Nephilim

9 - The Greeting

The thing that vexed me most was that I could never be sure whose side Vishwa was on. I hadn't asked him outright but an organisation like TEC would either have a hater or a loyalist. There would be no middle ground. I leaned heavily on the fact that if he was a loyalist, he wouldn't have given away the information that easily. Having taken the angels and demons seriously, I spent a lot of time reading up religious texts. The Bible talked of the Tower of Babylon and how, because of the said Tower, 'God' was forced to divide humankind with different languages and religions and traditions. Smart move. People credit the Britishers with the 'Divide and Rule' formula when it actually belongs to the one above. Typical of humans to steal credit. We are the laziest creatures around. But we are supremely smart with that laziness. Had we put in that much effort in setting strict definitions of just about everything; words, processes, feelings, appearances, we could present a united front. Vishwa believed in the almighty and his powers. He believed he had a little influence to wield. A non-believer would laugh it off. I would have laughed it off. But meeting Tina and having a vague idea of what was growing inside of me was like pressing the reset button on all my definitions. See what I mean? You didn't hear Zoya screaming when her father was probably abusing her because you weren't there. You didn't hear it means it didn't happen.

I spent a lot of time thinking about her. Mostly it was about why I trusted her with this undercover work. I barely knew the girl. And what had made her agree so readily? At the same time I could relate to her decision. She knew she could die doing this. Maybe that's what she was looking for. An excuse to kill herself without suffering the humiliation of having to do it herself. I had felt that way too. I had felt that way for a very, very long time. You read about people who grew up in orphanages in First World Countries where they comment on how traumatic the experience was and how they developed mental issues as they grew up. They felt insecure and always unhappy. I laughed at all of this. Wait till you're stuck in an orphanage in a 'developing' nation. You'd be lucky if you shared a bathroom with about a 100 other filthy kids with a functioning toilet flush. The funds donated by people would be hoarded and spent by the warden or care taker and practically nothing would go to the kids. You'd be attending a municipal school where you know more than your teachers, even if you are in the 1st grade. Your only respite were the Christmas parties or Diwali parties that the rich private schools hosted at the orphanages for their 'community service project'. So that amounts to one shitty toy and two decent meals a year. One really shouldn't be surprised if I wanted to end it all while I was growing up. Yes, I know how Zoya hated life and desperately wanted to embrace death. And I also knew that now she feared there was an after life, what with the presence of angels and demons and all of that. Something inside me trusted her and I just rolled along with it.

Meeting Vishwa did nothing for me. Or maybe it did. I wasn't sure. I questioned him about angels and demons some more although they were of little interest to me. I had to first know what I was and why was everyone taking so much interest in me. Tina had asked me to keep away from all the other forces and wanted to remain super secretive about the Nephilim. Yet she was not concerned about passing over a demon for Zoya to exorcise. She had to know that I would come in contact with the demon. So it wasn't as if they were playing their cards close to the chest exactly. I had to know what the hell was happening. The only way to know that right now was by snooping about TEC. Vishwa answered as best as he could and even then I thought some of it was pure baloney. I then casually introduced the TEC topic and what had happened to them all those years ago. Why had they stopped operating for three years? Vishwa looked at me suspiciously. Then he started telling me a story. And he said it like he actually believed it. Faith is a funny thing, I concluded.

"Your name, boy," he began. "Hindu name."

I didn't exactly point out that my name had been chosen by the orphanage and I wasn't quite sure whether my parents had been Hindus or not. I definitely didn't believe in any of the religions preached. A while ago I didn't believe in God. After meeting Tina, I suppose I started believing that one existed but I didn't relegate him to a religion. Monotheism was more my style. "So what if it's a Hindu name?" I asked.

He gave me a dirty look and continued, "Kali Yug boy. It's the last cycle. The Hindus believe in Brahma. He operates the Universe. One Yug or cycle for him is a day and night. We are in the 4th cycle. This is the cycle of avarice and pestilence and famine and destruction. Everyone will destroy everyone else. And then Brahma starts the cycle again."

I didn't know what to say so I kept quite. Vishwa suddenly stood up from the shabby chair he was sitting on and began to light the candles that were placed all over the room. How he could stand the smell of the place remained an absolute mystery to me. He took my silence as a sign to continue. "You believe you are not Hindu. Look at Islam. Grand Judgment for all. If you are an infidel, you will remain thirsty for all eternity. How long can you survive thirsty, eh?" He let out a strange, desperate laugh. It rose the hair on the back of my neck. I could feel the sigil on my forearm starting to itch but I resisted the urge to scratch it. Vishwa didn't stop there though. "Not that then, eh? You are not a non-believer, that I see. What God do you believe in? It matters not. Every last one orders destruction. And there are instruments that bring about this destruction."

He continued to light candles for the next few minutes while I processed everything he said. Religions were linked. Since Tina had mentioned Carl Jung, I had learned quite a bit about him. At one point of time, every religion preached the same thing as others. But was it real? The Mayans had predicted that something big was going to happen in 2012. The world hadn't changed much. Or had it? Had it changed in the most subtle of ways? Was 2012 the falling of one domino that would lead to a series of cataclysmic events? I tried to remember if anything major had happened in 2012 but I came up with nothing. I was looking for a haystack to find a needle. What if there was no haystack?

Vishwa was almost done with the candle-lighting now. He returned to his seat and looked at me as if I was dense. "Avarice. Hatred. Violence. Corruption. Death. Pestilence. None of this helps you? No matter. Remember what I said. Don't appreciate the good. Don't fix the bad. Do what you must do."

This was when the ominous tune in my head started playing loudly. It was loud enough to give me a headache. I suddenly got up and walked out, my senses a little bit shocked as I stepped into daylight after spending the last few hours in a suffocating darkness. The tune wouldn't let go. It wouldn't soften. It grew sharper. Disease, he had said. The tune got louder. Pestilence. I clutched my head. The tune was sharper, more piercing. Judgement. Louder. Famine. Sharper. Instruments. Sharper. War. Louder. Death. I staggered into my home. My head and forearm, both were on fire. It was as if I was trying to fight myself. That's when I heard it for the first time. Loud. Sharp. Clear. In my head. It finally spoke.

"Hello," it said to me.