Year 127 Second Paradigm

In a small room, by the couch, a young girl of about eleven years is seated fidgeting with her fingers. The room is a small one but seems spacious due to the lack of furniture. Other than a couch and a small table in front of it, there is no other furniture. The walls are grey and clean, some of them having multiple threads of crayon colour etched on them thanks to the young girl's artistry. A well-built man with a huge scar around his neck walks in from another room, with two steaming cups in hand. He hands one cup to his daughter and places the other one on the table, in front of him. He sits down on the couch next to her and picking his cup is about to take a sip when he hears his daughter speak.

"Papa, tell me something. What are Kusokans?", the daughter curiously asked.

"Why, dear? Why do you want to know, all of a sudden?", Migai frowned while answering.

The little girl carried on anxiously, " Some people had come to school today. And they took my friend Sneha away. When I asked the teacher, she told me that it was because Sneha has undergone 'The Awakening' and is now a Kusokan."

Migai takes a long breath.

Hmm. Fine, I'll tell you. But...er...whatever I say next, keep it to yourself. Can you do that?", he replies.

"Okay!", the daughter replies back excitedly.

Migai, patting her hair sighs and remarks, "Alas, you. You are your father's daughter. Always so curious about everything."

"Yeah, yeah, Papa. But tell me quickly.", she immediately replies.

In a soft tone, Migai begins to speak, "So allegedly 127 years ago, I mean I don't know how much time before. But since we are almost 127 years into the Second Paradigm based on the New Calendar."

"Why allegedly 127 years? Even our teachers never clearly elaborate on the time-period of our history.", the daughter curiously remarks.

"That's because of 'The Lul'", Migai answers back.

"The Lul?", she asks, looking a bit surprised.

"Yes, the period between the First Paradigm and the Second Paradigm is called 'The Lul'. Based on what I've been told, it is during this period that our recorded history was almost lost and the 'Disappearance of Life' was initiated. The Problem with 'The Lul' is that no living soul knows precisely how much time transpired in that period. So it's difficult to exactly put an estimate on how far we have come after the Old Calendar system was abolished.", Migai explains.

"Oh, that is why our teachers tell us that The New World is abundant with discoveries but deprived of Knowledge.", the young girl retorts.

"Perhaps, I mean I don't know, I'm not that smart. Let's just refer to the periods as post and pre 'Isolization'. Basically, Pre-Isolization we all lived in a bigger world. Much bigger than you kids can ever even imagine. This world had many divisions, and we called them countries. For the large part, these countries, or nations, co-existed in peace with each other, and there was trade, and exchange of culture and partnerships. They would even commit to signed agreements on cooperation and called them treaties. But over the years, the relations between these countries had been worsening. All these ties amongst the countries were broken off one by one.

We had outbursts of war and some treaty violations every now and then, but it was still overall peaceful, for no country dared start a full-blown war.", Migai pauses looking at his daughter's curious eyes.

"That's weird. If the relations were worsening, why didn't they start a war?", she bombards him with another question.

"They were scared. The world had already experienced two full-blown wars and the death and destruction that had been caused were still fresh in the memory of all who had survived. Also, every country, after experiencing the loss of life and the trauma during the previous wars, was always struggling to improve their lives- food, military, domestic relations, and cultures. No one wanted the burden of war.

But this fear also had a side-effect, the paranoia caused these countries to start arming themselves and increasing their forces in-case another war broke out.". Migai explains calmly.

"But won't more people die if they make more weapons?"

Migai laughs seemingly very pleased.

"I guess they were not as smart as you (Playfully pats her on the head) but eventually they did understand and tried, let's say, er, talk to each other which they referred to as 'Negotiation' or 'Diplomatic Dialogue'. But with time, the relations between these countries became even more complicated, and they started becoming more and more hostile towards each other.", he says.

"And why did they fight those two wars in the first place?"

"Supremacy and freedom, kid. One side wanted to prove their country was the most superior by taking away someone else's freedom, the other side revoked their superiority to win their freedom. And this quest for supremacy and freedom never stopped. After the wars, the world started battling for supremacy in weaponry, after that it was space exploration, then technology and finally trade. Sometimes, these battles turned violent, but the world made sure that these small violent outbursts never turned into another World-war.", Migai again pauses, taking a sip of the milk in the cup.

"Then what happened? Why did all the other countries disappear?", she hurriedly asks.

"At the time of Pre-Isolization, the relations between the countries were very strained. They didn't welcome people from other countries into their territories. They began to bicker and have small skirmishes with their military."

"And the Kusokans?", the daughter interrupts.

"They're coming soon enough. Everyone wanted the betterment of their own people, their own country. The idea of a united world was truly dying out. What acted as the final nail in the coffin was the appearance of the Kusokans.", Migai continues.

"But what's a Kusokan?"

"Well in the beginning they were just normal people like us, the first Kusokan appeared in a country called Japan sometime in the world of the Old Calendar. This event is marked in the middle ages of the First Paradigm, She was a little girl like you and she was absolutely normal till one day she manifested her abilities. The world went crazy and the Japanese were extremely proud as a nation, they believed that the gods had blessed them. She was called 'Tennyo', which apparently meant heaven's gift in Japanese. But just months into Tennyo's appearance Kusokans started appearing all over the world. Most countries didn't believe this phenomenon, so at a world conference each country presented their Kusokan and to the shock of the world Kusokans had appeared in almost every country.", Migai again pauses taking another sip.

"But how did they suddenly appear?"

"That's a bit tough. See, it's not that they appeared, they were always there. Even you can be a Kusokan, it's just that we don't know yet. People as ordinary as you and me began to display powerful abilities, and the world changed forever. All of humanity's hopes, beliefs, relations, histories, lifestyles, and aims were cast aside and every country just wanted to have more and more Kusokans. But their appearances were beyond control, so the countries with bigger human populations had a greater probability of producing more Kusokans. At that time, there was a country called 'Chenza' that along with our country had the largest human population."

"So Chenza is a country? Like us?", the daughter interrupts again.

"I don't know if they were like us. I was also born after the countries disappeared. Only people born in the Old calendar First Paradigm know about the countries. But I doubt there are any alive, so there is no way of truly knowing. Even the books and records that documented the old world have been sealed or lost.", Migai explains looking a little confused himself.

"Then is the appearance of Kusokans the reason for Isolization?"

Migai looks up to the sky in contemplation, "Their appearance might not be, but their exploitation surely is. Power is a drug, dear, and if you taste it, you can't control when you'll be addicted. To begin with, their abilities were used for peaceful purposes and they were truly revered as the gods of the new world. That was before a certain country showed the world the destructive power a Kusokan holds. After that, it was havoc. Every country joined the race to acquire and train more and more Kusokans. Countries that had fewer kusokans started abducting them from other countries, trading in them, trafficking them, lab-testing them unsuccessfully to make more Kusokans artificially.

Soon, aware of their newfound worth and frustrated with their exploitation, Kusokans started misusing their abilities. People were being killed like flies, men and women abducted with no traces left behind, and humans started losing faith in their world."

"Wait. But why did they have to misuse their abilities?"

" Let's take an example. If I suddenly granted many of our own citizens the ability to wreak havoc on a whole city, don't you think they would misuse it to make themselves more powerful? For someone to be powerful, someone has to be less so. It's what the adults call zero-sum."

The daughter looks confused.

"These are people who have always been weak and have spent their whole life taking orders. A little bit of power is all they need to lose their inhibitions."

"And what happened to the other countries?", the daughter adds another question.

Migai smiles, "Yes, I lost track. So, the war had almost become inevitable. But with nuclear weaponry and kusokans around, they all knew that not a single human being would survive such a war."

"So they talked? Neog..tia..."

Migai's smile widens, finding her stammering cute, " 'Negotiated', You're smart. Yes, the only other way. They talked. And the world leaders came to a solution where every country would completely break off all ties with other countries. They modeled it based on the Sakoku policy of the Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate."

"The what?"

Laughing he adds, "Sorry. Tokugawa Shogunate was a policy that the country of Japan exercised in the Old Calendar First Paradigm where they broke ties with the world and isolated themselves. Similarly, the world decided that this was a policy that could be practiced to maintain peace, there was so much hatred between the countries that they almost immediately agreed to the idea."

"So, what after that? They all just disappeared like this? Poof?"

"Not exactly. The less-privileged and civilians were the first who lost total contact with people from other countries. The elite from each country still had connections with the outside world. But as time passed, many small countries started dying out, being unable to sustain themselves. Many say that this was propaganda by the bigger countries so that they would gain the Kusokans of the lost countries, but there is no proof of it. The idea managed to scare the other countries, and people grew increasingly suspicious of foreigners. Soon, all ties amongst nations of the world disappeared. It was akin to if they'd disappeared, so they call it..."

"The Disappearance of Life!", she completes her father's sentence with amusement.

"Yes. The Disappearance of Life took place sometime during 'The Lul'"

"I don't understand. Why did they take Sneha away?"

"After Afzal's rebellion and the National Civil war, the Kusokans have been deemed dangerous, and they need to be kept under constant supervision. That's why any Kusokan born in a Central State (Subservient State) is immediately taken away by the military after his/her Awakening."

The daughter fiddling with her hair lock, with a look of sudden worry asks, "Papa....so... if I am a Kusokan, will they take me away too? "

Migai hugs his daughter, "Oh no, kid. Papa would never let anyone take you away. You remember how the old saying goes right?"

"All that is not yours, Is meant to be taken"

"What is taken is never truly yours"

"Earn what is yours, Protect what is given"

"What is earned is what you need, What is given is what you truly seek"

Both smile looking at each other.

Present

A sleeping Migai gets startled by his ringing phone (Primitive beeper phone). He sits upright in bed and answers it.

Over the phone, a loud voice blares, "Sorry sir, but we've been allotted a case at DakBunglow street, Sector 2, Building 23. We need you here as soon as possible."

"Hmm..." (Keeps the phone)

He gets up and checks his pocket for his belongings. He looks around the house and realizes he is alone. His gaze falls on a family picture. He looks at it with unbearable pain.

Story By: Four Eighty One

Art By: Sakshi Chokhani

(The Story, Characters, and Art are all original pieces of work, kindly refrain from using them without permission)

Three New Chapters, Next Friday