|
It was a day where people and children were freely walking around the street without any fear of soldiers of the harsh rule of the galactic order. He wandered around and children flocked to him to hear his story. He was a good story teller about his childhood and his adventures of a soldier that fights for freedom. As the children came near, he began to tell his tale?.
It was at one fateful night that he woke up. He was unclear of his memory and why he was sitting on a treetop. He tried to recall his memory and remembered the horrifying events that happened. His name was Jason. His father was a general that opposed the galactic order. His mother was a supplier that supplies resources to an organization called freedom fighters. He recalled that they were on the run, moving from planet to planet, then their ship called the stronghold was ambushed by the capital ships of the galactic order They crash landed on a planet forest like with a lot of vegetation, but they didn't have the time to admire the nature because soldiers were closing in on them. As his father and mother traded blaster fire with the soldiers, they told him to run and hide far away from the ship so that he would not be caught. And now, there he was, in the dense forest and far away from the ship. He now wanted to go to the stronghold to see what had happened to his father and mother. He started by climbing down the tree and walked toward the direction the stronghold was.
He did not know how his legs carried him far away from the stronghold, maybe it was because the threat of getting captured or did he had this strength in him? It took several days to reach it. He rested sometimes during his journey while he ate some wild berries which In luck did no harm to him. It tasted sweet at first but sour in his throat. He saw no sign of soldiers too. He at last reached the stronghold. His mother was dead and his father badly wounded. It was there that his father spoke his last words: ?In the ship, there is a secret compartment that has a secret holopod?.
He found himself a blaster with some energy cells, useful to defend himself from the soldiers. He did found the hidden compartment that was hidden to look like the floor of the ship. It contained a holopod that was a message of a gathering of those who oppose the galactic order. They were recruiting as many people as they can to fight against the galactic order. It will be held on a moon called tantive II. Now he knows where to go. He just needs a transport.
The ship's scanner shows a galactic order base not too far from the ship. It was a good thing that the scanner still works. It is where the transport problem will be solved. Will he be able to fly the fighter ships? He could only hope there will be any other ship or the fighter ships with controls similar to the stronghold. He needs to sneak in quietly to steal one of its ships. If he accidentally put up a fight, then he will not be able to hold back all those soldiers because of the sheer number of them and the price will be costly. He might never be able to get out of the planet for the rest of his life.
He has his blaster drawn and changed for the soldiers patrolling the base. He just needed to get to the fighters hangar bay. He avoided attention and reached one of the fighter ships. That was when suddenly a patrol of soldiers spotted him and started firing at him. He started firing against the soldier but that set off an alarm. More soldier flooded in the hangar bay. He quickly went in the ship while firing against the soldiers. He found out that the fighter ship's control were the same with the stronghold. He flew the ship out of the hangar and into space but other soldiers quickly flew the other ships left in the hangar bay . They were hot on his trail and started firing missiles at his ship . He tried maneuvering his ship to avoid their missiles when suddenly, a large capital ship appeared out of a warp portal with more fighter ships launching from it. Its turrets also started firing at him. He must get out fast before the capital ship's tractor beam trap him, making him unable to jump to hyperspace. He quickly entered the coordinates he got from the holopod into the ships computer and a warp portal appeared in front of him and he was in a tunnel with a color of light yellow. The computer said it will take several hours before they reached the coordinates.
Gopal had nothing to reply as his brother had spoken the truth except he replied- " Shut up, Madhu."
Grandpa had replied," It is a monstrous creature who lives in the dark and is always hungry."
Gopal asked, " Is it even real? Have you ever saw it?"
Grandpa answered," I haven't seen it although my grandfather was the member of 'Khya hunters' "
Gopal looked curious. " What are Khya hunters?"
His grandfather narrated the history of the village to his grandsons-
Gopal asked, " Do you think there are still khyas living in that forest?"
Madhu, who was listening to their conversation from the very start, got scared when he heard that Khyas are obsessed with children because they are afraid of adults.
Gopal paused to think and said, " I want to meet a khya."
"Don't say those things. Khyas might come to take you." Grandpa replied.
Gopal ignored grandpa's reply and asked another question, "Grandpa, why don't they come out during the daytime?"
Grandpa replied, " I don't know. Maybe they are afraid of the light."
"What they look like?" Gopal had a bunch of questions prepared and was throwing them at his grandpa consecutively.
Gopal asked, " Why are they ugly?"
Gopal seemed more curious after every answer. He asked again," Why do you think they are ugly?"
Gopal didn't even take a second for another question, " Does being different means being ugly?"
"Noooo..... It means their face isn't similar to ours." Grandpa was exasperated.
Madhu was listening to everything with a curious expression on his innocent face.
Grandpa saw Gopal being upset and replied, "Maybe."
Gopal gathered his courage and asked, " Who are you ?"
The person replied, "I am the watchman."
" Don't lie. There is no watchman here for ages." Gopal retorted.
"There was no watchman before. There is now." The person tended to correct Gopal.
Gopal muddled. The person added, " I have been sent by headquarter to my duty."
The person's mind scribbled. He realized the kid lacks a lot of knowledge.
"I was sent by the king." He replied, "King is the called the headquarter."
Gopal asked again, " Do you know the king?"
The person had no time to debate with the kid. He replied, " Yes. I am one of his favorite people."
"Headquarter." The person corrected Gopal," Why would I die here?"
Madhu was shivering when he walked near Gopal. He looked at the person and stammered while asking, " Are you sure you are a watchman? Not a khya?"
The person laughed out loud. Gopal spoke, "Why are you laughing? khyas are real. They kidnap children. And, they live in this forest."
Where are they? I can't see them here." The person mocked Gopal.
Gopal glared at the person.
The person continued, " Listen, kids, there is no such thing as khyas. This place is the habitat of cheetahs which hunt the children from the village to omit their hunger. The headquar-, the king inspected this place and found about the cheetahs. They send me here to observe them while the other team will be arriving here soon."
Gopal retorted, " No. You are wrong. You are new to this place. You don't know about the history of this place."
The man replied, " I was born in this village, kid. I have heard all the rumors and myths about the khyas. I went to the capital to study furthermore about all the creatures. And, from all the examinations, I can tell you that they are nothing except cheetahs,"
Gopal didn't want to accept the fact because it would show him as a loser and crush his goal.
Gopal furiously replied, "You are the watchman, right? Go and make watches and sell. We will find a khya and talk to him."
The man was startled and thought that how wrong can a kid be. The kid told him to go and make a watch. He had no energy to correct the kid.
He asked, "What do you want to talk to the cheet-, khyas?"
Gopal retorted, "None of your business."
He held his brother's hand, " Let's go, Madhu."
After half an hour of walking, Gopal turned around and shouted, " Stop following us."
The man replied, " I can't. I am doing my job. I have to protect you two and take you back home safely."
Madhu felt relief when he heard that the man was there to protect them. Gopal was annoyed.
Gopal noticed his wooden torch was about to blow out. He started walking faster.
The man shouted, " Hey kids! Let's go home."
Gopal shouted back, " We can go home on our own. We aren't kids."
Madhu wanted to say, 'we should stay with him, we will be safe,' but couldn't say it as he saw the furious mode of his brother.
"Then what are you? Adults?" the man mocked.
Gopal shouted, "We are BRAVE kids"
Madhu nodded at his brother's statement while walking behind him, struggling to catch the same speed as his brother.
After another half an hour, Gopal looked at the sky and saw the moon escaping from the black clouds and bestowing its light on the earth's surface.
The man was exhausted. He shouted from behind, " Okay, stop. I will take you to the khyas." The two brothers turned around, startled.
Gopal attempted to confirm, "Are you sure?"
Gopal filled with excitement but, Madhu terrorized.
Gopal asked, "By the way, What's your name?"
" I am Dhaplan." The man replied.
As they were walking, they heard some strange noise from behind. Gopal was exasperated, "What is it now?". He swiveled around to see a cheetah glaring at him. Gopal was startled and was unable to move his body. Madhu screeched and started bawling. The man stepped forward with a rod in his hand. Cheetah jumped on the man when he saw the weapon in the human's hand. The man swung his rod and hit the cheetah. The cheetah flew two meters away. The man turned to the frozen kids and shouted, " Run and enter the hollow trunk of the tree."
The man pointed to a dead tree lying on the ground but embedded on the earth from one side. The scared kids couldn't hear him. They were staring at him with fear on the face.
The cheetah sprung on the man and bit the man's right leg with its sharp teeth. The man fell and started hitting the cheetah clung to his body. He looked at the kids and bawled, "GOOOO." Gopal threw his wooden torch.
Madhu stood up, still not aware of the surrounding, followed his brother. They looked for the exit of the cave in the dark. The surrounding was barely visible to the brothers. As far as Gopal was able to see around, he saw some skeletons of a four-footed animal. He guessed, 'probably it's a cheetah.' As they walked warily in the dark, they saw a beam of light entering from an opening inside the cave. Gopal hollered with rapture on his face, " It's THE EXIT."
They both ran towards the opening with a face lit up with glee. Suddenly, something grabbed Madhu's legs and dragged him to the opposite side of the exit. Gopal halted and jumped to save his little brother. Madhu screamed when he saw a monstrous figure with a hairy face and long sharp tusks. He yelled, "IT IS A KHYA."
'It is the last hope.' Gopal realized. He carried his brother on his back and scampered towards the exit.
He said to his unconscious brother, "Madhu, look, there is moonlight outside the cave. If we exited from the cave, we would be able to escape from the khya."
He suddenly realized his motive to come there. He remembered the last thing he wants to do. He stood up. He saw the monstrous creature was in a furious gallop at the entrance point. He took a deep breath and then yelled, " YOU'RE NOT UGLY."
The khya suddenly halted and looked at Gopal with its evil eyes. There was no any sort of movement around the surrounding. Gopal felt like the time froze. Suddenly, the khya stepped backward and swiveled to the entrance. The khya was gone leaving Gopal in amazement. He couldn't decide what happened.
Madhu woke up feeling terrorized. He asked colossal questions in reply to which Gopal said nothing. He was silent
They walked in the direction of the village.
"There is a watchman sent by the king to protect us. A cheetah jumped at him and his leg-"
Gopal stopped speaking when he remembered something. He remembered the cheetah had bit the watchman's right leg. Also, the khya he encountered had lost its right leg. He couldn't conclude anything at first. But he confirmed his theory when he recalled the watchman's name, " Dhaplan."
He remembered his friends discussing khyas at school. And, one of them had shared a fact about khyas. Khyas were primarily called 'Dhaplan khyas' by the ancient people before it shortened to 'khya'.
He looked at the horizon and saw the sun rising.
When he stopped talking, the villager asked him again, "Gopal, Who is that person? Where is he?"
Gopal replied, " The sun has risen. He is gone."
No comments:
Post a Comment