41. Lands of the Red

Scavengers were not at their best during these days, but the much known fact about them has been that even when they were not good, they are good enough to be evil; it was something which was always present in their blood since they turned. A lot of factors are said to contribute to the origin and the existence of the Scavengers, and the strongest of them have been the wars with their side-effects, the weapons used and the war crimes which had happened more than anywhere else at these wastelands. It was a place of human atrocities and hopelessness; the same had indirectly lead to the practice of black magic and all kinds of sorcery because science had ruined their life with no hope to escape from the pain and terror. There were similar wastelands at many other places, but none like this one which has spread through the lands and survived until now causing fear everywhere – its an achievement no other land could come up with, making this place the one true wasteland, the only area which could claim that title without second thoughts.

The Reds as they were called by many groups of people who stayed outside the city and no longer existed, the rivers of blood that they created through the heart of the wastelands made sure that the name stayed for a long time. Acheron had once come up with a decree to eliminate them all, but they still survived. But the same couldn’t be said about the team which he had sent to finish them off. It was one of the worst situations that a commando operation had to face. Some people still stay that the commandos still survive, in the form of Scavengers, while others say that they had been fully eaten and no part of them remains.

Acheron decided to let them stay then, because they were confined to the wastelands, and he could execute his prisoners by sending them to these lands of the red. The place proved to be good burial grounds as well as the place of execution. The grounds stained by blood were part of the poetry and fictional novels written by the authors of the city for quite a long time. They were the kind of works which brought them instant awards. With not many people left living around the wastelands due to the climate change and the presence of strange creatures, the Scavengers could always be there even with less humans to feed from.

Jack and Noah continued to walk, with eyes following them. The scenery was beautiful even though it was inside that limited space. There were yellow flowers hanging from the top and light reflected from the top provided a special view. The number of eyes following them had only increased in number. They could hide themselves really well, but they were very close to the two friends. They talked to each other using signs.

“And the big journey continues! I have never walked so much in my life! This is now officially my record” exclaimed Jack.

“Are we to continue walking like this? With no real aim and with no idea where we are going?” asked Noah.

“I guess so. It is best option around here as of now, and it should work at some point” replied Jack.

“This doesn’t seem to be good enough to get us to a possible end; seems like a case of eternity” said Noah.

“Even eternity is just a word; it has to end unless that goes as a fairy-tale, those sweet little stories which the kids used to read, but are of no real use in the current world; we are learning it the hard way” said Jack.

“We can continue walking, but even this much of eternity is a little too much; we are not immortals – it has been a long time since our journey to this situation began” added Noah.

“Well, you will see that this is not that long as you think it is, as there is no such thing as we have only a limited amount of land in this area – the land can’t stretch by itself, and we are walking straight” said Jack.

“I will hope for the same. There is nothing else to be done anyway. It is not like we can be Scavengers and do what they do. That would have been more fun and with a better reason” said Noah.

“There is a lot negative in your thoughts right now, you know; it only gets worse. Maybe it is the problem with the your artificial blood group or something” added Jack.

“It is ridiculous. My blood is not artificial; I never used artificial supply there” claimed Noah.

The Scavengers had already reached three quarters of the digging even though they never knew that they were getting close. They had their mind set on only one thing here, and they were all prepared for their most basic need, to feed. They just couldn’t remember when was the last time they managed to feed. But this was the day on which they would come up with a date, and that would be this particular day. Scavengers were not people without spirit, especially when related to things like these. They were more determined than a common man on these days. These were among the worst of times for them too, but they had more hope than the humans themselves.

To be continued…

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36. Through the Sea

There was no relief as the wind was strong and the ship struggled to keep its path. It kept moving left, but the journey forward was also happening despite the strength of the wind. Noah and Jack made sure that they were hidden well enough as the checking on the ship continued as if it was a regular procedure. But there was no safety guaranteed with this one. It took the ship seven days to find land, and it was not exactly where it was supposed to stop. There was huge jerking around as Noah and Jack held on to all which they could until the ship stopped moving. There was land, but not that area of land which they needed.

“This is a special announcement for all categories of people on board. We were facing terrible disturbances in the sea, and it has been a very tough ride. We have tried the best as we could, but the struggle was too much. The ship has been damaged beyond repair. It can travel no more as we have rammed it here. So please get down here and move to the city with support. It is only a few kilometeres from here, and the guards from the city will be arriving in a few hours; we have also signaled the outposts here. You can also choose to wait here because the trucks will be coming to take the cargo” the announcement ended as Noah and Jack looked at each other.

“It rarely works according to the plan, right? Here, we are stuck outside the city; not even close to our destination. This journey is to be delayed until further notice, it seems” said Noah.

“Well, this might be the best thing to happen at this time, if you ask me. I am taking the positive side of this one” said Jack.

“Please look into your special screens to find a written record of what was previously said. There will be no more repetitions and do keep the major points in mind. There are dangers awaiting you if proper care is not taken. Don’t try to walk all the way to the city; this is a serious warning and not to be taken lightly” the announcement made a short-lived return, but Noah and Jack didn’t care at all.

“You mean to say that this is something which will help us. But now we have no chance to get inside the city through those guards and the strong walls. They will also have the ultra-modern security equipments, even better than those which they have inside the city. Getting in won’t be that easy as getting out” Noah had his doubts.

“I would say that this has given us a better chance. If we had gone directly to the city port, they might have identified us with ease, and could have executed us without even a trial. It is their strongest area of control where their great dictator is not present. They easily find people and kill them” confirmed Jack.

“But can we make it through these forests and wastelands all by ourselves? We are not trained for that kind of survival. Waiting for a pick-up from the city will be like a suicide. They are sure to search for identity cards because this is how the immigrants usually arrive. So, the end seems to be certain whichever path we decide to take here. Is there even one right path remaining?” asked Noah while looking outside.

“We can find a way. Have you watched a movie called Rani Padmini? It is an old movie which go back to the year 2015 or 2016 – it is from before 2020, that much I am sure about. The danger is the same everywhere, and we just need to have the courage to face it. Giving up shouldn’t be an option here because it is not what we are. The forests are easy with almost all the dangerous creatures already hunted and killed. We can keep ourselves away from whatever remains. The wastelands along with the desert will be difficult, but there is a way through the sides, even though there is the talk about a curse. I don’t believe in that and most of the sane people won’t. It might not be easy, but we will surely get through. We are better than many others, and there are people who have survived these troubles as well as the curse, even though they had no real motive as we do” assured Jack.

“First, we need to get out of here. Time to get to the land taking the very first step. The journey needs to officially begin at some point of time somewhere here; staying here becomes less safe every second. The number of hostile people will increase and the ship will go down” said Noah.

“I don’t think that these people are thinking about looking around. They seem to be focused on their priorities related to the ship and the cargo. The risk is very low right now and we can make use of this opportunity” said Jack.

As the crew were busy taking the goods out of the ship, Jack and Noah jumped into water and started swimming around the place towards the other side of land. The guards from the nearby outpost also arrived, and with their machines, tried to make sure that the ship doesn’t sink. As the ship almost finished unloading the cargo, they had reached the other side. The message said that the trucks from the city were half way there. The dark clouds had started and the rain began its business making things more difficult. The ship finished its time, but it hadn’t sunk yet.

To be continued…

27. Last Lost Days

V221KA noticed that they were given better food for breakfast too, and Laga had stuck to his word this time, and even did a better job. He usually promises something and doesn’t deliver anything close to it. So this was good, but the other side of that good thing was that they were going to Titan, and things were certainly not going to be anywhere close to good there. It was going to be bad in an unpredictable manner.

“So how will it be in Titan? Will it be any better than what we have here?” asked C1RC221 while biting the fried chicken leg.

“I think that it will be pretty awesome” said V221KA. “All of us will die” she added as she finished the whole plate of fish curry.

One of the prison guards poured more fish curry into her plate. A glass of pine-apple juice was also served. It was as if they were to be given more and more food, and best of the available stuff. After all, Laga had insisted on the same, and it didn’t matter if the prison guards had any food or not. An order was an order.

“Some of us might, but how can you say that about us all?” she asked after making sure that the guard had gone.

“There is no some of us surviving. We are all going to die, either by the atmosphere or by the guards who will accompany us. I don’t think that there will be the need for any of us after the situation is clear for the rich humans to come here and buy property and business to settle here”.

“But won’t those lands be ours according to the international law? Can’t we be settlers and the new citizens on the new moon?” C1RC221 asked.

“Don’t come up with any conclusion according to the little things that you watch on the television. Nobody is going to ask these guys about what they will do in their territory at Titan. To add to that, the laws on Earth won’t cover that if someone knows. There are separate laws written everywhere keeping the loopholes awake”.

“So you are sure that we are being lead to our deaths after being fed nicely”.

“I don’t see a reason why you should doubt that” said V221KA.

“Because we should live”?

“I can’t see from where you got that idea. We were never supposed to go on living. We were to die in war, but that didn’t happen. Now the only option is to die as the guinea pig”.

“But our lives should have a purpose, right”?

“Again thinking according those books you hid and read. No, these authors can write what they want. I don’t see how that can relate to us. They live free and enjoy life, and I don’t feel anything about what they write”.

“No, I read this book from a long time ago. Not those usual books these people read. I actually stole this book from the prison warden. Remember that day when I was punished for no reason? There was this reason. Nobody really bothered though, as it was natural to be punished for no reason”.

“Yes, you might have read that and found some philosophy, but that is of no value. That was from a different world, from long ago, and from another area”.

“But the story of humanity is the same everywhere and all the time” said C1RC221.

“Absolutely not. We are not the same as any other human. We are different; we are lesser humans when viewed from outside. From the moment we reached here, it became so. Even otherwise, there are different kinds of people separated by many things”.

“But this shouldn’t be the end. We should be given an opportunity”.

“The only chance is to try the impossible escape from here” said V221KA.

“Is it at least worth a try? You have seen more of this prison than I have. You should know”.

“Impossible means impossible, my dear. But nothing is without a chance to try. There is always scope in the impossible if we kep philosophy and emotions out of it”.

“Let’s give it a chance, then?” C1RC221 wondered.

“Yes, but before that, there is one thing that we have to make a decision on. It is related to dying here or at Titan. May be there will be an escape route there. Who can predict the future?” asked V221KA.

“So, what about during our run in the morning? We will have some time alone then. Or is there a security gap in the prison itself”?

“Not a bad idea there. I wouldn’t choose a direct escape from the underground prison. This one too is dangerous, but I have noticed a few loopholes there. But do remember that we will have to escape from an island. We might have to swim a long time even if we survive the forest and the guns”.

“Get up, lazy ones. It is the time for your training. You should be full by now” screamed the prison guard.

They were lead to the ground on that deserted island to which an underwater passage from their prison lead, and it was where their daily training was to begin. It was just usual stuff, but for C1RC221, it became new again. It was to begin with the long distance run which stretched from the ground to the fenced area in the forest. It was a possible chance for escape, and V221KA signalled her about the same. It was going to be a dangerous move between the guards with the guns and the wild animals which infested the area outside the fences. But it was still an option.

“This is the day we really become ourselves and decide if we are destined to live. This is the day we will be free” whispered C1RC221.

To be continued…

✠ New Year Break

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Happy New Year to all readers 🙂

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 18 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

23. The Descent

“I was born in the nineteen eighties, my friends. I have seen more that any of you shall ever would, because the world is coming to an end, and none of you shall live enough to see the end of it, unless you are the miracle itself. But unfortunately, you are surrounded by a group of people who find it easy to believe that the Earth is round, it revolves around the sun and the moon is Earth’s satellite without seeing them, and need proof for God’s existence. In this world of hypocrisy, isn’t it better for the universe to end rather than continue its miserable ignorant existence?” whispered the voice.

“Now, that is new. Seriously you mean to say that Earth doesn’t revolve and the moon isn’t Earth’s satellite?” inquired Jack.

“No, it never did and it shall never do the same. We were forced to believe the same in our science texts of schools, even as in the beginning we knew the truth that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The Earth actually never movied, and moon moves, but not as a satellite but as a part of the firmament”.

“No, they said it is so, and they have colonized the moon and they should know it better. We are a highly modern society and it is our right to deny everything you said” added Jack.

“See, I was only half true about what I said, and see your reaction. I am not supposed to reveal the secrets of the creation and the universe to you, for they are meant to be hidden. Some secrets are never to be revealed, and the pathetic experiments that you conduct shall reveal nothing significant. There is no science in what you do, for it is just magic. Most of what you do is dark magic which is directly obtained from the devil himself, and the white magic which has indirectly derived from the same. Just because the earlier magic vessels were renamed space ships, they do not make much of a difference. The scientists hide this from you and all of you believe in whatever they say unconditionally. They ever provide you with the proof in English or any language you know? They use equations and theories directly obtained from the other evil dimension. But without any proof, you are so much of a believer. Have they shown you all these things which they claim to have discovered? They can’t because, they don’t exist. It is a shame that God has to prove his existence while these so called fake discoveries and inventions automatically qualify as exact findings and people like you believe them blindly. It goes back a lot in time though, for earlier it was like the priests know everything and now it is like the scientists know everything. The scientists have replaced the priests, and this so called rationalism has developed into another religion, but there is no salvation this time, for you are just a random third rate creation which was an accident and shall end miserably with horrible death – thats what you believe in, right? Isn’t that what you live for, and isn’t what you get closer to the end each and every day in a miserable existence?”

“I do not understand it because I didn’t study more about science, but the scientists know it very well” said a confused Jack.

“Do you study God? Do you even know Him? How long have you been tied to this new fake religion propogated in the form of science? How many religious texts have you read? If you have that typical stubborn behaviour which prevents you from doing the same, why don’t you go through a little bit of Greek or Roman mythology? You can find some of those books in the cellar of this house, as Acheron doesn’t eat the books here”.

“But what would happen to my brilliant scientific…”

“Stop behaving like that. If you were to believe in science forever, you wouldn’t have been chosen for this revolution. Do you even know how much of a great past tea itself has. Yes, tea is divine and coffee is evil to the core. They used to call tea the elixir of life in the early ages. But its fall from paradise has slowly transformed it into a normal drink. Still, there is a lot of divine magic inside it which shall help you and your people in arriving at the right path towards glory”.

“Do you mean that we have to fight a huge battle” asked Noah.

“It is not a large battle on the outside, as most of it shall happen inside you. Ever heard about Kurukshetra? No matter how much you try to erase the same as well as the battle for Troy from the history using fake scientific evidences, they shall remain forever. They are the wars belonging to humanity before science took over and unleashed its horrors, not like your bloody world wars of this age, but as the battles of honour and righteousness. Let me tell you that Kurukshetra happens in your mind nowadays and you have to fight this battle of good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, truth and lies. Ever heard of chivalry? I guess not, for it was fading even during my generation of people”.

“You were a lecturer? Did you post graduate on Philosophy?” asked Jack.

“So you are trying to come up with that typical theory that people who study science are better than those who study arts? How well have you shaped that theory thought the years, and how many engineers have you produced extra, multplied by infinity? How well did that help the crowning of science over everything else and ex-terminated most of the creatures while destroying most of the human world and its inhabitants?”

“We are science and we are technology” said Jack.

“You are walking nonsense, nonstop and useless” added the voice.

“I agree to both” said Noah.

To be continued…

21. The Summoning

“You didn’t talk about so much noise pollution being here” remarked Noah.

“It is not the usual thing. It is your area, of the supernatural. Why don’t you deal with it?” asked Jack.

“Or rather let me deal with it” murmured a voice.

“There is someone behind that wall, I told you” screamed Jack.

“You need proof for my existence, aren’t you the rational one, Mr. Jack who has recently turned the giant slayer?” the voice added.

The voice slowly turned itself into a form which resembled a face with the help of all the fog that came from outside. It was basically a humanoid shape resembling a snowman with a thin face. There was something which formed an outside layer all around it, and that was more like a covering which gave out blue light from nowhere. Noah wondered about the need to read more about the supernatural while Jack was thinking about how to make himself believe that it was not at all real, and this was a hallucination created as a result of the side-effects of the radiation which both of them are experiencing in the exact same manner due to something which might be explained by science a few years later, which he can easily make himself believe.

“You seem to be divided by beliefs, but united by a common cause. I have been noticing you for days. Its been a long time since someone with such a history visited this place. The usual visitors here are the brainless ones or the braindead ones. I am glad about your arrival, young people. I admire what you did with that guy named Acheron. I have always wished to leave this place and kick him, but I am bound this area by fate as well as by death”.

“Who are you?” inquired Noah.

“I am glad. You are the first one to ask that. Usually people ask what are you, and your friend here was going to start his question with ‘what’ too”.

“No, I was not” screamed Jack.

“Do you think I fail to know you, Jack? I have known millions of people like you, my dear stupid friend. I have listened to all that you have said in this house, but for the people like you, I don’t need to listen much. You are the hypocrite, a slave to the lies of rationalism as your friend had called you earlier. I know this intellectual slavery, for it is worse than physical slavery and death itself. It is the path to eternal damnation, and I won’t be surprised if you gain a direct entry to the inferno directly”.

“How can you judge me? Where do you come from? What kind of existence do you have?” Jack started shooting the questions.

“Yes, an answer is pending” added Noah.

“I am a soul who has been alive since the last century, and I have lived in human form from the end of the last to the beginning of this century. I am sure that I had a name, but I have chosen to forget it. But you can call me by the initials, which is TTT or Triple T if you wish to make it sound good. I was not born here, as I come from a land far away which was known for goodness even in its existence between pure evil, and it was the land of religion and spirituality until the imperial demons of the human world decided to take over or rather annihilate”.

“What do you mean by demons?” asked the curious Noah.

“That caught your attention, I guess. Yes, those demons of the human world. No, I am not talking about the half-breeds. They exist in our world, but my words pointed to those powerful people who are no lesser demons than the real ones, for they had transformed themselves into pure evil, of godlessness and immorality. It included a few of them among my relatives, and the rest a lot of random people. But they won, or rather they didn’t lose. They won nothing other than wasteland and corpses, and we won eternal life. What they are to lose is their soul if they were not claimed by the hell’s guardians already”.

“So you know demons” wondered Jack.

“Yes, we spirits exist in another dimension which is not hell to which the demons belong. In that case, you will ask about vampires and zombies as part of the supernatural. In that case, I would say that they are just human, and they are just people with disease. They are not dead people, and they can be cured, but not by science, as it is only faith that makes the same possible”.

“Hear that, Jack! There is so much hope for you” remarked Noah.

“Shut up, I am good right now” replied Jack.

“No, the cure is optional. You might need the side-effects of your disease in your journey forward, as it is difficult time ahead. I am not a soothsayer, but I am far ahead of you in the spirit world, and I can see things which you are not supposed to see. I am not restricted by a veil as you humans are”.

“You talk as if you know a lot, but you are still just a life-form without physical existence” said Jack.

“You talk about existence. How many of you actually exist? Do you think that by denying God’s existence and giving all the credits to your own existence, you achieve something more than a boost to your vanity which is the devil’s favourite sin? How miserable and hopeless are you even as you pretend to be so awesome so that you can pull more people into disbelief? I know that my existence troubles you as it decomposes your rational mind and brings to light that big lie kept in the ice cubes made out of your consistent disbelief. But that shall fade, and your mind is already half convinced that you have been wrong all the time. Now might not be the time to accept it, but such a moment shall surely come when you will denounce your own rationalism and turn to the Divine existence rather than your nothingness of nothing theory”.

Noah felt that the spirit had told Jack most of the things which he wanted to tell his friend himself, even as he felt negative about the impact.

To be continued…

18. Death by Fear

“Its been a month and no news about the revolution yet. Did we make tea the rightful heir to the dreaded capitalist coffee rather than creating that much needed tea revolution?” wondered Noah.

“Or may be it is because we are living in this secluded area which carves for that name ‘the vampire island’. There is no possible contact with the Imperial Firmament or any civilized or semi-civilized world. Thats what makes us safe her from both Acheron and Bella. As this is not the vampirism she wants, and this is not the revolution that he can afford, we are good. We don’t sparkle, and we don’t drink coffee, both are not acceptable things for them, or are rather quite loathed” replied Jack.

“I forgot that you are a vampire zombie. May be we should tell a few of them to get us some newspapers”.

“They are not my people, and most of them are beyond help. You can go to them if you don’t value your blood not your brains, for they might drink the tasty liquid and eat the awesome food. You don’t need a newspaper unless you wish to make contact with Acheron giving him your exact location, and one day he may nuke this place”.

They stopped suddenly. There were sounds of screeching and screaming around, and it was getting louder.

“And what would that be?” enquired Noah.

“It should be some prank. The people believe that this house was home to spirits, as the building rests over a graveyard which had quite a history. But that surely is the result of some anti-social elements trying to make sure that people don’t stay here. As long as I am concerned, I have lost the belief in anything beyond the material existence.

“So much for the rational man. You never really believe in most of the things, right? But you don’t see the space, but can believe that Earth revolves around the sun and moon is a satellite. You have no problems about scientists making you believe about the planets and the solar system. That is good hypocrisy. You didn’t follow that journal after that didn’t you”?

“What journal? That guy Christian’s journal? You found more from it? Did he even know what he was writing when he was writing them down?

“Yes, I was just left without reading the ending, and I would not mind that because there was nothing positive to come out of it. But now I know that we have a purpose, and the divine hand is always there to lead us towards the same – what we lose here, we shall gain in the other world”.

“So these spirits, you think that they are real? Do you believe in these stories more than these ignorant people manage? Do they inspire you”?

“No, they don’t inspire me yet. But I believe that they exist for a reason, just like the sun, moon, the tides and the woods. Their existence is as mandatory as the presence of any living creature which was created by God. If they are real, I believe they shall not bother us unless they are extremely evil, and even if they do, I have this crucifix to protect me”.

“So where does that keep me? I guess I am a vampire, a creature from the devil? Where in the food chain and where in the material existence does that fit me into”?

“No, absolutely not. You were created human, and the thing that you have is just a disease, and it is the result of venturing out of path and believing in science and technology beyond the limits. You would have been a perfect creation if you could have lived with nature, but what is left of mother nature now? The science has taken it all, and the destruction that it has brought on us is equalled only by the ignorance of God that it has rained upon us and hurt our chances of redemption deeply. The devil is different and he shall come in many forms, but a vampire is not one of them, and a zombie inherits none of his cunning and cruel nature. Your existing humanity which fights against the disease as well as the sin is a sound proof for it. The demons might cross over to this plane though, and about the material existence, I would guess that they are just the minions of the devil himself, coming down to Earth with lesser power as the sons of eternal damnation as they are expected to be, but still being extremely tormented in pseudo-happiness”.

“If there is hell, I should still be worthy of it, and it should be better if I don’t believe. There is no hope about me that I am aware of. There is only that descent into that darkness of a possible zombie vampirism which can create that eternal fog before my eyes which could make sure that I won’t even recognize you enough to keep me from making a brain fried rice or blood shake out of you”.

“No, nobody is worthy of hell. I would still wonder about Acheron and Bella though. There is rarely such pure evil in this world. There is evil in abundance, and the amount of it should be incredibly shocking to any angel who has come down to Earth, but none of them worhy of eternal hell unless God judges them. We cannot decide on the same, as there is lot of hope for us, and we have to believe until the end of the world, the finishing line for this old world which they have lied to us as being modern”.

“So, can you try and talk these spirits, demons or whatever creatures which you seem to believe in”?

The sounds had reached a level which made talking amost impossible, as they could hardly hear each other. A shadow moved past them, which they didn’t notice, but they could see that the lights of the hall were blinking eyes as if tired of being lighted all day in a land of darkness.

To be continued…

15. Partner in Agony

Christian hasn’t always been a patient listener. But this time, it was not his decision to make, and another thing is that this was not just a coversation, but a combination of so many things, and he was in need of something like this.

“It is indeed such a big shame. It was never supposed to be like this. They have made the devil proud, or rather too much of a vain creation that he himself might repent before these guys do. The power is within you, either use it or leave it; but keep this in mind, that the redemption is limited. You do not need to know yourself for that. You shall be revealed, by your actions to others and by your reflections on others to you, for you are a mirror, my spiritual ally – the world won’t finish accepting that change with your end, as it is a long process which can gain more strength by you ceasing to exist and your essence living on and gaining wings through an Icarus of the future who shall burn his waxen wings for the cause which you are going to start in this world”.

“How would I know if I am right? What if I do wrong? What if I won’t recognize my life’s purpose when most needed?”

“Well, you don’t know it or shall recognize it right now because it is not the time yet. There is a time for everything and everyone, even for the angels and the demons. When the right time arrives, not only shall you recognize it, but live through it and fulfill your destiny. If you do not, there is no purpose for that essence in you, and in that case, there would have been no ‘you’ from the beginning of your existence”.

“But I am not worthy and neither am I able. I am just an adamant human being, a weak and powerless…”

“You shall be ready, and it is not a promise that I make to you, for it is that belief that your essence has embedded your existence with, it is your faith in you and it shall shake the world sooner or later”.

“Please make it simple. I need directions, I need to be taught and guided. Look at me, everywhere I have been in chains, and now literally I am really in chains”.

There was silence all around. There was not even the air which moved, and the absence was threatening his thoughts. But there was no answer. He tried to make different sounds, but not even his echo followed him. Nothingness filled his world again, and he was still unconscious with no knowledge of where he was.

In the meantime, he had another vision. It was the same girl, wearing the same clothes, but of black colour. There was no writing on her body this time. Two of the creatures were holding her down. She was then stripped, and her arms were stretched up, to the maximum. A whip came down multiple times to her back as it hit her flesh, she screamed and tried to get loose, but couldn’t even come close to success. There was a pool of blood going down her thighs, and it slowly moved towards Christian. After she was weakened, the girl was dragged to a wooden wall and was balanced on the top of a stool. One of the creatures held her upright while the other held on to her legs.

Another creature came up with a box full of nails and a hammer. She seemed to understand what was going to happen, and struggled to get loose again with all the power that she had left, but it was of no avail. As the hammer swung back and forth, the nails pierced her arms and a cry of agony filled the air, and her legs were looking for land to place them as the stool went rolling over to a side. As she was sweating and struggling to breathe, suddenly Christian found himself on the other side of the wooden wall, with blood flowing from his own arms. The nail from the girl’s arms had pierced his own, and soon enough he noticed blood flowing from his legs too. He felt pain as if he had never felt before with his heart beating rapidly, and his back burned as if a chunk of flesh had been taken out of there. They were on the opposite sides of pain and agony, both feeling the same torment, as if moving towards the same end. The wooden surface was the only thing between their sufferings, and it served as the medium which transferred their pains. Meanwhile, a humanoid came in front of him and stuck a nail on his head which ended the vision.

In a world of uncertainty, there were only a few things that his unconscious mind was sure about, and one of them was that he was not dead; the second one was that the girl on his right side had suffered, and he might be sharing her pains like a silent partner, close to eachother in a bond shared by pain and misery. He never had a good partner to share his mental pains, but now as for the physical torment, this was his golden opportunity. But can he ever know how much she had actually suffered? How much did he wish not to be silent when she suffered? And what if she had already died? If she did, what did she die for? Is it for her ideology or just for the sake of the sadistic pleasures of these creatures? Would that land her in heaven or purgatory? If someone had suffered in their life like that girl did, won’t that be motivation enough to be lead to paradise? He still hoped that she alive so that he can do the knowing part.

To be continued…

12. Alien Suffering

“What are they? Aliens from beyond the galaxy or demons from hell?” Christian wondered. He tried to take his arms out of the chains, but it was perfectly bound. “Listen to me, you have got the wrong person in chains” he tried to reason with them. But none of the creatures seemed to care even a bit.

Many hours passed. For Christian, even the seconds were as long as the hours, if they were not days which had passed. The humanoids were still busy and there was no sign of movement from the girl on the right side. Two of the creatures took off her chains and she fell down like a petal of a flower. Whatever clothes or rags which were left on her body had turned red with her own blood. They tried to lift her up and make her stand on her feet. All of a sudden, she jumped on one of the creatures, and almost bit its neck off. The humanoids gathered around her to pull her back, and they grabbed her hair and clothes but there was no use, as she held on to the creature with her teeth. The attacked creature finally threw her off itself to reveal that its blood is blue in colour. As she fell on her back, she seemed to be in pain as she dragged herself slowly towards nowhere in her blinded state. The creatures seemed unaffected by the attack as they pulled her away into the next room.

They then took her back to the same position, and after giving her an injection, she was hung upside down with blood dripping even faster from so many wounds on her body almost as if there is no area in her body that has not been tortured. He felt depressed and sad about the girl who made such a valiant attempt, something which he is unable to do. He guessed that the four people on his left side might have been skinned alive. Even wind seemed to be afraid to go towards that direction. One of the humanoids came to Christian with a syringe full of a layered liquid and injected him with it. He felt a horrible feeling of burning throughout his body and sensed blood coming up his eyes and mouth. He screamed in his full voice, but they made a wound on his each hand and looked at the drops of blood dripping from it. He had hallucinations of battles involving advanced weapons of mass destruction and chaos on Earth and the ultimate devastation of both Mars and Titan. He was slowly losing consciousness when he heard a sound of something huge breaking and a bigger noise of some big explosion with a powerful light which almost blinded him. There was something going on around him and this time it was not torture. He was able to see nothing more than a little bit of smoke, a few masked men with unfamiliar weapons and the girl moving a bit and falling into the arms of a woman with a gun before he lost consciousness.

“What is is that you seek? Is it death, life or the narrow bridge between them? Is it hell, paradise or the purgatory where you need to end? Or did you just cease to believe in all of them?” whispered the voice.
“What shall my death bring? Is it the better of the three?” asked Christian.

“Why do you think about what is brought when your opportunity to bring one of the three upon yourself has not come yet? Why do you think about your spirit life when you still exist in the material life with so much to do? Why do you bother when God’s providence which your rational world call luck and your cynics call fate has brought you to such a situation from which your knowledge of the real truth shall make you free from the burdens of science and technology which has forced all these questions on you? Doesn’t it bother you enough to take you out of this illusion of a reality with the mask of progress and development? Is this modern world that you come across really not an extention of the ancient world which has used a visage of extreme vanity to go back far beyond the darkest of ages when the Original Sin had forced a depressing choice out of divinity?”

“What shall I seek then? Am I powerful enough? I lived all my life among the people who never understood me and still live with myself who is that much ignorant about my being me as much as anybody else. How do you define reality? And how do you describe this modernity that has lived beyond the evil of the earliest worlds?”

“You don’t exist. It is your essence that exists. As a whole, humanity survives, even as the question remains – for how long and where? But they exist, but without their essence. They are just random creatures brainwashed with ideas of science as truth, when human life was never supposed to be a result of theories. It was to be dependent on the essence that exists, but what we see now is the existence that exists. But you are different. You have the essence still active, which is why you are able to feel this will to strive, this desire to seek and find, and not give in to those theories of absurdity. You will not give in to human control which is just an optical illusion caused by those random people who claim that they have the final say. Look at the wars, the bloodshed, the torment – they are all the result of this development of technology which has made a bigger cannibal out of man than ever. They have all lost their essence; the divine essence which has been replaced by the inherent evil”.

“It is such a shame” remarked Christian.

To be continued…

1. The Beginning

The Imperial Firmament, somewhere near the Antartic circle. In the year of our Lord: 2140.

It was the darkest time of the year. It was the season of what they called “phainomenon” when everything electronic failed without failure. It occured exactly when the Imperial Clock-hands came together as if to greet each other at the bottom of the clock; thirty minutes after six in the evening. In such a world of self-proclaimed perfection and punctuality powered by the machines, even natural events tend to keep the time.

Noah walked on that land of frost which could easily boast of advanced nuclear weaponry under it. He was twenty seven years old, and had a flask full of tea which was supposed to be his food for lunch.

Noah was not of his age, for the life had made a black hole in him, and his heart was rusted iron. But only the sides of hole were made by the physical world, and the rest were metaphysical, or rather of the soul.

“You shouldn’t be here.” said the man at the gate. “You have no right to be here at this time. If you have any sense left, why didn’t you just come during the day or at least when it is not the darkest hour”.

Noah knew he wouldn’t get to enter his workplace, but the world had become mechanical for him, and to change the routine was for him to cease to exist. He can still drink the tea in the flask and go back home. He had become nothing other than a machine, and this had become worse in the last few months, as his favourite uncle had died. At least, he died a natural death, and that was something rare in Noah’s family.

It was twelve years ago, when he was sixteen, that they had taken away the last religious symbol from the city. Some of the villages of the nuclear wasteland belonging to the mainland might still have some of their faith left, but not the Imperial Firmament. The city was too developed to believe in God, they said. Noah never really had the option to go out of the city, as he was an orphan, thanks to the Seventh World War, the most devastating war in the history of Earth, challenged only by the Third World War which was more of a dumping of the nuclear warheads on whoever they considered “the other”.

The problem was not that people died; the greatest trouble was due to the survival of a few people who were instrumental in created more world wars. This year marks twenty five years without war, but actually there was nothing left to be fighting for. The Imperial Firmament remains the last city-state with enough firepower to create another global disaster. But they don’t want the radiation-affected mainland, and the people of the mainland are already nuked to the stone age, and have mutated too much to become an intellectual or physical threat. The city-state is clearly protected from any attack using a bow and arrow.

Noah had known stories about the mainland, were cannibalism and chaos prevail over technology and rationalism. But that has never affected his hidden desire to visit his hometown there. Neither did it affect his faith, but it has ventured so deep into his soul, that no trace of it can be found from his words or actions. The world has been mechanized, and it is now a crime and a sin to bite back at the machine who provides the man with enough sloth to contribute to the deadly sins.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” he asked softly. “Is this Soren’s handiwork? He brought you over to the other side?”

He was named after the nineteenth century Danish philosopher, and had just been caught and condemned to death for having faith. It was as much a crime as believing in miracles. A few hundred years ago, who would have believed that such a day would come? This man in picture was part of the armed forces and proclaimed his religion there – nothing could have been worse. Now, Soren’s death is certain, and Noah would have no part of it.

“No, I am more of a cynic” he exclaimed; “I am still not enough inclined towards religion even for despising it. I never even knew this man”.

He wondered how he learned to lie with so much perfection. His religious teaching had taught him not to lie, and now he is a master in doing the same. He knew Soren very well, as he was Noah’s senior both at school and college, and they even had a few cups of tea together as the representatives of their classes. But he is now good or bad enough to deny them all.

“That should work fine, kid” he said. “But be careful, as it is from extreme hatred, that love rises; you know the case of Soren – the more he hated that drug called religion, the more he fell into it”.

“I know, I know” said Noah walking away, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to hide his beliefs if the conversation goes deeper. The gate-keeper might be one of those secret informers of the Imperial Police. Even if he is not, there is enough reward for him to claim for finding someone who doesn’t think the way the government wants him to, especially someone who is sticking to what the people at the top hated the most. Fear is such a powerful weapon. Hope is also powerful, but for now, fear has the upperhand.

To be continued…