When Worlds Clash: Reincarnated with the Arcane Register

Summoning speed he did not even know he had, Kai ducked and tried to roll out of the way quickly. But he wasn't fast enough. He felt a claw connect with his skin and tear a nasty gash wide open.

He howled in pain and cursed under his breah but there was no time to mull over it. Still in pain, he jumped to his feet and rushed over to the other side of the shack where the cabinet was.

The growling hum breathing was now being punctuated with a new sound, a cackling that sounded like gongs being smashed to the ground and Kai realised that the creature was laughing. Laughing at him. Laughing at his dinner.

Kai trembled with a mixture of rage and fear. What a nasty creature this was! Turning to the cupboard, he pulled out the drawers with shaky hands. He did not have much time and he wanted to be ready when the beast came for him again.

Because he was so disoriented, he pulled out the second instead of the third drawer and came upon the green powder again. Kai closed the compartment again and this time opened the correct drawer to retrieve what he was looking for. But his mind lingered over the powder. Could there not be something it could be useful for? He could not quite think of a purpose for it at that moment but when facing a monster like this, everything was a weapon. When the moment came to use it, he would know. So he scooped the vial up and plunged into the many folds of the clothes he was wearing.

Gripping the box tight, he turned to face the beast again and was shocked to find the shadow streaking towards him at alarming pace!

Kai struck out blindly with the box and felt himself connect with something he couldn't see. The next thing he knew, he felt himself being lifted bodily into the air, an ice cold wind blowing all over him, the breath of the night monster. And then he was sailing across the room, having been hurled by his adversary. He connected painfully with the walls on the other side and sank to the ground in a heap.

For a second, Kai lay stunned into oblivion but his mind could not allow him to stay in that state. His very survival depended on him staying alive. Survive the night or be eliminated permanently, the Register had told him. Damn the Arcane Register!

He raised a dizzy head and gazed around. Mercifully, the beast remained on the other side cackling away no doubt enjoying the sick game it was playing.

Kai was in no doubt as to what was happening. The night beast was simply having fun toying with its prey. When it was tired or rather bored, he did not think a beast like this could ever get tired, it would swoop in for the kill. It was up to him to either have defeated it by then or not be in the vicinity.

He groaned and dragged himself back to his feet. How does one defeat a beast he couldn't even see? It had become abundantly clear to him that he couldn't hope to defeat this monstrosity of an animal. He had to find a way to get shut of this place. And soon. He held his still spinning head and tried to see if he could make a dash for the door. But from where the beast was positioned, he could see that he would never make it. It had not been standing there just some seconds away. Could the invisible bastard read minds now? Nothing could be dismissed as impossible in this place.

Another thought suddenly occured to Kai and he leaped to his feet. The lad who had been scurrying around in the dark and warned him had been very clear about the plurality of this beast he was dealing with. But he was only grappling with, or rather being toyed with by one at the moment. Where was the other? Or others? Perhaps they were on their way this very moment. Maybe this fellow wasn't toying with him. Maybe he was simply stalling for time, waiting for his mates to arrive so their dinner could still be fresh.

With renewed vigour, fuelled by the terrible surmisings, he grabbed for his box again. He had dropped it when he hit the wall. But when he tried to lift it, the contents spilled out noisily. Somehow, it had gotten open.

Kai's eyes had gotten used to the darkness by now so he could make out what was in it. It seemed like a lot of large sticks. That sounded like a weapon to him. He squinted further and saw that there was something else, a curious object mounted on each of the sticks.

Suddenly, he realised what they were. Torches. Ancient fire torches that he had only seen in movies prior to now. Acting on a sudden hunch, Kai felt along the box for something, anything to light it with and sure enough, his hands fell upon two small round pebble-like objects. In ancient times, they had generated fire by striking two stones together hard enough. Kai of course had never had to do that before but now, he must make it happen.

The beast was invisible to him but it was there and the more Kai thought about it, the more it made sense to him. When the beast had lifted him up, he felt the ice cold blast from its nostrils. He did not think the sudden drop in temperature that had happened when the monstrosity was loitering outside his door was a mistake. If the night beast was an harbinger of great degrees of cold, then fire had to be its enemy. Or at least cause it enough for discomfort for Kai to leave the vicinity. He had no idea whether it would work but there was nothing else to be done. He grabbed the stones and began to strike them together all the while glancing at the shadow which for some reason had presently gone absolutely still.

For some reason, this did not provide any for of relief to the fellow on the other side of the room. In fact, it filled with him a great sense of trepidation and he struck harder at the stones with all the strength he could muster willing them to light up.

His fears were soon confirmed when another sound shattered the air. The blood-curdling scream of another night beast.