My Journey Home.

My Journey

Ashish lava and I planned to travel to home together. We booked tickets for Dakshin express from Jhansi to A.P. which was to leave at 5:30 am and we planned to leave from campus at 8 pm night before. Ashish and I wanted to travel over train from Kanpur to Jhansi but lava insisted we travel by bus and promised we reach within time to catch the train. So, we decided we travel by 9:30 bus to Jhansi  as it usually takes 6 hours for travel and we would get plenty of spare time if by fate bus got an hour or so late.

We boarded the bus and it was packed with people and luggage. It wasn’t comfortable but at least we got to sit, as we were sure we would not be able to if we traveled by train in general compartment. The first ninety minutes of the journey went by smoothly. Then there came a big blasting noise from the rear end of bus announcing the bursting of a tyre.  We were informed that some of emergency passengers can board the bus arriving there in an hour but have to travel standing while another bus will pick up rest of people in 2 hours. We decided to travel standing in the 1^st bus and informed the same to bus conductor. He agreed to let us in on that bus.  After an hour or so waiting, we boarded the next bus. Then we thought we were lucky we started early and will reach Jhansi on time. The next two hours of journey went by smoothly except the fact that we were standing while the rest of passengers were comfortably seated and in deep sleep. It was nearing 2 am when the bus stopped again. This time there was a big traffic jam. The traffic jam had been due to some stupid driver ignoring the traffic rules and gone head on with opposing traffic. There was no accident but all the vehicles were unable to move as construction work was going on, on one side and the rest of road was being blocked by the vehicles. It took about 2 hours to get out of that traffic for us and we suspected the people who arrived after us were in that traffic for more than 5 hours. It would have been a lot better and early if all the drivers were not stupid, illiterate and self-centered. They neither thought of solution nor tried to listen to few of us who were presenting a solution and cooperate.  We reached Jhansi at six am and missed our train.

The next train was at 12:30 pm. We had around 6 hours spare time with no reservation ticket and sleep. we thought it would be good to visit the Jhansi fort which is known for its story of Jhansi laxmi bhai, a great queen who opposed the British rule. We submitted our luggage in clock room, had some breakfast and started for fort. It was only 10 minutes journey from railway station to fort. We entered the fort and were in a better mood considering the events of last night. We took out my semi-SLR camera and wanted to take some photos, but yet again our bad luck won. The battery of my camera was dangerously low and it turned off after only two photos. Then we roamed the whole castle inside out in the next 3 hours and were back to station by 11:40. We took general tickets for our twenty hour journey and were dreading the general compartment. We went to the platform by 12:00 noon. There was a train on the platform and our train was to come after this one left. I read the train name to be Karnataka sampakranti and it occurred to me that this train would not stop in many stations and most people who travel short distances would not board that train. I informed the same to my friends and we boarded the train even if it would not stop at our destination as journey will be comfortable. We would have to come back a hundred and fifty kilometers from the train’s stopping point to our desired destination.

The rest of journey went by smoothly except when the train hit a cow standing on tracks and it was horrible to watch its dead body, it was cut in half, with back half stuck to train and front half smashed into tiny bits with blood splashed all across the engine.

Finally our luck changed.The train stopped at our destination due to some signal problem and we safely got off it.

--END--

Return of Ancients

Return of Ancients

Introduction:

It was a new moon night. The sky looked dark and starless with clouds covering as far as eye can reach in every direction. The roads were flooded with excess rain water and it looked like the storm wasn't going to stop any time soon. Senior Investigator Robert of the special occult division, a man in his late 40's emitting an aura suggesting he should not be messed with, stepped out of his car. He wore a fully black dress with long black coat which came down till his thick black military shoes. No one could have seen him standing there at this hour if not for the rain and the small blinking LED light from a small transmitting device embedded into the sleeves of his coat. He was exhausted and in no mood to work that night but he knew that this had to be special case needing his immediate attention. He had eleven Investigators working under him and each having seven to nine Junior Investigators working under them except Rachel, a young girl in her early 20's, his best investigator who preferred to work alone. She was taller than her peers standing at 5’4” with a slim bodyline, long waist length hair framing her oval face and striking ocean blue eyes. He always gave her special cases and did not burden her with many cases at a time as she always brought out the best results without complaint or seeking guidance. But today she personally called him and asked him to come as she was unable to even identify the corpse.

As he slowly walked to the scene of crime, an old farmhouse with no human settlement for miles in any direction, Rachel walked to him carrying two torch lights, umbrella and gloves. He was always amazed by her attention to detail and sheer magical power. He merely nodded, taking a torch and followed her. They did not exchange any words at all. She led him into the kitchen, small considering the size of house from outside, then into the underground cellar through the trapdoor in center of the room. No one would have suspected or detected the trapdoor if it wasn't for the remaining evidence of magic performed emitting from beyond the door. He went down into the cellar after her. The cellar was a dimly lit, large open room as big as the house itself. He was surprised to see no water oozing into it considering the state of house. There was no one except Rachel, himself and a junior investigator who was initially assigned to the case. Four lights were concentrated into the far corner of the room focusing onto a corpse. He began approaching the body and as it came into view, his heart sank, for he had never seen anything like it. He knelt beside the body to examine it. It is not a chimera, but similar to a werewolf on first glance but not one.  He studied the body for several minutes pacing up and down its length. It was small with strong muscular legs yet not human, though he could convince himself that the hands and face are human. The face had many cuts made with a sharp object, the ears being cut off. Then as realization stuck him, his whole body became pale. No wonder Rachel could not identify it, at least not in this state. He thought they were extinct yet discovered evidence stating otherwise about 15 years ago but never expected to see one as a corpse. It was an elf, the most powerful and intelligent of all magical creatures, a fairly powerful one if it could transform into human. "Who or what could kill a powerful creature like an elf?" he wondered silently. He did not know the answer.

He looked up from the corpse and Rachel was eyeing him with extreme interest. Then she handed him a small dagger. It was evident from the dagger that it was the weapon used to hurt the elf. He took the dagger from her and examined it. He found a small symbol, 2 vertical parallel lines crossed with snake, on the base of dagger. He knew that symbol, it belonged to one of the 2 clans of Ancients. He turned, if possible, even paler. He did not want to talk to anyone now, not until he was in a safe place where no magic could be detected. He knew magic could be used for surveillance, especially ancient magic, he observed the power of magic present there and assessed it to be only able to transmit audio. He was glad that he did not speak a word since his arrival to any of the two people in the room. He quickly signaled the other two to follow him in silence and went outside the house and started walking till he was sure he reached the end of the surveillance magic. His whole body shivering, considering what he just discovered slowly faced the other two and said the first words since his arrival "THE ANCIENTS HAVE RETURNED".

.

.

.

(To be contd.)