《The Destiny Eclipsed》


 Ch 1 - A Crippled Soldier

    <u>Ch 1 - A Crippled Soldier</u>


    18th July 2018, Wednesday, Chennai


    In a premier Beach Villa, far from the busy, noisy city. A 6-foot tall, muscular silhouette stood under the shower, steamy hot water forcefully hitting right on to his face. The water was too hot, it covered the entire bath with water vapor, giving a tinge of ethereal touch.


    Still, a sensitive-skinned person might even get mild burns from this hot water. Yet the man below the shower stood there like a stone statue with utter disregard to the near-boiling water; even his eyelids were still.


    A few minutes later, he closed the shower, and the fog slowly receded, revealing the silhouette¡¯s prominent well-defined muscles. His strong hands reached out the towel, and sluggishly wrapped it around his waist.


    Though the guy had a perfect stature, his peerless figure wasn¡¯t a beautiful sight to behold; it was instead a scary hideous portrait, riddled with endless scars from the neckline to ankle.


    Of that humongous torso, only his face free of scars; the wounds ranged from long slashes, cuts, or burn marks.


    Most people would have a trauma just seeing those hideous scars, yet this man somehow survived such inhumane torture and is still very much alive to tell his tale.


    The muscular guy is Hariharasudan, a retired soldier, nothing but a poor soul pushed into the world of an ordinary man after decades lurking in the darker side of the world.


    Hari stared at the mirror, silently observing not-so-handsome yet a flawless face and all the stomach-churning scars below the neckline.


    Even these scars couldn¡¯t wipe that small smile on his face. His dull eyes held utter disregard for everything around him.


    His eyes had long lost their sparkles, all that remains now is an empty eye with an unsettling numbness and those everlasting unreal smile. The indomitable heroic spirit was nothing but a part of a distant yet unforgettable past.


    His career as a soldier ruined in a simple scouting mission. The mission Crippling a valiant soldier through a strange, unimaginable set of coincidence.


    He voluntarily retired from the Indian army and returned home.


    His parents were clueless about his military career; somehow, he fooled them for 14 full years from being a non-existent student in a reputed college to an urban-vagabond genius employee jumping from company to company in the pursuit of new challenges.


    The life after retirement was bland and tasteless; he settled for a measly job as an assistant accountant in a decent company.


    He could have lived a kingly life had he accepted any one of the money bags from his pile of rewards or if he hadn¡¯t donated all his hard-earned savings from all the missions.


    Hari turned down all the awards military offered for his legendary service; he even refused the minimum privileges given to any Indian soldier. Anything remotely connected to the army would evoke memories, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.


    His odd behavior didn¡¯t pass unnoticed, and his dead fish eyes weren¡¯t giving convincing signs either; thus, parents quickly discerned something amiss. They used every dirty trick in the books to pry the tightly sealed mouth of his; of course, they turned empty hands.


    Prying information from a hardened soldier is easier said than done, especially when the soldier is a member of the Special Squad. Still, his parents used emotion blackmail to force him into an arranged marriage.


    Last week he married Shreya, a typical cold beauty, and escaped his parent¡¯s torturous questions. But it wasn¡¯t an ideal marriage; instead, it was more like a facade to ward off both their parents.


    Hari and Shreya married with a non-involvement contract. They lived under the same roof, but that¡¯s all they had in common with normal married couples.


    Both of them moved to a mid-size suburban villa but lived in different rooms, Hari knew nothing about her except her name. Hari followed the contract by word and a led peaceful new married life thus far.


    Surprisingly, the agreement was Shreya¡¯s initiative, and Hari gratefully accepted her plan; his brain was already smoking just thinking of ways to escape marriage and his parent¡¯s nosy inquiries.


    ¡®Life can screw you bad. huh...¡¯


    Out of nowhere, Hari suddenly remembered that fateful day, the day a peerless soldier, the captain of the best team in the army regressed to a low-tier white-collar employee.


    Back in the day, his team ¡®Nine Chakoras of India¡¯ was the most successful team with an envious track record under their belt.


    Their team fed upon the dark and evil, the weeds in the society, ¡®Where Red Chakora goes blood trail follows¡¯ and they never failed to live up to their reputation.


    Two years ago, Hari led 3 of his team members to scout out the caves in remote pockets of the Himalayan Range, supposedly terrorist hideout.Stolen story; please report.


    After hours of search, the cave turned out to be an abandoned outpost with few broken pots and animal bone, Hari and his teammates cursed that incompetent informer while munching on the bland hard nutrient bars.


    They were forced to camp in the caves to escape the sudden bone freezing storm. Little did they know the downpour was just a minor step for the onset of the series of disasters that followed.


    After a few hours, the storm strengthened further, building tension in the makeshift camp; while Hari and his friends were cracking jokes and giggling to lighten the mood, a sudden thunder dashed all their efforts.


    Following a massive landslide shifting half the mountain above them neatly sealing the cave¡¯s narrow entrance.


    Hari was running out of ideas; the weather made it impossible to send any signal. They must at least survive a week without food or water. But their most significant problem was air, every single Chakora were survival experts.


    They could go for months without food and last at least a week without water, but no matter how hard you train, no one can survive without air.


    Hari could sense the shadow of death looming over them; the cave wasn¡¯t large enough for all 4 of them; they might survive a couple of hours before suffocating to death.


    While Hari was fiddling with his fingers, the tension was slowly building it up. Everyone is smart enough to figure out what¡¯s going on. All his comrades briefly looked at each other before nodding their heads and silently retrieving their pistol.


    *BANG BANG BANGGG*


    Hari was completely open; he never dreamt of pulling his guard around his comrades, something he regretted from then onwards. Hari jumped in fright and quickly looked around only to find three corpses, each with a bullet in their head.


    *******


    [Chakora


    It is a red partridge in Indian mythology that feeds on moonbeams. It is said to be a devotee and is obsessed with the moon.]

 Ch 2 – Just a Hallucination

    ''Whatever'' Hari gave up any hope of reasoning with this guy.


    "So, who are you?"


    Hari stared at the ethereal being before him; he was utterly clueless.


    "Who am I? in a way, we are both one and the same; you are me, and I''m you. I could also be the God, Heavens, The One above all and whatnot."


    Hari mentally rolled his eyes and sighed in his mind.


    ''Ok, now I''m officially dealing with a retarded psycho.''


    Strangely enough, God didn''t get offended; God just overlooked it like a foolish act of an ignorant man Or a lonely old man having a mouthful conversation after a long time.


    "To know who I am, you need to know more about yourself, in particular, your worlds. *sigh* Earth''s a lot similar to a hamster running a wheel."


    ''Am I the crazy or is this guy stupid, why did earth become a hamster.''


    "Earth is stuck in wheels of Mahayugas, endless cycle of creations and destruction. One Mahayuga is roughly 4.12 million years, and it''s divided into 4 Yugas.


    Satay Yuga ¨C Virtue reigns supreme. The average human lifespan was 100,000 years.


    Treta Yuga ¨C There were three-quarter virtue and one-quarter sin. The average human lifespan was 10,000 years.


    Dwapara Yuga ¨C There was one-half virtue & 1 half sin. The average human lifespan was 1,000 years.


    Kali Yuga ¨C There is one-quarter virtue & Three-quarter sin. The average human lifespan was 100 years.


    Kali-yuga is the final stage, long-winded gradual destruction.


    I am the first life that Earth breeds; When a being is born the soul from the Earth, a small portion separates from me and enters the womb. When a being dies, their soul re-joins me.


    I can''t influence those souls in any form, or else the Earth will instantly burst to cause an apocalypse leading to absolute destruction. My existence and Earth are bound to each other -


    My death ends all life, whereas Earth''s destruction means my end."


    Then God paused a bit, allowing Hari to digest everything, Hari couldn''t discern any emotion from just those messages because they were only pure thoughts.


    Everything since his death was bizarre and strange, but the Earth is a hamster stuck in the wheels of Mahayugas topped it all.


    ''So the stuff about Kali Yuga and stuff are real.''


    Somewhere in the back of his head, Hari had started believing, because he had here myths about Kali Yuga.


    "If you can''t influence humans, then how did the secret about Yugas leak out."


    Hari couldn''t wrap his head around the entire Mahayuga concept, so he just found a plot hole in the story he heard to make better sense.


    "Humanity''s thirst for knowledge or truth can never be disregarded; in fact, a lot of truths were discovered by humans. Unfortunately, most of these are either ignored, overlooked or distorted, destroyed."


    "For instance, Ancient Indian civilizations have long discovered the ultimate truth; In one of Hindu philosophy ''Mukthi'' which means liberation or freedom is the ultimate meaning of life. In other words, breaking the fetters of destiny.


    You''ll find innumerable such findings or theories, so never underestimate your fellow human; they have inexhaustible potential."


    Hari just nodded his head, he felt muddled; it''s just too much digest. God was too immersed to notice Hari''s absent-minded face.


    "Every single organism is tied to their destiny, tangled in the string of fate; even I''m no exception, actually there was no exception to date. But you somehow achieved the impossible, the fetters of destiny somehow lost their grip over you."


    "Staying here too long might severe you tie to Earth, so let me stop here. I''ll also give you gifts to harness your power."


    Hari let out a sign and loosened a bit, he knew he couldn''t possibly escape from God.


    "Then, what''s the catch?"


    Of course, he isn''t naive enough to think a god would appear out of nowhere and give him powers just because he died uniquely.


    "That''s the point there are no fetters, so the ''Universal Principle of Karma'' is invalid.


    Even without my interference, you will be reincarnated. The only difference is when it naturally takes place, you will take over a new body.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Moreover, the power I grant you is just a way to harness the hidden strength you got by breaking the fetters of destiny."


    Hari was still suspicious and couldn''t quite get the point, but a beam of light shot at him, directly sending him back to Earth.


    ****


    Back on Earth.


    Hari silently stood before the mirror in a daze, he didn''t know if God and other thing was just his mind playing tricks on him.


    "No, it''s just hallucination ... I''m just hallucinating."


    ''Oh Right, Time''


    Hari jumped to his mobile and checked the time, but he didn''t have the habit of using his mobile more frequent than his brain. So obviously he didn''t know the exact time, but he had a rough gauge.


    *Sigh*


    ''It''s still 8:30 am.''


    An encounter like that is scary even for an iron-hearted soldier like Hari. He just chalked down the whole god thing to lack of sleep and quickly dressed up for his office.


    Then Hari went to his motorbike, his old pal. This Royal Enfield motorbike was gifted to his team for their fabulous performance in one of the missions. This bike the only thing that can be remotely linked to his army life.


    Hari drove his motorbike to the city, the first part of his ride was relaxing as always, and just like any other day, the moment he entered the city-limit, the restless traffic stopped any hopes of enjoying the ride.


    He can only helplessly wait and move inch by inch to his office, he gently caressed the bike while reminiscing the old days, but suddenly a sound broke his line of thoughts.


    *BANG*


    A speeding car crashed into the walls. Hari quickly woke from his daze and rushed to the car. But he was a bit late; few people had already extended their helping hands; while the rest were as usual cursing behind the back.


    "*tsk* another Drunkard bastard, luckily No one''s injured."


    "Does this M*****F****R start his day on alcohol."


    "How could these guys be this irresponsible, these shitheads are an utter disgrace; @$%%....."


    Hari heard people cursing and swearing that idiotic driver. He just shook his head and turned around, but a whimpering stray dog drew his attention.


    That pitiful dog was just an innocent bystander suffering from humanity''s carelessness and irresponsive attitude. When the car crashed into the walls, the stone and metal shards pierced the dog, critically wounding it.


    People didn''t bother to check the dog; even if they accidentally found this poor creature, the most a dying animal could earn is their useless pity and few drops of tears.


    In the 21st century, everyone''s busy a wounded dog could never stop them, and the dog being a homeless stray dog isn''t helping the situation either.


    Being an animal lover was one of his redeeming qualities, also something Hari took pride in being one. So Hari sprung to the dog and gave a decent first aid, his first-aid skills were on par with an experienced physician.


    Though he coined it as first aid, it was nothing short of a Minor operation; a couple of the cuts were too deep so stitched while the rest were just bruises. But the little fella lost too much of blood, so his chance of recovery left much to be desired.


    "Be careful fella it difficult to survive cruel world, but you gotta hang in there to make it a liveable place."


    The dog was too weak, so it just slowly limped to the covert shed and lied down. Hari could discern hints of gratitude in those big eyes, he just shook his head and helplessly went to his motorbike.


    Hari heavy heartedly rode his bike through traffic. It''s a practical impossibility to take in every stray dog; moreover, Hari neither had the financial capacity nor a place to do so. Even the luxurious villa is his wife''s property, so he did his best to save that pitiful creature.


    *******


    A few hours later at Moon Pictures Private Limited.


    Moon Pictures Private Limited is run by Anil Rathore the heir to Airavata Groups.


    Rumour has it that, Moon Pictures Pvt Ltd. was incorporated to serve as a practice ground for Anil Rathore, the heir to Airavata Corporations. The corporation is one of the most significant players in this part of the country.


    Anil, the Boss-cum-owner is a rich brat spending his father''s money to experience the business world. Every employee would overly flatter the Boss to get into his good books.


    Thus Anil became the uncrowned King of Moon Pictures. Inside Moon Pictures, even the air flows the way he breathes. In this illusory kingdom, Hari was an exception, he was a taciturn idiot.


    Inherently, Hari hated the guts of these self-righteous hypocrites; unfortunately, any society is filled with such people. So acting as an uncommunicative person to ignore then seemed a lot more logical option against dying of anger while dealing with these hypocrites.


    Hari stood out in that flattering sheep crowd; he wasn''t even polite to let alone flattery. He was like a crane among chickens; Hari''s stubbornness, coupled with his lifeless eyes gave birth to a perfect misfit of the society.


    Strangely Anil always tried to befriend Hari instead of targeting this indifferent employee of his.


    By the time Hari reached the office, he was already late by an hour; Hari found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, though he spent most of his in solitude Anil''s relationship antagonized few yet powerful individuals. One of them just happened to be his Department head.


    Hari hesitantly made his way to his department while stimulating numerous excuses. Hari took a deep breath before pushing the doors of the Finance department.


    Then Hari realized someone sneaking behind him and abruptly turned around to counter-attack.


    "Dude how do you find me every time? You just wait I''ll certainly sneak on you one day or other?"


    A youth in his Mid-twenties stood before Hari. He was in perfect business apparel with slightly old-fashioned glasses. His sharp eyes and amiable yet handsome looks utterly contrasted Hari''s ordinary zombie face and soulless eyes.


    Hari just nodded with a small smile, though Anil''s an inexperienced kid in the business world, he was no stranger to the darkness of human society. As an heir to gigantic Conglomerate, he has seen his fair share of plots and conspiracy.


    Anil could discern good from evil and see through their face masks. So he always maintained distance with his employees. Anil took note of a few sincere employees, but Hari''s indifference and deadpan somehow instilled a strange sense of awe deep inside.


    Thus Anil tried to befriend Hari while Hari regarded Anil as a good person to get along. But Hari didn''t mention anything about his past and always behaved like a dull idiot.


    Anil put his hand around Hari''s shoulder while Hari played along, both of them entered the office. With Anil around Hari being late would be the least of his concerns. Hari knew Anil was here to help, so he went straight through the door without a hint of hesitation.


    A young yet mature woman was sitting right before the door, though she was good looking and tender-skinned the entire company knew her real character. When this woman goes crazy, even a mad dog will turn to lick its wounds.


    The young woman is the Finance department head, Lila.


    Even Anil could barely contain her; her background was just too prominent to trifle with. Still, in his company, Anil had the highest authority, and covering for a late employee is undoubtedly within his powers.


    Thus, Lila let off Hari with just a scary stare and a bone-chilling smile. Anil could only helplessly shrug indicating his inability further interfere.


    Hari nodded while taking note of the effort, in fact, he didn''t take his job seriously; it was just another cover.


    The rest of the day went by uneventfully; Hari checked the time after a long yawn. It was already 6 pm, so he shut his laptop and packed his stuff. Before he could leave the Lila called him; Hari reluctantly picked up the call.


    "Yes, ma''am...Yes ma''am... huh okay I''ll do it"


    ''F**k why the hell am I taking orders from this bitch?'' Hari swore mentally.


    He was forced to stay in the office for a couple of hours and prepare documents for the meeting held 20 days later; obviously, it''s just a way to get her petty revenge on him.


    Lila was always upset with the indifferent employee of her; his disregard for her authority would never fail to get on her nerves. Somehow this wooden bloke got Anil''s grace.


    Even today Hari was late by an hour, though he was a punctual guy being this late without any proper permission or explanation was stretching the limits too much.


    But with Anil around, she had to control her temper, after all, antagonizing Big Boss over such trifle issues was Utter stupidity even if she didn''t fear Anil''s backer. So she made him work overtime to pay back instead of giving a nice round of scolding.


    As unwilling as she was, it was a lot simpler to force him overtime than spending senseless effort on such minor character.


    Few hours later¡­. 9:00 pm


    Hari was finally permitted to take his leave, as expected he''s the last one to leave. Lila was long gone, but he had to stay till he mailed the Draft.


    Grudgingly Hari put up a few hours more behind the desk. He visited the wounded dog''s shed and offered some food to the poor creature.


    Then, he pulled his mobile and opened the WhatsApp. He silently looked into the screen for a minute before texting.


    "Coming Wednesday, Anna Nagar Tower Park, Chennai at 8.30 pm."


    Hari''s team had a Private WhatsApp group for their team members. This is Hari''s first message after 2 years; he was disjoint from them, all he knew was his brothers all retired with him and waiting from him to come back.


    He didn''t know if his encounter with the god was real or not, but he knew one thing for sure if he were to die now, he would surely miss his other brothers. So he decided to set up a meeting since he was clueless of their current affairs he scheduled the gathering after a week.


    He spent some time in the nearby park reminiscing good old memories and returned home well past 10:00 pm as usual. Generally, he would go late to the house, it''s a tacit agreement between Hari and Shreya to avoid unnecessary awkward encounters.


    The day was both mentally and physically exhausting, so the moment his body touched the mattress, he slipped into a deep sleep.

 Ch -3 I Resign

    9:30 am, 24th July 2018, Tuesday, Chennai.


    It''s been five days since his encounter with the god, though Hari regards it as a hallucination somewhere deep inside he knew it was real.


    His life has returned to his boring routine except for a couple of hours he spent with the dog.


    The last couple of days, Hari has been taking half-an-hour permission in the morning with different excuses to spend some time wounded dog.


    Fortunately for him, Lila went abroad for some projects, so he has been having a peaceful week without having to put up with her annoying High Princess attitude.


    As usual, Hari drove his trusty motorbike to a restaurant and then went to the covert shed, the little dog makeshift home.


    "Hi Fella, Shall we checkup your wound?"


    Hari gently picked up the dog and did a thorough examination.


    "Not bad, it seems you were a good boy. The cuts are closing up, Quite a progress."


    Then he removed the old gauze and cleansed the wound with fresh water before giving a new dressing for the injury.


    "Okay here''s your reward for being an obedient boy. Delicious and highly nutritious chicken fries."


    And Hari placed few chicken fries on the plate; he waited till the dog finished his food. Then he cleaned up the mess and started for his office after a small goodbye.


    But what he didn''t notice was a beautiful woman taking pics from a White BMW X5 few meters away from the shed.


    Hari one hour later for the office and the rest was as dull as any other day. He just worked like a robot and finished all the work assigned to him without any sense of satisfaction.


    The sun slowly set while there was a mild drizzle, rapidly bringing down the temperature. Hari was eagerly staring at the clocks as it sluggishly moved; each second seemed more extended than the previous one.


    At the exact second the Hour hand struck 5:00 pm his mobile rung, Lila was calling him to her cabin.


    The moment he entered Lila''s cabin, he found her huffing and snorting with endless anger like a mad bear.


    "Hari does your uncle reside in this shed or did you take in a dog as uncle?"


    Earlier this morning on her way home she caught Hari in a covert corner of the street, playing with the dog.


    Later that day, she received words that he has been taking half-an-hour permission for taking care of his seriously ill uncle.


    Hari''s blank, expressionless stare further infuriated her.


    "Bastard you dared to cheat me, you''re Boss. Shithead, I''ll make this day your last and most regretful day in the company. It''s that Naive fool''s fault, he should have put you, low-level scams in their place."


    Hari still didn''t react; he just stood there like a wooden block without taking anything to his heart. But Hari deadpan face was a lot similar to a cunning poker face for Lila.


    The rebukes were like punches on cotton; it didn''t damage anything but her throat, so she decided to take some real serious action and took her mobile.


    "Hello Dad, it''s me; a guy here gets on my nerve. Just do whatever it takes to remove this guy. oh yeh! he''s called Hari, an employee in the Finance department."


    Lila looked over Hari with an arrogant smirk and crossed hands like an evil villain.


    Deep down, she knew it was a bit too overboard, but Hari''s poker-faced clouded her brains and anger could make you do the stupidest of behaviour.


    Still, Hari didn''t do anything radical, he just mildly sighed. He didn''t care about the job, so he wasn''t worried about losing the job.


    Hari''s unfazed eyes and inaudible sigh somehow pierced Lila''s ego; she was too infuriated to notice something amiss about an employee''s uncaring attitude towards his job.


    After ending the call, she took her plight on revenge a bit too far just to provoke Hari.


    "Dad, he seems to have a witty little brother who has made he was to IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) just make up some excuse to dismiss him. Also, investigate his parents and see what you get."


    Lila finally achieved her goal the deadpan zombie faced employee lost his cool, and the level-headed guy hung his low; at least that''s what she perceived.


    Her last threat sparked the long-extinguished flames, after falling to the lowest point of his life Hari realized how precious and selfless familial love was; so he swore to cherish every bit of it from here onwards. Thus, his family became a reverse scale he gladly accepted.


    Hari lowered his head while his eyes flickered a bit and room temperature plummeted by a few degrees. The moment Hari heard his family being targeted, his brain fused and the bloodlust oozed out like an untamed beast.


    A spike of chill stuck Lila''s spine, and she started quivering like a little prey before a bloody terrifying beast and subconsciously took a few steps back.


    The lifeless eyes suddenly became the scariest thing ever existed, and her deadpan employee was much more terrifying than any of the frightening horror films she has watched.


    "It was just a pra¡­."


    Lila tried to tell the truth, but she couldn''t voice out anything under Hari''s killer stare. Then she retreated a few more steps before tumbling down, and tears started to pour from those arrogant eyes. Now the flower of the company, the apple in everyone''s eyes didn''t look that beautiful.


    Hari didn''t do anything, he just slightly released a small portion of his killing intent to scare her. Neither her pleading eyes nor her pathetic earned any pity; instead, a glint of disdain flashed past in Hari''s eyes.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Lila knew that the guy before her might kill her for real, so she picked her Mobile with trembling hands and showed the caller log to prove her innocence.


    "It was just a prank I didn''t mean to harm your family."


    Hari just shook the head before slowly walking over to her; his slow yet firm footsteps akin to the Chimes of Death further traumatizing the poor soul.


    "If it were a real one, you would already be on your way to hell."


    Hari''s usual indifferent plain voice suddenly became a bit spooky while his words were laden with an aura of death.


    Then he went to the computer and quickly typed something. A few minutes later, the printer ejected a printed copy of the letter he typed which Hari swiftly grabbed and threw it at Lila.


    *shhh shiiii*


    The paper sliced through the air and directly piercing the wooden flooring like a knife. It''s a pity that no one was around to see this jaw-dropping stunt.


    "I resign, that''s my resignation letter. If you dare touch my family, that thing will go right through your head the moment such a thought ever arises in that stupid brain of yours."


    Hari didn''t wait for an apology or reply, he just picked his bag and left the scene.


    Moments later, Anil dashed through the office corridor, pushing some of his employees.


    "Ah... Sorry! Make way, please make way. Emergency!"


    Anil just got the instructions from his dad to dismiss Hari, and instantly he knew something went wrong between Lila and Hari.


    In Lila''s cabin, a gobsmacking scene was waiting; the predator and prey reversed their roles. Anil anxiously opened the door, but he was rendered speechless.


    Lila was sitting on the floor in a very inelegant posture; the usual arrogance or haughtiness was nowhere to be seen. She was like a frightened lamb quivering from time to time.


    Just next to Lila, a paper was standing upright, though it was only a plain sheet it stood there like a majestic tall mountain. He pulled the sheet, it was Hari''s resignation.


    As Hari drove back, the drizzle suddenly turned into a heavy shower forcing him to stop his motorbike under an old bus stop for shelter. When he looked up, suddenly the shed of dog he saved appeared in his mind out of nowhere.


    Then he recalled that shed of the little fella was in a low-level area and it would undoubtedly be flooded. The Freezing rain couldn''t stop a warm heart from saving a life. But when Hari reached the spot he neither found the dog nor the shed, water had pulled down the shed.


    Hari was heartbroken, he searched for an hour turning every single rock in the street. The rain got heavier, and Hari knew his chances of finding the dog was close to impossible. So he gave up while cursing himself for being so useless.


    If he could afford, he would have at least adopted the stray dog until it recovered. Unfortunately, one couldn''t change the past and ''If'' condition was just a castle build in thin air; Hari knew it better than anyone.


    Hari hung his head low and made his way to the house, the cute little dog filled his mind.


    Half-an-hour later¡­.


    Hari reached his house, he was too occupied to even notice that Shreya had been already inside the house. Hari just took his key and opened the door, a delightful aroma welcomed the depressed guy.


    Hari entered the hall, and another surprise was waiting for him. In the room, the dog was sitting on the sofa. Hari even forgot the alluring food waiting for him and rushed to the dog to give a hug.


    Hari noticed that the bandages were changed, but they were poorly done and slightly wet; thus, he immediately sprang into action. His hands too fast, healthy human eyes will only perceive blurry movement.


    Less than a minute, he untied all the bandages, but before he could inspect the wounds for infection, his instincts alarmed crazy. Hari jumped while picking his hidden knife only to find his wife staring daggers at him.


    "Hari what were you up to, touching an injured animal with wet hands and furthermore removing the bandages. Are you trying to kill it?"


    Though she didn''t have any killing intent, Hari still felt the dangerous aura she was emitting. Hari knew for the longest time that his wife was anything but simple.


    Hari felt like crying, he forgot that he was drenched and he only intended to inspect the wound.


    ''Today''s the unluckiest day of my life.''


    Since it''s only cooperation between the two of them, he knew going soft will not do any good. Though they were collaborating, he still needs to roughen things a bit to lead a peaceful life. But he wasn''t planning on taking things too far, as Shreya was angry for the right cause.


    *humpf*


    With that Hari released his Killer Intent, he knew Shreya wasn''t just another woman, so Hari didn''t hold back like last time he did with Lila.


    Shreya was powerful, but she''s an inexperienced killer; on the other hand, Hari might be much weaker than Shreya with his fighting experience Hari could easily kill her even if she 7 lives.


    ''Eh¡­ what''s this, such intense pressure even my body can''t withstand it. What''s going on?''


    The Bloodthirst froze her; she has never encountered such pressure. She could barely cope with the Killer intent, and from Hari''s carefree attitude, she knew he wasn''t going all out. Only then she realized that her husband was not as simple as he portrayed.


    Shreya entirely projected her aura to counter the Killer Intent, but if this goes on her will surely drain, leaving her vulnerable and exposed. Her only scope was to unleash her trump card and overpower Hari.


    On the other hand, Hari didn''t expect his wife to withstand his pressure. He still couldn''t figure out how she was enduring such stress.


    ''How is she coping with my Killer intent; she thoroughly pure without a hint of murderous aura. What''s going on?''


    The clash of aura came to a stalemate, at any moment, either of them was ready to take action. Unfortunately, both of them were too engrossed that they ignored the injured dog; the very reason for their fight.


    Hari''s small probe took a wild turn and became such a dangerous confrontation. Before anything unfortunate happened, the frail dog stopped the calamity.


    *Woof*woof*


    The dog barked with great effort, breaking the tension. Both Hari and Shreya could only dig a hole to hide from embarrassment; they forgot the dog. Immediately they rushed to the dog only to bump into each other. Before Shreya could start Hari glared at Shreya shutting her.


    "Let''s talk after treating this guy. Bring a clean towel and few bandages with ointment. Yeah! Also, fetch some cotton."


    Hari ordered without turning his head; Shreya could only nod.


    ''Calm down, calm down the little guy''s the priority.''


    Shreya religiously mumbled like a holy prayer to keep her temper in check and went to pick the stuff Hari asked; it was a completely new experience for her, being ordered around by someone.


    At the same time, Hari started examining the dog; he went through every nook and corner to avoid further complications.


    While he was examining Shreya fetched the thick towel and a medical kit.


    The clean white towel hung on her hands, and occasional inaudible curses made her even more alluring. At the moment, Shreya was like a damsel in disaster; any man would bleed to save this sweet damsel in distress to capture her heart.


    Unfortunately, Hari was the only guy in the room; and he was too immersed in inspecting the dog, so it went down as another unappreciated piece of art.


    He just took the towel without turning and dried the little fella before completely dressing the wound, it took him full ten minutes to completely bind the wound.


    Compared to Hari''s bandage skill Shreya''s skills were nothing but garbage; though she was passable for a beginner.


    A few minutes later, Hari stood up, he was still dripping wet, so he went to his room to get changed. The entire time he was blocking her sight, so Shreya took a closer look to check if the little fella was doing fine. To her surprise, the dog was happily wagging his tail.


    *****


    A few hours ago, earlier this evening, she picked this fella, his wounds were professionally dressed; the bandages were too perfect that it didn''t hinder his movements even with such critical injuries. The bandage was art from an experienced hand.


    Since it rained, the bandages were soaked wet, so Shreya removed them and found a few half-healed injuries.


    With each second that passed by the rain got harder and harder; after some deep thought, she decided to take in the dog.


    Once they reached the home, Shreya tried to reproduce the dressing in the same method, but she severely underestimated the difficulty.


    After many trails the best she could do covered its entire body like a mummy, entirely immobilizing it. Though she felt guilty, there was nothing she could do. It was inadvisable to take him to any veterinary doctor in this stormy weather.


    But Hari''s dressing looked awfully similar to the previous one; instead it was slightly better; thus, she clearly pictured what transpired earlier this morning.

 Ch -4 Reunion of Brothers

    Hari went to change his drenched dress without locking the door; while he was slipping into his pyjamas, the door slowly moved; instantly alerting Hari''s sharp senses.


    He abruptly wore his shirt and turned around; in fact, both happened in the same instant. Such quick actions were impossible for normal humans.


    *phew*


    ''That''s a close call. Just false alarm; it''s the breeze, luckily no one''s around.''


    Hari was determined to keep his army life hidden, if anyone happened to see those scars of his, then hiding his past would be nothing but a pipedream.


    Only after seeing Shreya in the kitchen did he relax; after all his encounter with her a few minutes ago proved her uncommon background.


    A few minutes later, they started their first post-marriage dining. Needless to say, the atmosphere was awkward and very uncomfortable for either of them.


    *Cough*


    Hari broke the silence with a mild cough.


    "Everyone has their secrets, the only reason I agreed to this marriage was to safeguard mine. Like you guessed, I have a disturbing history and the past filled with mysteries.


    I believe the contract reserves my right over my privacy as much as it safeguards yours. So don''t go nosing around my past, it isn''t a pleasant story, and you wouldn''t have a pleasant ending either."


    Hari finished his piece in a single breath and waited for an agreement from the other party. Hari was threatening her indifferent cold voice; though she didn''t seem intimidated.


    Shreya nodded in response after a small hesitation; after all, she wasn''t silly enough to break the contract herself. Seconds later, the tension and awkwardness slowly vanished.


    Both of them started having a normal conversation just about everything while having dinner; they carefully avoiding sensitive topics involving their real background or occupation.


    "So, what happened? Shemo''s familiar around you, awfully accustomed to someone he just met?"


    Shreya casually enquired.


    "Ahh... Shemo is it this fella''s name?" Hari asked with hesitation.


    "Yes, it''s this fella. I found it by a remote shed in the city; he was nearly flooded. Someone has been treating his wounds, but the unexpected downpour nearly ruined him."


    Shreya exaggerated the facts a little bit to probe him. Hari was utterly lost.


    ''I''ve been treating the little guy for a week now, but I never gave him a name, but this woman just found him this evening and has already named him, that too Shemo..


    What is ''Shemo''? Why ''Shemo''?''


    Hari could only mentally cry in bewilderment, and then he patiently narrated the accident one week ago. Through which that stupid driver earned a round of rebuke from Shreya.


    Slowly both of them started having a lot more casual conversation before they retired to their rooms.


    As for as the new member of the house, Shemo; he went to his cosy new bedding with Shreya completely ignoring Hari.


    ''Dogs are supposed to be loyal.''


    Again Hari could only mentally complain of injustice.


    *****


    11:00 am, 25th July 2018, Wednesday, Chennai.


    Hari slowly awoke, yesterday was simply a roller-costar ride, he was thoroughly beaten. Thus he slept 12 hours straight to revitalize the energy he expended.


    In the Hall, he found a small note on the refrigerator.


    "Hari, I''ve got a meeting this morning. I''ll be taking Shemo with me, so don''t worry."


    He just shook his head seeing the clock, he was a bit too late for breakfast. Hari tried calling Anil a couple of times, but the opposite party''s line was engaged.


    Since he was too bored, he sat before the television and picked a Zombie horror movie. Actually, Hari would rarely spend time on the tv but today the time seemed to have slowed down, each minute seemed like an hour; maybe, he was just too excited to meet his brother after two years.


    When the clock struck 8:00 pm8:00 pm Hari left the house in his trusty motorbike. He reached the park half-an-hour later thanks to the traffic.


    The Velox Banyan Park, Chennai.


    Humongous Banyan trees blanketing the entire park, hiding the park from the moon; creating beautiful scenery in the middle of the city.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Hari was rushing through the crowded park without admiring the breathtaking scenery before his eyes, while his eagle eyes scanned the crowd for his friends.


    The phone was dead, he could only curse his carelessness and grit his teeth look around for them.


    After ten minutes, he finally found his brothers. They were sitting under the tree and happily chatting; from a distance, Hari noticed this group of misfits.


    A giant fatty, towering over six-and-half feet and slightly wider than the banyan''s trunk. A sickly thin transwoman stood shoulder to shoulder with the fatty.


    Behind them, three women, each of them had seductress hourglass figure igniting the belly fire even to the smallest man out there.


    He swiftly ran to the group of five under the giant Banyan tree. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the two guys jumped up and dashed to Hari.


    Hari spread his arms for a huge bear hug; unfortunately, all be received was a good round of thrashing.


    The six and a half foot monstrous fatty rammed into him, sending him flying. Then build man overtook Hari and cruelly pulled down.


    Hari was ruthlessly crushed on to grass fields, even a couple of grass went through his mouth nearly choking him; three more joined trashing. Hari turned to a human punching until everyone vented all their frustration.


    Resistance''s futile, fighting them is akin to crushing rock with an egg or even worse. They were elite soldiers, while Hari''s a retired military man and crippled one nonetheless.


    Hari was expecting a drama but not a one-sided thrashing, though it didn''t leave any permanent injuries his mobility would be severely dampened for a couple of days.


    Actually, he was to blame, after all, they were left them hanging for a good 2 years.


    Hari just laid on the ground like dead meat, blankly staring into the starry sky; his teammates stood around in complete silence.


    "So What happened during these two years.?" Hari casually asked without turning his head.


    "Nothing much, once you left, we all were reallocated to different squads. Then we all got¡­."


    The fatso started to narrate the two years tale, but Hari interrupted.


    "Got into fights and again reallocated again and again till you voluntarily retired."


    Hari looked at fatty for confirmation.


    "Yeah, we.."


    All the five of them hung their heads down while the fatty admitted him heavy guilt.


    Ch ¨C 8 The mess he left behind¡­


    Next day morning¡­


    In a hotel near ''The Velox Banyan Park'', a thin beam of sunlight penetrated the darkroom directly striking on Hari''s face. Hari woke with great difficulty fighting to sober up, while his bros all rose with ease.


    Hari wore a blissed-out smile despite the annoying headache, meeting his bros after years is one of the few correct decision he has made since his ending his service.


    Last night Hari completely threw all the restraint and went all out downing the jugs booze till he passed out. He narrated the last two years of dull, uneventful life to his brothers, except the part about his marriage.


    Hari shook his head and slowly got up; he took a few seconds to stretch his muscles and straighten his back before he looked at his brothers lazily lying on the bed.


    "Guys, let start a business; it''s too boring to work under someone."


    Hari''s words were like a bolt of light for the group of militants, they were never good with business and stuff.


    Hari''s encounter with the extra-terrestrial being had enlightened him. Though he still couldn''t comprehend if it were real or otherwise, this encounter gave him a very different outlook of the world itself.


    Instead of treating the accident as an end, he began seeing it as a new beginning. The last two years made him realize many things, see many problems he failed to perceive earlier.


    "You''ve all retired from your service and just rotting away like an old rook, wasting yourself. The vacation is over, so fire up your asses and be ready for some hard work."


    "For now clean up whatever mess you''ve left behind and return by next Wednesday."


    All his brothers were still yet to recover from the shock, but Hari gave them another dose to keep them stunned. It took them a few minutes to gather their wits and sink in Hari''s message.


    The moment they recovered everyone pounced one Hari hug him in delight. Hari''s orders meant they will once again work together; which they always regarded as a pipe dream.


    Hari returned home after sending his brothers; it was already noon by then, so neither Shreya or Shemo was back. He had the silent walls to accompany through the day.


    A couple of hours later¡­


    While Hari was having his lunch, his mobile rang.


    "Hello, Anil."


    Hari casually answered the call.


    "Brother can we meet."


    Anil''s voice had obvious hints of fatigue.


    "Huh¡­ the tea shop on Pungudi Street at 4 pm."


    Hari immediately picked the meeting spot, without pestering him with any questions.


    Exactly at 4:00 pm, Hari reached the shop. Tea shops are a popular destination for guys to meet up. Any tea shop will always have a couple of men chit-chatting just about everything.


    Hari got a cigarette and leaned over a tree while smoking; inevitably overhearing the guys rambling something.


    "There''ll be a By-Election in a month or so, who''s going to win?" one guy started.


    "It''s unpredictable as the weather, but with Yashini Devi around the YNK seems to have better chances."


    One from the group spoke his mind while drinking his tea. But another guy refuted him.


    "No, YNK''s candidate a somewhat weak compared to UPC''s Candidate. Moreover, there the new political currents are going against YNK. So¡­."


    "An insider tipped off that, an independent candidate is favoured by the people¡­"


    All of a sudden everyone was having a heated debate; Hari shook his head, he eventually lost interest. Luckily, Hari didn''t wait too long; shortly after Hari Anil also came.


    Hari offered him a cigarette, and both of them leaned over the same tree. After a few puffs, Anil looked at Hari''s indifferent figure and sighed.


    "Bro, can you at least act a bit worried? Will you? I even had a fall out with my father to clear up the mess you left behind. Didn''t you know Lila had a troublesome background why did you all the offend the big lady¡­."


    Anil complained till his breath ran out, then he took a deep puff; Hari silently stood beside him like a mischievous kid reprehended by the teacher. After a few rounds of cursing and compliant Anil fully vented his anger.


    *Sigh*


    "So What are you planning to do next?"


    Anil casually asked though he seemed disinterested Anil was very curious about Hari''s plans. Hari hardly seemed like an office material to him.


    "My old brothers returned yesterday, so we plan to have a Start-up. Will you be joining?"


    Hari offered, it might seem stupid to invite a multi-millionaire for start-up by a bunch of nobody''s, but this is a heart-to-heart talk between to friends.


    "huh¡­. Whatever I''ll also join the fun. It''s not like I have anything worthwhile to do; my old man kicked me out of the company for saving your asses."


    Anil took the offer after a few seconds of hesitating.


    "Brother, you won''t regret it. We''ll meet up next Wednesday, I''ll introduce your new brother then."


    Hari patted Anil''s shoulders while solemnly reassuring Anil, though his friend carelessly runs his mouth Hari knew the hardships behind that carefree smile.


    Though Hari didn''t fear Lila''s background, he knew it would be troublesome to deal with a cunning political veteran. He was waiting for her retaliation, but Anil had interfered and helped him out.


    "Hari, whatever you do don''t ever cross paths with Yashini Devi; the by-elections and some other unfavourable political situation, were very instrumental for suppressing her. If you provoke her once again, then confrontation is the only outcome."


    Anil gravely warned Hari before leaving, with a weak smile. Hari sent a reassuring smile and nodded severe eyes. He knew the gravity of the situation, so repeatedly warned Hari to lay low-key for the time being.


    Then he left for his house, if his father learned about this meeting with Hari, then he will undoubtedly burst in a fury.

 Ch 5 A New Brother

    One week later¡­.


    1st August 2018, Wednesday, Chennai.


    This is the most relaxed period of Hari''s life; he spent most of the time inside the house either playing with Shemo or watching television.


    On the whole, it was an uneventful week for him; furthermore, his relationship with Shreya was smooth all thanks to Shemo, at least they had something on the plate to discuss over.


    Hari quickly dressed up and made a relaxed bike ride to Blueberry Tree Restaurant; earlier his brothers agreed to meet at this famous beachside restaurant.


    While he was riding his motorbike to the hotel Hari sent a reminder to Anil, he was planning on introducing him as a new friend to his brothers. At the restaurant, all his brothers had occupied the largest table; it couldn''t be helped the fatty was just too big.


    Everyone one of his brothers was eagerly waiting for him; last week Hari sent them back without letting out any details of his plans.


    "Guys, I''ll introduce someone I befriended after coming here; he''ll be here shortly."


    Hari spoke before they could open their mouths, they were over-enthusiastic. Fortunately for his brothers, Anil was a disciplined guy; he came just a few minutes after Hari.


    Anil was also eager to meet some new people, especially Hari''s old pals. He was really curious to find the people his taciturn, unsocial friend could open up.


    When he entered the restaurant, an odd group of misfits caught his eyes.


    A fatty barely fitting into a two-seater sofa, a pencil-thin transwoman and opposite to then three women with a perfect physique, it was shame he couldn''t see their faces but to the right-most corner was a stunner waiting for him.


    His unsocial friend was giggling and teasing with this group of weirdos like a college-kid.


    "Anil over here!!!"


    Hari shouted as he stood from the seat, completely ignoring others in the room. Anil immediately face-palmed and rush before another yell; while giving an apologetic smile to other guests.


    "Anil these are my brothers, the fatty is Rakesh Choudary, Rak in short. The manly women over there is Sushani Gaurav and the infamous triplets Riya Shetty, Kiya Shetty, and Priya Shetty."


    While Hari was busy introducing his comrades, Anil was jittery all over from their intense stare. Fortunately, Hari took note of his odd expression.


    "Guys, Anil''s my new friend; the only person I befriended the last couple of years. So don''t scare him away with your creepy stares; also, he''ll be joining the Start-up."


    Hari pulled back his brothers to the reality, they knew Hari was neither a friendly or sociable person; he would only befriend someone he trusts.


    Anil knew if they stayed here, sooner or later, they would be kicked out for being a nuisance.


    "Hari, shall we get a private room?"


    Anil whispered into Hari''s ears, while he eyed the annoyed guests.


    Hari looked around and understood before nodding. Immediately, Anil spoke to the Hotel manager, who was more than happy to arrange a Private hall for them.


    Once everyone moved in an awkward silence prevailed; Anil''s actions were made everyone uncomfortable, though it was completely justifiable. Hari could sense the unease; unfortunately, nothing came to his dumb brains.


    Sushani was especially sensitive to her surroundings; discerning Anil uneasiness she immediately welcomed the new member.


    "Anil, it''s good to have a new brother."


    Sushani pulled Anil alone while exclaiming in an uncomfortably shrill voice. Nevertheless, Anil put a straight face; he could feel the good intent and being discriminatory wasn''t a part of him.


    Once they had a few drinks, everyone happily joked around and once again became unruly. With time Anil got used to this rowdy group, throughout they chatted about some fun gossips.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Though they were all eager to learn the business plan, it isn''t fair to directly jump into business without creating a harmonious environment.


    "Anil, as the start to our new Brotherhood let me share a bit of our past. We are ex-military, our corps had nine brothers, including me."


    Hari paused a bit, while his brothers from army turned around towards him.


    "We were called the ''Nine Chakoras of India'', the trump card squad of the country. Each of us is the best in our field of expertise,


    Rakesh''s the vanguard of the team, don''t let his stature deceive you he could ram through a solid concrete wall effortlessly.


    Sushani''s assassin and scout; people in this line of work call him ''toothpick''.


    While the triplets Riya, Kiya, and Priya are Medic, Hacker, and Strategist, respectively.


    I was their leader of the entire team and a field expert.


    And Three other brothers who died in an accident, with their death ''Nine Chakoras of India were disbanded."


    Anil could feel the depressing air swirling around the table. It took a couple of bottles of wine to disperse the sadness.


    "Guys I was thinking of starting an Auction House. What are your thoughts?"


    Hari casually spoke as though he was cracking a joke.


    Everyone looked at each other, waiting for someone to speak up. But none of them was up for it, military guys are clean slate when it came to business handling, and Anil was hesitant to speak up.


    "Anil, you should speak your mind; we have next to no experience in this field. We might add some points here and there, but you''ve to take the lead."


    Hari passed it on to Anil with great ease; he too was ignorant about the business world. After a bit of hesitation, Anil spoke up.


    "Hari, the Auction House is High-Risk-High-Return sort of business; it''s essentially true in case of New establishments. Typically Auction houses deal with the riches; only they will have luxury spend a fortune here.


    Firstly, we need lots of connections; basically for inflow and outflow. I can handle the customers, my business partners and colleagues would certainly draw enough crowd.


    But for an Auction we need lots of articles, for that we need to get in touch with Collectors, Pawnbroker and so on; they are the key to success.


    Furthermore, whatever we do, it must on a large scale, which means enormous investment."


    There Anil paused while sending a meaningful glance at Hari.


    "Don''t worry about the articles; the big guy''s family runs a huge pawn store back home. Hey Rak! You can pull out some avid collectors and others to the Auction House, can''t you?"


    As Hari enthusiastically asked Rakesh; the fatso slowly nodded his head. It took a few


    minutes to comprehend the head shake; there was just too much of loose fats under his neck that it became to discern which way he was moving his head.


    "Guys wire all your uncommitted funds; we''ll see how much capital we can pool."


    After getting Rak''s promise, Hari pompously asked his brothers to contribute to creating Capital.


    Anil rolled his eyes when he heard Hari, he was talking about investments, big-money games; it''s not something you can pull out from the retirement funds.


    Still, Anil patiently waited instead of jumping the guns, Hari''s brothers sneakily looked at each other before transferring the funds.


    "Why is there only so much?" Hari nearly shouted in shock.


    Anil was speechless, ''How much money do you expect a retired soldier to have?'' he mentally exclaimed.


    Hari had a dark premonition looking at their vacant faces.


    After a few minutes of silence, Priya finally opened her mouth while the rest of them were pitifully eyed at each other.


    "Big bro, following your lead; we all donated our funds to the Indian Military Welfare Board. We wired the money we earned these few years, though it''s just a fraction of the amount paid by the army." Sushani threw a bombshell right at Hari''s business proposition.


    "What!!!! Did you guys seriously throw away all your fortune just like that? Why the hell would do such a dumb thing??"


    Hari yelled at them while the whole team hung their heads down.


    "Bro, calm down! Chill! We will think of some other ways to raise funds. We''ll think of something else, worst comes we borrow from the banks."


    Anil put hands over Hari''s shoulders and calmed him while he presented him with other ideas. Later, Hari sat on the chair and spent a few minutes furious operating his mobile.


    "Anil I''ve transferred the money these idiots wired. Also, send my settlement to it, and if you can add some amount, please do so. And calculate the amount we might need to borrow."


    Hari wired it without a hint of hesitation, this is also one of his merits; Hari might not be a trusting person, but once he believes someone he would give unconditional trust.


    "Bro, you know right; my father has frozen my bank accounts, I can''t do any contribution as for as the money you se¡­..


    Ahhhh¡­.


    What 30 million rupees? You guys earned 30 million in just 2 years? Just what were you doing?"


    These figures were like a bolt from the sky, he never expected such a large amount of money from these retired militants.


    "Oh that, each of us has a hobby to vent mental pressure. We three are musicians, these years we have concerts around the country while


    Sushani is a famous diviner or astrologer, no one knows her real identity, but that adds on to the mystery, making her the most sort out diviner out there.


    Finally, Rak is a very popular cook; he has received invitations from Five-star hotels across the country.


    Since we all retired from the army, every one of us was focusing on these hobbies in boredom; we managed to get some short cash from our hobbies, not bad right?"


    Riya, one of the triplets happily answered; only that Anil was frustrated.


    Firstly, he could handle such narcissist statement, but the more infuriating thing is the fact that he couldn''t tell apart between the triplets; all three of them looked like the same carbon copy of each other.


    Somehow he suppressed the bad blood rising within and focused on the job on hand.


    "Bro, this is sufficient capital for an Auction House. Since the Investment, Auction Items and customers are taken care-off, let''s dwell into finer details.


    We''ll need an Eye-catchy Building, a Slick Auctioneer and an Expert Appraiser with dozens of good-looking waitresses. And a few white-collar employees for running the back office.


    On this foundation, you can add on a few points, fine-tune and wax this structure to your preference and tastes."


    Anil was like a professional business consultant; he just gave Hari a framework to build-up.


    Hari went into deep contemplation, he kept silence for a good ten minutes. None of his brothers broke his thought process; everyone patiently waited upon Hari.


    "Folks, a start-up isn''t to be simply as it sounds. Though it''s a lot complicated, we still need sail through this rough sea."


    Hari spoke as his voice deepened and his eyes sharpened.


    "You three have better eyes; it would best if you guys hunt for commercial property and Anil we can''t blindly go about without an estimate."


    Hari pointed at the triplets; all of a sudden, he had a commanding air around him.


    All his brothers straightened their back with a gratified grin. While Anil was startled, completely caught off guard.


    "You fill them with all the details like the estimate, area and other stuff; Rani picks a few places we''ll short down and decide one in the next meeting."


    Hari completely ignored the stunned Anil and gave out instructions.


    "Ah... I almost forgot. Rani a big basement, this will also be one the criteria for building. Also, Make sure it''s big enough hall.


    "Sushani and Rak, both of you, are in charge of bringing in Auction items; if possible, arrange a meet calling all the potential seller, there we¡­.."


    "Anil you draft out terms and conditions for the Auction House, like the rate of commission,


    Basic Ceiling and so on, also look into the legal aspect¡­."


    Hari was engrossed in the new business; though he was new to the business world, leading people were old trade for him. He was especially motivated after his bizarre experience last month.

 Ch 6 Dangerous Encounter

    5th September of the year, Chennai.


    Time flew by, one month passed since the discussion with his brothers.


    This month was by far the most hectic one since Hari''s retirement. He had to look after Auction House all day long, creating something from scratch proved a lot more complicated.


    Thanks to Rakesh''s connections in this line of trade, they found an upright veteran Appraisal Master and crafty yet trustworthy auctioneer.


    Anil was in charge of the office and making preparations for their Inaugural Auction.


    The triplet did a great job in acquiring an old abandoned Museum in the suburban parts of the city; actually, it was quite a bargain given its size and artistic designs.


    They spent around 13 million rupees on buying this property its remote location was the only drawback. Further, a large scale renovation took place; Hari and his brothers spent another 7 million for this project.


    On the whole, 20 Million Rupees was expended by them just for the building, but every penny was worth it; they need such a grandeur structure for a large scale success.


    Today was a busy day like any other day, after a long tiring day, Hari walked out of the office on the first level to his motorbike parked by the lawn.


    Once he got on the bike, he spent a few minutes appreciating the beautiful building.


    They had used special night gems to decorate the walls and pillars which glittered in the moonlight, making it seem like an ethereal palace from heavens.


    Then he rode his bike home, these days he was spending lesser and lesser time at the house. It''s been three days since his last visit, actually Shemo was the only person who would miss him.


    On his way back, he passed through an empty avenue. There Hari got a glimpse of a man sneaking into a house to his right-side.


    Hari couldn''t just ignore but neither could he just jump into action without confirming whether it was a burglar or a prankster.


    While Hari was pondering, the man who sneaked was intently stared from a covert position at the old man sitting on a couch with a cup of coffee and a thick book.


    A few minutes later, Hari decided to intervene, and he slipped to the house through the backdoor and entered the main hall.


    The man was had sneaked in earlier was taking cover by the refrigerator, he noiselessly pulled out a poisonous dart and steadied the breath before aiming.


    The dart was shot in one seamless motion, though it seemed effortless the power it contained was unfathomable.


    *siisisss*


    Exactly at the instant, Hari entered the room, a bolt of black lightning zoomed past him to the old man''s neck.


    *Thud*


    And the book in his hands fell as the old man''s head hung down; a thin stream of blood gushed out from a small hole in his neck.


    Unfortunately, Hari was one step late; to his right, an old man was found dead with wide-open horrid filled eyes were staring at the Black Dart in his hands which he had pulled out before his death.


    To his left, a bald man in the white shirt was staring dead straight at Hari. Those eyes didn''t have an ounce of fear or anxiety in them, he was just standing there like a stone pillar.


    The bald guy was exhibiting extreme pressure; much similar to his brothers but strangely his stance was full of holes.


    After a few minutes of silence, the man sent a creepy smile before charging forward without any hesitation; Hari was dumbstruck by that guy''s reckless manoeuvre.


    No fighter would wildly run towards an enemy with such a sloppy open move.


    But one has to give him credits he was swift, he reached Hari in a matter of seconds and launched a punch packed with power; which was nonchalantly dodged by a hair-thin margin.


    Instantly, Hari knew the guy before was totally out of his league; he was just too strong for him. Though it seemed to be an easy dodge, in reality, Hari had to exercise utter caution as he knew if anyone of the punch were to connect, then it would be disastrous.


    After a few minutes of reckless punching, the man was still going at it like a raging bull; if anything his punches were growing stronger and stronger.


    Hari''s only hope is cash in his hefty fighting experience against this bulldozer.


    Till now none of the punches connected, everything was hit on thin air as Hari dodged, but each blow slashed through the air creating shockwaves.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Hari knew things were going south for him; he was expending too much of mental energy to avoid the attacks. His eyes started to search for loopholes and weakness, suddenly he discovered a strange phenomenon.


    Though with every punch, the power was increasing, he was also losing his mind with every passing second; he was losing his rationality slowly. One word to describe his situation would be ''Berserk''.


    Instantly, Hari''s brain went into Hyper mode and formulated a plan to stop this human bulldozer.


    At this moment the bald guy was like a wild raging bull, he''s completely immersed in the battle that he even ignored his surroundings.


    Hari led him to the main door while dodging the punches, if he were even a bit sane, he would have noticed something amiss, fortunately for Hari anger had completely clouded his brains.


    A few minutes later, Hari was backed to the wall; he stood right before the Main electricity circuit board of the house and as expected the kid didn''t think twice before sending another punch at Hari.


    Unlike the earlier strikes this punch connected, Hari took the blow to his right shoulder to


    deflect the assault of the Circuit Board.


    *Ahhhh¡­*


    The human bulldozer directly punched into to Circuit board, leaving a vast hole and tangled wires in its place.


    *Thud*


    As planned the big guy collapsed on the floor like a sack of potatoes, but the last strike dislocated Hari''s right shoulder and fracture few bones.


    With inhuman strength by his side, severe electrocution would only send him into a temporary coma lasting a couple of hours.


    Thus Hari was running short if time, he quickly found a thick rope tied the big guy, left the house with a dead body in the hall.


    With a dislocated shoulder and ticking time-bomb like a bulldozer; Hari couldn''t take any risks. He didn''t take the pains to dispose of the corpse, instead parcelled him in a large gunny bag and carried him to his motorbike.


    Hari took 20 minutes to reach their Auction house and threw a meat bag in the hall.


    *Thud*


    The sound alerted all his brothers, they all rushed to the hall.


    "Sushani make him speak, and Riya take a look at my right shoulder, something''s broken."


    Hari asked Riya their medic to fix his arms; she immediately went to Hari and tore his sleeves to inspect the injury.


    Once she touched his shoulder, her eyes suddenly sharpened and unintentionally murderous aura leaked from her. Instantly the air became heavier, and everyone wore a solemn face;


    Anil still couldn''t make head or tail.


    But others knew, Riya''s change indicated the strike was severe and could have possibly killed Hari.


    Rak single-handedly picked up the gunny bag and carried the unconscious fella to the cellar below. In Rak''s hands, the big Gunny bag was almost like a normal back-bag.


    Sushani followed Rak to the cellar as Riya, and the rest stayed in the hall tending to Hari''s injuries.


    A couple of hours later¡­..


    In the conference round table, all the brothers have gathered around with grave faces, the information Sushani gathered were just too unimaginable.


    "Hey replay the videos, let''s see if we could make something of it."


    Anil suggested, in fact, he''s the only person with a stable mind among this group. The rest of the group, including Hari, were thunder-struck.


    Sushani looked around before playing the video once again, as others inched to edge of their seats.


    A few seconds later, the video played. In front of the camera, a mutilated bloody human figure was tied to the wooden chair.


    He kept on mumbling¡­ "Kill me, kill me, ¡­.. please kill me."


    One could only fathom the torture he has been through from his terrifying fresh wounds and burns. He certainly in a state ''Life worse than Death'', unsurprisingly this is the teen Hari bought.


    "Who are you?"


    An emotionless cold, eerie voice resounded, the guy was waiting for this question.


    "Thank you, thank you¡­.." the mutilated human opened his vacant eyes before starting.


    "I''m Yash Hydre. Young Master of Hydre clan, Gyru city; during an expedition I offended ''Tyrant King''. Though I was a promising talent in the city, it''s nothing before the magnificence of ''Tyrant King''s stardom.


    That ruthless fellow wiped out my clan and crippled my brain, making it not so easy to use. But he even went a step further to banish me to the World of Mortals."


    Though it was a short, everyone present could feel the overwhelming sadness and bitterness bottled. Still, none of the brothers sympathized with him, rather everyone watching the video were utterly confused and clueless.


    "Where is your city exactly located?"


    Once again the same eerie voice resounded, but this time it had a hint of perplexity.


    "My city is in¡­ is in¡­ Ori Realm¡­ Ahhhh"


    All of a sudden, all his orifices bleed and his eye opened wide while pupil shrunk; a figure rushed to him and tried emergency treatment only in vain.


    "He''s dead."


    A short declaration in the same indifferent eerie voice and the figure turned around. It was Sushani, she was the one who tortured Yash to pull out some answers.


    And the video ended with a black screen an irritable silence prevailed.


    "Maybe that guy was lying?"


    Anil could only give a stupid suggestion to break the suffocating silence.


    "It''s impossible, Sushani is Expert Interrogator; she''s the best or one of the best in this field. So no one can deceive her, certainly not this dumb brute."


    Hari answered without turning his head, and Anil had a sudden flash of inspiration.


    "That''s it, he wasn''t deceiving anyone, he was just telling the truth; his truth. The one he believes to be true, I''m certain that he''s delusional or has some sort of mental ailment."


    Anil raises his voice in excitement but was shot down once again.


    "He was neither delusional nor mentally ill; his pupil movements were steady, his pulse was normal and I couldn''t discern any other symptoms of mental instability. The most baffling thing is his mysterious death, it''s unreasonable."


    Riya shot down Anil''s assumption with facts and all the others nodded; while Anil was speechless.


    ''how could you guys be so shameless; it''s already a miracle that he didn''t die of that inhumane torture and you have the gals label it as unreasonable death.''


    Anil mentally criticized his brothers for being so thick-skinned. Actually, Anil threw up when he first saw this video, he just couldn''t stomach the violence.


    "There''s undoubtedly some issue with this guy; he moment he uttered the word ''Ori Realm'' he mysteriously died.


    The only logical conclusion this clue leads us is that the fella named Yash had some sort of mechanism which will be triggered if he utters these characters; which is totally illogical.


    Furthermore, he didn''t hesitate before uttering ''Ori Realm'' which means he didn''t know about the mechanism.


    Instead, he would have committed suicide long ago by uttering these words instead of going through the painful torture for more than an hour.


    Moreover, his death itself is a mystery; even Riya couldn''t identify the cause for heart rupture or brain failure. A more intriguing point is that even post-mortem didn''t yield any clue about the mysterious mechanism."


    Priya substantiated the point of focus to give everyone a clear picture.


    *sigh*


    "I think contacting the teacher is the only way, he''ll certainly know something about this guy and Ori realm."


    Then he placed a triangle pod on the table, it was a state-of-art holographic projector; a digital flower girl popped from the pod, literally a loli with lily head.


    [Welcome, Ex-Soldier Hariharasudan.]


    It was a cold yet cute voice, no emotion could be traced, but a strange flavour of charm was just bizarre to hear.


    "Lily connect to Jagor Lion."


    Hari ordered Lily''s Indian Military Artificial Intelligence.


    [Request processing¡­.. Authentication¡­.Authorization¡­¡­Connecting to Marshal Jagor Lion.]


    Soon Lily vanished, an old man in Dark Blue robe appeared, his face was full of wrinkles, and his hair was completely white. Only one word could describe him ''Old'', he was so old that he''s almost ancient.


    "Hari it''s been a while. How have you been? What are kids up to now."


    Like a caring father, the old man enquired Hari''s well-being; he''s Hari''s mentor Jagor Lion, the head of the Indian Army. Hari''s face blossomed with a smile brimming, he nodded his head quickly while everyone followed his lead.


    Just when Old Marshal noticed a new face among them, Hari drew his attention.


    "Teacher, please look see this video." Hari solemnly stated before switching on the laptop.


    The old Marshal was totally unfazed by the bloody scenes, once the videos ended, he tied his hands back and vacantly looked into the screen.


    *sigh*


    "Why are they so irresponsible, treating the earth like some wasteland; idiots."


    Though the Old Marshal mumbled Hari and others could easily hear it; then he turned around and wrinkled his brows looking at Hari.


    The Old Marshal made some strange hand signs. Then he moved towards them and walked out of the hologram.


    Hari''s eyes nearly fell off; he has never seen such a magic trick. Though the old Marshal was still illusory, he suddenly seemed to have a life; it was like talking to the person in person.


    "How did you.. break out.." Hari''s tongues were tied in shock.


    "Why should I break out, it''s not a prison. Lad are you sick?"


    The old Marshal answered with a puzzled face, intentional teasing his student a bit out of habit.


    *SIGH*


    "Brat you''re still the same dumbo didn''t 2 years of idling enlighten you even a bit. Huh¡­. Seems you had a fortuitous encounter; what happened?"


    The old Marshal criticized while carefully scanning Hari though he was in some sort of astral form. He intentionally avoided anything about the Yash and the mystery swirling him.


    "Sir...er¡­What are you talking about."


    Hari asked as he looked at his teacher full of confusion.


    "You''re rapidly recovering haven''t you realized it yet, there''s some strange energy in your system mending all your internal injuries.


    Look at your shoulder, don''t you feel it''s a tremendous recovery given that it''s only been a couple of hours.


    By next month all the injuries and internal damages would be mended; you would make a complete recovery."


    Marshal Jagor spoke as he scanned as though he saw through Hari''s body.

 Ch 7 - Inaugral Auction (Part -1)

    Despite the creepy look, his teacher''s words were like a spark in the dry prairie, the flame of hope was ignited. Hari''s chest heaved up but soon he suppressed the excitement to let his rationale take over.


    ¡°Ummm¡­ actually, I had a very strange encounter last month ... I met an eccentric guy, in the dream I suppose.¡±


    Hari didn¡¯t give a clear answer, after all, telling someone he met god would the stupidest thing to he could come up with.


    ¡°*Phew* well eccentricity is their trademark; so which organization did you join.¡±


    Old Marshal nonchalantly answered but Hari¡¯s reply stunned the experienced Marshal.


    ¡°Joining an organization, no... er.. our meeting was just a couple of minutes and he just blabbered some incomprehensive stuff before vanishing into thin air.¡±


    Hari answered with uncertainty.


    ¡°Which f**ker did you meet; he has lion¡¯s guts to ignore the alliance rules blatantly.¡±


    The old marshal suddenly burst in anger. Hari was baffled seeing his teacher swearing through his teeth.


    ¡°That guy didn¡¯t even give a name, no rather, I didn¡¯t even get to see his clear figure. He suddenly appeared out of nowhere like a phantom to spat some confusing theory about karma and destiny.¡±


    Hari gave a more elusive answer this time; mixing truth and lie to make a fool-proof cocktail of story.


    *sigh*


    ¡°Now things are getting complicated; earlier I thought of erasing your memory but¡­¡± The old Marshal was just speaking his mind but Anil suddenly interrupted.


    ¡°Ahh¡­ what erase the memory.¡±


    Anil exclaim, and all his brother face-palmed; the Marshal hated being interrupted. If it had been any other day Anil would have been hanging upside down by now.


    Fortunately for Anil, the problem in hand was grievous and above all, he has met Hari after years. Thus he just received a sharp scary stare from the Old Marshal.


    Memory Alteration was a daily operation for Hari and his brothers; they have personally erased the memories of a hand full of civilians to safeguard them against potential trauma or for security reasons.


    ¡°Anyway sooner or later you would come in contact with Ori Realm, so erasing your memory would be unnecessary.¡±


    ¡°Hari, it¡¯s inappropriate to form me to disclose any secrets. From here onwards you¡¯ll certainly have some encounters with people like Yash; don¡¯t do anything rash, the water runs much deeper than you could fathom.


    But, since the cat¡¯s out to let me just tell you this, ¡®His words were true.¡¯¡±


    Immediately Hari and his brother¡¯s staggered back to their seats, the old marshal sighed seeing their dumbfounded faces.


    *sigh*


    ¡°I¡¯ll dispose of the corpse, it¡¯ll a bit complicated for you guys.¡±


    ¡°Hari, I better than anyone know, there¡¯s no free lunch in this world, so here take this.¡±


    The old Marshal threw an illusory pinkish fruit, strangely, it became real when Hari caught out of instinct.


    ¡°That¡¯s a Nirvana Fruit ¨C a universal cure, something I prepared for you. Though it¡¯s useless for you now, you could trade to your benefactor if you¡¯re in a moral bind. Also it a rare exotic item, even in that part of the world.¡±


    The old Marshal bit his farewell and vanished. Hari and his brothers stood there dumbstruck, things were unpredictable and went out proportion.


    Anil still couldn¡¯t sympathize with their misgivings and helplessness.


    In reality, their inner world was almost breaking apart; to this day they prided of being one of the strongest and believed to have reached the absolute peak.


    But Yash¡¯s existence destroyed their ego, an exiled cripple has muscle power equivalent to super-soldier; it was almost humiliating.


    After a prolonged suffocating silence, Anil voiced out his concern.


    "So is the auction plan still alive?"


    *******


    While everyone was dwelling in silence, the auction¡¯s first invitation was creating an uproar in the city.


    In a huge 10 storey building, Junchit Daily Headquarters; placed right at the heart of the city.


    A woman was sitting in a Blue King-Sized chair; petting the white dog in her lap while glancing through an article in a magazine on the other hand.


    Suddenly her eyes were glued to a whole page advertisement, an invitation to the Inaugural auction. But what drew her attention wasn¡¯t the Auction House itself but an item listed.


    ¡°Kira¡±


    The women called out, and a few seconds later Six-and-half foot-high muscular women entered the office. Though she wore a perfect attire for a secretary, her unruly physique made the exact opposite of a capable secretary.


    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am¡±


    The towering figure respectfully enquired.


    ¡°Kira, book a ticket for me in this auction, I¡¯m interested in this Black Rudra. Also, cancel all the plans scheduled on that evening.¡±


    Then the woman placed the advertisement on the table before leaving with her pet.


    Kira reached out her long hands and pulled the magazine; and went through it before adding it to her boss¡¯s schedule.


    Similar acts played out in different parts of the city, many big shots were attracted for different items to be auctioned.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    The Antiques and ancient relics attracted some of the crowd while most of them came for the exotic so on most of the high-class people had one reason or another to find themselves attracted to this Auction.


    The actual Credit for this marvel should go to Anil for drafting an ingenious advertisement to attract the all age group of High-Class society.


    This Promotion solely focused on grasping the attention of well to do part of the population. And so the Auction House tickets sold out like hot pancakes.


    While the New Auction house was going viral, back in Junchit Daily Headquarters; the auction¡¯s first customer.


    "Ma''am you have two appointments on the said date.


    First an Internal Departmental meeting here and later that day, Mr. Umar Razi was given an appointment with the date."


    Kira swiftly spelled out her Chief''s schedule.


    "Cancel the appointment in the evening umm¡­, though Umar is an idiot his father is a true gentleman. Ok do it this way, tell them that I forgot the appointment and deeply apologize for the same."


    ¡°Yeah make sure you sent the apology after the auction.¡±


    Without turning her head, she just gave orders before leaving her office with the dog wagging its tail behind her.


    Kira felt like crying, passing this message will certainly bring upon contempt for being an incompetent Secretary.


    Moreover, this isn''t the first time her boss has forgotten a date and most certainly this wouldn''t be the last one. Typically, no woman would forget her date but unfortunately, it was a habitual happening in her Chief''s live.


    After all, she has never shown any interest in relationships so far.


    ******


    In the Hari¡¯s office, Conference Room¡­..


    "So is the auction plan still alive?"


    Anil once again asked his brothers, but this time he nearly shouted. He couldn''t withstand the silence; further, their indecisiveness seemed a bad premonition.


    These words sparked life into their blank eyes; Hari was the first one to recover, after all, he did have an illusionary experience with god.


    "That''s it, what''s gonna to come will certainly come. Let''s focus on the problem in hand, the auction is round the corner."


    Hari''s the spirit if their team when he breaks the team falls and when he rises the team stands.


    So everyone threw Ori Realm to back of their head and high-spiritedly discussed the auction.


    14th October 2018, Sunday, Chennai.


    Evening around 6 pm the sun was coming down, bring the temperature down a bit; making a soothing environment around their auction house.


    But the brothers didn''t have time to enjoy the weather; they were running up and down the building, today mistakes couldn''t be afforded; everything was checked and rechecked for a flawless inaugural auction.


    After hours of hectic work, all the seven brothers heaved a big sigh as they collapsed in the conference room.


    *Phew*


    "Big bro I can take 10 missions instead of managing a business for an hour."


    Sushani complained in her shrill voice, making it even more unbearable but everyone present was in consent with Sushani.


    These military die-hards took running a business little too lightly, especially when it is a start-up.


    Finally, they were going to be put to a real test, the guests started turning up though everyone was new to this; none of them made any mistakes.


    Sushani was in charge of security, they hired few retired veterans to prevent any mishaps while the triplets led a beautiful group hostess to welcome the guests.


    Rakesh was handling the auction items and preparing for the auction along with their Appraisal Master and Auctioneer.


    Anil had taken over the backstage while Hari presided the entire auction as the head.


    Time rolled by, and a wave of people was entering.


    The capacity of their hall was just above 400, and the most intriguing part of there was no VIP cabins or Box of any sorts. In ten minutes most of the seats were occupied, Hari and his brothers were gratified seeing a fully packed hall.


    Then all of a sudden, the atmosphere became slightly restless. Once in a while, some inpatient men would turn around to the entrance.


    As seconds more and more people started looking around and some even glued their eyes to the entrance. These esteemed guests, the big shots and wealthy businessmen were like fanatic fans waiting for their stars.


    Hari was slightly baffled by this bizarre phenomenon.


    "Anil what''s going on, why is everyone so restless?"


    Hair just casually asked as Anil stood next to him, preparing for the introduction.


    "Big bro though everyone here is a part of the upper class; but the people gathered till now are something are just rich men who you could spot anywhere and everywhere, but the people that are about to come are a class apart.


    They are the VIPs of our society, almost as rare as white lions. Our auction house was lucky enough to invite of 5 such individuals."


    Anil explained with a tinge of admiration and envy. Hari was as clueless as any layman.


    "Bro since you are entering the world of business it''s essential to learn about them. Let brief in about each of them as they come.


    umm¡­.


    The one at the entrance is Harry Deol."


    Anil pointed his figure at a middle-aged man in Sky Blue suit. His looks were too ordinary, and nothing about him stood out if he walks down the lane, one might mistake him for a salesman.


    "Hari don''t let his look deceive you, Harry''s the richest man of the city. He''s into real estate and some other illegal stuff."


    Anil toned down a bit as he spoke about his background.


    "The two boys behind Deol are Hyther brothers, they run a gaming company with worth over tens of billion. These boys are what they call prodigies, but their background is even more terrifying."


    Anil''s voice had a hint of fear and reverence, Hari failed to notice it. But the very next instant Anil let out a goofy laugh seeing the women gracefully walking past the door.


    "Brother this woman, Rai Rose Desai is the dream girl of eligible bachelor in the hall. Presently, she leads her family''s largest company and owns almost all the elite beauty parlours in the city."


    As Anil was speaking, the women cat walked into the hall. Every man in the hall appreciated the beauty, her brown hair and mesmerizing blue eyes were just too much for them to handle.


    Some disgusting men were even lusting and raping her through the eyes; the sapphire gown flaunting her curves turned more and more men into an animal.


    "Brother the woman who''s gonna come now is the most fearsome woman of the city¡­. no, no the most terrifying woman of the state.


    She''s the exact opposite of Rai Rose, this one holds total disregard for everything. Once she even ignored Deol''s offer, when he asked her hand to dance at some party.


    That lunatic was kept at bay by this woman''s late teacher. Her teacher Kristy Linn, the founder of Junchit Daily, took in her and after Miss Kristy''s untimely demise the women inherited Junchit Daily."


    Before Anil could finish, a woman elegantly walked in as though strolling in a park. She was exhibiting extraordinary confidence, yet her poise eyes earned everyone''s admiration.


    Maroon and silver gown warped her flawless almond shade skin. The perfect Black Gem in the silver necklace hanging on the neck added a tinge of mystery to the air.


    Strangely, none of those wolves of men dared to size her up as she came gracefully floating over the carpet. Actually, in her presence, their head sank a few centimetres, and most of them didn''t even dare to pass looks at Rai Rose standing nearby.


    Hari was stunned seeing the woman majestically walking, the domineering aura seemed like the most natural thing for her.


    Anil was totally mesmerized seeing the world-class beauty nonchalantly strolling over the red carpet. It took him a few seconds to recover.


    "Brother she''s Miss Kristy Linn student, Shreya Linn."


    Anil walked to the stage without looking back if he had, he would have noticed Hari''s odd face.


    "Shreya"


    Hari kept on mumbling her name. It was a normal reaction, any man would be surprised when he learns that his wife is the multi-billionaire.


    Anil was busy organizing the auction, while Hari was still zoned out. But a dog in the crowd woke him to reality.


    *woof*


    *woof*


    They painstakingly build silence, and solemn mood built for a grant introduction was thrown to the drains.


    The dog kept on barking while staring at the stage and eagerly wagging its tail.


    Then it went running circles near Shreya, to divert her attention to the right-hand side corner of the stage.


    Others might have not realized, but Hari was sure that Shemo had somehow sniffed his scent and trying to inform it to Shreya.


    "Bro take over everything, I have an important issue to deal with."


    And in a jiffy Hari was out of the hall, he just handed his walky-talky to Anil before leaving. He quickly picked up his motorbike from the backyard and left the Auction house.

 Ch 8 - Inaugural Auction (Part 2)

    5th September of the year, Chennai.


    Time flew by, one month passed since the discussion with his brothers.


    This month was by far the most hectic one since Hari''s retirement. He had to look after Auction House all day long, creating something from scratch proved a lot more complicated.


    Thanks to Rakesh''s connections in this line of trade, they found an upright veteran Appraisal Master and crafty yet trustworthy auctioneer.


    Anil was in charge of the office and making preparations for their Inaugural Auction.


    The triplet did a great job in acquiring an old abandoned Museum in the suburban parts of the city; actually, it was quite a bargain given its size and artistic designs.


    They spent around 13 million rupees on buying this property its remote location was the only drawback. Further, a large scale renovation took place; Hari and his brothers spent another 7 million for this project.


    On the whole, 20 Million Rupees was expended by them just for the building, but every penny was worth it; they need such a grandeur structure for a large scale success.


    Today was a busy day like any other day, after a long tiring day, Hari walked out of the office on the first level to his motorbike parked by the lawn.


    Once he got on the bike, he spent a few minutes appreciating the beautiful building.


    They had used special night gems to decorate the walls and pillars which glittered in the moonlight, making it seem like an ethereal palace from heavens.


    Then he rode his bike home, these days he was spending lesser and lesser time at the house. It''s been three days since his last visit, actually Shemo was the only person who would miss him.


    On his way back, he passed through an empty avenue. There Hari got a glimpse of a man sneaking into a house to his right-side.


    Hari couldn''t just ignore but neither could he just jump into action without confirming whether it was a burglar or a prankster.


    While Hari was pondering, the man who sneaked was intently stared from a covert position at the old man sitting on a couch with a cup of coffee and a thick book.


    A few minutes later, Hari decided to intervene, and he slipped to the house through the backdoor and entered the main hall.


    The man was had sneaked in earlier was taking cover by the refrigerator, he noiselessly pulled out a poisonous dart and steadied the breath before aiming.


    The dart was shot in one seamless motion, though it seemed effortless the power it contained was unfathomable.


    *siisisss*


    Exactly at the instant, Hari entered the room, a bolt of black lightning zoomed past him to the old man''s neck.


    *Thud*


    And the book in his hands fell as the old man''s head hung down; a thin stream of blood gushed out from a small hole in his neck.


    Unfortunately, Hari was one step late; to his right, an old man was found dead with wide-open horrid filled eyes were staring at the Black Dart in his hands which he had pulled out before his death.


    To his left, a bald man in the white shirt was staring dead straight at Hari. Those eyes didn''t have an ounce of fear or anxiety in them, he was just standing there like a stone pillar.


    The bald guy was exhibiting extreme pressure; much similar to his brothers but strangely his stance was full of holes.


    After a few minutes of silence, the man sent a creepy smile before charging forward without any hesitation; Hari was dumbstruck by that guy''s reckless manoeuvre.


    No fighter would wildly run towards an enemy with such a sloppy open move.


    But one has to give him credits he was swift, he reached Hari in a matter of seconds and launched a punch packed with power; which was nonchalantly dodged by a hair-thin margin.


    Instantly, Hari knew the guy before was totally out of his league; he was just too strong for him. Though it seemed to be an easy dodge, in reality, Hari had to exercise utter caution as he knew if anyone of the punch were to connect, then it would be disastrous.


    After a few minutes of reckless punching, the man was still going at it like a raging bull; if anything his punches were growing stronger and stronger.


    Hari''s only hope is cash in his hefty fighting experience against this bulldozer.


    Till now none of the punches connected, everything was hit on thin air as Hari dodged, but each blow slashed through the air creating shockwaves.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Hari knew things were going south for him; he was expending too much of mental energy to avoid the attacks. His eyes started to search for loopholes and weakness, suddenly he discovered a strange phenomenon.


    Though with every punch, the power was increasing, he was also losing his mind with every passing second; he was losing his rationality slowly. One word to describe his situation would be ''Berserk''.


    Instantly, Hari''s brain went into Hyper mode and formulated a plan to stop this human bulldozer.


    At this moment the bald guy was like a wild raging bull, he''s completely immersed in the battle that he even ignored his surroundings.


    Hari led him to the main door while dodging the punches, if he were even a bit sane, he would have noticed something amiss, fortunately for Hari anger had completely clouded his brains.


    A few minutes later, Hari was backed to the wall; he stood right before the Main electricity circuit board of the house and as expected the kid didn''t think twice before sending another punch at Hari.


    Unlike the earlier strikes this punch connected, Hari took the blow to his right shoulder to


    deflect the assault of the Circuit Board.


    *Ahhhh¡­*


    The human bulldozer directly punched into to Circuit board, leaving a vast hole and tangled wires in its place.


    *Thud*


    As planned the big guy collapsed on the floor like a sack of potatoes, but the last strike dislocated Hari''s right shoulder and fracture few bones.


    With inhuman strength by his side, severe electrocution would only send him into a temporary coma lasting a couple of hours.


    Thus Hari was running short if time, he quickly found a thick rope tied the big guy, left the house with a dead body in the hall.


    With a dislocated shoulder and ticking time-bomb like a bulldozer; Hari couldn''t take any risks. He didn''t take the pains to dispose of the corpse, instead parcelled him in a large gunny bag and carried him to his motorbike.


    Hari took 20 minutes to reach their Auction house and threw a meat bag in the hall.


    *Thud*


    The sound alerted all his brothers, they all rushed to the hall.


    "Sushani make him speak, and Riya take a look at my right shoulder, something''s broken."


    Hari asked Riya their medic to fix his arms; she immediately went to Hari and tore his sleeves to inspect the injury.


    Once she touched his shoulder, her eyes suddenly sharpened and unintentionally murderous aura leaked from her. Instantly the air became heavier, and everyone wore a solemn face;


    Anil still couldn''t make head or tail.


    But others knew, Riya''s change indicated the strike was severe and could have possibly killed Hari.


    Rak single-handedly picked up the gunny bag and carried the unconscious fella to the cellar below. In Rak''s hands, the big Gunny bag was almost like a normal back-bag.


    Sushani followed Rak to the cellar as Riya, and the rest stayed in the hall tending to Hari''s injuries.


    A couple of hours later¡­..


    In the conference round table, all the brothers have gathered around with grave faces, the information Sushani gathered were just too unimaginable.


    "Hey replay the videos, let''s see if we could make something of it."


    Anil suggested, in fact, he''s the only person with a stable mind among this group. The rest of the group, including Hari, were thunder-struck.


    Sushani looked around before playing the video once again, as others inched to edge of their seats.


    A few seconds later, the video played. In front of the camera, a mutilated bloody human figure was tied to the wooden chair.


    He kept on mumbling¡­ "Kill me, kill me, ¡­.. please kill me."


    One could only fathom the torture he has been through from his terrifying fresh wounds and burns. He certainly in a state ''Life worse than Death'', unsurprisingly this is the teen Hari bought.


    "Who are you?"


    An emotionless cold, eerie voice resounded, the guy was waiting for this question.


    "Thank you, thank you¡­.." the mutilated human opened his vacant eyes before starting.


    "I''m Yash Hydre. Young Master of Hydre clan, Gyru city; during an expedition I offended ''Tyrant King''. Though I was a promising talent in the city, it''s nothing before the magnificence of ''Tyrant King''s stardom.


    That ruthless fellow wiped out my clan and crippled my brain, making it not so easy to use. But he even went a step further to banish me to the World of Mortals."


    Though it was a short, everyone present could feel the overwhelming sadness and bitterness bottled. Still, none of the brothers sympathized with him, rather everyone watching the video were utterly confused and clueless.


    "Where is your city exactly located?"


    Once again the same eerie voice resounded, but this time it had a hint of perplexity.


    "My city is in¡­ is in¡­ Ori Realm¡­ Ahhhh"


    All of a sudden, all his orifices bleed and his eye opened wide while pupil shrunk; a figure rushed to him and tried emergency treatment only in vain.


    "He''s dead."


    A short declaration in the same indifferent eerie voice and the figure turned around. It was Sushani, she was the one who tortured Yash to pull out some answers.


    And the video ended with a black screen an irritable silence prevailed.


    "Maybe that guy was lying?"


    Anil could only give a stupid suggestion to break the suffocating silence.


    "It''s impossible, Sushani is Expert Interrogator; she''s the best or one of the best in this field. So no one can deceive her, certainly not this dumb brute."


    Hari answered without turning his head, and Anil had a sudden flash of inspiration.


    "That''s it, he wasn''t deceiving anyone, he was just telling the truth; his truth. The one he believes to be true, I''m certain that he''s delusional or has some sort of mental ailment."


    Anil raises his voice in excitement but was shot down once again.


    "He was neither delusional nor mentally ill; his pupil movements were steady, his pulse was normal and I couldn''t discern any other symptoms of mental instability. The most baffling thing is his mysterious death, it''s unreasonable."


    Riya shot down Anil''s assumption with facts and all the others nodded; while Anil was speechless.


    ''how could you guys be so shameless; it''s already a miracle that he didn''t die of that inhumane torture and you have the gals label it as unreasonable death.''


    Anil mentally criticized his brothers for being so thick-skinned. Actually, Anil threw up when he first saw this video, he just couldn''t stomach the violence.


    "There''s undoubtedly some issue with this guy; he moment he uttered the word ''Ori Realm'' he mysteriously died.


    The only logical conclusion this clue leads us is that the fella named Yash had some sort of mechanism which will be triggered if he utters these characters; which is totally illogical.


    Furthermore, he didn''t hesitate before uttering ''Ori Realm'' which means he didn''t know about the mechanism.


    Instead, he would have committed suicide long ago by uttering these words instead of going through the painful torture for more than an hour.


    Moreover, his death itself is a mystery; even Riya couldn''t identify the cause for heart rupture or brain failure. A more intriguing point is that even post-mortem didn''t yield any clue about the mysterious mechanism."


    Priya substantiated the point of focus to give everyone a clear picture.


    *sigh*


    "I think contacting the teacher is the only way, he''ll certainly know something about this guy and Ori realm."


    Then he placed a triangle pod on the table, it was a state-of-art holographic projector; a digital flower girl popped from the pod, literally a loli with lily head.


    [Welcome, Ex-Soldier Hariharasudan.]


    It was a cold yet cute voice, no emotion could be traced, but a strange flavour of charm was just bizarre to hear.


    "Lily connect to Jagor Lion."


    Hari ordered Lily''s Indian Military Artificial Intelligence.


    [Request processing¡­.. Authentication¡­.Authorization¡­¡­Connecting to Marshal Jagor Lion.]


    Soon Lily vanished, an old man in Dark Blue robe appeared, his face was full of wrinkles, and his hair was completely white. Only one word could describe him ''Old'', he was so old that he''s almost ancient.


    "Hari it''s been a while. How have you been? What are kids up to now."


    Like a caring father, the old man enquired Hari''s well-being; he''s Hari''s mentor Jagor Lion, the head of the Indian Army. Hari''s face blossomed with a smile brimming, he nodded his head quickly while everyone followed his lead.


    Just when Old Marshal noticed a new face among them, Hari drew his attention.


    "Teacher, please look see this video." Hari solemnly stated before switching on the laptop.


    The old Marshal was totally unfazed by the bloody scenes, once the videos ended, he tied his hands back and vacantly looked into the screen.


    *sigh*


    "Why are they so irresponsible, treating the earth like some wasteland; idiots."


    Though the Old Marshal mumbled Hari and others could easily hear it; then he turned around and wrinkled his brows looking at Hari.


    The Old Marshal made some strange hand signs. Then he moved towards them and walked out of the hologram.


    Hari''s eyes nearly fell off; he has never seen such a magic trick. Though the old Marshal was still illusory, he suddenly seemed to have a life; it was like talking to the person in person.


    "How did you.. break out.." Hari''s tongues were tied in shock.


    "Why should I break out, it''s not a prison. Lad are you sick?"


    The old Marshal answered with a puzzled face, intentional teasing his student a bit out of habit.


    *SIGH*


    "Brat you''re still the same dumbo didn''t 2 years of idling enlighten you even a bit. Huh¡­. Seems you had a fortuitous encounter; what happened?"


    The old Marshal criticized while carefully scanning Hari though he was in some sort of astral form. He intentionally avoided anything about the Yash and the mystery swirling him.


    "Sir...er¡­What are you talking about."


    Hari asked as he looked at his teacher full of confusion.


    "You''re rapidly recovering haven''t you realized it yet, there''s some strange energy in your system mending all your internal injuries.


    Look at your shoulder, don''t you feel it''s a tremendous recovery given that it''s only been a couple of hours.


    By next month all the injuries and internal damages would be mended; you would make a complete recovery."


    Marshal Jagor spoke as he scanned as though he saw through Hari''s body.

 Ch 9 Success Party

    11:30 PM, 16th October 2018, Tuesday, Chennai.


    In the Auction hall, Anil was holding a success party with the employees and all the members. The party had mountains of food and lots of drinks to boot them.


    Though Hari has been missing for 2 days now, none of his brothers were overly concerned, since his present strength was almost the same as them.


    In the hall, half-drunk Anil was standing on a round table holding a bottle of champagne.


    "Everyone cheers! Cheers for being a fabulous tonight. An organization is bound to fail without devoted, loyal employees, so we have to share and celebrate each success while appreciating sincere people behind it.


    Let me call out the honored employee of Kyro Auction House.


    It''s none other than Miss. Kisna Arora, the way she handled a drunkard pervert today, is a testament to her commitment and courage."


    "Miss Arora, let''s show a reiterate for all our friends here. I''ll be the drunkard while you''ll just redo what you did to that man. Shall we?"


    The young woman hesitated a while before nodding with blush and got on the wooden table. She had short hair and a tiny nose with a noticeably large neck.


    Anil suddenly became wobbly, and he nearly tripped down a few times before reaching Kishna.


    Kishna was holding an imaginary tray of water bottles. Anil walked to her and hugged the woman while his hand moved all over her back before going downwards.


    Sushani and others averted their eyes and turned their heads the other way. Similarly, all the hostess also averted their eyes but with a hint of unwillingness and anger.


    They knew in their field of work, such dirty behavior needs to be tolerated, but boss blatantly disgracing a woman before the crowd is intolerable.


    *Slap*


    And everyone turned their heads to the stage. There Anil holding his right chin and heavily breathing out.


    "Kisna, this was supposed to be playacting; you don''t have to slap me for real."


    Anil was slightly offended, and he raised his voice.


    "Sir, sorry, sir, sorry¡­.."


    The woman pitifully apologized again and again while drops of tears fell from her puppy eyes.


    Riya couldn''t see the young woman bullied, so she jumped to the wooden table, she covered 10 meters in just one single flawless movement.


    "Anil, the slap was as real as your hands. So stop harassing this lady."


    Rita stepped forward for the young lady in trouble.


    "Kiya!! You''re supposed to be on my side, aren''t you?"


    Anil cried like a little na?ve kid.


    "Firstly, to begin with, I''m not on anyone''s side, and I will not standby and do nothing watching a girl get bullied. Secondly, this is the last time I''m going to tell you, My name is Riya and not Kiya."


    Anil stunned speechless while Riya bought Kishna down the table.


    *ahem*


    Anil cleared his throat and grabbed everyone''s attention; he shamelessly started a great moral lecture.


    "The slap is a testament to her dignity and defiance to such act will uphold the principles of our organization. Remember, as a hostess tolerating and enduring any act below, your dignity is not a part of your job description."


    Anil''s speech was awe-inspiring, completely erasing his previous image as a douchebag in the minds of his employees.


    Throughout the party, everyone had a hearty smile and a content heart. Anil''s speech has won the hearts of his employees and bought a few loyal men to their auction house.


    An hour later, Hari entered the hall, people were sitting in groups and chatting about everything from rocket science to the political arena.


    Kiya and other girls were gossiping with a short-haired young woman while Anil and Sushani were moving up and down the hall, chitchatting with every group.


    The person who drew his attention was his oversized brother Rakesh. Rakesh was an authentic introvert; generally, his conversation beyond their group of brothers was non-existent.


    Yet, strangely enough, he was happily having a drink with their Expert Appraiser, Rishi Dhawan. The Appraiser was also a reclusive person, much similar to his Brother Rakesh.


    Both of them were chatting together like old pals, in fact, Rakesh wouldn''t be so unrestrained around Anil.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Hari walked over to Rakesh slowly; all his brothers, including Anil, noticed him and were about come to him, but he signaled them to stop.


    Following Rakesh''s eyes, Rishi noticed Hari walking towards them.


    Rakesh whispered to Rishi to act normally if everyone notices Hari the room would become solemn, and party mood would be thrown out of the window. In the minds of the employees, Anil was a friendly manager close to their Boss Hari.


    Quietly Hari pulled a chair and joined their table, but the previous harmonious air between the two was lost.


    "Why the sudden silence, Rak, what were you guys talking about? You seemed to be having the time of your life?"


    Rakesh hesitated a bit, a couple of times he nearly spoke out, but he decided against it considering Rishi''s feeling.


    "Rak, why are you feeling shy around me?"


    Though Hari knew he was forcing himself into the conversation, he really couldn''t hold back his curiosity. Sensitive to Rakesh''s predicament, Rishi smiled and spoke up.


    "We were talking about our family."


    Rishi apathetically said as he picked the glass of wine. Hari suddenly quietened, and the smile slowly disappeared.


    "Where was I again, yeah, after that love drama Suseela''s parents accepted our love; a year later, we got married.


    Ahh¡­. Life was beautiful, it couldn''t have been more perfect; we first had Anitha and then Kiran. Everything was smooth sailing until that fateful day, one the way to my office I suddenly collapsed on the train.


    Later after some tests and scans, I was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness.


    I knew for a fact that if I stayed back and took treatment, I would be nothing but a dead weight. Moreover, regardless of whether I recover or not, my family would be in shambles.


    Thus I took a very radical decision; instead of dragging my entire family, I separated from them soon after transferring whatever little property I had to my wife''s name.


    The next few years were the most painful as well as blissful part of my life ¨C The Life of Wanderer.


    Whenever I saw a happy family, a stabbing pain reminded me of what I had left behind.


    On the other hand, my perspective towards life changed; I started appreciating life in the most real sense.


    As a spectator, I had forsaken the prism built till then about life. Everything seemed very beautiful, even an ugly cockroach looked gorgeous; it was as though my spirit was evolving.


    But a more tangible and intrinsic part of me started rebelling. The tumor inside my body grew, and pain worsening day by day, thus putting an end to my spiritual pursuit.


    I didn''t know the name of the place, but I was in the eastern part of our country. There I was kidnapped, and one of my kidneys was stolen.


    Miraculously, the tumor was also removed, or so I assumed because the pain I was suffering had vanished.


    Maybe, because only kidney transplantation was in its embryo and other organ market were yet to even form at that time.


    Those guys sold me to a slave merchant; maybe if it were today, they would''ve killed and completely sold everything. From there, I was smuggled out from India, finally, after being trafficked from one country to another, I landed in Thailand."


    "There an Antique shop owner bought me, and I spent the next decade in that shop. The shopkeeper was a gentleman, though he didn''t grant me any freedom I was never abused or maltreated.


    Escaping wasn''t an option either, the slaves were implanted with an electronic chip. If the slave moves 100 meters from the tags, we will be electrocuted to death.


    Nearly after a decade, the old man died, and his heir granted me freedom.


    By then, I was already 15 years away from my home.


    With great struggle, I returned to our country; I traveled all the way to Chennai from Thailand to my family.


    Unfortunately, everything was too late by then. My family had totally erased my existence, my little boy didn''t recognize me anymore; my lovely daughter seemed to have forgotten me.


    Lastly, my wife totally ignored me; not a word was spoken, but you know at times silence can be a lot sharper them words. Just their eyes, it pierced through my heart; their anger and hatred shattered my heart into pieces.


    From then on, I would visit the house every Sunday and stand outside till dusk, pleading for their forgiveness. It took me 3 years to reach the lawn from the gate."


    Rishi ended with a great sense of achievement; though Hari couldn''t really understand his feeling, he could sympathize with a fellow man in deep sorrow.


    "Why don''t you just tell them the truth; you did what you did in the best of intentions?"


    Hari thoughtlessly suggested.


    "huh..if only life was so simple. It''s irrefutable that my actions were well-meant, but you can''t escape the consequences just because you''re well-meant.


    Everything said and done, I''m a failure as a father and a husband. My kids grew without a father while my wife went through a lot of difficulties to raise our children single-handedly."


    Rishi paused a bit and downed another cup of wine; his eyes were filled with grief.


    "I indeed need their forgiveness, but it shouldn''t be forced or out of pity."


    Rishi was very firm in his stance; Hari, he could never talk him into telling the truth.


    Hari quietly pondered a few minutes silently and looked at the men drinking sorrow.


    Rakesh also has a tragic past, the only difference in his case is that his wife separated from him. Actually, after having a baby, Rakesh''s wife pleaded to him quit from the army.Rakesh turned a deaf ear to her pleading, he just completely ignored it.


    In the accident two years ago, not Hari lost three of his brothers; she also lost her elder brother. One of them was Rakesh''s Brother-in-law or his wife''s elder brother.


    His demise struck hard on her; after a quarrel, she left Rakesh with their baby.


    Though he later quit from the army, Rakesh''s wife still refused to return. Her mindset had totally changed by then; she would instead raise their son as a fatherless child than have a father who dies in their childhood.


    Her brother''s death broke hit too hard on their family; she didn''t want her child to go through the same sufferings and pain as her niece.


    Even after retiring, Rakesh couldn''t leave everything behind him; if there was an emergency situation, he might be called back. Though he wasn''t obliged to return, it was almost given that Rakesh wouldn''t turn his back to his mother nation.


    A couple of years, Hari was too busy wallowing in self-pity to notice his brother''s family breaking into shambles.


    Till the party ended, Hari gave the two men a silent company. Neither Rishi nor Rakesh spoke a word; they silently downed two bottles of wine.


    2 hours later, Early morning at 3 AM¡­.


    Hari walked to their office upstairs; all his brothers followed him with serious faces.


    "Hari, what happened? Why did you suddenly take off? Where have you been for the past 2 days?"


    Kiya asked in an uncertain tone while her eyes were filled with concern. Everyone in the room keenly looked at Hari, they all knew Hari wasn''t a reckless person.


    "Kiya pull out the CCTV footage; we had company from Ori Realm."


    Immediately all their faces changed; Kiya didn''t make any delay. In a matter of seconds, the footage was presented on the computer.


    Hari pointed at the screen, and Kiya marked nine guests, excluding Shreya.


    "Kiya pull out their information; they are our targets."


    Hari directed, and Kiya immediately sprang into action. In just ten minutes, all their data was gathered.


    "Hari, all of them, has a clean background, in fact, they are just too ordinary, and nothing about them seems suspicious.


    As most of the guests, most of these guys are also businessmen, to be precise with numbers 5 businessmen, a high profile doctor, and two famous lawyers and one scientist.


    In the background software is trying to establish any relation between them, it might take a few minutes, but it''ll be a thorough check. Here these are the information I have gathered on these 9 individuals."


    Kiya passed on a bunch of papers to Hari without turning her head, she was totally focused on the computer. There were just too many things happening on the computer that none of them could follow anything.


    Hari carefully went through the data, Kiya was always exhaustive with details. It took him a quarter an hour to read through all the information.


    "Adam L. Gekas, the Textile merchant, make a note of this name he''ll be our target; this guy had a tinge of bloodlust, though it was concealed."


    After careful consideration, Hari chose that man.


    "Sushani, we need the merchant. This guy will most likely be a handful, an exiled teen was as strong as you guys.


    Kiya, you run a Third Degree investigation on Gekas and Second Degree examination on others; also keep Sushani. Guys exercise utmost caution; we can''t afford mistakes."


    "Anil, you will be in charge of the office, and Priya, you''ll have to learn about the family living in the address that I''ll forward shortly. Try collecting as much information as possible, the focus should be on their character umm.. take Rakesh with you."


    Anil was more or less adapted to Hari''s aggressive leadership, and he''s also gotten used to being ordered around.


    Everyone in the room understood the seriousness attached to their task, so all of them were fired up. Deep within, everyone was curious to dig the secrets of Ori Realm; there were just too many mysteries swirling around it.


    Sushani equipping her assassin suit, a unique camouflage. Kiya was busy gathering information about Gekas. Priya and Rakesh were seriously discussing their strategy.


    Anil and Riya helping them, Riya was getting data on family residing in the address given to Priya while Anil passing on all the information gathered by Kiya to Sushani.


    Hari was pacing up and down in confusion with a cigarette between his fingers. His strange behavior went totally unnoticed under the eyes of his brothers, who were too involved.


    Just as everyone was about to start, Hari abruptly stopped their tracks.


    "Wait, minute, guys."


    After some internal struggle, he opened his mouth; all his brothers were slightly surprised to their brother being so indecisive.


    "A couple of months ago, I met a guy; I even mentioned him to teacher."

 Ch 10 Anils Superpowers

    Hari uncertainly stated, and all his brothers assertively nodded.


    "Back then he gave some exotic fruits for each of you; I don''t know its name, but that guy told it will help in breakthrough, something similar to the fruit Teacher gave me."


    Hari threw a small cherry size blue fruit to all his brothers except Anil.


    Everyone knew Hari wouldn''t take out something if he didn''t place enough confidence in it. So they didn''t think twice before putting the fruit into their mouth.


    They savoured the fruit, and unconsciously closed their eyes and the next few minutes the room was too silent.


    Anil stepped back and carefully observed people in the room. Though he started training, deep within Anil knew he couldn''t bridge the gap between them.


    Sushani was the first one to open her eyes, and soon others followed.


    She stretched her right hand while others also did different stretches and strange movement with a satisfied smile.


    "Yeah I forgot to mention, it will also cure the hidden damages."


    Hari said with a smirk, and all his brothers other before diving to Hari for a huge hug. Anil was still standing in the corner, watching everything in enviously.


    "Anil, this fruit in my hand is meant for you, but I really don''t know what it will do to you. Only one thing''s for sure, this mysterious fruit will give you some sort of self-preserving ability."


    Hari passed the fruit Anil, he could easily guess Anil''s thoughts from his face.


    Anil hesitated a bit before downing the fruit. Once the fruit reached his stomach, the entire body started intensely shivering and slowly, his consciousness slipped.


    Riya, rushed in to checked his pulses and eyes.


    "Brother nothing to worry, all his vitals are normal. All his internal organs are in a state of shock; l have never seen a human body such a peculiar state."


    "Giving the body some rest is the best course of action. Hari, we both will stay back and look after Anil."


    Riya spoke in her usual cold, indifferent professional tone. The moment she wears a glove; she switches from an ordinary woman to ice queen.


    "No need to worry about Anil, I was expecting something like this, everything is within control. You guys start your task, it''s much more important."You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Sushani, Kiya, Priya and Rakesh all nodded their head, though they were dead worried none of them would dismiss a mission on these grounds.


    "Rakesh!!!"


    All four of them were in the Grand entrance of the Auction house, suddenly Hari called out Rakesh. Rakesh went back and met Hari, Hari whispered into his ears.


    "Rakesh the address that I''ve given is Rishi''s family, find out the details about all the members of their family. Also, probe them a bit, find their real feelings about Rishi''s departure."


    Rakesh put a vacant face, though he didn''t readily accept Hari knew the task would be completed.


    ******


    The next morning day Hari and Riya stayed up throughout the night, Riya was constantly checking Anil''s vitals from time to time, every passing hour she felt more and more restless.


    On the other hand, Hari didn''t have a hint of anxiety or nervousness.


    "Hari, how are you so sure about Anil Conditions?"


    Riya couldn''t help but ask, Hari was too calm.


    "Anil how do you feel, is everything¡­"


    Riya just started, but Anil suddenly jumped from the bed and ran to the pantry, he just ate anything and everything edible.


    Riya and Hari were standing there in astonishment; they never took Anil for an uncivilized person, but his present actions were just too bizarre.


    "Brother, don''t worry I''m just too hungry. The transformation expended lots of energy."


    Anil just raised his head for a few seconds to speak up and once again he dug into the food.


    "Transformation, what happened? Was the fruit really effective."


    Anil pointed his index figure and closed his eyes, he started moving his hands in thin air as though he was drawing something.


    Beads of sweat formed in his forehead and Anil''s brows furrowed, the tension was visible.


    Finally, Anil let out a long breath as he opened his eyes.


    *Phew*


    "Finally done."


    Anil stroked his furrowed brows as he exclaimed. Hari and Riya were baffled by his strange behaviour.


    "Hehe¡­ Bro wait a second."


    Anil made some strange hand-signs and suddenly out of nowhere a tiny mouse sprung up. The most peculiar thing about it that it was made of Golden lines.


    Almost like a creature popped out of picture book. Both Hari and Rita turned towards Anil in bewilderment.


    "This technique called Galactic Rune Art, I can bring life to anything I draw."


    Anil boasted with a big grin while Hari and Rita could visibly see the stone lifted from his shoulders.


    Riya stepped forward and tried to catch the mouse, but the moment it came in contact with her finger, it disintegrated into golden dust.


    "Hehe.." Anil let a sheepish smile and scratched his head.


    "I''m just a beginner with more proficiency, I can draw large pictures, but their strength depends on my psychic power."


    Obviously, Anil was embarrassed he just boasted about how awesome his power was, and the very next second it vanished into thin air.


    Fortunately, neither of his friends were in the right mind-set to tease him; Riya was thoroughly shocked by his supernatural ability while Hari was seriously contemplating something.


    Immediately Hari called his brothers over the phone, this was just too much for his little brain to wrap around. Once again, in the conference room, all his brothers were gathered.


    All his brothers except Anil were excited, and their eyes were literally shining; on the contrary, Anil was totally exhausted and tired. Actually, a part of their excitement is to be contributed to their recent breakthrough.


    The pleasure of breaking your own limits and the exuberance it gives will be immeasurable. Now that a new possibility had risen, the crowd were too enthusiastic about the new power and Anil became their Lab Rat.


    They forced him to demonstrate it over and over till his brains nearly circuit short-circuited at last when Anil couldn''t take it further.


    "Guys can you stop with this nonsense discuss the main issue."


    Anil forcefully stated while others nodded with a disappointed face.


    *Ahem*


    "Now that everyone is familiar with his power, I want all of you to share your point of view to get a wholesome view."


    Till now Hari was thoroughly zoned out, Anil''s voice woke him up.


    Once Hari spoke all of their eyes sharpened and all they pondered a few minutes in silence.


    Rakesh was the first to go.


    "Anil''s power is very unique; it has great potential, but we need carefully do some research to avoid anything undesirable side-effects."


    Rakesh gave his short, simple commentary on the newly gained ability.


    "We must find a way to increase its power. Just think if someone had an invisible weapon floating around them, the assassination would be effortless with such deadly weapon around


    Ummm...


    Yeah, it could also be used for safeguarding oneself against sneak attacks."


    All his friends rolled their eyes, especially Anil he almost jumped up rebuke Sushani.


    ''I''m not a serial killer or hitman, and I certainly don''t aspire to become one. So is she even stating such useless points.''

 Ch 11 Deadly Romours

    ''I''m not a serial killer or hitman, and I certainly don''t aspire to become one. So is she even stating such useless points.''


    Anil was mentally complaining while Sushani was scratching her head in confusion.


    "Those things aside, I think we should focus on the real problem at hand."


    Riya spoke up, the pause to grasp everyone''s attention.


    "This power might have great potential, but it can also cause a severe problem.


    Anil is still in the beginning stage of the training. Till now, he was motivated, because training hard was the only path strength.


    Anil you must know ''Health is Wealth'' so a robust, resilient body is imperative for you¡­."


    Riya went on another round of advice on the importance of health and physical strength. She had spoken full ten minutes by then, Anil was sitting on the chair like noodles.


    Anil was steamed alive. No one spoke for some time, people could Anil was completely drained out. Everyone stared Riya, making her feel slightly guilty, she knew it was a bit overdone.


    "Guys if Anil''s gonna focus on the mysterious ability then we need to find a replacement to look after the business."


    Kiya made a statement just for the sake of making it, without any intent behind it. Hari could only stand there face-palmed in shame, these people were totally missing the point.


    Finally, Priya stood up and took a deep breath before yelling at them.


    "Why are you guys so short-sighted, can''t anyone of you see the bigger picture here.


    You guys are focusing on its potential, side-effects, lethality, influence on his training, a replacement for business management and whatnot, why did you leave out his scope of becoming a magician.


    Really unbelievable can''t you guys use that brain of yours to come up with something reasonable.


    Did everyone really forget that bald guy Yash and Ori Realm?


    We don''t know where it is located or population or strength or all about Ori Realm.


    Except for its existence, everything is uncertain, and for a fact, I know unknown should be feared. Moreover, Anil has gained some powers about which we have no clue.


    Furthermore, from what Hari has said until now, the mysterious man he''s met is undoubtedly a person with an uncommon origin.


    Which in turn implies the powers Anil''s wielding, given its limitless potential it''s very likely to be a rare and precious technique.


    Is this enough or should I jog your memory the bloodshed 10 years ago? With so many danger lurking around you guys have the mood to play around, making fun of each other''s like little kids."Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Priya really managed to give them a piece of her mind. Hari was about to give a round of applause, but the long faces stopped him.


    Though he felt bad for them, he was also gratified by Priya''s clear vision and razor-sharp perception.


    Rakesh response was indeed within his expectations, to put it crudely he was just a simpleton, and one needs such quality to become vanguard.


    Though Sushani''s response was a bit illogical, she had truly reflected her thoughts. She was trained to perceive every item as a tool of murder as an assassin.


    Thus such ability seemed like the ultimate weapon any hitman would crave; as a Hitman going astray in the presence of such an alluring weapon was excusable.


    The ones who truly disappointed him were Riya and Kiya, the latter didn''t make any real attempt to give a productive suggestion.


    While the former was too involved in her role as a trainer, he really couldn''t understand why Riya was so obsessed with training Anil.


    Fortunately, his team had Priya, else this team would be beyond redemption. She precisely pin-pointed his biggest concern while giving it a different perspective.


    On the other side of the table, Anil staring with blank eyes, clearly he couldn''t make head or tail of the situation.


    ''What was the disaster? What has Ori realm got to do with my new power? So is having awesome power good or bad?''


    Anil''s mind was filled with numerous questions; he couldn''t really make out what was going on. But his brothers'' strange reaction meant something serious.


    *cough*


    Hari mildly coughed before starting.


    "Anil ten years ago, a rumour spread across the country about a treasured sword hidden in an ancient temple in remote parts of Vindhya ranges.


    It attracted numerous men and women alike, on the said day nearly 500 people were gathered in a small hilltop.


    A small disagreement sparked a massacre, at the end of the day, only 25 men made out alive; and that to everything for just a rumour.


    Yes, the temple didn''t hide any sword but on that day the entire hill bathed in the blood."


    When Hari finished Anil sucked in air, he could feel the chills running down his spine. Anil wasn''t dumb on the contrary he was a sharp guy, he quickly connected the dots and understood the menace at his doorstep.


    It was like a bolt out of the blue, even a single misstep could cause his life, and everything said done there actually no solution for this problem which is the biggest threat of all.


    "Hari I think the best way to prevent any such mishap is by not using the powers outside or killing every witness."


    Sushani stated the obvious which the rest were hesitant to spell out. Everyone in the room, including Anil was in agreement.


    At the same time, all they knew it wasn''t a permanent solution, thus air became heavier.


    "Priya, though their suggestions seemed idiotic we can''t ignore the truth in it.


    We really don''t know if there are side-effects to this Galactic Rune Art, so it wise to handle it with cautiously. In most cases such exotic techniques will have some undesirable side-effects, Rakesh is a living example.


    Riya you''ll have to closely monitor his health conditions, it should be thorough.


    Sushani you join Riya to help train Anil, we need to turn the power into lethal mechanism mainly focus on defensive aspects.


    As for as Kiya''s idea *ahem* we anyway need a resourceful manager so the new manager would share most of Anil burdens.


    Riya your concerns about Physical training are needless because it already proved that to effectively handle one''s Psychic Power he must have absolute mastery over his body, which in turn could only be achieved by rigorous training."


    Then Hari paused, Anil hung his head low. He really believed that his new technique will put an end to that torturous train session, but it was utterly shattered by Hari.


    While Anil was looking down, Hari winked his eyes at Riya who had smirk her face eyeing Anil.


    The last part was a complete lie, in fact, before witnessing Anil''s bizarre power, none of them even believed such a thing like psychic power even existed.


    Hari had to come with something to push Anil, getting him to exercise hard and giving him a robust foundation has a necessity, even more so after the new powers.


    Having frightening strength was the only real solution for Anil''s predicament; he should become so strong that men malicious intent will never rise dare raise their head.

 Ch 12 Adam L Gekas

    "Anil you take rest; we don''t know if there any side effects for overdoing your powers.


    Riya you stay back for emergencies, the rest of you can return. Kiya pass me all the information you''ve collected about Adam."


    Hari was really curious to find about this guy. Kiya passed on the file she was holding to him.


    "Adam Louis Gekas, a Textile Merchant.


    He''s an orphan from Sri Lanka, came to India in the Year 1999. His records from then on are clean, but there are no records of such a person in our Sri Lankan Database.


    This guy has a huge factory and owns many subsidiary companies under his company. Still, the starting point of everything his initial investment doesn''t have a proper source, and it''s a very huge figure.


    An interesting fact about the nine men as a whole is that every single one of them is an orphan. Few are from our country while the rest are either refugees or immigrants from a neighbouring state.


    One more intriguing similarity is none of them has any childhood records; it as though they popped up as a youth. This clue is strongly suggesting they are from Ori Realm."


    Hari nodded and left their office in deep thoughts; soon all his brothers except Anil and Riya returned.


    Though Hari has recovered and could fight his previous self to a standstill, the hectic day was still exhausting for him both physically and mentally.


    First the weariness accumulated by those numerous sleepless nights for their auction, then staggering truth about Shreya which nearly fried his brains. Later the long ride to calm his mind, though it was relaxing and tranquil the physical fatigue was accumulating.


    Then his meeting with God which was a rollercoaster ride, after all this a sleepless night; even a super-soldier couldn''t cope up with such a schedule.


    Once he reached the home, Hari directly went the bed and the moment he came in contact with cot he blanked out.


    Hari woke later that evening around 5 pm he was nearly out on the bed for 10 hours straight. He had completely recovered, and the fatigue accumulated until now had vanished.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    A relaxing walk in the neighbourhood Hari spent some time browsing through the internet.


    The temperature slowly fell as the sun went down, he totally unwound all the pressure build.


    Shreya returned home by 8:00 pm, they had long stopped avoiding each other, and their relationship was pretty harmonious.


    They could be termed as friends but today was a bit different from other days. Unlike their previous meeting, Hari found a startling truth about her.


    "Hi."


    "Hi"


    Both of them greeted each other while Shemo jumped on to Hari. Throughout the week Hari didn''t visit the house, since the last week he was busy with the Auction House.


    Hari pet Shemo''s head and played with him till Shreya returned after freshening up. As usual, both made dinner together; actually, it''s the only activity they do together.


    For the first time since their marriage, Hari really observed Shreya; till then, he had been looking but not observing. He never stopped to appreciate her beauty or even register her face in his mind.


    Upon closer inspection, he truly started appreciating her beauty. Hari was also fascinated by her simplicity and poise composure. Through the interaction till now, he knew the woman cooking beside his was her real character.


    The glossy, domineering business-woman back in the auction house was just a fa?ade.


    Suddenly a Black Rudra Seed tied to her wrist grasped his attention, it''s the item she purchased from the auction.


    He was dumbstruck seeing this blatant display of wealth, this small seed was the second costliest article, 1 million Rupees; and Shreya was wearing it like a jewel.


    Even now, he believed she wasn''t flaunting her wealth, and there was a reason to assume the same. No one would tie a million-rupee article to a regular black thread rather than spending a few thousand to get a gold or silver bracelet.


    "What happened? If you''re pre-occupied with any, I can take-over. It''s just a simple dinner, so I really don''t need any help."


    Shreya offered, she found Hari vacantly glaring at the walls in deep thoughts.


    "ummm¡­. It''s nothing. The reason I''m helping isn''t that you can''t handle the dinner; it''s because I want to share the work."


    Hari cleared everything from his mind and quickly replied, but his answer confused Shreya. She stopped cutting the vegetable as her shoulders became stiff; just as she was about to speak up, Hari interrupted.


    "Don''t misunderstand, I''m not trying to make a move on you; it''s the opposite. We both aren''t a real couple, so you don''t have any obligation to prepare food for both of us.


    So I''m helping out, which means I''m cooking for myself. Just so to make myself clear, presently I''m not having plans for any romantic relationship."


    Hari clarified his stands, this was indeed his thoughts within. Presently there are too many things going on, and he really could find imagine himself in a relationship.


    The atmosphere became very harmonious; with all ambiguities cleared Shreya loosened up and lowered her guard. While Hari tried to behave as normal as he could, without bringing up her mysterious background.


    Then both of them had dinner and chatted a while before leaving for the bed.


    The next week was smooth, and everything went as planned. It was a very fruitful week for both Hari''s brothers.


    Sushani reported that she will get their guy by tomorrow and Kiya had a substantial breakthrough with her test.


    Anil had settled all the accounts, and even a few prosperity sellers had shown their intent auction few of their items in their Auction House.


    Riya has been monitoring Anil''s vitals and helping him with training his psychic energy. Though she wasn''t an expert in this field of work, Riya is the only person with even a little bit of authority in psychic powers in their group.


    Rakesh and Priya have been investigating Rishi''s family throughout the week, avoiding any direct contact with them.


    He spent most of his time in the house, trying to investigate on Shreya. He couldn''t ask Kiya to inspect as their relationship might be surface; moreover, Shreya had a very mysterious background and any insensitive probes will have severe backlashes.


    Thus he took upon himself to collect data about her, unfortunately she was just too tightly sealed. Nevertheless, he managed to become lot friendlier with her.


    The most significant development is that last Sunday; the Zen Tree grew two red plums. Unlike previous fruits, this had a clear name and description.


    [Minor Healing Plum: All ailments can be cured by this plum.]


    Hari didn''t experiment with the fruit, he didn''t know if this plum was rare or not. The Zen Yajna was still as unresponsive as ever.


    *Ringgg* Ringgg*


    The mobile ring broke his thought process.


    "Hello. Huh¡­. I''ll be there in ten minutes."

 Ch 13 Interrogation Room

    Two days ago¡­.


    8:30 PM, 21st October 2018, Tuesday, Chennai.


    In an old alley filled with potholes and broken concrete. This structure was at least half-a-century old and time had taken its toll on the construction.


    A health-conscious cyclist was on a solitary ride in this alley, skilfully manoeuvring around all the holes in the poorly lit pathway.


    Completely oblivious to the danger looming over his head the man was cheerfully whistling along with the melody played in earphones.


    A few meters ahead of him, on 12-meter-high window slab; a five-foot-tall silhouette standing as still as a statue. As the rider neared, the predator controlled his breath and slowed the heartbeat.


    When he was precisely 5 meters away, the black figure jumped from the slab like an arrow straight to the cyclist''s face. In mid-air, he threw a black piece of cloth at the rider and landed beside the rider while he was still distracted.


    The very second his foot touched the ground, the black figure heavily stomped and floated a few meters backwards.


    Only now did the poor cyclist see his predator. It was a man completely covered in black rags; except his eyes, everything was wrapped in a dusty black rag.


    Then a pair of shiny fangs in is hands caught his attention. It was 1-inch-long diamond fangs and filled with a deadly sedative.


    Immediately the rider touched his neck in shock; his hands were wet with blood, and the white shirt was slowly turning shade. There were two small holes in his throat, and blood was unceasingly gushing out.


    Only then he realized what had occurred, the assassin pierced his neck with the fangs while he was distracted by the cloth thrown.


    It was executed in such a speed that he couldn''t feel the pain immediately; the precision and flawless execution left the rider admiration despite falling for the same skills. The man had both attacked and retreated in the same flow that it almost seemed simultaneous to by-standers eyes.


    A few seconds later, he collapsed onto the ground like a gunny bag. The black figure darted to the unconscious rider and thoroughly examined the guy before tying him up while unwrapping the black rags from his face.


    The five-foot-tall assassin was Sushani while the cyclist is Gekas their target.


    She made a call and Riya came running down the alley; she inspected the unconscious rider.


    "Sushani, he''s only half unconscious. We''ll need to give him two more dosages to be on the safer side."


    Riya solemnly stated while Sushani bent down and pulled Gekas left sleeves; Riya injected a purple serum.


    Then both of them carried him to the van standing at the end of the alley; Rakesh drove the van to their safe house while Riya was administration their guest.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Gekas was brought to the basement and tied to the steel chair. All the lights were killed, and the room was thoroughly soundproofed. He was left in utter solitude with only the walls giving him company; the deafening silence of 24 hours straight could break anyone''s spirit, driving them mad.


    The next stage was turning one''s senses against themselves.


    Then the poor guy was given a course with different combinations of all extreme elements: High-Frequency sounds, Extremely bright Light, unbearable Stink.


    Gekas was connected to the device that sent shockwaves; if he tried to shut his eyelids, it would electrocute him without killing.


    He went through his process for the next 24 hours, and once it entered the last stage, Sushani called all his brothers.


    Exactly ten minutes later, Hari met his brothers at the basement of their Auction house. Sushani was inside the Interrogation cell while others were standing behind the one-way mirror.


    Inside the cell, Gekas was tied to the chair with just his underwear. Sushani completely stripped him, this time around they didn''t want any mishaps with their captives.


    Gekas body didn''t have as much as a scratch except for the holes in his neck with was patched. Upon closer inspection one could find his pupils rapid movements.


    Unlike the previous guy, Sushani didn''t resort to physical torture; instead, she decided to break his mind psychologically and make him spill his beans. Compared to physical torture, it was much more complicated and risky. Even a single misstep could totally break the guy completely turning him into a retard.


    Gekas brain circuits have gone haywire; Sushani didn''t spare a minute for him to recover. Immediately after the torturous 20 hours, he was interrogated by Sushani.


    She entered the room in a black robe, it was the same outfit of his fortune-teller avatar. The only difference was that she didn''t have her silver mask.


    When Sushani entered the cell, the light was switched on. It was just an old Filament bulb hanging from the ceiling right above Gekas''s head.


    The light only illuminated Sushani''s face, it was like a small ball of light in infinite black space.


    "Why did you kill David Jen?"


    Her voice was filled with vengeance and hatred, then a bone-chilling blood lust leaked from Sushani.


    Gekas started shivering, that very moment he knew the person standing before him is an assassin, a killer.


    He was familiar with the bone-chilling aura filled in the room. Such pure killing intent could only be achieved by killing piles and piles of humans.


    The woman before him seemed to be the very incarnation of death.


    Gekas raised his head and once again only to be greeted by the cold eyes staring right at him.


    ''She''ll give an excruciating death.''


    This thought sub-consciously resounded within him.


    "David.. David he is the only witness to Rani Kochla murder case. I was contracted to killer if you want I can tell¡­. Ahhhh."


    Sushani switched on the high-frequency sound wave and walked out of the room.


    "He''s a contract killer."


    She met Hari and other standing outside. Then they discussed something while Gekas was suffering inside; after a few minutes, Sushani gave everyone a solemn nod.


    She once again went to the interrogation room. As she walked in a video clipping was played on the screen behind Sushani.


    It was the recording of the interrogation session of Yash, the agony and pain he was going through seemed to have directly transmitted through the video to Gekas.


    Gekas was twitching and crying in pain until Yash uttered the word Ori Realm. From then onwards, his behaviour had a sudden change, he abruptly quietened and silently sat there without struggling.


    His eyes were totally zoned out as though he was lost in deep thought. The word ''Ori Realm'' had a much more profound impact on than all the torture put together.


    Back to the present, Sushani was standing before the naked man with her hands crossed. She was patiently waiting for his to recover, seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours.


    After 20 minutes, Gekas returned to his senses.


    "If you''re not tired of living don''t utter the word Ori Realm."


    Sushani warned him, to which Gekas was unresponsive as a stone; she ignored and continued.


    "What is Ori Realm?"


    Sushani solemnly asked, and all his brothers behind the one-way mirror were patiently waiting.

 Ch 14 Gekas Submits

    "What is Ori Realm?"


    Sushani solemnly asked, and all his brothers behind the one-way mirror were patiently waiting.


    "Hahahaha


    Hahahaha


    You guys are really unbelievable, dared to target men from Ori Realm without having a clue about it.


    Hehehe


    You killed an exiled citizen of Ori Realm, he might be a nobody in Ori Realm, but killing him is still not a something sane man would do.


    Citizens exiled are still the citizens of Ori Realm, hahaha¡­


    They say real men die once. Let''s see if that''ll be true in your case; the ruthless guards will hunt each one of you like dogs and give the most painful death."


    Gekas barked at them with a snort as he looked through the glass wall.


    A hint of hesitation flashed through Sushani''s eyes, and their resolve was shaken.


    Hari discerned the changes, he could feel they were losing their stands.


    As he rumbled his brain to come up something an idea flashed; he knew it would turn the table. Hari grabbed Kiya''s Laptop.


    While Hari had to dunk his head into the computer, Gekas noticed the subtle changes and gave a disdainful smile and enjoyed the sight of his enemy falling into an abyssal fear; he knows the hidden dangers Ori Realm.


    With every second that ticked by, their confidence was breaking apart. In this deadlock situation, Hari suddenly barged into the interrogation cell.


    He confidently paced to Gekas and plugged in a pen drive to the projector. The screen behind Hari once again displayed a video - it was the footage of their conversation with his teacher.


    Smug in Gekas''s face instantly disappeared and a deep-rooted fear re-emerged. He was literally trembling and choked in fear.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Mister, Is Sir Jagor Lion, your teacher?"


    Gekas cautiously asked as his face started losing its colour.


    Hari unemotionally nodded, immediately Gekas¡¯s face paled and the man was on his knees.


    "Master, please forgive my impudence, I''ll tell everything about Ori Realm; please don''t kill me."


    Gekas begged and pleaded, he knew the only way salvage the situation was spilling information about Ori Realm.


    "OK, but don''t even think of betraying me."


    *snap*


    Hari accepted and snapped his figures. Out of nowhere thick glittering golden rope appeared around Gekas''s neck.


    Slowly the loop shrank, with every passing second it came closer to his neck and stopped just a few centimetres away from the skin.


    Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead; Though Gekas couldn''t see the rope, he could feel some close to his neck. With his limbs bound to the chair, he could only powerlessly pray for some miracle.


    The most terrifying part was even now he couldn''t feel any danger, it was as though his well-trained instincts were turned off.


    *snap*


    And the rope vanished, it took a couple of minutes for Gekas to realize the same.


    "If you ever think of betraying us, remember that an invisible rope is floating around your neck."


    Hari gravely warned as he untied Gekas from the chair and left the room.


    Once Hari left, Gekas sat there in silence. Unlike a day ago, he wasn''t left in complete darkness or bound to the chair, but he seemed a lot more sacred.


    Until Hari¡¯s entry, Gekas was waiting for an opportunity to escape, and he was even planning of revenge. But that one video changed everything, he knew if didn¡¯t submit painless death is the best-case scenario.


    Behind the Glass wall, Anil had collapsed, and his body was thoroughly drenched in sweat while Rita massaging his body.


    Unsurprisingly, the golden rope was Anil''s doing, but the stunt thoroughly drained his mental energy.


    ¡°Anil how are you so good with art, be it the rat or this golden rope or those tons of images you drew a few days back everything was too real. They are like the carbon copy of reality, what¡¯s going on?¡±


    Riya casually asked, she was trying keep him consciousness; things will get a lot more complicated if Anil loses his conscience.


    Anil gave a rare blissful pure smile and looked into the ceiling.


    "Art is my passion, recreating something by giving life to through a sketch is one of the most fulfilling activities on this planet.


    I won the championship of Young Artist Championship for India when I was a high schooler."


    Anil left silly laugh reminiscing his glorious past.


    "What happened then?"


    Riya followed up, now she was truly into the subject.


    "What would have happened, after schooling, I wanted to join an Art college to pursue my passion, but my family was totally against it. Thanks to my talent in Business Management, I was put into a prestigious business college in Canada. Actually, all along I knew this was bound to happen, you could that was rebellious adolescent side into play."


    Anil casually narrated without a hint of regret or disappointment in his face.


    None of them could really sympathize with his feelings until today, each one of them had been through a lot of difficulties. But it had always out of free will; now they understood the difficulty of those born with a silver spoon.


    These people don''t have any real choice. Everything from love to passion has to be sacrificed to preserve their wealth, whereas people who nothing to safeguard can create something from scratch which they pour their heart and soul into.


    While Anil was recovering; Hari and Sushani walked out with a content smile. Everything from kidnapping to subduing Gekas is scheme Hari and Priya cracked during the week.


    A week ago, Sushani confirmed that Gekas had some connections with Ori Realm and he''s a killer because she witnessed him assassinating David Jen mercilessly.


    But they weren''t sure if he was contract killer or righteous man pushed beyond limits. Thus Hari made plans for either possibility with Priya and Riya.


    It might seem ruthless and unfeeling on Hari¡¯s part for torturing someone without knowing if he was actually guilty. However, killing someone as many reasons as you may have, is still a punishable offence.


    Thus the torture Gekas went through was completely justifiable; moreover, there was a high possibility of him being a Hitman; given his questionable source of funds.


    Gekas mockery and ridicule was an unexpected turn of events. Fortunately, Hari''s quick wits saved the day, and they were back on track.

 Ch 15 The Ancestral Bloodline

    The next day¡­


    Gekas was much more docile and submissive, and his mental state was quickly recovering. Though everyone was eager to learn about Ori Realm, they weren''t inhumane enough to push a guy who has been through nearly 24 hours of torture.


    In the conference room, everyone was gathered they had a new member this time, Adam L. Gekas.


    Hari and his brothers learnt Gekas¡¯s past in Ori Realm; one-word description about his life in Ori Realm world be ¡°Military Deserter¡±; betrayed the army and escaped in the face of death.


    Thus everyone in the hall except Anil and Hari was in total disdain for the man sitting before them.


    Hari believed there was more to it than just what Gekas let out. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to imagine a man readily accepting to be a military deserter without any embarrassment.


    On the other hand, Anil¡¯s thoughts were much simpler he believed that running was the most common thing in the face of death; moreover, he really admired Gekas as a businessman and his slick management skills.


    Gekas was standing before the board hung on the wall. Hari and his brothers were sitting around the conference table.


    ¡°The world you know has another layer behind the veil of illusion. To be precise, all the ordinary people here are Lesser Mortals, the weakest of human beings and breaking through the limits will make you True Mortal Being.


    Behind this world lies ¨C Ori realm; only the True Mortals can access Ori Realm.


    When your Spirit liberates, you become True Mortal beings; after which you¡¯ll awaken one of the ''Four Ancestral Bloodlines'' based on your lineage.¡±


    Gekas detected confusion in their eyes and quickly figured the problem. He immediately realized his fault; without giving the rudimentary addition and subtraction, he was speaking about algebraic equations.


    ¡°Sorry about that I should have informed about basic knowledge about Ori Realm and humanity as a whole to give you guys a better idea.


    First, I¡¯ll explain the difference between True Mortals and Lesser Mortals.


    Essentially one must understand that mind is just a collection of all intelligence; the people of earth are only aware of one kind of intelligence which is intellect.


    In reality, intelligence has several dimensions, 8 dimensions of intelligence to be specific.


    We need not go deep into the 8 types of intelligence just know this Intellect and Spiritual Intelligence, one of the Intelligence.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Though exercising all the dimensions of intelligence is their personal discretion; one needs have a way to access all of them. Only then he¡¯s a complete human being.


    Ideally, all humans will have access to all the 8 dimensions by birth. The 8th dimension, which being Spiritual Intelligence needs a unique organ within the brain called Spirex.


    The Spiritual Energy in Earth is near nonexistent. Thus all children here are born with a Congenital disability, one part of their brain - Spirex is underdeveloped.


    Whereas these are rare occurrences in Ori Realm, and so the name ''Lesser Mortal''.


    Now the only way to break through to True Mortal Realm is from inside. One must get spiritual inspiration from the world and evolve their Spirex.


    When you do so, you¡¯ll experience a sudden burst of ecstasy; your Spiritual awareness will awaken. Letting you experience life in its purest form.


    Because of this reason, many monks and saints are more likely to breakthrough.


    Till date, no one has found an external means to forcefully evolve that part of the brain."


    Immediately all his brother stole a glance at Hari. Just a week ago they broke through to True Mortal realm by a fruit.


    Fortunately, none of them was stupid enough to say it out aloud.


    ¡°Now about the Ancestral Bloodlines.


    The people of Ori Realm are divided into four races based on the bloodlines ¨C Devas, Humans, Rakshasa and Asuras. Each bloodline has a unique character.


    Asuras have resilient Physical Body;


    Devas are blessed with Elemental affinity;


    Rakshasas have Bestial Transformations;


    Humanity awakens Astral Soul.


    Throughout the history, for eons Devas and Asuras were killing each other while Humans and Rakshasas conquered each other for land and resources; so they have a history of bad blood between them, to say the least.


    But such blood feuds are becoming rarer in recent times. All thanks to the peace treaty enforced a couple of centuries ago.


    Presently though all the four bloodlines haven¡¯t completely left their hostilities to the past, there are significant improvements; at least they aren¡¯t standing neck to neck.


    There are already many marriages across bloodlines; though the child can only attain one bloodline.


    You¡¯ll get a better understanding of Ori Realm once you all gain access; after all, some things are better experienced than explained.


    Such as spiritual energy; you can¡¯t appreciate such difference without having the first-hand experience.¡±


    Gekas finished his explanation and placed the marker back in its place. Everyone silently chewed down and digested all the new information while he was patiently waiting.


    The atmosphere in the room was almost similar to a seminar hall in the colleges. The prisoner became lecturer while Hari and his brothers were students.


    ¡°Gekas let me quickly introduce everyone before clearing my doubts, shall I?¡±


    Priya politely took Gekas¡¯s permission before quickly introducing all the friends.


    ¡°The Fatty over there is Rakesh Choudary, you should already know Sushani Gaurav and the silky pants next to Hari is Anil Rathore; To my right is Kiya Shetty and to my left is Rani Shetty; and finally, I¡¯m Priya Shetty.¡±


    Priya rapidly gave the introduction; Gekas didn¡¯t even get a chance to greet them.


    ¡°Now Gekas let¡¯s start with the fundamentals; so you¡¯re basically saying that some crazy people are living above us and controlling the entire world fooling all the world leaders¡­¡±


    ¡®Oh, boy!¡¯


    Anil mentally signed, he knew what was waiting in store for Priya, provoking Gekas never ended well.


    Priya was renowned for her sharp tongue; though she meant no harm, her speech could offend even most tolerant ones on the planet.


    ¡°Ah... One small correction, not fooling the leaders. The higher-ups all know the existence of Ori Realm, you¡¯re just not significant enough to know their existence.¡±


    Gekas didn¡¯t get where he¡¯s today was being pushed around by others; the main reason Anil admired him was his slick conversational skills.


    A few years ago, a cunning journalist lured him into a hideous trap ¨C accusing Gekas of supporting extremist ideologies.


    Gekas was too clever, he skilfully dodged every ball, and at the end, he reversed the table; eventually the very last interview in his career for that journalist.


    Priya was tongue-tied; she¡¯s part of special troops of Military, most of her colleagues aren¡¯t good with words, so she always had her way within any conversation.


    Unfortunately, today she¡¯s met an expert speaker, someone who trumped an Ace Journalist and feared for his vicious sharp tongue. Before the situation got any worse Sushani interfered.

 Ch 16 Roots of Ori Realm

    "Gekas in all fairness we are one of the few people those old egg hatchers would discuss when it comes to national security; so we''re bound to know if those guys were just puppets."


    Sushani carefully reasoned, clearing the tension building up.


    "No you got me wrong, the leaders of the country are by no means mere puppets; they are full-fledged leaders catering the will of the people.


    India is a perfectly functioning democratic nation; people of the Ori Realm rarely interfere with the countries mundane decision.


    If I were to ask you; which is superior between the Central Government and State Government, you would point at Central Government without giving it a thought. But that doesn''t mean State Government is the puppet of Central Government.


    It''s the same way the Ori Realm has more powers than Central Government, but there many issues were Ori Realm can''t interfere in proceedings of Central Government.


    From another perspective, you can look Ori Realm as part of India and not as something above the country."


    Gekas stopped to let everything sink in, accepting the new reality is never going to be easy.


    "What is my teacher''s real identity?"


    Hari asked he wasn''t having a problem with adapting to the secrets of Ori Realm. After all, Hari himself has a pocket dimension; moreover, he''s someone who has conversed with God.


    "Sir Jagor Lion is one of the Seven Sovereigns Ori Realm ¨C He''s called ''The Gatekeeper''. There are totally seven Sovereigns in Ori Realm, they are the pillars of our country.


    Each Race is led by a Sovereign; while the other three Sovereigns are not affiliated with any single race. You need to know about these three powerhouses because only they have roots in Earth.


    Sir Jagor Lion ''The Gatekeeper'' -


    Blur Kilns is an Assassin organization; they are known for being ruthless and efficiently. You might have heard of their Lesser Mortal counterpart ''Code: Yama''.


    Siya Zameen ''Zenith Scholar'' -


    Nalan Research Institute, the largest research organization of the country. It secretly owns more than half the patents out there, and Nalan Research Institute is a department of the World''s first University, ''The Nalanda University''.


    Charan Verma ''Justice of Karma'' -


    Oli Village, the biggest monastery of our country; though they don''t identify themselves with any religion, though their principles closely walk with Hinduism."


    As Gekas went on, Hari and his brothers sucked in cold breath; all the three spheres of influences had control over major pillars of a nation.


    Security, Economy and Religion; just their counterparts of normal humans were strong enough to bring the country to its knees.


    Everyone went into deep contemplation, each had their own interpretation and take on the Ori Realm. But there''s one thing all of them were in consensus, the roots of Ori Realm run deep inside India.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Hari was silently listening to his explanations, now he was certain that something amiss about Gekas; he just couldn''t put his fingers on it.


    Gekas didn''t go any further into Ori Realm, anything more might become, ''biting more than one can swallow.'' With his part being done, he left their Conference room. Without Gekas''s presence, the room seemed a lot more harmonious and pleasant. Hostility between his brothers and Gekas couldn''t be any more apparent, especially Priya.


    "As mysterious and attractive as Ori realm might seem we can''t afford to lose the ground. The tasks in hand are also very important; they can''t take the back seat.


    Priya and Rakesh, what are the development of Rishi''s family?"


    Hari sharply asked waking everyone from the daze.


    "Nothing much, we have disguised as a National Census Officer and got into Rishi''s house. The silence was the only answer for any inquiry about Rishi be it direct or indirect.


    In the end, Suseela produced a copy of the Missing Person Report which has been filed with Police compliant.


    As for his children are concerned, both of them hold deep hatred. Rak tried to speak by introducing himself as Rishi''s friend only to be ignored with an unfriendly stare. Moreover, we could feel the deep-seated hatred and disgust in their eyes."


    Priya informed everything in one breath while Rakesh nodded. Hari silently mulled over considering his next plan of action.


    "Things are a lot more complicated than we expected, but we come with a way to rejoin Rishi with his family."


    Hari thought-out aloud but all his brothers were not buying his ideas.


    "Priya, Rakesh do you guys have any ideas?"


    Hari spoke, but he could sense his idea was collectively dissent by his brothers. Still, as a trained soldier, they went to complete their duty whether they agree to it or not.


    "Wait a minute, guys if you have disagreement just say it out loud. I''m no longer your captain, and we aren''t in the army. We are just a small group of men trying to survive the huge tsunami coming. Even I can make mistakes, so speak your mind."


    Hari eyed all his brothers, waiting for someone to change the flow. Till now, it has always been him taking decision with their input, Hari was striving to reverse this trend.


    "Hari with everything coming apart why are you hell-bent of interfering in Rishi''s life?"


    Rakesh bluntly voiced out his thoughts and everyone in the room was in consent.


    Though they were in agreement, all them were even more surprised that Rakesh he was always known for being quiet and withdrawn. Only Hari knew Rishi was a significant factor in Rakesh unusual behaviour.


    *Sigh*


    "Do you really think I''m out of my mind? If I was really going around sorting out family issues, wouldn''t you be the first person, I''ll certainly start with your family?


    Not by any distant imagination, a by-stander is going to become more important than my brother.


    And I know Ori realm seems to be something beyond us; that''s exactly the reason we need to help Rishi.


    Only he has the first-hand experience with spiritual intelligence. My breakthrough could be attributed mainly to the otherworldly encounter with the big guy.


    All your breakthrough is by the fruit, which also stems from his hands; thus if we have to guide someone into developing Spiritual Intelligence, we need Rishi''s help."


    Hari eyed Anil as he spoke, everyone knew Anil would need some guidance, and in all likelihood, they won''t make a good teacher.


    "Rejoining Rishi with his family is for two-fold objective; one, Rishi will be grateful to us, and secondly, more importantly, his family is the bottleneck preventing him.


    With his personal life sorted out he''s bound to reach True Mortal Realm, sooner or later."


    Hari calmly reasoned out, Anil was grateful while others were thoroughly convinced. They were savouring the pleasant experience of being consulted and reasoned with before receiving orders.


    These were rare happenings in the army, and things were slowly transforming with their collective efforts.


    Slowly one by one everyone left, none of them discussed any further about Ori Realm; as they need to carefully assess every bit of information and finally come to rational interpretation.

 Ch 15 Haris Kidnapped

    10:00 pm, 31st October, Tuesday, 2018.


    It''s been ten days since they learned about Ori Realm from Gekas.


    They were all stabilizing and familiarizing with their new gained powers. Though their actual strength hadn''t witnessed any apparent improvement, their sense and mind had significant changes.


    Everyone was busy training, and as usual, Anil was the one having the most strenuous exercise. He had to keep up with the physical training and Galactic Rune Art.


    Fortunately, they enrolled Gekas into their business operations and appointed him as the ''Deputy Manager of Kyro Auction House''. As unwilling as Gekas was he couldn''t possibly refuse the offer when his life was hanging on the thread, literally.


    Hari was in Zen World, its been three weeks since he obtained Zen World. Yet the Zen Yajna was still just burning in thin air, it was like a real-life painting while the Zen Tree bloomed once again a couple of days ago.


    ------------------


    Inventory


    Minor Healing Plum X 2


    Emotion Sealing Fruit X 5


    _________


    [Minor Healing Plum: All ailments can be cured by this plum.]


    [Emotion Sealing Berry: It gives temporary emotional paralysis upon consumption.]


    -----------------


    Hari had created an inventory for all the fruits; initially, he planned on experimenting with plums if he got more supplies in the subsequent weeks.


    But he harvested a new fruit last Sunday and worse he couldn''t figure its exact use.


    While he was pondering his instinct alarmed, he could feel malicious intent. When Hari goes to Zen world, only his soul leaves earth, for outsiders he will be in deep sleep or coma upon closer inspection.


    Still, Zen world had a defence mechanism it heightens his senses and intuition, thus ensuring his safety.


    Hari immediately returned back to his body and felt another human''s presence inside the home.


    He tiptoed to the door and peeked through the small gap into the hall. A man was sneaking around and quietly rummaging the entire house. Hari believed the person is not a burglar because it seemed like he was searching for something specific.


    After weighing all his options, he decided to pretend to have fallen asleep as the intruder was a member of the Ori Realm. Moreover, he guessed that the intruder''s here for Shreya because most of the targets so far were woman-centric.


    The man entered Hari''s after completely searching all the other rooms. Once he found Hari, the hooded guy took a sedative from pockets and used them knock out Hari.


    Then he cleaned all the evidence, in fact though he rummaged through the entire house he was very careful that it was never messed up.


    *******


    11:30 pm


    *Tring* *Tringggg*


    Shreya''s beautiful brows furrowed and her peaceful sleep was disturbed. Shreya switched on the table lamp while groggily searching for the mobile; after a couple of seconds struggle, she found the phone.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "Hello, who''s it?"


    Shreya directly picked the call without even checking the caller id; the bright screen''s a bane for sleep. Her voice was full of annoyance and irritation, but the very next instant, she jumped up and sat upright on the bed.


    "I''ve got Hari. Bring the Black Rutra seed to Factory 23#, Kurukupet Industrial Estate. You only have an hour, don''t force my hands."


    The cold, callous voice was like electric current flowing through her system, literally stunning her. The next moment her eyes sharpened, completely obliterating any hint of the weariness. Her anger peaked, a choking regal aura oozed out of her and plunged Shemo from his sweet dreams into a horrible nightmare.


    Shreya sprang into action; she changed into a casual t-shirt and blue jean from the pyjamas while swiftly making a call.


    "Kira, trace my last call quickly. Report within 5 minutes."


    Shreya rapidly ordered her secretary while sprinting to her White Mercedes. She anxiously raced to the abandoned factory while biting her lips in guilt.


    The mobile ring pulled her back to reality from the whirlpool of guilt.


    "M''am, the mobile is a military-grade non-trackable product. So deciphering it would take a long time and reverse tracking is much difficult than real-time¡­."


    Shreya hung the call in spite and sped to the Abandoned factory. Though she knew it could probably be a trap, she couldn''t put Hari in risk.


    Exactly 45 minutes later, Shreya reached the factory. She pulled her mobile to call, but a rugged voice interrupted her.


    "Just open the gate and come in."


    Shreya hesitantly pushed the rusty gate, and a black-hooded man emerged from darkness next to a large iron pillar. Then Hari drew her attention; he was tied to the pillar with a steel chain, but there were no visible injuries.


    "ho-oh ohh, You seem very relieved to find your husband unharmed. Don''t worry I''m a man of my word, I wouldn''t stoop low enough to hurt a pathetic Lesser Mortal. That is unless the circumstance forces my hands."


    A hoarse voice echoed through the empty factory, breaking the harmonious silence of a peaceful night.


    "Enough with the bullshit shut the fuck up and release the guy. Here''s Black Rutra seed."


    Shreya''s icy voice latent with disgust demanded a quick exchange. While pulling out a small sandalwood box and snapped it open.


    "Why would I want this meat bag, just throw over the Black Rutra seed, and I''ll also send this worthless piece of shit."


    The Black-hood was also not willing to put up a drama, he turned around and broke the steel chain with bare hands. Both of them had superhuman senses and could clearly see in the moonlight, so it was just a straight forward exchange.


    The guy lifted Hari and waited for Shreya. Once she threw the sandal box he too fulfilled his end of the deal he threw Hari.


    Shreya caught Hari and slowly placed him down while removing the blindfold, earplug, the leather belt on his ankles.


    "Little missy here''s a piece of advice from a senior, remove these measly mortals from your life; disassociate from them; it will be nothing but glaring weakness exposed enticing the innocent guys like me to exploit..... uh uh, you shitty cunt dare to cheat. Where''s the real Black Rutra seed."


    The black-hooded guy was busy giving his sagely advice and pulled the wooden box cover eagerly, only to be shocked to the find a phony Black Rudra seed in the wooden box.


    Realizing that he was defrauded, the black-hooded guy shouted like an angry bull. He carelessly threw the sandal box-like trash and dashed forward.


    Shreya was obviously prepared, she pulled out an ancient reverse curve blade. The hooded guy eyes were glittering like stars, the instant he saw the ancient blade.


    "Miss. I''ve changed my mind; I''ll forgive you and your husband if you were kind enough to gift me the blade in your hand."


    The guy sent a spine-chilling smile while dashing forward fueled by greed to steal the blade from Shreya with a dagger magically materialized in his hands.


    Both of them clashed and exchanged innumerable blows in a couple of minutes. Bright yellowish Sparks were produced with each exchange, lighting the factory from time to time.


    The yellow glints of exhibited Shreya''s bright face and a dark undiscernible face, though it was just a short period the battle was very exhausting.


    After a bout they backed off to catch a breath, both of them didn''t use any of their hidden cards; the next clash would be the real fight, filled killer blows.


    Shreya was surprised to find the guy well matched. Then she looked over her shoulder to check on Hari, he was knocked out cold, but it was relieving find him unharmed.

 Ch 16 Shreya fights for Hari

    Suddenly her instinct alarmed and she backed off narrowly escaping the sharp dagger but not before earning a cut on the left shoulder. Her momentary distraction gave her opponent a chance to sneak up on her.


    "This''s what I was telling if that guy wasn''t nearby you wouldn''t have been distracted and ultimate meet your demise in my hand."


    The guy let out villainous laughter and grinned while retreating.


    Shreya felt a strong poison coursing through her system, strange dizziness also dampened her superhuman reflex. She gritted her teeth and suppress the poison.


    "You forced my hands. Now Suffer my wrath."


    Shreya squeezed the words through her teeth, laden with hatred. And immediately, the air around her transformed.


    "7th Discipline of Water school - Ice shedding blade."


    Shreya cried while her ancient rusty sword got a mild bluish glint.


    The black-hooded guy''s eyes shrunk in fright, he knew anyone with martial techniques would either have unfathomable strength or a deep background.


    A nobody like him could neither trifle with uncanny expert nor a princess.


    ''Don''t lose your cool, calm down, analyze the situation.''


    The hooded guy meditated it like a chant and flushed out the chaotic thoughts from his mind to regain tranquil heart.


    *phew*


    This woman is no expert, such blunders wouldn''t come of experts, not even the worse ones. She definitely has to be some runaway princess, fallen for the mortal man lying over there.''


    Soon a cold glint flashed past his cold, calculating eyes and his pupil thinned out like a viper.


    ''If I kill the couple, everything would be buried with them, with a bit of luck I could even put off the pursuit of her backer. And if everything goes as planned the ancient blade and the real Black rides seed would become mine.''


    Driven by his greed, the man cunningly licked his lips while waiting for Shreya to make her move.


    Shreya''s breathing was ragged and uneven, clearly evidencing the deadly poison in her system.


    Yet she somehow managed to gather enough stamina to propel her towards the villainous guy.


    *clang*


    Both their weapons clashed sending sonic waves, unlike the last bout it wasn''t a mini firework instead shards of ices were flying all over the factory.


    Whenever their blades met Shreya''s Ice Shedding Blade would freeze the dagger a bit. While most of the ice fell off a bright sheen of white ice could be discerned over the blade.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The hooded guy was dropping bullets of sweat drenching the shirt. He could feel the chill transmitted from the blade, it was affecting his flexibility and dampening his dagger mastery.


    A more pressing issue was his precious dagger seemed weakening, which he chalked down to the terrible sheen of ice.


    Though he lusted for the ancient blade he was no expert swordsman, all along his plan was to sell the treasured sword for a fortune.


    So losing his dagger in a plight to get an ancient sword''s akin to wasting one''s real arm to get a diamond arm.


    Still, he couldn''t back off, if his assumption is correct, then the babyface before him could very well lead to his demise if she escaped.


    Gritting his teeth in frustration, he propelled forward.


    On the other hand, lethargy and weariness were taking over Shreya. If she hadn''t been poisoned, she could have easily overpowered the hooded guy with just her ''7th Discipline of Water school - Ice shedding blade.''


    *Ahem*


    Both of them were alerted and looked sideways to only to find Hari standing a few meters away.


    The hooded guy started to panic; he knew things were going down south for him; usually, an ordinary person couldn''t as much as scratch him let alone hurt him.


    But as things stand now Shreya could easily escape or even defeat him with a little help, an ordinary guy like him was more than enough to screw him.


    "Hey you, I''ll give you 3 mins to recover. Let have a fair fight."


    Hari nonchalantly said while supporting Shreya.


    The hooded guy near tripped over and fell, he never expected such a twist in the tale; but it seemed


    the god wants him to have a windfall.


    He solemnly nodded his head while further retreating and entirely focused on recovering his stamina as early as possible.


    ''I''ll recover in a few minutes and let the poison do the work; then I''ll give that clown a swift, painless death.''


    He wasn''t going to mess up such a god-sent opportunity.


    The hooded guys'' plan was as clear as day to Shreya; thus, she tried to pursue him, but Hari firmly held her and gave a meaningful look.


    "You focus on the poison in your system, I''ll take care of that douchebag."


    Hari whispered into ears and forced to sit down; Shreya decided to follow his lead, she only needs 5 minutes to flush out the poison from her system.


    Shreya believed that Hari could hold back that guy at least for 2 mins. Thus she wholeheartedly concentrated on the poison inside her body; it would have been a grave problem to others, but she for her it was just a matter of time.


    Exactly 3 mins later¡­.


    *Thud*


    Shreya forcefully opened her eyes; this was the sound she prayed, not hear. It meant Hari failed to even face a single hit head-on against the Hooded guy.


    But Shreya was in for a surprise the hooded guy was lying like a gunny bag; with his eyes popping from their socket and streaks of blood leaked out from his mouth like a tiny blood brook. Disbelief and astonishment could be discerned in his eyes.


    He wasn''t the only one who was in for a surprise; Shreya too widened her eyes seeing the beast of a man who finished of her enemy with just a single barehanded chop over his neck. She was really beginning doubt her skills and even the cultivation after the stunt he pulled.


    A few hours ago¡­


    In their house after knocking him unconscious, the intruder gagged his hostage and put in a gunny bag before throwing the gunny bag into a car.


    In the bag, Hari was patiently waiting; he never really lost his consciousness. Ever since his breakthrough, these common drugs were losing their effects on him.


    ''''Karma''s a boomerang'' Just few days ago I kidnapped Gekas and now I''m riding the same cart.''


    Hari mentally complained, though he was volunteered it doesn''t equate to accepting without any grievance.


    *screech*


    The car came to a screeching halt.


    ''Ahh... Finally, this idiot stopped the car, we have travelled for more than an hour. This place is too quiet obviously this should be in a remote corner of the city.'' Hari mentally cried.


    "ARH ¨C WOOOOO"


    ''Huh... That''s definitely a wolf''s howl. Where has this bastard bought me?'' he cursed the guy while putting every ounce of his concentration into ears to get more clue but the hooded guy wasn''t very keen on giving such opportunity.


    While Hari was busy cursing him, he pulled Hari and checked if he was conscious. After a half-assed inspection, he put Hari over his shoulder and walked a few meters before carelessly throwing him down.

 Ch 17 Hari Intervenes

    Later Hari was tied to an iron pillar; though it was the lousiest knot he has ever encountered, Hari never planned to escape, so it was irrelevant.


    Then Hari''s patience was once again put to test; he was blindfolded, and even his ears were plugged while his limbs were strapped to the chilly rusted iron pillar.


    He hung his head down and waited, inside he was inching to break-free and trash the kidnapper, but the curiosity to find was this entire kidnap stunt stopped his tracks; so all he could do was grudgingly bare this deafening silence.


    Finally, the mysterious kidnapper somehow broke the chains around his hands, and a few minutes later, he was thrown in the air. Hari regretted playing along, but fortunately for him, he was caught by someone and gently placed on the floor.


    His blindfold and earplugs were first removed before the belt fastening his legs. Still, Hari didn''t open his eyes he decided to wait till he identities both the party before waking up.


    The first sound he heard after an hour painful silence was a shrill, ear-piercing voice, giving out his sagely advice.


    "Little missy here''s a piece of advice from a senior, remove these measly mortals from your life; disassociate from them; it will be nothing but glaring weakness exposed enticing the innocent guys like me to exploit..... uh uh, you shitty cunt dare to cheat. Where''s the real Black Rutra seed."


    Hari was astonished, he never imagined that the small seed sold in his auction could cause so much of chaos, but he skillfully concealed everything and continued to pretend as unconscious.


    While secretly spectating everything, he really didn''t want to get involved in this mess; Ori Realm was still an inexplicable monster in his perspective.


    Along with the surprise, his anger also went rose; he has never encountered such ballast disdain towards their fellow humans, albeit weaker ones.


    ''It''s not only going to be an unforgettable lesson; it''ll also be the last lesson in your life.''


    Endless Killing intent surged in Hari''s heart, as he swore to kill the guy mentally.


    "Miss. I''ve changed my mind; I''ll forgive you and your husband if you were kind enough to gift me the blade in your hand."


    The next instant, he witnessed an epic stomach-churning, puke-inducing battle¡­er, no toy swordplay between his wife and the black-hood.


    Hari was stunned speechless, ''What''s going on?? Maybe it''s a film shooting or something? But then why is there battle intent in air.. this doesn''t make any sense.''


    Their swordplay was full of holes, mostly emphasized on flashiness and elegance. It was painful to even watch this fight Hari would be more than willing to be gagged instead spectating the kindergarten fight.


    But there was an exciting development later; Shreya was sneaked upon and received a small cut, but her body didn''t seem to have even a little bit of poison immunity.


    Then even more surprisingly she used her hidden card, with each clash her sword sent out ice shards with trying to immobilize the hooded guy by transmitting the chill through the metal dagger.


    Strangely, enough her swordplay suddenly became more complicated and unpredictable, but it wasn''t full; it was like a pirated version of a Great Technique. The technique was filled with unfamiliarity; moreover, each slash lacked the intent behind them.


    Nevertheless, he was fascinated to see something this supernatural; though he had mentally built a fictional world it was still a far cry from seeing the real one, maybe he wasn''t very creative with ideas.


    He silently watched their battle¡­ er... Toy war, it was still full of holes, but Shreya miracle work made their confrontation a bit presentable.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.A couple of minutes later, Shreya seemed to have pushed herself a bit too hard. She was heavily panting, and even the icy sheen on her blade seem to have weakened.


    He believed she still had a couple of cards, but Hari couldn''t possibly bring her to any harm, just for his amusement.


    "Hey you, I''ll give you 3 mins to recover. Let have a fair fight."


    Hari slowly strolled to the hooded guy and waited there for three minutes; this wasn''t a senseless move, in fact, this was a very thought of a plan of action.


    Had Hari directly attacked, it would have mostly been a failure. Being cornered and pushed back by Shreya his senses would be in extreme alert, but the three minutes'' will recover his stamina and will also bring down his vigilance.


    This is bound to happen given the disdain and contempt Hari felt from that guy.


    Thus precisely three minutes later he made his move.


    ''Flash Steps''


    Then he vanished from the ground and moved in the night like a phantom-like ghastly track.


    The hooded guy was 30 meters away, yet Hari covered the distance in few seconds, though it drained his stamina quickly; ''Flash Steps'' was the quickest movement technique in his arsenal.


    Hari''s opponent was taken aback and strained his eyes to find his target; unfortunately for him, Hari had long gone past him.


    Sneaking behind his target without alerting Hari plunged a long thorn into his neck. The guy seemed a bit more resilient, though he fell he still retained his conscious the damage was done.


    "Remember, you died in the hands of a mortal."


    Then he stabbed the dart straight to his heart, killing the guy instantly.


    Shreya had frozen from fright; the guy before her, her Husband-in-name, murdered a man. That''s not the issue, even she had killed a few men, but sheer familiarity and those unfazed eyes gave sent chills down the spine.


    Hari walked over and stared into her eyes a few seconds before breaking the truce with a mild cough.


    *cough*


    "Shreya do you have any special way to clean up?"


    Hari was really helpless, though he could clean it up he was still wary was that people of the other world might have some supernatural ability to track him down.


    Shreya rolled her eyes in response and moved to the corpse and pulled out a small pouch and the dagger from the carcass. Then she took a small vail from her pockets and poured a few drops on to the corpse. A few seconds later, the body wholly decomposed into black sludge.


    Hari was popping his eyes; caught off guard by the bizarre scene that played out.


    "It''s ''Cadaver''s Green Acid'' this liquid can decompose any dead body."


    Shreya briefed about the liquid before putting back inside. Hari sucked in a deep breath while she smiled in response.


    Hari took care of the truck; he blew the car erasing all the evidence.


    The ride back home was uneventful and peaceful, empty, silent roads were soothing after such tension night. Neither of them broke the silence, they somehow came to an unspoken agreement to discuss everything the coming morning.


    Both of them needs to straighten out their thought process, it''s not like they can just blabber all their secrets, and many other things need to be considered.


    By the time they reached the home it was 1:30 am. In that cold night, a white dog was sitting erect outside the door opened ajar. Shreya was too anxious that she forgot to close the doors.


    Shemo was faithfully guarding the home, it just jumped to Shreya and started licking her face. Shreya was guilty of letting the poor dog freezing in the cold.


    Then all three of them went to the house, as usual, Shemo and Shreya walked to one room while Hari entered his room.

 Ch 18 A Dream

    Early morning around 5:00 am,


    Hari was peacefully sleeping on his bed suddenly his brows crushed, and he started sweating while clenched the bedsheet nearly tearing the poor piece of cloth. Hari was experiencing the worst of his dreams; it''s also the most realist one he''s ever had.


    He found himself in a zombie world, one-quarter of humanity died while 12 to 15% of dead were turned to Mindless zombies. The sheer gore and bloodshed sent chills down his spine. But the cruelty and inhumane attitude towards a fellow human, especially at times of despair froze his heart while hopelessness loomed over like dark clouds.


    Hari could stomach the bloodshed or gruesome but humanity void of morals and such bestial tendencies projected a bleak future waiting ahead while utter despair enveloped the lone soldier.


    Furthermore, Hari was a like silent spectator watching a tragic piece of human history, The end of humanity. Being a quiet observer was worse of torture than really experiencing it; you could do nothing but witness the tragedy unfold before your eyes.


    To make things worse, he was the protagonist of the tales. Hari was helplessly watching everything his other counterpart was going through. The Hari of the Zombie world was separated from his family.


    His parents in the other part of the city, so he slaughtered through the tides of Zombies across the city, killing far more than what he killed as a soldier. Strangely he was actually stronger than his peak strength, but that was the least of his concern.


    After days of travelling miles through the city stepping over thousands corpse, holding on to the blind bleak faith to meet his parents Hari turned into a reckless slaughter machine.


    Finally, after untold hardship, he managed to cross the city in one month and met his parents only to find himself one step late.


    They were killed by those mindless zombies; he went crazy, killing every last zombie in the vicinity. Then he silently stood near their corpse, hoping for a miracle. A few minutes later his father fingers slightly moved and slowly he stood up shortly followed by his mother.


    *thud*


    Hari kneed down and cried hard, both his parents moved closer and reached out their hands to him.


    "Sorry mom, sorry dad¡­sorry¡­sorry...mom"


    Hari kept on mumbling over and over while he extended his hands to their neck and snapped. Both his parents transformed into a zombie, and he was forced to kill them.


    "Aaaaaaaaa¡­"


    Hari shouted and woke up; then he looked around and let a relieved sigh seeing the familiar room. He was completely drenched in sweat, and a streak of sun rays through the window expelled the looming depressing aura.


    "curse that f***ing Zombie s**ting land @#$=$....."


    After a long string of swearing, Hari pulled out his mobile and called his mother.


    "Hello, Ma."


    Hari spoke with an inaudible sigh of relief and a small gratified smile for picking the phone this early in the morning,


    "Hello Hari, is there some problem; did you fight with my daughter-in-law?"


    Hari''s mother immediately sensed something wrong, just a word was enough for a loving mother.


    "Nothing mom, I''m just missing you. It''s been a while right...¡­.."


    Hari lied throw the teeth, but her voice pacified all the tension build-in, and he had a very long hearty chat with her after a very long period.


    An Hour Later¡­..


    In the bed, he was sitting erect with furrowed brows while the legs were patting as though he was suffering from Restless Legs Syndrome.


    After talking to his mother, the pressure was released, and the mind cleared. He carefully ran through the dream a few times and found many questionable points.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.Firstly, unlike ordinary dreams, he remembers every single minute details. Secondly, it was too real and detailed for a dream; lastly, he had a nagging feeling that it was real.


    Then something came to his mind, his last encounter with God.


    "The calamity or apocalypse is fast approaching; it''s inevitable and a definite disaster bound to happen.


    Experiencing is better than listening. I''ll construct a timeline identically to the present timeline, the only difference will be you wouldn''t have died that day."


    Momentarily Hari got inspired, and everything seemed to fall into pieces. The dream was the alternative reality and earth is going to face such a disaster.


    Hari was left in utter despair; instead, his fighting spirit was sparked. He was determined to prevent it from happening; Hari couldn''t afford to lose his family.


    The dream was more than enough to prove he couldn''t handle such loss. He knew this was way over his head, and without other''s help, he could possibly change anything.


    Hari was just about to call his brothers but Shemo''s sound stopped his track. He recalled the incident last night; Shreya was bound to ask him a question, and he too needs to learn about her.


    Once again, Hari went into deep contemplation to decide his plan of action.


    "Good Morning!!!"


    Hari greeted Shreya as he walked out of his room.


    "Good Morning!! I thought you wouldn''t come out till at all."


    Shreya teased him and lighten the mood while Hari gave an uninterested smile; he just had too much in his mind to enjoy bad jokes.


    "Shreya we''re both connections with Ori realm. We need to share some of our secrets because we can''t just live in denial, especially after that incident. Let''s share some secrets, information we are willing to let out. Are we in a consensus here?"


    Hari directly spoke out without wasting time on setting the mood; which slightly shocked Shreya, but she still nodded in agreement.


    "Ummm"


    "I''ll start; I was a part of the Indian Army, there an instructor took me in as his discipline. Later I learned that he was from Ori Realm and that''s my first introduction to Ori realm."


    Hari paused, looked into Shreya''s eyes. He was obviously waiting for her to begin; from the very beginning, the plan was a mutual exchange of information rather than him spilling all his beans.


    Shreya grumpily started, she knew Hari had seen through her plans.


    "My Senior brother said that I had great potential and took me to Ori Realm when I was an early teen. I spent more than a decade in Ori Realm before returning to Earth.


    In Nalan Research Institute, I''m a visiting Professor; moreover, I''m a student at Nalanda University. I think you would have heard about the University, it''s the world''s first University, and the Dean of our university is one of the Sovereigns of Ori Realm."


    Shreya haughtily spoke about her University; she tried to intimidate Hari and scare him.


    "I''m a part of Blur Kilns, and I''ve never set my foot in Ori realm, my teacher said he''ll take me there when the time is right. I think it''s better to end our exchange here, if you want to know more about me then share a secret of yours in exchange."


    Hari stopped there, in fact, all along he waiting for a chance to end the farce. He had his hands full, and this conversion wasn''t really taking them anywhere.


    Shreya smirked seeing Hari leaving in a panic; then suddenly Hari opened the door and looked inside.


    "Yeah Shreya I forgot tell my teacher''s name; the people of earth know his as Marshal Jagor Lion while Ori Realm knows as Sovereign Gatekeeper. Bye."


    Hari just threw a bombshell before leaving. Shreya was thoroughly shaken and felt stupid.

 Ch 19 Shreya Investigates

    In the hall Shreya sitting with wide eyes, her pupils had shrunk while her hands were rapidly fiddling a pen.


    Her statement earlier wasn''t a marrow-minded woman biting; it had a profound hidden meaning. Shreya''s real identity had too many secrets swirling around it.


    The real intent behind intimidating Hari was to prevent him from being dragged into it. Unfortunately, his identity stumbled her plans and earned her a bitchy impression for nothing.


    ''Can''t be helped, If Hari''s a Sovereign''s discipline¡­..''


    Shreya started focusing on her future action plan rather than dwelling on the failure.


    "Kira, I''ve sent a guy''s photo just investigate him. Not an in-depth one it''s a bit complicated so first run an overview and report back immediately. Don''t leave any loose ends, he''s a dangerous figure."


    On the other side, a muscular woman was respectfully standing while carefully conversing over the phone. It was Kira, Shreya''s personal secretary.


    "Okay, ma''am. I''ll prudently investigate."


    Kira ended the call and quickly started the task. Since it''s a rare happening, Kira took extra precautions. If Shreya labels a person as dangerous, it only means that one thing he''ll be a great character that even their Junchit Daily couldn''t tackle.


    After finishing the call, Shreya played back a disturbing scene in her mind.


    Three months ago, the day Shemo entered their home.


    After realising Hari was the one who initially saved Shemo; she decided to properly apologize. So indecisively walked over to his room, she was never good with apologies.


    But a sudden breeze blew past her and the unlatched door slowly noiselessly opened. The door revealed a half-naked guy at the corner of the room. Shreya instantly used her Movement technique and sped the scene, literally teleporting to the kitchen.


    There she held her breathe and took a few minutes to calm down. Shreya wasn''t an ignorant maiden to blush over a naked man, but Hari''s torso was intense even for a cold-blooded veteran businesswoman or practitioner from Ori Realm.


    She has destroyed many illegal organisations with her media, turning those tyrannical syndicates to ashes in a matter of days. She''s even killed few men with her hands; even so, Hari''s scars were too bloody and raw for her eyes.


    She clearly saw all the scars on his upper body, luckily the kitchen was just next to Hari''s room so she quickly slipped to the kitchen.


    For the first time, she felt cursed for having a good memory, no matter how hard she tried Shreya could put those images of her head.


    Hari''s wounds were very awful; his entire body was covered with different patched of scars. She has never heard of tortures which could give such scares and just picturing the days of his torture was excruciatingly painful.


    An average person could never survive such cruel, callous torture; the person standing alive before her only highlight''s his unordinary background.


    If she failed to comprehend the gravity of the situation and underestimate a man with such killer intent and scars, Shreya wouldn''t be a successful businesswoman.


    Still, she somehow subdued her impulse as she was sure that Hari wasn''t linked to Ori Realm whatsoever. She came to this conclusion because of his clueless expression and confusion when she displayed her powers.


    But now everything has changed Hari himself has accepted that he has a connection with Ori Realm and this one information could displace too many of her plans.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.She took a deep breath and clear all those disturbing thoughts from her mind and started her usual day.


    Later that day, in Junchit Daily headquarters.


    In the CEO''s office, Shreya was going through the documents, and suddenly someone bragged in without even getting permission.


    A colossal figure emerged, the person was at least Six-and-half feet high with bursting muscles, it was her secretary Kira. Easily one would mistake her for bodyguard; she wasn''t anything like the typical sexy or scholarly secretary.


    Though it annoyed her Shreya didn''t reprimand Kira, she knew it has to an emergency or else Kira wouldn''t forget her manners.


    "Miss, miss¡­ an emergency the investigation took a wild turn it''s going out of hand."


    Kira stopped to get some air; she came rushing all the way and was obviously out of breath.


    Shreya''s brows slowly wrinkled, forming a distinct frown and the air steadily became heavier; Shreya''s temper was further suffocating to the poor soul.


    "First calm down, take a deep breath. Umm¡­Now continue."


    Shreya indifferently gave out instructions, Kira obediently followed. She knew her Miss was angry, but she can only blame herself for such poor communication letting Shreya misunderstand the situation.


    "Ma''am, we aren''t involved. It''s just something bizarre happened with that guy."


    Shreya''s frown vanished, and the tension in the air reduced. Kira mentally sighed and continued.


    "We ran a standard background check and got his profile. It was just a commoner''s profile since it''s too ordinary we suspected it to counterfeited; our hackers started digging deeper.


    While they were at it, traces of another group''s parallel investigation on the same person were found; so we counter hacked and this morning discovered it was private hackers commissioned by YNK party leader Yashini Devi."


    Shreya back straightened, and her eyes became more focused; she never expected a state party leader to be involved.


    "Furthermore, today 10:40 am in YNK party meeting, the party leader''s mobile burst creating huge chaos while giving second degree burns to Yashini Devi.


    At the same time in another corner of the city, four people were found assassinated, estimated time of death 9:30 am, and the victims are suspected to be professional gamers."


    "Ma''am, the incidents - mobile blast, homicide and hackers hired by Yashini Devi might seem isolated on a superficial note, but when dug further every event was related to Hari ¨C the person under investigation.


    Hari''s a Finance manager in Moon Pictures Private Limited; which''s part of Airaa groups headed by Anil Rathore, the heir to Airaa Group. Yashini Devi''s daughter Lila is the second-largest shareholder and also Anil Rathore''s fianc¨¦e."


    "Miss the hypothesised sequence of the events are as follows ¨C First, Hari somehow offended Lila provoking Yashini Devi; with by-election around the corner it was unwise to do anything reckless; thus they played it down till the then.


    Later Yashini Devi hired a group of Professional hacker to dig up on Hari yesterday, to verify if he had a prominent background before taking action.


    Second ¨C The homicide, though the victims are officially recorded as professional gamers, we have confirmed them to be hacker through photos leaked, the gamer''s identity must be a cover-up. Based on the timings and other evidence we identified them to be the same group hired by Yashini Devi


    Third ¨C The blast, before her mobile bust Yashini Devi was on a call. While speaking, she seemed to be awfully sweating, and her pupils shrunk to a needlepoint, though she tried to conceal it, her emotions got the better of her.


    Finally, our insider sent the footage of the meeting just until the blast. We decrypted her lip movements to pry into the last conversation over the phone.

 Ch 20 Haris Background

    Strangely Yashini Devi kept on repeating the same word over and over throughout the conversation.


    After running several tests by both the software and lip-reading experts, we confirmed the word to be ''Code-Yama''. But the last name precisely before the blast was ¡®Hari¡¯."


    Shreya''s Arctic eyes widened, and her jaws dropped; she nearly jumped from her chair the moment Kira uttered the word ¡®Code-Yama¡¯.


    Her Mistress''s unusual reaction gave Kira a mild heart attack; it''s the first time Shreya has lost her composure since taking over Junchit Daily. Shreya completely ignored her secretary.


    Seconds later, Shreya broke from her daze and gave swift orders.


    "Kira, immediately stop the investigation and put Yashini Devi under full coverage, something juicy is about to come of her."


    ''From the looks of it Yashini Devi has got the 1st layer summoning; tomorrow is going the fateful day of a political giant.''


    Code Yama has 13 different summons, from the mildest to the harshest, 1st Layer summon to 13th layer summon. 1st layer is a warning and people will face actual hell from 2nd layer summons onwards.


    Kira was oblivious about the dark clouds looming over Yashini Devi. Still, her Mistress''s commands were absolute, so she immediately made a call and stopped the operation while sending an instruction to keep a close watch on Yashini Devi.


    "Are there any other strange observation from the investigation."


    Shreya hopefully enquired Kira since she hated the very idea of returning empty-handed.


    "Yes ma''am, Hari''s spouse is also a complete mystery. Apart from her name, everything is kept confidential, we couldn''t even find a photo. And one interesting coincidence both you and his wife bear the same name ''Shreya''."


    Kira would have never fathomed the mysterious wife was actually sitting before her. Though both of them had the same name Kira found it marriage an impossibility for her cold aloof boss; moreover, ''Shreya'' is a pretty common name so Kira couldn''t be blamed.


    "Don''t bother investigating his wife, I''m.."


    Shreya was giving orders, but the landline interrupted her; Shreya coolly switched on the speaker, it was the leader of her company hackers.


    "Ma''am, a significant breakthrough was achieved just before the orders to cease the investigation was transmitted on. We managed to hack into the remote server of the Hackers hired by Yashini Devi and retrieve the data they collected on the person under investigation, Hari; before it was destroyed.


    Hari was actually a part of Indian Para-Military; his entire career as a white collared worker was just a smokescreen. He seemed to be a part of special ops before retiring due to injuries.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Nothing concrete was found except one record, before retiring Hari donated all his rewards and monetary equivalents back to Indian Military."


    After finishing his piece, the leader respectfully ended the call, and Shreya simply stood in a daze before letting a long sigh.


    An exhausted man full of scars appeared in her mind, though she didn''t know Hari for a long time Shreya was smart enough to discern the sadness looming over him.


    Kira rolled her eyes in bewilderment; Shreya has never lost her composure but today twice in a row, her Mistress failed to put her chilly, aloof fa?ade. She was also eager to meet this mysterious guy and learn the secret art to break the ever tranquil mind of her Mistress.


    "Kira, also stop investigating his spouse you couldn''t get any info on her; you may leave. Please adjourn all meetings today."


    Then Shreya silent sat in deep thoughts Code Yama would never interfere with anyone even if that person is a Sovereigns Disciple.


    Rules of Ori Realm and Earth are too different, and all influence here will be under close scrutiny.


    She couldn¡¯t fathom any possible scenario of ''The Gatekeeper'' ordering Code: Yama to warn Yashini Devi for his personal reason, given his uptight character.


    This could happen only if someone within Code: Yama were helping Hari; which will once again be severely punished.


    The reality can be uncannier than imagination and today¡¯s events were a testament to that saying.


    The Commander-in-Chief of Code: Yama was a cadre from Hari¡¯s junior batch, and back in those days like most of the peers he was also a fanatic follower of Hari.


    He had connections with Ori Realms, his parents are members of Blur kilns. Thus, unlike the rest of his cadres, he entered into Code Yama and climbed up very quickly thanks to his military background.


    In a dark world filled dishonour and betrayal, a man righteous man trained military discipline were a rare breed, and this helped climb up the ladder of authority.


    A few days ago, one of his friend in Military Cyber-wing cited Yashini Devi investigating on Hari during a casual conversation. It was just a fellow admirer sharing his worry and helplessness; they all knew the tragic accident two years.


    Both of them were fuming inside for a fellow serviceman suffering injustice and their helplessness. After a lot of consideration, he acted both as commander-in-chief and Hari¡¯s admirer.


    Code: Yama being part of the underworld and a mercenary group they would take up tasks that board line amoral.


    In the Task Desk, there had a task related to Yashini Devi, with political agenda; typically, these missions would be dismissed to avoid unnecessary trouble, but today because of the commander-in-Chief¡¯s intervention this mission was commissioned.


    And so without even Hari¡¯s knowledge, a person with malicious intentions were wiped out. Even Hari¡¯s direct orders wouldn¡¯t have this perfect outcome; any bystander would be jaw dropped by the series of coincidence in play.


    First, the timing Yashini Devi chose to exact her vengeance at the same time as the Mission, if it were just three-days earlier or later even Code: Yama¡¯s Chief could only helplessly drink in sorrow.


    The mission will only be on the desk for 3-days maximum; thus, everything would have played out differently had Yashini Devi waited a few days.


    Shreya would never learn this information and Hari would remain as an unsolvable mystery forever.


    ******


    In the road, Hari was speeding to their Auction Hall with his trusty Motorbike.


    Hari wasn''t really even thinking about Shreya and her sharp somewhat insensitive response. The last part was just an instinctive counter to give himself strong ground.


    His mind was fully engaged in deciphering the dream and trying to disprove his theory by all means.


    Exactly half-an-hour later, everyone was gathered in the Auction Hall. Hari was the last to enter.


    Hari did¡¯t utter a word he just pointed the ground and walked to the hidden stairs leading to the Interrogation Cell. Though his brothers were puzzled with by his odd behaviour everyone still followed him with any questions.

 Ch 21 Oil field burns

    The interrogation cell was the most secure place in the entire building.


    The entire basement was filled with an impregnable security system set by Kiya with Sushani''s help.


    Being an expert assassin sneaking and breaching into security system is her speciality, and Sushani poured all her skills to come up with this ingenious Security System.


    Even Sushani, the most successful assassin in the world, took full six hours to breach into the room.


    The stairs were filled with a vicious combination of old booby traps and modern security devices. Signal Jammers, Anti-thermal, Sonar shield and the list goes on. Kiya installed a defence mechanism for every known method of remotely investigating a place.


    The only drawback was it was built too small, only big enough to accommodate ten-odd people.


    Though they were only seven of them, just Rakesh was big enough to make it congested. And so the room was jam-packed, none of them could stretch their hand, let alone move about.


    Still, they didn''t dare to complain about their discomforts, because Hari was sitting opposite to them with dead serious face.


    It might seem like Hari''s being overcautious, given the fact that today was their Auction house was shut, and no one was supposed to be working here.


    Still in such a serious matter, going to any extreme will only be reasonable measures.


    Even Ori Realm couldn''t evoke such grave eyes. All of them knew something was up, and the chilly eyes were showcasing foreboding future.


    *ahem*


    Hari cleared his throat, and all of them in room inched to the edge of the chair while slowing down their breath.


    "Yesterday after I left our office a black-hooded man, someone from Ori Realm tried to kidnap me.


    It turns out he somehow found that I was the behind this auction house, and demanded the details of Black Rudra Seeds."


    Hari solemnly narrated his encounter with the black hooded guy; soon, all his brothers slightly relaxed and breath out. They had been expecting some reaction from Ori Realm, none of them could pinpoint the matter of attraction. This incident gave them some concrete clues.


    "Later that night¡­.."


    After a long pause, he started reiterating the dream he had yesterday morning.


    "Actually I met the guy on the day of the auction. That''s why I didn''t return for two days. The fruits you guys had was given that night only, before leaving he said he''ll be giving me the power to see the future.


    Now I''ve an intuition that this dream is our real future."


    Had he said it a few days earlier all his brother wouldn''t have believed it, but after learning about Ori Realm, none of them dismissed it as an ordinary dream.


    "Even I have many misgivings, and there''s only one way to clear all the doubts. In the dream, I found a half-burnt news article on a wall; it''s the only concrete new that I can remember.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    It was about the largest oil field accident in the history of mankind, which killed more 1000 people and hundreds of millions of dollars'' worth of property was destroyed.


    The accident happens on the 24th of October 2018, today, but I can''t find the exact place of accident. So if such an incident happens, it means the dreams were real."


    Hari finally stopped and took a deep breath, this was to give concrete evidence to convince all of them and most importantly, himself. He spent a couple of in the morning to find this small detail.


    Then everyone went upstairs, Rakesh, Anil and Sushani brought all the monitoring television from the security room and placed it on the stage.


    Priya and Riya were busy ordering new television, while Kiya had put her head into the laptop.


    *click* *tap**click*


    The sound echoed all over the hall, while his brothers were busy Hari was silently standing there in deep thoughts.


    An hour later, all the LED televisions were delivered and placed on the stage.


    After arranging everything, the 10-meter-long stage was filled with black screens; it would at least have 25 televisions.


    "Anil is all the connections checked?"


    Kiya shouted from one end of the hall and strained her neck to turn around. Her eyes immediately went back into monitor Anil gave a thumbs up.


    "Priya is the dish moving towards right?"


    Kiya called Priya over the phone, Priya was in the terrace handling a15 meter wide dish.


    "Yes, it slowly turning to the right."


    Kiya ended the call and quickly swiftly hit the keys with precision, her hands were moving so fast it was leaving after images.


    A few seconds later Kiya took her hands off the keyboard and cocked her head to Hari, once she received his signal Kiya keyed in something to her laptop.


    Immediately all the black screens became alive; each screen was broadcasting a news channel, all the countries having large oil fields were covered. Few of these countries had severe Media Restrictions and the news couldn''t be broadcasted elsewhere without getting authorization from the states.


    Kiya had to hack into all those New channel servers and telecast the live new here.


    The entire hall was dead silent; all the televisions were muted as the sounds of some 30 devices together will cause nothing but chaos.


    Time slowly rolled by, and all of them were losing hope or relieved; if such an accident takes place not only will numerous men die, it would also signify that Hari''s dreams might come true.


    And a one-word description would be - Doomsday.


    Slowly the sun went below the horizon, and the temperature had come down; still, Hari was standing erect like a pole before the stage filled with screens.


    All his brothers had relaxed, and they were convinced that it wouldn''t happen; as the saying goes, ''You''ll see what you wish to see''. The next minute disproved the famous saying with crashing footages.


    Anil was giving company to Hari, though everyone was convinced none of them disturbed Hari and took turns to accompany him. Others were sitting a few meters away from the stage, killing time on the Internet.


    Then suddenly Anil''s heart trembled while his pupils shrunk he slowly stepped backwards collapsed onto the chair.


    *Thud*


    All of them rushed to Anil in panic, Hari who was standing beside Anil didn''t move an inch.


    The next second, all the screens displayed the same footage again and again.


    It was footage from one of the Middle Eastern Countries, their largest Oil field had submerged in the sea of flames.


    The video was like a bolt falling on them, none of them was prepared. Except for Hari, all of them were almost certain that the apocalypse was just a wish from his imagination.


    But this news proved them wrong, and this incident is more than enough to substantiate that Hari''s vision will come true.

 Ch 22 Experiencing the Doomsday

    While his brothers were rooted to the ground in shock, Hari sucked in a deep breath and quickly adjusted his mindset.


    He engraved into his mind that Doomsday was a definite happening and erased all doubts. Actually, if he puts a bit more effect, Hari could come up with many more evidence and clues to prove the same.


    But that would be nothing but a waste of effort and time.


    "Let''s go down."


    Hari looked up to stare at the ceiling while he woke his brother from the trance. Everyone silently walked downstairs to the interrogation cell.


    Unlike last time they didn''t make as much as a tiny rustle. It was just too quiet, everyone was in deep thought and woody about the precarious future.


    *cough*


    "I know what''s going on your minds, some might be thinking along these lines, ''Ignorance is Bliss'' while regretting learning about the future.


    Or else you might be thinking of building a safe haven for you people close to you."


    Here Hari paused to look at Anil, who had been hanging his head down all along raised his head.


    "But you''ll have to see the flip side of everything. At least we know the world''s going through a downward spiral ride.


    The fear of the unknown is the greatest, and we have at least gone past.


    While the rest of the world would be unprepared and shiver in fright, the seven of us will be standing upright looking straight into the eyes of the apocalypse without a hint of fear.


    When humanity falls on its knees, we''ll be standing in the front abreast guarding everyone.


    In the face of inevitable power, humanity will flatter, morals and virtues will die. All hells will break loose, and the whole of humanity will need a pillar to get back on its feet."


    Hari stopped and looked around, all his dispirited brothers were standing erect with flaming eyes.


    "So what if we die,


    We''ll die trying; try despite knowing we''ll die."


    Hari smiled, and all their chests heaved up, he spoke his heart. Only genuine emotion can inspire people, all his brothers were righteous men would give their lives for the right cause.


    "Kiya have you brought all the equipment, we''ll spend the next few days recreating my dream digitally.


    It needs to be precise and real, I want all of you to live through the entire dream. Kiya used the best resource at your disposal, this video that you are creating has another significant role to play in the days to come."


    Hari, Kiya and Anil spent the next three days recreating his dream.


    *****


    6:00 pm, 4th November, Tuesday, 2018


    They spent 80 hours to create a video of just 3 hours long.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    But it was more than enough to drain all of them. Anil''s was the most exhausted of the lot his eyes developed black circles from the sleepless nights.


    If this was an Animated movie, Hari would be the director and story writer while Kiya was in charge of animation. But Anil''s job would be everything other than Directing and Animation, he was the art designer. Every single frame was just a graphically enhanced version of his basic art.


    All his brothers had calmed down and were mentally prepared for the roller-coaster ride awaiting.


    The conference room was turned into a hospital ward filled beds and apparatus to monitor one''s health; one by one, everyone walked to a bed.


    Hari walked to the rack behind him filled with black helmet straight out of the future. He appreciated this state of the art equipment in his hands - A Virtual Reality Helmet.


    These glossy black helmets seemed like the props from sci-fi movies.


    The VR Helmet is one of Kiya''s invention, a ground-breaking technology which overthrows all the existing theories on Virtual Reality technology. This VR Helmet isn''t just a simple projection of video; it will be 360-degree display giving the user a complete experience.


    These helmets are made of a unique material, a Meteoric Metal with extreme heat absorption.


    The inner helmet is embedded with millions of microscopic Plasma Crystals.


    These crystals convert the transmitted data into a visual motion picture; but these Plasma Crystals have one major limitation, the heat it generates could turn steel into molten magma in a matter of minutes.


    In the entire world, only this Meteor metal could absorb this degree of heat without affecting humans.


    This metal was refined from meteorite crashed into the earth a decade ago. And this is the biggest drawback of Kiya''s invention, lack of raw material.


    Actually, there were any attempts to artificially replicate this metal, but it was a complete failure. They couldn''t even identify the compound mixed into metal let alone replicate the same.


    Hari helplessly sighed, this piece of technology, even with all its limitation, could bring about a sea of changes to the world but his teacher, Jagor Lion, ordered them to keep this a secret.


    In a few minutes, all of them were in the beds with the black helmet on their heads.


    Riya held a Chip Implant Syringe and moved from one bed to another, injecting a chip into all of them. Finally, she implanted the chip onto herself after wearing the VR Helmet.


    Hari was sitting with a laptop in one corner of the room; carefully monitoring everything. The screen had six columns displaying the real-time status of their vitals of all his brothers.


    After making sure everything was normal Hari switched on the program. The laptop transmitted the data to each VR Helmet through the wireless network.


    Exactly 2 minutes later, all their heartbeat boosted, and their blood pressure steadily climbed.


    Throughout the Three-hour video clip, there was an increasing trend in a heartbeat and blood pressure. At times they were even trembling and clenching their hands.


    All their bedspread was crushed; Rakesh even tore the piece of cloth. From time to time, Hari would hear shouts and cries; swearing and cursing were also more frequent.


    Anil was the only one with least exaggerated reaction, he was the one who drew everything, so this was to be expected. At the last part of the play, invariably everyone shed tears and cried aloud.


    The pictures Anil drew captured every emotion Hari went through, and all his brothers could feel the sorrow and heartache.


    Though the storyline was already known, the last few hours made them live through the story. The boundary between hearing and experiencing unsurmountable chasm and when this happens to one of your dearests, it''ll be a lot more devastating and overwhelming.


    All of them were sitting erect on the bed. The bedsheets were drenched in their sweat and completely crumpled by them. An air of melancholy spread in the room while Hari was seriously checking all their vitals jumping from one bed to another.


    They couldn''t fathom how a man behaves this normally after living through such a traumatising experience just a few hours ago. Once Hari finished; he looked into all their faces, it didn''t take much efforts to discern their thought process.


    He signed them to stop and pointed to the ground, all of them understood the severity of the matter and followed Hari''s lead and went to the basement.


    The interrogation cell had been cleared out, and all of them were standing, it becomes too congested if all seven of sits. Except for Hari, everyone was standing inside opposite Hari; While Hari was standing straight with hand crossed before his chest.


    "That''s not reality, it''s just one of the possibilities of future, but till the day I''m standing alive I wouldn''t let such a thing happen to my family of any one''s family for that matter. Now I need all your help to keep this dream as just a possibility."

 Ch 23 Emotion Sealing Fruit

    "That''s not reality, it''s just one of the possibilities of future, but till the day I''m standing alive I wouldn''t let such a thing happen to my family of any one''s family for that matter. Now I need all your help to keep this dream as just a possibility."


    Hari assertively stated with eyes radiating absolute confidence and conviction.


    "Unn¡­"


    "Hari why don''t we just warn the government; with your connections, we might have real chances of turning the tides?"


    Anil hesitantly stated, initially he bought Hari''s Heroic idea but the last three hours gave him a rude awakening. The new reality they were gonna face was too horrifying and way over their heads.


    *sigh*


    "Anil did you really think I didn''t consider alerting teacher? I''m not some hot-blooded fool who wants to play the hero game?


    I''m certain nothing will truly convince them, if my teacher was just another person maybe we had a shot at it. But he''s one of the powerhouses who runs the entire Ori Realm; with so much strength in his hand no matter how convincing my explanation it''ll be useless.


    ''Power gives confidence but Over-confidence beget defeat'' still nothing can be changed.


    If I can''t persuade then others are will be nothing but hopeless venture."


    Hari explained with a hint of despondency; he really wished to borrow his teacher''s hand. Anil quietened while others were eyed each other, as they muddled around. Hari didn''t plan on wasting another second.


    "Where was I again¡­ Yeah, the Dream¡­I conclude that we have anywhere between 6 to 10 years before this catastrophe strikes us. But this is just an inference from my age in the dream. We need more concrete information to proceed and formulate anything useful.


    This video has been prepared with maximum precision as humanely as possible. The main reason why I made this setup is for you guys to find as many clues as possible and write it on the board behind me."


    Hari pointed at the enormous whiteboard hung on the wall. It occupied one wall of the Interrogation room; the room had a completely new makeover.


    The gloomy dim-lit room was turned into bright refreshing setup. The room was empty and all the chairs were removed.


    "This will be your task for the seven days, all you must only focus on this video. Put all other missions and jobs on hold, the focus must be on the video, and not our future plans or anything else. Before planning, we need information and this video is the only source."


    "Anil just temporarily close our Auction House for the next week and all the employees will get a week of Paid Leave."


    Hari sent out rapidly fired orders and everyone nodded.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "But Boss we''re already on leave and many works have piled up....."


    Anil uncertainly spoke up only to be immediately shut out.


    "Anil just close the damn Auction House, Will you?"


    Hari raised his voice and shut-off Anil. After a deep breath, he toned down a bit and continued.


    "I''ve been running through this dream in my mind over and over again. But my sentiments and attachments to my family are clouding my judgement.


    So you guys are our only hope, don''t get involved just spectate and keenly look out for details. With the fall of order, Law of Jungle triumphs where Might is Right. This will give way to crazy people fulfilling their twisted fantasy into reality, eroding the very foundation of humanity.


    Do your best, here these fruits will numb your emotion for a while, use them wisely."


    Hari passed on the tiny orange plums and indirectly handed down the arduous job to brothers, he was really powerless.


    Days passed by, people were running up and down the Auction building.


    Whiteboard hung on the walls were overflowing with data. Each of them jotted down their points and observation in a paper which was pinned to the whiteboard. Hari would visit the basement every six hours, and they never failed to amaze him. The sheer amount of information was the testament to commitment and resolve.


    With Emotion Sealing Fruit''s help, they all his brothers were spectating the video like emotionless movie critic eyeing every minute details and information. The Emotion Sealing Fruit created a seal around their emotion making them entirely rationale but it weakened with large emotional fluctuations.


    Initially, it was only active for an hour but with practice, they manage to retain the seal throughout the video clip.


    In fact, he used the fruit on the very morning this insane dream. Unfortunately, the Emotion Sealing Fruit proved ineffective on Hari''s endeavour for new details with reliving the dream. He couldn''t control his emotions when he knew his parents were going to die on his hands.


    Since the dream was much real than reality itself; the fruit couldn''t seal the emotional roller-coaster he went through.


    One week later¡­..


    11th November, Sunday, 2018


    Once again, all of them were gathered in the basement.


    "Priya you would''ve studied all the information what is your inference."


    Unlike last time with Anil''s newfound powers Hari didn''t waste time going around asking others, he directly went to Priya.


    ''You can''t teach an old dog new tricks'' Hari learned this the hard way. He was hoping they would have some change in their perception during the long two years of interlude.


    Priya pulled out a notepad and readout.


    "The exact date of this event will be on the First of December 2030. Because¡­"


    Just as she started, Hari interrupted.


    "Sorry to interrupt but Priya you just state the observations no need for evidence or proofs."


    Hari wasn''t willing to waste any more time, he has been looking at this information for a week now, and he knew most concrete facts. He was looking for extrapolations and deductions, not the theories and assumptions behind each conclusion.


    Priya understood his intent and scrolled down a few pages.


    "There are Three Major Discoveries ¨C


    Firstly, The Root of Disaster and Evolution.


    Source of Zombies - A deadly virus was present in the atmosphere as expected, the most worrying part is that evidence and facts point that the Zombification is a man-made disaster.


    Evolution - Humanity as a whole is evolving with many new exotic powers. Still, they are failing to keep up with the pace of their foes ¨C Beasts and Zombies


    These two facts put together to lead us to a couple of presumptions.


    One, the Virus was an act of a Mutant exacting his revenge on humanity.


    Or this Virus is a mechanism went haywire which was developed by humanity to tackle the other evolving creatures with that mutant''s help.


    Or else the virus was simply a by-product of Nuclear explosion and a mutant.


    We can come up with an endless number of possibilities, but it will always be a permutation with a Mutant.


    The Mutant or Evolved human has released the virus onto earth either with or without malicious intent towards humanity."


    Priya paused to catch a breath, then she walked to the wall adjacent to the whiteboard and switched a projector.