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…

33. No Way Out

V221KA and C1RC221 finally got out of the giant bowl of water and stared at what they saw there. It was a room full of electronic devices. All of them seemed to be made of liquid metal as there seemed to be no stability in shape, and the electronic circuits were visible on the outside. A certain gas came out of the ventilation to keep it in a partially solid and somewhat liquid state. A few drops of the liquid metal fell on their skin and it burned.

“Keep a lot of distance from the machines. They might end our journey right here” said V221KA as they moved slowly staying away from the machines and the liquid metal.

The liquid particles which fell on the ground slowly created a hole on the ground, which was immediately filled again by the rest of the ground materials. It was a continuous procedure as the same process happened again and again. The ground remained the same after the process though.

They walked very close to the wall, which would be at maximum possible distance from the machines. They kept walking until they found a door, and got in through to reach another room, which had synthetic robots in human model being created. They came in different colours and the weapons were attached inside their fingers, eyes and ears.

“I think that these new models are meant to replace the guards in our prisons” said V221KA.

“Yes, this is were they can test all those new models and see if they are good enough for other normal duties” remarked C1RC221.

“So, an underground laboratory is what powers them. I have always wondered how they were able to get so much of technology on this island when they had to travel through not so friendly waters to get them here”.

“They have a lot more than we think they have. They have been doing all kinds of illegal activities sponsored by their own government”.

“This should be government sponsored terrorism. But they have labelled all of us as terrorists for no reason” said V221KA.

“It happens so, because they only care about what matters to them. The interests of the great corporations are the only things which are to be served”.

“But, they do care about their citizens, don’t they? After all, they do pay taxes, right?” V221KA wondered.

“Yes, only as long as they are rich, I guess. I met one of those girls in the other cells. She was originally imprisoned for coming up with something creative. No, this one had nothing against the government. This one was imprisoned because the idea was interesting to the giant film producing companies. They liked this idea and managed to steal it from her”.

“What? How can they do that? Don’t the citizens have right? At least when they have never come close to doing something wrong?” asked V221KA.

“Everything is owned by the huge business firms. If they want an idea, they take it. If there is some criticism, they take it down. In the name of taking control of piracy, they file notices against random people who are not related to it. Nobody will check if there is anything illegal going on. Whatever these big corporations say will be considered the truth. They will just establish that there is something illegal and make sure that the people are imprisoned. The government needs prisoners to serve as slaves and also to be used as guinea pigs”.

“So, this girl you are talking about. She was very creative?” wondered V221KA.

“Yes, she was. She used to write poems on the walls of her prison cells only to have them erased regularly by the guards. She was punished daily, but never stopped writing. She told me that the corporate evil had noticed her from a long time ago since she started blogging. She knew it from one of her friends who worked with the press, and a few of her friends who had blogs also faced the same fate”.

“So, if we get out, we will face the corporate evil. I am not sure if we are prepared for that. We haven’t seen the outside world for quite a long time”.

“Yes, and if we try to use internet to spread any idea, they will find us and imprison us again, and even if we just write something there, they might still imprison us, because they are against creatvity by common people. They hate common people even though there is the need for support from the common man. They will just file some random copyright notice and take our site down for no reason. We can’t win against them because they are rich and powerful. If we get out, we have to find an indirect way to beat them, or stay in hiding forever” said C1RC221.

“I am not planning to hide forever and I plan to get out of here right now” said V221KA.

There were two doors on the other side of the room. V221KA and C1RC221 tried to open them, but there was no good result. They kept trying again and again, but nothing happened to the door.

“This is not happening. We have to go back to where we landed” said C1RC221.

“I didn’t see another door in the previous room. Too much time there might also be dangerous. This should be the way out” said V221KA.

“May be we didn’t look well enough. We should look on the ground and some of the upper levels too. This is not opening anyway”.

Suddenly, a noise was heard from the other side of the door. Another door had opened somewhere else. Footsteps were approaching and V221KA and C1RC221 ran and hid behind a table. A red coloured light came through the door and it opened to bring two people in special suits inside. They had some strange tools in their hands and were followed by a robot which was sweeping the floor.

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…

13. Not the End

Dion and his wife were to be publicly judged and most probably executed, as they could know from their prisonmates. The concentration camps were for the lesser creatures who posed no threat to the government. It was a necessity if the Northerns were to keep their control over the Southern Bloc at least for enough time to earn money and resources for another war. A scene of public shame was to be created in order to make the king and the queen subject to humiliation in front of millions of their own citizens before their execution so that the last memory of the most powerful figures of the nation would be that of misery and complete helplessness.

It was time. Both of them were taken from their respective cells, stripped and hung from the top, stretched to the full. They were to have the signs of shame on every part of their bodies and those were to be their clothing during their public humiliation. As this was done using the latest laser technologies, they were to stay on the bodies forever, until it decomposes. It was a painful procedure, and it is that pain with which death had to be called upon.

They were then strapped to the front and the back of a car which slowly moved through the streets so that everyone could see. The bare bodies exposed to a light which burned the writings caused excruciating pain. The judgement panel was ready and the two were taken to the stage, gagged, stretched and bound to an “X” sign which stood for eX-terminate, and were turned towards the crowd for their full view. The chief judge removed his helmet, and it was the leader of the Northern Bloc, Laga.

“For the people of the Northern Bloc and the Southern Bloc, I start this totally fair and unprejudiced procedure of ultimate justice. The two people you see on the stage, wearing nothing, but the signs of deserving public shame, are those who are responsible for all the destruction and the loss of life which has happened to us. One of them is referred to as ‘the protector of the weak’ while all the time, he has protected and served nobody, but himself and his family, and now he has surrendered his people and has put them to slavery just so that his daughter would have a life of luxury. He has had his own time of luxury – see how much weight he has gained during the last few months when he sat in his office and ordered deaths. He has sold you all to us, but we will make sure that he pays for it, and you all shall get your due. On his side, she is the first lady to wear these symbols of shame, and it is a shame that all such beauty had to be torn with these letters. It is not about who she is, as her crime is the big lie that is more of a fact. Their child is not their own, and due to your new Act of Legacy, her illegitimate daughter was to inherit this man and rule you all for the next five years. She has not only cheated her husband, but also your supreme leader and the nation as a whole. She is also the reason for his misbehavior, as Lady Macbeth did for her husband, and she has to bear double the shame, but it is obvious that she cannot take it any more”.

As the whip came down on her, she hardly made a move. She was separated from the “X” sign and as she fell down, a rope was tied to her neck and she was slowly lifted as her legs searched for land to ensure her survival, which was not there. The first execution was complete. Dion couldn’t look as he was turned to the other side.

“We both know that the first thing I said is not true. But the second thing is actually truth of partial nature. The child you have is not your daughter. To be frank, your wife was never pregnant, and all the time she spent to have that child was more of the time which was needed for her to help her sister give birth to an illegitimate child. She took the baby back with her after her sister’s death and you took her as your own. How do I know all these? I know the father of the child, and I might have let that little one live a great life, but as the people are already given an impression that she is your wife’s illegitimate daughter which I can easily prove, it shall bring more dishonour to you and your family if she lives a life of shame. Your type should end there, and nobody should jump in the way of the Northern Bloc in the name of saving the innocents, protecting weaker nations, safeguarding the human rights and all the similar stuff which makes me sick. It is your time to follow your wife, but in a different way”.

There was a countdown going on. When it reached zero, Dion was without his head which had flown towards the body of his wife after a scythe had moved through his neck. There was blood all over, and there was silence among the crowd. They had removed the plackards supporting Dion, and even as they were shocked by the public humiliation and the bloody execution, they were certain that Dion had sold them to the Northern Bloc, and the defeat was more of a created result rather than fought. They wanted their revenge, and as Dion and his wife had met the end, they needed to show their anger on someone, and the only candidate for that was the illegitimate daughter of Dion’s wife who had the blood of the partner in crime, and for that they had to wait, but they were ready. Laga had his own proof which were mostly fabricated, but rooted in the truth that the child was not Dion’s, and the treaty that he had signed, which had more additions to it than he had read. The child was the new enemy of the Southern Bloc, and Laga was its new protector, who could bring in anyone as his man to rule his new territory.

To be continued…