Chereads / Cherubim System / Chapter 24 - The Stalker

Chapter 24 - The Stalker

As the shadows were extending beyond the horizon, Kodesh found himself back in the vicinity of the magnificent and imposing temple of dark magic casting ominous shadows, its wicked and sinister presence washing over the city and beyond.

His dear mother and sister were held captive, to be sacrificed alive to their perverse god. They were bound together with a horde of other Olive captives by a colossal iron chain in one of the rooms.

Kodesh unwillingly approached the great temple, and halted at a shouting distance, his feet quavering with trepidation. The closer he got to the grand temple, the more the demonic aura intensified, numbing his senses and sapping his energy. He could already feel a shiver cascade down his spine as a sense of chill rushed through him.

Taking a deep sigh, he looked about, letting his clone follow the two warriors who were being taken back to the eerie temple. He was scouring the streets for a lone guard to ambush and before long he spotted one.

'Perfect.'

In the next moment, Kodesh narrowed the spatial distance between him and the unsuspecting man. In the man's hand was pipe of smoke, a light grayish blue smoke billowing through the air like he was a coal train.

Behind the man, Kodesh was silently stalking in the shadows, each of his steps more inaudible and threatening than the previous ones. He was in his element, focused like a ravenous predator creeping on a foraging prey., undetectable as the stars in the tapestry of cosmos at the heat of day, gaining on him rapidly.

He was just a spitting distance from the man but his stealth and the non-stop grind of self improvement didn't pay off. In the next moment the man routinely turned towards the direction of Kodesh. Not that he sensed him or heard his steps. It was just a routine shoulder check.

Immediately as the man's unexpected gaze fell on Kodesh, he felt his heart lurch within him, almost jumping off his chest. He could tell that Kodesh was sneaking up on him and the puzzled look on Kodesh's face was confirmation enough that something was awry.

His face just told on him. He looked like he was caught with his pants down. A blamable and demeritorius expression spreading across his sweat covered face as well as a hint of shock. He didn't know how the man sensed him and it appalled him even more.

The man puffed out a cloud of smoke as he was starring daggers at Kodesh, unnerved by the seemingly harmless boy who was creeping up on him.

In the next moment, Kodesh thought of the two guys he stumbled upon at the crack of dawn as he was trying to reach the hills of Ziba to impart from the remains of Samson. And just like that time, he explosively lunged towards the man, charging at him with devastating speed, hi s eyes glinting with rage.

Immediately, the man summoned his sword and in the next fraction of a second it was slashing through the air, its blade menacing and ominous.

Sidestepping the man, Kodesh tried to subdue him and grapple him to the ground with the strength of Samson, but the man was as slippery as the smoke billowing out his pipe. And in the next moment, he bolted towards the main street.

'Crap.'

Kodesh didn't want to make the kill bloody and messy, that was why he wanted to wrestle him down and literally squeeze life out of him with his preternatural strength that far surpassed the death squeeze of the great anaconda. But now he had to kill him however possible, even if it becomes a blood bath.

For some reason, the pipe was still clutched in the man's hand despite the racking struggle he had just experienced. Kodesh was right behind him, breathing down his neck a he was pelting with all his strength, trying to catch up to him before he blows up his entire mission like the smoke he had been blowing.

A lot was at stake and as if to add insult to injury, a humanoid aura wafted through the atmosphere at the far end of the secluded street. The pipe smoker was almost upon the main street and Kodesh pelted even faster, his muscles overexerting and firing like a well oiled machine.

But even then, he still couldn't catch up to the man. He was as fast as a coal train, like he was not a smoker. In the next moment, a figure of a man appeared from around the corner wielding a white hilted dagger and almost instantly, the pipe smoker halted in his tracks as a rush of dread washed over him, almost like he had seen a ghost.

The youthful man standing before him looked eerily similar to the young man chasing after him. Well it was in fact Kodesh's clone but what the man didn't know was that it was as harmless as a fly.

As his insides were jumping out of his skin with trepidation, Kodesh's Herculean arms slithered around the man's neck like a hungry constrictor, making short work of his neck as they were crushing his throat and asphyxiating him to death.

Dragging the lifeless body deep in the secluded area, Kodesh stripped the blue tunic off the corpse and threw it on. Summoning a clone of a captive he saw die earlier at the hands of Constantine, Kodesh clutched the chain that the clone was already bound by and he led it to the grand temple.

A short while later Kodesh was standing some distance from the majestic temple, his senses dull and his strength draining at alarming rates. Nonetheless, he ascended up the flight of steps of white marble, making his way to the enormous entrance of the splendid temple.

He had already seen the interior of the temple through his unblind aspect but seeing the luxurious and elegant temple in person was like he was in another planet of utmost ethereal beauty.

The interior was built entirely of white marble, the walls intricately decorated with golden carvings and engravings. Dragons seemed to be the theme of the temple. Golden statues of fierce dragons were spanning almost everywhere his eyes could wander, their hollow eyes seemingly following Kodesh as he was entering the temple, sending a chill through his veins.