Capítulo 41: The Promise to be kept, the fate to be broken(1)
Somewhere between Astana and Base Smaoi,
Between two huge mountains part of the Tien Shan range, there lay a beautiful and serene lake. With flocks of goats grazing freely across the mountains, this place looked like the most peaceful place on earth. And yet, suddenly, that peace was disturbed. With no warning whatsoever, a young boy appeared above the lake in mid air and started falling down at an alarming rate. And just as fast as he appeared, he suddenly disappeared too, right before he fell into the lake.
Ten seconds later, about 40 km away from the lake, on a mountain slope, the same boy abruptly fell onto the ground. Crouching over the ground, the boy clutched his stomach as if in deep pain. Muffled sounds of grunts and groans came from the boy, and he slowly sat properly. Looking around, the boy said,
"Argh! At this rate, I will probably reach base in 7 minutes! That's too long! Ow!," came a cry, as he tried to stand up, only to fall down again.
"Damn it! Most protagonists grow stronger as they get wounded, why the hell is it the opposite for me?! Heck, my powers are literally increasing as I speak, and yet, that's not good! The distance I can teleport is getting lesser and lesser the more I teleport, all because my body is so broken up*. Gah! I would love to take a rest, but I can't afford to! I need to continue," and after saying that, he forced himself up and then stepped forward, once again disappearing into wherever he came from.
And finally, about 10 minutes after leaving Astana, Alaukik appeared in the vicinity of Base Smaoi. Since he was coming from the north, Alaukik appeared on top of one of the mountains surrounding the base, about 30 km away from the base. However, what he saw from here left him powerless, and he fell onto his knees. For in front of him lay the remains of what used to be Base Smaoi, now turned to ash and dust. However, a bit further away from the base, he sensed two groups of people fighting. A group of barely 15 people with a tank in the midst were surrounded by another group of over 50,000 people and another tank. Seeing this, a spark called hope was lit in Alaukik's heart, and he immediately began teleporting towards the smaller group. And yet, his injuries, which were now even worse due to the constant teleportation, made it so that teleporting even a distance of 35 km took time, time that he didn't have. But still, he tried, and so, in what would usually be 'just' ten seconds, he appeared in the middle of where the group should've been.
It should've been, and yet, it was no longer there, because in those ten seconds, the tank from the opposite side had shot at the smaller group, who, already tired from the previous fighting, had no more energy to defend against the shot. And so, in just five seconds, 12 out of the 15 men were killed, and the surviving three were on their last breath. However, sensing the three alive, Alaukik got close to them, and no matter how painful it was for him to teleport four people at the same time, he did. Together with the three survivors, he teleported away from the battlefield and into the Base, where he might be able to fix them up.
Meanwhile, the soldiers who were surrounding the group fell into confusion, for they saw a boy just appear, hold three people and then just disappear again.
"Uhhh, Fie, did you just see what I just saw?"** asked a soldier to another standing beside him.
"I think so? But, that can't be true right? I mean, that's just not possible. Even with magic, just appearing and disappearing is impossible right?! We even have this place surrounded! So that can't be just invisibility magic! That's right! It must have been a hallucination!"
"Right! I was thinking the same thing. I guess the continuous climbing, hiding and then fighting finally started to show its effects on our body huh."
And while these soldiers might have brushed it off as their imagination and started to celebrate their victory, inside one of the buildings that managed to stand together during the bombing, Alaukik appeared, along with three other men. He decelerated time for them, hoping it could do something, however the moment he did, he started coughing loudly, and even spit out blood. Suddenly, one of the three soldiers said,
"Ma-jor? Is that you?"
Hearing this familiar voice, Alaukik quickly went to the man, and asked,
"Vishal? Vishal! How're you feeling? /cough/ Wait, don't answer, wait five minutes, and I'll find a first aid kit and patch you three up. Then we can talk all you want," Alaukik said, as he hurriedly tried to get up, only to fall back down again. And yet, he tried again, but suddenly,
"/chuckle/ To think that one day, we would be able to see the Major trip and fall onto his face," said Vishal, as he forced his eyes to open.
"What do you think, Usman, Ameen?"
Hearing this, the other two also shifted around a bit, turning their faces in the direction of Vishal's voice. And while one managed to open his eyes, the other's face was too burned, and thus wasn't able to. Seeing this, Vishal said,
"Gahaha! Usman! Now you and the major have something in common! Both of you are -"
"Shu /cough/ up, ishal," said the third one, as he turned to face the major. Smiling, he said,
" I ways knew you ud come, Major. Before I leep, I wanted to tell you omethin. I - I'm happy that I was ent ere major, relly relly appy," the man said, before his head hit the ground, a chunk of his neck missing.
"NO! AMEEN! No, no, no! This was not supposed to happen! Vishal, Usman! I order you! YOU CANNOT DIE! Wait here, wait for me to bring you some first aid, and then we shall discuss what punishment you will face for disobeying orders!" Alaukik screamed, as he furiously pushed himself off the ground. However, before he could leave, Usman called out to him,
"Major," he said, in a raspy voice, "Don't leave. You know it's pointless. We're far too gone. In fact, I'm surprised we're still living right now… Anyways, I wanted to say something major, would you hear me out?"
"Yes, yes. Tell me anything, Usman, whatever you want," Alaukik said, as he sat beside Usman and held his head in his lap.
Smiling, Usman said,
"Firstly, thank you for coming, Major. Secondly, promise me Major, that you won't let these soldiers leave unscathed. And lastly, the world doesn't revolve around you, Major," he said, after which, even he lost his breath.
Sensing this, Alaukik just sat there, and kept whispering,
"I promise, I promise, so don't leave me. I promise Usman, so please, don't leave me…."
Until Vishal's voice sounded, breaking him out of his reverie.
"HAHAH! He had to have the last laugh, didn't he? Now, Major, if you could come here too for a second, the ground is not really the most comfortable place," he said.
Hearing this, Alaukik turned around hurriedly, and placing Vishal into his lap, he said,
"Don't you dare leave me Vishal. Don't you dare. Or-or-"
"Gahaha, Major, I see you still haven't learned. It's like Usman said Major, sometimes, a man just cannot control everything. Now, I know my time is also coming, but before I go, I want to say something. And it's not going to be some sort of cheesy goodbye. No, I believe that was already made clear by the other two. What I want to say is that, do you remember the pictures we took before you left? I made a bunch of copies of it, and then sent it to the best shop in Kabul for them to frame it. I want you to - I want you to keep them with you, Major. As a reminder, as a reminder that we existed, and that we were part of this world. I'm scared Major, I'm scared of just vanishing away into this world, as just a simple man who lived and died. That's why I joined the army in the first place. I wasn't smart, so I knew I wouldn't become big in the research area, so I thought, maybe if I worked hard enough, I would be able to become a bigshot in the army. And if I participated in a few conflicts, I would earn myself a name, and become famous throughout the Federation. And then… then when I leave this world, I would be able to stand proud before my parents, showing them that I was able to become someone great," he finished, his voice barely a whisper by the end of it.
Feeling Vishal's head loll in his lap, Alaukik, for only the second time in this life, cried. Salty water started pouring down his face like a dam broken. As he cried, he took off the sunglasses he always wore, and placed them over Vishal's eyes. For Ameen, he took out a blindfold that he carried with him, one of the ones that Dev gave him, and wrapped it around his eyes. Slowly, he lifted each of them using his powers and placed them side by side. After doing this, he sat there in front of them, and for the first time in this life since he discovered his powers, he felt all alone, and in the darkness.
'Is this my fate? Am I to be all alone in this life? Anyone I grow close to has to be taken from me?'
'Is it?'
'It is, isn't it? I grew close to Dev, the only one who showed me kindness in this life, and he was taken away. After that, I decided never to let anyone come close to me, and yet, I broke that promise to myself. I allowed these soldiers, who I spent three long years with, to take a place in my heart. I believed that with me around them at all times, and them being magicians, nobody would be able to take them away from me. And yet, first Vinay was kidnapped. And now, everyone in the company is dead. If this isn't fate, what is? You know, I used to dislike the protagonists in various novels. I felt that just a few losses in their past does not automatically give them the right to have an amazing and wonderful future. And yet to the me right now, it feels like those protagonists deserved much, much more than what they got. Losing the people you held dear… it is something horrible…'
'So, are you going to accept it and do something about it? Or are you going to sit here dawdling?'
'Do something? What can I do? I am already injured, not to mention I can barely control my powers. There is nothing I can do.'
'Then, you are going to break the promise you made to Usman?'
'Of course not! But, but, how can I do anything right now?'
'By letting go, of course. Why do you want to control your powers? You've always been wrong. You shouldn't want to control your powers, you should become one with them. There is no difference between you and the powers, you are just two sides of the same coin.'
'Is-is that so?'
And so, Alaukik slowly let go of his powers, and instead of trying to rein them in, he let them loose. Instead of forcing them to obey his orders, he tried to hear their voice. Until suddenly,
/BOOM/
A large beam of silver and gold light erupted from where Alaukik sat, encasing him inside it. And as it did, Alaukik started to hover in midair. Stopping at about 50 metres high, Alaukik's body turned to face the 4,50,000 men that stood along the mountainside. And as he did, he opened his now glowing and translucent eyes. Making a devilish smile, he said,
"I will fulfil my promise, Usman."
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A/N:
* = whenever Alaukik teleports, it strains his body as the hole he tore is constantly pushing down on his, basically like a tunnel collapsing and him holding it up. While it was not a problem when his body was fine and he could wrap himself with a barrier, it became hard once his body became weak due to the wound. This was why at the beginning, he couldn't teleport other people apart from himself until his powers grew a bit more.
** = spoken in mandarin
Anyways, I never thought I could write a 'moving' scene, but well, I tried, and I think it came out good! Of course, there can be a lot of improvements, but like, that's something I will have to work on as I learn more.
What do you think of the voice that pushed Alaukik onwards? (Hint: It wasn't in his head ;) )
And also, no, he has not yet gotten back his eyes yet. I'm sorry to the ones that have been waiting for a while, but it's just a few more chapters worth of waiting.
And is anyone watching Tokyo Revengers season 2? BRO! This week's (last sat) and last(last to last sat) week's episode have been testing my brain's intelligence too much!! Like, why the hell were Taiju, Koko and Inupi just standing there waiting for the Toman gang to finish their discussion last week?! And that fight with Mitsuya! BROOOO, they were literally taking turns hitting each other!! And then this week! BRO! The scriptwriter honestly went, yup, today we're playing a turn based rpg. LIKE THE HELL!!! Taiju literally fought Mitsuya first, then Chifuyu, Takemichi and then Hakkai?! Like bro, what the hell? Who's the villain here? And one more thing, they've shown Taiju as such a strong dude, and yet, all of the Toman members being beaten by him get up like it's nothing! Like, I get that it's their determination and all, but bruh, you should at least have a few broken bones and probably hundred concussions. YOUR BODY CANNOT HANDLE THAT. That's why fainting exists! It's like the body saying 'That's enough. No more of this'. But no! 'I don't want Hina to die' 'I want to change the future'. Bro, I wanted to go through the screen and slap all the toman members. Heck, I'm rooting for Taiju rn (even though ik he's going to go down :( ). Dude got stabbed and still was able to kick ass.
Anyways, coming back on track, the moral of todays chapter is for the military soldiers.
Please don't procrastinate, it might lead to loss of life.
Edit: How's the title of the chapter? It suddenly came to me, and I was like, I am a genius! I love the title personally.
Edit Edit: All the action and stuff like 'coughing' will now be put in / ... / cause I need to use the * for footnotes :)
As always, thank you for reading and have a great day!
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
SoManyAngels
SoManyAngels Anyways, I never thought I could write a 'moving' scene, but well, I tried, and I think it came out good! Of course, there can be a lot of improvements, but like, that's something I will have to work on as I learn more.
What do you think of the voice that pushed Alaukik onwards? (Hint: It wasn't in his head ;) )
And also, no, he has not yet gotten back his eyes yet. I'm sorry to the ones that have been waiting for a while, but it's just a few more chapters worth of waiting.
Anyways, coming back on track, the moral of todays chapter is for the military soldiers.
Please don't procrastinate, it might lead to loss of life.
As always, thank you for reading and have a great day!
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