The Mist and Blood

Vishwaprit was sitting quietly in the SUV car, looking outside. It had been few hours since they left their town. The city was 600 kms away. They had to travel all night, so that they could reach in the morning.

Bhishu had arranged a house to stay for them. It was his friend's house, so they didn't have to worry about carrying their weapons and leaving house at unusual times. Bhishu was worried about his boss. He looked at Vishwaprit with great concern and felt disappointed about the situation.

Setupati was trying to sleep, but he couldn't as he was feeling anxious. The intensity of his anxiety was getting higher with the time, as they were getting closer to the enemy. He tried not to think about all of this to calm his mind, but his mind was full with thoughts about enemy. He was going burst out in pain and agony, but instead his mind got distracted by Vishwaprit's voice. He was asking him a question. He looked at Vishwaprit with tired eyes.

Vishwaprit was saying,

"The more I think about the enemy, more I'm confused. As per notebooks we found at your father's farm house and the journals we found in my father's belongings, the picture is clear. Back then, when the enemy first entered into our world, and destroyed half of our kingdom along with several other countries, our ancestors found a way to stop all of it. But not in a good way. What trick did they exactly used? The details are not clear. Can you explain?"

Setupati heard him well but waited for a moment before answering. He wasn't sure what he was about to say. Then he started to speak,

"If you want to destroy an insanely powerful enemy, you need an insanely powerful opponent, which is humanely impossible. So, they chose another way. They played with blood magic, which was forbidden to use for obvious reasons. And there is a reason why it is forbidden. It brings more chaos. The dark lord, whom these blood magicians worship, he grants you your desires, but by the cost of your soul. And it is unpredictable what trick the dark lord can pull, once you lose your soul to him."

"So my great great grandfather bid his soul to the dark lord. And the dark lord stopped the enemy, banished him, locked him away?" Vishwaprit asked.

"I wish, it was this simple!" Setupati's words were filled with disappoinment.

"Why? What do you mean?" Vishwaprit couldn't understand Setupati.

"You don't understand the logic. You have to offer higher bid to the dark lord, in order to ask him to fight such a powerful enemy. So a single soul of your great great grandfather wouldn't have done much." Setu said.

"So, you're saying...?" Vishwaprit was still not getting it.

"So I'm saying, they sold the fuck**g entire clan. Yours, mine & don't know how many others. Our blood is cursed. Our ancestors sold the entire future generation as a bid to the dark lord. And the lord accepted their request to protect them from the enemy. And that's why my brother, our families are so fu*kd up. Don't you get surprised? Why both of us have lost our parents miserably. We don't have any siblings left. We're barely living this life, happiness is nowhere to be seen. And we both are quite rich if you think about money. Then why are our lives so miserable? Because our ancestors sold our lives. The dark lord enjoys through our pain and hardships." Frustrated Setupati fell helplessly on the car seat.

"They didn't have any other choice. We wouldn't have been alive if our ancestors hadn't dealt with it by then." Vishwaprit tried to show him the brighter side.

"But how did the enemy escaped? How did he crossed the barrier again if the dark lord had banished him?"

"That's an interesting question, Vishwa. I believe, the dark lord has lost his grip from the situation and left our world open for him to rip apart." Setu was getting more frustrated.

"How can such a powerful lord lose to an enemy he had banished already? And where is the dark lord now? Is he alive? I mean, can he even die?" Vishwaprit asked the questions which were struggling his mind.

"He is alive. But he is in pain. I can feel it. Nowadays, I can feel everybody's pain. I feel like I'm getting mad." Setu was getting more and more anxious. But, he felt good after expressing his feelings. He continued,

"I believe in my guts that, someone from our world, meddled with unnatural things and tricked the dark lord into his own blood magic, and made him lose his powers. Powerless dark lord couldn't stop the enemy and it entered our world once again."

"There are so many things, we don't know for sure." Vishwaprit got into deep worry.

Setupati was feeling better now. He said,

"I feel my visions are getting stronger and clearer, day by day. There is so much information in my mind, that I can't even differentiate between my own memories and the visions."

Vishwaprit replied,

"You're certainly very gifted. But don't stress yourself. But I am still very worried about what are we going to face once we enter the city."

"I know what we're going to face. I was afraid to tell you, but now that we're going there and you're going to face the cruelty with your own eyes. You should know the truth." Setupati indirectly warned Vishwaprit.

"What kind of truth?" Vishwaprit asked with insane curiosity.

"Boys, you all think you have seen enough cruelty and violence in your life. But whatever you're going to see tomorrow, will be beyond the definition of violence and bloodshed. It's a rogue." Setupati was making riddles.

"Will you please elaborate?" Vishwaprit asked with the determined look, as if he was ready to accept anything.

"Fine. I will explain.

You all know, the enemy comes with the mysterious mist. That mist is not a common fog and smoke. It is much more than that. Whoever enters into the mist, 'either kills, or gets killed'."

"How?" Vishwaprit asked impatiently. He was getting anxious now.

"They say, some people turn into killing monster in the influence of the mist. And some don't. They start killing every living thing in their path, until there is no one left.

Nobody knows who can turn and who can't." Setupati explained.

"And how do we stop them if we face creatures like them tomorrow?" Vishwaprit asked genuinely.

"We got to kill them." Setupati answered without hesitation.

"But they are our people. If we kill them, we'll be killing people from our humanity." Vishwaprit wasn't feeling right to kill those who get turned into monsters.

"They will not be people anymore, Vishwa. If you don't kill them, they will kill you, and thousand more." Setupati made him realize the harsh reality.

Vishwaprit looked at Setupati with disbelief. His mind wasn't prepared to kill his own human race, even though they were turned into monsters. He fell deep into his thoughts, started looking out of the window again.

Setupati looked at Bhishu and others, and asked them if they had any questions. The confused gang tried to get explanation about the situation, before they meet the enemy.

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Raghav reached home after the tiring day at police department. He learned a number unbelievable things that day. He knew something was happening in the city. He didn't have any idea, it would be this much deep and horrifying, if they were going to believe everything what Shastriji said. It was shocking. If they all were going to die tomorrow, what were they going to do?

Also, that 'Vishwaprit' guy from 'Vijaypath' was nowhere to be found. They found his contact number from the sources, after a lot struggle and begging. He was very powerful person after all. But his contact number wasn't reachable. Their only hope was Shastriji. Raghav didn't even knew, who enemy was. But he knew that, the enemy was going to enter the city anytime.

He reached his room while being deep into his thoughts. His Mother was shouting for him. He realized and headed back to talk to her.

"Ma, I am not hungry right now. I will have my dinner later. You all can start without me." He left the room before his mother could counter question him.

He entered the room and checked his special guest inside his bathroom. He had gotten weak because of less food and imprisonment. But his spirit wasn't broken yet. Now that Raghav had knowledge about what the enemy was, he decided to interrogate him again. But he decided to do it differently this time.

He went back to his mother, and said,

"Ma, please ask the chef to cook something special for me today. I'm feeling little down."

"Yes beta. Anything for my sweetheart!" She replied with smile.

Few hours later, he made two plates for dinner and entered his room. He set a table and invited his guest for dinner. He looked at Raghav with disbelief. He thought Raghav was going to kill him with poison.

Raghav realized his confusion and said,

"It's not poisoned. If I wanted to kill you, believe me, I have so many better ways. So, please join. You haven't eaten a real food for almost a week. You must be starving after eating all the junk food I fed you."

The prisoner was indeed hungry, so he decided to believe Raghav and he sat down. He slowly pulled the plate towards him and started eating. He was eating quite sophisticatedly for a person who was hungry for a week.

"Thank you." He said.

"You're very well mannered for a bad guy. Who are you exactly? Some kind of royalty?" Raghav asked him casually.

He didn't reply, and kept eating his dinner. His face looked pleased by the quality of the food.

"So, you're not going to answer me?" Raghav was still trying to make him talk. But he ignored Raghav.

"Look. I know about your lord and his army. I know you have been worshipping him, and now he has returned to this world. But you also look like a good guy. Then why don't you tell me whatever you know?" Raghav pleaded him with his honesty.

He stopped eating and thought for few seconds. He decided something and looked at Raghav with tearful eyes.

"Has he returned? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Absolutely sure. And he is going to destroy everyone and everything I love and care. So, please help me to save them. You're also human, then you have to help us." Raghav pleaded him.

"I can't. I am bonded with my lord. I can't betray him. He will know and he will punish us." His eyes were filled with regret and disappoinment towards his life.

"Your lord is going to finish you and me anyway. Then why don't you tell a way to stop him if you know any?" Raghav was trying to trick him into spilling the beans.

"My lord cannot be stopped by anyone. Except that measly creature of your world who banished him long ago. But now, if master has returned, then your so called 'Dark lord' should have lost to my master. He couldn't keep him locked away after all. My lord is the only one who is the most powerful." He was praising his lord without any thinking.

Raghav got irritated. He stopped before asking next question. Then he carefully asked,

"Your lord is evil and bad for our world. He might be your God, but for us, he is death and destroyer. And right now, I'm the one who is giving you a plate full of food to eat. So, why don't you stop praising the Lord you've never met and tell me how to stop him?"

The prisoner looked at his food for a second, then looked at Raghav. He couldn't decide what to say. He realized that Raghav was right, but also he wasn't ready to betray his lord.

Few moments later, he decided something and said,

"I cannot betray my lord, but I can help you to save your life. You're a good person, even though you imprisoned me here."

"Great" Raghav's hopes got high.

"My lord comes with the mist, which turns the marked humans into monsterous creatures. They are designed to kill everyone into their path. They're my lord's soldiers. He doesn't bring an army, he gathers it on the way." The prisoner said.

"And who are these marked people?" Raghav asked.

"It's based on their birth time. There is a time zone, which comes once in four years, when humans are born without your so called god's light. They can be easily marked by my lord or any other power as they are unprotected."

"So, they turn into monsters and start killing others."

"Yes."

"Then how should we stop them?"

"You don't stop them, you have to kill them."

"But these people have done nothing wrong. Can't they be saved by anyway? Like god's power?"

"No. Unless 'the one' who was promised to this world had touched them."

"The one, who?" Raghav was confused now.

"The one, who was promised to this world by your gods to protect those who were unprotected by them. If he touches them, they can come back and cannot be marked again"

"So, if we find this one person, who seems to have godly power, we can save them. Unless, we have only option to kill them?"

"Yes"

"Oh God!"

"Don't call your god in front of me. It makes me sick." The prisoner made a weird expressions.

Raghav looked at him with disbelief and said,

"It is your lord, who kills and destroyes other's lives. And you're offended by my God? You're unbelievable!"

He gave hateful expressions to Raghav and resumed his dinner.

Raghav finished his dinner and asked,

"Why don't you come out with me tonight? I'm going to check out the situation".

The prisoner looked at him with awe and nodded, saying 'why not'.

Strange things were happening in the world and Raghav was trying to find stranger solutions. He had to try something, if he wanted to survive. And he was determined to try everything.

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