Grimoire - Vol 1. Revelation of Rakshas

5 - Caught Up

So, there you go.

Now you're all caught up.

I mean, I left out a few details about my own backstory but I like hoping that I'll live long enough to tell you all about it later on.

Ofcourse, if I unpause right now, that hope will start to diminish with each step the ex-kid-now-a-tentacled-monster takes. But it's also not comfortable being static like this so, um...let's go?

The monster—that's the word that made the most sense to me at this instant—was running at full speed behind me. It—using the pronoun 'he' for a monster made no sense so at this point, so yeah—had now completely stripped off its human suit. It was bigger now, a lot bigger than the first meeting.

While it did have human-like limbs, now they were giant and red, as if its entire skin was peeled off to reveal the red flesh underneath it, which for some reason had a marble-like shine to it. The tentacles on its back swayed in the wind—still four but at the base of them were small thick hair-like things that wiggled as if they had a mind of their own. And then there was the face—giant red ugly mug with black swirling lines running all over it, sporting a humongous mouth with multiple sets of blunt teeth and six red eyes staring at me in craze and hunger.

The monster was behind me yet the group of three weren't.

Which only meant one thing.

They were dead.

Do you know what the worst part is? Soon I will be too.

Yet, at the moment, my body refused to stop unlike before in the park.

This time, I kept running.

I ran straight, I ran in curves, I even ran zig-zag for no fudging reason, through the trees and let my instincts take the wheel to guide me to strange turns hoping the monster would slam itself to a tree and fall unconscious like in some cartoon. But obviously, that didn't happen. Instead, it just tore anything and everything that came in its path.

I had no idea where I was going, what direction I was running towards. I had no plan, no safety options.

Nor so I didn't stop to think. Thinking would get me killed.

And apparently, subconsciously, I wasn't ready to die yet.

Who would've thunk that?

"KYAAAA~!"

What was that sound? A scream? It wasn't me—my throat was too dry for any voice to come out that loud, let alone a high pitched squeaky one.

So, like the cat, I got curious.

Just hope I don't share the same fate as the cat, though.

The monster was still there but it wasn't running anymore. Infact, it wasn't even looking at me. If not for the fact that it had someone I knew in its sharp big hand, I would've been elated for being ignored—the first time that I would have been happy for being ignored—but, alas, that wasn't the case.

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Ritu.

It had Ritu in its palms.

Ritu, who was shy and careful, sweet and cheery. The one that I didn't ignore, the one that never pissed me off.

The one who was now in danger.

The one who was now calling for help, anyone's help.

Ritu, who was about to die.

Again.

Why was she even here? She never left the street, her spot of death. Why was she here—me! Because of me! I told her to get out more and explore other places! Goddammit, did she have to follow my advice today?!

What do I do now?

Save the kid, right?

Except—

Except what if she's not a kid too? What if she's a monster underneath that pale dead skin? What if she's an accomplice? What if she's just trying to lure me in—?

No! She wasn't a monster. She's not a monster. She's just a little kid. She's Ritu. The girl who smiled and laughed and ate chocolates.

A little kid...who was already dead.

Dead.

What was the point of even saving her?

It's not like she would suddenly become alive and well. Back to her sick father. Back to her old life. Normal life. A life where she would grow up, go to college, get a job, fall in love and marry someone. A full life. Happy life.

But was she really dead too? What if there's a heaven and she's just waiting for her turn to get there? What if the rebirth thing was true and her being eaten now meant that she wouldn't be born again? What if by not saving her, I was maybe stripping her of the chance to get that happy normal life?

There were a lot of 'maybes'.

A lot of 'ifs'.

True...but what if those 'ifs' and 'maybes' were true?

Dammit! Why was I not like Idris? Strong and confident? Powerful and charismatic? Why couldn't I do what my friend did so easily? Why did I have to be born a coward?

Why am I not special?!

Doubts and questions filled my mind to the point where now it felt heavy, numb, and dull. But among those fuzzy noises, the screams of Ritu pierced in my head and cleared everything up.

So what if I was born a coward?

It didn't matter what I was born as. It didn't matter what I could and couldn't do before. What mattered, at the moment, was what I was willing to do. Wished to do.

And if my legs were any indication, I wished to save Ritu.

I don't know what came over me but I didn't care. Whether it was heroism or stupidity, I knew what I wanted to do. As clear as the sight before me, I knew that I had to save her.

Because if not me, then who?

The magical trio might have been defeated, killed even.

So, fortunately, or not, it all fell upon me.

On a coward.

Heh, funny, isn't it?