Peter Hunter and the Minions of Mara

Chapter 26 - The Eternal Rule

Peter felt a tug on his gut, almost as if a wind was pushing him from behind, guiding him. He felt certain of the feeling, just as he had been the other times Anuvata had communicated with him.

He followed the urgings and raced across the festival grounds. He saw Sensei Rob materialize out of nowhere and almost ran into him.

"Pete!" Rob greeted with a smile. "Ready for some adventure?"

"I said I wanted a mixture of every soda!" a voice boomed.

Peter turned and saw Jeremy threatening the worker behind a food counter. The man stood head and shoulders above Jeremy, yet somehow he looked scared of the angry, rectangular boy in front of him. Even the crowd was going out of its way to avoid the booth.

Now that Peter's third eye was open, he saw that Jeremy was filled with dark energy. He recognized the same rancid stench he had noticed earlier, too.

"It's not that difficult!" Jeremy berated the man. "I know you're an uneducated, trailer park reject, but you should be able to figure out how to put a little of each kind of soda into one cup!"

"Get to work," Sensei urged Peter with an encouraging slap on his back.

He approached slowly, as if sneaking up on a wild animal.

"Hey, Jeremy," he greeted.

When Jeremy turned, Peter started. His face looked different. His teeth came to points and his eyes were an icy blue. Peter couldn't remember what color they were usually, but he knew they weren't icy blue.

Jeremy screamed a sound that reminded Peter of an elephant trumpeting. Then he turned and started running. Peter was on his heels in a second.

They ran through the crowd until they came to the hammer challenge, the "high striker." Jeremy grabbed the mallet from the game and swung it suddenly at Peter.

Peter punched the air, sending a powerful blast of wind that knocked Jeremy backwards. Jeremy recovered and jumped into the air, covering an unnatural distance. Peter dodged just in time as Jeremy and the mallet crashed into the ground, creating a crater underneath them both.

In an instant, Peter jumped forward and placed his hand against Jeremy's forehead.

"Be swept clean," he said.

The asura howled as it was expelled from Jeremy's body and Peter was pushed backwards by the noise. His feet scraped along the grass.

When he looked up, the asura had formed itself into a gargantuan elephant shape. Peter gulped as he stared up at the towering asura – almost as big as a house.

"We will trample you!" the elephant-asura taunted him. "Then we will drag you and this boy down to the depths of Naraka."

The elephant-asura reared up on its hind legs and blasted a trumpeting sound that shook the earth. Peter rolled out of the way as the elephant-asura's feet came crashing down.

Peter glanced at Jeremy's resting body only a few feet away. He wasn't Jeremy's biggest fan, but he wouldn't let the guy get hurt.

He backed up to lure it away from Jeremy, but he couldn't think of much beyond that. The elephant-asura stomped repeatedly, trying to squash him, and all he could think to do was scuttle backwards.

Then Peter fell and stared up as the elephant-asura foot lifted over him. His mind and body seemed to freeze as he watched the foot hovering above him. Just then, Sensei Rob's green water crested over and crashed onto the asura. Within moments, the dark form had washed away.