The 'Eater'

Aviraj was already in the tenth grade and his 'Board exams' were near. This exam was considered the second most important exam in schools. The only exam that was more important in schools was the 'board exams' of twelfth grade. While his friends and classmates had buried themselves under books in the school library, he was out in the cafeteria to get some tea. He was not too worried about the exam and was quite confident in getting just enough marks to opt for the science stream in the eleventh grade. Only by taking science stream in the eleventh grade could Aviraj get into National Defense academy and join the army like his father. His decision to join the army had crushed all of his mother's dream of her son becoming very rich and she was very upset with Lt. Col. Sharma for being a bad influence on such a talented child. She was not against the defense forces. It was just that sometimes, she felt that Lt. Col. Sharma put his duty above his family. That's right, Major Sharma had been promoted and became Lt. Col. Sharma.

Aviraj enjoyed the his tea as he felt the cool winter winter breeze of November. He closed his eyes in bliss as he heard the the sound of children singing in the nearby music room and felt the warm sun rays hitting his face. But slowly, all sound faded away and the weather got chillier than usual. The warm sun rays falling on his face was also gone and the environment darkened as if night had arrived. Aviraj opened his eyes as he felt that something was wrong. He found himself sitting in the school cafeteria but there was no one around. The whole school was completely silent and he could only see thirty to forty meters ahead of him due to the thick fog.

"What the hell is happening here", he muttered softly and took out his mobile phone to make a call. But he found that his phone was turned off and wouldn't turn on no matter how much he pressed the power button.

'This thing was eighty percent charged a moment ago. How can it run out of battery so quickly', He put the phone back in his pocket and started looking around. Suddenly, he felt the area lighten up in red light and looked at the sky only to find a blood red moon peeking through the gap in the clouds. That gap soon closed and the area was drowned in darkness again. Aviraj started to look around in the school in hopes for finding someone else but all that greeted him was dark, empty classrooms, and eerily silent field. After walking around for a while, Aviraj gave up on looking for anyone and made his way to the entrance of the school.

It was completely dark just outside the main gate of the school, as if a wall made of darkness. As he walked along the boundary walls of the school, he found out that the whole campus was surrounded by this dark wall. Aviraj's expression slowly turned gloomy as he realized that he was trapped. He kept his calm and made his way to the field which was at the center of the school campus. As he stood in the empty field, looking at the dark clouds with red linings, he pondered of different ways to get out.

"AAAAARRRRRRNNNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHH"

Suddenly he heard a blood thirsty roar coming from the old school building. Aviraj felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he took two steps back subconsciously and looked towards the old school building with an alarmed expression. He couldn't really see the building due to the fog but he felt that there was a dangerous presence lurking around in the darkness. He kept looking in the direction of the old building with a guarded expression.

He squinted his eyes as he saw a small blob of light appear and disappear in the darkness. The blob of light was of the size of a basket ball. He moved towards the direction where he had seen the light to have a closer look. After moving ten steps, he caught a view of the blob of light again. He saw it much more clearly this time. The light was floating a few meters above the ground and moving around in a circle. As Aviraj got closer, the blob of light, as if sensing his presence, charged towards him with a lightening speed. Aviraj tried to dodge but the light was too fast. It crashed into him and then disappeared.

" Impossible!!!.... How can it be you??... You are a mortal." Suddenly there came a voice of a small child from his pockets.

"AAAARRRRRNNNNGGGGHHHHHH."

Before Aviraj could comprehend the words of the mysterious voice, there came another roar from the old school building. But this time the roar was followed by a sound of crash and heavy footsteps getting near.

" It has found us... we are going to die." The voice from his pocket spoke again, but this time it sounded resigned.

"What is that thing???" Aviraj asked hurriedly as he backed up. He felt great danger from whatever was coming towards them.

The footsteps came closer and Aviraj finally saw the 'creature which made him feel danger'. His face paled when he looked at the horrible creature. It was a skinless, ten feet tall giant with huge teeth stained with dried blood. It had a skinny figure as if it had been starved for days and bones were visible on some parts of its body which were devoid of muscles. On a careful look, one would notice that the places that were devoid of muscles actually had bite marks around them. It was as if some on had eaten him. But the fact that there was no one in this place would make one wonder that maybe the monster had eaten itself out of hunger. A foot long tongue hanging out of his mouth made him look horrifying.

"Its the servant of chaos.... The 'Eater' . It eats everything and " The child like voice finally replied from his pocket.

"... Smell blood....eat.....", the monster actually spoke in a broken voice as the madness in its eyes grew and it chased after Aviraj who had broken into a sprint towards the school buildings at the first sight of the monster.

The 'Eater' was much faster than Aviraj and slowly began to catch up to him. Just when it got close enough and swiped his claws towards him, he had already reached near the school building and dived in through a small window, dodging the claw swipe.

The window was too small for the 'Eater' to enter. It roared with some irritation and started smashing the walls beside the window to widen the space. Aviraj did not wait for the 'Eater' to break in and kicked open the classroom door and ran down the corridor, trying to find a place to hide.

"A wall won't stop it", the child like voice spoke again.

"Thanks.... You're a great help", Aviraj replied with some irritation and sarcasm in his voice.

"You're welcome. And there is no point in hiding. It can smell you."

"Dammit!!!" Aviraj cursed and he changed his plans. As Aviraj ran while furiously thinking of methods of survival, he came across the chemistry lab. His eyes shined as he rushed into the chemistry lab.

At the same time, there came a crashing sound from the classroom Aviraj had come in through. The 'Eater' had entered the building!! It ran down the corridor, continuously sniffing along the way. It stopped when it got to the chemistry lab door and sniffed twice. It roared as excitement appeared in its eyes and rushed into the lab. Just when it entered the lab, a liquid was splashed into its eyes as Aviraj appeared from behind the table. He had a beaker in his hands and he looked at the struggling monster with some excitement. But soon the excitement turned into disbelief and he ran towards the chemistry lab window and jumped out. The monster just rubbed its eyes with some discomfort and after some time was able to see clearly. It sniffed around and made its way towards the window Aviraj had run out of and started smashing the walls beside it.

Meanwhile Aviraj had got back into the building through another window.

"Why!??.. Why did the mixture of concentrated sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid had no effect.", Aviraj cursed at his failed plan which almost cost him his life.

"What acid? What were you trying to do??", came a confused voice from his pockets.

Aviraj remained silent and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Whatever you are, tell me how to get out of here... tell me how to get out of this world." Aviraj asked in a serious tone.

".... The only way to get out of this dream realm is to kill the 'Eater' ." The child like voice replied after staying silent for sometime.