Kaysan: Monsters- Savage, Bloodthirsty… Bank Robbers?

Kaysan Hussein grabbed Aryan’s hand when he began to fall the second time. As Kaysan looked down, he saw the broken section of the roof disappear in dust clouds and heard it hit pavement a second later. 

“Dude! Don’t you dare let go!” Aryan shouted.

He snorted. I can lift trucks but I don’t have the strength to pull you up? Kaysan thought.

“Pulling you up is like picking up a straw.” He hauled him up with ease.

Aryan began to brush the dirt off his clothes. 

“What just happened?”

“Humair destroyed the mall. And the mall destroyed part of this building, the section where you were standing on.” 

Silence enveloped the scene as Kaysan glanced at the shopping mall again. Humair’s explosion had disintegrated it to ruins. The rest of the buildings loomed bright in the moonlight, casting shadows over the rubble. Most of the surrounding buildings had dark holes where the roof and walls had collapsed. The explosion had sent debris flying into surrounding buildings, damaging them. The office next to them had been torn down in half. Its fallen half was a pile of wreckage blocking the street. The power was out, drowning the neighborhood in darkness, except where the moonlight shone.

“Humair?” Aryan whispered beside him. “HUMAIR!” He dashed towards the pile of rubble and frantically dug through it with his bare hands. In a distance, sirens rang. Kaysan didn’t join him. Instead, he scanned the wreckage for the last place he saw Humair. He feared they were already too late.

Finally he began to search at the center of the ruins. He ploughed through the debris with a heavy heart. Minutes passed but still no sign of Humair. The sirens grew louder; the police would arrive in any moment. You have to be alive. You can’t die now. Suddenly he noticed movement beside him. Something burst out of the concrete. It was a hand!

“Humair!” Kaysan called out as he rushed forward. He helped him crawl out of the debris.

“You’re alive!” Aryan exclaimed. “Knew you’d make it!”

“No one else is hurt, right?” Humair said. His voice was faint.

“Yeah, everyone’s fine,” Aryan said quickly.

Dust and blood matted Humair’s curly hair and his clothes were the same; tattered and bloody from all the cuts he received while being buried under tons of concrete. But he said there was no need to take him to Base. They took him back to Kaysan’s house. They rested for thirty minutes before Aryan and Humair went back home.  

*   *   *   *   *

Kaysan woke up at eight o’clock the next day. He checked the long cut on his leg, all that remained was a faint scar; the benefit of Elnathian immunization. Ten minutes later, he was running across Bangladesh. For him, the entire country was a race track. Over the years, he had made a path to run through every morning. Usually he would do this at six, but last night’s battle left him exceedingly bruised. Humair will sleep till three o’clock in the afternoon, thought Kaysan. At least that’s what he did the last time he released the Spark Devil. This time it was more powerful, guess he’s getting stronger over the years.

He’s going to feel drained for a few days. All Elnathians had an attack like Humair’s. They would gather all of their strength and then blast out the energy in the form of their individual power. It was their most powerful weapon. It was also the most difficult to master. Kaysan’s was the Dark Grave and Aryan’s was the Fiery End.

The attacks were dangerous to both monsters and Elnathians themselves. Used too often, they could literally burn up all of their powers, lose them forever. Kaysan knew the risks too well. When he was ten, he had secretly practiced the Dark Grave until he was too weak to make a puddle for the next three months. Ever since then he practiced the attack only twice a year. He suspected that his Dark Grave was more powerful than most Elnathians’ in the world. But it wasn’t enough for him. He still wasn’t strong enough.

As he ran past coastal areas, his thoughts shifted back to the night before. Humair was right. The Bone Claws were too aggressive. They deserved to get beaten like that. But what happened to them? Why were they so aggressive? And those Frost Lions too. Attacked Aryan as if he was made of water instead of fire. Was there something else going on last night?

An hour later, he went back home. Last night’s events still troubled him as he walked into his bathroom; ignoring the fire-breathing dragon glaring at him from his mirror. He hated mirrors. His room was devoid of them. As for his bathroom mirror, since he couldn’t remove it without angering the landlord, he had painted an angry dragon on it to hide the reflective surface. He had no wish to see his face, especially the scar on his eyebrow which was like a constant reminder of his worst failure. All he wanted to see was one particular man dead.

Two hours later, Kaysan walked over to the grocery store. It was a hot Saturday morning and the streets were full of people, mostly on errands. Two pretty teenage girls were walking by. One of them spotted Kaysan and gave him a coy smile. His heart skipped a beat. Forget it. I don’t date. He looked away and walked faster. Within five minutes he forgot about her.

By the time he reached the store, sweat poured down his face and neck. Thanks a lot Global Warming. There was a huge lake in front of the store so a cool breeze comforted him before he entered the air-conditioned interior. He bought every item on his mother’s grocery list. At the cash counter, he saw some magazines on display. The latest edition of his mother’s favorite magazine was there so he decided to buy that for her. As he was paying the shopkeeper, a roar reached his ears. He turned.

A monster attacking in broad daylight? Monsters hate the sun.

Kaysan stared at the sea monster in the lake. Angry red blisters were already appearing on its tentacles. But it continued to destroy all of the houses and vehicles nearby. A quick glance showed him that no one was looking. He changed himself into his water form. Now if anyone looked at him, they would see a man made of water; sparkling like diamonds because of the sunlight and won’t recognize him.

He raced around the area, pulling civilians away from the monster’s snapping snake-heads. He dumped them on a random street away from the lake. Then he ran to the water’s edge. He shot water fast enough to pierce through flesh, forcing the monster to take notice of him. It was a Sea Hydra, a monster with nothing but eight icy-blue tentacles like a plant with no roots. Each tentacle was about sixty-foot long and five feet in diameter; ending in four-eyed serpentine heads. The blood-red eyes of one tentacle glared at him. Steam was rising from its head and Kaysan could hear it sizzle in the sun. This monster was more sensitive to sunlight than others.

The snake-head lunged at him. He dodged it and shot more water jets. The Sea Hydra gave a shrill roar. One of the heads suddenly shot a sickly green blob at Kaysan. He narrowly escaped. It hit a tree; burning down the entire plant in seconds. Great, now the thing’s firing acid from its mouth.

Standing at the edge of the lake with his eyes closed, his head down and fists clenched, Kaysan slowly let his power build up. He wasn’t trying the Dark Grave. But he needed lots of concentration. And power. The monster roared again; it was getting ready to spit acid. It was close to attacking. He was ready.

He started channeling his energy towards the middle of the lake. Although he could not see, he could feel the water moving. The monster felt it too; the movement was distracting. Suddenly Kaysan sent a mass of energy. He opened his eyes. The lake had transformed into a colossal whirlpool. And the Sea Hydra was squealing with rage- or was it fear? -as it got sucked right into the middle of the vortex. The sun beat down on the whole scene, lighting up the wild lake. It reminded Kaysan of a storm at sea, only without rain clouds. More power from him made the water swirl harder. The currents tore the monster’s flesh, discoloring the lake with its sea-green blood. The monster soon disappeared. It sank to the bottom of the lake. Kaysan stopped the whirlpool. Hope you enjoy Hell.

With a smug smile, he walked back to the store, shifting to his human form. Suddenly he heard a loathsome sound. He turned and saw the supposedly deceased monster emerging from the water. It roared its sickening roar and reeled towards him, still spitting acid.

The Sea Hydra was livid. It attacked at full power, changing its jets of acid into a rain of acid. Kaysan made a wall of water rise from the edge of the lake, shielding himself. The wall became greenish but it neutralized the acid. Suddenly a snake-head dove through the wall and sank its needle-like teeth into Kaysan’s arm, breaking through bone. A gasp escaped his lips.

He grabbed the snake-head. He twisted its neck hard enough to sever it. That’s it. Ending the water wall, he ran away before the acid could reach him. Fueled by anger, Kaysan ran into the lake and stopped when the water was halfway up his thighs.

His arm was healing but it seared. He ignored it. He shifted to his water mode, closed his eyes again and the lake shook as he gathered his strength. Elnathian power flowed through his veins, heating him up drastically but it didn’t make him evaporate. Even through his rage, he could enjoy himself. Extreme levels of power made him feel alive. However, too much power had severe side effects. He was close to the limit.

The water around him rose. It formed a wave as tall as a ten-storied building.

“You’re sushi!” he yelled.

He sent the wave right at the monster. With a roar it threw the monster out of the lake. There was a sound like a cannon blast as the Sea Hydra fell on the lakeside road. It cracked the road into large fragments, smashed the trees and cars. While it lay unmoving, its stomach, where all of its tentacles sprouted from, began to blister. At the center of its belly was a dark circle of skin shinning in the sunlight. That was the monster’s weak spot. Kaysan walked out of the lake. He tore out a long piece of metal from a smashed car and threw it at the monster.

It punctured the Sea Hydra’s stomach. All of the heads howled in pain. The red fire in its eyes vanished. Like grains of sand blown by the wind, each tiny particle of its snake-heads separated from its body and flew into the air before disappearing. Its heads, tentacles then its stomach vanished rapidly in this way; disintegrating to nothing in mere seconds. That was why they never had to dispose of any dead monsters. Monsters disappeared themselves; leaving no trace of their existence. 

Breathing heavily, Kaysan trudged onto the lakeside road. Most of his energy had disappeared. The bite on his arm was still painful. People started to come out from their hiding places. They stared at Kaysan with all kind of expressions; from wonder and amazement to fear and hostility. Somehow he managed to run away at his supersonic speed. Within seconds he was in an empty, shadowy alley near his apartment. He changed into his human form then walked home in normal human speed.

Entering the building, he cringed. The bone was partially healed but the burning had increased. No one was there so he poured water on his wound. The acid was finally neutralized. He climbed into the lift and went to the fourth floor. And got busted.

A woman rang the bell at his door just as the lift doors opened. She noticed him the same time he noticed her. Kaysan froze. It wasn’t any random neighbor. It was his mother’s younger sister, Aunt Malika.

She gasped.

“Kaysan, what happened?”
 

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