CHAPTER 31 – Arson

"Illusions may work. Or if not, I could just… paralyze him," Scelesthe says, with her one eye closed, and the other focused.

"It doesn't work on me… sometimes," Witch says.

"The theory is that he is still an Exterior-Being, but one 'possessed' by this parasite right?" Scelesthe asks, her hand still not moving, and balancing a needle on her thumb.

"That's not how you hold it," Rusk says.

The index finger, behind the needle, shoots forward, and with a sound, the needle shoots forward too, and pierces an apple.

Why are apples always the target? I wonder.

"Did it…?" Rusk asks and goes silent, as it indeed had hit the brown spot on the apple.

"So I guess the UoL will work. As it does on every Exterior-Being," Scelesthe shrugs. "If it doesn't…"

"We will use force clap," Psyand says, and fistbumps into Forcerer's palm.

But in the evening end, the illusions clearly work, as the Exterior-Beings stop, and Other-Being gets agitated.

But what was this illusion of a doppelganger? It was unexpected to this old man, just like why people use apples for target.

These two similar-looking beings fight in front of my old-self. Feather grabs and coats me with his wings.

Maybe seeing this, the illusion, or maybe the real, pushes the other towards the back, and everyone pushes themselves to the sides of the stairs, and grant the two passage towards the frozen Exterior-Beings.

The fight of a mere seconds seems so painful for the two, hearing the thuds. How could such jelly-flesh beings cause such… intense power, while fighting like that?

Something weird happens, the time finally moves faster, after one of the Other-Being pushes the other, and out of one of them, Thunder falls out, and Scelesthe gets a hold of him, and they fall to the mid-section of the stairs.

"You ok?" Rusk asks.

Looking closer, Scelesthe and Thunder weren't exactly on the ground, but were floating… laying on a force field.

"Don't waste your energy, Rusk," Scelesthe says, and lifts Thunder alongside her. "You alright?"

"N-no… we need to move fast. We don't have time," Thunder says. "But I can't walk… legs are jelly."

Scelesthe effortlessly lifts Thunder and places him on her shoulder. Right after, as the fight seems to continue, we make our way downstairs, and move into a room we had made ready for ourselves.

The drying smell of the gasoline, spread across the building, makes my nose itchy.

"Are you ok, Grandpa?" Feather asks me.

I nod while my hands shiver and leave from Feather's support. I sit down whilst shivering.

Lost-Bird switches on the monitors to see the live feed from the cameras.

The computer and cameras were being powered by a huge generator, which had been EMP-proofed. It was in case Other-Being does something like that. But the power capacity wasn't too much.

As I gaze through the screens, cameras keep getting broken, and Scelesthe sighs and removes the cables from the plug, after many static screens being ejected from the screen, by Lost-Bird.

"Hey!" Lost-Bird reacts to Scelesthe's actions. But even when doing so, he keeps his eyes peeled at his mobile screen.

"Last few left. Just use your phone," Scelesthe says.

In such a scenario, we had decided to let the remaining capacity of the generator be used for the great blast we were planning. For which… I was the bomb.

Everybody send me to the back. Scelesthe and Witch stand at the front, with Forcerer and Feather at their sides. Lost-Bird and Psyand's mother stand next in-line, with Psyand right in-between, but behind them.

I just move backwards and turn to my side to find Rusk sitting on the floor, with a box ready to be opened. And Edward readying his gun, while covering the fainted Thunder.

Lost-Bird keeps looking at his phone, while everyone except me, look straight ahead, ready to fight. We hear sounds from the phone, slowly cameras going static, and Lost-Bird disconnecting from such cameras.

A lot of time passes, while everyone waits silently. Everyone's breathing gets heavier this way, and very audible.

"Anyone could hear that there are people here," Scelesthe says.

"Good," Forcerer says, and Scelesthe gives him a disagreement-reaction.

"He's here," Lost-Bird says, and everyone readies themselves again.

I see pixels of image on Lost-Bird's phone, from where I'm standing. Other-Being turns his head, and even this last camera goes static, and Lost-Bird puts away his phone.

We hear Exterior-Beings roaring and chills run down my spine. Basically, if it were to be seen this way, it was a ten-versus-ten battle.

A desperate knock appears at the door.

"Guys open the door soon," someone says.

I hear gasps, and the door automatically opens, as Psyand stretches her hand out and runs forward, from between everyone. The person outside, with his hand stretched out to knock, looks at Psyand run towards him, and just stands there, while she hugs him.

"Ah, what a warm welcome," Wrap says.

I look at him, with goosebumps running down my spine… I had forgotten to give him his daily dosage… was he okay now? What miracle was this?

Or perhaps an illusion?

Even so, Rusk rushes ahead, putting down the box. Lost-Bird and Scelesthe rush forward too, and they have a group hug.

"Yeah, um…" Wrap says, and the whole hugging group moves inside the room, while getting lifted by him. "Uh," Wrap says in pain, and everyone release him, except Psyand. "I have heart problems, you guys must have figured that out right?"

Witch walks behind the group, and outside the door. "They are coming."

"Yeah… I threw them all at once with all my power, almost breaking my heart. I'll explain later," Wrap says. "Hey, you still got any steroids left on you? I really could use some."

I reach to the box, and rush forward with it, while unboxing. And I hand Wrap a vial and a syringe, while he just stares at me. This way, Wrap injects himself.

"Aren't you that guy?" Wrap asks.

"Why do you use the steroids?" I ask, even when knowing the answer, but was unsure.

"He is helping us blow this place up, so it's cool," Lost-Bird says, patting on Wrap's shoulder. "We need to go elsewhere for that, let's go."

Scelesthe grabs Thunder again, and we step out to find Other-Being and the Exterior-Beings standing there.

"Is he the leader of Witch's nightmare?" Wrap asks.

"Something of that sort," Witch says.

As an Exterior-Beings pounce towards us, they get thrown away by Psyand and Forcerer. The Other-Being simply moves his head and both of them levitate in the air. Psyand screams in pain and fear, and I grab her.

Wrap rushes ahead while a loud sound resonates from around him. His arm becomes distorted in ways, and such an arm hits Other-Being, and smashes the other Exterior-Beings.

Witch runs towards the fallen Other-Being, and starts fighting him. When her body freezes, Wrap punches Other-Being, who just keeps staring at the incoming punches.

"What are you?" Other-Being addresses Wrap.

The rest of the group makes way towards the stairs, as the two cover for us. As we reach the stairs, I glance back to see Wrap fighting alongside a wild-animal on his side… was that Witch?

But even such a shape freezes and gets thrown by Other-Being.

I also see corpses of Exterior-Beings lying there, torn apart. In such few moments I had looked away for.

Psyand grabs Witch from mid-air, and steals her to this corner.

Psyand's mother goes in between the two, and a dizzy and normal human-like Witch joins us.

Wrap runs towards us, while punching the chasing Exterior-Beings with his coated arm, and we head upstairs. But Other-Being just stares at him with twitching eyes. In the end, he glances at me, for one split moment.

At the upper floor, we find something which could be mistaken for an alarm-bell, or a rather large bug, but, was a big black balloon we had placed.

The floor breaks, and Other-Being arrives at this floor, while still staring at us.

Rusk covers the stairs, to stop the Exterior-Beings from reaching us, Wrap falls to the ground, and another shield appears to stop Other-Being.

Witch, in support of Psyand's mother, slips down to the floor too.

"Agh," Rusk says, as his shield, which is in front of Other-Being, breaks.

"Some of you can do nothing," Other-Being says. "But some of you-"

I jump in between a projectile making its way past me, and it strikes my palm, making a large arc of a cut, due to its spinning. I shudder with pain, as blood oozes out. The needle simply falls to the ground, with me.

"Grandpa!" Scelesthe, who had thrown it, says.

Everyone gathers around me, as if that can heal the cut.

"…what meaning is this?" Other-Being asks, looking confused, while everyone by my side is shook.

The target, the balloon with my 'explosive chemical mix', right at the Other-Being's side, stays intact. And I take a sigh of relief.

"Grandpa!" Feather continues chanting, while holding and shaking me to keep my eyes open, as my one hand searches the floor.

"Feather…" I say, weakly, while making sure that Feather doesn't move.

Feather just looks at me, and at all the blood falling out.

"There is no such thing as an explosive chemical mixture, which I can make."

"What?"

I see Scelesthe's eyes move with realisation.

"Well, you need to study harder," I scoff, with clenched teeth. "That was a lie."

Lost-Bird's eyes move, as if questioning how a person who could be easily harmed this way… could be any help.

"But… it makes… what is the meaning?" Feather asks.

"G-guys," Wrap says.

Other-Being walks towards us, with about five steps remaining between us, and still closing in.

I hear a click, and rub my wounded-palm across the floor, before getting up. I slash my hand, as if making a trajectory to slap, the trajectory passing from where the click is from, and towards the empty space of two steps, between danger and us.

And danger stops.

"Interesting," Other-Being says.

"Grandpa…" Feather says. "Are you…?"

I hold my wounded, but now-healed, hand on fire, in front of me, like a shield.

"Now… will you just simply explain your intent?" I raise my eyebrow at Other-Being.

Other-Being looks at my hand, which is on fire, yet not burning me.

"What is with some of you? You think you are special? I don't understand," Other-Being says, and jerks ahead, but I hold him with my burning hand. He just clenches his teeth and tries to take it, but then starts screaming, and moves away from me.

"You really don't think I made a mixture for nothing?"

It was the reason I had asked for Witch to be covered. But after her transformation… no wonder she was weakened now, while her clothing were torn.

Lost-Bird had told me about this, that Witch could feel another kind of burn, because of her skin. That is, the burn from chilli powder. If that chilli powder could make her skin burn and get her dizzy, the sizzling hot chilli powder on a 'rip-off' is… lethal.

I unbox a syringe, and dose myself with it, and then another.

Rusk holds my dizzy falling body.

I shake the feeling off, as the fire on my hand gets hotter, and I still don't feel pain from it.

"I'm sorry. I know you really will be needing one, to shield everyone but…" I say, and get up. "I will get you out."

Other-Being looks at me, and red sparks surround him, red sparks almost similar to that person with the knife, not too long ago.

"Shield yourself," I say, while leaving their side.

I rush forward, at these sparks. They hit me like a heat which I had never felt, a heat which burns my skin and induces pain. But I grip the needle in my hand, and push it towards the balloon, with my flaming-hand, and while groaning with pain.

The balloon bursts. The liquid contained inside, touches me, and turns into flames, while splashing around. The flame passes through the path we had made, all around the building, and heavily towards the room we were in, towards the generator.

By the time I turn towards the people behind me, flames burst out, breaking glass and weak walls with an explosion. One such weak wall being right at our feet, we fall. Even when I fall, I make the flames hitting against the force-field, to stop their continuous perseverance.

As I brace for my fall, while keeping my focus, something cuts into my throat, my hands, and spots of my back, making me lose my focus. I levitate for a moment, as a blast tries to throw me upwards, but I just fall again, and fall to an unknown floor below me, and I simply let the uncontrollable explosion happen, helplessly.

Hands find my fallen self on the floor, and lift me by my neck. Flames bring to me a piece of metal, and I cut the hand of Other-Being, gripping onto my throat.

"Annoying!" Other-Being groans, and kicks me.

"No, I was in the military! Your moves are annoying!"

I push forward, as the flames around me help.

Now that those people were out of here, I could finally have my focus on this. Even these Exterior-Beings, they would've burned down.

I hold the head and shoulder of Other-Being, and push him behind me, while kicking him.

How could this person still not have burned? His skin… red.

I scratch the itch in my throat. Even when it had healed already, many wounds on my body itch. Specifically the ones I had felt just a while ago.

"I l-liked t-the others-s," Other-Being says, while not moving an inch.

"Me too," I say.

As I feel presences around me, and realise that the demise of Exterior-Beings was untrue, the heat and the fire around me increases, and Other-Being screams without breaking in his voice.

Even through this, Other-Being pounces ahead, with his little army dead. Red sparks, acting like tentacles, lift him, while flames do the same to me. He extends his hands, and closes the distance by forming sparks between us, and it shooting at me.

I remember Edward's words, "It is energy right?"

I extend my hand, to grab this energy, to see what it was, and not just feel the pain it causes.

"So add more impurities of energy to it, and it'd become nothing. Basi-"

"-Pa!" my daughter's voice hits me, while she shakes me from my still. "What are you trying to hold?" I look at my extended hand, far from touching the spoon.

I look around me, and find my daughter, my wife, my son in-law, his father, this dinner table, and… my granddaughter.

"That is not where your spoon-"

"-talk to him in our language," my wife scolds my daughter, in Gujarati.

"I'm only training his English, that's all," my daughter smiles at me.

…And this conversation.

I remember this night. This is the night after which… I became Arson.