GUROGAN

CHAPTER 2 :A WORLD CONCEALED TO BE REVEALED

"The warm Saturday sun cast its lazy rays over the sleepy town, signaling a day of freedom from school's rigid routine. Tom, with no pressing plans and no one to share them with, decided to escape into the nearby Harlow forest. His best friend, Joe, was indisputably tied to his books, a prisoner of his mother's unwavering academic expectations.With solitude as his constant companion, Tom meandered through the forest's twisting trails, the rustling leaves and chirping birds his only accompaniments. He idly climbed trees, plucked ripe fruits, and savored the sweet taste of freedom.As he wandered deeper into the woods, the canopy of branches above him began to filter the sunlight, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor. Suddenly, Tom's footsteps halted, his gaze arrested by a hidden treasure - an ancient wooden cabin, shrouded by sentinel trees.Curiosity piqued, Tom approached the mysterious structure, its weathered facade exuding secrets of a bygone era. The cabin's imposing size belied its secluded setting, its wooden beams remarkably unscathed, despite the whispers of centuries past.Intrigued, Tom pushed open the creaky door, stepping into an eerie silence. The cabin's interior lay barren, devoid of any sign of occupation, a stark contrast to the worn, weathered exterior. It was as if time had stood still, awaiting the arrival of an inquisitive soul, like Tom, to unravel its secrets."

After some minutes of survey a flash of light flickered in the cabin. Tom finally came to and yet another strange event occurred. The forest and the cabin were gone. A few metres ahead of him was a really tall and wide gate with strange symbols engraved on it. Nothing was making sense anymore. In front of him was the most grotesque gate he'd ever seen and behind him was nothing but barren land, as if he were at the Australian Outback.
"What the heck's going on here?" Tom thought to himself, his little brain trying to fit together pieces of events that led to his appearance in an unknown place. "Where are you coming from boy!?" Tom jumped at the sound of this voice. In front of him was a very tall and muscular man. His clothes were rather weird. He wore tight black clothes with a few added designs and scribbling of some sort. But the body though, very fit and evident of every day work-out and exercises. "From home" responded Tom still puzzled by how he'd gotten here and how this strange tall man had appeared out of nowhere. "And where's that?" inquired the man. "Heallowville Street" replied Tom. There was a small silence that followed. The man seemed to be lost in deep thought somehow and on the other hand, Tom was also still trying to make sense of the situation. "Wait..." the man finally talked "...Are you from Earth?" Tom was put into a state of deep perplexation by the unexpected question the man asked. "Is this man drunk or something?" thought Tom to himself. "Isn't this Earth as well........wait what's going on here?" asked Tom screwing his face at the sudden question. Now the man also seemed puzzled by Tom's response. "No boy. This is Gurogan" answered the man. Tom tried to think of the existence of such a place. No dictionary, map or book he'd come across mentioned such a place, heck the word itself even. "Never heard of such a place", he finally spoke. The man was now much more eager to find out how an intruder had stumbled about their place. "How did you get here?" asked the man.
Tom narrated how he was somehow magically warped to an unknown place. About how he came across the cabin, the flash of light and then finally realising himself in what seemed to be a wasteland. "We need to take you to Master Grub right now" suggested the man. Confusion just kept piling up in Tom's head as he kept hearing new words minute by minute. "Master who now? Ok can you just tell me what's going on here?" "Master Grub will tell you everything you need to know. Now hold my hand." Said the man quick to respond. Tom just stared at the man's hand which he kept reaching out to him. It was very weird to suddenly hold hands with someone you'd just met that day, and a man no less. "Excuse me, why should I hold your......." "........Just do it!" shouted the man who was once again quick to respond intercepting Tom. Tom had no choice but to just do as the man had said. Maybe then something would be explained about this unnatural phenomenon.
The moment Tom held the man's hand he instantly found himself in a room that seemed to be like an office of some sort with an old man sitting on a leather chair in front of him with a desk that had papers flooded over it. "What have you brought me here now?" boomed the old man's voice. 'For an old man that voice is too loud' thought Tom. "This is an earthling that somehow found his way here Master" answered the man with absolute formality and standing at akimbo. Tom's heart started racing upon hearing this. 'Are these aliens', 'have I been taken to their boss', 'am I gonna get eaten'. These were all questions that started roaming in Tom's mind. He hadn't come all this way just to be abducted, he still had his Jessie conquest. "Wait! How could an earthling find his way here without the CHAST symbol? Only Chasts can enter this place. That's impossible for a mere human being to enter this place" Tom's thoughts were interrupted by the old man's inquisitions about him. Tom's heart started to race faster. The old man's words seemed to ascertain his abduction theory and this frightened him more. "Excuse me but...but aren't you hu...hu...humans too?" Tom asked hesitantly. He had to re-assure himself of the caution to take in this situation, whether it was a potential alien abduction or it was all just a misunderstanding. "Tell me how you got here boy?" asked the old man at last shifting his attention towards Tom. Tom simply explained to the old man the same way he had done to the tall man, almost word for word. The old man gave the same reaction and this also got him thinking deeply for quite some time. Tom's eyes started to wander around searching for anything weird or grotesque in the office. The office seemed to be a normal modern office, nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing that kept him freaked out where the weird symbols that were also on the old man's desk as a design, the same symbols he had seen engraved on the gate. 'What could they possibly mean?'
"Hey boy" the old man finally spoke. Tom was now getting frustrated by being called boy over and over. "My name is Tom, not boy!" he proclaimed. He was scowling with eyes that punctuated anger all over. 'Oh no, I made them mad' he thought to himself. He had snapped in front of people who could very well kill him without effort if they pleased and yet somehow he just felt like he had to. "Ok Tom, how would you like to become a Chast?" suggested the old man. Tom's mind went completely blank. He had no clue whatsoever about what was being talked about. 'What is a Chast?', 'Where am I?', 'Who are these people?' all these questions needed answers. "A what now?" Tom asked.
"Ok let me start from the beginning" responded the old man as he could see how clueless the boy standing in front of him was. So he started from top, that he was referred to as Master Grub and that the man next to him was a gate guardian. "This place is called Gurogan where people with special abilities live. Our purpose is to protect you earthlings from jebras and Dairogan. Any questions?" Master Grub asked. "Yeah, what's a jebra and Dairogan?" inquired Tom who seemed to keep piling up more confusion into his head. "A jebra is a sort of a monster. They come in different shapes and sizes. You could have possibly come across one in your world" the old man answered.
This hit a nerve on Tom's end on the mention of that. His mind started flashbacking scenes of how a grotesque creature devoured his father when he was 4 years old. His father had been trying to protect him from the monster and he got eaten alive. Suddenly a mysterious figure then appeared and killed the jebra. Tom's memory was too blurry to remember who had saved him and his mom that night. Just remembering this opened up a long closed scar within his heart. The pain came back flooding in, reimbursing those memories. This was the one memory he solely wished he could forget as it brought back wounds difficult to heal. "Like the one that killed dad" he whispered with a disturbed face.
"Sorry what was that?" asked Master Grub. "Nothing. Take me in.....I want to be a Chast.....whatever it takes" replied Tom suddenly determined of his goals. This took Master Grub by surprise, the boy who seemed like he was gonna pee his pants any minute a while ago, was now determined and driven by an unknown force. "Oh so what made you finally decide to become one?" asked the master, now curious as to what Tom's intentions were. There was a bit of silence for a while and then Tom clenched his fists, "Protecting those I love is all that matters," he said, his voice low and resolute. The simplicity of his words belied the depth of conviction behind them, a conviction that transformed his entire demeanor. His eyes burned with a fierce sincerity, stripping away the façade of levity, revealing a man consumed by unwavering determination. For an instant, the carefree soul was replaced by a resolute guardian, driven by an unshakeable sense of responsibility. The gravity of his tone and expression brokered no argument, no jest. This was a clichéd movie line but this was a heartfelt vow, etched on his face like a promise to himself and those he held dear.

"Ok fine, come back tomorrow" said the old man "But don't ever tell anyone about this World, not even the person you trust the most. Keep this identity of yours a secret" the old man swore secrecy and allegiance to Tom. "I promise" Tom also swore. He was then dismissed and then another queer thing happened once again. A door appeared in the middle of the office. Tom couldn't see what was on the other side because of a shining white light that blinded him which emanated from the other side of the door. "Just walk past this door and you'll be home again" said Sensei Carlton with a smile on his face this time.

Tom did as he was told and surely enough when he passed through the door he was back at the exact same spot he had been in the forest. The cabin was gone! There was no trace of it left, just clear empty space. It was also still the exact time he had left his world, all that time he spent in Gurogan and time here seemed to have been still, like it was waiting for him to come back so as to resume. Tom then headed straight home and got there a few minutes later. As he entered the door his mom was still cleaning the dishes. "Back so soon dear?" asked his mom worriedly that something could have happened to him. "Yeah mom, just tired is all" he replied and went straight to his room.
He got to his room and threw himself on his bed, exhausted from all that had transpired today. It was a really eventful day and a lot of inexplicable things had happened. He started to recall his entire day from the time he got into the forest to the time he met the old man he was to refer to as Master Grub and also about the existence of a separate world. This was really indeed a lot to take in. As he was lost in his thoughts he slowly drifted into sleep until he dosed off and was eventually snoring.