The Angel's Humanhood

7. The Water Thing

What Dow called "huts" was basically holes in the ground covered by movable wooden ceilings.
"How are we safer here?" Wahag nagged after being dragged in.
"Shush!" Dow didn't turn to him.
Dodi was one of the boys that ended up in the same hut with them. He clung to Dow's clothes and she wrapped an arm around him. It was the first time Wahag noticed how Dow was trying to play the role of the protector and he couldn't understand why. She didn't look like she should or could protect anyone. Her clothes hung too loose on her showing only her round face that was darkened by the sun, brown eyes that were puffy, and dark hair that was tightly tied on top of her head. Her rough but still small hands seemed to be decorated by something.
These are knife scars. The voice said. They hurt so much before they heal.
He felt something in his throat tighten and he hated the feeling.
"It would be better to run for it!" Wahag whispered urgently.
"Shut it," Dow was suddenly at his throat and he felt the now familiar sharp cold metal on his throat.
Wahag released a bored sigh.
When the hounds came, unlike in his memories, he could hear them talk.
"She is here." One of the hounds was sniffing around.
"There are others too." Another hound added gleefully.
Wahag could feel his heart beating in his ears.
We are all going to die. I have seen it before. These kids, the pain they will feel will be horrible. I remember the pain.
Wahag was starting to understand the desire to abandon this body. It's panic was overwhelming. If he was in his original form he would have been able to fight the hounds. He knew the ways of God's light. He could summon the impenetrable shield. But wait, God allowed all conscious beings to summon the shield against the devil.
The panic faded and Wahag found himself racking his brain. These hounds have taken a physical form, so fighting them in the jin form would be doomed to fail. But in the jin form, the shield is summoned by harnessing the energy of fire. In the human body, that same fire would burn the flesh.
Please don't do that.
The shield depends on three things, faith, strength and core element. He remembered the devil's words, "You create me out of fire and created him out of mud." Wahag was disgusted by the idea of tapping into the earth energy, but there was no other way. In these flimsy so-called huts, if he does nothing, it would be as good as suicide. He also didn't want all these sinless small humans to die and just go to heaven, or that's what he told himself. Wahag closed his eyes trying to trace the element.
Don't abandon me. The voice said.
"Abandoning you is not part of my plan" Wahag didn't notice that he was talking out loud.
Tapping into the earth element felt like a predator marveling at his prey. Fire burns earth and tranforms it. Wahag kneeled and touched the dirt underneath them. It felt damp and he flinched for a split second. He heard the hounds getting closer, so he pushed on and retuned to his train of thought. Humans' energy is earth and water, they weren't a prey for fire. He hated to acknowledge the power of the water and its might. Then, he suddenly heard a scream from one of the other huts. Dow pushed Dodi off herself, "stay here. I will go help the others" She looked at Wahag for reassurance, but he had his eyes tightly shut.
The screaming got louder and was now coming from different directions. Dodi held on to Wahag's arm, and Wahag could feel pure water energy coming from where Dodi's chest was touching his arm.
God, You are the barrier between me and all evil, I am only as powerful as the God I worship allows me to be. Shield us!
The ruckus calmed. Wahag hastly got up to see what was going on, but it felt like he had no legs and he fell forward into darkness.
"Wahag did something! Wahag did something!" Dodi yelled urgently, while Dow leaned over Wahag frantically trying to figure out if he is still alive.
"Yes Dodi, he fell over and hit his head, I think?!"
The boys pulled Wahag out of the ditch and laid him flat on the ground. Dow ran to fetch a bucket of water and emptied it on him.
Wahag jolted back to life, "Urgh! NO WATER!"
Dow held on to her chest and released a breath she didn't she was holding and murmured to herself, "Thank God."
"You know, you are due for a bath. You stink." Dow regained her snarky posture.
Indeed, we do.
"I am not going into the water." Wahag said to both of them.
After commanding everyone to go back to work and remain on high alert because apparently they could lose all the crops if they miss another day, Dow tied Wahag to a tree for the rest of the day saying that he will just get in the way. Wahag didn't protest. His skinny body felt very heavy and water kept leaking out of every part of him.
Why is this body so weak? Wahag asked the voice.
Lack of sleep, extreme fasting, meditating endlessly... memories of pain. The voice replied.
Typical of humans. Wahag thought.
What will you do differently? The voice faded with the words.
Dow came over panting heavily from taking over digging the well. She flopped down next to Wahag.
"How are you feeling?" She asked before gulping down a jug of water.
"How do you drink that thing?!" Wahag said disgustingly.
Dow burried her face in his arm and started to laugh. Wahag didn't see the humor.
When she regained her composure she got up and came back with another jug of water.
"I don't know what's your deal, but I think I know why you fainted. You are dehydrated." Dow handed it to him. Wahag used the least possible fingers to hold the jug in fear that she would spill it on him if he doesn't take it.
"If you don't drink, you will die."
She is right. Please, drink. I need it. The voice pleaded.
Wahag held his breath and skeptically brought the jug to his lips and allowed for very little to spill in.
More, more, more!
Wahag lost himself into a frenzy of drinking. The only thing that stopped him was the jug running out.
"Feeling any better?" Dow said without hiding the smirk on her face.
Wahag didn't want to reply.