A Hero In The Dark

Chapter 23: Greetings Vishnu

Once in India, we are soon to meet Commander Sharma who states that he is instructed to bring us to Eight – or "Vishnu" as they call him.

After hours of hiking up the mountainous terrain, I can sense everyone's energy shift. We're all growing tired. Even Pixie, who is hopping along in front of me, is starting to slow down.

"Are we there yet?" Ella asks from a few paces behind me.

"Yeah," Crayton agrees. "You said you were taking us to Eight-"

"Vishnu," the Commander interrupts. "His name is Vishnu; and I am taking you to him."

"Well how much farther? We didn't plan on spending a whole night out here," adds Six who slaps a mosquito from her neck.

"We are almost there," the Commander simply says.

I am becoming doubtful. Surely this guy is leading us to where we need to go, but I have the urge to believe that he is taking us on a longer path than necessary.

Though those doubts are quickly put to rest when we see a boy in the near distance. Standing so perfectly still, he could be mistaken for a statue. That is, until he starts walking toward us.

On closer inspection, I can see he has dark curly hair and tanned skin. Though I squint to take in more details, I could swear my eyes deceive me. It looks like he has four extra arms.

"What the hell?" is all I can manage to say before Pixie excitedly runs to him, soon followed by BK.

At his feet, Pixie grows restless despite the previous tiredness, and she changes into different forms. First a lizard. Then a wolf. Then a bird. Only leaving a few seconds to take in the different forms before she changes again.

As a hawk, she flies circles around him and lands on his shoulder.

"Woah!" says the boy upon witnessing Pixie's transformations. "I've never seen anything that can do what I do! Check this out!"

In saying so, the boy shapeshifts too into a hawk and flies up into the air, flapping his wings above us.

Pixie, having lost her grip on the boy's shoulder, flies to me and lands on my shoulder. The boy, seeing her do so, flies back down and shapeshifts into his previous being with six arms. He stands in front of me, smiling playfully.

"Does that thing belong to you?" the boy asks me excitedly.

I look to Pixie and pet her on the head before replying, "Yeah, I guess. Her name is Pixie. She's a Chimæra."

"Oh damn. Reynolds told me about those," he says. "I remember having one as a kid. Didn't think I'd be seeing one again. Is the dog-"

"His name is Bernie Kosar. We call him BK. He's my Chimæra," John says, noticing the boy's attention shift to the dog. "Are you Number Eight?"

The boy stands after petting BK on the head, facing us with a more serious expression on his face.

"That's the number the Elders gave me, yes," he answers. "Call me Eight."

"Nice to meet you Eight," Crayton says.

"It is an honour to finally meet all of you," Eight replies. "I've been expecting you guys for some time."