StarGaze

Sync

"So eventually you both came to terms?" The tree of life asked.

"What kind of a stupid f*****g question is that? Why do you think I let him stay inside my head and control half my body sometimes?" Thomas asked irritated.

"Maybe because you don't have a choice, you f*****g bully!" Raghav returned a blow.

"Fair enough. So yeah, we did learn to live in each other's company. I'm guessing you want me to tell you the first time we 'synced'?" Thomas said.

"Yes." The tree of life answered simply.

"Ahh yes...so I was off fighting some terrorists which were part of my mission. There was a complication. I was fighting against a faction that had the ability to manipulate time, just like me. And the person I was about to fight was my old friend Azak...

 The thing about time freeze technology is that when you freeze the time around you, you cannot stop other people from wearing the same technology. The world goes around like normal for them as long as they wear the same tech as you.

So this means that everyone around Thomas was frozen, except him and Azak. As the letter flew away like a sparrow, Thomas activated his sixth sense. He cemented his feet in the ground and took a stance as he felt the wind around him change.

As soon as Azak pounced on Thomas, the latter swung his arm around and countered with a punch straight on the nose, discombobulating Azak. He flew ahead of Thomas with his eyes closed and crashed in a dustbin outside of soldiers’ canteen.

“Good job, soldier.” Raghav praised Thomas.

“Shut the f**k up, man,” Thomas said and shook the pain off his knuckles.

The disorientation lasted less than Thomas expected. Azak was up on his feet in less than two seconds. He wiped the blood off his broken nose and smiled at Thomas.

“You are getting slower, old man,” Azak said and laughed.

“You wish!” Thomas said and moved closer to knock Azak out before he could take hold of himself.

Thomas threw punches at Azak, but the latter was already ready. He deflected Thomas’ hand and delivered a brutal uppercut right to the face, blacking Thomas out for a second. Azak didn’t let this chance go to waste.

Azak held Thomas by the throat and kicked his left knee. Thomas growled with pain as he gained control, but Azak continuously mutilated the knee. As soon as he let Thomas go and backed off a bit, Thomas immediately fell. He was unable to make his left leg move and felt a crashing pain whenever he tried to move it.

Azak saw this opportunity and closed in again, holding Thomas’ hair and lifting his hand to punch Thomas in the eyes. But Thomas was no rookie. He swung his hand and crushed Azak’s nuts in a single blow.

Azak screamed and jumped backward, ultimately falling on the ground, still yelling in pain. The low blow worked and now Thomas had time to recover. He took out his knife and pressed a button on it. the knife was red hot in less than a second.

Thomas used the extremely sharp tip of the blade and swiftly tipped it on his knee at certain points, having instant relief. The heat therapy worked, and now it was game on!

On the other side, Azak took out some pills and was back in his form in no time. The warriors were standing face to face again. Both were certainly hurt and bleeding, but no matter how old they are, men are men. No one would even show a shred of pain on the face.

Azak was the one to move in this time, and Thomas did not expect this. Azak was ruthless, kicking and punching fearlessly without worrying about counters. Thomas was too busy defending himself to attack, and Azak took notice of this.

After a few seconds, Azak grabbed Thomas’ legs and threw him down on the ground. And then, the punishment began. Azak stomped and stomped on, breaking Thomas’ ribs and splashing blood from his mouth. No normal human can endure this suffering, and Thomas passed out.

“f**k you, Thomas White. I thought of all people, you would understand.” Amanda said sarcastically, hoping to hurt Thomas’ ego.

“And why did you think such a radical thought? If I may ask.” Thomas asked, smiling.

“Because you have seen a lot of suffering through your years,” Amanda said, looking away.

“Yeah, well the thing you should know honey is that repeated show of violence does not make you sympathetic, it makes you tolerant. I’m not sick of injustice or violence, I’m used to it.” Thomas said.

“Oh, and you think that’s a good thing?” Amanda taunted.

“It’s a thing. I never said it was a good thing.” Thomas said plainly.

“So you'll not help us? Is that it?” Amanda asked.

“I’ll do my job. If it helps you, I have no problem. But I’ll not step out of my path to do anything for your ‘cause’.” Thomas said while finishing his coffee.

“That’s very mean and selfi…” Amanda was saying when a voice interrupted her.

“That’ll work.” A man said from behind Thomas.

Thomas turned around in amazement and witnessed the seven-foot-tall giant come out of the shadows. The same dusty overcoat and hat, scarf on the face, and carrying a pistol in his right hand. Thomas looked at him for a second and then took his original position.

“Come on, make yourself at home,” Thomas said casually. He was feeling a good vibe after decades and he wanted to soak it all inside him.

“This IS his home,” Amanda said.

Thomas ignored her and continued sipping his coffee. Veda was a little hurt by Thomas’ ignorance towards him. After all, he had spent hours to impress Thomas by his grand entry. Anyway, he sat on the sofa, in front of Thomas. Thomas was looking at the ceiling.

“Nice revolver you got there. R8 platinum edition, right?” Thomas said, still staring at the ceiling.

“Yes. I got it from a drug dealer recently.” Veda said.

“Is he alive now?” Thomas asked. A smile broke out on his face.

“What do you think?” Veda smiled back.

“I think you’re clever with words, which means you're not stupid, which means I can’t trust you,” Thomas said, looking straight in Veda’s eyes, or what was left of them.

“Fair enough. So what now?” Veda asked while looking at Amanda. She was standing at the window, searching for any potential threats on the street.

“How long has your organization been operational?” Thomas asked.

“We have been around for seven years now,” Veda said.

“Then it is safe to assume that you know everything about the Chakra?” Thomas asked.

Chakra nodded in affirmation.

“Good. Because I need to know everything that the common people don’t know. About their businesses, political connections, strongholds, and most of all, their vulnerabilities.” Thomas said.

“Okay. So their most prominent trade is in…” Veda started but was interrupted by Thomas.

“Not now. Let me get some rest. You got any vodka around here?” Thomas said carelessly.

“Uhh…..yeah, sure sure. Hey Amanda, you mind getting us a bottle and glasses?” Veda said.

Amanda didn’t answer. She continued looking out of the window for a few more seconds before abruptly going into the kitchen.

“Something’s wrong. She seems off today.” Veda said as he got up and paced across the room.

Thomas didn’t answer. He just stared at the kitchen door, waiting for Amanda to come out so that he could have a long look at her face. But when she did come out, Thomas looked away. His heart hadn’t pumped this fast in even the most dangerous firefights.

After half an hour of drinking, Veda decided to go to sleep, leaving Thomas and Amanda alone in the room. Both of them had hardly said a word in the past thirty minutes and felt really uneasy when Veda got up to leave.

Thomas had a few more shots before he spoke.

“So…you long have you been working in that hotel?” he asked.

“Three years. Why?” Amanda asked, looking at the floor. Her voice was a little deep. Thomas couldn’t help but notice the way a few strands of her hair touched her cheeks. The faint lighting in the room made it difficult to observe her face, but he was sure that a drop escaped from her right eye.

Thomas couldn’t help it anymore. He leaned forward and gently pushed the strands of hair behind her ear. Amanda didn’t move.

“Hey, I’ll be fine. I didn’t survive for almost two centuries just to get killed by a couple of thugs.” He said softly.

“What happens after you finish the mission? Will, they let you stay here?” Amanda said. She pushed away Thomas’ hand and went to the window. Thomas could hear a soft sob.

After a minute of thinking and staring at the wall, Thomas got up and went to the window. He was standing right behind Amanda. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed her hands from behind and whispered in her ear.

“My immortality has taught me that you don’t need centuries to really live, you just need a moment. For decades, I was lost; torturing and killing people, sometimes guilty and sometimes innocent. I was alive but not really living. I had no fear of death because I didn’t have a reason to live. But now I’m afraid, and I love it. Let’s not ruin today for what might happen tomorrow. Hold my hand and take over the moment with me.” Thomas said.

Amanda trembled and a teardrop fell on Thomas’ hand. She turned around, the lights faded and the darkness witnessed how love changed the monster into a man.

“Wait, why don’t I feel your lips?” Thomas asked suddenly.

“Because you ripped my head off, remember?” Amanda said slowly.

“What? But we just had the best moment ever!” Thomas said in confusion.

“No, you just deluded your brain into reliving your best moment ever. You, Thomas, have gone insane. And you are hiding inside the memories that have the strongest influence on you. Like meeting Veda for the first time and kissing me.

So you see, none of this is real. This is just your hell loop, playing over and over again. You could get out whenever you want, but your guilt and mental weakness won’t let you.” Amanda said vanished.

Thomas looked around the cold empty room.

“This is not possible. This can’t be happening to me!” Thomas said and shivered in terror.

“Ready for your speech, Mr. Thomas?” Nova said and called Thomas on the stage.

And suddenly, Thomas was calm again. He knew what he had to do. To make the people of Redland follow him, he just had to light the spark inside them.

And so the loop began again, and you could only wonder where Thomas would end up. Unless...  

“You f*****g i***t. Don’t you know how to fight?!” Raghav asked.

“Oh no, where am I?” Thomas asked, looking around the darkroom.

“You shut your system down. Now it’s gonna take a minute to reboot it. Give me the control and I will win this fight for you.” Raghav said, desperately trying to survive.

He had felt himself disappear particle by particle once and didn’t want to do it again. He would do whatever it would take to keep Thomas alive and survive accordingly.

“Why would I do that?” Thomas asked.

“Because he knows how you fight. You are too predictable. Give me the command and I will show him the true power of what he is trying to capitalize on.” Raghav said.

“And what is that?” Thomas asked.

“Brute force. He isn’t playing safe, only attacking. Once I find an opening, I will gut that motherfucker like a pig in the shed.” Raghav said, laying out his hand.

Thomas looked at Raghav’s palm, and then at his face. After a lot of thinking, he let his hand out and slowly hovered it over Raghav’s.

“Take care of this for me, and I will make sure you know your purpose,” Thomas said, bringing his palm closer to Raghav’s.

Raghav nodded and merged his hand with Thomas’ instantly feeling the power and authority of the torn-apart body.

Thomas opened his eyes, shocking Azak who was going for Thomas’ knife. He swung his hand and caught hold of Azak’s fist with an iron grip.

“You know, I used to eat the heart of people like you in my camp,” Thomas said with a strange light in his eyes.

“Who….are you?” Azak asked, swinging another hand to counter Thomas.

But he wasn’t paying attention, and so Thomas now capitalized on his enemy’s mistakes. He took the knife and stuck it deep inside Azak’s hand, slashing all the way to the bone marrow.

Azak was destroyed with pain. He tried to back off and regain his strength, but he didn’t know that this wasn’t Thomas he was dealing with, it was a man who made a living out of killing loads and loads of bloodthirsty people every day.

Thomas caught Azak’s throat and squeezed it so hard that Azak blacked out. Azak used the last of his strength and kicked Thomas in the abdomen, but Thomas just laughed.

Thomas lifted Azak by his throat and threw him down on the ground, headfirst. He then took the knife out and put it on his stomach. Azak had no option left but to plead.

“Please don’t do this. We used to be friends in the past. Spare me for old times’ sake.” Azak said, trying to be his way out of his first defeat.

“You were friends with Thomas. I am not Thomas. And I don’t like the tone in your voice. Let’s see if we can troubleshoot this problem.” Thomas said and pressed the button on his knife.

As the tip turned hotter than the sun, Thomas sat on Azak’s chest and put his hand inside Azak’s mouth. As much as the latter tried to protest, his tongue was out in the open in no time. Thomas used the knife and didn’t even try to make it swift.

He slowly cut off the piece of flesh, savoring every cry from the throat of the mutilated man. As soon as he threw the severed tongue away, he went downstairs, gutting out the stomach of the rogue agent. Azak screamed his throat out, but his voice becomes more and more feeble as he gave in to the coldness and lack of energy.

And that was the end of Azak the undertaker and the rise of Thomas the savior.

As the freeze ended and Thomas doubled up on the ground, the camp blew up in the fiery blaze Azak had set off. Thomas was lying on the adjacent mountain, watching as the fire engulfed everything that came in its path- people, animals, clothes, nothing was spared.

Thomas had done what he came here to do, and he sure as hell was going to survive the aftermath of his deeds. The only question that remained now was that what was his purpose here. He had never been without a mission. And now the break that he always wanted was finally here, he was terrified.

"No one knows it, but it was actually Raghav fighting with my body so that my moves would be unpredictable. It was terrifying to surrender my body to someone I didn't know, but in the end, it seems like things worked out." Thomas said and sighed.

The branches glowed around him, and he knew that something was either seriously wrong or something good had come out of this conversation.