Chapter 40 – Chaos laid (1)

"Stree!" Leo screams, looking at Stree… she had fallen to the ground… was she…

As I rush forward, I see a lady laughing, looking this way… this makes me shudder in my steps.

No, Leo! Get away!

I want to scream but I can't.

Leo looks up… his head shakes like my feet. His hand rises yet… and long black nails grow at the back of his fingers… fingers which he slashes towards the lady. With this, my bind fades… and the lady's wrist falls off of her arm.

The lady starts screaming in pain, holding her arm.

Getting back control of my own feet, I don't waste my time and go hold Leo… as if it'll save him. But his nails fade away instead.

"Black magic! BLACK MAGIC!" the lady screams, with tears running down her face.

"Leo! We need to… please!" Tyle comes from behind and requests Leo to co-operate.

But Leo doesn't let go of Stree… his face has no emotion, no tears. I could see only him staring at Stree, with my tear-clouded eyes.

Tyle hurries and lifts Stree instead. And Leo co-operates… even when we hurry from there, the lady only seems to scream with pain, and stare at Leo.

If Stree… then that scream…

I couldn't even, at this time…

So I run. We run. Away. Far away. Without getting tired of this. Cause we were scared.

Leo still didn't speak a word. Or show one emotion… but he sure continues staring at Stree… whose blood…

We find a letter in Stree's hand. By activating it… Agusth and Stree's last moments appear as words to us… and a few glances of images etch in our minds…

"Trinity," Leo finally speaks.

Nobody else utters a word.

I and Spythun lead everyone towards our cabin in the forest… one which even Mom didn't know of. One which… Agusth built for us. Here, only Tyle didn't know of this place. Nor does he question us about it.

Neither of us sleep, we just stay at the table… at least everyone except Leo and Spythun. The table with eight chairs… lays unfulfilled.

+

"The others…" I say, sitting besides Leo. "Wouldn't get it."

Leo doesn't say a word, nor looks at me. But I understand that he's listening.

"I'm the son of Lithin," I say, and Leo lifts his head but doesn't look at me: just ahead at another part of the same ground. "The son of Rahambose."

Leo just gets up and tries to leave, but I hold his hand.

"Take me back. We can still have hopes of saving Agusth. Trade me for her. He wants me, I'm the reason he came here."

Leo grabs my hand and glares at me. "They both are dead!" he hisses in the lowest but loudest voice he can, for my ears only. "Dream on if you think Agusth could stay alive, leaving her sister endangered."

My hands shiver while holding his, and he lets my grasp loose.

"Mourn here, Spythun. And leave me out of it!"

Leo walks away, deeper into the forest. And I sit there counting my zero hopes.

+

***

The eleventh of February, two-thousand-and-two. Peace at last?

Travelling the lands which we couldn't in my age, back when I was just Buster Fabula. Back when I was alone.

Now Villers makes us tea, in this land called India. And Fara… stays alert. She was the youngest here, fittest of us.

Perhaps I was the only weak one here. These two… are still half-dragons. But me, only a human. I wasn't what Fara once told me I was. Not this world.

"Ah, Christ!" Villers shrieks, after touching the hot pot with his bare hands… yet again.

"In which world does one repeat that same thing tens of times?" I ask, while dropping my pen down… I couldn't bring myself to write… again.

"My gloves Tarragon. That shithead ripped my gloves! We use gloves!"

"Oh she didn't mean to," Fara says, sitting at the front of our makeshift hut. "She wanted to go for the arms which foiled her plans… only for like a million times."

"Hands which put her in the ground," Villers scoffs. "Because your lazy asses were lazy!"

"Cause we literally-can we not do this? We are at peace for… a decade now. Why do we have to go over this, every once in a while?"

"Yeah, alright, alright. Here's your tea," Villers spills the tea from the filled cup, right when putting on the table.

He still goes ahead and does the same to the floor near to Fara. But also whimpers with pain of having to bend.

"Then tell me how your hot waters feels," Ivor grumpily asks while grabbing his mug of coffee from the table.

Fara takes a serenaded sip. "Best as ever."

"For someone who has some deep resentment towards tea, you sure fill a cup with aroma."

"Fuck off with the poetry already, Tar!"

"Come on now Ivor… we still love you, if you make us tea or not."

I carefully look at Villers and he freezes with his anger: and it fades away, as he grumbles and lays back on his couch.

Maybe the age was affecting all of us… it built a little fear in me, I wouldn't want this to end.

A loud thud goes off in the distance. I could swear I heard some kind of a faint whizzing before that. Were they the same thing?

I look at Fara and she puts her cup aside, while staring ahead and standing up.

"Son of a gun, I was merely having a thought of being away from dragons!" Villers says.

"Yeah, go get your gun," I say, getting up.

"That is clearly not what I said, but yes I must."

"I will go get some too," I say, while putting my cup to the table: but it spills and falls.

"So clumsy guys," Fara sighs, and continues sipping from her cup again.

I look outside and see the definition of what we could call a demon on two legs. Satan or something.

"You are Fara… aren't you?" the demon asks.

"Of course, and you know it - you imbecile. And you are Rusty's kid? I mean, you look very rusty and demonic… twenty five per cent only though. We could work on the rest."

That kid looked like he had already eaten Rusty for the protein.

"Incorrect… but yes, I'm the man beside Rusty's kid… who made him Rahambose. Call me Hate."

"Mm, a side hand with the weird name. Some kind of a henchman I see, lovely."

I and Villers simply move out of the back, as the two continue.

+

"I didn't come here for your compliments, Fara."

"Why else did you come then?" I fold my hands, while loving the confusion in his face.

"Well, Rusty's kid's twin made a Rahambose-Killer a while ago."

"You think it's me? I didn't even know they had twins. Tell me more."

"The twin is dead now, I killed him just last night. Or was it two days before? My time sense is a bit weak, you see. Even when all the time zones are indifferent, thanks to you three."

"Then the joke is on you, not me. I don't even know of such a thing being a thing. Interesting. Don't stop there."

"I have come here to end your life, Fara."

"And scene!" I say, but Hate doesn't seem impressed of Max's style. "You seem to be in that mood. Why now, when I was having a peaceful time?"

"Rahambose-Killer is a baby now, the kid will grow up and will come against me. And as we both are tied together forever, you will be drawn to the kid like a magnet. We all are connected. And whoever you be with, I can kill them later, and make sure I exist."

"Intelligent. I didn't think a Rahambose had such intuition. Still not surprising. Proud. But you see… a henchman is usually the first to die. Should've been the mastermind or something… or it is quite dangerous."

"Oh the only ones dying here is you three."

"Incorrect, it will be us two," I throw him a wink, right as the count in my head ends.

+

The makeshift hut blows into bits… and me and Villers duck down to the ground. Looking back at the fire and how we didn't get hit by anything… we take a sigh of relief.

But as we keep looking, the demon, Hate, gets up from the rubble and doesn't even look at us. He just… shoots off the ground. So that was the weird sound I heard, it was similar.

"How in the world didn't he die?" Villers asks.

"Ah… maroon body… maybe he was a red. I mistook him to be like a reddish-brown or something," I squint my eyes at the hot sun.

"We sacrificed Fara for this, you imbecile!" Villers pushes me.

"Don't worry… she's… got more lives than us."

"Right, and who is going to take care of a baby now? We need to even carry her to a safer place! We are in the middle of nowhere!"

"No worries, my pal Joseph Lispe will be here in no time," I happily declare.

"Joseph is dead, Tarragon. His car got blown to bits with him, remember?"

"Oh, oh my… I had forgotten about his funeral even. Rest in peace, friend," I close my eyes while facing the sky.

"Long road ahead, Tarragon… long-long road. And we need to make sure that Fara will be safe. No more counting her lives down, yeah?"

"Don't worry, I might just have a plan," I smile.

"Not again," Villers sighs.

"How about a lift, you two?" a voice arrives from behind.

"Something is hovering behind us, isn't it?" Villers sighs.

"Something is hovering behind us, sure."

We bring out our guns and turn behind… but right after looking at the view… we drop our guns and I even leave Villers behind and go hug the person who transforms back.

"Aw, my neck," Villers complains.

"Tony… I thought I'd never see any of you," I cry in her arms.

"I thought you wouldn't have missed me so much."

"Esterine guy," Villers says, and I find Line helping Villers stand stiff. "And Tony, good to see you…"

Tony sizzles with her teeth. "Halfway there. Quite a progress."

"And the others?" I ask, and Tony just looks at me with guilt. "Don't be guilty… I'm sure they'd be glad that it wasn't you guys."

"That's sweet of you, Tarragon. But can you not fall this way on my front? Could take you for a pervert."

I take Tony's shoulders and we sit me down.

"Rahambose?" I ask.

"Not the one you saw. But the bad twin, yes."

"Heard the twin part last. Heard the good one died," Villers says.

"What? Lithin… Wise is dead?" Line asks.

"Both a son, grandson… heck even my daughter," Villers says, looking defeated. "Why did I outlive them?"

"On a brighter side… we are not exactly sure of Rusty," Line says.

"Yeah, he… just disappeared one day. After crowning Lithin as the king."

"Said he wanted to search for something. Can't remember what."

"Was my Rusty the king?"

"Long story short, yes. Psychon… well, a big mess. You guys… the details are unnecessarily graphic."