The streets of Bangalore buzzed, the veins of the city pulsing with life even in what was supposed to be the dead of the night.
Arfa Sayeed, meanwhile, ran. With dead eyes yet such an alive and pounding heart, because she'd seen something that shouldn't exist.
Her head throbbed as she finally skidded to a stop, crashing into the back alley of an unnamed bakery, slumping down the wall as her mind flooded with thoughts. Thoughts that she was sifting through because what was that thing she saw?
A noise of bubbling and muffled screaming followed her path.
She stood up, head spinning and lips in a bewildered grin. 'Shit! AHAH, what the hell kind of thing is this, chasing me of all people?? Maybe I've gone and lost it all!'
A laugh bubbled from her throat, crawling its way up her spine as if fear had been buried forcibly so deep in her stomach that every other emotion was starting to surface.
The thing making the noise had stopped. It was, in a word, gruesome. Eyes like a bug's and body the size of a panther, mouth split apart with countless teeth running down to its torso. The strange energy it was emitting seeped through the very walls of alleyway, a vibrating hum resounding in Arfa's throat just due to the pressure.
She took a step back. The creature took one front.
"So this is what happens when I don't take my medication for once? Huh... I might say, you've brought my dead heart back to life!" She yelled, pulling off the bandages from one of her arms just as the creature pounced.
Tying the bandages around its open mouth, the creature's jaw split as Arfa rounded behind it, pulling it back as one would to a dog on a leash. One of its eyes was gouged out and landed on the ground, the creature screamed.
Arfa picked up the eye and taunted the thing. Wrong move.
It felt humiliated, she guessed, as it instantly turned and slapped at her, sending her flying towards the wall.
She gasped, and then chuckled weakly.
A few ribs broken. That's fine. At least now her physical injuries would complement her mental state.
What Arfa failed to notice was that, just as she'd come in contact with the creature, she'd awakened something far more dangerous in herself.
A ridiculous thought crossed her mind, as she clutched the gooey eye tighter, the black energy of the strange creature oozing out of it.
Arfa ate the eye. It went warm down her throat. The creature snapped.
Like a wild and cornered thrashing animal, the creature swung blindly at her. Which she couldn't dodge and so, was left bleeding and stunned. She panted, reaching over for a rusted broken pipe, driving it straight into the creature's skull.
It screamed, skidding back and guarding its head. And for the first time, it spoke.
"...Imbecile human..."
"Huhhh? Did you say something?" Arfa asked, completely bewildered it spoke, though she didn't dismiss the possibility before.
There's always something jarring about witnessing it in practice.
"GIVE MY EYE BACK!!" It launched at her, which she barely blocked, gritting her teeth as she laughed. "Yeah? You're going to have to pick it out of my vomit then!"
That was once again a wrong move, because it aimed straight for her stomach.
'Wow. Am I really going to die here? I mean, that's what I've been aiming for but... who knew death would come so easily into my arms~!'
But just as she'd closed her eyes and been prepared to take the hit, she felt strange energy flowing through her and she gasped, eyes opening.
'No way! I didn't think it'd actually work!'
She laughed abruptly, surprising even the creature that thought it smelled the fear of death from her.
It skidded back suddenly, as if it'd been burned and growled. "You.... consumed my eye and gained Drive...??"
"Eh??? Drive? What's that? I only know I feel unstoppable now!" Her lips split into a grin, her mouth leaking blood as the energy she emitted swirled around her, casting a shimmering glow. The air pushed upwards, her hair flowing wildly as a dark noose of unstable energy hung from above.
"The hanged man is what they called me then, you know..?" She muttered to the creature, still smiling. "And I don't really understand what this power I'm feeling really is, but maybe.. you could explain it to me?"
The moment she pulled on this thread of energy flowing through her, time had stopped. Literally. She aimed for the creature's chest, it's blood spurting across her face and teeth as she grinned, but her expression was slightly confused as it dawned on her.
'Wait. What am I killing again?'
Just as she let go of the energy, time snapped back into place and her blow landed twice as hard against the creature. She too was blown away by it.
She stood panting, as the creature now had a hole in its chest, barely alive and screaming in a muffled and weak voice. Her head felt dizzy after taking those hits, and the blood going down her arm due to blocking those attacks wasn't helping.
She hit the ground in exhaustion, her eyes going hazy as the creature shed to dust. 'What was that I felt just now? This energy... it doesn't feel like bloodlust... No, it feels beyond it. What the creature mentioned— Drive..'
'Is it possible that it's a form of spiritual energy of some kind? That sounds fascinating... but highly improbable.'
Her body slumped on its own against a wall and just as she was closing her eyes, a tall shadow fell over her. "Oye, don't you faint on me!!"
She blinked, eyes unfocused and head delirious. A man crouched in front of her, hair stylishly done with an easy-going grin not matching someone who probably looked to be in his early 30s.
'Shouldn't people his age be, like, at home depressed and working whatever job middle aged men do nowadays...?'
Her breath came quietly.
'Maybe I've been away from actual civilizations for too long..'
The man snapped his fingers and chuckled, smooth voice drowning out the buzzing she heard in her skull. "Well, aren't you pretty interesting? Can't believe you swallowed the Hollow's eye!"
He laughed, boisterous, and she immediately felt annoyed. 'He'd been watching me. This guy...'
"Well, you're pretty beat up. Maybe we should get you checked out at the Academy's infirmary.. " He muttered, more to himself as he held his chin between two fingers.
With a sigh, he raised his hand and Arfa instantly knew what he was about to do. She perked up, trying to stand. "No, wait, what are—"
A single tap and she was knocked out. Arfa's body slumped and he caught her effortlessly, hands around her shoulders.
"Yaar... What a mess. How do I explain this to Mahendra?" He pouted, picking her up and standing up. "Being seen with a girl and coming out of an alleyway isn't going to look good for me..."
He sighed theatrically once more, before vanishing into the night.