A huge muddy field stretches along with an un-kept road constructed alongside, on a slightly elevated platform. A young child dashes along the field kicking a dirty old ball while his other friends run after him; three young boys and a girl. All of them seemed to be around eleven-twelve years old. They were carelessly playing around without noticing the jeep that was approaching the field from the kaccha(Uncemented) road. The jeep stopped right next to where the kids were playing and about four officers in their uniforms and another official who was dressed in civilian clothes got out of the jeep, while the driver remained in the jeep. The kids spotted the officials in their uniform and immediately paused their game. They shared a quick glance and then started running in the opposite direction; the officials also started chasing them.

The children were nimble but the officers were catching on, one of the boys fell and hurt his knee, before he got up, one of the officials caught him while the others kept chasing the kids. One of the officials who was still chasing the kids threw a small stick he was carrying hitting one of the boys in the head causing him to fall on the ground. They then caught up to him, with two of their companions caught the other two boys and the girl came running back to help their friends. The kids tried reaching their captured companions who were being dragged back to the jeep, they were intersected by the other officials. An expression of relief began to show on the officer's faces, now that their job was almost done.

Suddenly the young girl of about eleven years of age disappeared in-front of the intersecting officers and appeared right in front of the boy who was captured, covering about two hundred meters in a second. The officials shocked did not know how to react to this, they were all dumbfounded; something unexpected had happened. Taking advantage of the confusion the captured boy freed himself and ran up to the girl. He held the girl's hand and both of them disappeared and then appeared back in the place where their friends who were not captured were standing. As soon as the young girl demonstrated her ability again the officials started shouting "This is her familiar, Beware!" while another shouted, "She's a Speed type".

The driver who had not entered the field, and was overseeing everything while standing on the elevated road turned to the other man standing next to him in civilian clothes and informed him, "This is her familiar, Sir". The man dressed in civilian clothes walked a few steps ahead then shouted out the orders to the other officials in the field, "Kill her if you have to, but bring back the boys alive"

The officials standing in front of the girl un-holstered their guns but she again disappeared and appeared right in front of the official holding the last captured boy. The official tightened his reins on the boy as she appeared in front of him. One of the officials fired his gun but she again disappeared and appeared right behind the official holding the boy. The officials were in a fix they were not being able to get an aim on her.

The boy who was captured shouted, "Harleen get out of here, save the others!"

But Harleen was determined to save everyone, the man dressed in civilian clothes still standing on the elevated road next to the field ordered the official holding the boy loudly so as to make himself audible; "Hey fatty, Throw the boy!"

The official surprised didn't know how to react. The man in civilian clothes shouted again "Are you deaf? Throw the fucking boy!"

The official without putting much thought threw the young boy to his right and immediately the girl disappeared and Bang! a loud sound resounded around the barren fields.

A shot was fired. The young girl who had appeared in front of the boy didn't move, she just stood there shuddering; a bullet had pierced her chest.

"Don't shoot where she is, shoot where she is going to be" said the man in civilian clothes softly while he put his gun back into his utility belt.

The little girl fell to the ground with blood oozing out her body, the boy in-front watched her in horror. The officials captured the other boys and brought them to the jeep. As all the boys were being put into the jeep, the man in civilian clothes spared a glance at the little girl who was still moving

"Filthy Kusokan!"

He shot her in the back again and then sat in the jeep as they drove off leaving the body of the little girl on the field.

***

In the college courtyard, two teachers are having a conversation with Vijay and the five other boys. Their attention is caught by a young lad walking up to them.

Mr. Melvin who was also there observing the conversation from the sidelines, rushed over when he spotted Atharv. He stops Atharv in his stead.

"Atharv stop, let's not take this any further" Mister Melvin warns him in a gentle tone.

Atharv stops, he doesn't say anything for a moment.

"Will they be facing repercussions?", Atharv speaks sternly with an expressionless face.

"Ehm, Um, Yes they will be suspended till further notice. We've informed the necessary authorities, this is what we have been asked to do."

"Suspension!" Atharv chuckles trying to suppress his anger.

"They killed someone, and you're going to suspend them as punishment." He carries on in a sardonic tone.

"Atharv, I understand how you feel but it's Om's fault. He shouldn't have started a fight in college."

"No Mr. Melvin, It's your fault. It's your incompetence that caused this. Your incompetence became the cause of his death. Because you chose not to act, He died", Atharv remarked loudly.

"And because of me..." Atharv continued softly looking away.

He walks past by Mister Melvin, who shaken by his words just stands there like a man turned into stone.

Atharv walks up to the boys who were still having a conversation with the two other teachers trying to explain their stance.

"Hey stop there, get back. Don't take this any further", one of the teachers tried to stop Atharv.

Usually, Atharv would stop at this warning and run a hundred simulations and contemplate every outcome. But this time it was different, he felt as if he knew this was where he had to be, he knew what he had to do.

Without paying any heed to the teacher Atharv keeps walking and crosses the teacher, his hands were trembling and his face reflected un-surety but his body moved like it exactly knew what to do. Before he could just walk beyond the reach of the teacher, the teacher pulls back Atharv holding his collar. As soon he pulled him back Atharv felt this surge of massive energy boiling inside him. He felt that everything that is transpiring here has already happened. He felt that he has already been in this courtyard, in front of these boys. A feeling of Déjà-Vu seeped inside him. Suddenly images started flashing in his head, images of the courtyard, images of the boys standing in front of him, and the feeling of being held back like he was feeling now. He felt as if something or someone was telling him exactly how this whole scenario would play out. He didn't have to choose anymore, he already knew the outcome.

The sorrow, the anger, the disappointment, the frustration all these emotions coupled with this sense of Déjà vu created an enormous strength inside him which started oozing out like a dormant force of energy. The teacher holding his shirt felt a spark of this power via his fingertip, to him it felt like electricity and he immediately removed his hand. Glistening red nerve-marks started appearing all over Atharv's body,

he then leaped and dashed towards Vijay.

"Hey wait, who are you? If this has anything to do with Om..."

Before Vijay could complete Atharv landed his punch, Vijay reflexively tried to block with his arms but putting them up, but instead, every bone in his arm shattered and he went and crashed into the wall behind him hurting his back. Atharv was just as surprised as everyone around him, his hands still trembling with anxiety, fear, and anger. He didn't know he could land such a punch or how could he be that agile. His thoughts were put to rest with the other boys rushing towards him sensing that they were next. They had no choice, they charged at Atharv with the hope that together they could overpower him. But as they charged at Atharv he instinctively moved aside as if he already knew where they were going to charge from. Dodging two of them, he hit the third boy coming from behind him with his elbow. A normal blow like that would have broken a person's nose but in Atharv's awakened state his blow ruptured almost every possible facial bone in the boy's face as he fell flat on the floor like a fruit with blood flowing from beneath his head. Shocked at the state of their friend, the other boys started backing up. Normally Atharv would have calmed down or would have re-thought this entire scenario. But he didn't need to and he dashed heads first at them, the only thing in his mind was that why didn't he do this earlier. He punched one of the boys in his back probably breaking his bones as he led out a cry, falling to the floor. The last two boys seeing this turned and dropped down to their feet asking for mercy.

The teachers scared seeing how strong Atharv was and the fact that he was totally out of control didn't dare to intervene themselves instead they called the guards. Three well-built men came and tried to get a hold of him from the back, normally any other person would be surprised or a bit startled but Atharv just turned and looked at them as he was expecting this, he exactly knew what was next. It was as if he had a glimpse into the future. He knocked one of the guards unconscious with one hit from his elbow breaking his nose. This guard was a trained man and much stronger than the boys he was beating up. The other two now cautioned drove in together. Atharv was able to dodge one but got hit by the other. But that punch felt nothing; to him, it was like a mosquito sting. He then had his chance and knocked both of them out with a punch each.

"WAIT!" Vijay screamed causing the almost berserk Atharv to stop and look at him.

"I apologized to him!"

"What? " Atharv enquired

"I apologized for my actions but he wouldn't listen..."

"Shut up! You want me to believe your bullshit" Atharv walks up to Vijay and holds him by the collar.

"Do you think I wanted to take a life!" Vijay screams at the top of his voice, his voice breaking and tears falling from his eyes.

"This structure, this society, my ranking, it got to me. But something kept troubling me. I didn't feel right about how I behaved with Yasu. When Om came through the gate I immediately apologized to him. I never wanted something like this to happen."

"I'm meant to save lives; I never thought something like this would happen. You can do whatever you want with me but just know this I am extremely sorry."

Atharv just stood there, surprised at what he had learned. He wanted to shout out that Vijay being sorry didn't matter to him. He wanted to take action but he had no idea what to do next. The images that were telling him how to go about every step had completely vanished leaving him in his usual conflicted, self-doubting state. His idea of right and wrong seemed to be crashing away. Just then he felt a tap on his back. He turned and saw that it was Yasu. As a tear rolled down his eyes, the red-nerve-like marks disappeared from his body. He let Vijay go, who fell to the ground on his back. Atharv turned to leave with Yasu, he was confused and conflicted. He continuously kept staring at his feet while Yasu guided him out. But then he started hearing murmurs, those murmurs gradually turned into voices which in turn became a boisterous cacophony. Atharv finally looked up and found that he was surrounded by countless onlookers. They were all chatting and murmuring things, none of which were audible. Yasu and Atharv made their way through, but the number of viewers just kept increasing and the voices kept getting louder. It seemed as if this was Atharv's stage and they were the audience.

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)

Chapter 6: End of his first life Part 1 releases on Friday