CHAPTER TWO: WHITE LIGHT II

The two men dashed along the street dodging people, vehicles and even buildings…

They were fixated on the almost otherworldly plume of white light descending from the heavens to form a pillar…and almost ominous ladder of repulsive pressure.

According to the news, electrical gadgets of any form had stopped working in a 2 miles radius of the pillar leaving the city in a state of emergency, electricity was cut off as the city's generators were located within the 2 mile radius.

As expected, military and paramilitary personnel were crawling everywhere in the 2 mile radius with citizens all over the place trying to get close to the light…All sorts of theories were popping up on the internet…the craziest was about the light being an orbital laser that was about to start destruction.

'Dude…you should 'a at least left a man some dignity, what would people say now that they see with pajamas on?' Daichi questioned Toudou as they ran past a group of middle aged women that were glaring maliciously at him.

'Bro…doesn't that light look just like purgatory?' Toudou completely ignored Daichi's complaints.

'Now that you mention it…it does kinda look like purgatory'…Daichi realised.

'We gotta get closer…I've got a really bad feeling about this.' Toudou breathed as they rushed through the plethora of parked cars and onlooking passer-bys.

As they were skimming through the city carelessly, a shadowy figure was closely following behind them through the nooks and cranny of the city. Skilfully switching from alleyways to rooftops, the silhouette of the figure continued chasing after them until they reached the mall.

The entire mall was barricaded and swarming with both soldiers and police. The mall had two entrances, both of which were very well guarded. Apart from the hundreds of law enforcement officers swarming the place, there were three helicopters hovering over the mall, one belonging to the police, the other one to an unknown organisation and the last one to the media.

Behind the barricade tapes were worried citizens and prying journalists. Both the entrances were crowded with uneasy and curious citizens. Even though the government had given an official order for the mall to quarantined, there have been situations where citizens try to break through the barricade but they were immediately rebelled.

Toudou analysed the crowd before him before grabbing Daichi's hand and diving into the crowd of people. They started twirling and swerving through the heart of the crowd, bumping and pushing people, resulting in the impatient people screaming curses and throwing blows from every angle. Not a moment after, the already furious crowd turned violent and a riot began. Not even the media were left alone, their prying was not for naught...at least they have something to report now, just not to the firms they work for.

The military remained stationary while the police started following a new order to calm the riot. The two men that started the riot managed to reach the barricade but are now left with a lingering thought.

'Now, how do we get inside?' Toudou thought as he looked at the heavily armed military men standing guard like mannequins.

Not much time passed since they reached the barricade, Toudou looked back and saw the police already detaining most of the rioters.

'Come on, come on! What do we do?' Toudou muttered to himself again but this time around Daichi heard him.

'Let's just go home, this is worthless.' Daichi turned around attempting to walk away just to see a machete coming for his face, his face turned pale as the machete was too close to his face making it impossible for him to dodge. He closed his eyes shut waiting for the inevitable to come but instead of feeling the pain of the impact of the machete to his face, he felt something drag his torso back and moments later a thud by his feet. He slowly opened his eyes to see the same violent scene as before. Above his head was a machete filled with killing intent stopped by Toudou right after he struck the back of the head of the assailant. If toudou was one second slower, daichi would have been history.

'Snap out of it, i won't take any headless body home.' Daichi heard a shout from Toudou.

Having just escaped death, Daichi didn't argue with toudou as they try to get out of the crowd.

'Where next?' Daichi was curious as to where they were headed.

'Back to the apartment. Something really feels off man but there's nothing we can do.' Toudou announced.

They kept running until toudou stopped, 'let's follow that alleyway.'

'That will just increase the dis....'

Shut up and follow me. Toudou stopped daichi from completing his sentence.

They entered the alley and stopped.

'I don't know why you are following us, Come out.'

Toudou words were followed by silence.

'Bro, what are you talking about?' Daichi gave Toudou a puzzled look.

'I had a feeling, almost as if we were being followed.' Toudou eased up Daichi's confusion.

'Then we better hurry back.'

Seconds after they left, a man with an eerie presence appeared. His voice was croaky as he said,

'This boy instinct is good.' He then disappeared.

...

They ran until they reached near their apartment, Their breathings could be heard as they stopped just behind the building.

'I still have the feeling of being watched.' Toudou said while panting.

'Let's use the fence.' Toudou added.

They jumped over the fence and they saw the white light getting dimmer.

'Hey! what are you doing?!'

The leader of a group of police men shouted.

Before they could take action, they heard a loud bang from the gate and a crowd of people rushed in.

Bang!

A gunshot was heard,

Toudou jumped and pushed Daichi out of the bullets path.

Daichi was stunned, that bullet brushed past his ear. If he wasn't pushed out of the way, that sound would have been the last thing he heard. His mind was numb, all he could focus on was that sound of the bullet that would have been his end.

'Daichi!!'

Daichi opened his eyes as toudou yanked him towards himself.

Just when toudou was about to start running,he felt a chill run down his spine. He felt the presence of someone pursing him closely. As soon as he tried to stop in his tracks to take a look back, he felt a hand on his shoulder causing him to immediately stop in his tracks.

'What are you doing? The cops are still on our tail.' Daichi looked back at the stunned man.

Toudou ignored Daichi and turned his head to look over but his mind went blank.

When he opened his eyes,

He was still there standing but everyone else has disappeared, Well except Daichi. It took time for him to regain counsious but it was still less than the time Daichi took. They were completely puzzled and confused, one second they were running away from the police behind their apartment and the next, they're back at the mall, not where they were initially, inside the mall actually.

Even though they couldn't fathom what happened, it was to the best of their interests that they were brought here.

And how will they leave the building? One thing at a time they thought...

They could see the white light more clearly, they were inside the Hayasaka Mall, directly in front of the light protruding the heavens. They approached and but when toudou was about to touch it Daichi stopped him.

'Are you insane? You don't even know what that id.'

Toudou answered him with a smirk and touched the white light. 'I am that suicidal man, I'll always satisfy my curiosity even if it kills me.'

He didn't feel anything, his hands just passed through it.

Daichi touched it too, but his reaction was different. His hands jolted.

He pulled his hands as fast as he can and he looked at Toudou with a grave expression.

'Didn't you feel that?'

'What?'

'That was the same feeling I got when I almost died.'

'Oh please, stop being such a baby.'

'I'll show you who's a baby.'

Daichi tried to put his hand back but this time it was the light that reacted first.

It sent out a shockwave that pushed daichi out of the yard. He hit the wall and coughed out 5 consecutive mouthfull of blood.

Toudou tried to help him but the light sucked him in again then it spat him out sending him flying again.

Toudou ran to help him. As soon as he reached him, he saw a black box with his name printed on its cover next to Daichi. He helped Daichi sit up and lean against the wall while reflexively hiding the box away from Daichi's gaze who was currently dealing with alot of pain.

He took a walk back to light to get away from Daichi with the excuse of looking for another exit, as he was walking, he didn't hesitate to pry the box but his mind was stunned from what he saw.