1 1. After 300 Years...

With a jolt, he sat up; suddenly sweating all over. His movement led to the ringing of a bell that was attached to his bed and soon came a white clothed person rushing inside the room with his eyes beaming with stars as if his joys knew no bound.

“Oh my god, you are awake!” He said in softly and then started screaming, “OH MY, YOU ARE REALLY AWAKE! FINALLY!” He walked fast to his bed side, “I should let the lord almighty know about this.” Immediately he made a gesture of writing a letter in the air and whispered a spell that summoned a beautiful white bird in seconds. “Go,” he said to the tiny white bird and off it went to who knows where.

He has been watching intently all this while without a question and the more he watched the more he got confused. “Lord almighty is busy most of the time , but he will be more than thrilled to see his son finally awake. I have sent word for him, you see. Don’t wo-.....”

“Who...are you?” he spoke up hesitantly, “What is this place? What is going on?”

Finally remembering the situation they were in, the latter started to explain, “Ahh, I am so sorry. I kept speaking without giving you a chance. I am a guardian angel. You can call me Mohi. I work under the direct supervision of your father, the lord Almighty. He asked me to take care of you and I have been doing that for the past 300 years.”

“3-300...years!?”

Mohi chuckled a bit and then continued, “Yes, my lord. You have been sleeping for the past 300 years. You almost died in a fierce battle 300 years ago but the lord Almighty saved you. May be that’s why you are having trouble remembering, Lord Sansara.”

“Me? A lord?”

“Don’t worry my lord, you will soon get used to this,” Mohi said with a smile before he got up and checked the candle beside Sansara’s bed still flaming strong, “Pardon my insolence my lord, but you look like you saw a ghost in your dreams. Are you okay?”

“Seems like it, but strangely I don’t remember it anymore,” Sansara replied with a strange look on his face as if all this information is too hard for him to consume. Suddenly as if struck by a headache he held his head in both his hands. Mohi came closer with a concerned look, “My lord? Is everything alright? Are you feeling pain anywhere?”

Turning his head towards Mohi, with still a hand on his head, he muttered, “I think....I am hungry.”

Mohi controlled his laugh and pressed his lips before continuing, “Yes of course my lord, I will send you food right away. Please rest.”

As soon as Mohi walked out of the chamber, Sansara tried standing up. He felt like he was overflowing with vitality. He looked around himself- the exquisite robe, the palace like chamber, there were so many things that he doesn’t remember.

As informed by Mohi, the food arrived in his chambers. Sansara felt like he has never been offered so much food in his life. He stuffed himself with all the preparations that he was probably seeing for the first time and before Mohi arrived, he set out to explore. Every step he took, he had a strange feeling. Not a doubt about the fact that the entire realm looked like something straight out of a dream, but no matter what kind of memory loss he is going through, he should be able set a few things straight just by his reflex. Suddenly he remembered that he wanted to learn the bird summoning spell from Mohi and just as he was about to go look for him, he heard sharp cries in his head, “HELPPPP!!! HELP!!! ANYONE THERE? Reinforcements needed right now.” He had no idea about who the voices belonged to, nor about where it was coming from.

All he did was follow the voice.... and landed up inches away from a black clad figure who was almost stooping over him with the most displeased look he has ever seen. Sansara quickly understood the awkward position that he was in. The three angels(presumably) behind him were tied up with a spiritual whip and in front of him was a tall and a gorgeous man looking straight at his eyes, his lips slowly parting and eyes gradually relieved. He was about to say something when the angels behind Sansara, amazed and confused at the same time by the battle of good looks in front of them, cried, “MY LORD!!!YOU ARE...” It wasn’t unknown in the entire abode of angels that the looks of the son of the lord Almighty was no joke.

Draped in shining white robe covering the golden inner robe, his hair long and fluttering half tied on top with a single lock falling lazily on his beautifully sculpted face, Sansara faced a man inches taller than him, face equally attractive yet strong, eyes determined yet relaxed; dressed in a scarlet outer robe bordered by patterns of flames over a black inner robe.

“Lord Almighty will punish us, please return my lord,” one of the angels said slowly. Sansara looked at the angels with a confused face, “But you said you needed reinforcements?”

“Somebody else would have come. Kindly return my lord,” they looked like they were begging him when someone spoke up, “How dare you all ignore me!” A voice so soft yet so intimidating, that even Sansara almost gulped at the sudden intrusion.

Almost after a while, the angels shouted, “My lord, do not go near him! He is the demon overlord. Stay away from him. He is disaster hims-..” The angels cried out as the whip strengthened its gripped around them and the owner of the whip had a smirk painted on his lips.

“What do you think you are doing? Release them this instant,” Sansara charged towards him and almost without thinking he drew out his sword from the shiny golden scabbard near his waist and went to strike the enemy when the demon lord dodged the strike by a split second, his eyes almost grim and his gaze fixed at the sword beside him with the inscription ‘Pegasus’ on it. Not a doubt about it!

He thought he was mistaken at first but this couldn’t be just a coincidence. Soon he received another blow from the same sword but he didn’t dodge. Surprisingly, he held the sword with his bare hands and pulled it closer as a result of which Sansara was almost too close to him. He bled profusely from his hands but refused to let go. “Mir,” he whispered but Sansara had no reaction to it and instead he asked back, “What are you talking about?”

Just then a voice muffled from all the tears called back from behind, “Demon overlord, please save my daughter. Please!” The angels cried, “No stop...you will die!” “I DON’T CARE,” the man shouted back.

Sansara after pulling back his sword realised what had actually happened. “Is it something like the deal with the demon?” Sansara asked indifferently. The demon beside him said, “Hmm, something like that.” He didn’t expect the mighty demon overlord to answer him but he was shocked to see the amount of blood the man has bled in order to draw the huge array to summon the demon lord just for sacrificing himself to save his daughter. His heart ached slightly at the thought of it.

“VINASAKA YOU CANNOT TAKE AWAY HIS SOUL!” shouted one of the angels but the moment their gazes met, the angel turned ice with fright.

“Then you people should have done your job right!” he almost coated each and every word with blades as he spoke and didn’t even bother to spare them a second glance. The man on the other hand almost passed out from all the bleeding and the crying. When he was walking towards the man, Sansara suddenly spoke up from behind, “Vinasaka! Is that your name?” he stopped and smiled gently, “That’s right.” “Are you really going to devour his soul?” he chuckled but didn’t answer and kept walking towards the man when suddenly another figured appeared behind him and held a sword right at his throat.

“Mohi,” Sansara called. Mohi replied, “My lord, I have been looking for you everywhere. How did you manage to find trouble on our own in such a short time?” Sansara didn’t know how to react to that question. He felt a very soft thing touching his feet and when he looked down he found a black cat rubbing itself against his feet. He picked up the cat and looked at its eyes. Such beautiful blue and green eyes! He was immersed in those eyes when suddenly the cat was replaced by a smiling demon overlord and he was almost taken aback. Vinasaka tilted his face slightly to let the others know, “You guys can think of a solution for the poor guy. I give you two days. For now...” he turned back to look at Sansara and slid a hand around his waist, “I shall only take him.” They disappeared in an instant with the three angels shocked and Mohi blinking stupidly at the black cat and the passed out man in front of him.