Waking up -2

(updated and edited)

A few moments before Alaukik opened his eyes;

'Is ... the ... time .. coming? 'M I finally going to ... escape this cage of darkness and loneliness? It's been so long… I've forgotten ... what the world feels like. I can feel it …. So close. My soul ... has nearly adapted t' this body. Finally ... finally, I will see the light. I will be able to ... talk. To hear. I ... hate this place, this darkness, this void. I'd rather die than come back here again, at least I won't be conscious after my death.. ' Alaukik thought as he slowly gained control of his body and woke up.

At the same time, in the room opposite, there stood a group of people, some is white lab coats, while others in expensive looking suits. If Devendra were here, he would easily recognize all of the people present. They were an important part of the government and had positions in the Ruling Council, the governmental institution that ruled the Federation of India and Persia. Made after the creation of the Federation, it consisted of the strongest and brightest of the people of the country.

Here in this room stood the cream of the crop from the Ruling Council. First of all, the three head scientists of the institute, Arvind Mand, Anand Banerjee and Habib Shere. Then there was the Federation's one and only strategic class magician and part of the thirteen apostles, Bharat Chandra Khan. Beside him, standing wearing a white lab coat, was the brilliant mind that developed the strategic class magic that Chandra Khan wields, Agni-Downburst, Asha Chandrashekar. Behind them all, standing with his back as straight as a rod, and his hands behind his back, was the leader of the armed forces of the Federation, Jamshed Abbas. Standing beside all of them, was the only member of the Ruling Council who was decided through elections, Uday Devan. And right now, all of them were gathered here to witness the awakening of the 001, somebody who had been one of the top priorities of the RC for years.

"Supervisors, when will this subject wake up? You realize that just standing here is a massive waste of time? I have a lot of work to finish and don't have the time to wait here all day, " said Jamshed in a deep voice.

"Indeed dear supervisors. Do we know when he shall wake up? Or, are we even sure that it is today? " questioned Uday, albeit in a lighter tone. After speaking, he quickly glanced at Bharat and Asha, as if gauging their reactions, but quickly turned back to facing Alaukik.

Neither Bharat nor Asha paid their questions any mind, and focused all their attention on Alaukik, while the three head scientists immediately started sweating and looking at each other.

"It's not definite when sirs, but we are sure that he will wake up today. Based on his growing brain activity, today will be the day when he should wake up," said Habib, in a trembling voice, as if he were very afraid one of the members of the RC would blame him for wasting their time, although which one he was more scared of, couldn't be seen.

"He should be waking up anytime soon, he has stopped emitting psions, which must mean that he has gained control of his body now. All that's left is for him to wake up. However, the main focus should be on what we are going to do about him once he wakes up? After all, he has a humongous psion count, and wasn't it written in the report the Ruling Council received that he could influence space itself?" said Bharat, his eyes never leaving Alaukik.

"We immediately send him for training and use him on the battlefield as soon as possible," said Jamshed in a tone that accepted no refusal.

And yet,

"Absolutely not," said Asha, speaking for the first time. "No matter how strong he might be, he is still a child. And stop talking about him as if he were a weapon. He is a human being, and deserves the right to live freely," Asha said while looking at Jamshed with extremely unkind eyes. While to the various governments around the world, using magicians as weapons was the norm, to Asha, magicians were also human beings. To use them as weapons was what she detested the most, and what she was working hard to change.

And just as this discussion was about to evolve into a full blown argument, everybody heard a loud gasp coming from the front.

"He's waking up! 001 is waking up!" exclaimed Anand, in an ecstatic voice.

Immediately, all of the people present focused all of their attention on Alaukik.

'Finally. I want to see the sun. I want to see colors. I want to breathe air, and feel the world,' Alaukik thought as he slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing Alaukik did as he gained control of his body, was to take a deep breath, and feel the air surrounding his body, the feel of the bed he was lying on and the things wrapped around his limbs.

'Wait, wrapped around my limbs? I'm tied to a bed? Wha-' thought Alaukik as he tried to move his limbs while opening his eyes, and yet

"NO! NO! I can't see the wo- Why, why can't I see anything? It's dark, it's all dark. I can't see anything! I can't see- I can't, I, I- NO! Not again! I don't wanna go back to the darkness! NO-" Alaukik started violently trembling and screaming.

As he started to lose control, you could see the air-no, the space around him started to tremble too. You could see the space around him cracking and many of the machines along with the bed were destroyed by them. However, even with the collapse of the bed, Alaukik stayed laying in the air, as if there was something supporting him from falling. These tremors even started to spread to the room opposite.

"What's going on? Why is he reacting like this? Is this normal?" questioned Jamshed as he quickly backed away from the glass that had started to show cracks.

"No, he should not act like this. He's screaming 'darkness?' and also 'I'm all alone' Why is he repeating that? No, no, we have to calm him down, or else he's going to overload his body again!" spoke Asha as she hurriedly rushed towards the mic in front of the various screens and pressed a few buttons beside it.

"Child? Can you hear me? Listen, listen closely to my voice. You're not alone, I'm here. I'm right here with you. Calm down. I'm here with you. Take a deep breath and try to calm down." she said into the mic.

Hearing this, Alaukik, who was like a drowning man, felt like he had found something to hold onto. And so he did, he focused solely on her voice, that voice that told him to take a deep breath and calm down, that voice that kept repeating to him that "You're not alone". To Alaukik, that voice was like an angel's voice. And as he listened to her, he slowly calmed down, and slowly, he realized that the darkness he was in now was quite different than the previous one. For one thing, he could actually feel things, and he could breathe and smell the air around him. And right now, what he smelled was a mix of something burning and the smell when you enter a hospital ward. And as he calmed down, he responded to that voice, that was asking him

"Are you ok?"

"I'm better now… but I don't think I can stay calm for much longer. My body .. it's not in my control, and I can't see anything.. please, is there any way to fix this? I want to see, please," replied Alaukik.

"Ok. Just give me two minutes. I'll come to you," said Asha, and then she turned to face the three supervisors , who had retreated and were standing on the opposite side and the furthest away from the glass.

"You have one minute to explain to me why that child does not have eyes. I believe in the report you submitted, it was said that the child had a pair of unique eyes that seemed like they were the source of his powers? That you could feel the immense amount of psions flowing into his eyes, and then affecting the world outside? Supervisors, I believe you wouldn't lie to me would you?" said Asha with a tone so cold it could freeze hell over.

"I ordered them to remove them before he woke up. They are now stored in an extremely secure warehouse far far away," said Jamshed suddenly. As he did, Asha quickly shifted her gaze towards him,

"And you forgot to inform the Ruling Council of this decision? Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Jamshed Devan?" Asha replied in a mocking tone and continued "You realize that what you did can count as a criminal offense? To make a decision and act on it before passing it through the Ruling Council beforehand?" she questioned.

" You need not worry about me. It was already passed through with a majority and then executed. Minister of the People Uday approved of it while Apostle Bharat abstained. You were not informed because you were busy with your research," replied Jamshed.

Although Jamshed said that Asha was not informed because she was busy with her research, everyone knew that the real reason was because she would have never agreed to the proposal and would have tried her best to block it. And so did Asha, but she didn't have anything to fight back with, and so

"Very well. But I shall remember this," she said as she walked out of the room and into Alaukik's room.