Civilization Beyond the Stars - discontinued

3

I closed my eyes and relived the moment when I was awarded a medal and certificate for my bravery in the morning assembly today. The pride you feel while standing beside the principal on the stage in the presence of a thousand students is unparalleled. After a three-day holiday following the riots, I was eager to attend school this Friday. Half the children had not come to school today, sensibly taking a long weekend. The incident on the bus bought me a mixed bag of experiences but I have the limelight on me for sure after all they dedicated the second page of the Hindustan times to me (or maybe not entirely to me).

As the applause in my daydream died, I opened my eyes as the world plummeted back to the flickering fluorescent lights on the gleaming tiles of the boys' washroom on the 3rd floor. The constant pit pat from the tap on the corner interrupted the silence of the room filled with the smell of bleach and urea, a horizontal shiny mirror ran on the wall in front of me and an exhaust fan provided the mere ventilation. A lean and tall boy with the shadow of a beard, messy, black hair and honey colored eyes stared back at me with a dimpled smile that could light up a billion worlds.

Straightening my tie, I sighed, thinking about the facts that have been constantly puzzling my mind. The piercing pain, the tattoo on my chest. It has not occurred again, but the tattoo remains, causing me and my mom a lot of worry why her son is refusing to show his wounds to her. I can barely hide it from everyone and it is becoming a secret which makes me uneasy and is difficult to keep. Though it makes me look cool. On hearing the bell ring, I made my way towards the creaking door of the washroom. "Daniel Ventus!" commanded a low voice as I stumbled in astonishment. The washroom was empty, I had checked.

An extraordinary sight greeted me as I turned to face the man. I seriously doubt any teacher wears the costume of a regal warrior and carries a sword with him to the washroom. Carrying himself with pride, he stood a head taller and looked at me, assesing me. He wore combat boots, dark brown leather pants with a nylon patch on the knee. A black vest sparsely covered his muscled torso , laced with silver instead of buttons. A neatly folded long cloth pinned up on his right shoulder molded perfectly around his chest clipped onto the left side of his waist and then went up and wrapped loosely around his bicep, hanging almost a foot after looping around his forearm. It gave him a lok of a modern, sophesticated greek god. The bright orange cloth looked striking against the black vest. Though the one thing that caught my eye was the edge of a magnificient tattoo peeking out from behind his vest.

Just... like... mine.

My heart desperately tried to jump out of my mouth. How on earth did this man entered the washroom? Watching too many movies was certainly pumping my imagination a bit too much.

"Umm, maybe this is'nt the best place for us to talk. You know uh... anyone could walk in."

"You're right Daniel. I wont do the talking, I was just sent here to take you to the lord's castle. You are so young, yet the power chose you. It's a big honour you know, to be chosen."

"Excuse me! I will not go anywhere, and I'm not interested in any cult." I replied and tried to run out when he caught me by the arm, and slipped a locket in my hand.

" I wont force you to go anywhere but it is visible that you are a sensible man and if you wish to truly discover yourself, call me with the locket and I will whisk you to your destiny." he whispered and vanished into thin air.

It could all have been a dream exept I could still feel the cold metal of the locket clutched in my sweaty fist. I slipped it into my pocket and proceeded out of the washroom almost bumping into Ankit who was apparently sent to find me. Phew! What a timing.

"Hey! Are you okay? The colour of your face is disturbingly resembling that of a whitewashed wall " giving him a wary look over my shoulder, I picked up my bag and headed for my classroom.

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I stomped in my room in frustation and closed the door with a bang. Dumping my bag on the chair, I kicked my shoes off and threw myself on the bed with a sigh. Finally, oh finally the weekend has arrived.

My room is neither tiny nor huge. Surprisingly it is not as messy as I thought. I came out to be a sort of neat person. One wall has a huge glass sliding door which opens in the long balcony offering a breathtaking view of the fields and majestic sunrises and sunsets behid the aravali hills in a distance.

Not very enchanted with the view, I took out the locket the man had given me. It was intriguing and magnificient, capturing my gaze and holding it prisoner. Out of curiosity, I pressed the hard metal now warm under my touch. To my greatest amazement, it clicked open to reveal a small pool of bright blue liquid. Brushing my thumb over it, I realized it was not a liquid but smooth like the suface of glass. But that wasn't my only observation. It glowed when my skin touched creating a tingling sensation on the tip of my thumb. I could hear exited footsteps coming towards my room. So captivated I was that I could not keep it away in time. My little sister burst in the room and froze when she caught sight of it. Her brow furrowed in confusion. I clutched the locket tightly while my mind frantically searched for excuses unable to contemplate how much she had seen.

"What is that?" she asked narrowing her eyes. " N..nothing", "Oh really liar, anyways, have you seen my new stationary set? I cant find it anywhere." "Nope, not in my room" I quickly replied.