Samsaara : Devadoot

Another One Bites the Dust

That person examined the key and tucked it back inside his pockets. He began to walk away from the scene and towards me.

I pretended to look at the crime scene intently but the person might have recognised me from the dark lane where he passed by and walked briskly past me using the edge on his hoodie to cover his face.

I assumed that since this guy had a similar key, he might tell me more about the one I had, also about the beautiful girl. I had to take this once in a blue moon chance to find out more. I followed him to a place where we were alone to ask him about it, without worrying about anyone eavesdropping on us.

He walked back the same way. And paced towards the dark alley where I first bumped into him. Briskly, I walked closer to him until he was about 10 feet away from me. He turned into the lane to the right and I rushed closer. On reaching inside the lane I called out to him, "Hey! Can I have a minute?"

He turned around and had a confused expression but didn't say anything. He had a threatening air about him. Cautioned, I stayed where I was till I could be sure that he wouldn't harm me.

I said, "I have some questions."

He angrily replied, "Yeah? Well, bite me, asshole."

I took out the chain on my back and showed him the key on it and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

As soon as he saw the key around my neck, his expression changed completely. His once angry and arrogant expression was reduced to an expression of dread. He looked as though he had seen a ghost. I took a few steps closer to him and his fight or flight reflexes took over.

He ran towards me and punched me with the stone key in his hands. The impact of the punch was so strong that I was knocked through the air a few feet behind. Bewildered by this reaction of his I lay on the ground.

As I was trying to get back up he said, "You might have stopped that explosion but you won't stop this one."

He took a black glass marble out of his other pocket and squeezed it between his thumb and pointing finger.

A crack appeared on the marble and it shattered like an egg shell. Inside the shell of the marble was a glowing maroon orb. It was shiny and opaque. The orb began to make sizzling sounds and grew in size.

Finally, I managed to stand up straight and the orb had grown to the size of a basketball. The person in the hoodie saw me stand up and ran towards the dark shadow in the back of the alley.

He said, "Enjoy a painful death. Hail Azrail" and his entire body began to darken.

He changed to the same shade of black as the shadow and disappeared. The red orb's glow shone upon the corners of the alley and I realised he had truly vanished. Now the orb was the size of a small car and was translucent. It began to pulsate and slowly reduce in size as it gave out a shrill sound which increased in pitch rapidly. The person said something about an explosion when he threw the orb on the floor. My best guess was that this strange orb was a bomb of some kind. I had to get away from the bomb as soon as possible but I couldn't just leave it there.

Two buildings flanked the alley on either sides and if the bomb were to explode here, there would be countless casualties. The orb was now backing to the size of a marble and began to pulsate and vibrate furiously. I had only one course of action left.

With the key in my hand I rushed towards it and picked it up. Simultaneously I pointed the key forward and uttered, "Dwara udghataya," to open the door and jumped head first into the slit which opened. I thought in my head that I should go to a place the furthest away from any life form as I entered. The bright light of the door made my eyes shut while the red orb's temperature suddenly began to spike.

When I came out to the other side I threw the orb as far away from myself as possible. I fell on the ground hard and saw the orb glow brightly. A flash of light and heat permeated through my flesh and I felt excruciating pain radiate throughout my body. This was immediately followed by a deafening sound of explosion. I felt myself being tossed in the air for a few moments before I couldn't feel or sense anything anymore. My life drifted away as I watched and felt the cold numbness of death.