Chapter 18

Farley stared at the salesman with a frightened look. The man screamed at him in a language which he did not understand and made many angry hand gestures while doing so. Carefully Farley took the figs out of his pocket again. The man now got even more angry. From all around people came to see what was happening, and they all looked at Farley. He couldn't stand the attention. The unknown emotion came to the surface again, even stronger than last time. Farley had to try his hardest to not let the emotion take control of him.

Farley slipped the figs back into his pocket. The man now got furious and grabbed a big knife from his cart. Farley became frightened, but he had no idea what to do. The unknown emotion seared through his body; his heart was pounding in his chest.

With a swift move the salesman grabbed Farley's wrist and pressed it down on the table in front of him. in doing so, he removed Farley's glove. The screams of the salesman weren't angry screams anymore, but surprised ones. With a quick jab, he cut through the cloth that Farley had put in front of his face.

The people around him started screaming and gasping. A woman did what he had seen the monks in the mountains do often: she got on her knees and started praying. Two other men now approached him too, both armed with knives. Farley could no longer control the unknown emotion. The rage took hold of him and controlled his entire body. Quick as lightning, he struck at the neck of the salesman. The razor-sharp spike at the end of his arm buried itself in the soft flesh of the man's neck. For a brief moment the man was gasping for air, but with a gurgling sound he quickly drew his last breath. With equally quick moves, Farley killed the other two attackers. During the attack his hood slipped back and his other glove fell to the ground.

Quickly Farley analyzed the situation. Everything started moving faster now that he had let the unknown emotion in. From different directions, he could see seven men approaching, all armed. Farley dropped his coat to be able to move faster, and kicked off his boots. The seven men charged at him, but Farley was too fast for them. Before any of them could even swing at him, three laid dead on the ground already. The other four fought back for just a moment, but they too had not long to live. The rage and adrenaline soared through every inch of him. He enjoyed the feeling.

'These were evil men,' a voice said in the back of his head. The voice sounded familiar. Farley had heard it before, in the Himalayas, but back then it was a soft whispering, not audible. Now the voice was loud and clear. In the Himalayas, the voice had scared him. Now he knew no fear. 'Repeat after me: these were evil men.'

'These were evil men,' Farley repeated out loud.

'They certainly were,' the voice said. Farley looked around, to the people who had stared at him, the people who had frightened him, the people who had taken everything from him. 'These are all evil men.'

'These are all evil men,' Farley repeated out loud. Without hesitation, he cut the rest of his clothes and ran to the person closest to him. Within seconds, five more people laid dead on the ground.

As Farley pulled the spike from one of the dead bodies, he felt different. The blood that streamed over his arm did not feel unnatural, but nice and pleasant. He felt himself change, not just mentally but physically too. He felt larger, faster, strong.

A group of policemen came running towards Farley, all of them armed. Farley prepared himself and dashed towards the officers. As if he were in a trance, he attacked them. All of them. One by one they fell down without even getting a scratch on Farley.

The Farley that had to watch his mother being dragged away was gone. The Farley that was chased out of the Himalayas no longer existed. This Farley made his own decisions in life. This Farley let nobody tell him what to do. This Farley let nobody mess with him, he struck back and took revenge on all the evil men.

Farley had evolved.

Fighting. The primal nature of humanity. For millennia, people have proven their worth through combat. Survival of the fittest. The strongest rule the planet. The strongest get the fame, the glory, the riches. Commanders, weapons, invasions, wars. History books are filled with them. Technological advancement is measured in the amount of people one weapon can kill, how fast weapons can kill. Fighting breaks families, tears nations apart, destroys entire civilizations. And yet sometimes, fighting is the only solution. Sometimes a man has to fight to save his own life or that of the ones he loves.

END OF BOOK 1