Ch 1 - A Crippled Soldier

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.

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.

He was still in a state of confusion, Hari couldn't think straight; all he could do was helplessly stare at the cold corpse as the warmth rapidly escaped from their bodies.

It took a couple of minutes for the realization to struck him; they sacrificed their lives to save their captain. Hari neither cried nor shouted; he was just rooted to the ground like a dead tree till he slipped into a coma.

Soon after that, the cave collapsed, sending the much-needed oxygen into his system, which saved his life not before crippling him.

Few rocks pierced through Hari's spine and permanently damaging some nerves and muscles, even the army's sophisticated medical technologies couldn't help him.

Ultimately even Over-exerting his muscles even a bit could cause severe pain, pain intolerable by standards of a super-soldier such as Hari. Thus Hari was forced to accept the harsh reality; he's a cripple.

After spending a couple of decades in the army to climb the upper ranks and regressing to an ordinary man would drive anyone crazy; even Hari isn't an exception.

His familial warmth and love was the only thing that was keeping him from falling apart.

Unfortunately, in an emotional drive, he swore never to lie or cheat them, then onwards, successfully putting himself into a very sticky situation. Though he kept his parents in the dark, his sullen mood didn't escape their watchful eyes. All he could do was dodge the relentless questions thrown at him, as he couldn't just tell them the truth, which will only further worsen the situation.

Shreya's contract was as timely as a piece of coal in the winter, so he happily signed the contract.

He silently shook his head to clear his head and switched on the fan only to die from a sudden wave of electric-current coursing through the body.

If his body capacity were even one-hundredth of what it used to be, he would have easily survived the electric-shock, but two years of idling did take a toll on this super-soldier, his present body was nothing more than puffed up muscles.

Past two years, he couldn't do any of his specialized training, with an extraordinary effort and willpower he only did simple exercises. Though these were all rudimentary, it still saved him some grace.

Had he stopped all the workout, he would have gone through an incredible transformation in record time, turning from a super soldier into an incompetent fatty.

That muscles gave him an outlook of a ferocious tiger, but only Hari knew he was nothing more than a paper tiger.

"Ahhhh... Finally!!!"

Hari exclaimed before collapsing onto the ground like a gunny bag. Deep within Hari had been waiting for this moment all along. He always craved to go to hell and trash his brothers, who left him to suffer in this world.

Of course, it'll be in hell; even he did not know how many men met their demise in his hands. Albeit for the country, it still doesn't change the fact he killed his fellow humans. Not that he feels guilty for killing those scums.

_______________________

After god knows how long Hari woke, only to find himself stuck in endless darkness and nothingness.

"Huh"

But all Hari heard was a thundering *BOOM* nearly rupturing his brains and squeezing out his brain-juice. Hari tried to find the source, but in vain, it was still the same infinite nothingness around him.

Hari was floating in space, and the booming sound just stirred his brain, setting his mind in utter chaos.

Millions of light-years from Hari an Ethereal Entity manifested out of nothing.

"Someone broke free from the Karmic Cycle, the string of fate lost their grips." the ethereal being muttered before slowly opening its eyes.

The moment opened its eyes; the figure became more and more tangible. A transparent human-shaped bubble appeared with bright deep eyes. The godly eyes were too mysterious and magnetic, along with aloofness, and a tinge of coldness made it slightly scary.

The ethereal being turned its head toward Hari and locating him instantly, a speck of light in the never-ending universe. Then the eyes slowly closed, and the whole person slowly vanished.

The same instant it appeared before Hari, the ethereal being traveled Millions of light year in a second, putting every rocket scientist to shame.

Hari looked at the ethereal manifestation before him; he could only perceive a human-shaped bubble. It neither had eyes nor any other parts, only a rough human figure - four limbs and a torso.

"Who are you, and where am I?"

Hari's yet to figure out that he's stuck in space, all he knew one thing for sure an electric current killed him, yet he still woke only to find himself in the middle of nowhere.

"So, you cheated destiny and fate."

Suddenly, a message popped into his head; he didn't hear a sound or any sort of voice just a thought. This creepy feeling made the hair stand on the end; it was too scary and frightening, like having someone inside your head.

Still, Hari's military training gave him a hand, he quickly cooled down and somehow managed to put a calm facade and answered back.

"I don't understand what fate or Destiny you're talking about, and can you please speak like a normal person. Transmitting thoughts kind of freaks me out."

Hari asked as humble as he could. Actually, he has never been this polite in his life.

"You have already died, so why are bothered with such trivial things like emotions. Moreover, you will obliterate into nothingness the moment you hear my voice."

The figure standing before him explained through the transmitting thought just like last time.

"So, I'm dead."

Hari had a mixed feeling after confirming his death; he was disappointed for not meeting his brothers and felt bitter as he already started to miss his home, his other brothers, and his family.

"The sound you heard a few seconds ago was me exclaiming few millions of light-years away."

The mystical being further explained.

Hari stood there like a frozen statue, the last message successfully blew away his brains, and clearly, the explanation was useless.

'If what this guy's telling is the truth,

Then, I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere, technically space;

Secondly, the thundering sound that nearly cracked his head was this guy's doing that too millions of light-years away;

finally, this freaking guy just teleported millions of light-years."

Though he didn't know how long a light-year was, Hari knew for a fact that it was longer than a mile, which means he was at least millions of miles away.

Hari being a retired super soldier, believed to have achieved humanity's apex, but the being before completely crumbled his pride.

*******

[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.]