The Destineds

The Destineds - Karsh's feelings

It was a gloomy day with a cloud-filled sky. Karsh was in his father's garden, when one of his friends called him to come and join them for playing.
Karsh ran to his friends, excited to play with them.
"So what will we play?", asked Karsh.
"How about 'Knock knock'?", asked Ral, the eldest of them all.
"What's that?", asked the other kids.
"It's a game where one person is chosen as the chaser. The chaser gives a topic to the others. The others should name themselves with something of the topic. Then you should collectively tell the chaser all the names without specifying whose name is which. The chaser will knock on each one of your backs and ask is you are a particular name. You should reply yes or no. If yes, run for your life. If not, don't worry. Once a person starts running they can call out other names and pass the running duty. But the chaser remains same. Chaser can use the 'Tomato' feature when he/she gets tired. When the chaser calls tomato, everyone should run and keep your hands on the chaser's head. The last one to do so will become the new chaser.", explained Ral.

"Okay then, let's start", said Vaini, 7 year old genius. Nicknamed as GG, Genius Girl.
They chose Ral as the first chaser. Ral gave them the topic, 'different powers of the Deitys'.
All the other children made a group and discussed.
Vaini chose Mind manipulation.
Tuhi chose empathy.
Karsh chose fire power.
Hirag chose Telekinesis.
Jay chose Size-shifting.
Then the five of them went to Ral and said all the powers they had chosen.
Then stood in a line.

Ral came one by one and knocked on their backs.
"Knock knock. Are you Size shifting?", he asked Tuhi.
"No, I'm not", replied Tuhi.
"Knock knock. Are you Fire power?", he asked Karsh.
Karsh hesitated a bit and yelled, "YESS" and started running. He ran across the road, then called out, "Mind-thingy!!". Expecting a 5-year old to use the word 'ma-ni-pu-la-tion' is a bit over exaggerated for real.
Ral turned back and saw Vaini ready to run. He ran towards her but she ran away.
They played the game for a long time until Ral gave up and called 'Tomato'. Everyone came running to answer the tomato call. But, Karsh was further away from Ral than others. So he went last. Karsh got angry, in anger he scrunched his nose, tightened his fist and stomped his feet.
That's when a lightning bolt hit the ground a few metres away. Everyone got scared and ran back to Karsh's father's farm.
"Uncle, we saw lightning hit the ground. We can't play outside anymore.", whined the children.
"It's okay kids. How about we play some indoor games?", asked Thyan Volav, Karsh's father.
They all jumped up and down in agreement.

They went inside the house and started playing passing the ball. The person who had the ball when the counter says stop is out.
Then they played more games.
It was getting darker. The mothers of all these children came to fetch them back. The ladies chatted among themselves for a few minutes before going back with their children.

The kids exaggerated about the lightning to their mothers too.
Karsh went to his small garden and started talking with the plants he grew there. Suddenly a snake came out of nowhere scaring Karsh. Karsh screamed and fell back, and a lightning bolt struck the snake and burned it to death. Karsh was thankful for the lightning but knew nothing about 'death'.
He went back into his house, ate dinner and slept.

Next day, as usual, he went to his father's farm. Played there. Later ate breakfast. Took a bath. And went to his friend, Vaini Makiri's house as her mom held reading and writing lessons to the kids. She was educated for 9 years on scholarship in the Deity society. But was later expelled, when she was 17 years old, when they saw her hanging out with Deity kids which was prohibited for the Infirmas who came there just to study. She knew to read and write English. She knew basic mathematics and science. She also knew how the world got divided into two, which she learnt in her history classes. She knew how to read the ancient scriptures and manuscripts, which were in the ancient language of Sanchese. She also read about a person who supposedly stayed in the caves of the Snowtop mountains, rumoured to have lived in seclusion after the world's division and also rumoured to be an immortal. She also used to sneak into the library to learn about the Deitys and Infirmas.
Once she was expelled, she came back to Infirma society. Then got married and now has a 7-year old daughter.

Mrs.Yiba Makiri taught the children everything she knew. She also taught them Sanchese just in case. She believed that one day the world will reunite again and become like how it used to be long ago when the True Deitys lived among the people on Earth.

All the children sat under the ages old Banyan tree in Makiri's garden.
Yiba ma'am went on with her class. She asked everyone questions and they answered. It was Karsh's turn to answer now.
"Tell me, which is the war which divided the Deitys and us?", asked Yiba ma'am.
Karsh didn't know the answer. He was helpless. He hadn't paid attention at all. He had been busy playing with an ant and for some reason, burying it in the soil.
The 5 year old felt anxious seeing that all eyes were on him. This was not the first time he felt this. The poor child was probably developing social anxiety at such a young age. His eyes were going blur. And suddenly, a lightning bolt hit the plain field in front of Makiri's house.
Yiba rushed everyone inside the house as the sky had darkened and she forecasted a heavy rain.

Were all these lightning strikes really a coincidence? Or a miracle? Or a Destiny?