Capítulo 21: 21. Hunter and Prey
A draft of cold air hit Tariq's chest, and the boy forced himself to open his eyes. His vision was blurry as he regained his senses and the strength in his arms, but he saw those rotten, yellow canine teeth right above his face. He realised he was being held against the ground, his chest naked, and his clothes ripped and torn off at the navel, just like Filip’s were.
GGRRRRRRRR..... SCHLANGER... SCHLANGER BLOOD...
The creature held Tariq’s biceps down. It seemed to be at least three meters tall, because Tariq felt like a little child trapped beneath it.
A cold, wet sensation on the boy's temple let him know he was bleeding. His eyes blurred again and his senses threatened to fail him, but now he could see the demon’s entire face... Its nostrils, stretching upwards, like the snout of a pig. Its rotten reddish-brown flesh. The tumours full of pus. The two rows of six red lizard eyes, all blinking at the same time, fixed on the prince.
...SCHLANGER...
The monster leaned its head down, squeezing the boy's arms. Tariq trembled apprehensively, for he was sure the demon would break them; instead, it came closer to his face, licking and slurping at the blood flowing from his temple. Its saliva smelled like rotting chicken.
*S-Should I manifest a shield? Yes, I must...*
Tariq took a few deep breaths, gagging at the stench of decomposition coming from the Egum’s breath. Still, he gave his all to focus his thoughts on visualising a kind of brick wall of white energy between him and the monster. A tingling sensation between his eyes was proof he had succeeded in manipulating the Astral Light.
It started with a faint beam, but soon it began to gain shape and clarity. In just a fraction of a second, a rectangular board the size of the prince popped up above him, forcing the monster to release his arms.
SCRIIIIIIIIIINNNNCHHH...
The demon screeched when the astral construct started to tear at its flesh, and a nauseating black blood emerged from the cuts.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN...
It released its grip on the prince, who rolled to the side into a squat, shaking off a wave of dizziness as little puddles of blood formed beneath him. The astral wall was already dissipating, but it wasn’t a problem, for his hand was already seeking his sword.
Unfortunately, it wasn't in its sheath anymore.
*Oh no! Fuck!*
Tariq looked up and around, searching for any sign of the sword on the ground where he was, but the monster was already gone.
*I can't believe that fiend stole it! Father will despise me for this!*
“WHERE ARE YOU, YOU ASSHOLE?! COME BACK HERE!”
There was only silence.
The prince’s legs felt wobbly when he stood up and his sight went blurry again.
*For fuck's sake! Stand your ground!*
“HEEEYY! COME BACK! NOW!”
It was dark all round. He had used his *prana* to see in the dark and conjure an astral wall, and what remained of it was leaking out in his blood. His sword, which had its own condensed prana, was also missing. If he were to use a magick attack in such a state, he would fall unconscious before his third hit.
*I need... How could I be such an idiot…? I should have just taken him to the infirmary...*
The cold on his bare chest made it harder for him to breathe, even more so after yelling. He noticed Filip was gone as well.
*No... Did it take Svoboda too?*
*GRRRRRRRRRR.... GRRRRR.......GRRRRRRRR.....*
The sound of the demon’s growls echoed throughout the room, followed by quick, heavy steps that made the ground tremble. A huge dark figure passed behind the prince, as fast as the wind.
Tariq spun around.
There was nothing.
He looked round in every direction, even above.
Nothing.
The prince clenched his fists. There was no time to play hide-and-seek with a demon.
*This is cursed land, but...I have to try...*
He closed his eyes to focus on any possible presence detectable by his chakra ajna, the third eye. He stumbled as he positioned his feet shoulder width apart, absorbing the telluric energy below him.
There was a pale halo of red light coming from the ground, signalling he was successful in invoking the prana of the Earth. The warmth of the energy touched his feet, rising through his legs and settling in his groin.
Now all he had to do was allow that peaceful sensation of alignment to cleanse and harmonize his first five chakras until reaching his sixth, and his third eye would be full of strength to find his enemy.
Instead, a sharp pang stung his lower back, immediately running up his spine as it continued upwards from his groin.
"Ugh..."
The pain made the boy fall to his knees and hunch over.
Mabel's words echoed in his head:
*Your emotions are unbalanced, my lord... It's dangerous...* ***
"Ah... Ugh..."
The pain was now at his tailbone, and he fell, his body twisting into a fetal position.
He could smell something burning; it seemed to be wood and fabric...
*Does this demon know pyromancy too?*
*I need...my sword... Father...help me...*
GRRRR... GRRRRRR....
Tariq rolled over, his eyes meeting the cleft wall of what remained of the dome of the old church.
The abyssal creature was hanging up there. Now Tariq could see it had huge disproportional arms, its hands twice the size of its head.
“GRRRRRRRR.... I'LL TAKE YOU...TO HIM....SCHLANGER BOY...”
The demon leapt and Tariq was barely able to dodge it. He stood up, but before he could turn towards the monster, it grabbed him by his hair, throwing him three meters away. He hit his back against a wall and fell painfully onto a pile of crushed rocks.
"Ugh..." The wave of dizziness was so great that he couldn't even raise his head.
The prince, shaking like a carriage on a muddy road, moved to the side when he noticed the monster baring its teeth at him. The sharp rock fragments that he had landed on hurt his arm, but he managed to at least sit up. His back was throbbing, though his spine seemed intact. Blood from his forehead, cold and wet, leaked down into his eyes. Everything around him spun, but he caught himself on the rocks when he felt the ground approaching.
GRRRRRRR... *GROOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLL...*
The demon ran towards him, drool flying from its wide mouth. It was as fast as a bolt.
*It’s too strong... For God’s sake, who sent this thing here?*
Before Tariq could even regain enough strength in his legs to flee, the creature was already less than seventy centimetres away from him, stretching its hand the width a wheel on an eight-horse carriage to grab the boy's head.
*I'm sorry, Father...*
*SCREEEEEEEEEECHHHHH..*.
The prince's vision was consumed by an orange incandescence, which started out weak, but soon became a glare of reds and yellows, illuminating six metres around him.
The smell of burnt flesh suffocated Tariq, and he felt like vomiting. The demon contorted its body, squealing and bending over itself, its hands uselessly trying to extinguish the fire licking up its back and spreading over its torso and neck.
*SCREEEEEEECHHH...*
The infernal scream and the smell of singed rotten meat, combined with the blood loss, was unbearable to Tariq. His eyes went dark and blurry once more, and the boy gagged when the wave of nausea ran through him.
A skinny splinted arm covered in a purple sleeve wrapped around his chest, gently pulling him from the pile of rocks. When Tariq saw the splint, his heart beat faster. An influx of warmth and adrenaline filled his arms and he gathered enough strength to turn back and grab Joseph's shoulders. The doctor all but dragged him from the mountain of rocks, helping the prince away from that creature.
Doctor Selden's face was as well-illuminated by the fire on the cane as if it were a spring day. He frowned as his blue eyes travelled from Tariq's head injuries to his eyes. When the prince found the other boy's countenance growing blurry, he held him tighter, their faces next to each other, until the vertigo was gone.
The prince pulled back a little, now looking right at Joseph, their noses just a few centimetres apart.
"Y-You... W-Why did you...come b-back...?"
***A/N: There are seven wheels (*chakras* in Sanskrit), which are important centres of energy and emotions in the human body. Each of them is distinguishable by its size, shape, and colour. The first one, starting at the top, is the chakra *Muladhara*, which is red and has four petals. It reigns over survival, and brings strength and vitality. The second one is called *Swadhisthana* and it commands emotions, ideas, fertility, and creativity. It's where the energy coming from the first one finds its counterpart to start to create solid astral constructs, when both are in alignment.
Tariq’s base chakra, *Muladhara*, and the sacral one, *Swadhisthana*, were in a sort of conflict. Since his emotions were unbalanced, and the emotional energy is commanded by the second chakra, the energy he concentrated in his first chakra couldn’t pass through to the second one. This impediment of flow was what was causing him discomfort. The energy coming from the cursed land was also impure, thus infecting his *nadis* (ducts where the energy flow through the chakras, like vessels in the circulatory system) when he invoked it.
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