thick, black coils of energy filled the air like smoke. in kantoor, the color was the first thing that people used to determine the gun, the nature, of the energy. and black meant irul-gun—a destructive nature. blind, bloodthirsty destruction.
after that, they felt its scathing, oppressive force. the kind that made anyone standing within the radius of a few metres feel like their skin was burning—their limbs trembled uncontrollably, inexplicable fear spiked from their stomach right up to their chest in a violent punch that left them gasping for breath.
which is why the local policeman wheezed into his radio transceiver, unable to talk properly. "h-help! there's an irul-gun monster here." he gapes at the coils of black energy taking shape in the sky. "it looks like a b-bird!"
the energy-form had spread out on either side of its pear-shaped body, tendrils weaving and knotting into each other—rippling like feathers caught in the wind.
"you're calling from the empty plot number-ten on the outskirts of hubla," the person on the other side responded, sounding confused. "there's no accumulation of irul-gun there… it's been uninhabited for a long time."
"you think i don't know that!?" the fear on the policeman's face gave way to frantic irritation. "there's no protector on patrol here, so you need to—" his sentence was cut short by the sight in front of him.
the empty plot, and every other structure on this side of the road, sat right across a lake. it was usually occupied by tourists and used as a popular place for outings. today, a school seemed to have organized a trip there.
today, of all days.
"send a protector here!" the police yelled into the transceiver, as a string of kids emerged into his sight. "there are civilians… k-kids here! we need a protector."
he tried yelling at them to get their attention. "it's not safe here—go back! go back!" but his cries were nothing compared to the spectacle unfolding in front of their eyes.
stopping just short of a bus parked on that side of the road, they tilted their heads back. in front of them, the irul-gun monster had taken full form as a flying-creature… which resembled a bat more than a bird now. it covered the sun, casting a chilling shadow across the ground.
that was enough to send some of the kids into a state of horror. a few dropped to their knees, covering their heads with their arms—such was the nature of this destructive energy. irul-gun energy.
it reeked of death, sucked the hope out of anything it touched.
"we need more time! there are no protectors nearby."
it didn't care what it destroyed.
the bat swooped down on the kids right then, opening its mouth in a terrible, ear-piercing shriek.
the policeman screamed, wanting to protect them—but his legs wouldn't move. he squeezed his eyes shut, too afraid to watch. bracing himself for the guttural sounds that usually came out of an irul-gun monster tearing its human victims apart, he stood frozen.
but what he heard instead was a confused, pained whine from the bat itself.
his eyes flew open in surprise.
the kids were still on the ground, mid-crawl, frightened out of their wits. but within the thick fear and despair clouding their eyes, there was a flicker of hope. a wild, alive dot of light that shone brighter and brighter as they looked up at their protector.
a boy of their same age—around ten—stood in front of them. one foot planted behind the other, he extended his arms forward. red energy swirled in the centre of his palms. flowing with a powerful determination, this was the energy wielded by the greatest fighters and builders in kantoor.
it was raj-gun energy. brave, passionate, resolute.
it coalesced together before him to form two protective shields. the shields were not big enough to keep the whole bird at bay, but they were uncharacteristically strong. glued together by the red energy, they clanged like metal weapons when coming into contact, sparks flying off their edges.
each time the bat tried advancing, the boy caught it in place with one of the shields. the impact of that clash was forceful enough to send it stumbling back.
the policeman's legs seemed to have recognized the boy's identity before his head caught up.
he ran over to the other side of the road without a second thought. and then, crouching down, he joined the rest of the kids to take shelter behind the boy.
"are you alright?" the boy looked over his shoulder—asking that question in the softest, most even, voice. like he wasn't just battling for his life against a monster borne purely out of accumulated destructive energy.
"y-yes!" the policeman choked out, relief flooding his veins.
how couldn't he be?
he was being protected by shouran puyal—oldest son of the renowned puyal family—who the entire nation believed was going to be their next greatest protector. right after his father, who currently held that title.
still, the relief was only short-lived. a miserable fear replaced it again, gnawing at the policeman. "why haven't you caught its core yet?"
"it doesn't have a core."
the policeman's heart stopped beating.
a core held the accumulated energy from which an irul-gun monster was born. the only way the monster could be dispersed was by capturing the core from the back of the monster's head. all the cores were then sent to state-owned facilities where they were used to power heavy machinery.
if this bat didn't have a core, then… "you can't keep holding it off with y-your shields!" he yelled. the volume of his voice startled some of the kids who hadn't run away yet—still paralyzed by fear, they began sobbing.
as if sensing a spike in despair, the bat lunged forward with hunger. it shrieked, shaking its head from where shouran had jammed his shield into it.
"don't worry. this isn't an irul-gun monster."
"what else could it be!?" the policeman scrambled away when the bat tried to pounce down on them again. he wanted to run away but he also couldn't bring himself to leave the kids alone. stuck between two paths that led nowhere, legs limp from indecision, he only felt more frazzled by shouran's cryptic statements. "stop saying nonsense—"
before he could finish that sentence, shouran whipped his head around at him. "sh."
the policeman blinked, wondering why he was suddenly the target of his intense gaze—till he realized that shouran was looking past him. into the gathering of trees that bordered the lake. while his hands were still engaged in battle against the irul-gun monster, the shields constantly slamming into its head and making it dizzy, he seemed to be searching for something.
heart pounding in his ears, the policeman looked over his own shoulder.
in the darkness of those woods, there was nothing of significance. just a hollow, cold sight—
until something shifted.
the policeman gasped. it looked only like a shadow to him, but shouran had seen something else.
"sir, get down—now!" he roared, the authority in his voice sending tremors up the policeman's spine and turning his brain into a puddle—till all he could do was let his knees buckle in response to that order.
as soon as his chest laid flat against the ground, shouran flung out one of the shields.
it flew over the policeman's head.
slicing through the air with practiced accuracy, it raced towards its target.
that shadow.
before it could disappear back into the darkness, it was struck down by the shield.
and in that same moment—as if ripped apart from what was keeping it alive—the bat dispersed into wisps too.
________________________________________________________________________________________
"shouran was right," a man in a white uniform confirmed. the breast pocket of his shirt was embroidered with the image of a lighthouse—made out of silver and golden threads. this badge adorned the uniforms of every member working at the committee of advisors for protectors, or the CAP.
"this wasn't an irul-energy monster. it was just a fake created by the irulian." he pointed at a man who was currently being rolled in a stretcher towards an ambulance carrying the symbol of the kantoor police force.
a shield, pulsing with red energy—slightly more translucent now—was lodged into his shoulder. bleeding out, the man groaned in pain.
"his special technique lets him store irul-energy from fresh corpses for a short period of time, then let it out in whatever animal form he imagines," the CAP member explained. "that's how he created the bat. so our system didn't have this plot on the radar."
the policeman nodded, still feeling a bit faint.
"thank you for your work," he held his hand out. "we're… uh, s-sorry we couldn't come sooner."
the policeman shook his hand, barely any strength to his grip. frowning, he wondered why the CAP member looked so bashful.
that's when he heard a booming laugh behind him. his soul nearly left his body in a petrified scream.
"of course, we're not sorry!"
he didn't have to turn around to recognize that deep, sonorous voice. "sir madhavan puyal!" the policeman cried out, quickly spinning around and lowering himself in a deep bow.
he trembled, unable to believe that he was in the presence of the greatest protector their nation has ever seen. as much as he was trying to be respectful, the greedy desire to catch a glimpse of this legend overtook him.
he wore the same deep red full-body suit as the other protectors. this was nothing the policeman hadn't seen before; after all, protectors were so integral to their society that everyone saw them at least once a day—whether in-person or on the many billboards and posters covering the country.
but there was an air about him. a steady, unshakeable confidence—in the way he stood with his fists held proudly against his hips, in his broad shoulders, in the blazing certainty burning behind his eyes.
he wore his power. and he stood like he'd continue standing for an eternity, no matter what was thrown at him.
it was no wonder they called him the nation's armoured hero.
"...am i right?"
the policeman snapped out of his daze. "s-sir?"
"i said—i deliberately didn't enter the fight…" he grinned knowingly at the CAP member. "and i also didn't let anyone in, because i knew my shouran was capable of taking care of it. and he took care of it! am i right?"
the policeman wasn't sure which father in his right mind would stand by and watch while his ten-year old kid was out in the wild, battling a creature that was out to blindly destroy everything in its way—but this was the puyal family. generation after generation, they produced the finest protectors who became known as the greatest of the nation. so their ways were beyond his understanding.
"i agree! i agree, sir!"
right then, shouran walked over to his father. "i have completed the investigation, appa."
seeing his gentle eyes, guilt pricked the policeman's chest. "i'm sorry, shouran!" he blurted out. "i'm really sorry for…" he withdrew into himself, embarrassed just thinking about how he'd yelled at the boy out of his own anxiety "...for what i said that time."
shouran blinked, as if, for a second, he could not remember at all those stressful moments in the fight.
then, finally recognizing what the policeman meant, he shook his head. "do not worry about it. what matters is that you're safe."
________________________________________________________________________________________
they got into the car waiting to pick them up at the entrance of the abandoned plot. it was late in the evening, the sun dipping into the horizon. only a few streaks of orange and red remained in the sky, the rest covered with soft moonlit clouds. shouran looked out at them, his posture ever-alert. his fists sat clenched on his knees, tight and vibrating, like he'd have to unfurl them at any moment and defend his classmates against another bat.
"you did well, shouran."
he turned at the sound of his father's voice, his heart lifting.
but he was quick to channel the sat-gun energy inside him and concentrate it in his chest, using its purifying nature to wipe clean the joyous high that was threatening to overtake him. emotion clouded the clarity and numbed the senses he needed to have ready at all times.
keeping his ear attuned to the world outside the car outside the window, he smiled at his father. a measured smile—as even as his heartbeat and as serene as the blood flowing through his veins. "thank you, appa."
"see… " his father, who had been closely observing him, sat back against the carseat. a corner of his lips quirked up in satisfaction. "it's the way you stayed calm and collected during the fight, despite that useless policeman badgering you…." reaching out, he patted his shoulder.
his voice was as sure as steel.
"you possess the perfect combination of energies, shouran: courage and clarity. you're going to become the greatest protector—not just in this generation, but in the entire history of our nation."
the pride glazing his eyes vanished.
in its place was suddenly a flaring determination. darkened with a cold ruthlessness that he'd seen his father reserve only for irulians—the ones who tore down the world with no regard for the pain and destruction they left in their wake. shouran knew then that he was thinking about the irulian who created the monster, who terrorized and tried to kill children no older than ten.
"yes… you're going to be the greatest we've ever had, shouran—you'll rid this nation of every last irulian who dares to run free."
________________________________________________________________________________________
"appa. do you remember the monster i fought when i was ten?"
the pooja room—where the puyal family prays to their gods and ancestors—is silent. his father's face stares back at him from within the frame of the photograph.
"do you remember its energy?"
it's been a while since he last came here. but his father's eyes are unchanged. frozen in time from when the photograph was clicked, right as he'd turned forty-five, those light-brown eyes burning with embers of determination.
"do you remember how it didn't care what it destroyed?"
the low hum of mantras from the small speaker in the corner of the room grows louder in the stark silence.
the only time his father's eyes stopped burning with a courageous arrogance that things would always go his way—was during the final years before his death.
when he feared that the protectors wouldn't be able to root out the morbid destroyers of their nation.
five years later, shouran has come to prove that fear right.
"the greatest protector of my generation—no…" shouran corrects himself. "the greatest protector in the history of this nation has been named."
his father's lips stay open, his teeth still visible, but that smile falls from the photograph.
"and he carries the energy of the monsters."
in kantoor, the color was the first thing that people used to determine the gun, the nature, of the energy. and black meant irul-gun—a destructive nature. blind, bloodthirsty destruction.
"our nation's greatest protector is an irulian."
a violent destroyer, he can hear his father's gut-wrenching scream.
shouran lets out a shaky breath. he closes his eyes and evens out his breathing—concentrating his sat-energy in his gut to clean out the anxiety that's quickly pooling there. and once he gets his father's enraged, terrorized voice out of his head, he turns around to the bodyguard waiting for him right outside the pooja room.
"bring sandai in."
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