Chapter Eight

The Trap

To hunt a dangerous beast you have to dangle an equally tempting bait

Hadriel

Earth/Inferna (Mount Tenebra) EarthYear 1997

Hadriel was surrounded by darkness. After spending almost a thousand years in Inferna Hadriel had become accustomed to everything. Infernal days scorched for months and made the Soulments pray for respite before the never-ending nights crushed their spirits under their gloom. After the seemingly eternal summers burnt their forms, the harsh winters returned to freeze their bones.

The rays of the sun would evaporate their forms into tiny fragments but the chill of the moon would put them back together. They would walk for days in search of salvation but would realize they have gone nowhere. The saline water would never quench their thirst and there was never enough food to douse their hunger. It wasn't exactly hell, but it was hard to imagine what could be worst. There was no relief on Inferna, only misery, and that is why it was the planet deemed fit for the doomed souls. The Souls that broke away from the whole.

It was no wonder that most of the Soulments trapped in Inferna agreed to wear chains on the first given opportunity. They anyhow wanted to escape this hell, even if it meant hundreds of years of servitude. They had sinned, even if they didn't know about it, and sin can only be cleansed through retribution. Serving humanity, not humanity but the Human Lords actually, was the only way up.

Hadriel preferred darkness. Away from the glare of the unforgiving planet, or rather the scorch of injustice and tyranny, the gloom brought a calmness to his soul. The palace built by Hommer, whom Hadriel and his progenies addressed as their spiritual father despite them all being a part of the same Soul, catered more to the shadows than light. It wasn't a palace actually, rather it was a cluster of dungeons in Mount Hellbroke which kept expanding with Hommer's power and reach.

His current residence on the Earth, a large cave inside Mount Tenebra, gave him a feeling of home away from home. He was thankful to Hercules for finding this place. After all, there were a few places on Earth that would make him so comfortable.

Tonight was another Dark Night and Inferna was hanging above them like a giant moon. His lieutenants must be fighting it out there, following his instructions. Today they have a chance to land a decisive blow. Hadriel hoped that his Father's First Soul could somehow find a way today.

He was nervous and fidgety, but he knew all he could do right now was to hold his breath and wait for some news.

***

Hubbert

Earth (The Mainland) EarthYear 1997

Hubbert opened his laptop and clicked on a news article.

Star batsman Brendon Larson will travel on his own and stay at a secret location during Australia's tour of England

Team Australia is expected to tour England for an ODI and T20I series. Generally, the whole team travels on the same ship, but Brendon the Brilliant has asked the Australian Cricket Board that he doesn't want to travel with the group. Furthermore, due to the recent attack on his life, he has requested to stay at an undisclosed location. Board has agreed to his request.

Hubbert re-read the article on his laptop and then turned to the Soulment sitting in front of him. "Where are they hiding?"

"A whole lot of paranormal activity is going around a cottage on the outskirts of London."

"You are sure that is the place?" Hubbert asked getting up from his chair.

"Our scouts have spotted the girl getting in and out of there many times. Others haven't come out of the walls."

"Ask our scouts to keep their distance. We don't want to alert them."

"They are turning that place into a fortress by using every single type of defense mechanism. Harbux himself is seeing to it."

Hubbert closed his eyes and concentrated hard. He wanted to seek the First Soul's approval before attacking the cottage. Earlier he had issues reaching him but now, with every passing day, their mental connection was getting stronger. Their minds connected and after a little mental discussion, Hubbert opened his eyes.

"There is more to it than what meets our eyes. He wants to see us before we make a move."

"The kind of arrangements they are doing, don't you think they expect us to attack? This could very well be a trap."

Hubbert broke into a peculiar smile. "We know this is a trap. But to hunt a dangerous beast you have to dangle an equally tempting bait. We are the bait."

***

The Dark Night was living up to its name. Gloomy, dreary, frightening.

"Well, I hope our diversion was good enough." Mysha was again fidgeting with the lock of her hair that always fell on her cheek whenever she needed a distraction. "You guys are sure that our soulments will be able to hold on if there is an attack there."

"My girl, if the self-centered, self-loving, and self-proclaimed mightiest djinnn of Inferna did what was required, we should be good." Olivia's skin was glowing in the dim light. There was a famous story about an Enchantress of Bliss who could steal a man's heart just with a playful wink, Olivia perfectly fitted that description.

"Harbux knows how to do his job. He never lets anyone down. Hope the pretty lady's work here is not as superficial as her beauty or else all of you will be damned."

"Superficial? You mean fake? You never had an eye for beauty Harbux."

"Certainly this is not how you look when you are a thousand years old."

"Holy Angels! A thousand years?"

Harbux grinned. "Yes Ryan, didn't she tell you that? She might have played hide and seek with your great great great great grandmother."

Olivia vanished into a corner of the room with a red puff of smoke.

Harbux winked at Ryan. "Girls, whether humans or djinns, never like to tell their age."

"Will someone tell me how did she reach a truce with Harbux?" Max asked Mysha in a hushed voice, casting an envious glance at Harbux who was in his tall and muscular avatar. "Surely you can't be keeping this overly handsome young man inside your room,".

"Well, I somehow convinced him to remain as a poodle when my parents are around. In return, he can take any of those irritating forms for the rest of the time. Two days ago I had to endure my granny for ten hours on the trot."

"That must have been so painful."

Boom. The little chit-chat between the lovebirds was interrupted by a loud explosion outside the cottage. One of the side walls had been blasted away.

"Okies okies, it looks like someone didn't get distracted by the diversion," Max announced to his friends. "Guys, get ready for some action."

Deafening shrieks echoed all around the cottage the very next moment. Tens of souls were crying in pain.

Mysha patted Max on his back. "Well done Max, your first layer of defense worked quite well there."

Max had covered the inner walls of the whole cottage with thick iron sheets. Some of the soulments tried to break into the cottage through the wooden walls but slammed into the iron sheets. However, there was a big gate-sized chunk in this armor. The front entrance of the cottage wasn't protected by iron and it didn't take long for their enemies to discover this loophole.

On cue, someone kicked the main door and sent it flying. A young man with fiery green eyes, dressed in lavish robes befitting a king, appeared at the entrance.

"Demon's Curse! Don't you think you spend a lot of effort dressing up for fights?" Ryan asked Hubbert. "I see your dressing taste has also changed since the last time we met, from contemporary suits to traditional robes."

"Humans are obsessed with appearances. For them, that is what separates a king from a beggar or an angel from a so-called demon. So we like to keep up with human dressing standards."

"Mate, ya're still too overdressed for the occasion. We don't remember invitin' ya to a royal feast. Anyways I hope ya didn't have trouble findin' our address. It's not on google maps, ya see."

"Your pedestrian humor won't earn you too much time. Your diversion was good, but Harbux just went a little over the top there. No one makes that much noise when they are looking to hide. All that excessive paranormal activity at Richmond made us realize that something was fishy."

"Boys, I told you that Harbux will get us screwed," Olivia said in her sing-song voice.

"We attached some human eyes to Mysha. She dodged the unseens but led our human scouts straight to your haven. We were looking to hunt you down, one by one, but never imagined we will get hold of all of you in a single place. You guys just made it too easy for us."

"Bloke, don't ya think ya're countin' the result even before the game's started."

"Most of your armies are deployed at the diversion. Do you even want to fight?"

"One thing I've learned in sports is that a match isn't over till it's actually over."

"Okay, if you insist, then let us begin the game."

Hubbert closed his eyes and began to move his lips. Max's iron walls had ensured that Hubbert's Soulments could only attack through the main entrance. So they had to concentrate only in one direction.

Hubbert jerked his head and a large ball of fire entered the gate.

"Jeez, same ole trick. Come on mate, give us somethin' better." Olivia was hovering behind Brendon in her red hot smoky form. Brendon tapped his foot and the fireball froze near the hallway.

Hubbert grimaced. All his veins were popping out as he exerted the powers of all his soulments to break Brendon's hold over time but nothing moved. Ryan extended his hand in front of his body and grunted. Wavey's dark blue avatar filled the room.

Brendon let go of time. Water started to splash out in full force from right, left, and above. The jets of water from every direction trapped the fireball. It got stuck, lost its rage, and split into several small trembling flames that writhed in pain.

"Machines have thumped Magic in the first session of this engrossing match at the Windsor Stadium. The firehoses hidden behind the walls played a great role in blowing away Hubbert's weak batting lineup." Brendon mimicked one of the famous cricket commentators.

Hubbert kept staring at Brendon with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

"I assume someone is shocked why his hundreds of soulments couldn't loosen Brendon's grip on time?" Max decided to solve Hubbert's confusion. "Let me tell you, that the diversion we created was not to lure you there but to bring you here. I knew when someone will see all those over-the-top arrangements he will think something is not right. We counted on his intelligence and sent out Mysha as bait to catch his attention."

Mysha further rubbed some salt into Hubbert's wounds. "Mister I-am-too-smart-to-be-fooled-by-some-Potens, your human scouts didn't follow me here I kind of led them to this place. The trap isn't there at Richmond, it is here. All that paranormal ruckus there is created by some harmless imps. Our real army is all here. You thought you will catch us by surprise but the pleasure is all ours. You didn't avoid the trap, you kind of walked into one."

Hubbert's jaw had tightened and his face had turned crimson. "Our forces still outnumber yours."

Brendon shook his head. "Jeez, I don't think so. All ya soulments didn't even stretch me to my limits."

Hubbert gave a sardonic smile. "You don't know us yet."

Hubbert closed his eyes and everyone felt their feet burning. The water, that had annihilated the fireball and flooded the cottage, started to boil. Ryan's face turned sky blue as he let out a loud grunt. Wavey's misty avatar dissolved into the water and a thin layer of ice formed over the surface of the water that was boiling a moment ago.

"Impressive. Enough of playing around. Time to go for the kill." Hubbert jerked his head.

Soulments couldn't directly inflict damage on humans on Earth, but they could manipulate other objects to harm them. Max had ensured that there was nothing inside the cottage that the Soulments could use as weapons. However, Hubbert was very resourceful. If the Soulments couldn't use other things, they themselves can turn into useful weapons.

A sudden chill engulfed the room as the freezing water around their feet turned into pointed spears of ice and rose into the air. Then there was a gurgling sound and a huge wave of steaming liquid gushed toward them through the gate. A thick mist covered the entire room. The crackling sound of flames coming from outside was a signal that Hubbert's Soulments had put the cottage on fire.

The pointed spears zoomed toward the Poten's bodies, the boiling acid was closing in to melt their bones and the poisonous mist had already entered their nostrils.

Brendon tapped his foot and everything froze. "Crikey, he's taken this to his heart."

Hubbert didn't try to break loose, rather he grinned. "The mist is poisonous and we know that your grip on time is already loosening. The moment this mist reaches your lungs the game is over."

"Bugger, I don't need a lot of time, all I need is a second." Brendon looked at his friends. "Mates, it's time to flee."

Max whistled and Mysha snapped her fingers. Max's gold merged into Mysha's black as they grabbed Ryan and Brendon and whooshed out of the cottage. Hubbert, who was blocking the entrance, was knocked off his feet, as the four and their unseens exited in a jiffy.

Before Hubbert or any of his Soulments could understand what was happening, Max opened a switchboard and pressed a red button. A heavy metal door dropped down and blocked the cottage's gate. With the only exit now jammed, all Soulments inside the cottage were trapped in a giant metallic cage.

Hubbert got onto his feet. His everpresent smile was replaced by a deadly frown.

Max gave him an apologetic look. "Let me tell you, I hate to do this, I even fought with the love of my life over this, but you haven't left us with many options."

"Well, it is time to squash some demons." Mysha pressed the green button on the switchboard. Max had replaced the cottage's wooden roof with a giant iron slab. The crane that was holding this iron ceiling over the cottage dropped it and the iron sheet, which weighed tonnes, fell on the helpless soulments.

The Potens had turned the cottage into a huge death cage and Hubbert led his army right into the trap. The walls ensnared them and the heavy iron ceiling incinerated their forms. There was no escape. Blood-curdling screeches echoed around the woods as the Soulments burned, melted, and disintegrated into nothing.

The chaotic pandemonium gave way to the silence of nothingness. The frenetic frenzy ended in the still of death. Everyone outside the cottage had paused to witness the massacre. It was hard to say whether the Potens had stopped to cherish their success or lament the unnecessary loss of thousands of souls and whether Hubbert halted to weep over his lost friends or admonish himself for his failure.

The pause for mourning was very brief. Hubbert and his few remaining Soulments charged at their foes, but with a majority of their force wiped out, there wasn't much fight left in them.

Brendon once again froze time. In that frozen moment, Max's golden trail was everywhere. It was difficult to tell whether he was still flesh and blood, or had completely turned into a golden smog that was driving daggers into the Soulments.

Ryan always loved the outdoors. Wavey fetched him a dark cloud whose rain washed away the remaining poisonous mist. Mysha took a leaf out of Max's book and a dark smoky avatar moved at lightning speed to shatter the ice shards with a long iron spear. Hubbert was all alone when things moved again. Max swiftly pinned him to a wooden pole while Mysha tied a rope around him.

"Bloody great! That's as bad a thrashin' as ya can get in a match. It's like loosin' a match by an innings n a thousand runs. People of Earth can breathe a sigh of relief now."

Hubbert broke into a demonic burst of laughter. It wasn't the last laugh of a man who had resigned to his fate rather it was a sinister chortle of a monster who knew this wasn't the end.

"Do you think getting us will change anything? Nox Tenebris is just two years from now. Our Savior Father's whole army will arrive on Earth on that night and capture the Valley of Reckoning."

"Quite interesting, you call the Dark Demon a Savior." Max scoffed. "Don't worry, will be ready to welcome him when he comes."

"Max, you guys have no idea what you are up against. Mark my words, Earth will fall on the first dawn of 2000. And when the Abyss will open for a whole month during the Reckoning, we will take over Bliss. Savior Father's heirs will rule the three worlds. The so-called doomed will ascend to Bliss and your revered angels will fall from grace. No poor soul will ever have to slave in the next millennium."

"Strewth, ya've completely discounted us. Ya think we'll just hang around here n let ya pals do whatever they want."

"Brendon, you stand no chance. What can you do to stop our father?"

"We're gonna finish off his heir on Earth so that when ya father comes here he'll have nobody in flesh n bones to fight for him. How's that for a start."

Hubbert laughed even louder. His demonic guffaw shook the surroundings. "You still don't realize what just happened here? You all are so naïve. You don't even know who you are fighting. You stand no chance."

Hubbert closed his eyes and before anyone else could comprehend the situation, he turned into a ball of fire and charged toward Mysha. Brendon tapped his foot but the fireball didn't freeze. He slammed his foot on the ground with all his might, but his powers were useless against Hubbert. Max whooshed in front of Mysha to shield her and the fireball collided with him.

Hubbert got entangled with Max. Max's flesh and Hubbert's fire became one. Hubbert tried to break free but Max didn't let him go. Hubbert exerted all his power and finally got away from Max but this timely intervention gave Mysha that extra second. She stared at her spear lying near her feet and snapped her fingers. The spear flew and pierced the fireball's heart.

The fireball froze in its tracks and turned back into Hubbert. Max somehow regained his footing after being scorched by the fireball to drive another spear through Hubbert. Ryan used his cloud to hit him with a lightning strike.

Hubbert's fight was over. He didn't squirm in pain or cry in agony, rather his trademark smile returned to his face, although it was more poignant than joyful. The spark in his green eyes faded away with his dwindling form, all that was left there was a gloom of sadness. With a loud explosion, Hubbert turned into ashes.

Mysha felt a twinge in her heart.

Do you need some tissues, Mysha? Since when did you start mourning over demons?

Mystic, hundreds of Souls were wasted today.

These are all the side effects of getting too close to Mad Max. His misplaced empathy is rubbing on you.

For God's sake Mystic, you kept me pushing toward him by calling him my boyfriend when I wasn't sure about him..

Well Mysha, you don't listen to everything I say. You just hear what you want to listen to.

That is it, Mystic. Now I am definitely not listening to any of your nonsense.

If I tell you now to keep your distance from that Soulment-Sympathizer. Will you do that?

We will talk about this some other day. But Mystic, something doesn't feel right about killing all these Soulments. Are we doing the right thing?

But before Mysha's echo could answer her question, Max collapsed on the ground.