn and the clicks coming from the nue. It was dark by now and its eyes were not built for night vision, that much I knew. So, there was no way it could track me down. The sea breeze would obscure its sense of smell long enough to buy me a few precious minutes.
The nue reared and faced a wall. It swiped a claw at the concrete, digging its entire paw in, then heaved, launching itself upwards along the building and swiping again. Its claws dug into the wall, eluding gravity. Another heave sent it flying onto the roof. It hung onto a pole stuck into the edge of the roof, clinging to it like King Kong on the Empire State Building. Again, it let out those strange clicks from its throat. The snake tail, its eyes reflecting with eye-shine, swiveled from side to side until it leveled its eyes on me.
More clicks.
That sound was familiar, like sonar, the sound dolphins made. My mind was taken back to the old pre-magic days when my sister would switch the channel from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers to the Discovery Channel. I remembered watching a documentary about how bats hunt even in complete darkness by sending out sound pulses. Dolphins did that, too.
Echolocation, that’s what the Australian guy called it.
I cursed my naiveté. The nue didn’t need light to see me, it could detect me by using sound. That snake could probably perceive body heat or taste air currents, or whatever. This truly was the perfect hunter, smart and well equipped.
The nue’s beady eyes zeroed in on me, and it sprang into a four-legged sprint a
long the rooftops towards me. I ran as fast as I could, trying to avoid sneaking a peak at the monster charging after me. The alleyway gave way to a mostly empty parking lot. My legs carried me into the open area, and before I could turn sideways into another alley the nue soared over me and landed in front of me, blocking my path. It roared gently, as if to express satisfaction.
Or smugness. I knew I would feel smug if I had cornered my prey the way the nue did me.
It shoved a sub-urban van out of the way as if it weighed as much as a toy version of itself. A show of force: I’m stronger than you, puny human. Don’t screw with me. That’s what it was saying.
That’s what I would have said.
But here’s one thing I had in my favor: surprise. No predator would expect his prey to bite back. They think themselves too powerful.
So, instead of running in circles in a panic or staying put with my knees shaking, I pushed all of my magic into Djinn and slashed at the nue. Before my training with Tenzin, it would have taken me at least a full minute to charge up Djinn. Now, I could do it in less than three seconds. The streak of blue energy shot at the nue, catching it squarely in the face. The monster roared and violently shook its head.
There wasn’t even a scratch.
It charged at me, and I rolled out of the way at the last second. I had deftness and speed on my side. I tried shooting energy at it again, but even my most powerful strikes had no effect on it—that hide was too thick.
The nue closed the distance between us. It was smart enough to try and box me in. I swerved sideways, hoping to catch its flank, when I felt a sharp pain in my left side. The snake tail had lodged its teeth right above my kidney. The momentum of my movement carried me onwards, even as my body began slowing down. The snake’s fangs were torn off and venom stopped being injected into me. I reached behind, felt the edges of the fangs, and pulled them out.
But that cost me.
The gorilla swung its hand, catching my side. My right arm, ribs and hip bone broke on impact, and I went flying to my left.
Right into its other hand.
It wrapped its thick fingers like a vice around me and squeezed. More bones broke. I would have screamed, but I felt a cold, sharp pain in my chest as a rib punctured a lung.
There was no breathing.
It was just cold and dark. My body didn’t even have the time to react or register the life-threatening injuries I’d incurred. The nue slammed me down on the hard asphalt and began pounding its fists down on my back, raining savage blows. My spine broke, and at some point, my skull caved in. My body completely shut down, effectively dead.
Except I wasn’t exactly normal, even by magical standards. My healing magic was truly an awesome power.
The nue soon got tired of bludgeoning me senseless. Before it could take the first step away, my body was already healing. I was in such a bad state that I actually felt the magic take effect.
I felt the red desert on my skin, the mangrove roots wrapping around me.
I felt the power—that never-ending ocean of potential.
My vital functions came back online in less than two seconds, and before the count of ten, I had already formulated a counter attack. I guess one of my powers was clarity of mind, because I knew exactly what to look for.
I noticed a bulge in the snake’s throat. I remembered watching snakes feed in the forest and how they swallowed their meals whole, expanding from the inside. Every instinct told me that there, inside that serpent’s throat, was the key to victory.
Djinn lay by my side. It must have flown from my grip when the nue used me to practice its drumming. Shadows covered my skin like fog. All of the darkness converged on my right hand and elongated like the faintest of ropes. It snaked until it reached the short sword. I could feel the connection to the channel. I pushed magic into it, and the weapon glowed azure. I gave it a command, because I was its master, and even separated from me, I had dominion over it.
Spin, I ordered.
The weapon rotated, spinning like a buzz saw, emitting a faint, high-pitched whistle. The nue’s enhanced hearing picked up the sound a second too late. I flicked my right index finger and Djinn shot towards the snake tail. The blue blade sliced beneath the bulge, shredding scales, skin, muscle and bone as easily as a hot knife through butter. The severed head rolled on the ground in a bloody mess, and something solid and heavy fell near it. The nue roared in pain and reared up on its hind legs.
Suddenly, my body was moving on its own. With a flick of my wrist, Djinn shot back into my hand, and its blade elongated. The tip brushed against the asphalt and left deep groves. I saw every square centimeter on which I had to step, and my movements were a blur. In a heartbeat, I was under the roaring nue. I saw my first target, a gap in its muscle mass where the right kidney should be. I brought the sword down and tore through the nue’s side. Blood showered me and the beast arched its back in pain. I saw my second target, a ridge between its abdominal muscles where the flesh was soft, making it easy to disembowel the monster. I swiped Djinn horizontally, and the magic sword left a wide wound. The beast’s intestines spilled, stomach acids cascading in front of me. It bent forwards instinctively and then to the side, trying not to expose the torn kidney. But that was where I wanted it to be. My third target was behind its hind foot. I slashed at its Achilles tendon and the nue tipped sideways. Blood splattered like a malfunctioning water fountain and the beast thrashed in agony. I kicked its arm out of the way and brought Djinn down on its throat with as much strength as I could muster. I kept hacking at its neck, yelling like a berserker, until I sliced through its wind-pipe and severed the spine.
The gorilla’s head rolled as well.
I stepped on the body, soaking my leg in blood, and raised Djinn. I let loose all the pent-up fear in one go and screamed into the night as Djinn’s blade bathed the parking lot in bright azure light.
I screamed until my throat burned, my lungs were devoid of air, and Djinn’s light faded. I took a moment to regain my composure and stepped away from the dead nue. As I walked away, my foot hit a large stone—the same stone that feel from the snake tail’s neck.
I kicked it gently towards the light. It looked like an unpolished gemstone of a bronze color. I picked it up, curious to see what it was. As I wrapped my fingers around it, my body shook violently, and it was as if my soul were being torn out of me. The red desert flashed in my mind like a bolt of lightning. The darkness that surrounding me, dissipated, and I dropped Djinn. I couldn’t breathe and felt a familiar throbbing—the same way I felt when I tried to use magic the old-fashioned way.
I looked at the stone in my palm and shivered. The aura coming from it was faint, but I could still detect it.
Crowley.
He must have found a way to transfer a portion of his magic into the stone. The damn thing would continue to dispel my magic and my body will keep trying to heal by pouring even more magic into itself.
And that meant a boatload of pain for Erik.
I picked up Djinn, trying my best to ignore the pain, and wedged it between my flesh and the stone. I leveraged, and felt the stone tearing from my palm as I flicked it high into the air.
As the stone fell, I swung the sword like a baseball bat and caught it with the edge of the blade. The stone cracked, destroyed, and the fragments sailed over the pier and into the ocean.
I heard the sound of panting behind me and spun. Tenzin emerged from between the buildings and into the parking lot. He rested against a lamp-post. The snake deva wrapped around him again and the priest seemed to be healing, albeit at a slow pace. His robe was torn on the left side, and his white clothes were stained with blood and dirt.
“You okay?” I asked as I went over to him.
He rubbed his chest. “I’m afraid I bit more than I could chew. But the kamaitachi are destroyed and Crowley has retreated.”
My nostrils flared wide. “What do you mean ‘retreated’?”
Tenzin offered me a reproachful look. “He
is a slippery one, Erik. I had a choice to make—give chase and risk further injury or even death, or retreat and live to fight another day. Have you never heard of the Chinese General Sun Tzu? A warrior needs to understand when to advance and retreat,” he explained.
I wrapped his arm around me and helped him up. The snake deva reared its head and wrapped around my shoulder too. Its incandescent scales were not as bright as before, making it comfortable for the eyes.
“The warehouse,” Tenzin said. “I must get back to the pocket dimension. My powers are stronger there.”
The warehouse wasn’t too far. True, I had to partially carry Tenzin, but I was still pumped up from my battle. As soon as we got in, Tenzin went straight to the entrance symbols spray-painted on the wall. The snake deva disappeared as the symbols glowed. A few seconds later we were back in our little paradise, completely safe. This universe belonged to Tenzin, and only people who he allowed could get in. Meaning that even if Crowley followed us here and took the wall apart, all he’d have would be a sour taste and a pile of bricks.
I saw Tenzin’s wounds begin to heal as he sat cross-legged on the grass and let out a sigh of relief. Tenzin would go back to being his charming self, I’ll complain a lot, and the world would make sense again.
And then, I heard it, a snicker. The snicker of a man who had played us. The snicker of a man who knew he’d already won.
The snicker of a man with gray-blue skin, a tattered suit, and a maniacal grin.
Chapter 38
“Well, well.”
Crowley walked across the grass, crushing it mercilessly beneath his expensive shoes. He looked like a ghoul with his gray-blue skin, covered in tattered clothes whipping in the gentle breeze. He had lost his hat and his hair was singed at the ends. But he retained the greasy look and cheesy smile.
“Nice little slice of paradise you got here.”
You know that sinking feeling you get when someone has been in your house and messed stuff up? Like, their very presence was enough to forever taint the purity of your inner-most sanctum?