Spells

Chapter 18: The Creature

Arul

There was no pain, no suffocation and no unconsciousness this time. Arul coughed a little from the odorless smoke, cleared his throat, and felt fine again. Satya was looking at him curiously, he guessed to perform a miraculous feat of strength. Arul picked a pebble, felt it in his hands, and threw it. It landed no more away than usual, maybe even less.

"Do you feel stronger?" Satya asked.

Arul shook his head in response and stood up. The only thing he was feeling right then was sadness. He didn't realise before that he wanted the spell to work this much. There was always the chance that he got something wrong with the ingredients, but he didn't think so this time. And he had no intention to try again, his curiosity was satisfied. He was done.

"What now?" Satya followed Arul outside the area.

"Now, I focus on your Playstation," Arul replied, and clutching his chest continued dramatically, "Playstation is good. It is simple. It entertains me forever without ever asking anything in return. It doesn't hurt, and it doesn't make me do errands and then give nothing in return. Stupid book! I want to throw it at the face of whoever wrote it."

His friend chuckled, and together they walked back. They said their goodbyes at Satya's house, and Arul rushed to reach home in time, deciding to take a shortcut through the woods. His siblings would start arriving soon and he didn't want them asking questions about his whereabouts.

This route, full of holes and bumps but still much shorter, cut through Char road and opened directly a few blocks behind his house.  It wasn't until he was well in the thick of the trees that he remembered his Dad's warning, "There could be a dangerous animal, responsible for the killing, still roaming here in Kuldhara. We, and the forest officials have yet to catch him. There had been no sightings and in a day or two it would be safe to assume it went back to forest. But avoid wandering alone or going through the woods until then for the next few days."

All his siblings had given him a version of their own warning, and he had still forgotten. He had been too distracted thinking about the spell. Arul grunted in  frustration at himself.

Arul stopped rushing and started walking... quietly. It was too late to turn back around, just a few hundred meters and he would be out. The rain yesterday had turned the ground into mud there, and his steps produced a squishy noise. Like it always was in Kuldhara, there were no sounds of birds chirping... Or bees buzzing... Or people talking. It was complete silence, just the sound of his footsteps... And another sound. Arul's ears perked up. He stopped and listened. There was another sound, a very low rhythmic 'THUMP'. It was barely audible before, but the loudness was increasing. Whatever the source was, it was coming closer to him and fast. Suddenly he felt terrified.

' THUMP! THUMP! CRUNCHHH!!!'

It was in the trees. Arul looked up..

Is it a monkey? No, sounds heavier. And much bigger!

Trees in Kuldhara were much different from back in Jaipur, they were a lot taller and wider. Densely packed leaves were shaped in cones, his eyes not able to pierce through to see whatever was hiding behind it. Arul felt his mouth dry up and his throat closed waiting for the next sound. There weren't any for a few moments, and then he heard a distinctive 'WHOOSH!'.

It, whatever it was, was coming down!

His body froze as It came into sight. A horrifying creature, surrounded by falling leaves, had gray decaying moist skin with a few large dark patches on its disfigured body. Some pieces of its covering were missing to reveal brownish bones underneath. The top of its head had a few long strands of matted down hair. The features of its face were all mushed together, the only distinct thing was a half-open colorless eye staring into the fear-ridden ones of Arul. The lone resemblance of the creature to a person was its human-like body shape. One look at it and Arul was convinced that it was the reason for the previous killing in town. And he would be its next victim.

It fell behind Arul, and stood up immediately, its body hunched down heavily and producing a deep growl from within. It opened its toothless mouth and all he saw within it was darkness. He didn't know how long he stood there staring at the creature from the abyss, but his brain continued to send signals to his legs - 'DEATH! DEATH! RUN! RUN! RUN!!!'. They finally responded, and Arul took a small step backwards, waited for the creature to react and when it didn't, took another. He was scared and nervous, sure that at any moment the creature would leap and rip his neck off. Its claws seemed big enough to do the job easily. He took another step and this time the creature responded. It bent its head a little and tightened its stance, as if preparing to attack. Arul took a deep breath, turned around and ran screaming.

The creature growled deafeningly and followed. Arul knew falling would mean death but he still risked a glance behind. The creature wasn't running, it was leaping continuously, taking long jumps. It would land in an awkward position, readjust, and leap again. It was still getting closer.

Arul looked ahead, the road where there might be people was still far away. So far away...

The creature would catch him and kill him before he could make it there. His cries and screams would die with him in the woods. He looked back again and saw the creature leaping at him, barely missing him. It would reach him in the next one. It lunged and Arul jumped sideways, just avoiding it. He fell against a tree and watched the creature stand up. Its growling stopped, it just tilted its head and stared. Arul knew it was over, he wouldn't be able to outrun it. Tears trickled from his eyes.

I would die here, all alone. I would die and I would never be able to see my family again, never be able to say goodbye to them, never be...

The creature lunged at him, cutting his thoughts short. Arul instinctively tried to use the tree as a pivot to escape, and was more than surprised and confused when the enormous tree uprooted in his hands and fell forwards, crushing the creature.

It growled and squirmed underneath the tree. Arul stood at a few feet distance , his sobs stopping. He looked at his shaking hands. They seemed normal but he could feel power flowing in them. Tremendous power!

It worked! The spell of Power worked!

The creature was trying to escape the tree's hold, getting closer to success. Arul felt panic in his heart again, and looked around for something, anything, to end it. His eyes fell on a boulder, almost the size of himself. He took a breath and picked it up, straining his muscles a little. He knew he would be able to. His muscles were tightened, his abdomen felt made of stone, his heart raced and he could imagine torrents of strength flowing inside of him.

He walked towards the creature, carrying his weapon. The creature stopped moving and looked at him, the one unblinking eye showing no emotion. Arul felt just a tiny bit of pity for it. It seemed the creature knew what was coming and had resigned to its fate.

Arul brought the boulder down fast, crushing the creature's head. It squished underneath the weight effortlessly. He let his breath go, and looked around, hoping to see people gathering towards him. There were none. He was still all alone, in the middle of the woods, along with the disgusting corpse of the monster, too confused and terrified to know what to do next. Arul turned back to leave. He would bring the first person he could find here, and they would explain just what the hell it is and take care of the rest. He just wanted to go to his family now.

Arul took a step away and the creature's body burst into flames.