Circle of Time: An urban fantasy (The Kazi Chronicles Book 1)

by Riverr Ravenswood

  His face is three inches away from me. I smile at him and as fast as my sitting position could allow, strike at the points on his neck and wrists with my marmam precision, and before he could even register what the everloving fuck is happening to his body, I kick him square on his chest.

  He falls back on his ass, eyes wide. Silence like I’ve never known before meets my ears. I lift my eyes to see everyone rooted on their respective spots. But in more than one eye I see amusement, and a healthy dose of respect. And I straight up see victory in Lexie’s eyes.

  I am still sitting on the lounger. I can see that Voldey tries to get up. When he can't, I smirk.

  Then, as calmly as possible, I slide down on my haunches, like a warrior pose while bending the knees. No part of my body touches his, but I am as close to him as he was to me before. There is pin drop silence.

  “Now listen Voldemort. I don't give a flying fuck as to what kind of a badass you are. You are nothing compared to me.” I take my face closer to him and enunciate again, softly, for only him to hear. “Nothing.”

  I get back to the lounger and sit cross legged, all the while looking at him dead in his eyes. Oh he is scared. The big bad Voldemort is scared. I don't feel happy at this. I don’t believe he is evil.. But he just acted as a nuisance.

  “What do you feel right now? Like your heart is coming out of your chest, your spindly dick is being removed, and paralysis from the neck down? It will last for fifteen minutes. Since you seem like someone who loves his own voice, listen to me and listen well. I am not answerable to you, and never will be. To any of you. So while all your posturing and all that jazz is as amusing as a five year old trying to mimic Bruce Lee, remember that the next time you piss me off, I will make that paralysis fucking permanent. Like I said, You are nothing when compared to me.” I take a breath and give him a chance to process my words. “I was urged to come here, but I can leave just as easily. I am here because Ash and Lexie went white as ghosts and told me they had to talk to me about something, and until that happens, I ain't going anywhere. So suck it up. And do not piss me off.”

  I look back at the others. As if they were waiting for me to look at them or finish saying my piece, Lexie lets out a loud whoop. She runs to me and throws her arms around me and then bends down to Voldemort and yells, “In your face, fucker. In. Your. Face.”

  She is laughing and whopping so hard, I think that her face was gonna crack. That thought itself brings a smile to my face. Ryan and Ash are looking at me with something like awe, and something more, but I can't figure it out. Vince on the other hand, is bent over Voldemort and is examining him intently, “It is amazing. Nothing on his body is bruised. He looks so normal. But he cannot fucking move.” Then he looks at me with hearts in his eyes. “Marry me. Please. That was so hot.”

  I roll my eyes and start laughing. I have had a crush on Vince forever. Also on Ash, and Ryan. Yeah yeah, call me whatever. Admire not desire, right?

  I look back at Voldemort and see a twinge of respect in his eyes. But the anger is still there. It is as if he has found a worthy opponent. I raise my eyebrow at him and dismiss him.

  Turning to Vince I say, “While that proposal literally took my breath away, let's get to the matter. What the fuck is going on? And why is the Avengers wannabe over there so pissed off?”

  Chapter 6

  Ada

  “Okay. Let’s do that. Shall we leave him here? And go somewhere to talk?” Lexie asks, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

  I roll my eyes. “Whatever you all are comfortable with.”

  With this Ash sits down on the couch across the room. Point taken, everyone else also find places to sit and look at Voldemort once again. Then they look at Ash. There is a hierarchy here that I am getting a sense of. Voldey here seems to be the gang leader. With Ash the beta. I guess I will find out soon.

  “Before we tell you anything, could you please take us through your days over the last couple of days?” Ash asks me.

  What is this? An intervention? Interrogation? But we have to start somewhere. So I start.

  “Well just the usual. Getting ready for classes, Nikki eating my head out about her cake and her birthday party, doing assignments, reading my book. That's all,” I trail off, hazy details of things coming to my mind. I cannot for the life of me figure out what my mind is trying to remember.

  “So, you got up before your alarm today?” Ryan asks.

  “Yeah. It was weird. I never ever wake up early. Like, never. But good thing I did, since I got to meet you after ages.” I smile.

  “And you kicked the ball. Do you remember me playing football there?” Vince asks.

  “Yeah. As weird as it sounds, I think I have been seeing you, and dodging that football for days now. Though when I try to remember the exact details, I cannot.” I look up and realise that they are one step short of bouncing from their seats.

  “And you left this note in my room. What prompted you?” Lexie asks.

  I shrug as I answer, “I guess I hadn’t seen you guys in so long, that I thought I should leave a note. I figured that because our classes and assignments are different, I had been missing you while you were in the house…. It’s funny, that I didn't think of using my phone to text you. Come to think of it, I have not used my phone in ages, except to talk to Dad,” I frown thinking this.

  “And you talk to your father every day?” Vince asks.

  “Yeah,” I frown. Trying hard to remember if I spoke to him yesterday, I feel like I did, but …..

  “Okay,” Ash takes over. “Anything else you can tell us? Anything that you have been finding weird? Anything you seem to be missing?”

  I think back. The dress, the classes, the football…. The book. I shake my head. Maybe it is all my imagination.

  “Nothing is your imagination. Tell us please,” Ash tells me, placing his forearms on his thighs, bending forward.

  Seems like I said it out aloud.

  “Nothing.. I mean.. Well, every morning as I get dressed, I get this weird deja-vu that I had selected another dress the previous night. Sometimes I swear my mind plays with me, because I think back to taking a certain thing out and placing it on the dresser. Then there are these classes. Every day I find something written in my notebook that I don’t remember writing, or that the professor hasn't taught before.” At this, all of them start shifting in their seats. “But then the weirdest is that I… Today, I found the bookmark in my book on a chapter that is much farther than I remember reading. I never do that,” I shrug.

  “So every day you get dressed, and you get glimpses of another dress?” Lexie asks.

  “Yeah. Like today, I got this weird sense that I had selected the yellow dress last night. You know the one we all had bought during our shopping trip at the street designers? I think I had selected that yesterday,” I say straining to remember. But I cannot remember. I look at Lexie, worried and anxious now. The haziness in my mind is beginning to worry me. I’ve always had a good memory. This is entirely something else.

  “So, you have been selecting different dresses every day?” Lexia asks, excited.

  “I think so. I cannot explain it and I don’t seem to remember it. And even though it happened today, I know that this has been happening a lot,” I look at them and I mean, really look at them. “Enough with the questions, now tell me why this is so exciting for all of you.”

  Ash looks at the others then at Voldey, who seems to be getting his movement back slowly.

  At last Ash says, “to explain it all, we have to tell you a story. The backstory. We need to tell you what has happened before so that you understand it better. And because you are studying to be a Major in Philosophy, Religion and Culture, I think you might have an insight.”

  “I don't agree that I want to listen to a tale right now. But if that is the way you feel comfortable telling it, then sure. Can I get a mug of coffee before we start?” I ask them. This baffles them even more. At my raised eyebrow, Ryan jumps up and goes to th
e kitchen.

  While we are waiting for Ryan, Voldey’s paralysis seems to be over. As soon as it is over, he jumps up. The others are almost ready to jump in between. But maybe I have proven my worth enough, so they don't. And maybe they want to see him taken down once more? Whatever the reason, nobody steps in between Voldey and I while he is walking towards me.

  “Where did you learn that? How did you do that? Who are you?” He asks, getting down on one knee in front of me, so that he is at my eye level.

  I roll my eyes, not wanting to divulge the marmam art form and my Sensei to an asshole like him. I just shrug and tell him, “I am Ada. I learnt that from my father. And I am not going to tell you anything about that sacred form because you are just an asshole.”

  His eyes are on the verge of bulging out, when he says, “Listen girl…”

  “Yes, asshole?” I ask

  “I called you a girl. I didn't insult you by calling you names.”

  “I don't know your name but you know mine. Despite that you addressed me as “girl”. I called you an asshole, for lack of another name. I didn't insult you.”

  “How is asshole not an insult?” he asks, baffled.

  “It is only when you think of it as one. Assholes are essential. They are an important physiological feature… I mean, if it weren't for the assholes, where would all the shit go? If anything, I called you important. But only in a shitty way…'' I shrug.

  He looks at me open mouthed, wide eyed, seeming to be frozen.

  The cackle of laughter and wheezing sounds coming from the floor near me makes me turn my head. And yeah… Everyone else is rolling on the floor laughing. Lexie has tears running down her face.

  Voldey’s mouth tugs up slightly.

  “I am Enzo. Short for Lorenzo,” he says, offering me his hand.

  I eye his hand but do not raise mine to meet it. I settle on settling further on the lounger, telling him in a flat voice, “Good to meet you, Lorenzo.”

  See the thing is, though I have been taught to understand all perspectives, I can hold a mean fucking grudge. And this man, despite his looks, decided to act completely unreasonably. Or so my mind has decided.

  He looks legit chastised as he withdraws his hand. He rubs his neck and says, “you have to understand that I would lose my fuse at some stranger sitting in my house…”

  Oh, is that his idea of a fucking apology?

  “No.” I tell him simply. Ryan comes at that point and hands me my coffee. I take a sip and literally moan in delight.

  He makes the world’s bestest coffee.

  “What do you mean no?” Voldey, Lorenzo, asks.

  “I don't have to understand.” Not bothering to give him any more of my time, I turn to Ash waiting for him to continue. But clearly he cannot since Lorenzo here is the alpha and all that jazz.

  Lorenzo’s voice sounds like it is vibrating with suppressed anger. “What the fuck do you mean? I am offering you a peac-”

  “What you are offering me does not interest me. No, I don't have to understand why you would act like a spineless asshole. You didn't give anybody a chance to explain. You saw a new person and you thought it best to assert your dominance, rather than understand the situation, or waiting to get some answers. You assumed. You thought that what the others have to say doesn’t matter because they didnt ask your permission. All I know is that I saw a headless chicken trying to act like the king of the jungle, and failing miserably at it. So if you don't have an actual apology to offer, then don’t bother saying anything. I am really not interested in being your friend. So just save whatever you have to say and let Ash get on with the story.”

  He looks hurt. Why, I don't know.

  But the fact that I have caused someone else's hurt, hurts me too. My heartrate ratchets up and I look at him once again, hoping that my eyes can convey my apology.

  “I am sorry. That was harsh. Ignore me, please. Soon I will be gone from here, and you won’t ever have to see me again,” I say, mustering all of my sincerity in it. He seems to get if his sharp inhale is anything to go by.

  “I wouldn't be so sure of that Stellina.” With that he turns around and goes to sit by the window.

  Chapter 7

  Asher

  I look at her and not for the first time in the last fifteen minutes I think back at what this girl means to us. Enzo called her Stellina, and he doesn’t go on offering nicknames or terms of endearment to others.

  I still get hard thinking back to the time when I’d first met her a year ago. Her skin had a radiance that took my breath away. She had shoulder length hair then, which has now grown out. Dark hair, striking golden eyes, toned body. But those were all external things. What had pulled me to her was her smile, it reached her eyes. I always thought of her as a Goddess walking the Earth. Why? I can’t really explain. She just has that aura that gives off a sense of deep serenity.

  Looking at her look at me now, takes my breath away. She is waiting for me to start the story that will help explain to her what is really going. No more time to waste. Maybe when this clusterfuck is over I can even ask her out. All of this, to think about later.

  “Okay, let’s start. You know we have religions and cults, right? But what if I were to tell you that all the religions we have heard of till now are all man-made. Their ideas of God are all man-made, and not really what the real story is?”

  I wait for her to reply to this. Because it is important to gauge how open minded she really is.

  “Then I would say, okay.” That's all she says. That's it? It took us a long time to understand this. And she is okay with it?

  “Okay, then,” I looked at her for a long time. Her eyes convey that she is serious about this, so I give her a nod and continue. “What if I told you that there is in fact, a completely different structure of Gods and their hierarchy? That whatever we know of religions is based on tidbits of this original structure, but nothing that we know is what the reality is - reality meaning the real ways, the structure, the names, the identities, the establishment of Gods?”

  I can feel everyone in the room radiating with an anxious energy. We know how much will depend on her response to this.

  She takes some time to think, while looking at me.

  “I would say, again, okay.”

  What the fuck?

  Enzo turns around and asks her, “does it not bother you in the least that what you have known till now is about to be questioned?”

  “It would bother me if I had been taught to follow one single belief, or anything, set by others. Lucky for you all, I have not been raised like that. My mum was Indian, a Hindu. And I have a lot of Indian influences in my upbringing and beliefs. My Dad, though born a Catholic, was raised in India, and is Hindu at heart. He believes in following your heart, not harming others, respecting everyone even if their beliefs are opposite to yours, and finding your own answers. And that is how he brought me up too. We believe in ‘live and let live’,” she tells us.

  That explains a lot, doesn’t it?

  Her vegetarianism. Her respect for all things living. Her love for animals. Even her apologising to Enzo after he was a dick to her. It all points to a strength of character and will. And let’s not forget, if she didn't have the strength of will that she possesses, she wouldn't be here right now.

  “That explains a lot. So now I will tell you the rest of it. The ‘history of true Gods’ is like this. The God Supreme created this world, and everything in it. They created the Universe. However, unlike the popular belief, they created everything equal based on the precepts of the Trinity - that is creation, preservation, and destruction. Everything we know, everything around us, every emotion, every aspect of every law, being, and the universe, has these three in varying degrees. With me so far?”

  She nods.

  “So they created ‘rulers’ of Creation, Preservation and Destruction. These Gods are like the leaders of the God clan. The God Supreme also created all the other Gods as well. There are Gods for different t
hings - elements, emotions, greed, love, chaos, war, beauty, fear, etc. Everyone is just and fair. But there has been an unrest going on in the Gods’ world and it has started affecting us now.

  “Now, the Creation gods, or the God ruling the Creation sect, is said to be unhappy and has made his displeasure known a lot of times. Because, no matter how powerful they are, they cannot ‘create’ human beings, or elements, or Gods. They can handle the creation of things, emotions, ideas. Whether it is good or bad.” I raise my hand to stop her because I can see she has a lot of questions right now. “Let me finish telling you the gist of things, then we will come back to the questions you have. That okay?”

  “Okay sure.”

  “So, for now, what you need to understand are some simple bullet points. First. God Supreme created everything and everyone, even the Gods. The God Supreme, called Paramaiah, does not interact with the other Gods or the world much. It is rumored that they just roam the world they created and enjoy their creations. They only come to the scene when things are getting, or about to get, out of hand.

  “Second. The Gods are never born. They are created. Always.

  “Third. Everytime A god is created, they had a destiny for them, that was narrated by the God of Time.

  “Fourth. He spoke of a destiny for the Creation ruler, that 'a child born of the Gods will be the new era of creation.’ That obviously created a furore in the God kingdom. To which the Creation ruler threw a party, where he ‘created’ a magical binding with a potion that ensured that anyone who partook it will never have a child, by choice. Whether that was because they didn’t feel the need to have kids, or whether it was that they hated children, or whatever the reason. They will not have kids. And they didn't. Except the Destruction rulers. They saw through the illusion. But before they could warn others, the deed was done.”