They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

I watch her lips moving. Her high pitched voice cackling into laughter. But none of it is registering in my brain. I'm having trouble breathing. Anger is surging through my veins. The black liquid is flowing all over my muscles. 

And then I saw it. The black shadow dancing like black flies around my fist. It started from one hand, then the other one sparks in black dust like shadow. At that moment, Meira stops talking. For the first time, I saw a change in the burly twins expression. It wasn't anger or annoyance… it was fear. 

Other people who have roughly the same size come pouring out in the store. I clench my fist. The shadow swirling in my hand intensified. 

"Get him." Meira's orders were cold and clear. I try not to think of any lingering emotion from her. I once fancied you. And this is how you repay me. By betrayal. 

Ten men oppressed me from all sides. I let the skin of my fist touch each other. When I held it in mid air, I noticed the rings. Black swirling rings made of mini flies size. I'm suddenly reminded of that black wave. It destroyed our house in one swoop. Is this thing the same? 

One way to find out. 

I made a curve throw with my arm, just like what players did in throwing balls at baseball. The rings come undone from my fist and it swerved in the air like I just throw a boomerang. It landed on one of the burly twins face. 

Some part of me wished it cut his head off. He made a split second sidestepped and it missed. At least that's what he thought. I know in my gut it cut a part of him. And it did. He shuddered, eyes dilated and clutch his left ear. Blood kept pouring out of his hand. 

That's when I realized, I cut his whole left ear off. Five other guys come racing down the aisle. Rows of racks are either trampled or shoved to the side, creating a mini empty space around me. I willed the other black ring in my hand to detached and cut another ear from the nearby guy with shaggy beard and tattoo arms. 

It didn't move. I tried the baseball curve throw. It didn't detach and fly away. As if it's stuck in my other arm. The tattoed guy somehow found a four feet tall metal pipe somewhere in the ground and swing it at me. I duck. It hits the tiled floor with a thud, leaving a small crack. While he's momentarily occupied I dash towards him.

He see me coming. He swing the metal pipe, aiming to my ribs. I caught the pipe with my left hand and pulled it towards me. It got him a meter nearer to me. I smiled. With one swift move I caught his throat with my right hand, the one with the black ring and lift him off his feet.

I told you I'm strong didn't I? Though it haven't occurred to me I could carry a guy thrice my weight. The tingling sensations I felt when I killed the Auf in his wooden cabin by touch swept over me. Although this time, the sensation is tantalizingly strong. 

I feel like a vacuum sucking human life out of this poor guy. And even if I want to let go. My fingers are made in iron clad. I can't undo the grip. I feel the tendons under his neck, the blood rushing, the life pumping…and how it all transfers to me. 

An axe came rattling to my right and I flung the man's body at it. Using him as a shield. The axe hit him squarely in the spine. He choke out blood. Green murky blood. I looked up at his face. Skin withered, like rotting leaves, or dead trunks. 

He burst into dust in my hand until there's nothing. I don't know what to react. I just killed another man. An Auf. I'm ashamed of myself. After all my talk of saving the 'slave souls' of humans from the Faeries, this is how I show it in my action? By killing an innocent human without hesitation.

"What are you waiting for?! I said get him!" Meira shrieked. 

My will to fight are drained drastically. Believe me, after I absorb his life force, the strength in my limbs are now two times faster. It feels like I can run for miles and never get tired. I can race against bullet trains and have no trouble catching up.

And I was miserable. With this power…how am I any different from the Faeries taking sould to replenish their mana? Aren't I doing the same thing here?

Another round of guys lunge at me. I'm careful to ball my fists. I'm never touching anyone again. I'm never draining any life force from any living thing around me again. Never. 

They call this power 'blessing?' What a joke. Blessings are gifts, they're supposed to be use for the 'good of people'. Not kill them. Another guy attack me with his fist, I evade it. Another guy high kicked me and I'm able to counter it with crisscross arms. 

I can't touch them. I need a weapon. I saw the metal pipe lying in the ground. I took it and spend half an hour whacking the big guys in the head a couple of times before they passed out, skulls bleeding. Their furried chest are still heaving. 

They're alive. Thank God. I looked around at the store. No sign of Meira. Only the heavy mess of trampled racks, battered clothes and unconscious gang in my feet. 

Meira's words came back to me again. Traitorous father and Fairy friend. I squeezed my eyes shut. I need to see them. 

A woman cried out to my left.  I grip my metal pipe like how I hold a sword. I open my eyes. I froze. The customers…the staffs, men, women, children, they're looking at me as if I'm a ghost who poop out of existence. 

They're eyes kept sliding back and forth to me, to the unconscious gangs on my feet, and to the disarrayed racks. I can't stand the stared they're giving me. I scan the store. Desperate for an escape. 

My nerves are having fun racing for the survival for the fittest show around my body. At the left side corner, is a glass wall that certainly leads outside. The streets are dark, lit by street lamps and car lights. 

I didn't hesitate. I ran towards it and jump. My body slamming against the shattered glass.