Vile acts of the sovereigns

Ever since the liberation, Shomaal had drastically changed, new cities had been built and previously suppressed colonies were given total freedom to move about without any restrictions, one of the biggest and most drastic change Empress Golden had implemented under her care was, she had restricted all the concept of physical boundaries among the different countries to maps and official documents only.

This, she had done by extensive councils, giving a chance to each and every society, nomatter how small, an important audience with one another and with herself, this was also made possible due to the difference in ruling systems of each society,

Sehra was unique in many aspects and similiar in others, with the earth.

Creatures here unlike humans, were not as stubborn and keen on territorial expansion.

Deep down they simply, wanted nothing more than a fair chance at life and to be free, so they had deeply welcomed the prospect of open countries.

This had also promoted higher cooperation in advanced research expansion of knowledge.

Currently,

By the foot of rocky and barren range of mountains called hoor-e-mehar in Shomaal, a few birds of preys along with a group of gloom-chimmers tended to a field of crops. They were conducting crucial experimentation here.

The entire area was closed off to public.

It had been a week since they had received a report of something breathing under the soil in 'odd gradual movements', from the native creatures.

A gloomchimmer called 'Nima' knelt and pinched the odd crop they had planted an exactly a month ago, it's top looked like four tiny lettuce leaves, intermingled together.

With a sudden pull, she plucked it out of the ground.

Instead of root, the odd plant had a tiny blobby creature, completely translucent, attached to it's root, it had two googly eyes and a satisfied grin on it's face, the creature was filled to the brim with water, a drop more and it would burst.

It sluggishly moved it's gaze upon Nima, who still had it lifted up by the leaves in her hands, then nodded.

Nima looked back to her partner, a dull green bird of prey eagerly waiting for news, and nodded.

Upon that, the entire crowd of creatures who had been deeply fixated on the tiny crop and gloomchimmer, burst into jeers.

"Send a word to the highlady, her hunch was right" Nima said, despite the moment of celebration, her voice showed no excitement and instead was depressing, the bird of prey eagerly flew off.

Waves of jeers and celebrations continued among the crowds of scientists, a few hours later, Justuju landed nearby.

Her posture was calm and indifferent, with a tinge of excitement bubbling behind her serious eyes. She walked to a container with hundreds of those tiny root creatures, all filled to the brim with water. Most didn't even bother to look at her, but a few, albeit looking too drunk on water, managed to give a thumbs-up.

A squeak of joy escaped her beak but she quickly recovered and cleared her throat,

" Have them transported to the Gulestaan right this instant," Justuju had developed a lavish high lady like attitude to herself, this was partially due to the high rank she had been in the academics and partially because, she had been recognized by the empress herself on various occasions, who deemed her council important, she didn't even bother to look back and congratulate the team, and without saying anything else, flew off.

Passing by newly developed trade-routes and villages, she eventually reached an extremely wide beam of concentrated light that was reflected off a colossal structure, the citadel of Gulestaan, It was so grand in magnitude that it covered a good portion of the horizon.

Justuju entered the beam of light and felt a thorough revigoration in her essence and speed, Soon, drifting between the beam of light, a colossal city that was laid around the structure came into view, It was shimmering and lively.

The capital of Shomaal, Gulestaan, known as the city of lights, was a piece of heaven very carefully placed upon the sehra, it housed an extensive of fifty million creatures, all of different nature and thoroughly taken care of.

Just a few kilometers before she entered Gulestaan, a familiar bird of prey hovered alongside the beam with some soldiers besides him.

Justuju stopped and greeted him.

"Captain," she said

"Lady justuju" he replied

"I hope the journey had been pleasent," he added

She hummed and didn't say anything else,

#212 glanced at his soldiers to make formation, they understood immediately, the Nector#1 was one of the most elite units in the entire army, only sent to missions that appeared impossible otherwise.

They would also be tasked with receiving high profile officials aswell, justuju didn't exactly fit the criteria but #212 was madly in love with her so he never missed a chance.

He had tried his luck a thousand times, but she was too hard to win.

The squad led her deeper into the city of lights which was simply too majestic for mere definitions. They stopped before a particular high balcony, metres above the clouds, the bucket of root creatures was already there, placed upon lushious white marbel floor.

Justuju entered, bowed her head graciously at the figures present in the room, then bursting through the excitement she had been trying very hard to contain she said.

"My Queens, we were right, Shomaal is on its way to be completely green in the upcoming decades, saving only a few areas which are completely devoid of any life now.

********

Fresh cream bagels, stuffed chocolate donuts, almond cookies and hot coffee. Mr.Sherjan's tiny bakery had everything for a cozy warm spot to hang out for school kids.

His tiny lovechild, the bakery that went by the name of 'Donuts ka dabba' was one of its kind, away from all the contemporary alikes that existed all over Nadiyapur

He had introduced something different that hadn't existed in the village before, even the surrounding villages had never heard of it.

Freshly brewed coffee.

Villagers did not like it at first, they even tried to frame him for selling them overburnt milk tea, but steadily, for exactly three days, there had been a gradual increase in the customers.

Mr Sherjan grabbed a freshly baked cookies tray out of aroma filled oven and stacked them nicely in a glass container, then after they settled nicely, pulled some out and walked to a group of school kids, all Isra's age.

"This is for you, a gift" he said as his eyes squinted in a heartfelt smile.

Isra managed the counter behind, and could not help but melt on these little habits of her father.

After the whole day of tending to customers, she walked out of the shop and found the same group of kids by the end of street, who had spent almost their entire day laxing around in the bakery.

Isra pulled out a note of a thousand ruppees from under her shawl, and handed it over to them.

"Come back tomorrow again, don't try to run away with the money, I know where to find you" she said,

A scheme of money laundering was underway.

*******

Roop opened her eyes to the blinding assault of hundreds of sunrays, which flashed and burned through her vision, leaving her impaired for a couple of minutes. She hissed against the pain and sluggishly moved her head to the left, her vision still a complete blur. There, she saw a vague silhouette of a metal brace deeply embedded in the mountain.

The sight immediately cleared the fog in her mind as her eyes widened in shock. The last thing she remembered was giving a report to Kehkashaan about a certain important incident which had occurred in Sehra-e-shargh, which he was carelessly ignoring yet again. Then, a huge chunk of her memory was missing, and now she found herself braced to this mountain.

Not only was her left hand restrained, but her entire body was bolted into the rock by strong braces. No matter how hard she tried to free herself, they did not budge.

"KEHKASHAAN, FORGIVE ME!" she shouted, but her voice echoed back to her. Not a single soul could be seen anywhere around her.

"WHAT DID I DO?" she pleaded, yet nothing heeded her calls. After shouting her lungs out, she threw her head down in resignation. Fabric strips hung freely in the air, and she felt no command over them.

Her mask was slowly coming undone. Time was running out. She focused all her strength on the left brace, attempting to pull it out, and a crack resounded in the air. Her wrist turned backward completely, but the metal brace did not budge.

'What did I do?' she thought to herself.