The Rise of the Wereheretic

CHAPTER 5.2

She grabbed my hair and spun me around; her eyes dancing with menace, “I can see that your complex has still not kicked in. A little bit of motivation might help.”

With a wave of her hand, she sent me slamming against the gate. It opened up with a creak and I stumbled inside. Screeches and piercing shouts echoed in the playground as everyone tried to get out of the playground.

I was shoved and tossed around like a play doll by the crowd until I finally managed to grab the edge of a slide and ducked under it. Shielded from the frenzied crowd, I watched Hera as she jumped right in front of the monster. It towered over her by a good ten meters but she didn’t seem perturbed by its size.

She looked at it right in the eyes, her gaze fixed on his movements. The monster lunged at her but she dodged it swiftly. The monster let out a fierce growl as he struck again and again. She dodged each of its movements like liquid electricity.

A young boy was huddled close to the swing, his face pallid with fear. He was looking across at his mother who was trying to get past the monster. Every time she tried to get past him, the beast shifted his position or struck at something, causing her to step back.

After some time, the boy overcame his fear and tried to get past the monster. His mother shook her head vehemently, telling him to stay in his place. But, it was already too late. The monster had noticed the small boy. ‘

He lowered himself from his waist and grabbed the boy by his neck; holding him aloft in the air. The boy’s legs dangled in the air as he shouted and cried helplessly.

There was a flash of blue light and the next moment the beast was lying on the ground. His grip became loose and the little boy slid down. He sat there, staring ahead with a blank expression; his mind probably reeling with whatever had happened.

Hera’s gaze landed on me and her expression turned cold. I knew I had failed terribly. If I didn’t do anything, I would soon be lying in the place of the beast. Thinking quickly, I stepped out of my hiding spot and praised her openly, “You are not as bad as you portray yourself to be Hera. If you were evil, you wouldn’t have saved the boy’s life.

She cracked her knuckles; her gaze taking on a sinister edge, “I am every bit of evil you can imagine…. I just wanted to test my skills.” Her expression turned condescending, “I wanted to play with the beast for longer but you managed to catch my eye and I ended up killing him quickly.”

She stepped closer and grabbed me by my collar, drawing me closer until we were inches apart, “It will be more fun to play with someone having a superhero complex.’

I gulped but looked straight into her eyes. Despite having little faith in her, I managed to keep my voice even, “I know you won’t hurt me without any reason.”

She snorted and shook her head incredulously, “Just because, I apparently saved that boy, right?” Her gaze drifted to the woman who was holding her child to her bosom now. Their eyes met and something passed between them; I don’t know what it was but it sounded like a silent plea.

Her eyes had become cold; dark like the bottomless hell when she looked at me again. In a voice icier than the arctic, she said, “You think that I will spare your life just because I saved that boy, right?”

I bobbed my head; I don’t know if it was out of fear, belief, or just so I could give some response. Her gaze held mine for a long moment before she spoke in a dangerously low voice, “Something tells me that I have ruined my image by saving that little twit. I will have to fix that.”

She released me abruptly and walked towards the boy with slow steps. She knelt in front of him and grabbed him by his collar. Tears rolled down the woman’s eyes and she mouthed, “Please.”

The next thing I know the boy was lying on the ground, lifeless. She killed him so quickly that I couldn’t even see what she did. My jaws hung open and my eyes widened in horror.

She dusted her hands as if she had just touched something gross as she walked towards me, “Now that the misunderstanding is cleared, let us discuss what to do with you.”

I gulped; this time out of pure terror. I had run out of ideas to save myself. With each step she took towards me, I took two steps backward. At some point, I stumbled. This made me lose whatever hold I had on my composure and I almost shouted, “This is unfair, you know! You can’t judge me by the way I behaved. All of this was too sudden and… I…” I clutched my abdomen, “I am so badly wounded. I couldn’t fight that beast even if I wanted to…. I… I would have just added to the chaos.”

“I think it is indeed unfair to judge him based on this incident; given that he is wounded,” Dreki spoke in my favor. I swear I could have kissed him. My gaze however landed on Hera, who still seemed to be thinking.

Seconds ticked by at an excruciatingly slow pace. With each tick, my heartbeat became more and more erratic. Just when I thought my heart would fail, she finally spoke up, “We will test him again after Seven days; once he has recovered. Until then, he will be traveling with us.”

Her gaze lingered on me for a moment before she climbed over a dead body and walked out of the park. A deep and eerie silence fell over the park strewn with dead bodies. It was a gruesome sight with blood and half-torn carcasses. It was difficult to differentiate the people killed by the beast from the ones killed in the stampede; not that it mattered.

What mattered was that they were gone. They had just come here to have a good time with their family and now they were dead. They were all f*****g dead and I did absolutely nothing.

A deep sense of guilt and regret gripped my heart. With a weighed-down heart and laden steps, I trudged out of the park.

I tried to see the silver lining of this dark cloud; reminding myself that my objective had been achieved. I was getting a chance to stay with Hera for another seven days. But for some reason, I couldn’t feel the joy. It was like the darkness of the night had engulfed me in its blanket just like the moonless night….