Chapter 5

Jason narrowly dodged the bolt of light coming at him, causing his breath to catch in his throat.

The bolt of light hit the mountain as if it had been struck with a railgun, blowing the base into grains of sand and sending a shockwave so loud it felt like it had burst Jason’s eardrums.

As he recovered from the blast, his vision blurred due to brain rattling, he saw a girl-shaped... Being made of electricity, it emerged from within the crater, quickly and unexpectedly moving towards him.

“I said, ‘Hi, human, I’m Biji. Are you alright?”

Jason remained silent for a few seconds before answering, trying to catch his breath and regain his hearing.

“...Ugh, my head…” Jason muttered to himself, “… Wait, how are you speaking English?"

“Of course I speak English; everyone does.”

“Seriously?”

“No. I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Biji said, a crescent-shaped grin forming through the electricity.

Jason could feel a vein pulse on his forehead. He seriously was not in the mood for this. Regaining his composure with a deep breath, Jason and Biji began to circle each other, making sure not to move too suddenly.

A drop of sweat formed on Jason's brow as he looked at her, desperately formulating a strategy to get himself out of the situation without looking like a coward.

“Why are you sweating? You’re the one with the weapon, if you can call it that. Couldn't you just use the rock on its own?” She snarked, putting her fingers on the rock wrapped around Jason's torso.

“You—” balling his fists in irritation, Jason quickly cracked his neck to regain his composure.

‘Be cool. This is do-or-die, so lock in, me. Spit some game, then get out.’

Breathing into his chest deeply, Jason decided to approach with his usual, practiced smirk.

“Hey, uh, Biji. My name’s Jason. Look, I’m not from here, as you can tell. What would it take for you to let me walk off? Name it, and I'll do my best to give it to you.”

Mustering all of his charisma, Jason winked at Biji, then took the pig leg off his back, holding it out in front of him. “Uh, are you hungry? This’ll probably cook nicely.”

It was the best offer he could think of on the fly.

Biji chuckled. Then, her chuckles turned into laughter, which lasted longer than Jason had expected. All he could do was stand awkwardly and hope she took the bait.

After a few moments, she calmed down, wiping an electric ripple, presumably a tear, from her eye. “I don't want anything from you. I thought you were a Scorched, but you're just an average human, so we're cool. Besides, you're funny, in a pathetic kind of way.”

“Who’re you calling—”

Biji powered down from her electrified state, revealing herself to be much more human than Jason had initially thought. Besides the unconventional features, like the horns and blue skin, she seemed like a normal girl.

Jason began to retaliate, but Biji stepped towards him, reaching up to put her hand on his shoulder. “Also, stop puffing your chest out. You can relax.” She looked at him with a surprising softness, disarming Jason’s anger; he turned his face to hide his flush.

For the first time since he arrived in Naraka, Jason's shoulders relaxed as he let his guard down. He set the pig leg down with a chuckle.

“Thanks… It's appreciated. Trust me, you wouldn't believe the day I’ve had.”

She smiled, her sharp fangs gleaming in the faint light of the forest, still sparking with lightning, before bringing them both cross-legged to the ground.

“Try me. I've got time to kill, and I'd love to hear how a human ended up in Naraka of all places.”

…

For a while, Biji and Jason sat in the forest, with Jason animatedly ranting about all of the things that had happened that day. Basketball, Emma, Yuzo, all of it.

“And after all of that, you come zooming in, blowing a crater into the mountain and nearly making me deaf. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Don’t blame me! We don't get humans in the forest; you couldn't have expected me to guess that," she chuckled, smacking him on the shoulder. “Having Ukali’s blessing explains how you survived at least.”

“...Blessing?” Jason asked, the confusion apparent on his face.

“Seems that if it weren't for her, I would have gone right through you.” She remarked casually. “Must have moved you out of the way herself, or something.”

“Comforting,” Jason winced. "On that topic, it doesn't seem like I'm the first human you've met. Are there others down here?”

She paused for a moment, falling into a deep thought.

Coming back to guard, Jason analyzed her face further; her teeth were sharp, and instead of having whites of her eyes, they were a deep black. Something about it caused his stomach to turn. ‘She really looks like a person, just… off. It's freaky.’

"It's complicated. There are, but I can’t say I know them too well. They tend to… stick with each other, instead of mingling with locals.”

Biji looked awkwardly at Jason, tapping her fingers against each other.

He decided not to push for more information for now.

…

As the two continued their talk, Biji’s eyes shifted over to the leg that Jason had wrapped in rope. It had started leaking its black, tar-like blood onto the snow, seeping with the smell of fish and ash. Her eyes changed, widening, before turning back to Jason.

“Jason, where did you get that leg, anyway?? Did you find it somewhere?”

”Cut it off the demon-thing I killed.“ Jason shrugged. “Why, is there something weird about it?” Biji’s eyebrows furrowed, looking at Jason, then back to the leg.

“You killed the Scorched we came out here to hunt. We’ve been tracking it for two days.” She put her face in her hands, dragging her eyelids.

“We?” Jason asked, a bead of sweat falling down his face.

Biji just sighed, readjusting in her seat. “I came out here with a coworker of mine, and he is going to be really annoying about that.” She looked at Jason, trying to put on a supportive face. “But… it is impressive you were able to do it without Brahman. I’m not even sure if I could do that.”

Jason laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It shattered my spine and almost killed me.”

Stress evaporating from her face, Biji choked back a laugh. “I take it back; that's really embarrassing. Just take the compliment next time.”

“Screw you too then.” Despite being embarrassed, Jason couldn't stop himself from laughing as well.

Suddenly, Biji’s ears perked up as she looked towards the direction she had come from, her expression irritated.

“Speak of the devil, he’s here.”

Covered in twigs, a man emerged from the bushes, swatting the bushes with what appeared to be a lance. His white-orange hair appeared matted, and the anger on his face made the air blow a frigid wind.

“Biji, I got lost for half a fire cycle looking for you. What the hell!” The man grumbled as he picked the leaves from his clothes.

“Loba, I moved in a straight line. Thought you could handle that without getting lost.”

Biji sighed, standing up to help Loba dust off.

After aggressively pruning himself, Loba then turned to Jason, regarding him with a smirk.

“Well, that's new. That's either the most pitiful Raksha I've ever seen or a Manuyan. Is this your friend, Biji?” he said with a scoff.

Jason met his eyes, returning his cocky demeanor.

“Man, you just got lost walking in a straight line. I don't think you can call me pitiful, stick-boy.”

Loba’s jaw immediately clenched. Hard. Biji choked back another laugh.

“Who does this kid think he is? And who are you calling ‘boy’?”

‘I already don't like this guy.’ Jason thought to himself.

“I’m the guy who killed the ugly pig you guys were hunting for. The Scorched, or whatever. I think some thanks are in order.”

Loba froze, staring at the severed leg on the ground. Then, the ground underneath his feet started to freeze, the snow and dirt turning into a sheet of ice.

“You killed the Scorched!? We needed that thing alive, you idiot! On top of that, now we can't send its soul back to Manuya!” he said, walking over to Jason before grabbing him by the collar.

“… What are you talking about? That thing was a demon, or something like that.”

“Scorched are the souls from other realms. We send them back to reincarnate back in their realm. And now YOU screwed that up!” Loba said, starting with a mutter, before straight-up yelling in Jason’s face.

Biji chimed in, her tone casual compared to Loba’s. “It’s what we do for work. Pretty boring, in all honesty. But you killed it, so it'll reincarnate here now. doesn't seem like the form a Pretayan would take. Maybe it was a Tiryang, but I feel like it would’ve been weaker if that was the case…” She shrugged before circling back over to Jason and casually pulling him from Loba’s grasp.

Everything clicked at once. Jason's throat dried up immediately, sweat streamed down his cheeks, and his breathing became dry heaves.

The world around him vanished.

‘This can't be real. I didn’t…’

When Biji saw Jason's breathing, she stopped talking. She quickly took position behind him, resting her hand on his back. Loba didn’t seem to notice, as he kept on rambling.

‘A really vivid, long dream.’

“And now, we won't make the coin from killing it! Honestly, I should kill you for robbing me of a meal. Or a new jacket. Or shoes, or whatever else I wanted to buy!” Biji signalled to Loba to stop talking, but he kept going, his blue eyes cutting into Jason like hail.

Jason thought it was all bullshit. And he was going to prove it to himself. Right then and there.

Loba kept pressing Jason, each word an aggressive jab. “What, Manuyan? Is a little bit of murder weighing on you? I'm shocked; with all your talk, I clearly mistook you as being more like a Raksha. All that bluster seems to be gone now, though.”

Loba’s smirk had faded into something cold, like a predator stalking its prey.

Refocusing, Jason’s eyes had grown dark. He stood up and balled his fists, blood starting to drip from his palms.

“I killed that pig-thing with my bare hands and a rock. You think you have a chance with your stick? Brutal.”

Loba’s frost webbed the ground as he took a step forward.

“It's a lance, smartass.” He growled.

Forcing his posture straight, Jason cracked his neck like he’d just slipped off the bench and onto the court. His grin had returned, sharp and predatory.

Despite the fact the two had just met, as Jason’s eyes briefly darted

“I really don't care what it is. You look like an old man walking around with that thing. You want to start something, stick-boy?” Jason’s eyes had become wild as his breathing grew ragged. His ears rang wildly as he trained himself on Loba, bouncing on his toes to keep himself light.

“If you call me stick-boy ONE more time,” Loba’s eyes were wild now; the ice coming from his feet had spread to his hands, coating his spear with frost.

‘I'm going to gouge your eyes out.”

“If that thing couldn't kill me, you definitely can't.” Jason started walking towards Loba, raising his hands up to the raksha.

Biji casually removed her hand from Jason's back before stopping in front of him, her eyes crackling with lightning.

“Look, Jason. Free piece of advice: you don't want to do this. Maybe on a good day, you could win, and don't get me wrong, Loba’s been an absolute pain all day.” She turned, glaring at Loba with daggers. “But if you want to stay alive to find your brother, then you need to back down.”

Despite her words, Jason wondered to himself why she was trying to stop him.

“Biji, if I even get one solid shot off, that's going to give me more satisfaction than winning a hundred seasons of ball. That sounds like a win-win to me.”

Jason’s breath grew hoarse as Loba readied his lance, pointing it at Jason’s skull. He had put his hands down, no longer bouncing. Biji walked around him, muttering to herself, the air becoming intense with static. “Yep. He's trying to get himself killed…”

In a flash, Biji appeared behind Jason.

"Yeah, I'm not letting you die over something as dumb as this.”

Then he felt something hit his neck, followed by his body hitting the ground. Once more, everything went black.