The Curse Of Asara Lubat

II

Halfway across the city of San Jose, eighteen-year-old Isla LeMagne had just alighted a streetcar and was already taking brisk, anxious steps towards the core of the Scorching Badlands, the location that had already made the rounds of the national news for an incident the citizens couldn't come to terms with. Isla was part of the throng of enthusiasts that surrounded a certain fallen celestial mass; the mini-clossal mass that was as high as a two-storey building. Isla slowed down her pace until she came within two middle-aged men.

"Say, Charlie, when did this baby land here?"

"Yesterday. 'Round seven in the evening."

"When has this city ever experienced any meteor shower, let alone a single meteor fall?"

"I don't think we ever have, to begin with."
The figure addressing Charlie held his arms akimbo, perplexed. "A lot of weird things 'been plaguing our city lately. Funny how we haven't gotten over the Val-Stromm incident."

"I know right?"

"Conspiracy theorists 'been saying that...."

Isla listened to the locals with rapt attention, being as confounded as a close friend of hers had been just minutes ago.

She just couldn't get it.

Of all the possible disasters in store for us, a meteor shower?

Speaking of conspiracy theorists, Isla could not help but wonder if anyone at all learnt from the fate of a certain university professor, whose podcasts went viral three months earlier. Till date, no one knew where he was, whether he was dead or alive or in limbo. But she was not going to let that bother her.

She approached the meteor slowly and, after spells of hesitation, touched a small section of the meteor and gingerly ran her hands over the rough surface. She felt her phone ring and would have picked it with her free hand, but for the sudden arrival of a necessary evil beside her.

"Hello, gorgeous." The necessary evil, a boy, said with a confident grin. He was neither muscular nor considerably taller than Isla.

Isla groaned. "What did I ever do to you, Van? Why have you made it a point of duty in your life to always torment me?"

Van drew closer to her just as her eyes reverted to the meteor, unrelenting. "I don't see any limo around. Did Daddy possibly let you venture into the world on your own, unprotected?''

Isla's father, Antoine LeMagne held a top post in popular technology establishment, Gronigen. By virtue of that, he was one of the wealthiest men in San Jose. His overprotectiveness of Isla and her junior sister Elise was exemplified by the security detail that trailed all their outdoor movements and engagements, including school runs. Isla, unlike Elise, was never hot on the idea. But Antoine never gave into Isla's pleas for autonomy.

You don't know who may be after us.

Whenever he made such statement, Isla could not help but wonder who her goodly father could have double-crossed in the past.

"I didn't want to attract undue attention in this recon. Besides, my dad hasn't been at home much lately to stop me.'' Isla turned back to the meteor, leaving Van to once again plot a course of action.

"Recon?" he asked, chuckling. "Are you and your friends still on that wild goose chase?''

In an instant, Isla stopped and turned back to Van with every ounce of seriousness in her. "It's not a wild goose chase, Van. If you're not going to help me, you can like to stay the hell out of my business." With that, she brushed past him with her smartphone in hand.

"Isly Isles-"

"I have warned you many times against calling me that. I won't say it again."

Isla did not look back. Down to nothing, Van caught hold of Isla's arm, much to her mild disgust. She turned back to him in an uninterested stare, and in return, he could only manage a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, okay? I don't want anything to divide us."

Divide my ass.

Knowing better than to sound so rude, Isla shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Okay. Can I go now?"

"Not exactly," Van said, grinning wickedly. Isla knew what was coming next and she wasn't buying it. "The past week in particular has been hell for all of us, and we really shouldn't have to endure it alone. How about we took a break from all of this and chilled out somewhere? Let me be there for you."

A self-assured smile crept through Isla's lips. With a piercing look that raised Van's hopes, she let it out, "Not a chance. Not now, not ever."

Hardly had she brushed past a defeated Van than her phone rang again.

"Come on, seriously! Disasters happen, we move on!"

Isla grew increasingly deaf to Van's post-mortem medicine, even as she picked her call. "Hey, Penny. What's up?"

"Isla, where are you right now?" Contrary to Isla's expectation, Penny sounded agitated and out of sorts. She silently hoped all was well.

"Where else? Digging up evidence at the Scorching Badla-"

"You need to get away. Right now. I'll explain to you later, but you need to...what in the world was that?"

Isla understood almost immediately. A mountain not far from the fallen meteor rumbled ominously. Penny heard it over the phone, much less Isla and Van, who approached Isla slowly, tentatively. Seeing Van come closer, she quickly went back to the call, to Van's dismay. Isla opened her mouth to speak, but Penny hit it on before her.

"You need to leave now! A volcanic eruption is the fifth event on the Magme Sero chain! I'm cutting the line now. Run!"

Penny lived up to her promise by cutting the call. Isla, agitated, returned her phone slowly and took several steps backward, having seen the mountain erupt with flying magmaic rocks, even as the unrelenting Van ran towards her.

"Behind you, Isla. Duck!" He said, before he crashed into her, pushing her away from one of the the flying lava-laden rocks that had just shut out from within the moutain. Van was atop Isla, dazed- before the edges of his mouth went up in a smile.

"The view is even better from this angle-ow! Urghh!"

Isla had no time to consider how hard she kicked Van. She stood up, Van following suit soon after, amidst the pain he had in his groin. She broke into a run.

"Isla, wait! I'm sorry! I'm...woah!"

The intensity of his yell cut her back. She let out "Van!" as she watched another rock land behind Van, an action that sent him spiralling in the air. She had not come within four paces of him when he said, "Go! Don't worry about me! I'll catch up."

But Isla didn't listen.

"For all your creepy antics, I'm not going anywhere without you. Now, get up!" Isla could barely lift Van, even as the rapidly-devastating projectiles drowned out his cry of pain.