Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  “Friggin’ pyretiffs!” Karrel coughed, as he smashed into the ground, watching his new opponent roll along the floor, its teeth still forming what looked like a vicious smile. There was no air left in his lungs after a hit like that, but an infinitesimal wave of relief came over him. This was not the terrifying creature he had heard earlier. This, he could handle. In a split-second, the sensation passed, and as he struggled to catch his breath, the four-legged monstrosity wasted no time making its next attack. It pounced straight at Karrel, launching all 300 pounds of its meat at a deadly speed. There was barely any time to dodge. He had only just gotten to his feet when Karrel was forced to lunge to his side, once again becoming acquainted with the ground. The creature landed, almost ramming its head into the asphalt floor, and skidded to a halt turning back towards Karrel.

  This was his chance. Karrel sat up, extending his right arm and opening his glowing fist so that his palm was facing directly at the adversary in front of him. He took aim and released the energy stored within his hand. The glowing symbols, which were swirling around Karrel’s fist, rapidly dispersed and was followed by a deafening crackle. From the palm of his right hand, a surge of purple and blue energy shot forth like a lightning bolt and connected with the creature. The monster howled in pain, as one of its upper left shoulders exploded with magnificent blue light. The force of the blast was enough to send it rolling across the room.

  This was the power Karrel had received. The little green book he held in his hand was more dangerous than any knife, gun, or weapon he had ever used. It was the day that he had lost everything, the same day that bestowed his red eyes and the red highlights in his hair, in which the little green book had appeared before him. It had given him the power he needed to survive.

  The recoil from Karrel’s own attack had knocked his elbow against the ground. It, along with his knees, had started to pool with warm red blood. Nevertheless, he forced himself to his feet once more. At least now he knew what he was dealing with. The pyretiffs were one of the most common demons found on Earth. They had animal-like intelligence and found humans to be their favorite delicacy. They were fast, strong, and could spit small pools of lava if they were in the mood. Karrel had faced many of these critters over the course of his adventures, and they were easy enough to deal with if they were alone. Unfortunately, pyretiffs traveled in packs. If the one he just blew away had recently manifested, from one of the orange tears, it was possible that his troubles would be over soon. I’m never that lucky, though. he thought.

  Looking across the room, Karrel saw the demon struggling to its feet. There was a smoldering chunk of flesh missing from the pyretiff’s body. Bright orange blood was dripping from the open wound. It was obviously injured a great deal by Karrel’s attack, but it seemed to not take notice. Once more, it charged forward directly at Karrel.

  I need to finish this thing off before any potential friends arrive, Karrel strategized, but the monster had quickly closed the distance, and lunged towards the delicious meal-ticket in front of it. Karrel jumped backwards, trying to turn in mid-air in order to deflect the oncoming attack. The pyretiff’s head clipped the side of Karrel’s stomach sending him spinning. The force of the blow was enough to loosen Karrel’s grip on his green book. It tumbled across the floor, kicking up small clouds of dust. Karrel reoriented himself so that he could land and prepared for his next attack. The demon had already circled around, leaping off of a nearby wall, as to land on its prey.

  Karrel focused on his little green book laying a few feet away from him. The book, as though it was of its own will, shot towards Karrel. As it approached him, it proceeded to slow down and levitate in the air in front of him. Karrel once again focused on the glowing red runes and this time, using both arms, wrapped the symbols around his wrists.

  The pyretiff growled in excitement. It was now only a few feet away from landing on its meal. Karrel, however, showed no fear. He extended both arms out towards his opponent. Opening both of his glowing fists, he let loose the power stored within them. The runes around his hands instantly dispersed and, this time from both palms, a purple and blue surge of energy shot forth like lightning. The light was blinding, and Karrel’s ears ringed from the crackling air around him. Both bolts of energy connected with the airborne target, exploding in a cloud of deadly blue light. The pyretiff had no time to scream as its body was torn apart, shattering like glass into a pile of meaty chunks. Orange blood splattered across the parking structure.

  Karrel had been tossed backwards from his own attack. He rolled across the asphalt, turning over multiple times before feeling his back slam against a wall. The pain from the impact was ignored; he needed to confirm his kill. He brought his head up and his eyes darted around the battleground. With the area around him having been painted in thick orange liquid, he relaxed slightly. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, and his heart was still racing, but after a few seconds, he allowed himself a sigh of relief. He let his head fall, and slid his back against the debris, which now had a minute Karrel-sized crater in it, collapsing to the floor.

  Karrel looked at his little green book. It was opened to his most recently used page, the one containing the variable “Discharge.” He called the different lines of text variables because he could only use the ones that had been defined to him. If the variable appeared red, Karrel, for some unknown reason, understood what the symbols meant. He could use those. Black variables were still undefined and were useless to him at the moment. He looked at the current page. The “Discharge” variable was currently glowing a solid blue. Karrel swore underneath his heavy breathing, stating aloud, “Guess I won’t be able to use that one for a while…”

  If he was lucky, no more pyretiffs would appear. With his main method of attack recharging, he did not want to face any more enemies. However, the chances of that happening were slim to none. Pyretiffs always had friends, and luck had never been Karrel’s forte.

  A soft gnarling noise filled the air. Karrel’s eyes widened, and he slowly raised his head until he was looking straight up. It was one of the rare situations where Karrel hated being right. Two yellow eyes, and several pointed teeth, had met his gaze. Standing right above Karrel, on the debris he was resting by, was a heap of horned flesh.

  Instinctually rolling and kicking off of the wall, Karrel tumbled across the ground, once again drawing his little green book. The ground where he once sat erupted into a small cloud of dust, as the pyretiff had attempted to dive-bomb his position. Karrel got to his feet, turned, and ran. He started flipping through the pages of the book, looking for a particular variable. The monster behind him wasted no time and started pursuing. The pages he was masterfully turning contained mostly black symbols. Frustration and panic were starting to appear. I should have memorized the pages I need, he thought. The yellow-eyed ball of terror was getting close, and the growls and pants of his pursuer grew louder. Karrel dodged in between several car wreckages in a desperate attempt to slow down the pyretiff’s advance.

  He finally got to a page that contained glowing red runes. This particular variable read off to him as “F.Aura,” and as his eyes scanned the symbols he felt a little more relaxed. He held out his right hand and touched the current page of his green book. Once more, floating symbols, matching the ones in the texts, wrapped around his wrist. Karrel stomped his feet on the ground hard, skidding across the ground as he turned towards his opponent and proceeded to slap his own chest with the rune-covered hand.

  The symbols shot away from his wrist, and Karrel’s entire body immediately started to illuminate. His skin became slightly brighter. A transparent, orange light started to cover all of his body. The light flickered rapidly, and it was as if he had been lit on fire, but the flames were clear and unable to grow any larger than a millimeter off of his skin.

  The pyretiff was now in leaping distance, and as it kicked off the ground its pointy teeth formed an open smile. Right as the pyretiff tried to bite down on his skin, Karrel threw his rig
ht fist out as hard as he could. The blow slammed into the face of the monster, knocking it sideways against the ground. The attack came as a surprise to the demon. It was unable to roll away or recover from the strike. With the orange light covering him, Karrel could barely feel the force of his own attack. He took the opportunity and charged forward. Swinging his leg as far back as he could, he unleashed a brutal kick square into the stomach of his assailant. The pyretiff yelped out in pain and flew a few feet away before ricocheting off a wall and crashing to the ground once more. Karrel saw, as the monster struggled to get to its feet, his moment to end it all. He leaped forward and brought both of his knees down upon the head of demon. Landing on the creature, he simultaneously brought one more fist down upon where he assumed the spine was. He felt the snapping of bones as he struck the creature.

  The pyretiff fell limp, and Karrel let out a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the taste of victory would need to wait, as once more growling filled the room. Karrel turned around, and the vicious noise stopped. There in front of him, a pyretiff stood with its mouth wide-open. Karrel relaxed completely. He knew exactly what was going to happen next.

  A small glob of bright, molten liquid shot forth from the demon’s mouth. The air around the flying lava instantly heated and began to shimmer as it headed directly at Karrel’s face.

  Nonchalantly, Karrel brushed the heated attack away with the back of his arm. The majority of the orange-red liquid landed onto the ground to the left of him and quickly cooled into a black clump of rock. A few small circles of the lava however, remained on the back of Karrel’s arm. He looked down, observing his skin. The lava remained there, touching only the thin layer of orange light that was surrounding his forearm. He could feel a bit of the heat from the molten liquid but was not, in any way, injured or in pain.

  Smiling to himself, and glancing from his orange, glowing body to his little green book, Karrel began speaking to his confused opponent, fully aware that he was not going to get a coherent response, “You know, I almost wasted this when the acid started falling down. But I thought to myself, a little rain never hurt anybody.” Karrel made a gesture to his mostly dissolved clothing. “I might even be starting a new fashion trend. So, in hindsight–” The pyretiff vomited out another orb of lava, and Karrel used his other arm to once again brush it out of the way. “I think I made the right choice.”

  Karrel picked up a nearby broken metal rod and gripped it with both hands. The frustrated demon charged straight towards Karrel, its yellow eyes filled with anger and confusion. Karrel lined up his swing. As the monster’s head came within range, he swung upwards right into the jaw of the creature. The now semi-conscious being plopped to the ground, and Karrel took aim. He pierced the tip of the metal rod into its back. Karrel, his muscles pulsing with soreness, dropped to his tired knees as he watched his third victim of the day fall limp.

  This was a first for him. His personal record was two pyretiffs in a single confrontation. If there were any more than that he usually prioritized escaping. Through all of his weariness, Karrel felt proud of himself. He was improving. Using the green book did not make him as tired as it used to. He did need to prioritize memorizing the page numbers of the most useful variables though. It was beyond him that he hadn’t done it sooner, and he made a mental note to put some time into studying.

  As of right now, it was time to resume his well-earned rest. Karrel slumped back down near the same elevator shaft he was sleeping by before, this time on the opposite side, as it contained a wall that did not have a gigantic hole in it. As his butt touched the second story floor of the parking garage, he felt it bounce a few inches in the air, along with his entire body. A confused Karrel, against his own will, shot back to attention. Once again, while he was sitting, his body was bumped by the floor a few inches into the air. He rolled his eyes and spoke, maybe a little too loudly, “Come on… Seriously!?”

  As his sentence finished, the ground a few feet forward from him erupted upwards, sending rock, gravel, and asphalt everywhere across the room. Karrel struggled to focus on what was coming out of the new hole in the ground, while the powdered debris was obscuring his vision. A human-like figure emerged through the dust and splintered rock.

  Karrel instinctually attempted to spot, through the cloud, what had thrown the humanoid through the ground. He didn’t need to pay attention to the silhouette that was tossed to the second story. No one could survive getting blasted through the floor like that. But, to his surprise, as the corpse approached the ground, it landed on its feet. Karrel’s attention jerked toward what he was expecting to be a limp body, but was now an upright individual.

  He was caught completely off guard. Karrel was preparing himself to defend against whatever was supposed to follow through the floor, not what was supposed to be the lifeless carcass that was sent up. He had no time to prepare himself for the strike. The humanoid figure sprung forward, tackling Karrel to the ground. He immediately attempted to kick the thing off of him while pushing away but found that he could not. His new enemy had firmly planted their knees on his upper thighs and was holding both of his wrists to the ground.

  It was in this moment that Karrel was finally able to get a good look at who he was currently engaged with. A young, slender girl was now pinning Karrel to the ground. She appeared to be as old as him, maybe older, and did not look very strong, but seeing as how Karrel was unable to budge an inch, she had to be. She was wearing short-shorts underneath a decorated belt that resembled a short, pleated fishtail skirt along the back and sides, yet was open in the front. She had a plain, teal, sleeveless t-shirt on. The short-sleeve jacket she was wearing, along with the rest of her apparel, was in no way designed to help someone survive out in the wastelands. Aside from the dirt, most likely collected from the wind, everything from her tennis-shoes to the rest of her outfit were well taken care of, not having a single tear or hole in any of the attire. Her untied hair was long, black, and flowed about halfway down her back.

  She was one of the most beautiful girls Karrel had ever laid his eyes upon. If circumstances were any different, he would most likely be attempting to buy her a drink, trying to take her to his room, and failing at those two previous actions. Her allure was distracting, but instinct once again kicked in. She had him pinned to the ground, and he needed to regain the advantage. In the surprise, he had once again lost his little green book. However, it was laying only a few feet away from him. Without taking his eyes off his opponent, he extended his right arm towards where his book was laying, struggling against the grapple of his captor.

  Just as he started to focus on his book, the girl on top of Karrel slowly leaned forward and smiled, bringing her face close to his. The unexpectedly slow head movement had puzzled Karrel and his focus dropped. The green book, that had started to slide towards Karrel, skidded to a halt.

  The black-haired girl lowered her body on top of Karrel’s and planted her lips softly against his own. Karrel’s mind went blank. He had been involved in many fights. This had never happened during one. He could feel the warmth of her body, and if it weren’t for the perplexion, he would be enjoying himself quite a bit. After a few seconds, the girl raised her head, staring deep into Karrel’s eyes. She tilted her head slightly, as if confused, and stared at him for a few moments. She then smiled once again, seemingly even more happy than before, and went in for a second kiss.

  As their lips touched once more, he felt the girl ease off of his thighs and wrists as she slipped into a more comfortable position. Beautiful or not, Karrel didn’t know this girl, and he was still out in the open and in a dangerous area. His brain told him this was his chance to get away, as much as his body was telling him not to. Mentality overcame pleasure, as he made his move to push the girl off and roll onto his feet. However, as he tried to lift his arms off the ground, he could not. It was not from lack of trying; he was giving it his all to move himself, but he just couldn’t pick his arms up off the floor. His legs wouldn’t move either, and it was
not until now that Karrel noticed how weak he felt, and that the orange light that had protected him had faded away. He felt like his entire body was slowly falling asleep. It was as though his strength was being drained from him. Karrel, now unable to move, and lips still being assaulted by the woman, took a closer look at the being that was on top of him. His eyes widened. A few inches from the top of the girl’s head, two horns were slightly protruding. A thin, smooth, and long, pointed black tail was also being hidden behind the woman’s back.

  You’ve got to be kidding me! Karrel’s thoughts burned with terror only for a moment before he felt his eyes become heavy. Light faded from the world, and he no longer had the strength to keep his eyelids open. The girl did not stop, still on top of Karrel.

  He could feel his consciousness fading, when he heard a distant voice from the stairwell call out, “I think she’s up here!” There were muffled footsteps, and Karrel struggled to stay awake, still only able to see the darkness of his closed eyes. Once again, the voice, this time much closer and sounding very familiar, called out, “I found her, she’s over– Oh, shit…” A cluster of footsteps approached Karrel. “She’s found someone…”

  Karrel was barely holding on. He wanted to speak, but his lips were still preoccupied, not that he had the strength to move them. A new voice perked in, “Poor bastard never stood a chance.”

  The sounds were getting quieter and quieter and Karrel felt the last remnants of consciousness fall away. He had no more strength. For the second time in a week, Karrel had been rendered unconscious against his will. He heard the last few words as though they were only a whisper, “Wait a second… He’s still alive…!”

  Chapter 6

  Dinner and a Show

  A pillow. His head was resting on a pillow. Karrel was only in the start-up process of regaining consciousness, but the unforgettable feeling of having one’s head sink into the depths of a puffy rectangle enveloped all of his sensations. This was a luxury he was not often able to afford. The feeling almost counterbalanced the throbbing storm that rushed through his body. Almost… His eyes were still much too heavy to open, but his ears had started to wake up. Around him, he could hear three distinct voices arguing amongst themselves.