As the evening sun turned auburn, a playful flock of children drift into the woods. The mystery of the tangled thicket calls to them. They walk in holding hands, so no one gets parted from the group. As they venture further into the woods, their fear begins to subside, and their curiosity grows.

Bhim, the mischievous leader of the flock, is the first to break the human chain, as he runs towards a eucalyptus tree. Bhim would always lead the herd of boys into uncharted territories. At present, Bhim quickly mounts the tree, crawling up its branches and snaking through the leaves, with a deftness acquired from repeated practice. Behind him, few other boys start wrapping their arms and legs around the tree, ascending carefully. Rest of the children explore the surroundings, turning a leaf here, cracking a branch there and so on.

"Bhim, WAIT", Bhim's sister, Bhanu, calls out after him, only to be ignored.

She is two years older to him and mother would always burden her with watching over Bhim when they come to play with other children. Other girls would play the delightful game of Trinkets, beckoning her to join them. But she could not relinquish her sibling duty. Now, the girls are forming small groups of their own, scavenging the area, collecting whatever trinkets they could find. Later, they would amass those trinkets and use them to decorate their fantasy homes.

Bhanu turns back, eyes searching for her brother in the thick envelop of the foliage.

"Bhim, STOP. Come down this instant, or else I will tell mother."

She spots him grinning impishly, turning back, and continuing to crawl towards the highest branch of the tree with renewed zeal.

"...."

"Bhim, if you fall and hurt yourself, I WOULD NOT come to help you."

Her pleadings go unheeded as her brother slowly inches towards the summit of the tree. Frustrated, she decides to leave. She has seen him successfully climb taller trees before, not one scratch. And perhaps, if she leaves, with no audience to witness his antics, he will stop boasting and come down.

Thinking so, Bhanu turns around and starts to walk away. She has taken only five steps before she hears a loud thud behind her. Immediately, her heart drops from her chest, and her mind goes numb.

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Surya's eyes shot open, and he looked around. All he saw was endless darkness. He could not remember the beginning of this moment. His first thought was that he was going blind. He called out into the emptiness but did not receive any response; so, he discarded the idea. His second notion frightened him. He wondered if he suddenly died. He found believing and accepting such a fate exceedingly difficult, and he did not understand why. His entire life, Surya had been training for this very moment, the moment of truth.

Master Briharshi would say there was no greater truth in life than mortality. Every point of a man’s existence converged to this one decisive moment, the moment for the body to be one with nature and the soul to be one with God.

And so, deciding to resign to his fate, Surya placed one tentative foot on the ground beneath him. He did not want to step into an endless abyss, as he always hated the sensation of falling into one.

Feeling solid ground under him, Surya pushed himself up to his feet. He took a deep breath to steel his heart that was beating faster than a horse’s gallop. He tried to recall everything he had learned from his master and his scriptures about death. He remembered the mention of a path to the heavenly sphere where the fate of a soul is decided. For most, the path would wind back to the world of the living, while those who had attained enlightenment can continue to the higher spheres.

As Surya was pondering over his next steps, he heard faint sounds of weeping. He swept a glance to locate the source of the whimper, but the darkness hindered him. He then decided to walk this way to see if the cry got louder or fainter. As he advanced, carefully putting one step after the other, the sound seemed to get louder and closer. And so, he continued.

Treading along the path he chose, Surya’s eyes spotted a speck of white in the darkness. The dot grew larger and larger with each successive step, transforming into a faint silhouette of a bright willowy wisp of a figure.

As Surya drew closer to the figure, he could see it was curled into itself, back twisted almost into a ball, head buried into its legs. Before he approached the ball-shaped object, he fumbled for his longsword as he did not know what malicious creature he was facing. Ah Gods! He must have left it lying somewhere! He also did not know if he still possessed a body to defend. The thought eased his fear, and he sauntered up to where the creature was sitting. Faint whimpers were still coming from it.

"Greetings." Surya did not know if the creature understood his language but continued in the only tongue he spoke.

"Do you know where this place is?" He paused for a second. The creature had fallen silent.

"I am lost. Are you lost too?" Surya asked.

"No, I am not." A little girl's voice floated in. "But I lost someone."

"Whom did you lose? Maybe I can assist." Surya offered, as he sat on the invisible ground, beside the little girl creature. He could hear the agony in her voice. She could be a tormented soul that became trapped in this realm, he thought.

The spirit replied in a small, brittle voice, "I lost my brother."

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