My thoughts began to flicker back and forth, from negative to positive, the moment I stepped out of the cave. It was as though standing between two trains crossing each other. I presumed Almourah's dark magic was pervaded in his territory, what else could it be. It must be his way of scare anyone away from getting closer to him. I was determined to do it tonight, Tyrell wanted me to as well. Even though feeling uneasy about the whole thing, I walked my way towards the lighthouse.

Step after step. Thought after thought. My mind was a fuss. He was making it bleary. Lighthouse was right up ahead, standing tall piercing through the sky. I trudged along with its dappled shadows. With every step I took, the shackles of fear loosened. I talked through myself that I wasn't doing this because of some pact made a thousand years ago, but for the people I loved, for the country, I wanted to love.

My heart began to hammer so hard that I could hear it beating. I stepped into the lighthouse, the rotten smell becoming stronger and awful. It was like sitting in a huge garbage bin filled with blood-leaking dead bodies. My eyes were still droopy and now involuntarily shrunk, streaming with moisture. It was getting unbearable and I had to pinch my nose as I stepped further in.

Darker and strangely inclement. I lit my fingers and moved my hand, taking my mind off Nazira who was staring at me with her fearful and tired eyes, as if she has been crying for a while. There was absolutely nothing at all to scrutinize in this lighthouse. Except the aged spiral wooden staircase, raising high and steep into the murky gloom.

Thud!

I was startled at the sound but it didn't scare me from stepping up the stairs that began to vibrate like a hammock. It was the thud of the chopped wood echoing throughout the lighthouse.

Thud!

My heart leaped to my mouth, a hard lump forming in my throat making me difficult to swallow. The threads were unstable. Besides the shakiness, the banister felt clammy and I didn't need to think twice that it was covered with blood. I increased the intensity of my fire, and I kept climbing up. Gibbets came into the picture, they were anywhere overhung from the ceiling. Inside were the sliced decomposing pieces of Matsyasvi.

My pervading senses, the intolerable smell and the sound of the dismantling of the wood, made me more nervous than I already was. I quickened my pace to feel less scared and gave a halt only at the last thread of the stairs.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

The sound was nearer and louder now. I made my way towards it, my hands lit, and fire intact. There was a faint flicker of the lantern in the narrow passageway leading me towards the small arched entrance. The thudding sound was coming right from inside the room and I felt luring towards it. Within moments, I stood beneath the arched doorway.

My eyes watered as I squinted. There was lumber spread over the stone-flagged floor of this chamber. Freshly rooted out Vrindahina trees, most of the leaves plucked off and its wooden trunks segregated. A pile of hefty tombs and caskets were clustered upon one another. The most disgusting part of the chamber was the corner where the human organs and the tails of the Matsyasvi, as raw as the carcass stationed at the butchers were lying helpless. Blood, torn muscle, innards and whatnot, the spectacle of his insanity driven by the thousand-year-old hatred was a horrific sight to behold.

I swallowed hard and gazed through my moistened eyes in the middle of the chamber. There he was, sitting on the floor. His bared back sweaty, bloody and greasy with his matted hair stuck to his ghostly pale skin, was faced towards me. Red and zigzag streaks of veins visible like the branches of trees. He pulled his long legs covered with a shabby black loincloth slightly up. One of his hands holding the trunk of the tree and the other, the Blade. It wasn't anything to marvel at, just the normal bland carved wooden piece of the legendary dagger.

I took a minute to settle the fact that the one sitting in front of me was the pioneer of all the dark magic users of Paramarashtra. What have you done to yourself?- was the instant thought that aroused in my heart, an unnecessary sympathetic feeling towards my own friend.

He is not, my conscience screamed at me, inflamed with hatred. Don't forget, your friend is suffering because of him.

He ran the blade through the wood. Thud! the chamber vibrated. He lifted again and...

"Almourah!" I uttered his name, loud and insistent, my voice rumbling like a wave throughout the chamber.

His hand halted over his head, the blunt portion of the dagger angled downwards. He gave a grunt, his beefed up shoulders swelled, muscled tightened with alertness. I took a step inside, keeping my focus off the smell and felt the revolting chilliness that was inside this room.

"I'm here," I said, unplanned and unintentional words flowing out of my mouth, "What else do you want to leave the country alone?"

The Blade dropped out of his hand and tumbled down to the floor. He continued to make grunting sounds reminding me of a wild hog. He jerked his face back and lifted his heavy body up, now facing me head-on.

Adrenaline rushed through my nerves, heart pounding a ba-boom finding us gazing at each other. He was about seven feet tall. His face as pale as the rest of his body, but covered with dark shaggy and wet hair, beard so long that it flopped down reaching his torso. It was wet, dabbled with blood. Eyes, pitch black and bulbous clamped onto me, never looking away. He tilted his face slightly as if being surprised for having me stand daringly in front of him. He stopped grunting, stood silent, his high cheekbones stretched a little as if a smile smeared across that mouth hidden somewhere beneath the beard.

Flames shot out of my hands, rising up to my shoulders. "Think twice before you wish for it!" Nazira said, her eyes enlarged with overwhelming anger and tears.

I was momentarily startled by her statement. What did she mean? Although, she didn't look like the Nazira I cared the most about. She was someone else now.

Almourah's lower body suddenly looked skinnier when he remained silent a slain as if wanting me to make the first move.

I took another step inside, concentrating hard on my stone. I uttered a wordless command and the flames turned into a fiery fire with the temperature of lava and let it reverberate through the room. The chilliness in the chamber got overridden by the warmth gushing out of my palms. I made sure nothing happened to the trunks of the Holy trees. Doctor respected them, and so I shall. Although, the dead bodies and the organs blazed up in flames and crackled undergoing the final disposition they deserved.

The fire raged inside the chamber, swirled and pulsated with glowing embers, colours of orange and red giving way to yellow and white at the center. Surprisingly, the chamber was still silent, just the soft roar of my Formation. The chamber filled with instant smoke rising from the pyre burning the bodies. I coughed, letting my fire go and to check if there was any impact. What was I thinking? It was Almourah, not Shaytan Rup, to die with a single swirl of my fire.

My eyes shot open finding him simply stand there- unmoved, unfazed and unhurt- gazing at me unblinking and his head tilted. Not even a tiny spark of my fire had bothered him. His cheekbones still high, smile yet lingering. I was absolutely aware that he wasn't going to die, not atleast without the Blade that was lying beside his hairy, mangled feet. There wasn't even a scratch though and it irked me. Apart from bearing the second heart, wasn't he normal unlike the rest of his clan? Wasn't his body still made of flesh and blood?

Nazira was persistently watching me over when I tried again. Threw balls of fire at him. The flames definitely were rushing towards him, but on reaching his vicinity, either they were getting diverted from the path or simply vanishing into thin air. I tried with different Formations for the next few minutes, using different routes, attacking with all my valiance.  I also tried to trick him to move away from the place where he was standing. My intention was to get a hold of the last piece of the dagger. But to no avail. He never moved an inch. He simply stood unscathed.

I began to breathe heavily, reeling my mind. I cannot be naive. Doctor and Celina both had failed against him. Doctor, with five kinetic powers, was no match against Almourah. And Celina, hasn't she got better tricks than I? Dark magic, I guessed, there was something about it that was repelling our kinetic powers.

I was still breathing, slightly bent down clutching my knees, thinking of my way to get to him. Perhaps hand to hand combat would help?

Then there was a shift, like a sudden spark of lightning. Almourah moved by himself. He took slow steps at first and then advanced swiftly, hands flinging violently. Every step he took rattled my bones, my heart seemed to have skipped several beats. The ground he walked on shook pervading fright. I took a few steps back having my eyes bulged wide open watching the enormous body of Almourah headed straight towards me, wanting to make his move.

When I was almost against the wall and no way back, I used my stone again, fire shooting out of my palms. In doing so, he gripped my wrist, and flicked it like a gear of a car. Crack! My elbow joint broke, muscles torn and ruptured. Indescribable pain seared through my body. The whole chambered shuddered as I screamed with terrible anguish.

Combat was my only hope. I hurled my other arm at him. Useless. My hand simply passed through him. There was no feeling, no touch, it was as though I'd only waved in the air.

He lifted his other hand and gripped hold my neck and squashed it, similar to the way I always had the desire to kill. I choked and gagged when he pulled me up, scraping against the wall, lifting me clean off my feet.

Neck tremors paralyzed my body. My throat was closing up. Breathing became a painful chore. Almourah moved his face closer to mine, his eyes staring fiercely into mine as if searching for something beneath them. There was an immense amount of hatred in his eyes lit with malice. I was still choking up, pain making me vulnerable to concentrate on my stone.

He got closer and closer, and then slightly leaned aside. His nose only a few inches away from my skin over my neck.

He sniffed the air against my neck. And that made me feel repulsive, arousing an instant desire to puke all over his face.

"Pure soul!" He said, with a low abrasive voice, like a creek of the door opening. There was a twinge of disappointment but his voice was a sliver of an icy cut into my head. "Ain't no fun killing you. Ain't no fun dying in the hands of you. You ain't no him. Haima bluffed again. Go. Leave. I give you a chance. Return when you have a soul worthy to kill."

I looked down at him, my broken hand burning with pain and neck choking. He revealed his nightmarish canine teeth, with pieces of flesh trapped between them. A foul breath washed over me. It was hard to cope up. Yet, the name Haima triggered me to speak. "I have no freaking idea what you're talking about. Just give me the damn Blade. I'll show you if I'm worthy to kill you or not."

For a second, Almourah stared deep into my eyes, reading them. "Death before failure for you, is it not?"

I stared.

His hand around my neck loosened and I dropped down back on my feet, shivering and shaking. But Almourah's ordeal was just the beginning. He then shocked me with the viciousness of his attacks.

He held me by my jacket and thrust me against the wall. I hit hard and gasped loudly. I had to fight back even though the strength was drained out of me. Sparks flew out of my hand but not the actual flame. Almourah immediately clutched my hair and exerted a tiny amount of force but came like a jet rippling through me. He banged my head against the wall. There were nails shaped like talons hammered into the wall. I screamed feeling my skin on my forehead tearing and blood oozing out, a patch of scarlet glued on the wall and a dark streak leaked.

He banged- again and again, and again and again-until everything in front of my eyes faded, even the pain turned into a faint numbness. Darkness fell in the edges of my vision. I had held my breath before, but this complete shortage of breath was forcing me to have a respiratory arrest.

Almourah swirled me again, throwing me down to the floor with a force of a bullet. The floor cracked and stones shattered on the collision. I shrieked feeling a pair of my ribs broken inside my chest. Blood flooded into my mouth and I spit it away. The saltiness in my mouth was terrible to taste. He kicked me in my guts and I tumbled backward. He kicked me again. The pain was unbearable. I tried to crawl away from him- only if my broken rib cage had allowed me to.

I prayed for the pain to end this instant. I wasn't able to take it anymore. Almourah then held me up by my jacket, forced me to stand up and pulled me hastily with him. My vision was still darkened, I was blinded by pain and had no idea where he was dragging me to. The pace felt increasing.  Almourah grunted loudly lifting me slightly up in the air and swung me away.

I was thrown in the air. Any moment I was about to feel the impact. I was flying like a rock thrown towards the sky. Then the gravity acted up, plummeting me down. The impact was nowhere near, I was still in the air falling downwards. With the slight amount of sense I had, I guessed if I was thrown out of the window. The thought brought tears into my eyes. At last, with a huge thud, I crashed down, my head collided with a rock, giving me a notion of cracks splitting my head apart. In the brilliance of the moonlight, dark blood gushed out of my head, soaking my entire face.

Diminishing strength did not let me cry out. The pain was severe, it was eating me away. My breath escaping through strangled hiccups. There was a slight vagueness and I shuddered. What was this chilliness that was beginning to take over my body? I hiccuped again, doubting if it was really the weather. This was different, it was rising from the pit of my stomach, pushing something precious out of me. My eyes began to close, only to never to open again. I managed to pull one more breath, leaning further down. I was about to sail away.

Helpless, I let out a snicker, knowing what was happening to me.

Before I drifted off into a peaceful sleep, I caught an appearance a faint fuzziness in the shade of pale pink rushing towards me. Even though I wanted to open my eyes and see what it was, I wasn't able to. My brain was shutting off, and so were my eyes.

I wasn't normal, but my heart was human and fragile. It felt tired, and so was I. With a final hiccup, it bet for one last time.

"Sorry, Tyrell."

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Author's Note:  Sorry, Hayden.