Miles looked at me in concern briefly, before raising his rod and pointing it at the leader, shouting, “Excande!”
A lance of flame erupted from the rod, with a heat so intense that some plants wilted on the spot. The Outsider’s face twisted in fear, but he managed to move to where his subordinates were. In the face of the flaming lance, he grabbed two of them, holding them out as a shield.
The lance stabbed through them, before blowing apart, causing a wave of fire to bloom and spread. the stench of burnt meat pervaded the air, and the thralls that took the heat disintegrated into dust and light. The Outsider’s blackened face grew ugly, and spitting out some harsh shrieks, hastily retreated with what was left of his underlings, turning into indistinguishable specks of crimson light far above us.
A current of pain ran through my left arm, and I looked at it. Blood vessels everywhere were ruptured, and the skin had broken apart in some places.
“Aster, your arm.” Hao Wei looked at it worriedly. “How did you get injured?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t realize some of these buggers had near-human intelligence when I evaporated them. It’s just some bursted blood vessels, don’t think too much about it.”
Mr. Meng cut in. “Get some antiseptic on that at least.”
His face relaxed as he spoke his next words, “it seems that this group was tamer than expected. They didn’t even manage to get one attack off. Although that’s all the good news we’re going to have.”
His face turned grim. “We have reports that the Outsiders are targeting ley lines throughout Asia.”
A bracelet hung on his wrist, which was probably keeping him in touch with his peers. Something similar was lying around my wrist too, but it was entirely silent.
“I’m not sure if Outsiders can use ley lines, though.” Miles frowned. “Nevertheless, these Outsiders cannot appear in the day, or they risk destruction. If we can keep crossing time zones, and ensure that the sun doesn’t set on us, we’ll have successfully escaped.”
Mr. Meng shook his head. “I don’t think we can do that now. Singapore’s under martial law. An attack on key transport hubs is occurring right now. There are far more collaborators than were expected.”
“What?”
“What?”
“That was faster than I thought it’ll be.” I said, surprised at Miles’ and Hao Wei’s surprise. “If what that overseer said was true, about the cycles, they’d have come up with a countermeasure a long time ago. Something that Crow thought up last evening won’t cut it. Look, that guy retreated, because he probably didn’t expect to face Miles, Hao Wei and I.”
“You’re awfully calm.” Hao Wei tapped his left foot, looking at me. “You’re right though.”
I smiled sardonically and continued speaking. “Mr. Meng, Miles, what are the most defended strongholds that you guys can access? We’ll take shelter in them, while reinforcing their defenses.”
I coughed and tasted some blood. Wobbling slightly, I said, “It seems that I’m more injured than I should be, so I’ll steal some shut eye first.” Without waiting for their reply, I walked gingerly over to the car and sat down on the leather seat, paying extra attention towards my bloodied arm.
Chapter 18
“Aurora,” I said, my right eye twitching rapidly, “you have no business poking a man who’s trying to sleep, especially on his bleeding arm.”
The young girl stuck her tongue out at me, before her face darkened with worry again.
“Sorry. What happened?”
“I worked too hard.” I jerked away from her, trying to get my arm away from her prying hands.
Her tone was mistrustful. “Really?”
“Really, really. It just turned out some insects actually have the capability for thought.”
I turned my face away, only to see Crow on the other side. He had disappeared during that little scuffle, although no one could blame him. Mortals had no place in a supernatural fight, and he was just a normal human first and foremost. He was breathing deeply and steadily, a state that I should be in too.
My eyes fell upon that ridiculously warm getup, and I shivered in response. I turned my face back to Aurora instead, who had started fumbling with my resting arm. She had taken a bottle of Dettol from nowhere and was tugging at my arm soundlessly. I relented, and hissed as the cold, piercing liquid touched the open wounds.
“We’ll be moving to your daddy’s workplace, or Miles’ in the day.” I gingerly prodded my left forearm, which was still leaking red liquid, and winced. “Think of it as a ‘bring your child to work’ day event.”
Aurora didn’t respond to my joke, choosing to continue cleaning my bloodied arm in silence. I wasn’t the most emphatic man around, but it was evident that she was worried about her father, and by extension the rest of us.
“Look, Aurora,” I flexed my left arm, feeling it out, “to your father, you’re the most important person in the world. If you’re gone, I can wager my left arm that he’ll follow you. He’s lost your mum, so you’re the only one that’ll matter to him now.”
“I know,” Aurora answered in a small voice, “but that’s not all.”
“Hmm?”
Her voice was hesitant. “I sometimes feel like he just wants to end it on his own terms. Maybe escape, under the guise of having done everything he could, when he obviously hadn’t. You should be able to understand.”
“Me?” I leaned back and avoided her gaze. “Putting that aside, if you think your father might just do that, then go and be with him more. Show him that you need him, that he shouldn’t be burdened with survivor’s guilt or whatever that’s ailing him.”
She paused for a while, a thoughtful expression on her face, before smiling. “I think you’ll have a good future as a counselor.”
“Oh please,” I laughed and shooed her out of the car, “go play with your dad, while the peace lasts.”
I yawned and laid back down. The kid at least knew how to clean a flesh wound. Although I had no business calling her kid when we should be the same age as me, give or take a few years. I moved my left arm a bit, gauging its movements.
“I can’t help but notice that you deflected her question,” Crow said.
He had woken up when we started talking but obviously couldn’t find an appropriate time to make it known. Not like it really mattered, anyway. With the volume we were speaking at, only a comatose patient wouldn’t wake up.
I pulled a lever, and the car seat reclined. Enjoying the stretch, I replied, “It doesn’t matter. Life as it is feels good enough to me. See? Where else could you get such a comfortable bed wait till I’m truly tired and burdened, before you ask.”
He looked at me for a while, thoughts rushing through his mind. After a while, it seemed that he chose to stay silent, and laid back down on his seat. “Maybe,” he said, “you’re right. Sleep’s too good to pass up on.”
“Told ya. Anyway, it seems like our adversaries are already aware of your plans. To think that you were a mainstay for the ‘save the world’ team, for every cycle so far.”
Crow nodded his head. “Must be my good looks.”
His face had no hint of embarrassment whatsoever. I felt like punching his face a bit, but I didn’t want to put in that much effort. I opted for a dignified response instead.
“Blow off,” I said, “it was the craftsmanship of your jacket and face mask. I haven’t seen you without them before, so it must be these items instead. That overseer called you ‘the hooded mortal’, isn’t that evidence?”
Crow kicked me lightly in response.
“So,” I asked, “what’s next?”
Crow propped up his head to look at me. “What next? We’ll just go with the workplace visit plan. After all, we have the three of you. Although…”
His voice trailed off. This guy had proven to be a good thinker time and time again, and I had sometimes fantasized that rather than an assassin, Crow had actually been kidnapped from some think-tank to do grunt work here. S
ome famous think-tank, given that privacy concealing getup he had running here. My eyes wandered around the car and his body, trying to pick up any clue as to where Mr. Meng kidnapped him from.
My roving eyes fell on a bloody face mask, which was carelessly strewn around. It looked exactly like the one that Crow usually wore, just that it had blood on it.
“Crow,” I said, pointing at the bloodied mask. “How did you get injured?”
“There was a really loud explosion. The follow-up shockwave rattled my insides.” Crow coughed lightly, and a hint of blood appeared on the facemask he was currently wearing. “It’ll pass. It’s just that us normal humans aren’t as resilient as people who’ve awakened to the supernatural. If not for the pay and my professional ethics, I’d have hightailed it out of here a long time ago.”
I cocked my head. “Would this be called ‘when immortals fight, mortals suffer’?”
“Maybe.” Crow turned away and started fumbling with something. I stared absently at his figure. The fact that normal humans weren’t as resilient as people like me hadn’t really crossed my mind up till now. It was fortunate, then, that Hao Wei was pretty much as physically resilient as me now, after this afternoon’s events.
While I was thinking of random thoughts, he had pulled out his laptop, and the steady clatter of the keys were now everywhere. He was totally engrossed and had started muttering to himself some unintelligible words, leaving nothing but an environment hostile to sleep behind. Scowling, I left the car. I hadn’t even gotten some shuteye.
Ducking to exit the partially collapsed tent that was supposed to conceal the car, I walked over to the main group. The four of them: Aurora, Miles, Hao Wei, and Mr. Meng were playing around with a ball… the same one that they were using just yesterday.
I wasn’t too sure whether to laugh or to cry. If the buggers came right now, they would probably blow a gasket or something too. Why was the aftermath of the battle a bout of playing ball—hy? The members of the secret forces that had died would probably be rolling in their graves at this sight too.
“Aren’t you guys being too optimistic?”
My eyes followed the ball, which was currently having the time of its life flying around. Shadows and gold light flitted around it as it bounced around.
Aurora hit the ball, aiming it at Mr. Meng. “But you asked me to play with my father.”
“You don’t count. Anyway, it seems that Crow has gone mad with making new plans. He’s starting to giggle and talk to himself. Is that natural?” I directed my question to Mr. Meng, who was under siege by his daughter and Hao Wei.
Mr. Meng nodded. “He’s quite funny when it comes to that.” He hit the ball hard, and it smacked into Hao Wei’s face, flying up into the air for a bit. “Feel like joining in? I don’t think we’ll be able to have this kind of fun tomorrow.”
Hao Wei tossed the ball at me, and I bounced it off in reflex. “Aren’t we like, supposed to save the world?” I complained, watching the ball complete a beautiful arc.
Miles reacted beautifully, and the ball smacked Hao Wei again.
Miles smiled. “The guys who came first got cold feet. Try looking at them.”
“Cold feet?” I frowned, smacking the ball, which went for Hao Wei again. It bounced off his raised arms and went straight to Miles. I exerted a bit of my will, and the sight of the Outsider leader bashing up another of his kind—one of the commanders, given the crimson glow — came into view.
“Why’s he doing that?” I asked.
Miles shrugged. “Must be because the information was different. Clearly, the overseer didn’t say anything.” The ball halted right in front of him, before returning with a vicious vengeance to Hao Wei’s abdomen again. Hao Wei doubled over, collapsing on the floor, before crawling away and muttering something about bullying; sticks and stones.
I turned my enhanced vision over to Mr. Meng’s wrist, where a watch was.
“Still a few more hours to daylight, it seems.” I failed to stifle a yawn and ambled over to join Hao Wei on the floor.
“That was mean of you.” Hao Wei turned away from me as I laid down on the floor, rubbing his stomach where the ball had smashed into mercilessly.
I fidgeted slightly, trying to find a nice spot. “It wasn’t just me.”
He huffed, and I could sense that he wasn’t so much angry than worried. I elected not to speak and waited in silence for him. It seemed like I was destined to play the part of a counselor tonight.
“Aster.”
“Yes?” I answered, putting no particular emphasis on anything.
His next words were uncertain, like he was trying to break some bad news to me. “How do you deal with it? All those people…” his voice broke, unable to complete the sentence.
I flashed a bitter smile at him. “I don’t. People live, people die. How is it any different from watching natural disasters on TV?”
“That’s cold.” He curled into a ball. “Has it occurred to you that you might be somewhat insane?”
“I am perfectly normal, thank you very much.” I looked at him trying to mimic a hedgehog and felt a wee bit guilty. “I don’t think anyone can help you get past this. Some people just can’t bear it when anything dies. It doesn’t even need to be a human. Maybe a little bird on the sidewalk is enough. It’s one thing to say you’re fine, another to see it happening.” I rolled onto my back, raising my palm into the sky, where the Outsiders were undoubtedly still there. “The most I can do is to issue an apology for bringing you into this madness.”
He continued to stay silent. With my arm tired, I flipped over onto my torso, and started playing with a tuft of grass. “It’s good that you can’t bear it,” I said. “Tells you that you’re still human, that you treat life as something important.”
I pulled out a stalk of grass from the tuft and flipped onto my back again. He had to learn to deal with it… although I’d prefer that he didn’t. There were enough unfeeling people in this world. I sniffed at the stalk of grass, before tossing it aside and closing my eyes. There was no point staying keyed up right now.
Chapter 19
I coughed, gasping for air as something heavy landed on my stomach. The slight fragrance of soap and flowers wafted into my nose, and my eyes flicked over to see a young girl using my stomach as a makeshift trampoline.
“Since when was I that close to you?” I coughed, spitting out some gritty stuff while rolling over to one side. “Also, you woke me up again!”
I managed to escape her demonic leg by rolling onto Hao Wei, who had fallen asleep last night right beside me. It turned out that I had swallowed some sand and soil, and in an utterly undignified manner, I rinsed the inwards of my mouth.
The first rays of the morning were starting to shine, and I looked upwards, only to see a clear sky. The nightmares of the previous night had vanished into thin air. Perhaps they had left this plane or ran to another time zone to escape the day. These Outsiders worked in mysterious ways.
At any rate, they wouldn’t be coming for the next few hours, granting us a brief respite. Having rinsed my mouth, I went over to Mr. Meng, who looked fresher than me.
“So, has the Far Shore started attacking the other side of the Earth?” I asked.
Mr. Meng tilted his head, pondering. “Miles would be better equipped to answer. By and large, the Alliance is situated near Singapore. But they should.”
A bleary-eyed Miles appeared from somewhere and nodded. “The Conclave’s now having fun with the interlopers, and more teams have been deployed. The ley lines are the primary concern of the Conclave, and we can confirm that the one in Hong Kong has been captured, as were the ones in Mongolia and Dubai.”
Mr. Meng frowned. “Even now, during the day?”
“Yes.” Miles nodded, an uneasy expression on his face. “They have armed collaborators on their side that are holding the front. They’re in a standoff with the authorities, but once night falls…” Miles stopped talking, but it was evident that there would b
e bloodshed.
“Right now, Singapore’s still under lockdown. The fanatics of the Outsiders have managed to occupy key transportation hubs in the country, and the Army has been mobilized,” Mr. Meng said.
The bracelet that he used to receive updates last night, was similar to the one I had from upgrading my Beacon, although mine had been silent all this time.
“Anyway, Crow’s formulated a plan, so we can move out as soon as we’re all ready,” Mr. Meng continued. He looked at the barrier that had been constructed last night, brooding over something. “Mr. Newton, do you have any limits on this barrier?”
“Let’s see… it’s pretty much an independent entity right now,” I replied, “I could leave it alone, but you’ll probably have a lot of trouble after tonight. People are going to wonder about things: and a giant tower of light will be the first.”
“Let them. We’ll try to buy a bit of time from them attacking this barrier; let them think we’re still in it.” Mr. Meng’s eyes narrowed. “It may draw a bit of their forces, but any pressure off us is a good outcome right now.”
Crow walked up to us, his body twisting and turning in some sort of convoluted stretching routine. “I can’t see the state of the seal that the Alliance and Conclave created, but is it going to be any useful now? It could be worth factoring in.”
Miles squinted at the sky. “They’ve stopped attacking this part, so it’s not visible. But I’m fairly certain that even if the barrier’s mended, it won’t do much. I’m placing my money on the possibility that the guys we saw last night just ran off to reinforce the ongoing incursion. They were most likely the vanguard: given that the overseer came with them.”
“That explains a lot,” said Mr. Meng. “Depending on how the Conclave fairs, we may face lesser enemies than we should have.”
To Fling a Light Page 13
