Ashtabhuj Advent: Chapter 3, Scene 1

At an undisclosed location in jungles of Himachal Pradesh a villa was illuminated with light deep inside the snow covered jungle. Inside there were five individuals, three men and two women, sitting on sofas in the living room of the villa as wood in the fireplace burnt.

"Two new recruits, isn't it?"

"You know it."

The man who asked the question was around sixty five years in age, well built with a beard and a hald head he wore a suit. The woman who replied to him was a a stocky lady in her late fifties wearing a gown.

"When will he learn?" The bald man in suit said.

"You know that he is incorrigible, Rajan," The woman said.

The other three sat and listened to their exchange. A lanky, sharp nosed thin man in his late fourties, a man in his early fifties and the woman who was thin with a sharp nose in her late fourties. The stocky lady was Natasha Kumar, the bald man was Rajan Mackenzie, the owner of Mackenzie-Brown Corporation. The man with the sharp nose was Sharad Singh, a politician, businessman and philanthropist from Indraprastha city, the man in his early fifties was Dushyant Chopra CEO and owner of BrightLight Industries, and the woman in her late fourties was Sumona Dey the chancellor of Riverford University.

"Bhattacharya needs to be taught a lesson," said Dey.

"All in due time," said Natasha Kumar.

"We all know what our priorities are," said Rajan Mackenzie. "We killed Balraj and here he is with two more."

"Balraj was tough to kill, all of those trained by Bhattacharya are," said Sharad Singh.

"The problem with Bhattacharya and company is that he has no masters and we despite being better than him in every respect, have masters whom we are answerable to," said Macheznzie.

"But you know that he has friends all over the world," said Dushyant Chopra.

"So do we," said Natasha Kumar. "He is not as strong as us, it's just that he and his band doesn't give up. We have the whole system with us, it's just that we can't go all out on him as that would wake people up."

"What are our occultists doing?" asks Sumona looking at Natasha.

"They are reaching somewhere," said Natasha. "They have been working, and if everything goes well, we would have so much power that we would easily crush Bhattacharya and company."

"What about the relics?" Asked Dushyant Chopra.

"We have different teams all over India and abroad working on acquiring them. You know that there are a lot of them. Bhattacharya depends on his small group of people to acquire them, and we have more people at our disposal to acquiring them," said Natasha.

"Bhattacharya always locates relics before us, and we despite having so much resources at our disposal fail to locate them before him. That's one reason to not to destroy him before we accumulate enough relics," said Mackenzie looking at the group.

"It was Balraj who located Shershah Suri's ring in Patna, isn't it, and then died protecting it, that bastard was hard to kill," said Sharad Singh.

"We have the ring and now we are locating Humayun's dagger, it is somewhere near Lucknow but we don't know the pinpoint location," said Natasha.

"Wait for Bhattacharya to locate it, we have access to their minds, we know what they think, how hard is it going to be?" said Dushyant Chopra.

Mackenzie looks at Dushyant, "You know how hard it is, it's not a joke, he and his group of idiots are tough, and he selects toughest of the lot. You might not have access to our minds but he has access to minds of other people, and his selection of people is impeccable, that idealistic bastard.".

In Kalpa it was almost the break of dawn. Jay woke up and sat on his bed. It was a whole new life and he had some revelations in the last few days. The first day he was pranked by the members of Ashtabhuj who kept him in dark about what was to be done. They acted secretive and suspicious until next day when Naaz said it was nothing like that. But what he came across was strange still. He was about to be part of a group that hunted relics in parts of India and the world, and they had to do it before their adversaries did it. He knew that there was one more guy as new as him in the campus, and that his name was Vedant. He was going to be trained for being his handler. He asked whether all of them had handlers, and they said no, it was strange that it was only him that had a handler, but he ascribed it to being new to the group. He had visited Building 9, where Vedant would visit today. When he had visited Building 9 he was made to wear a helmet and training modules were downloaded in his head. Vedant would go through the same process today, but unlike Vedant he would have to go through physical training as well as his job was mostly field work, he had to work with others to locate and acquire relics in different part of the country and the world. As much as he was told, these relics contained power that made the ones who possessed then powerful and they had to be acquired first by the university to prevent them from falling into wrong hands. 

Jay looked out the window of his room. It has started snowing. Prithvi, Naaz, Sukhbir, Vinayak and Carol lived in the manner, while Dr. Rajesh and Sharanya came just to eat and mostly remained outside. They had their own flats in the university in addition to rooms in the manor. Sharanya had said that she would bring Vedant at the manor in the evening when the training module is downloaded in his head. He has been feeling great since the the training module was downloaded in his brain. Imagine having the knowledge of millions of books downloaded into your head without you ever reading them. Imagine thinking about something and that information popping up into your head effortlessly, that's what it felt like, it felt great, and that would happen to Vedant today. Sharanya had told him that he was chosen by the professor for two purposes, to be his handler and to fight against the adversary at the psychic level. He could access Vedant's file in his head, but he didn't want to make preconceived notions about him. He wanted to meet him. He was waiting eagerly for the evening to come.

It was 9:15 in the morning. Vedant was sitting on a chair in the lab in Building 9 wearing what looked like a helmet. He had met Prithvi briefly when he arrived, just basic introductions, and then he was made to sit on a chair.

Dr. Sharanya was standing in front of a large screen. "We will begin the download process when you are ready, Vedant," said Dr. Sharanya.

"I'm ready," said Vedant. 

Dr. Rajesh and Prithvi looked at the large screen. Dr. Sharanya pressed a button on a keyboard and Vedant drifted into sleep.

He woke up and looked at the clock in the lab. It was 5:15 in the evening exactly eight hours since he slept off on the chair.

Dr. Sharanya who was sitting on a chair besides him got up and came to him. "How are you feeling Vedant?" She asked.

Vedant thought for a bit and felt a rush of information in his head like never before. There was no headache, no paranoia, no feeling like the Antichrist. There was a lightness in his head.

"To tell you the truth doctor, I have never felt better," he said to Sharanya. Dr. Rajesh and Prithvi smiled at his answer and so did Sharanya.

Prithvi comes to Vedant. "It's now time to meet your new friend. Get up and come with me," Prithvi said removing the helmet thing from the head of Vedant. Vedant gets up.

"Go and meet Jay, I and Sharanya have some work to do in the lab, we will meet you later," said Dr. Rajesh.

Vedant got out of Building 9 with Prithvi and hopped on Prithvi's cruiser on with him. Prithvi started the bike and rode towards the manor.

At the manor, Naaz, Sukhbir, Vinayak Carol and Dinesh were waiting for Vedant. Jay was in his room.

Naaz heard the sound of Prithvi's cruiser and told Dinesh to go and call Jay. Dinesh darted. As soon as Jay reached in the hall, he saw Prithvi and a young man entering the hall. Naaz welcomed them and they all sat on the sofas in the hall. Naaz introduced Vedant to everyone, and at last to Jay who then got up shook hands with Vedant. Vedant had kind eyes as Jay had noticed. To Vedant Jay looked like a tough but friendly person. Naaz asked Dinesh to bring tea for everyone. Vedant was about to stay the evening in the manor getting to know everyone. Jay decided to wait till the last to have conversation with Vedant. 

Ashtabhuj Advent: Chapter 2, Scene 1

In a dingy room near Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi a twenty two year old man sat with his laptop. Matth had wasted so much money on getting him admitted in a private medical college for medical education and he had dropped out after two years. His headaches didn't let him live in peace. He had been with the Matth since childhood. Nobody had told him about his past, but someone had told him that he was son of a sadhvi from the matth who committed suicide after he was born. The Matth had named him Vedant. People from Matth had been cajoling him to return to Matth ever since he had returned to Varanasi but he chose to live on his own, writing for money on the internet. His headaches were getting severe and severe as time passed, and over that he had experiences that didn't let him live in peace. A few years ago when he was new in medical college, he had joined an internet platform to make new friends. He had always wanted to make friends outside the matth and he tried for it. But later, he found that the ones who posed as friends only became his friends to gang up and bully him. It was a bad case of cyberbullying that left him scarred and he left that social media website. Ever since he had left that website, he had been feeling odd. He felt that he was the Antichrist, but he didn't tell this to anyone. His days and nights went with severe headaches and one single thought, that he was the Antichrist. He didn't want to trouble the people of the Matth. Most of his childhood friends had already taken deeksha, those who hadn't taken deeksha had married and became priests in the local temples. The head of the Matth had chosen him to become a doctor and serve the Matth and people, and he just couldn't continue with the studies due to severe disillusionment and persistent headaches.It was a not easy living with constant headaches and the feeling that he was an Antichrist, yet Vedant tried to live daily, doing enough work to make his ends meet. It's today that he received a parcel. There was a mobile phone in the parcel with a note, "We have answers to your questions. If you want to know the answers, come to us." He switched on the phone and instantly received a message. "Come to Kalpa, and we will pick you up from the airport." Vedant decided to go, as no more could he live with the headaches and constant feeling of being the Antichrist. He packed his bag, and picked his phone and there was a message, his ticket to Kalpa was already booked. He took a taxi to Varanasi airport and in two hours he was standing outside Kalpa airport. The phone he had received in the parcel rang. "Hello," he said. "Hello Vedant, get in the sky blue fiat and it will take you to us," The voice on the phone said. Vedant took his bag and walked towards the sky blue fiat. A man got out and gave a courteous nod to him. "Give me your bag sir!" He said. Vedant handed over the bag to him. The driver kept the bag in the boot of the car and opened the rear door of the car. Vedant sat down in the car. The driver got into the car and started driving. The car after a drive of about half an hour reached the gate of the university. The gates opened and then the car turned towards the guest house. Reaching the guest house, the car halted and the driver got out and opened the door for Vedant. "Sir, you have already been allotted a room, I will get you the keys, kindly freshen up and be ready. Someone from the University would be picking you up in an hour. The driver then proceeded to take out Vedant's bag from the boot of the car and lead him into the guest house. The receptionist saw Vedant and smiled. Handing over a key to the driver. Room 205, she said. The driver took the keys and moved towards the lift, asking Vedant to come with him. Vedant got into the lift with the driver and the driver. The lift stopped at 2nd floor and both got off the lift. The driver on the door of Room 205 handed him over his bag and the key and said "it was nice meeting you sir, kindly be ready in one hour". 

Vedant entered the room. It was a nice comfortable room akin to a room of a three star hotel with the same amenities. He went to the bathroom and washed his face and then removed his shoes and lay down on the bed. He drifted to sleep only to wake up to the door bell. He opened the door and a man was standing there. "Hi I'm Dr. Rajesh, I have come to take you to meet someone." "Just a minute sir," said Vedant and proceeded to get into his shoes. He locked the door and then got into the lift with Dr. Rajesh. Outside the guest house Dr. Rajesh had his car parked, it was a silver Honda City. They both got into it and after a few moments they reached in front of a bungalow. "Let's go Vedant." Dr. Rajesh said. Vedant got out of the car and entered the bungalow with Dr. Rajesh. In the living room was sitting Professor Bhattacharya alone.

"Hello Vedant, I'm Professor Bhattacharya." The professor held out his hand to shake Vedant's. Vedant bowed down and shook his hand.

"You might be thinking all of this is very strange, and you are right, in fact, there is one more person in this campus who is feeling exactly the same as you, but times are such that we had to call both of you. Your roles differ though. They are totally different. He needs to find his way still, and he is from what we believe is the chosen one, but I have chosen you, for a job which is as important as him, if not more. You will meet him and others in due time, till then ask your question, any questions and get your answers."

"I feel like I am the Antichrist." Vedant said. "Why?" He asked the professor.

"See Vedant, in today's times we can't really trust what we feel. The times are such. I would suggest that you ignore that feeling, you will become what you choose to be, if you want to become Antichrist you would become him, but you can choose to be Buddha too. We know everything about you, and from what we know, we know that you don't let evil affect you. Know that every single person in this world is capable of unspeakable evils, the ones who do not give in to evil are what the world requires and you are one of them."

"If you know everything about me, then do you know my father? I haven't seen him ever."

"Vedant, I know your father. But know that he is not the kind of person you would like to meet. He is an evil man. Your mother was a pious woman. And he defiled her. In the course of time you would come to know who your father was, at present, just know that you are a spitting image of your mother, in thought, in character, in everything."

"I'm born of rape?"

"Yes, Vedant, this is something you have to come to terms with, and I'm glad that you are here, as what would happen here, would allow you to heal from the wounds of your life, and also help us heal others."

Dr. Rajesh who was sitting listening to the conversation looked at the professor and the professor gave him a nod.

"Vedant," Dr. Rajesh said. "You have been chosen to be in professor's inner circle. There are few in the inner circle and I am one among them, there is a lady named Sharanya and a few people who don't live in the University. Professor believes in you, and you will, in due time, see why. I know you get headaches, but I trust that they would subside in few days". We have allotted you a 2 BHK flat in the residential quarters. We will begin the work tomorrow. Till then you must rest."

Vedant nodded.

"Come, let me take you to your flat," said Dr. Rajesh.

Dr. Rajesh took Vedant to the residential quarters in his car.

"A lot of University staff live here Vedant." Dr. Rajesh said walking with him to the lift of the residential complex. "Your flat is on the 4th floor."

They got on the lift. The doors of the lift opened on the 4th floor. They both walked until Dr. Rajesh stopped at the door which had 407 written on it.

"Here take the keys," said Dr. Rajesh, pulling out keys from his pocket. "It's already evening, take rest and I shall meet you tomorrow afternoon. The fridge is stocked and the kitchen is functional. The supper is on the dining table. Have a good evening and night Vedant."

Vedant opened the door. The flat was minimalistic but gorgeous. The hall which would act as his living room had an electric fireplace, a large sofa and a window that looked at the distant mountains. He could see the fresh snow in the forest nearby. He switched on the electric fireplace and walked to see the rooms. There were two rooms, one was made to be a library, with books of different subjects, he supposed the ones that the professor intended him to read. The second room was his bedroom, where he saw his bag already kept. The bathroom was not very big but there was ample space in it. It had a western commode a washbasin with a mirror and bathtub that doubled as a showering space with a shower fitted above it. At any rate this place was much better than his accommodation in Varanasi.

He got out of the room. And walked to the kitchen which was an extension of the hall and the dining table for four was placed at the convenient intersection at which the hall ended and the kitchen began. There was a fridge in the kitchen which was stacked. He walked to the dining table and saw his dinner served and covered with a plate. Someone had been arranging the room while he was at the professor's place.

He took off his shoes. Slipped in his slippers and went to the bathroom and washed his hands and face thoroughly and dried it with a towel. He was feeling hungry so he came and sat at the dining table. He removed the plate covering the food and found a meal of chapatis, dal, rice, chicken curry and gulab jamun. He ate the food quietly looking at the fireplace.

After the meal he got up and washed the dishes in the kitchen sink. And then he sat on the sofa in the living room and quietly thought for some time. This place seemed genuine, and anyway he had nothing better to do. He got up and went into the bedroom and took out his laptop. He went on the university website. Sure enough he found Dr. Bhaskar Bhattacharya, the professor, as the chancellor of the Aryavarta Gurukul University. 

Ashtabhuj Advent: Chapter 1, Scene 2

Jay heard a knock on the door. He opened the door and saw Dinesh.

"The professor has called for you Jay sir." He said courteously. 

Jay nodded, closed the door behind him and signalled him to move.

Dinesh guided him to a bungalow in the university premises. The doors were already open and they entered and reached the living room of the bungalow. He saw Sharanya and Prithvi sitting on the sofa. On another sofa were a man in his sixties and a man in his forties. Sharanya and Prithvi stood up to welcome Jay.

"Hello Jay." Said Sharanya.

"Meet Professor Bhattacharya." She said courteously pointing to the man in his sixties.

"And this is Dr. Rajesh." She said smiling and looking at the man in his forties.

Jay nodded his head to both of them.

"Sit, Jay." Professor Bhattacharya said. Pointing to the sofa in front of him. Dinesh bowed and left the room. Jay sat down on the sofa and with him Sharanya and Prithvi.

"Jay, I would come straight to the point, as I know you might have a lot of questions, and I believe you want me to answer them," said professor Bhattacharya.

Jay looked at him, his mind guessing what he would say.

"Jay we have been keeping an eye on you. We know about your family history, we know about your struggles and we know that you are feeling ill at ease since quite sometime. Believe me, all of it has reasons and it is for these reasons we have called you here."

"You have to understand Jay", the professor continued, "that your feelings of unease are not without any reason. We have marked seven people from all of the country to assemble a team of people who would be working to prevent a catastrophe in the near future. There are seven more people like you, and three of them have been sitting here with you in this room and I would leave upon them to get you meet the others. I would however say that you are under no force or coercion to join us. There is a reason for which we have been keeping and eye on and you are the last, and I think the most important piece of the puzzle. I'll give you time to think about it. And should you decided to continue with us, Rajesh, Sharanya and Prithvi would give you more information of the work we are doing. For now take rest and think on it.".

"Let us drop you back to the guest house," said Sharanya getting up, and with her Prithvi.

Jay got up and followed them.

"Jay, you have no idea how important for us you are," Prithvi said as the three of them were walking towards the guest house from the profesors bungalow. "But the professor wants you to make your own decision, as he did for all of us. He considers you to be the last piece of the puzzle, and if you join us you would see how deep the rabbit hole goes and the sheer scale and importantance of what we do."

Jay was still processing what had happened. They walked to the guest house and upon reaching Sharanya said "Take rest Jay and think about it, we have told you as much as we can tell you about it at present, you can continue the life you were living, or you can be with us and known why is it that the professor thinks you to be the last piece of the puzzle." Saying this she waved a goodbye to him and both her and a Prithvi walked away.

Jay came to his room. He was still confused. He wanted to know more but to know more he would have to join them and he didn't know what all it entailed. He put water in the kettle to boil. It was cold. There were fresh logs in the fireplace so he decided to light up the fireplace. He didn't have anything to think about, he had things to make sense of, but to make sense of things he had to join them. They were already keeping and eye on him, probably through private investigators. To know why, he would have to accept their offer. His life hadn't had much anyway. He had already given up on studying further and all he was doing was living from one gig to another playing a bass guitar, in a band he was easily replaceable.

It started snowing suddenly. The fireplace had started burning and room was warming up. Jay was sipping the coffee and thinking. It was a strange place to be in. And he would come to know the truth only and only if he agrees to become a part of their group, but not knowing what this group did and dealt with was a problem. He didn't want to say yes to something he wouldn't want to be a part of later, but then he had nothing better to do. He decided to say yes. Just then a message flashed on the phone he had received in the parcel he picked the phone and opened the message.

"Did you decide yet?" - Sharanya

Jay typed his answer. "Yes, I will join you."

"That's great! Prithvi will pick you up from the guest house tomorrow. Take rest till then. And yes, this is your main phone from now on."

"Ok" Jay replied, kept the phone aside and took another sip from the coffee which was still warm. He looked out from the window and saw a blanket of snow on the ground as well as the trees. His life had come to a standstill and it depended on what would be revealed to him tomorrow when Prithvi comes to pick him up. All of it had been surreal and it was hard to wrap his head around it. He decided to let all of it thaw in his mind. It was evening and there was still a lot of time for tomorrow morning. The room had warmed up and he decided to sleep.

Jay woke up with sound of doorbell. He got up and opened the door. It was Prithvi.

"Not ready yet? No problem, I'll be waiting downstairs for when you're ready". Saying this he turned around and took the stairs to the hall.

Jay got into the bathroom to get ready and in twenty minutes he got ready and went down.

Prithvi looked at him and smiled. "Your life is about to change Jay." Mine did and so did of the other six.

Jay did not reply.

They got out of the guest house. Paths had been recently cleared of snow.

"Leave your bike and ride with me," Prithvi said showing him a metallic silver cruiser standing in the guest house parking.

Prithvi hopped on to the bike and Jay sat on the pillion. Prithvi revvd up the bike and they started. After a five minutes ride they reached a manor. Prithvi stopped the bike and they both got off.

"This is our HQ and your new home," said Prithvi.

"Let's get you meet the others," he said.

They both entered the manor and got into a large hall. A fire was burning in the fireplace and it seemed that people were already waiting for him. There were six people in the room. Two of them were Rajesh and Sharanya.

Sharanya got up from the sofa she was sitting on and came forward.

"Good morning Jay. These people already know you, but I you don't know so here goes the introduction."

"This is Naaz, Sukhbir, Carol and last but not the least, Vinayak. These people have been waiting for you since a very long time and today their wait ends."

"Hi Jay, I've been appointed as your onboarding specialist." Naaz said holding out her hand for a handshake.

Jay shook her hand.

"Sukhbir, Carol and Vinayak don't stop talking about you. You have no idea how long we have been waiting for you." Naaz said.

Jay looked

"I have been appointed to show you around and tell you all that you want to know and I'm sure you have a lot of questions. But first let me show you your room." Naaz gestured Jay to come behind her.

Jay followed her to the stairs and then to the first floor. The manor was spacious. He walked behind her until she stopped in front of a room and opened it. It was a large room with wooden flooring, and had a double bed, a couch, coffee table, a study table, a bookshelf and a pantry on the side which had utensils and a microwave and a coffee machine. The glass window gave a breathtaking view of snow covered forest and mountains. There was an electric fireplace and a cupboard, and table with drawers in it.

"I hope you like the room Jay. Dinesh prepared it for you. The manor has twenty rooms, and a very huge library. Other than us which now includes you, only Dinesh lives here. He is the one who feeds us and does all the cleaning. It's not an easy job."

Naaz said.

Jay found the room comfortable, but still no one had answered what he was supposed to do. Why had they got him here. It felt like things were happening to him and he was just letting them happen to him.

"I guess you have to collect you belongings from the guest house. Dinesh would help you with that and don't worry I would tell you all about why we are here and what is your role in all this. But first I suppose we should have breakfast, so let's go to the dining room."

He followed Naaz to the dining room where everyone else was waiting for them. Dinesh was bringing the breakfast to the table. Naaz pulled a chair for him at the table and asked him to sit and then sat down beside him.

"Let's eat" Dr. Rajesh said and they all started eating. Breakfast consisted of butter and toast, cornflakes, assorted fruits, poha, aaloo parathas orange juice and tea and coffee.

"Jay we know that you have a lot of questions. Don't worry you would get answers for them soon. I hope you are liking the breakfast Dinesh made for us." Dr. Rajesh said helping himself with some coffee.

Jay ate quietly, with a barrage of questions in his mind. It was a bit strange but he decided to wait instead of demanding the truth upfront.

As soon as breakfast got over Dinesh took Jay to his guesthouse room to take his belongings. Jay got back to his room in the manor with his belongings. He got his laptop out and searched for the page of his band. They were playing at a hotel today and had hired a bassist to replace Jay. Jay then searched the name of the university on the internet. Aryavarta Gurukul University, and he realised that the university was established in 1947, the year India got its independence by a group of people which included a man named Sudeep Bhattacharya who seemed related to Professor Bhattacharya he had met already. After checking the laptop Jay decided to make himself a coffee. It was getting cold so he turned on the electric fireplace. He made himself a coffee and sat by the window looking at the distant snow covered peaks and vast bountiful jungle. He had been silent throughout. He didn't trust these people but he had questions and they had answers for them so he had decided to play along. It had been quite sometime since Ma and Papa's death and things were getting strange day by day. He needed answers for his questions and if these individuals had the answers for those questions then he needed to do what they said. They did not look very suspicious and there was an aura of good kind with all of them, it's just their style of not telling the truth upfront that bothered him. He drank his coffee and decided to rest for bit.

Ashtabhuj Advent: Chapter 1, Scene 1

Jay thrashed his fingers across the strings of his bass guitar, the basis notes reverberating through the dimly lit club. The crowd pulsated with energy, their bodies moving in sync with the relentless rhythm of the music. As a member of the hard rock band "Mrityu," Jay was no stranger to the stage, but tonight, something felt different.

Unbeknownst to him, two figures sat in the shadowy corner of the club, their eyes fixed on Jay. Sharanya, with her piercing gaze and Prithvi, with his stoic demeanor, watched intently as Jay unleashed his raw talent upon the unsuspecting audience.

"He's the one," Sharanya whispered, her voice barely audible over the cacophony of sound.

Prithvi nodded in agreement, his gaze unwavering. "Yes, he possesses the potential we seek. We must approach him before it's too late."

Meanwhile, Jay's fingers danced across the fretboard with practiced precision, each note carrying a piece of his soul. Little did he know that his fate was about to take an unexpected turn.

After their performance, Jay returned to his apartment. As he sifted through the pile of mail on the kitchen table, his eyes fell upon a mysterious package addressed to him. Intrigued, he tore open the package to find a mobile phone and an address written on a piece of paper.

Jay read that paper carefully. He looked at the address. It was of a University in Kalpa village in Himachal Pradesh. He switched on the mobile phone and as soon as the mobile phone booted he saw he recieved a text on it. It read, "You have been seeking truth all your life Jay, do you want to know the truth? If you do, meet us at the address you have recieved. Keep the phone handy."

Jay didn't know what to do, but the opportunity of knowing the truth aas a hard one to pass. He put the contents of package back in the package and kept it in his cupboard. He then went to the coffee machine to make himself a coffee. His room was littered with esoteric books. He had developed interest in the esoteric even since he had a particular out of body experience last year and he wanted to know the causes of it. He had just finished his Bachelor's in Zoology. He wanted to be a primatologist but since the experience he had, he had given up on the idea to study further. His band played in cafes and bars of Indraprastha City and he was living in the moment at the present. His band consisted of Bhavesh who was a DJ and Keyboardist, Vasu who was the guitarist, Aman who was the Drummer, and Ali who was the vocalist and him who was the bassist. The band earned enough to support a meagre living through all his band members except him had day jobs to support themselves.

Jay started packing, the band would've to hire and external bassist, but he knew in his heart that this thing, whatever it was, was more important than the band. It was Saturday today and Kalpa was 250 kilometre away from Indraprastha City. It was Friday today and if he starts early morning tomorrow he would be able to reach Kalpa by afternoon.

He went to the coffee machine and made himself another cup of coffee. He had kept his clothes in his rucksack and was making a note of things he would need on the trip. There wasn't much. Clothes, phone, especially the phone he had received today and his wallet. He was packed and ready to go. He opened his cupboard and took out the package. He kept the piece of paper which has the address in his wallet and kept the phone he had received in the package on the table. He then took out his own phone and messaged his bandmates and a few other people that he had to go out of town for a very important work.

 He lay down on the bed and wondered what the message was all about. He had already lost all hopes in humanity and it doesn't seem real that someone who had no incentive from him would try to contact him. Maybe they he was profitable to them in some manner, maybe there was some incentive to them in contacting him. Thinking all these things he drifted into sleep.

He woke up at six in the morning freshened up, took a bath and then took his rucksack and helmet and got out of the apartment. He locked his apartment, and took the stairs to the parking where his bike was parked. His bike was a cafe racer that he valued a lot. He started the engine and took off on his journey.

He rode non stop for four and half hours though the speed was not much it did not take him much time and he enjoyed the ride and seeing the terrain changing from plains to mountainous. He had reached Kalpa. Kalpa was full of forests and he realised that the university he had the address to lied deep inside mountainous jungles. He stopped at a roadside stall to have a tea. Where he talked to the locals about the university. The university students and staff came to Kalpa bazaar to do their shopping and the university contributed a lot to the economy of Kalpa village.

After tea, he got on the bike again and started for the university. It was a road through the forest. And after a ride of 15 minutes on mountain roads surrounded by forest he was able to reach the gates of the university. There were two guards at the gate. The guards looked at him and opened the gate. He entered the gate and saw a signboard with Administrative Block written on it, he turned his board towards the direction the board was pointing. He reached the Administrative Block, parked his bike in the parking and got off it and got into the building. He went to the reception and took out the piece of paper and showed it to the receptionist. She pointed him towards  a room and asked him to make himself comfortable. Jay went inside the room. There was a couch and glass table and on the table there were a few magazines. On one side there was a fireplace and above the fireplace were kept two vases. He sat on the couch and picked a travel magazine and started sifting through it. Almost five minutes later a man and a woman entered the room. The man wore a leather jacket and a blue jeans. He had short hair and a trimmed beard. The woman had worn a kanjivaram saree and wore golden framed glasses.

"Hello Jay", the woman said.

"You play the guitar very well. I know you must be having a lot of questions but rest assured that all of your questions will be answered. We saw you in the club yesterday and you might have noticed us in the crowd. This is Prithvi" she looked at the man, "and I am Sharanya".

Jay hadn't had the chance of standing up yet. He got up and nodded to both of them.

"The Professor would like to see you in some time" Prithvi said.

"Here are the keys to your room in the guest house. I hope you will find it comfortable and according to your needs. You freshen up and we'll meet you when the professor is ready to meet you. Dinesh would guide you to the guest house." Prithvi held out a bunch of keys attached to a keyring which had Room Number 108 inscribed on it.

All three of them came out of the room and stood in the hall of Administrative Block. A Nepali man, stood there.

"Hello, Jay sir, I'm Dinesh."

"Kindly follow me."Dinesh said courteously.

Jay got out of the building with Dinesh. And Dinesh hopped on a bicycle which seemed to be the chief mode of transport within the university, parked near the bike of Jay. Jay got on the bike and followed Dinesh to the guesthouse. He entered the guesthouse with Dinesh and they climbed to the first floor where Jay's room was.

"Please make yourself comfortable. I'll come to get you when professor asks for you." Saying this, Dinesh gave a bow and left the room.

Jay glanced accross the room. There was a large glass window and a fireplace. There was a single bed with a table beside it which had a table lamp and a telephone. There was a study table and a chair with a few magazines and an electric kettle along with two mugs, a glass tumbler and a glass jug filled with water kept on the table. Dinesh had carried his luggage to the room. He sat on the bed and wondered what it was about. He then got up and pulled the curtains from the windows getting a breathtaking view of forest covered mountains. He didn't know what he had gotten himself to. When he was riding from IP City to Kalpa all he could think was what awaited him. He had recently finished his college, and had decided to not to study further. He had no goals at present and he lived from one gig to another with his band. Mom and dad before passing away had left him a lot of money but he seldom touched that money, and lived mostly on what he made by playing in the band. He has ancestral property in Rajasthan which was looked after by Chhote Baba and his office, his father's uncle. His father was landlord and a counsel to the erstwhile king of Rajpur. He had extended family in Rajasthan but after the accident in which his mother and father passed away he had only been there twice.

He had been reading a lot on occult and esoteric literture after what he felt after his parents death. He felt some strange things which he realised that wasn't only grief. He felt he could see himself in third person as if he could see himself from outside his body and he felt a burning sensation all over his body and in his eyes, palms and soles. He had searched his symptoms on the internet and came across a term called depersonalization, but the literature he found on the internet noted that it was caused due to extreme anxiety and he did not have anxiety but grief. He was sad on his parents death but that was loss and not anxiety. He never had to worry about finances as Nahar Baba and his office took care of everything related to his father's and his finances. Chhote baba had appointed Nahar Singh who was ten years elder to him and son of a faithful servant to family to manage finances and estates of Jay and Nahar was dutiful about his job. Jay's parents passed away when he was in his second year of college and it had been one and half years since. He had never been the same after his parents death. Grief and adding to that a strange sensation that made him feel that he was watching himself from outside his body didn't let him live in peace. He had read majority of occult and esoteric literture of the world by now and he had not got his answer for the strange restlessness he suffered with yet. And now when he recieved the package and was called to Kalpa, he couldn't say know to the opportunity that could answer his questions.

He didn't know who Professor was, but he seemed important the way everyone whom he had met in this university took his name with respect.  He got up to make himself a cup of coffee and put water to boil in the electric kettle and emptied two coffee sachets, a sachet of creamer and a sachet of sugar in a cup. He prepared the coffee, took the steaming cup and sat on his bed thinking.