章 10: Magic Dies
Have you ever watched someone set an island on fire? Sengoku has.
Even after Hito had thrown his jacket, the rise of the fire continued. Sengoku's water magic was not working either, well, of course. What had he expected? He had not tried his new element, yet he tried to extinguish a dark fireball.
But he could just not watch his friend burn either. The fire on Hito's belly spread to his chest, then climbed onto his arms. It would have been a problem if it had reached his pubic area or head.
'What do I do? Shit, shit, what do I do?!' He wanted to scream for help, but he believed his shout might come like a squeak, besides, who would have even heard it? So he did what he could – spray more water on Hito.
'Just how powerful dark magic can be?' He gulped as he stepped back to prepare for another spray of water.
His arm jerked as he sprayed water at the border of the spreading fire. The recoil pushed Sengoku, but he could still not extinguish the fire.
"Get this off me!" Hito screamed, but his voice was as high-pitched as the voice of any scared seven-year-old. "It hurts! It hurts! Do something, Sengoku! Do something!"
While Hito kept shouting, Sengoku tried his best to extinguish the fire, but as he had expected, his magic that came out in fear was not enough to extinguish the fire that had come out in anger.
'I need more water,' he thought as he looked around for any source of water. 'Or maybe… I can just push him down the hill, into the ocean.'
They both could swim by the age of six. They were slow and weak, but they both knew enough swimming to get to the shore.
'He will get back to the shore in an instant.' He tensed his legs, then dashed towards the fence, in the hope of finding a clear path. He could smell the burning leaves and branches, and could even see the rising smoke, but when he leaned over the metallic fence, he saw hell on the other side.
The fire had reached the cliff, and would soon climb up the hill and then spread out in the woods.
Sengoku's eyes widened as he looked at the faint flickering light in the ocean. At once, he thought it was the lighthouse. But both lighthouses were miles away from the hill. The Overlook Park and the lighthouses were like two opposite corners of the island.
On squinting at the light, he found it out to be the black flame, now turning orange. That was the same direction Hito had thrown the jacket.
With his eyes widened, he spun to Hito. "Just how much talent do you have? You are not supposed to waste it like that."
But surely, Hito never heard him. He had just opened his mouth wider than before and screamed. "It is burning me! I am dying!"
Sengoku glanced around him for any source of water. A bucket, a tap, or a hose. To throw Hito down the hill was idiocy. With the fire he had set downhill, that was the worst option – but could still work.
Down the hill, just a little above Hill Square, Sengoku saw the water tank. But how the hell was he supposed to bring water from there?
"Argh shut up!" he shouted, glaring at Hito who was dancing in pain.
'Wait. The Kyu family.' Sengoku spun in the direction of the lone house. That abandoned house had vines climbing over it. But the hose? 'No one touched the house or the things around it. The hose!'
"Wait right there," he said to Hito as he dashed in the fence's east direction. "Don't move! You will set the whole island on fire!"
Hito raised his hands, black flame dancing on top of it, then he jerked it away. Fragments of fire flew downhill, some went on the other side of the hill, and some tiny sparks disappeared in the air.
Under the night sky, the house looked like a house from a horror movie. That did bother Sengoku, but he had less time to worry about ghosts when his life was already at stake. He dashed to the backside and found the tap, to which was stuck the hose. It was coiled into a perfect circle as if it had never been touched since the last day Kyu Ketsuki watered the plants and trees.
Sengoku shivered thinking how creepy that hose was – left still for four years, some vines had climbed on it and some moss had gathered around the tap. Sengoku dared and pulled the hose off the ground. Then he spun the tap open.
At first, all he heard was a gushing voice. 'Please, please, please! Give me some water!' It had been used the last time four years ago, was the tap even working?
With a jolt, the hose jerked in his arms, and water gushed from the hose. Sengoku bit his lower lip. "Yes!"
When he saw the view, he was left petrified. Hito had set black flames all around the park. Flames swung on the swings, some slid down the slide, then gathered at the bottom pit, and that didn't leave the wet grass either. Hito was on the ground, lifeless.
Sengoku panicked. With his head beating fast, he closed the hose's mouth, then he aimed it over Hito.
Hito jerked to life with the harsh impact on his chest. 'The burns must have been severe by now. God, let Hito survive. I will pray every day before my meals!'
The flames died on Hito's chest, and a smile spread on Sengoku's face. Tears rushed to his eyes, thinking that he had won against the fire. When the fire on Hito had extinguished, he turned to extinguish the fire in Overlook Park.
He heard commotion downhill. People must have heard the animals screaming in the woods. Sengoku took the hose back where it was and came back to Hito.
'I need to take him and run. I can not let anyone see us.' Sengoku froze near the merry-go-round, away from the slides and swings. He could not believe the flames that danced on Hito's stomach, had burned his abdomen.
The grass a few feet away from him was on fire, too, just like the slide and swings. 'How can this be? I took care of the fire…' He staggered backward, barely able to balance himself.
As if he had never extinguished the fire, the flames were back. Weakly, Hito raised his arm with the flame burning on top of his hand. "Save me… it hurts…" His voice cracked, he had cried a lot that time.
"H-how can I?" Sengoku wanted to cry, not because he had won, but because he had lost the war against fire. "If I keep using my magic, it will drain my stamina and I will collapse too—"
His eyes widened. 'Collapse.' Hito had surpassed his limit, but he could still move. He could move.
'Unconscious. Your magic dies with you.'
Sengoku looked around him again. A rod, a stone, a rock, or just a baseball bat. 'Anything! Anything will work!'
In that haunted park, he could only hope to find anything to knock someone.
'But the guys in the mangas do it without a weapon. They just use their bare hands.'
Sengoku lifted his hand and stared at it. Could he do it? Without knowing the answer, Sengoku straightened his chop and looked at Hito's falling arm.
'Forgive me, but this is the only way.' He kicked Hito's shoulder and rolled him over to the other side. A flame flickered over Sengoku's wooden sandals, but he had worried less about it.
The black fire had not reached Hito's head yet, so his neck was clear and hair safe. Sengoku bent down with his chop raised. With a warm breath out, Sengoku bestowed the chop on Hito's neck.
After two seconds, the flames on Hito died, and so did the flames in the park. With his heart still beating faster than the clock's small hand, Sengoku rose off the ground.
His chest heaved as he glanced at the roaring fire making its way through the woods. But his heart calmed down a bit on seeing the islanders making their way up.
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