The Gods Among Us

Chapter 25: Enough

A:

I move from building to building, appearing, disappearing, and reappearing repeatedly until I can find the mysterious shadowy figure. I search the buildings' rooftops and scan the streets below but I don't see him anywhere. At least, not until one last blast of teleportation. The black mist swallows me up, eating me entirely until nothing is left. It splits it out on a nearby building and there, I see the shadowy figure holding Alfred. Alfred is glowing for some reason.

I watch from above as the figure steps back from Alfred and raises his hand. A bright, glowing orb slowly flies out from his palm, I keep watching as the figure swings his hand. The glowing orb then hovers toward Alieen.

"No way," I shout. I jump into the air and use my power of teleportation. Disappearing and reappearing right beside the figure, I grab his wrist and pull him away. Spinning and throwing him through a chain-linked fence, I look at the others.

"Are you two okay?"

I turn around and look at the two.

"We're fine," Alieen answers. She runs up to me and grabs my shoulder. With a quick pull, she forces me to turn around. "What are you doing?"

"Uhh, saving you two?"

"He was helping us," Alieen says.

"He was helping you two," I repeat, looking at Alieen and Alfred.

"Yeah. Alfred was hurt during that fight with those people. The figure helped Alfred by using some sort of glowing orb to heal you."

"That cannot be right," I say, looking at Alfred and Alieen. "Why would he heal Alfred? Why would he heal you? Why would he attack me if he is an ally? No. It must be some sort of trick."

I turn to face the figure as he pushes himself up.

"I do not know what you are up to or planning," I say as I walk up to him, "But I do know this. I will not let you near these two!"

With the figure back on his feet, he puts up his hands. He is telling me he is ready for a fight. It is more than okay with me.

I scream as I jump and fly into the air. Flying directly into the figure, he grabs my jacket and tries to throw me over himself but as I fly over him, I grab his own shirt collar and take him with me. The two of us break right through the chainlink fence and bounce up and down onto the street for a bit.

I am able to recover faster than the shadowy figure. I push myself up from the cold street and run to the figure. As I run, I pull back my arm and punch the figure across his face. The sound of my fist hitting the figure echoes throughout the empty night sky. He falls to the street, rolling over and holding his face.

I grab the stunned figure and throw him over me, slamming him onto the street. Cracks appear all around the figure after I slammed him down.

"I do not care about what information you may or may not have on me," I shout, putting my face over his face. "But I will not let you hurt my friends! What did you do to them? I will not believe you just heal them! What was that orb of light Alieen described? Was it some kind of poison? Tell me!"

I lift the figure into the air with both my hands and shake him.

"Tell me," I repeat. "Tell me!"

I pull back my arm and am about to punch the figure when someone stops me.

Alieen:

"Enough," I yell, running up to A and grabbing his arm. "A! Please! That's enough!"

A tries to punch the mysterious figure but I keep his arm back.

"Enough," I repeat, pushing myself in so I stand between him and the mysterious figure. "Enough! A, that is enough! You need to stop this! A, stop."

I look A right in his eyes. He's staring right back at me. We look at each other, and at that moment, it feels like everything is just quiet. It feels like the only people in the world right now are A and myself.

"A," I say, clearing my throat. "Listen to me. Please stop this."

A is panting. He's breathing heavily as he looks past me and at the figure still in his hands.

"I think there had been enough fighting for tonight," I go on, looking between A and this mysterious shadowy figure. "We go our way. You go yours. Let's just stop for tonight. Okay? Okay?"

A doesn't let the shadow go but he does lower his arm. I let go of his arm and move to his hand. It's a struggle but I manage to pry A's fingers from the shadow's throat. The shadow holds his throat as he backs away. He stumbles for a bit before looking up at A and me. He nods his head at me and disappears, leaving the two of us alone.

"Well that was something," Alfred says from out of nowhere. Jumping a little when I hear Alfred's voice, I turn around and see him standing behind A. "What was all of that about?"

He spreads out his arms as he starts to yell.

"Seriously, what was all of that about? I mean, what happened? What literally just happened? One minute, that creepy, shadowy figure is fighting A. The next minute, he's healing me, and then, suddenly, you talked them out of fighting each other. Alieen, you were right. This is dangerous."

"I told you," I shout before Alfred puts up his hand.

"Let me finish," he says. "Alieen, you were right. This is dangerous and very hard to follow."

Alfred inhales deeply before exhaling.

"Okay. Well, you were right about one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Let's stop for tonight," Alfred answers. "Let's go home, eat some food, take a refreshing shower, and then go to sleep."

"Wait," I say, stepping forth. "Alfred, you don't want to stop by a hospital or something?"

"Believe me when I say this. I am fine. Surprisingly, and also confusingly, I am somewhat fine. I don't have any cuts or bruises. The only thing I have is a headache, and frankly, I don't think that from the fight with those punks."

"Don't call them punks," I say as I look toward A. "A, can you get us home?"

"Of course."

A opens his arms and Alfred and I step into them.

"So wait, what are you doing?"

"I am flying the two of you back home," A answers, flying right into the air.

"Oh," Alfred yells over the wind as it runs past us. "Okay! Thank you! Hey, a question. If you can fly, even with Alieen, then why did you take the bus?"

"Courtesy," A answers with a shrug of his shoulder. "I mean, you two offered and I did not want to be rude. I have some social skills. Not many but some."

"My turn," I say as A moves a little to avoid a pigeon. "A, do you want to stay over for the night?"

"What," A screams.

"Do you want to stay over for the night," I repeat.