He pulled him upward, feeling his grip slipping by. Afzal tightly gripped his waist, again safely tied to his body though now he needed to keep supporting him in regular intervals as the boy’s strength had been drained quickly.
He still did not consider his decision wrong. Leaving him behind was out of the question, the signs he had been showing; the quietness around that man, and then the constant trembling of his hands. He would have been an idiot to leave him behind. Though difficult and draining he was confident he could protect him.
Having resurfaced he took he inhaled not stopping until some water too went in. He was overcome with a fit of coughs but his mouth was tightly shut. Each cough rocked his chest. Just a split second of lapse and the water overpowered him, all he could achieve was flail as the air slipped from his mouth.
He felt a tapping, and he forcibly shot his hand through the water grabbing just in time to grab onto Afzal’s slipping arms. He did not pull him upwards like before instead power gather in his arm, he rotated, the boy's body shot upwards and just as Afzal’s upward momentum was coming to halt, he kicked. His arms splashed and he shot out of the water like a fish, briefly defying the gravity.
“Inhale as much as you can.”
He managed to blurt while coughing.
‘Shit!’
There was an ugly, misshapen bump on his leg, presumably where his kick had connected. Despite the pain he must have been feeling, he was bearing it in. Not letting out a sound while inhaling as much air as he could manage.
His arm moved towards the boy, tightly grabbing his arm. He had been worried for nothing, the boy had pulled ahead and as the gravity pulled back an idea came to his mind. His head swirled around, there was still no one around here.
He quickly repeated the act, blasting outwards but this time he quickly grabbed the boy while his palm angled towards the water.
‘Inferno’
A massive jet of fire shot out from his palm. The flames crashed into the water, and instantly steam rose. His alarm was quickly dismissed as his body shot away from the massive wall of steam. He kept repeating, each time his body crossed a few meters. One after another he cast without any breaks, it made the headache emerge but he forced it through until his flying body finally crossed the land.
He quickly sat up, bringing out the elixir. A single sip and the boy was as good as new. He closed his eyes, the crystal bitten within his mouth. It had now become a habit to bite on it even though he could just grab it with his hands.
As he let the energy flow into his body the memories of his complete helplessness within the water resurfaced.
‘It seems it was still puny compared to the power of nature.’
His attempt had been a complete failure. He had overestimated himself and underestimated the power held by water.
***
“Are you insane?”
“No.”
“You do act like one. Who in their right mind jumps when the channels are open?”
“Why don’t you just enjoy the experience? I am sure you are not going to repeat that anytime soon.”
“I am never going to do that again, thank you very much.”
They bickered along the way as they stepped into the fields. As far as his eyes could see there were fields. The whole area had a golden tint as the sun rained its light up the wheat, ready for harvest.
He took out the phone and set the location. Both of them walked upon the grass-covered mud pathways that were spread throughout the massive fields as though a massive web. The wind occasionally blew through the fields which were devoid of any other human besides them. Slowly the bickering between them stopped as they slowly and quietly traversed the paths while letting nature fill themselves. It was meditative, any tension from crossing the link canal slowly eroded away.
Despite the massive undertaking, he still had more strength within him. Despite the slow walks, the boy had slowed down, noticeably, compared to the start. To him, it mattered not as he matched the boy's pace. He was enjoying the atmosphere. The calmness, the peace.
There was no one attacking him. There were no groups of monsters that he had to constantly be careful of. There were no fights, no ambushes. Most of all there was no pain, something he had constantly been thanking God for.
It felt weird here now. Nearly half a day had passed since he had come out and it still did not feel real, had not felt real while he was driving with both of them asleep. Now that he was slowly walking through this beautiful scenery it felt even more alien.
His eyes constantly darted around, his fingers tensing at every sound. He had to forcefully stop himself from taking out weapons or casting spells. In a way back there it had been much easier.
There was no need to think. It was a given that everything wanted to kill him. He had not needed to think about complicated things.
***
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“That burst of fire.”
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“Weren’t your eyes covered, how did you see that.”
“Don’t try to change the topic. Tell me please.”
“It’s a skill. Bought it in the tower.”
“I never came across such skill on the internet. Which level of skill is it?”
“What is that?”
“Numerical sequence on which the skill appears.”
“And why does that even matter?”
“The higher sequence skill you have, the more powerful you are. So tell me, please”
He rolled his eyes at the Afzal trying to act cute despite nearing his eighteenth year.
“Don’t do that again, please.”
“At least tell me how many people were in your group?”
‘Group?’
He lightly remembered something like that. Unfortunately, unlike the old ladies' eatery that was still there in his memory and could be unearthed, he did not remember anything about the groups. He had a feeling there was something but nothing that came into his mind.
“How many members do they usually have?”
“Tell me and I will tell you.”
When his fingers lightly pinched his ears.
“Three, two…”
“Those in Africa usually have groups of five.”
“What about the rest of the world.”
“It's still random there.”
“So, you escaped from the prison, right?”
“Ye–”
“Then aren’t you the AIG, the one that got imprisoned years ago.”
“Very astute, is that the reason they kidnapped you?”
A new wave of winds started blowing and they again lapsed into silence, enjoying the calmness.
***
He was getting in the car when Abram opened the door.
“Let me drive, please, sitting there doing nothing makes me anxious.”
He considered it for a moment and then sat in the rear with Afzal.
The journey resumed and while the boy slept he kept searching on the internet. Most of the countries were restricting the access to towers, not allowing anyone near. Then others did nothing. It caused people to rush to the towers with the enticement of superhuman strength and magic and the elixirs.
Some were similar to his, giving the user external control over the energy, and then there was the other type whose skills seemed to change the user’s body. The change was different depending upon the element of the user.
So there was a reason he specifically named Africa.”
In Africa, especially in the countries that were still undergoing the civil conflict, the people had suddenly gained a way to survive and thrive. Once the first group came out, the people rushed towards the towers in droves. It was not much different even in the remaining countries as they did not pose any restrictions against going into the towers. The polar opposite was happening in most of the remaining world. Asides from some countries there were tight restrictions on even going near the tower.
He kept researching the internet, going through the articles, news, and videos. Especially the videos of people casting their magic. What pulled his attention was the second type of magic, the one that changed the body
The video started. A woman waved her hand, scars covering her body, not as many as his own he concluded. She said something in a language he did not understand and then she was gone, replaced by a human-shaped statue of what appeared to be mud. It suddenly moved, and its movements were somewhat stiff but every time those massive arms moved, or punched, the tearing of the wind came out from his phone. It kept on going for minutes making him wonder how massive of energy reserve the woman had as she seemed totally okay despite the constant usage.
‘I certainly wouldn’t be able to maintain the Inferno for that long. Maybe not even a minute.’
His inexperience, the spells had a high consumption of energy. Only now, after he had completed the 20th floor and received the fourth enhancement to his energy, could he cast the spells willy-nilly but even that was only the case when considering the Spark or Cloak of Fire. Starting from Incinerate he had to start being careful while the Inferno required full care otherwise he would blow away his whole reserve within a few tens of seconds. Then there was the headache that came even before he wandered anywhere near the limits of the reserves.
This headache was an enigma. Though for the lack of better words he described it as a headache he felt it was something much different than that. He just did not have the word to better describe the pain-like sensation that struck him. Its effects were clear though, as it became difficult to concentrate at the start, then it progressively worsened, his mind started wandering as his ability to perform physically deteriorated, then it got even worse and his senses started drowning out, and then he started to detach from reality. It was something that he had experienced only once when he faced the monstrous being on the 20th floor. He was, just for a brief moment, back in those happy times when all seemed to be going well.
***
He watched the world with wonder. Everything had changed. There were a lot more buildings and there was a lot more garbage. The latter irritated him. He had not been able to truly appreciate it in the dark of the night and then he had been traveling through the villages where it was not that much apparent but the years had truly passed and their effect was visible. He quickly searched the date when the towers had appeared, just a bit less than a year.
‘Seven years.’
The mobile rang, disturbing his thoughts.
“We will be there in one hour max.”
The sun came out in its full glory and the warm winds blew in through the open windows. The hot wind felt pleasant when compared to the memories that were set in his mind.
Click
He momentarily froze, his hair stood him, his hand latched onto Afzal, he kicked open the door, jumped on the hood of an oncoming car, and jumped away. He quickly hugged the body, tucking his head in. A blast erupted, and a shockwave crashed into him, violently sending him flying. He forced back the scream as something stabbed into him. He rotated mind air, his back crashing into the concrete wall. Whatever had struck him pierced even deeper.
He quickly jumped down, rushing into the hotel where everyone was running away. He rushed towards the rows of trucks and hid the boy there.
“Go hide towards the back.”
His eyes darted around, searching for the source of this mayhem. Eventually, his eyes snapped towards the circular building that was on the other side of the building.
He ran, his jaw tightly shut. Tears dripped out of his eyes while the wound on his back grew deeper with every step.
His eye took in everything, observing and digesting the information. One-step and wind were torn away as he landed on the other side of the road. His eyes were glued to the two figures on the roof. They were reloading.