Awakening: Book 1 of the Vanquisher Series [GxG]

11b

"Dawuli?"

Narvari gaped at the tall muscular man. She ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. Dawuli must have been shocked since Narvari had never hugged him before. But what else could she do? She thought she'd lost everyone. Yet here was Dawuli in her house.

Narvari invited her inside asking him to take a seat. He asked Dawuli if he wanted water but the man shook his head. His big brown eyes were full of sadness like he had witnessed very terrible things.

"We thought you were dead, Captain," he began. "But then we didn't see your body."

Captain? Did she really deserve that title when she couldn't help anyone?

"I'm sorry." She couldn't look at Dawuli. "I was of no use to anyone."

"That's not true. Your call saved Andai's," he said. "And you saved Motongo's life."

Narvari's eyes lit up. "Motongo? He's alright?"

Dawuli nodded with a smile. "Thanks to the tip you gave to Tsongu we were able to ward off the demons. You did help us." His smile dimmed. "I'm sorry we couldn't help you and your family. I'm sorry about Anana and Jimbaga."

Narvari only nodded silently. "What about everyone else?" she asked, changing the subject.

Dawuli mentioned the names of people they had lost, many of whom Narvari knew. He also told her how all the security agencies, including WPU, came together to protect the country. But their efforts were still not enough since the demons were invincible. Things would have been hopeless had a certain young man not shown up.

"A young man?"

Dawuli nodded. "He killed those things, those demons, with some strange gun he had."

He must be talking about Yanvirrak, Narvari thought.

"You know, he called them demons. Anana used to talk about demons but I didn't think they were real," said Dawuli. "None of our weapons worked but that young man was able to kill them so easily. He helped us evacuate most of the people to the City Hall. Then he ran off after he told us to stay put." Dawuli paused, collecting his thoughts. "Next thing I knew, a bright light filled the whole place. We were tired of just sitting down and doing nothing for so long. We really wanted to come and look for you but when we tried to leave the City Hall, we couldn't." Dawuli shook his head in disbelief.

"What do you mean you couldn't?"

"We couldn't get out. It felt like there was some invisible barrier surrounding the building. We just could not get past it. We couldn't hear anything outside either."

Narvari raised her brows. She'd heard and seen many strange things ever since she learned about the existence of vanquishers, but this was a new one.

"How did you get out?"

"After a few hours, we could suddenly leave. I don't really understand what happened. Everything was so strange."

Narvari nodded. "Believe me, I know."

"The first thing the team did was look for you. We went to your house, and..."Dawuli lowered his voice avoiding Narvari's gaze, "...Anana and Jimbaga..." Dawuli added quietly, "We looked everywhere for you but we couldn't find you."