Chaos

Chapter 12

Zarvin felt him before he felt his heat. As soon as he held the boy’s hand, he knew he and the boy were not alone. Then came the heat.

His entire body seemed to be on fire. The heat was excruciating. Even though he had years of practice to prepare himself in case of such an attack, he was sure that even a hundred more years of that practice couldn’t have prepared him for what he was experiencing now.

Reflexively, he let go of the boy’s hand and stepped back. The boy looked shocked. And there was something else, confusion. Maybe because he expected Zarvin to be the source of the heat. Utter foolishness.

Zarvin then turned in the direction he expected the source of the heat to be in. However, what he saw surprised him even more. He couldn’t see beyond a few inches from where he was standing. That was because he was now completely engulfed in a vortex of fire.

The boy too came inside the boundaries of the vortex, and perhaps felt some of the heat too. But he was sure that ‘the eye of the cyclone’, as they call it, was positioned exclusively on him. It was now time to retaliate.

Zarvin extended his arms in both directions. At once, the inner walls of the fire vortex began to experience a gigantic force of the winds. It didn’t take long for the walls to crumble and die down. He then looked around once again, and spotted a man who was now extending both his arms together in his direction. He just had enough time to take one look at the man, after which a huge horizontal column of fire hit him square in the chest.

The extreme heat and the force of the blow made him topple backwards. By the time he rose, the man had come quite close, was standing almost next to the boy and preparing to launch another attack at him. This time, Zarvin, didn’t hesitate. In one quick motion, he lifted his right hand, while he was still down from the last attack. His enemy experienced a punch from the winds in his guts and doubled over. This gave Zarvin time to get back to his feet. As soon as he rose, he lifted up his arms, which launched a tornado, the size of a double storied building on to the man.

Surprisingly, the man was quick to react. He conjured a huge burst of fire which collided with the tornado midway. Zarvin increased the ferocity of the tornado. That made an impact. His enemy’s hands seemed to be shaking now. The fire column was faltering.

Zarvin was now sure that soon the pesky intervener will be torn to pieces by his little display. And he would triumph.