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Anant Verma

Fantasy Abstract

5.0  

Anant Verma

Fantasy Abstract

Moonlight (Vol 1 Part 1)

Moonlight (Vol 1 Part 1)

22 mins
286


The hall echoed her steps while she ran downwards the spiral staircase. There was no sound beside her excited breathing and the clatter of her sandals on the marble floor. She didn’t stop or slow her speed. She just continued descending the endless staircase.

It was her mistake. 

No doubt about it. The prisoner was her responsibility and she messed it up. She clenched her fists and ignored her body’s umpteenth time asking for a rest. She must stop it, to capture it. For if the prisoner finds a door, that’s it. There’s no way she can follow it through and no way where the prisoner may end up.

A sudden light originated from below her and covered the walls. With dread, she stopped, leaned and looked downwards at the source of it. The prisoner wasn’t running anymore. He was standing in front of the light, staring at it in surprise.

The light meant that intentionally or possibly unintentionally, the prisoner had found a door. A door to another world. If the prisoner reaches towards it, it would be out of her hands.

She screamed something; she wasn’t conscious of what or why and jumped straight at him. The pitch-black void was below her, waiting for her to fall but she didn’t care. She must succeed for it was already her second chance.

The prisoner looked up in surprise. By instinct, his foot went backward and into the light. The light intensified and engulfed his entire body. Before the prisoner could react to it, he was gone. The prisoner disappeared, and the door started to slowly close.

She landed softly just where the prisoner stood. She scowled and made a split decision. The damage was already done; her punishment was ready for her when she returned. All that she can do now is finish it before it does damage to whatever world it had gone into.

She looked upwards, prayed for strength and walked into the light whispering the door to close behind her. Another flash of light illuminated the walls and then it returned to being pitch black.


Kartik sneezed once. His hair waved rapidly. Then he sneezed again.

‘Someone must be remembering you,’ gibed his friend Gauri, walking beside him.

‘Or it’s your perfume. Wow,’ he added between two more sneezes. He ran his hand through his hair to set it down roughly. His hair settled for a second then rebelled, returning to their untidy state.

‘Huh. I’m not wearing any perfume.’

Kartik rolled his eyes and kept on walking. He wasn’t going to win this argument. A group of students walked past them, looking at their lab manuals in a worried state. They were discussing viva questions, the answer to which no one seemed to know.

Gauri shouted the correct answer without a second’s doubt. The group looked back in surprise. Kartik continued to walk and rolled his eyes again.

Show off. 

‘Just because you know something doesn’t mean you can answer and interrupt anyone.’

‘Why can’t I?’ replied Gauri, picking up her pace to catch up with Kartik, ‘They didn’t know the answer.’

‘Don’t you understand that someday someone may not like your interruption?’

Gauri frowned, clearly not understanding where the conversation was going. She adjusted her bag by moving the straps and said, ‘Even if their explanation is wrong?’

‘Especially then,’ Kartik turned and started walking backward, ‘You’re interrupting someone’s attempt at impressing a girl.’ He mocked a serious face while explaining this to her.

Gauri scowled and didn’t reply. Rejected, Kartik stopped fooling around. They walked silently for another five minutes until they reached the girl’s hostel.

There was one road connecting their Academic Blocks with the rest of the college and the girl’s hostel was the first stop. Like always, there were few people sitting on benches on the other side of the hostels. A gardener was watering the trees around the benches while avoiding the stray dogs.

It was a little afternoon of a summer season. Kartik was sorry for the ones who had second half classes. He could see such people, walking in groups, panting like dogs in summers. Dogs themselves found more ingenious ways to stay cool, like jumping in front of the gardener’s water hose.

But the second half of the students had much worse things to worry about. For the semester was coming to an end, with the lab finals coming closer to scare everyone. Suddenly people were finding experiments they hadn’t even heard of before. Some would go over last year’s questions and then create their own ‘What ifs’.

Kartik’s lab exams went along smoothly. In comparison, Gauri’s went so quickly that he hadn’t noticed when she’d completed. She would be the first to go to the teacher for the viva and then the first to walk out of the class, fully aware that every else’s eyes were glaring on her.


Feeling the oppressive Sun over him, he quickly said, ‘OK. Bye. See ya later,’ and started to walk.

‘Huh,’ came a grunted reply without a waving hand. She walked past the female guard and into the building. Kartik sighed, regretting he’d commented on her manners. Though he hadn’t even begun complaining about them.

She was in the wrong, Kartik argued as he resumed walking towards his hostel. In comparison to the girls’ hostel, his one was on the other side of the college. It was the farthest from the Academic Blocks and the most secluded part of the college.

He stopped before the open drain. The university seemed to find ways to continue construction. Right now, they were redoing the drains, making them bigger. Before that the roads needed repairs and the footpaths were painted. He raised his right leg to cross it when he froze.

The atmosphere was instantaneously different. For a lack of a better word, it felt alien. Kartik felt the wind ruffling through his air and noticed something strange about it. The air felt different from usual. Still frozen, he heard a howl, as if someone shouted from a height.

Not that any other person walking past him noticed anything. All they noticed was a fresher behaving like a statue with his right leg in the air. Some thought he was a member of the drama club and that there was perhaps an event now. While others sniggered and took photos without thinking of a reason.

Kartik waited for the feeling to go away. But it didn’t. He noticed the neighboring people for the first time and concluded that he was imagining it. Or perhaps he was ill. He smiled embarrassingly and leaped the drain hole and resumed walking to his hostel.

A second later, a loud noise stopped Kartik in his motion. Something had fallen where he’d just stood. He froze, feeling the air behind him becoming stranger and stranger. Clearly, he was ill so there was no reason to look behind. It was the illness talking, nothing reality had to offer.

While all these thoughts going around his head, he turned around. Something hadn’t fallen but someone had landed where he’d stood. A man, of more than 6 feet height and with more chains entangled around himself than the hair on his head. He was learning forwards while not moving his legs. A long beard sagged as the man breathed. His clothes were black or were they grey? The colors seemed to be dancing.

The man suddenly bent down, seemingly out of breath. He looked around himself in the general direction. Kartik followed the action and came to the terrifying conclusion that only he was acting as though there was a person there. He gulped and looked back at the man. He gulped again, seeing that there wasn’t a man standing there.

He took a step back, rubbed his eyes and looked again. The spot was empty, and students were walking over it. He couldn’t have run anywhere so fast. But that was the only conclusion, thought Kartik eyeing the footpath.

There could be a second conclusion. Perhaps it was all in his mind. No one else saw the guy, while the guy himself didn’t see Kartik. He wiped the sweat off his brow and decided to buy juice from the Campus Store and then go to his room and sleep. Possibly, his anime bingeing had finally caused a toll on his brain.


Five and a half minutes later, Rina landed on the exact same spot. She landed softly on her feet but suddenly felt weak. Everyone had to undertake proper procedures before entering a foreign world. Jumping through a door without a second’s thought had already brought repercussions for her.

Unable to handle it, her knees buckled. She gasped for breath, hoping her body will adjust quickly. This Sun was stronger than hers while the gravity was slightly weaker. She leaned on the wall then slowly slid on the sidewalk. Then just realizing something, she looked up and saw no one looking at her.

Such a primitive world…

If this world cannot even see the prisoner, then it really does not stand a chance. The prisoner escaping then finding such a weak world; Rina really needed to do something about her bad luck.

Speaking of her bad luck, her body suddenly convulsed, and she rolled on the ground. A sharp pain erupted in her chest taking her ability to breathe. Her vision blurred. She started to believe that the fight may be over before it had begun.

‘Kindly stay still.’

The voice was so quiet and soft; Rina wasn’t sure she’d heard it or imagined it. However, she obliged. Someone who could see her was possibly an ally. Not that she could do anything in her current condition if the person was an enemy.

‘Good,’ came a reply after Rina stiffed herself.

A light erupted from where Rina heard the voice, behind her. The light wasn’t artificial but of a star, not of this world’s Sun but felt like of her world. It expanded into a balloon engulfing her.

Rina felt her body regain its strength. Slowly, her breathing became comfortable and deep and she could move her limbs without experiencing incredible pain. The shock went away and then she remembered this event as one of the procedures before entering another world. The speaker was carrying tech from her world.

The light was gone in under a minute. The balloon slowly disintegrated and left behind Rina standing on the sidewalk with her hand on her sword’s hilt.

The owner of the voice was a thin man with a strange contraption in his right hand. The man looked more of this world than of hers. He wore clothes like the oblivious males walking past them. However, the man was knowledgeable of her world’s customs and greeted her accordingly.

After greeting her, he smiled and said, ‘Welcome to Earth. Your man went that way,’ and pointing at the direction of the boy’s hostel. Rina looked back at him to realize that the contraption had vanished.

‘Umm. Thanks,’ Rina replied and ran in the pointed direction. She didn’t look back and slow her pace. She knew that if she wanted to, she’ll find him. And words would be had, but later. After she’d captured or killed the prisoner.

The thin man watched Rina vanishing amongst the college students of the campus. He then turned and started walking, his smile unwavering as he glanced at the college girls walking around him.

If only they knew…


Kartik rolled in his bed for the seventh time. Everything around him was designed to frustrate him. The ceiling fan didn’t work well, his roommate left his stinking clothes on the floor and on top of everything he’s now experiencing hallucinations. Usually, he would have watched a TV show to get over this mood, but that had started this whole thing in the first place.

He eventually gave up sleeping and stood up. He began thinking of what other stuff he could do which would help him forget. Without opening his laptop, he couldn’t really think of an option. He’d never thought he’ll realize his addiction of electronics this early in college.

Speaking of electronic stuff, he saw his phone and got himself inspired. He picked it up and searched for people to call. Once he remembered it was exam time for most of his friends, he became reluctant. Some may even be doing their lab exams right now. He settled for Gauri and messaged her to meet outside and have cold drinks.

Five minutes later, she messaged OK.

. . .

‘Where to?’ asked Gauri as they met outside her hostel. She was wearing the same clothes as before. The only difference from before was that her hair was tied back.

‘Just till the convenience store near the mall,’ replied Kartik, eyeing the place where he’d seen the strange person. He saw her becoming curious, so he reacted by smiling at her.

‘OK, but you don’t have to make that creepy a face.’

They started walking towards the college exit. Gauri fell behind so he looked back. She was chatting with someone on her phone. She kept frowning while replying making Kartik curious. She saw him looking and locked her phone.

‘Sorry, let’s go.’

It was now nearing 6 and the sky was slowly descending into darkness. There were few clouds in the sky, making blurry shapes. Birds flew past trees along the roadside. The roads were busy, taking the load of cars and buses running on it.

Gauri and Kartik were quietly drinking their cold drinks. Kartik knew that they had to walk back soon and wanted to delay that as much as possible. Because there is only one way to go to his hostel room and that is through the sidewalk. He remembered the strange man, trying to find something that would prove it was a hallucination. The combined effect of that with the cold drink brought an intense headache.

Gauri asked, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ replied Kartik, startled at her level of frankness, ‘Nothing’s wrong.’ He said it twice to convince two people.

‘If it’s studies…you know you’re getting A or A+ in all subjects, right?’

Despite his brain’s constant attempt to bring up the image of the man in chains, he smiled. Gauri couldn’t think of anything else that can trouble a person. The thought eased his mind. Maybe it was all a dream or something like that.

Then gradually, he began strengthening his idea that it was a dream. Of course, it was a dream. There’s no way that could’ve been real. What was he afraid of? That the person would hurt him? Since the person is not real, it cannot. Therefore, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

‘Na, it’s nothing. Come on, let’s go,’ he said jumping up. He let go of the empty Pepsi bottle over the bin. It fell with a huge clang, bringing his headache back for a second.

‘Ok. Don’t tell me.’ replied Gauri softly, performing the same act which ended with the same clang.

‘There’s nothing to talk a- ‘, said Kartik but was then interrupted for there was another loud sound. Nobody threw away anything for he was looking at the bin in front of him. He didn’t see the action but heard the sound.

He felt the change in the atmosphere again and his body tensed. It was instantaneous just like before. There came another noise but again Kartik couldn’t find its source. Then again. The noise slowly increased its frequency. Soon, it was as if someone was banging a bottle against the floor repeatedly.

He looked at Gauri to realize that she was unaffected. He looked around and saw the same thing. The shopkeeper hadn’t taken his eyes off the cricket match. A group passing by were happily talking and laughing. Birds were flying all over the sky. How can he hear this?

Rather, how can they not hear this?

Kartik gulped, he suddenly felt thirsty. The source was coming closer. Gauri looked at him and saw a thousand-yard stare. She immediately felt worried.

‘Kartik, you’re scaring me. Like seriously,’ she added tugging at his t-shirt. ‘Hey, you- ‘but then stopped for his face had gone white.

Kartik could now see the source of the noise. It had appeared on the other side of the roads. The man in the chains. Same as before, chains were wrapped around his body. Even though he was just standing there, Kartik just knew that he was the source of it. After all, what coincidence must this be if there were two impossible things happening at the same time?

The noise suddenly stopped. The man in chains was looking directly at Kartik. Kartik himself was frozen, only moving when his friend was shaking him.

The man-in-chains took one step forward and in a flash was now on Kartik’s side of the road. He looked straight in his victim’s eyes and said, ‘Found you.’ His voice echoed and then echoed again as if there were infinite speakers relaying the text at different instances of time.

It was right beside Kartik, but it had no shadow. While Kartik stood and watched, the monster raised his right hand. The chains around it collided within themselves and released metallic noises. The monster smiled and then brought his hand down on Kartik’s paralyzed body.

The soon-to-be-dead human closed his eyes. Then he frowned for the blow didn’t register. Was death this instantaneous? Curious to answer that, he opened his eyes. He noticed two things. 1) He was alive. 2) Right in front of him was a girl, who was slightly shorter than him. More importantly (2-B), she had a sword in her hand unsheathed and had raised against the monster’s fist.

Kartik found new blood in his veins and started walking back from them. Gauri said, ‘Finally he moves. What are you playing at?’ She punched at him with nervousness. She was almost going to call someone for help.

‘Nothing,’ replied Kartik, his eyes still nowhere focused, ‘let’s go.’

‘Yes sir,’ said Gauri, relieved to see him smile, and started walking towards their university gate. Kartik joined her, eying the two behind him. He was reeling from the fact that there were now two people. He was not imagining this? 


For now, he must go as far away as possible. Back to his college? Then what? Go to a teacher or a shrink? They’re the same people in college.

Kartik turned his head forward and started to briskly walk away from them. Gauri followed, unable to understand anything. Behind him, the monster smiled and said, ‘Weak. Can’t stop me.’

Rina scowled and gripped the sword tighter. It was now or never. She had to deliver the killing blow. But the prisoner was stronger than what she’d expected.

The prisoner retreated his hand and now focused on Rina for now. Without a second’s time to think, he attacked her. She deflected his bare-handed punches with her sword but just barely. His hands were unaffected from being cut relentlessly by her sword. Just what is the prisoner made of?

The prisoner smiled and launched a volley of attacks. He was enjoying the challenge. Rina screamed and started giving her all, with slashes and cuts. She finally landed on his face, making a scar starting from his brow to his chin. The prisoner growled and punched with such speed that Rina couldn’t see it, forget deflecting it.

She caught his fist square on her chest. She crumbled and felt her back gave away under the weight of the prisoner’s arm. Her sword slipped from her fingers, falling under her. The prisoner laughed and landed a leg on the sword, breaking it.

Rina cursed, seeing her sword break under the prisoner’s weight. There wasn’t anything she could do now. The prisoner was going to kill her and then everyone else in the area. All because of her. She hoped her message got through to her world. That’s all she could hope for.

The prisoner forgot about her and looked straight at the retreating face of a human. He walked another step and was now right behind the human. He brought his right hand in a horizontal sweep and threw him away.

For a second, the human was in the air, flying at a terrifying speed to a pole. The next second, he collided with it. Gravity took control of his body and he fell facedown.


Kartik could feel his chest. Rather, his broken chest. It took a second for him to figure out what happened. One moment he was running away from the monster and the next, he was flying. He coughed and saw blood. Fear enveloped his senses, blurring his eyes and numbing his other senses.

‘Kartik!’ someone shouted. The speaker was at a great distance from him. The voice was so fuzzy he couldn’t make out who it was. Wait. Focus. Listen.

‘You idiot. What are you doing?’

Gauri thought Kartik. With a jerk, he raised his head, ignoring the pain. Amazingly, his back wasn’t broken. However, he was on the verge of unconsciousness. But he can’t fall asleep. Gauri was in danger. He focused his eyes and saw the silhouette of the monster slowly walking towards her.

‘What happened? I take one look back and you’re lying on the ground.’ She looked at his chest and said softly, ‘You’re hurt.’ She quickly withdrew her phone to call the ambulance when Kartik said, ‘Run.’ His voice couldn’t be louder than a whisper.

‘Run,’ he repeated eyeing the man-in-chains closing in.

‘What? Don’t move. You. Broken bones. I’ll call an ambulance; you’re going to be okay.’

The man-in-chains was now right behind her. On top of that, he was smiling.

Was there nothing he could do? What about the sword girl? Where was she? He couldn’t think of anything. His brain started to ache from the adrenalin. He was succumbing to the pain. Gauri would die, and he would die. Then it would all be over.

The man-in-chains raised one hand over Gauri and brought it down as fast as he could.


Rina couldn’t move. He was in pain and in shock. One single attack from the prisoner had immobilized her. The prisoner was strong before, but in this world, he was stronger. If she didn’t move, the humans were going to be killed.

She glanced and felt herself becoming desperate. The prisoner had swept the boy away like an insect. Curiously, the boy seemed to know what was going on. The girl was running slowly towards him in alarm. Rina saw the prisoner looking at the girl with an animalistic eye. He raised his right hand to over the oblivious girl.

Focus.

Move.

Stop the prisoner…

She tried but her wounds had her paralyzed. Horrified, she resumed watching for that was all she could do. The prisoner had his hand up in the air and was now bringing it down with full force on the girl.

The human would die instantaneously. And it was her fault. Rina closed her eyes at the last second, unable to look anymore. She heard the prisoner growl loudly, laughing probably. She opened her eyes unsure if she could handle the damage.

The prisoner’s arm was blocked. Blocked by someone’s sword, defending the girl. And that someone was the boy.

The boy was suddenly right in front of the girl, with a sword in his arms. It was the human thrown away by the prisoner. But Rina felt the boy surging with power for the first time. She looked at the sword in horror. The entire blade was shining with white light. From this distance, she could feel its strength.

Kartik didn’t know how he did it. One second, he was screaming Gauri to move away and the next, he was standing in front of her holding a sword. A big glowing one at that!

The prisoner widened his eyes in surprise. He retreated his arm and punched again, this time strengthening his strength.

Kartik’s body moved on its own. It felt like playing guitar; it was muscle memory. He parried every attack the prisoner attempted with one swing of his sword. The speed and strength increased but Kartik didn’t falter. He didn’t want to stop whatever was going on, so he didn’t think about it much. He let his body move on autopilot.

The prisoner became tired from continuous punches and stepped back. That was when Kartik realized something. Given time, the prisoner may attack anyone around him. He had to do something before that happened. He walked forward and felt his body take an aggressive pose. He shouted something and launched bodily towards the man-in-chains.

The alien stopped two of his attacks so Kartik changed tactics. He waited for an attack, dodged and stepped over the stretched arm. He flipped over his back and drove the sword through his chest.

The monster’s eyes widened. It looked down and saw the glowing blade protruding through his right lung. Kartik took the sword out and watched the monster fall to his knees.

‘Finish him,’ shouted Rina. If he could see us, he’ll be able to hear us too.

For Kartik, however, the sudden shout brought him to his senses. He looked at the sword as if for the first time and dropped it in shock. As soon as it left his hands, it disintegrated into tiny spheres of light and then disappeared. He stared at his right palm, waiting for the light to appear. Then a noise interrupted him, and he looked back.

Strangely, Gauri was sleeping. She was sleeping peacefully, where just a moment ago, she was worried sick. Kartik felt someone move from behind him and felt his muscles tighten. The last thing he remembered was feeling a finger touch the back of his head. He was asleep before he fell on the ground.


‘You have failed,’ boomed a voice.

Rina had no explanation. It was her second chance and therefore she knew there would be no leniency or leeway given to her. For her, the best case would be that she gets kicked off the planet. But since the prisoner had caused havoc on another world, she would be punished. Painfully.

Another soldier appeared beside her and said, ‘But the prisoner was stopped. By this human.’

A 3D projector came alive and a rotating figure of the human was shown. The boy had been inspected when reinforcements had arrived. They concluded that it was only an ordinary human. Before leaving, they did the standard procedure of repairing the damage and editing the memories of witnesses.

The voice paused when he heard this. The picture was zoomed in and looked at from all angles. After a while, the audience waited for a dramatic reveal about the human.

‘This human is strange,’ the voice reluctantly concluded.

Rina frowned. What about her punishment? She opened her mouth to question it when the voice interrupted with a command.

‘Return to your post while we discuss.’

Rina bowed and obeyed. The doors closed behind her. She wasn’t sure she was to be glad or worried. Is her job safe? She walked slowly past the hallway, hoping with all her might that she’ll be forgiven.

The door closed behind her and the lights were switched on. The soldiers gathered around the voice and waited for his questions.

‘Earth. Is this planet developed?’

‘No sir. Their general population couldn’t even see her or the prisoner.’

‘Then what this human showed was different. The sword,’ the voice exclaimed while looking at the still of when Kartik stopped the prisoner’s first blow, ‘brings back memories.’ The voice became quiet. The subordinates in the chamber knew that the voice was thinking.

The voice concluded and shouted, ‘Continue to monitor him.’

‘This human may be helpful in the war.’


Kartik was on the verge of sleep. He was glad he’d gone to have Pepsi with Gauri. Though it was strange that she’d asked him to go out with her. Maybe it was sort of an apology for being angry with him this afternoon.

He turned in his bed. Less than one month left. Then he’ll go back home. He wants the semester to end as fast as it can, but he knew that he’ll miss it when he’s at home, wondering what to do.

Gradually, he drifted off to sleep. His pillow, facing his study table, shifted under the weight of his head. His wristwatch, lying on the table, showed 1 in the morning. Kartik rolled on the bed and mumbled something.

For a second, a light shined from the table. Behind his watch, his sword appeared for an instant, the blade shining off the moonlight. Then a wind blew the clouds over the moon and in the next time moonlight reached the study table, the sword was gone.


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