Grimoire - Vol 1. Revelation of Rakshas

4 - Cowardly Hero

And so, there I was. Running towards the strange group...and screaming for some reason.

I even threw my cycle aside. I-I don't know why I did that. They are very expensive. But at that moment, that thought didn't even cross my mind.

It was like some strange sort of instinct that just pushed me towards the culprits.

I wonder if that's how they usually feel, the heroes. A sense of high from the rush to save someone.

The group turned to look at me with irritation which switched to shock soon. I jumped at the shortest guy in the group since he seemed like the easiest target and slammed my shoulder in his chest.

Or that's what I had planned to do but he was a lot shorter than I imagined and instead of his chest, it was his face that got slammed by mistake.

God that hurt! Was it supposed to hurt me too? That is so not what the movies showed!

While still standing and brimming with confidence, I rushed to get in front of the little kid and glared at the blindfold boy, claw girl and the dude who now sat on the ground with a bleeding nose and a shocked expression.

Well, to be fair, they all had shocked expressions.

"How—He touched me...," the short guy on the ground said, making no effort to get up.

"You can see us?" The claw girl asked through gritted teeth yet with a soft voice. What kind of weird question was that? Was he not supposed to see them or touch them?

Wait, were they...dead souls, too?

Does that mean the little kid behind me was dead already? And to think I went through all this trouble. I really wish the cycle wasn't broken or anything...

But wait, if they were already dead, why were they fighting? In my entire life of seventeen years, I had never, not even once, seen ghosts fight among themselves. I mean, I assumed it was because they thought it would be silly to fight now that they're dead. Maybe there's a first time for everything?

Still, to clear my doubts, I asked them, "Yes, I can see you, you bastards!" Well, maybe more like I screamed at them and forgot to ask the actual question. In my defence, I was a little high on heroism. "Don't you have anything else to do other than picking on little kids?" Instead, I chose to ask this. Again, heroism.

"Back away kid, you don't know what you're doing or talking about," the short guy said, now up and not bloody anymore.

"Kid? With your height, you're the kid here," I said.

"Hey! I'm a late grower okay?! Height isn't the only thing that matters, maturity matters too!" he said, held back by the claw girl.

"Well, you don't seem that mature too—" I was about to say but within a second the blindfold guy was near me and had pushed me aside harshly. By the time I got my bearings right and stood back up to fight him, I saw a giant sharp tentacle coming out from the kid's back and lodging it inside the blindfold boy.

To be honest, I don't know what I thought back then. I mean, what do you even think in such a situation?

I was used to strange situations. With no parents and a weird uncle, being able to see the dead; strange and weird was normal for me. But then, something like this happens and it changes everything.

"Ashraf!!" the short guy yelled, throwing an ice spike towards the kid. Where did he get the ice from?

The kid pulled the sharp tentacle out and dodged the projectile easily, jumping back a few steps. The claw girl ran towards the wounded guy—Ashraf is what they called him?—and placed her hand over his wound. A faint white light began to glow around her palms and the bleeding started to slow down.

"Ah~ you got in between," the kid said in a high pitched voice, licking Ashraf's blood off of his tentacle, "This is why I hate you Grimmers. Always meddling and pestering us during our mealtime." Before I could even think about what to do or say, the kid—or whatever it was—pounced towards me once again. Three more tentacles sprouted from his back and the skin around his face started to tear up too to reveal a red marbled skin under it with six bright yellow eyes running towards me in hunger.

I knew I had to run, to defend myself, to just jump in any direction to save myself but I couldn't. My body betrayed my mind and was stuck to the ground, shaking and sweating, but not moving.

So I did what seemed like the only sane thing I could do. I accepted it. I closed my eyes and waited for the blow, for the sharp pain I would feel once I was stabbed.

"Are you a moron?! Run!!"

I opened my eyes to see the short guy in front of me, his hands on the ground behind a high ice wall.

I didn't question him or say anything.

As if this was the trigger that my body needed to move, I ran.

I didn't see the direction, or what came in front of me but I ran. I ran like my life depended on it 'cause it genuinely did this time.

Thankfully I ran in the opposite direction of the monster but further into the park. The park was connected to a forest surrounding our town, a natural park if you will, that never really had many visitors, except for a few campers or trekkers on a few occasions.

Unfortunately, today was not one of those occasions.

Nobody entered my sight as I hopped up the fence of the park and ran deeper inside the forest. Alone with no one around to help me.

Although, at the moment, all I could think was how lucky I was to not have anyone get in my way of escape 'cause let's be honest, even if I did find somebody, they wouldn't be able to help me from that monster unless they happened to carry a bazooka launcher with them.

I didn't look back to see what happened with the magician's group—I mean, floating books and elemental control, makes sense, right?—in the park. Were they alive? Were they dead? Were they still fighting?

I hoped they were still fighting. I hoped they weren't dead. I hoped they gave me enough time to escape.

Within a few minutes, I went from breathing in the high of heroism to running away like a coward.

Scared to do anything.

Powerless to do anything.

Too selfish to think of anything except my own survival.

And then, I made another mistake.

I looked back.

I stared at my death running towards me.