1 Anush is Born
Milky Way Galaxy, planet Earth.
A thick blanket of dark clouds had shadowed the sun, and an equally eerie forest had covered the land. The occasional roaring of thunders, the whistling of winds, the rustling of leaves, and the distant howling of animals made this evening bleaker than the darkest of nights.
In this barren and forsaken land, stood a small red house near the forest outskirts. It was made of small red stones and its only door was full of glaring holes. Sound of rhythmic footsteps could be heard as six armed men, dressed in camouflage clothing, patrolled the perimeter of this house. The four brown armored jeeps parked some distance away suggested more people, and that they were not here to stay.
"NOOOOOOO!" came a loud scream from inside the house, but with a light thud, silence prevailed once more.
The rotten door slid open with a creaking noise and three men walked out whilst talking among themselves.
One was obese with his stomach bulging out of his white shirt, one was thin and his red shirt would flail with the wind. The last one donned glasses and had worn tight fitting shirt, showcasing the outline of a muscular physique. All three men had black hair and brown eyes with reddish white skin.
"What a waste of all this effort! Even with his fiancé as hostage, we couldn't get anything," spoke the obese man.
"Maybe so, but at least we have eliminated a potential threat. With his death, their nuclear program will stop before completion," said the thin man.
The man with glasses started laughing, a laughter with sinister undertones. "It was thrilling. I haven't let myself loose in a long time. The shearing of flesh off that beautiful body of his fiancé as she held back her screams...And feeding it to the dogs right in front of them. Hahaha…" But the laughter stopped immediately. "What a pity though. I wanted to do more."
The three men turned toward the parked jeeps, and the six armed men swiftly entered the house to clean it up and destroy all the traces of this event.
While everyone was getting ready to leave, the blackness of space immediately outside the Earth's atmosphere was ripped apart like the parting of a dark black curtain, and a humanoid figure walked out.
This figure stood tall, and was dressed in a loose green robe. With shoulder length red hair tied in a small ponytail, red piercing eyes, light-red arid skin and a physique similar to men athletes on Earth, his mere presence had suppressed everything around him. "40 years for only one day, huh?" he muttered to himself and looked down towards the blue planet.
His gaze penetrated right through all the layers of clouds, and landed directly on that small red house. The strangest of things happened as a white mist started to rise from this house. It flew towards the figure in space and, immediately after, a red sparkling mist also rose up from the house. The red mist closely followed behind the white mist. None of the men nearby noticed this sudden change. Perhaps no one in this whole solar system could see this, except for the humanoid figure itself.
He lifted up his right hand and the white mist was attracted into his palm, swirling there peacefully. The red sparkling mist directly burrowed itself into his glabella, and he closed his eyes as if to comprehend something from that red sparkling mist.
The figure finally opened his eyes and a tear trickled down his cheek. His right eye had turned into a glossy bright green color, and a flickering green flame could be seen in its pupil.
The loose green robe started to flap without any wind, and as he looked down toward the men entering jeeps, he spoke tersely, "Vanish!"
With the end of this word; the red house, the people and the armored jeeps, all were engulfed in a bright green flame.
The flame didn't seem to carry any heat and before any voices or shouts could be heard, everything disappeared along with the flame. There was no red house, there were no jeeps, there were no people and not even ashes could be found. As if, except this ghostly environment, nothing ever existed there.
The figure then turned to the swirling white mist. A mirthless smile appeared on his face and his eyes, with right one back to red, reflected guilt and care. He slightly contracted the palm and the white mist turned into a sparkling crystal. The figure of a woman could be seen within the crystal, curled together and sleeping peacefully. It was impossible to make out her looks and features, but the green robed figure seemed to know who exactly she was.
"You are coming with me," he whispered as if not to disturb the woman sleeping inside the crystal, and turned to once again look towards Earth.
"By my status of 4th Elder of the Samsara Court, I hereby restrict the reincarnation of souls from this globe. From this moment forth, no souls from here shall reincarnate in any other place in this universe. All of them shall experience their destined samsara in this same globe. And no soul from any other place in this universe shall reincarnate on this globe," rang a cold voice in the vacuum of space.
His green robe started to flap and the color of his right eye once again changed to glossy bright green. A spherical screen, light green in color, appeared around the figure and started to expand outward to cover the entire solar system. Not even a few breaths passed before everything was covered in green. This green screen only had one function: to never allow any soul to enter or leave this solar system, for reincarnation or otherwise.
As the screen covered the Sun and all the eight planets, he muttered to himself, "This is her native place and knowing her, she would feel disheartened about this punishment." He looked towards the women in crystal and his mouth curved into a genial smile. "I shall leave them a way out."
He thought of something for a moment and declared toward the white crystal, "Not only a way out but an advantage too." He took a step forward and simply vanished.
All of this happened right outside Earth and a big screen had covered the solar system, but no one in the entire galaxy noticed anything different.
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Fifteen years later, a boy was born in a small village in India, and was named Anush by his grandfather. Anush didn't open his eyes for fifteen days after birth, making the whole family jittery, but he eventually saw the light.
More than a year passed when the family realized that the boy still couldn't walk. But much to the relief of everyone, Anush started crawling and finally took his first step at the age of one and half years.
When he grew up to be three years old, Anush was sent to a local school for primary education. Clad in a white shirt and blue shorts, short black hair, dark brown eyes and light brown skin, he was the poster boy for school going kids.
The nurturing standards of his household were very conservative, and more often than not, he would be barred from the simplest of things a child enjoys.
"Anush, don't sit on the swings." And he would change his place as directed.
"Anush, don't drink water too fast." And he would slow down his gulps.
"Anush, play less and study more." And he would rarely go out for sports.
"Anush, never talk back to the elders." And he would never argue with his parents even if they were in wrong.
"Anush, you can not watch movies." And he would grow up to never see a film at home. Or even in a cinema for that matter.
With all such strict directions, Anush grew up to be an obedient but dull son, though the obedience was a result of his timidness towards his parents. But these directives also helped him in some ways, as Anush became more focused on studies and would always be the top of his class. As he grew older, Anush developed the habit of reading books and even though there were no siblings, he didn't feel alone with all knowledge contained within.
But this also started to foster a more logical and independent mentality, a mentality which would eventually see Anush crave for freedom and stand up to his parents' illogical rules.
Around 10 years of age, he came across the wonderful art of meditation and was thoroughly enchanted. The idea of something intangible like a soul and to be able to visualize this soul as a wick of white flame got him fascinated. Since then, he made it a habit to meditate every morning and night, hoping to achieve something special. With time, although he couldn't feel any soul but during meditation, there would always be a strange heavy feeling at center of his forehead. His mind would be reinvigorated after every such session.
Anush later came to know that everybody feels the same and lost all enthusiasm. Being able to sense the strange heaviness during meditation made him feel special and extraordinary, but the reality shattered this fantasy. He still kept the habit of meditating every morning and night since his mind would always be energized and calm afterward.
With the passage of years, Anush developed new hobbies. He was still interested in reading and meditation, but now he also started practicing Mixed Martial Arts. This came from the influence of watching action cartoons. Being able to physically dominate everyone around him was what he wanted to achieve. After all, now Anush had entered puberty and the hormones were starting to show their wonders.
The MMA training was painful, and filled with light injuries every now and then, but it eventually gave him what he wanted. A strong, flexible and toned body that could win any of his friends in action. Practicing MMA also became a regular part of his life alongside meditation.
There was a peculiar trait about Anush's character that led him to maintain these hobbies throughout his life. Normally, he couldn't be bothered to be consistent with things he was supposed to do. But the things that got his heart racing, activities that stirred his mind, he would always stick with those. MMA and meditation were two such activities.
At the age of 15, for the first time ever did Anush understand what his friends meant by a crush. He met a girl one year senior than him. She had just enrolled in the class beside his and he couldn't take his eyes off her. Dressed in a light yellow shirt and brown checkered skirt, shoulder length black hair, big dark eyes and pale skin, this sudden attack of beauty and somewhat husky voice made him light-hearted. His world changed as hormones came rushing straight into his brain. Books seemed not so important any more. Class notes didn't matter anymore, and no problem couldn't be solved with just a glimpse of her beautiful smile.
These feelings grew intense with time and he started to like her more and more. Alas! Given the familial environment he was raised in, coupled with the fear of his father, ensured that he could never gather enough courage to confess. One year later, Anush moved to another school and everything seemed to die down. Until one of his friends stirred the hornet's nest, and told the girl about Anush's feelings. But as fate would have it, the girl already had a boyfriend, and so the first crush ended in an unrequited love.
From here on out, Anush decided to keep himself in check whenever a girl would start to affect him emotionally.
It was around the time when he was 17 that he came across a fascinating concept, the concept of Astral Projection. It was unique, intriguing and absurd at the same time. To be able to project one's astral body outside the physical body and travel around without any restrictions, to fly all over the world. Just the thought of it gave him goosebumps and once again, Anush adopted a new habit.
He would practice Astral Projection every night before sleep and he kept at it with zeal. But even after a month, there were no visible effects. Even still, since this practice helped in a healthy and deep sleep, he permanently replaced his night meditation with Astral Projection practice.
Very soon, Anush enrolled in college and a new chapter of his unfurled. New environment, new people and new goals got him thrilled. But he calmed down after coming face to face with the hard reality that not everything was as stimulating as it appeared on the surface. He distanced himself from college lecture system and started studying on his own.
This led him to discover the in-depth knowledge of various theories about life and our universe. Concepts of Big Bang, Relativity, Space-time curvature, Gravity and Black holes, Evolution etc. would fire up his brain cells, and he would often wonder about the mysteries of this world.
"How did the universe really begin?"
"Can something really come out of nothing?"
"What other forms of life forms are out there?"
"Will everything end in a heat death or a big crunch?"
Wondering about such questions, Anush would find himself studying these topics more than he intended. But even with all this reading and work, he could still keep up with his major, Mathematics. Perhaps it was because of the meditation he had been doing for years. He hadn't turned into an extraordinary genius, but his mental stamina and concentration could handle the load.
Life went on smoothly with small hiccups along the way. Anush kept on with his regular habits, gaining immense knowledge and a strong body with time. During the third year of college, his martial arts skill reached a point that not even the college instructor could beat him. He ended up winning North Indian Inter College MMA competition, but this tournament left him with a serious knee injury. Under the urging of his worried mother, Anush decided not to take part in any more competitions but still continue to practice MMA.
Little did he know that his decision to continue practicing martial arts alongside meditation and Astral Projection would one day not only save his friends' lives but also open the door to a brand-new world. A boundless world humanity couldn't even begin to imagine.
