Chapter 1
Under the Pipal tree there were several kids playing with each other happily. It was the only spot where they found true peace and happiness. So, every day after school their first thing was to play there forgetting their homework and all the worries. They wouldn’t return home from their little kingdom till dusk or unless their parents came with stick in their hand.
There was also another reason for them to love the place. It was the beggar who lived there. Listening story from beggar who could take them into world of fantasy just from his stories.
The man was very wise. He used to buy children some chocolates and sweets when he had enough and if he didn’t, he will give something more precious, stories older than times and village.
Sometimes in the middle of the tale, beggar used to pause and look at the distant.. as if he is not imagining a story but remembering it.
“What story do you want to hear today?“, One evening he asked to children.
“A true story of a demon prince!” all said it in one voice as it was the story that they were eager to listen as the beggar used to make excuses on this. But this time he didn’t.
Under the dark night of lunar moon, there was a hand trembling and restless searching for something. It was moving blindly and desperately as if roaming through eternity. The night was dark and air was chilling. Then stopped suddenly as it came in contact with a touch which was pleasant, gentle and soothing. Another hand, warm and alive.
This touch was a hand of a girl, which mere touch lighten the environment and darkness faded. The glow made everything visible. And for a moment the owner of the hand was about to be seen. Though it didn’t happen, the excessive glow of light was blinding eyes, and before one could predict anything the dream shattered.
With the alarm of her mamma’s voice the girl woke up. Years had passed, yet the image of that hand hunted her night. Same environment and scenario, but it was always incomplete. Either she woke up abruptly or someone wakes her up. Even today, her mother’s sharp call interrupts her dream- again.
She yawned lazily and rubbing her eyes ask her mother, “Maa (mother), why did you wake me up so early? What’s the time?”
“Early?? It’s already dawn” she said, “and your father is even preparing to go in the field.”
“Oh nooo! I should hurry up and prepare breakfast for him,” Shree exclaimed and ran towards the kitchen.
Mamma stop her, “Stop right there, Mannu. First go to bathroom and freshen up. You haven’t even brushed your teeth. Oh my god, how can you become so lazy....”
“Now stop it Maa, father likes the food prepared by me, so I was hurrying for him. I will go to the bathroom right now.” She carried her dress and diverted to the bathroom.
After a while, she returned frustrated, “Maa, there is no water here. Not even a bucket full of. How am I supposed to bath this way?”
“What’s the big deal then, fetch water from the well”, her mother shrug it “And yeah, bring two buckets full of water in the kitchen while you are at it.”
Shree pouted, “You always make me fetch water.”
“That’s because you are my only daughter.” She said with warm smile.
While Shree was fetching water from well, she suddenly remembers about her dream. She then asked ” Maa, shall I ask you about something?”
“Yeah, carry on” her mother replied nonchalantly.
Shree asked anxiously, “What if we see same dream time and again?”
“What’s the matter?” her mother asked, suddenly turning serious.
“Just a random question, you have learned many things about dream from grandpa naa,” though Shree didn’t hide her emotions she didn’t want to bother her mother that she is still seeing the same dream daily which once she had told her mother about.
Her mother considers for a moment and replies, “If we see same dream over and over means that we have some connections of dream in our life. Maybe something in our past life or perhaps something coming in future.”
‘Ohh, so I might have some connection towards the dream’, her heart skipped a bit. ‘But how? I can’t connect any dots.’
Shree started pondering about that dream again. After bathing she went straight to the temple in her house and prayed to lord Krishna’s idol. Today, she even prayed him for explaining her the meaning behind that dream. She knows that Lord Krishna only answers when it’s the right time but, she was eager to know about it.
Shree was the only daughter at home. Her elder brother mostly travels in different places due to his work as postman. So, she used to help her mother in kitchen as daughter and assist her father in his work like a son. She was even allowed to go out to play and have party with her friends just as a boy get in a village.
Her family thinking was more straightforward than of that time. When Shree prepared breakfast for her house, her mother Annapurna used to do other chores. They help each other and was happy family. Her home was a place where she felt free and cared.
One day Shree’s father went to Kalink to deal with some affairs about landscape. He had to deal with many issues that he was compelled to stay there for a long time. He asked his son to look for the family after him, so he started to live with his mother.
Shree went with her father in Kalink as she missed her old friends there. Her father didn’t like upsetting his daughter, so he agrees on taking Shree with him. Afterall, daughter is always more dear to her father.
Kalink was a land of dense forest and winding rivers. The temples stood there as the symbol of devotion. The village was filled with warmth of sun and people’s laughter across the field. However, it also carried the forgotten bloodshed beneath it’s soil. Air moves like the spirits waiting to tell story of its own history.
In Kalink, Shree used to help her father at morning and evening, but she was free at daytime. During this time, Shree visited her friends. They used to chat play and do fun stuffs. Sometimes they even visited each other’s garden to collect raw fruits to eat. Everything was going smoothly and Shree was not seeing that dream from couple of days. Leaving her nights untroubled.
But was it really due to change of place or there was something else waiting to be unfold?
(At the dark mysterious chamber)
There are captives begging on the floor, with bloodstained faces, their hope of survival was fading. A tall and hulking figure standing before them, face hidden in dark. But his cold aura send shiver in the atmosphere.
“Please your highness, spare us. We will never betray you,” the two people beg. Their clothes were torn in half of the body, covered in blood from all the torture they endured before.
A chilling silence then- “You want me to spare you? Fine, I won’t kill you” came his cold voice.
“Yes... yes,” they stutter and kiss the ground below bowing their head in unison. “Thanks for your kindness your highness” They breath in relief no longer then a second. As another command that came from him was enough to regret their life choice.
“Peel off their skin, drizzle it with honey and leave them on the street. Where every eye will be on them.” His voice hardened.
They gasp in fear, tears stream them freely as they begged “Mercy, your highness. Please show some mercy.”
“Mercy?” he chuckles. “I don’t know what it is.” He turned to leave from there.
He pauses mid stepped and speak in his cold inflated voice. “Make sure they didn’t die on the process. They should not have easy death. Their misery must be a lesson before the subjects.”
Mercy was the last word that exists in his empire. Forgiveness come with the cost which can only be bought only with blood. Cruelty was what he was known for. And giving an easy death was not even an option.
Ignoring their pleads, they were dragged away by a bunch of guards.
The screams on getting the skin peeled from their flesh echoed through the walls but he didn’t even flinch. He never did. He was an unsolved puzzle, and it was impossible to understand him.
The loud screams were tearing through the wall. Some ants were already getting attracted from the smell of honey, ready to devour it.
He knew how brutally they were going to die but he had already punished them. He didn’t regret nor did he pity on them. He just went back to his chamber and casually sip his drink.
His hand flickers a bit as he watches the moon from balcony outside the room. He watched it blankly, it will soon be full moon in few days and he always hated it.
The full moon was the mirror he despised which remained him of what he had become from what he once was. He raises a glass and drinks it. He was calm. And that calmness was far more dangerous than the chaos behind him.
(Scene end)
