The Vaticinator

by Namita Singh

seeking. The man looks at my arm once and then looks at me, almost bored.

  “Seriously?” He says in a monotone.

  Before any of us could however make any move, Mikhail comes right beside me.

  “Go.” He says to me quietly.

  I hesitate but once I notice Mikhail’s shoulders fluxing, I start moving sideways.

  I take only one step to escape and the time span for that lone step alone is all it takes for both Mikhail and that man to lunge at each other. It is astounding because both the men have taken upon animal forms in that extremely brief time and have also attacked. Surprisingly both have taken feline forms, with Mikhail, whose legs still seem to be in the process of fluxing, has taken the form of an oversized cheetah. On the other hand, the other man is now a saber-tooth tiger whose canines are quite longer than on the actual animal. I watch, petrified, as both the animals snap at each other, trying to lunge at each other’s throat. It’s almost enthralling to see that Mikhail at such an age is as swift as this…this…whatever this man is.

  Roars fill the corridor with animal bodies clashing against the walls, making the side tables and decoration items shake in fright, some of them falling to the ground as their astoundingly fast fight escalates. So fast, that I face trouble in grasping their moves. I do notice when Mikhail successfully sinks his teeth in the tiger’s shoulder, making the latter growl, almost impatiently.

  That’s enough for me. I turn around to go and look for anybody, to inform them of this horrendous event that has started taking place out of nowhere. I run for a few feet, the raging roars still emanating in the background. However, I am forced to stop again as a white mist again takes reformation just a few feet ahead of me. I instantly pause, my momentum making me take a few more steps in the forward direction than I would have liked. As the form of the tiger starts forming, I, confounded, look behind me to see Mikhail’s cheetah growling and snapping at empty air. After an instant I realize that he is expressing anger at not having this man in his grasps. I am standing almost midway between the both animals, my own arms fluxed into talons. The tiger roars at me and then charges, running in my direction. I take a step back out of instinct. At my back, I can both hear and sense Mikhail’s aura running towards me with double the speed of the tiger. Only a foot away and I instantly move out of the way of both the animals.

  Mikhail was prepared for the collision, the tiger was not. So for a few seconds Mikhail overpowers the tiger while I jump on the side table because all the space in the corridor is being occupied by these raging animals. Being on the table is not a very good move either since both of them are constantly snapping and making the other hit something, anything. So it’s no surprise that the table wobbles and the candelabra falls off it as both the animals haphazardly lunge at each other. I sense more auras at the end of the corridor instantly making me look there. There, standing at the end are Terry uncle and my father, and two of the thirteen council members, one of which is Dr. Pleve. They all look horrified. I can only imagine the scene from their point of view. A tiger and a cheetah in a furious sparring and a seventeen year old kid with talons for hands precariously standing over the table top along the edge of the corridor. I watch as the council members and Terry uncle start darting towards us. Father however turns on his heels and escapes.

  Escapes?

  What the hell?

  Though I am furiously frowning at my father’s empty space in the distance, I don’t however get time to ponder over it much. As the council members and Terry uncle draw near the fight becomes even vicious. The tiger seems almost annoyed that Mikhail is not allowing him an open escape and is keeping him excessively busy by indulging in ferocious battle.

  “Stop it!” Dr. Pleve thunders, exuding as much authority as he can. His voice falls on deaf ears. Even the other council member and Terry uncle do not pause. Terry uncle has indeed himself started to flux into an animal form as he is approaching.

  After that it’s total chaos.

  Not because now there are four people fighting, but because that strange man, who has taken the form of a tiger, becomes absolutely difficult to handle. Taking advantage of his unique teleporting abilities, I watch, almost in awe, how quickly the man’s animal form disintegrates and is behind Mikhail in an instant. Terry uncle, now an odd sight with half human, half animal features, lunges at the tiger only to have his muscly arms pass right through thin air. The tiger has teleported again, now on the side with the council member at his back who also looks ready to engage in battle. It’s just a combination of animals, or human-animal hybrids, snapping at empty air as the tiger teleports with speed, being at one angle in one second and the other in the next second. I am so engrossed by the scene that I let my guard completely down.

  It only takes half a second for a mist to form beside the table I am standing on. By the end of that second the table is forcefully toppling over. I feel insulted that someone would think that a simple table turning will put me off. Guard down or not, I am a mature therian, with exceptionally good reflexes. I jump in the air and land gracefully on the floor, the turned table collapsing right beside me. I expect the man to be standing near the table, since that’s where I saw the mist, but I find only air at that position. I do not even realize when somebody grasps my hand, twisting it back. The person makes me turn around and bangs my back at the nearby wall. It’s the man of course, this time in his human form….if he is human. I may just pass him being a spiritual therian. But the fact that I can see him as a whole human, without any animal part, and still sense no aura inevitably makes him something that we are not.

  He has his elbows crossed at my neck, his palms keeping my talons at bay. He crookedly grins at me for a second.He doesn’t realize that getting my back banged against something is what I absolutely despise. With reflexes, I free my hand and grasp his, twisting it in the process and making it turn over at his back.

  “Oh ho ho,” the man chortles as the other people realize that the man has me cornered. Or rather I have him cornered, since I have his elbow twisted at his back. “Your boy knows how to fight, Lichinsky.” He adds in a sneer, probably looking at the cheetah, who deeply growls at him and ferociously charges.

  The man has other plans, as he vanishes instantly from my grasp. I curse, as Mikhail’s cheetah’s canines stop only inches from me. I take a step back and look where the man has taken form again, only to find Terry uncle now initiating a spar with the man who took form right next to him. All of us move to enclose the man and Terry uncle.

  It oddly feels like a game of Tom and Jerry.

  Another round of sparring continues, with Mikhail and the other council member trying to get a grip on the man as he fights Terry uncle. Though I do not know what catching the guy will entail. He will simply vanish again. What’s the point? Dr. Pleve and I stay on the outer circle, keeping an alert eye on the commotion. I watch as the man, who has fluxed only his nails for now, harshly scrapes them against Terry uncle’s arm, making Terry uncle grunt and lunge for his throat. The man is not happy as he growls and vanishes yet again, taking form outside the circle we all are trying to confide him in. The five of us look at the man as he darts his eyes around us, probably thinking of whom to attack first. Before any of us can follow an action of plan, a metal weapon…a knife…no, a sword, passes through the man’s shoulder, the ephemeral swishing sound before it struck being the only warning.

  The man cries out in pain, making me wince in surprise. He hasn’t reacted much at all to whatever pain we have been inflicting on him, if we have inflicted pain at all. The…sword through his shoulder however makes him collapse on his feet, his pain filled eyes darting towards the abused shoulder. In the distance, I see my father in a posture that suggests that he has thrown the sword at this man. Pretty good aim, I glumly think. If missed, it would have probably made way to any five of us. Father jogs up to us. Terry uncle towers over the man. The man tries to get hold of the sword to probably remove it, which is difficult since the handle of the sw
ord is at the man’s back. Terry uncle catches the sword’s handle first and twists it.

  I grimace as another pain filled cry fills the corridor, at the edges of which I can sense even more therian auras approaching.

  “Oh, God.” Anastasia says as soon as she reaches us, slightly panting which suggests she has probably run towards here.

  Terry uncle grunts and picks up the man, the sword still plunged in his shoulder. The man grunts, but Terry uncle only puts more force on the sword.

  “How the hell do you have this?” Pleve questions, glaring at the sword merged with the offensive man’s skin.

  “Is that the question you have?” Father snaps, stoically glaring at Pleve.

  “I have a better one.” Mikhail’s voice booms in the corridor.

  I turn around to find my grandfather in his human form, absolutely stark naked, and absolutely unabashed as he proudly stands and glares at the steadily increasing population in the corridor. He pointedly looks at whatever council members are present, significantly eyeing each of them.

  “Who the hell summoned the Ninth Occultist?”

  19.The Unforeseen Disappearance

  “Would he know who summoned the Occultist?” Anastasia asks, tilting her chin