The Gods Among Us

Chapter 9: Late Night

A:

My eyes open and I push myself up and look around. I scan the empty store. As far as I can tell, there is no one else here.

"Strange," I think, getting off my bed. On my feet now, I start to walk.

"Something is wrong. Something is off. I sense something incoming, but what it is?"

I close my eyes and focus my listening. I cannot hear anything out of the ordinary. I hear the wind blowing. I hear the crickets chirping. I even hear the sound of worms as they wiggle around.

"Wait. That cannot be right. There is something wrong. The worms that are wiggling around. They sound louder than normal. They sound bigger. Also, it does not sound like worms, but just a worm."

Focusing my listening, trying to pinpoint where this one worm is exactly, I turn around when I hear the floor explode. An eruption of dust and sand breaks through and my bed is sent flying into the ceiling.

"What in the world," I say, watching as my bed frame and mattress fall on the floor. Looking at the massive dust cloud, where my bed should be, I wave my hand and move all the dust out of my store. The dust flying out of the window is all gone in a matter of seconds. With the dust gone, I can clearly see a worm wiggling around. Only, it is unlike any other worm I have seen.

For one, this worm is massive. It is blacker than the night sky, and it had a mouth. As it opens its massive mouth, I see five, maybe even six tongues all pouring out. Even the tongues have mouths. I try to get away but one of the tongues finds me. It bites down on my leg and pulls me into its mouth.

"Come on," I say, pulling my leg and trying to free myself. However, as soon as I pull myself free, three other tongues latch onto me and quickly pull me in. Before I even know it, I am in the worm's mouth and it is trying to swallow me whole.

"What is going on," I think, grabbing a slimy and wet tongue. "Why can I not teleport? Something must be blocking my powers. But wait, can it be this worm? How can this worm be blocking my powers? What is this worm even?"

As I try to think of an answer, any answer, I realize something. I am sinking, further and further into this worm's mouth. Its many tongues are pulling me down, and even if I manage to pull one off, another one will wrap itself around me.

"Get off of me," I scream, grabbing a tongue and pulling it off my shoulder. As the tongue struggles to break loose, I encase my hand in flames and watch as the tongue starts to sizzle. It screams, and so did the other tongues and even the worm itself.

"Wait. I cannot teleport away, but I can still use fire. That must mean some of my powers I cannot use, but some I still can."

Despite one of the tongues burning, I am still sinking deeper into this monstrous worm's mouth.

"I have to hurry. If I cannot just teleport out of here, then this may be my other chance of escape."

I grab two more tongues and burn them. The worm shrieks and opens its mouth just a little bit. I take the opportunity and slam both my fists down. Breaking free of the tongues, I shoot out of the worm's mouth and through the ceiling of my home. Breaking through the ceiling, I find myself hovering in the cold night sky, the full moon is my only company.

"I do not know where it is you came from," I say, staring at the worm as its many tongues swing wildly around. "But I do know this. You are done."

I focus my power into the palms of my hands. Once it is fully charged, I throw the telekinesis blast at the worm. I watch from above as the blast hits the worm. I thought the worm would explode and parts of it would fly everywhere. I already ready myself to buy some cleaning supplies in the morning with what little money I have.

The worm did indeed explodes, but instead of parts of it flying everywhere, the worm turns into ash and scatters itself all over the floor of my home.

"What in the world was that," I ask, staring at the leftover ash. I did not have much time to think. Once more, I start to sense something incoming and turn around. As I turn, I see a shadowy and blurry figure flying toward me. Before I can do anything, the figure punches me and sent me flying through the sky.

I scream as I hit the sand. Having to actually dig myself out, I look up to see the shadow figure hovering above me.

"You are flying," I say, looking at the figure. "And you hit me. And I felt it. Who are you?"

Not wasting a second, I jump into the air and hover only a few feet away from the figure.

"Who are you," I ask again, "Tell me. Who are you? Why are you attacking me? Do you know who I am?"

The figure stays silent. He refuses to say anything.

"I do not want to hurt you," I say, raising my fist. "But I will unless you tell me what is it you know."

The figure stays silent. My fingernails are digging into my palm.

"Fine then."

Launching myself forward, I try to punch the figure but the figure moves back and I miss. Before I can react, the figure punches me again and knocks me toward the sandy desert. However, I steady myself before I am buried again. Looking up, the figure is charging toward me. He is at a remarkable speed.

I look to my right and see the sand.

"Let us see how you like this," I say, using my telekinesis power to grab some sand. I wait and watch until the figure is close enough for me to swing my arm. As I swing my arm, a large pillar of sand shoots out and hits the figure. Knock to the ground, he tries to get up but using both my hands, I slam two pillars of sand right into him.

I can almost hear him screaming as he tries to escape the avalanche of sand.

"Are you ready to talk," I yell, still throwing sand. "Are you? Uh?"

Amidst the growing sandstorm, I step back when I see the figure breaking through and flying into the sky.

"No," I yell, running and following after the figure. "I cannot lose you. You know something. You know something about me."

Flying toward the figure, I am about to grab him and before I can, he flips over me. Hitting me in mid-flip, I recover fast and look at the figure as he tries to escape. He tries to fly away but I stop him. Using my telekinesis power, I grab him and keep in him the air.

Trapped now, I fly toward him. The figure struggles the whole time as I approach him. On the verge of reaching him, he manages to free one arm. Reaching behind himself, he pulls out a bottle of water.

Throwing the bottle at me, it opens while spinning through the air and hits me. Before I know it, the water, or whatever this is, is burning me. Screaming as I see white smoke coming off my arms, I lose my focus and watch as the figure breaks out of my telekinesis grip. Once free, the figure flies away.

Meanwhile, whatever was in that bottle is still burning me. My arms and chest feel like they are on fire. Even with the cold night sky, and my ice power, they help only a little.

I try to keep my mouth closed, but it is very difficult. I feel sweat forming on my forehead and within seconds, it is falling onto my face. I look around for anything I can possibly use, and notice all the sand from before. An idea forming in my head, I fly into the sky before turning around and throwing myself into the sand.