He recalled their first adventure, which had been more mischief really than a confrontation with danger. They had been very young then, having met each other when they accompanied their fathers to a friendly gathering. Almost immediately after, the two children had decided to play a prank on a stable master and unhitched the horses in the stable under his care. The commotion had been noteworthy, to say the least and their fathers had chased them all the way home.

Aadi couldn’t control the flood of memories in his mind. Vision after vision of his finest times spent with his best friend flitted across his eyes. His muscles were stiff, almost rock hard and there was a lump in his throat. He felt as if an ocean of tears would burst forth from his eyes at any moment. He didn’t dare move his eyes away from Shan; the body of his friend lay on the ground before him. “Shan’s dead,” his mind whispered and Aadi let out a cough choked with sorrow. He didn’t know what to do.

“Aunt Dara,” Aadi uttered the words without intending to do so, thinking of Shan’s mother waiting for him to return home. “What am I going to tell her?” he thought, “How do I explain this? How do I explain Shan dyi…” Aadi shuddered physically at the thought of his best friend lying dead on the ground. He clenched his fists and tried to focus. He needed a course of action. He needed a plan. He needed to do… something. “That person!” Aadi suddenly thought of the stranger who had tossed the bodies on the ground ever so casually; that gauntleted man; that mysterious fellow clad in metal greaves and boots.

The thought of the stranger enraged him. Who else could have killed his father and best friend? Aadi had seen no one else in this place. Judging by how easily the man had hefted two dead bodies in his hands and then tossed them on the ground like playthings, Aadi guessed that he was very strong. If there had been another enemy in this cave, the stranger would have dispatched it; of that Aadi was certain. He didn’t come across as the type that played nice with others.

“He killed them,” Aadi thought and his mind mercilessly imagined myriad ways in which the man had committed the deed. Each thought made him progressively angrier and he found his hand reaching into his pocket and gripping his slingshot. His fingers tightened around its hilt and his free hand retrieved a stone from another pocket. His mind was focused intently on his dead friend and he fitted the stone to the slingshot’s band. Whispering, “He killed them,” Aadi began to pull the band back, stretching it to its fullest extent.

Pivoting in place, Aadi’s hands rose and he aimed his slingshot in the direction that he imagined the stranger to be. It wasn’t how he would’ve hunted a prey in the forest. He wasn’t given to firing blindly as a hunter, but he couldn’t discern his target’s location. He hadn’t followed the stranger’s movements as the man retreated into the distance, having tossed his father’s and best friend’s bodies in front of him like trifles. His enemy could have been anywhere in the cave, waiting and watching him, but Aadi didn’t care.

With a sudden, sharp sound, the stone hurtled through the air as Aadi loosed it, firing the first shot. He didn’t wait to hear the sound of its impact and began to run behind it. As it happened, the stone didn’t hit anything and Aadi remained ignorant about his enemy’s whereabouts. Still, he ran, adjusting his angle slightly to skirt the projectile’s direction. His target wasn’t that way, after all. With each step, Aadi’s eyes darted left and right, searching for any indication of the gauntleted stranger. The byplay of the cave’s light and shadows made spotting a target hard, but he persisted like a man possessed.

Then, he saw it; a glint of metal courtesy of the sunlight! It was for a brief moment. The stranger was moving in and out of the shadows, oblivious to Aadi. He didn’t know where his enemy was going, or what he was up to, but Aadi didn’t care. At the moment, he thirsted for vengeance. Revenge for his father; retribution for Shan. His mind was focused. His muscles roared with an eagerness born of fury. Swiftly, he fitted another stone to his slingshot and aimed it at his target’s position. Aadi predicted his foe’s movement unerringly and loosed another projectile. He followed it, just like he had done with the last shot.

This time, he heard a resounding thump as the stone connected with the stranger’s body! Following closely on its heels, Aadi didn’t wait to see his enemy’s reaction. He ran right up to the gauntleted man and kicked with his right foot. He felt the impact as his foot struck his foe and he jumped back slightly, preparing to hit his enemy again. It was then that he saw metal flash past his face! The man had retaliated with a punch, whose speed seemed like a lightning flash to Aadi. He had avoided the blow only by dint of his stance, as he was preparing to strike the stranger. “It’s my turn,” Aadi thought, retracting his shoulder to throw a punch.

Then, the air exploded! The sheer pressure bursting outwards sent Aadi reeling sideways. He stumbled to a knee and gasped, struggling to breathe normally. “How intense!” he thought, trying to track his opponent who wasn’t waiting for him to get back to his feet. The stranger’s left hand sped towards him and Aadi raised his hands to block it. He felt a hammer blow and was thrown backwards; the very air had lifted him off the ground. Before the enemy’s punch had connected, the air had condensed and burst outwards with intense pressure. Even as the punch struck Aadi, he found his feet flailing in the air.

He landed awkwardly on one foot and rolled backwards clumsily. His arms hurt from blocking the blow and he struggled to regain his footing. Meanwhile, his foe wasn’t idling his time away. He had smoothly transitioned from his punch to a sprint and was rapidly closing the distance with Aadi. “I can’t stay still,” he thought and forced himself to run. Aadi stumbled once, but managed to catch himself from falling. He ran as fast as he could to open the distance with his opponent. Having gained a little breathing room, scant as it was, he measured the gauntleted man.

His previous sling shots had done no damage whatsoever. Aadi didn’t see any wound on his foe. There was nary a scratch to speak of! His only kick so far had struck one of his enemy’s gauntlets. Aadi thought he could tell the difference between impacts against metal and leather. That kick hadn’t done anything either. “I don’t think my attacks are working,” Aadi thought, sorting the options available to him in his head. He couldn’t keep running. The stranger was fast and Aadi felt him breathing down his neck already.

Instinctively, Aadi dodged sideways and it was good that he had. The place where he had stepped only a moment earlier suddenly burst in a shower of rocky debris! The gauntleted man had smashed his fist into the ground there, causing the basalt floor to crack and split. The explosion that followed caused rocky shrapnel to spray outwards and Aadi felt a few pieces hit his clothes. Luckily, he avoided any flesh wounds. Glancing back, he saw his opponent pause, as if that strike had drained his stamina.

Aadi pivoted on one foot and fired another sling shot. The projectile struck the man on his leather armour and bounced off harmlessly. “Not good,” Aadi thought, turning and running again. He wanted to create as much space as possible between the enemy and himself. In a contest of stamina, Aadi didn’t think he could outlast the stranger. After all, the gauntleted man had defeated his father and killed his best friend. He had probably slaughtered Pati and Quince, too. Having done all that, his foe was still going strong. He was undamaged and his blows were deadly dangerous. Aadi didn’t know how his enemy was causing the air to explode with every strike, but he didn’t want to be anywhere near those air bursts. His right shoulder and side still hurt from the explosion from that first punch.

Aadi needed options. He needed a way to damage his opponent. If he couldn’t inflict even a single wound, how was he supposed to defeat that man? He knew he couldn’t dodge every blow either. He couldn’t predict and evade the bursts of air pressure. Eventually, his enemy would strike him and those strikes would be severe. Aadi realised that he could die here too, along with his father and best friend. He had hardly any room for mistakes. He needed alternatives. He needed options.

He needed an opportunity and it beckoned to him with three words.