Agni....the secret door

When it started, no one thought that there was something coming for them to destroy everything they knew.

Maybe the danger is like that. It comes with no warning.

It's middle of the night and all the tribe was sleeping in their tiny huts except for a few which had the duty to guard them on that night.

"It's just an earthquake " that's what they thought. It's common to that area. They felt that shaking often.

But, after some time it did not stop like other days. On the contrary, it reached its peak.

The shaking of the land got worse and worse. The bamboos, holding those huts were not able to stand still. They started to fall along with the roofs and walls.

People came out, shouting, feeling terrified. Some of them were carrying their children tightly.

Within a fraction of time, the jungle was echoed with the screamings, and not only those people were screaming, but also the animals and birds and every living thing in the jungle, even the diurnal one too.

Everyone could feel it, that something incredibly powerful was coming for them.

"What is happening?" One of them shouted coming towards a guard.

The guard kept looking at him with his eyes wide open. Words were not coming out from his mouth. It's a cold winter night, though he was covered with a layer of sweat.

Those were the people who did not know anything about the world outside the jungle. Their thoughts were primitive like an animal. They kill anything only for two reasons, when it comes to eat them or when they need to eat it. A long time ago, some outsiders tried to enter their territory, but it did not end well.

Stones, poison arrows, and stakes were their weapons, and the new threat coming for them, they could not stop it with all those.

At this time, only hope for them was Pradhan.

Pradhan was not a name. Its a title given to the head of the tribe. For them, Pradhan was the smartest and bravest man they had ever known. He saved them from infinite menaces before. Once, they remember, a tiger was hunting them one after one. They lost many of them. But, Pradhan was the one who killed that man-eater and saved his people.

They believe, he will come up with something this time too.

Everyone ran toward him.

"Pradhan, what are we going to do?"

"Pradhan, we are going to die, "

"Pradhan, do something,"

He was surrounded by questions...questions of which he had no answer. By looking at his face, it is hard to tell, but he was also scared like others. He had no idea what was going on and what to do.

"Everybody, calm down. It will over soon," he said, hiding his fear.

Pradhan's word could not able to give much impact on others. He himself not confident about what he said.

"Wait, something is coming. It's close, "someone said.

Everyone looked at him. Closing his eyes, he was trying to hear something.

He was right. There was something close to them. But it's not what they thought.

The land started to crack all over, like someone moving below the surface.

" Run, " Pradhan shouted.

"That's the only reasonable thing we can do." He thought.

They were waiting for him to say that.

Everyone started to run. They did not know where they were going. Just running and running as far as they could. Pradhan went with them too.

After some time, the situation seemed to be got calm. Shaking of the land stopped.

With heavy breathings, they kept looking at each other, trying to feel the situation. They were still in shock.

"I think it's gone," one of them whispered, touching the ground.

"Wait, don't go near it. It may be waiting for us,"

"But someone has to go,"

They were looking at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

"No one needs to go. " Pradhan spoke, "We will wait here until the sun rises,"

Everyone agreed not to go back to their place at night. Anyway, it's almost dawn. They decided to wait for the sun to rise. They sat down wherever they were, leaning to trees, or rocks.

After a long period of the fearful night, the sunlight touched the ground.

"Pradhan, I think we should go now," one guard said to his ear.

Pradhan was taking a nap, resting his head on a tree. He opened his eyes while yawning.

"We can go now. Tell everyone to move," he stood up and looked around.

"Pradhan asked everyone to walk with him, "that man shouted.

Those people were laying here and there. As they got the order, they stood up.

"But, keep your eyes open. The danger may not over yet," he said looking at them.

Slowly slowly, they approached their home. The guards were keeping their spears ready to attack if something jumps on them.

But, there was nothing which they could consider scary, except for the broken pieces of their huts.

The condition of the huts was not good.

Their eyes remained wide open to see them. All of them were scattered into pieces. The land had many cracks all over.

"It looks like those cracks are coming from that side," one tribal people said, observing the pattern.

Pradhan sat down and started to get a closer look.

"Yeah, you are right. Those are coming from that side. There must be something happened last night on the bank,"

"What will we do now, Pradhan?"

"All of you start to work. Build your huts again. Help each other," he ordered.

They began to collect the scattered pieces of their huts.

"Romeng," he summoned someone.

"What is it, Pradhan?" Romeng asked, rushing towards him.

"We have to go and see what happened last night," he said, keeping his voice low.

"Will it be safe to go there? This thing looks very strong. What if it is waiting for us?"

Romeng was terrorized to go with him.

"We can not sit like this. We have to do something. Otherwise, it will haunt us again. So, let's gather some of our men and go,"

"You want to go right now?"

"Yes, we should not wait. As time goes, it will get more and more powerful. It's better to crush it now,"

"But.." Romeng wanted to say something but stopped.

"You see those people, those families. They count on me. I can not let my fear stop me. You understand that?"

Romeng nodded his head and went to gather a few men to go with him.

Pradhan was standing there, looking at them. They were busy with their works. Some of the were making their huts, some others were preparing the meal.

He released a sigh.

Romeng was returned with two men.

Pradhan looked at them and said," Gaurang and Mirgang, has he told you where we are going?"

"We are going near the river to see what's there," Mriganag replied.

"Do you two agree to go with me?"

"Yes, we do. You are our Pradhan. We will follow your every order without question,"

"In that case, I don't see any reason to wait. Go and take your weapons. We will leave now. Bring my spear too,"

They immediately walked away and quickly returned with spears in their hand. They were also carrying bow and arrows.

"Pradhan, here it is, your spear," Romeng gave him a spear.

"You people keep doing what you are doing. We are going to deal with the cause of last night's attack. When I return, everything should be rebuilt,"

Giving them orders, he walked towards the river with his three companions.

"Are you going to stay here now?" Mr. Nagar asked Dimisha.

"Not for long. I am here for a reason, " she released a deep breath and looked away for a moment.

She spoke again, "My whole life is changed now. The things I have been through, it completely altered the perspective of mine for life,"

"I know that I can not force you to come back. But, always remember one thing, no matter what, the doors of this orphanage are always open for you." while saying, he moved his hand on her back of the hand softly.

"And you will always be my father. "she looked at his eyes.

"Of course. I love you, and nothing can change that."

She smiled while her eyes become red slightly.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in Kimbala?" he changed the topic.

"You would not believe me anyway if I told you. I did not believe those things either until I saw them with my own eyes. Trust me, ignorance is bliss. That river island is not like the rest of the world, you see."

"What about your parents? Did you find anything about them?"

"It's complicated. But somehow, I came to know that I am connected to a family of a warrior named Bharata."

"Bharata! never heard of him," he said, squeezing his eyebrows.

"He was not that kind of warrior we hear or see on tv and books. I told you nothing usual you can find there,"

"Whatever it is, I am glad that you are safe. That's all matters."

"Now, I have some responsibilities upon me. Some mysteries that I have to find out. Actually, I am here to find out about this place," Dimisha showed him a photograph.

"It looks like an artifact. Sorry, I can not tell you anything about it. Where did you get this?"

"A friend of mine gave me. Look at the bottom corner. There is. a name," she said, scratching her nose.

Mr. Nagar took out his magnifying glass and looked throw it.

"Oh! You are right. I can see it now. It's a museum." his eyes were glowing.

"Do you know about this place?"

"It's on the opposite side of our district. Maybe, once or twice I took you there. Don't you remember?"

"I have to go there, and find the details about the artifact"

"Sure, When do you want to go? I can take you there,"

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary. I can go by myself,"

"In that case, you have to leave early. Can you tell me what is in that artifact?"

"That I have to find out. It was very important to a friend of mine. I can't tell you anything with certainty,"

"Anyway, it's good to see you. You can stay here as long as you want," Mr. Nagar kissed her forehead.

"It's good to be back," she replied.

He left his office.

That night Dimisha could not sleep. She was thinking about the diary of Vivek, where she found that photograph. He mentioned multiple times about the treasure of hell there. The only lead she had was that photograph. Nobody knew what that treasure was except it's something evil, something bad. Vivek mentioned someone was planning to take that out.

"I have to find out what that is. You may rest in peace, my friend," she said in her mind and tried to have some sleep.

Dimisha woke up early in the morning. Mr. Nagar asked to take his car, but she preferred to go by the public service bus.

The journey took time more than she expected. It's almost evening when she was finally standing in front of the museum.

"Kameng museum, collection of ancient sorcery and mystic art," she read the title written at the entrance.

"Let's see, what do you have for, me Mr. museum," saying so, she entered inside.

A few people were there inside, and some of them presumably the stuff. Most of the families do not like to visit a witchcraft museum on holidays with their children. She looked around, searching for a welcoming face with whom she could speak.

A lady was working, sitting behind a desk. The round face and big lips of the lady were saying that she could help her.

"Good evening, ma'am," Dimisha said with her most appealing voice.

"Good evening. How may I help you?" she replied with a smile.

"I was looking for this item. Can you tell me where it is kept?" she showed her the photograph.

"I don't think this item belongs here. I have never seen it,"

"But, in the label, below it, mentioning the name of the museum,"

The lady brought the photograph closed.

"Yes, you are right. It's the name of our museum. Maybe it was sent to another place before I joined. I have been here only for six months."

"Is everything alright, Aditi?" a middle-aged man asked, standing next to her.

"Sir, this young lady is looking for this item," she stood up and gave him the photograph.

"Good evening, sir. My name is Dimisha," she forwarded her hand.

"Good evening," he shook her hand and said," I am the curator of the museum, Siranjiv Chaudhary,"

"What can you tell me about this?"

"Come with me," he took her to the office upstairs.

"Have a seat, please,"

"This is a very ancient object. I am surprised to see a pretty young lady like you looking for it,"

"Actually, it belonged to my father. He was a fan of all those things. He told me that he visited this place several times. I did not have a chance to know him very well. After he left me, I am just trying to know him," she took out a hanky and cleaned her tears.

"I wish I could help you. But that artifact was stolen a long time ago. Sorry," he offered a glass of water.

"Stolen?" Dimisha said with her mouth opened," Who would steal that, it does not look that expensive,"

"You are right. It was not expensive by any chance. But one of our employees thought that it has the power to destroy the world. That's why he stole it, to save the world,"

"You never tried to find him,"

"Of course we did. But, the police never able to find him. God knows, what he did with that thing," he released a sigh.

"Can you tell me anything about the artifact?"

He checked his watch and said," Okay, I have an hour,"

He started saying," that stone was like a spellbook for some ancient civilizations. The shapes, symbols drawn on those items were the spells. I don't know how far their beliefs were true, but there is a reason behind this thinking. According to them, whenever a sound is produced, no matter how intense, it forms a shape or a symbol on the object it strikes. That's what the symbols were saying..."

Dimisha looked towards the door, suddenly.

"You found this boring, I guess," the curator said.

"Not like that, I just felt like someone is standing there," she turned back to him.

Siranjiv moved his head to see if there was anybody.

A man came inside, holding a tray with two cups of tea on it. He put those cups in front of them and left.

"You are saying about the symbols," Dimisha said.

He took a sip from the cup and started his explanation again, "Every symbol represents a sound or mantra or spell, whatever you say. The guy I was talking about, he was obsessed with those symbols. He was trying to figure out the mantras from them. One day, he came to me, saying he found out the meaning of it, and it's extremely dangerous. I didn't pay much attention to it, and the next day it was gone, so he was,"

"Wow, this world is filled with crazy people. Do you remember his name?" she asked.

He looked at her with narrow eyes.

"Sorry, I am strictly ordered not to share any information regarding the theft. I hope you can find your way out,"

"It's okay. Thanks for giving me time, "

She left the room.

Aditi is still there, at her desk, busy typing something.

"Hey, it's Aditi, right?" Dimisha asked,

She turned her eyes from the computer screen to her.

"Hi, sorry, I forget your name," she smiled

"I am Dimisha,"

"So, you have found what you were looking for, ",

"More or less." Dimisha sat on the chair in front of her, "By the way, I wanted to tell you that I love your earrings. Can you tell me where you bought those? I want a pair like this for me too, "

"Oh! These," she touched her earring with a shy smile," My fiancee gave me on my birthday. I am not sure where he got these,"

"Aw, that's cute. When are you going to marry?"

"Maybe next month. Nothing is fixed yet. We have a lot to plan," Aditi was blushing.

"Congratulation in advance, "

Dimisha was good at this. Within a minute, she became very friendly with her.

"Thank you. Actually, you know what..." and there starts the description of her journey of love.

Dimisha was trying to show interest in her story. She kept going and going about how she met him, how he proposed her and everything. Dimisha was suffocating from inside with her talking. Not a single word was going inside of her head.

"That's very romantic. You are a lucky girl."

"You can say so, " Aditi replied.

"Hey, I need to ask a favor from you if you don't mind," she finally spoke.

"Of course, what can I do for you?"

"Can you check if there is any record about the item I was talking earlier?"

"I can make a try. Show me the photograph,"

Dimisha gave her the photograph. She looked at it for some time, squeezing her eyebrows and typed something on her computer.

"Here it is, there are some data about it," she moved the screen of the computer to her.

Dimisha leaned towards the screen. It was describing all the things that the curator told her. There were some photographs of it. When it was first brought to the museum and their maintenance team and other things. Finally, Dimisha saw someone in a photo.

"This guy, he works here?"

"Yes, he does. His name is Aryan. I think he was one of the maintenance team of the item,"

"Okay, thank you once again for your help," Dimisha stood up.

"It's very nice talking to you," she said.

Dimisha walked towards the exit.

"How can someone speak so much," she said, releasing a sigh of relief.

Getting out of the museum, she smiled and said, "Got you, Mr. Aryan."

"Dear students and the faculty members, welcome you all to today's conference. It's a prosperous moment when we get an opportunity to have him as our guest. I don't think that man needs an introduction. We all know very well about Dr. Hemanta Biswas, a shining jewel to our society. We all feel proud of him. He helps this world several times with his precious inventions. It's a privileged moment when we have a chance to speak with the hero of our nation, Dr. Hemanta Biswas. Today, he is here to talk about his latest research which he named as NISKARUM...an universal cure.

So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr. HEMANTA BISWAS,"

The auditorium was filled with the sound of clapping hands. Almost three hundred people were sitting inside. Most of them were students, the rest of them were apparently lecturers and professors or someone from his field of work.

There was a big banner hanging on the stage saying, 'Dr. Hemanta Biswas...guest of honor'.

Dr. Biswas entered the stage with a smile on his face and waving his hand. He was wearing a black color suit. His pointy shoes were shining like one could see it's the face on it.

He began saying, "Thank you all of you for your love and support. Without your love and support, it won't be possible for me to be standing here in front of you. So, without any farther delay, let's start our today's topic of discussion which is NISKARUM. Everyone may have heard of it. People, especially the media, are talking a lot about it recently. You may have hundreds of questions. I will try that when you will go out of this room today, you will go with all the answer you deserve to know,"

He paused for a moment and again got back to his speech," Virus, normally when we heard the word, something evil, something painful pops to our head. Isn't it? Pictures of People, dying in infections come to our minds, and that's not completely wrong, and not completely true either. As people of the modern scientific world, we know well that all the viruses do not cause harmful effects to a living cell. Some of the viruses are there, which are immensely helpful to our system. For example, you may have heard about vaccinia viruses. It belongs to a poxvirus family which is used to create the vaccine for smallpox,"

He removed the cap of the bottle and poured some water into his mouth. After making his throat wet, he got back to his speech.

"The world is a very mysterious system. After living thousands of years, we have failed to figure out what actually this blue colored ball is doing. For me, the lives on earth are like a jigsaw pattern. To survive here, we just need to match the pattern with each other. If nature built something that can kill us, it also built something that can save us too. We just need to be just smart enough to find it out, and that's what I try to do. While walking on this path, I found out about a virus that can be used to cure all the infection...a virus which is the answer to all the questions. Think of a virus that can cure all the diseases, a virus that is programmed to kill other viruses. As I said, nature created the virus that causes illness and pain, and I reprogrammed those viruses and found the solution which is going to end all suffering of humans."

He pressed a button of the tiny remote controller, and the projection screen started to show some round-shaped green organism. He started to explain what that thing was.

Everyone in the auditorium was sitting with a notebook and a pen or with a tab. They were writing the points whatever they think is necessary. The projectile, running on the screen, showing the points of Dr. Biswas' speech.

One student from the middle of the masses raised his hand.

"Yes, my friend," Dr. Biswas said, pointing to him.

"Have you successfully tested that cure on any human?" he asked.

"We have not tested it on the human body yet. There are some legal issues we were facing. The good news is now we are allowed to test it on humans. The trial will start next week. But we have tested on several species, and the result comes positive all the time. So, it would not be hard for us to test it on humans,"

"Anyone else wants to ask something?" he gazed over the crowd, holding his hand to his forehead, covering his eyes.

Another student raised her hand and asked," Good evening, sir. I just wanted to know if there are any side effect test subjects faced,"

"Well, minor side effects were seen on them. Like weakness, indigestion, vomiting, mood-swing. But nothing serious that can say that this cure is harmful. All those side effects were because of the introduction of a new compound to the system. With time, we can overcome all these side effects too."

"Any more question?" he waited to see a raising hand.

"Sir, suppose, you have succeeded to construct the medicine which you are talking about, what will it be the price? I mean will it be affordable to poor people, because I think they are in need of this medicine most," another one from the crowd asked.

"That's a very relevant question, my friend." Dr. Biswas chuckled.

"Pricing the medicine is not completely in my hand. A lot of things mater while we come to sell it. But I can assure you that from my part of the deal I will try my best to keep the price as low as possible. Because I don't want someone to suffer only because of the unaffordability,"

The question-answer session went for a long time. He was making smart, quick, and interesting answers to every question. They were having a good time talking with Dr. Biswas.

When everyone was enjoying the sweet juice of the modern and advanced scientific world, on the other side of the same world a few tribal people were struggling with a new problem, which was beyond their level of understanding.

They reached near the river and probably found the cause of the terrific earthquake of last night. Their jaw was dropped after seeing the thing, standing in front of them.

"What is this thing, Pradhan?" Romeng asked, making his eyeball bigger.

Pradhan was speechless. His neck was dried.

"I don't know. I am seeing this for the first time in my life. But one thing is certain that this stone is the cause of last night's attack," he said coughing.

"How do you say that?" Gaurang questioned him.

"What else could be the reason? Anyway, look at the cracks. All of them are starting at the stone, and then moving towards our place." he bent down to the ground.

Everyone nodded their head.

"But, how this thing came here? Someone can't carry such a big thing,"

"I think, it came by the river," Mrigang said, pointing the direction of the river.

"That's not possible. From the way, it is standing, it looks like someone put it there," Pradhan disagreed with him, shaking his head.

"Who could have done that?" his eyes were furious.

"I think someone from the other side of the river. They are always trying to take the water from us,"

"This thing is bigger than an elephant,"

They were petrified.

"Search the jungle and see if there is anyone around," Pradhan ordered them.

They moved to another side of the jungle and checked every possible place where anyone could hide.

"Something doesn't feel alright," Pradhan said indistinctively.

"Yeah, I think so too. There is not a single bird here. otherwise, those trees have a lot of birds," Mrigang said, looking at the trees.

"Someone cursed us. We all are going to die," Gaurang sounded panicked.

"That's not going to happen. We are here for a long time. This place belongs to us. No one can remove us from here. We will fight to our last breath for our place," Pradhan said heavily.

"But what about the stone. We don't know anything about it, and last night we all saw what it can do. We can not fight with such a thing,"

"We will destroy it. The mother goddess is with us," Pradhan said, raising his hands towards the sky.

After searching for a distance, they found nothing suspicious.

"Nobody is here. We should get back," Pradhan said.

"Get back, you mean to go to our home," Mrigang asked.

"No, fool, to the stone. We can not go home like this. We have to do something about it. Everyone is waiting for us to hear something good," he said with anger in his face.

They returned to the place where the stone was standing, scaring them.

"Don't get closer to it. We don't know what is hiding inside,"

They moved around the stone from a distance. It's a black colored stone, curved at many places. The surface of the stone was not smooth.

"Give me your bow and an arrow," Pradhan ordered Mrigang.

"What do you think of doing?" Romeng was startled by Pradhan's intention.

"We can not just walk round and round it. This makes no sense. let's see how strong it is,"

"So, you are going to shoot an arrow to it. You have lost your mind,"

"Do you have any other option except for shouting at me? If you do, tell me,"

"What if it becomes angry! You will make it worse,"

Mrigang was standing there, with his jaw touching his chest.

"What did I tell you? Give me your bow," he shouted.

Mrigang gave him his bow with an arrow, and took the spear, Pradhan was holding.

"Think one more time. That thing looks very powerful. It's impossible to destroy it with an arrow,"

"You can say that. Because people are not looking at you for help. The responsibility of their lives is upon me, not you," he said, clenching his teeth.

Pradhan made up his mind. No one can stop him if he once decided something to do. He fixed the arrow in the bow and pulled the string.

"Everyone, get back," he said, aiming it towards the black, magical stone.

Three of them took a few steps backward. Their hearts started to beat faster. Mrigang rubbed his hand to calm his goosebumps. Everyone thought that it was a mistake that Pradhan was going to do. But, no one was brave enough to stop him from doing that. He was the leader of the tribe, and all of them had to follow his orders.

He took a deep breath and released the string of the bow from his finger. The arrow was released. It moved towards the stone at its full speed. It's going and going, and when it about to strike the stone, suddenly it vanished within a blink of an eye. There was no sign of the arrow.

No one understood what just happened.

"You missed the target," Romeng was relieved that it did not hit the stone.

"That's not possible. I have never missed a target. I timed it perfectly this time. There is no chance of it," Pradhan said, squeezing his eyebrows.

"Then where did go? It did not hit the target. We would have seen it on the stone if it did that,"

"I think that stone ate it," Gaurang said slowly.

"What?" Romeng gave him a frown brow look.

"I think so too. I saw it, going towards the stone, and then vanished," Mrigang supported him.

"That's not a normal stone. It's a demon stone," his voice was terrorized.

"What are we going to do now, Pradhan? That thing is indestructible. It will be going to eat us all," Everyone's face was dried.

Pradhan was standing there like a statue looking at the stone. He was thinking about his people. How will he tell them that all are going to die? Those were his people. Looking towards him with the hope that he can protect them. But now, there was something ahead of them which was evil, stronger than they had ever seen.

"Pradhan?" Romeng waggled his shoulder.

"What are you thinking?" he asked again.

"I don't know. But I can not let them die. They trust me with their lives. I have to find a way," he released a deep sigh.