Land Of The Gods

by Abhishek .

  “How are we going to get through if a civil war is going on here?”

  “I have no clue whatsoever,” said Vivek, looking at me with worried eyes.

  Kapittel 48

  Elsewhere

  Kyoto, Japan

  March 15, 2017, Wednesday, 1420 hours JPT

  Throughout history, man has fought for love, wealth and territory. However, the one thing that man has yearned for the most, the factor that allowed man to believe that he is a step closer to being God himself, was power. Power is contagious. History is red because of the bloody wars man has fought for control and authority, and why not? Power can allow one to overthrow governments, win battles against impossible odds, change the course of history or shape the future. At a smaller scale, it can change a man’s life. So will be observed if one looks into the life of the General-in- Command of the Japanese Domination Association, Kiyoshi- san.

  Kiyoshi-san was a man who, even after Japan surrendered in 1945, continued to cut down the Allied troops in a blind hope of victory. Despite warnings from the Government to honour the surrender, he continued his carnage. He was finally incarcerated for assaulting a group of Japanese police men who were trying to subdue him and served a short time in prison. “The Japanese are superior to everyone! The Aryans, ha! Aliens I call them! We are destined to be the rulers of this tiny planet,” he used to tell his cellmates who used to exchange dubious looks, wondering whether he was mentally sound.

  Post that, his skills were still in demand and he joined the police force and advanced quite rapidly to superior positions regularly. His zeal and nationalistic spirit amazed everyone he knew.

  Post retirement, the country knew that he was leading a retired life in Kyoto, but he secretly established the Japanese Domination Association and built it to be a formidable movement which attracted lots of disgruntled military and police personnel.

  Now well into his ninth decade and with power in his palms, he looked forward to achieving what he wanted. Kiyoshi-san had visited the brewery behind the palatial headquarters of his Association. His frail structure was concealed behind a strong and vehement aura of pride and vengeance. He walked with the gait of a holy monk who looks approvingly at his disciples. Every soldier training in the military zones, scientist working in closed glass cubicles or engineer working on intricate weaponry and contraptions, bowed to him and Kiyoshi-san savoured this atmosphere.

  Kiyoshi-san looked at the large, ancient stone slab which had been deconstructed almost fully. Its parts were being reassembled in a similar machine, only larger; large enough for a single file of troops to march through. Kiyoshi-san felt his jaws clench at the sight of the Technician and loathed the idea that he had to take him along on this mission.

  Kiyoshi-san stopped at a facility with a tall projectile spewing hot gases and fire from the nozzles under it. The Chiemsee cauldron sat at the base and was constantly being fed silicon. This was his master weapon and sometimes, he felt so nervous about its power that he avoided walking past it but today, his mood was different. Today, he embarked on the first step to domination.

  Kiyoshi-san was driven in the middle of a motorcade to a secret airstrip in the outskirts of Kyoto. While passing the island, he wondered:

  If the plan works out, there is no stopping us but... I should perhaps avoid counting my chicks just now. This will be a momentous mission for the Association.

  In the evening light, the contours of the massive Kawasaki C1 heavy transport plane made it look even bulkier than it was. This plane was at least 42 years old but the Association’s Aeronautical Engineers had tweaked it up and tailored it for themselves. The plane had an immense hold which could support the Association’s 200 strong army with Kiyoshi-san’s ego.

  Before the plane took off, Kiyoshi-san noticed Hamasaki whip out his satellite phone and read a message from an overseas asset:

  [Visual on the boys. A girl with them. Will keep you posted]

  Kapittel 49

  Mathias’s story

  Off the northern coast of Egypt

  March 15, 2017, Wednesday, 0735 hours EET

  We jogged through the sweltering desert and occasionally hid behind small dunes of sand when in sight of armed men. We weren’t sure which side they belonged to, not that it mattered. They were likely to shoot anybody on suspicion. We walked a long distance through slippery sand and arrived at a highway. We waited there for a few minutes until we saw a car coming our way. As it came closer, the haze of the desert air thinned away. The vehicle was an old and dusty Citroen hatchback.

  “There comes our ride,” Vivek told the two of us while we were flat on our stomach, waiting patiently beside the highway.

  “Do you have a plan? If this place is in turmoil, we are already in danger!” Lifana whispered loudly.

  “I am just going to follow my instinct.”

  When the car was but a few metres away, Vivek jumped up on his feet and stood almost in the way of the car. He indicated to the driver that he needed a lift and waved in the air. If the driver wasn’t vigilant enough, he would have knocked Vivek out. Instead, the Citroen skidded to a stop and the three of us went up to the car.

  The driver rolled down the tinted window and we could see two other men sitting in the backseat. The driver and another man wore loose-fitting cotton shirt and jeans. The man sitting behind had a scarf around his neck and the third man wore a T-shirt and cap.

  “Hello sir! We are in need of a r...,” Vivek halted at the sight of the pistol trained at them by the driver. The three of us took a step backwards and raised our hands. Lifana, new to these customs, looked scared and didn’t follow our actions. The driver seemed to ignore that.

  “No lift. Shoot you otherwise.” The man extended his arm out of the window and pushed us further back.

  In a dauntless instant, Vivek kicked the gun away from his hand and opened the door. “Mathias! Handle those men, will you? Lifana! Grab the gun!”

  The two other men jumped out of the car. The one with the cap was unarmed but the other guy had a cane with him.

  “That thing you kicked away?” asked Lifana, scared out of her wits.

  “Yes! Yes! That thing!” Vivek yelled while he locked the man’s arms and dragged him out of the car.

  Lifana ran awkwardly in her tunic, towards the gun. The man with the cane spotted her and made a beeline for the pistol. I left the man with the cap and sprinted towards his friend. I jumped over the bonnet of the car and pushed the man away from Lifana. The two of us tumbled down the sandy embankment.

  Lifana grabbed the pistol and aimed it at the man with the cap—who seemed torn between helping his friend or figuring how to deal with the girl with the pistol—who was just behind her. Meanwhile, Vivek punched the driver and knocked him out cold.

  I spat out some sand and hauled myself up. Before the man could get up, I crushed his hand with my foot, grabbing the cane and kicking his arm with all my might, the wrong way inwards. He screamed in pain and let go of the cane. Immediately, I picked it up and smacked him on his head.

  Lifana still had her pistol trained at the man with the cap. But her finger was not in the trigger and noticing it, the man reached out and tried grabbing the pistol from Lifana. Before he could do that, Vivek grabbed the man by the neck and pushed him over the embankment.

  “You have absolutely no idea of what this is, do you?” Vivek motioned at the gun which was still in Lifana’s hands. He didn’t wait for her answer and as soon as I emerged over the embankment, we entered the car and Vivek pressed his feet down on the accelerator. The shabby interiors and the dust didn’t matter to us anymore as the hatchback zoomed into the desert highway. The three men were left behind in a wake of sand and were caught moments later by patrolling soldiers.

  The sun-bathed sand dunes had long disappeared to be replaced by the dark blue Mediterranean Sea on our left. Vivek had stopped the car at a right turn which led into the city area. “This turn will lead into the town but do you see the next turn?” I po
inted towards a distant strip of road. “That will be closer to the coast. Which turn should we choose?”

  A civil war was going in the entire area and we surely wouldn’t face any trouble entering the city. However, being well inland meant occasionally finding ourselves in the middle of battles. The coast had a few resorts and we hoped to find the coastal drive a little safer.

  “We will be able to see the ocean from there?” Lifana pointed excitedly at the second right turn. Vivek nodded in reply.

  “Then let’s go there! Please! I want to see the ocean!” She was excited, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

  “Have you never seen any ocean before?” I asked her. She didn’t respond, staring out with a glimmer in her eyes.

  “Umm... let’s go from there. I will tell you on the way.” The three of us agreed and we took to the road.

  The air coming in through the rolled down windows made up for the faulty air conditioning system. The ventilation was welcome even though the air was parched and hot. One could hardly expect chill in the Sahara.

  Vivek drove the Citroen as fast as he could on the coastal highway. Villas and resort compounds whizzed past us. Although this portion of Egypt was very modern, the dusty smog blanketing the clear blue sky and the distant pastures of green were reminiscent of the civilisation that started here at the Nile and amounted to this civil war. One out of three buildings were destroyed, at least in this area, and it was a pity to watch the throne of the world of old to have fallen into such distressful times.

  “You know Vivek, trust is like civilisation,” I said and Vivek glanced at me. “Trust grows slowly, like a hamlet grows into a city, but when it is broken, it burns from the roots. Never again can the new city be as strong as it previously was.” Vivek’s face looked flushed with emotion. “I grew up being wary of people around me and could not trust anybody other than Ram and Mrs Dawson – till I met you. After all that we have gone through, in you, I see an elder brother’s protection.”

  “Shut up Mathias,” Vivek shot a glance at Mathias, smiling briefly then turning back to the road. “Not the time to be emotional, buddy.”

  We drove in silence before Lifana spoke up. “Back in Asr-Gawa,” she said, still staring hungrily at the blue of the ocean, “the great ocean is only visible from the city’s borders. The violent and raging sea had swallowed the entire land and islands that existed around the planet a long time back. People were forced to move to the poles and live together. The city of Asr-Gawa was made into a hemisphere,” she paused here, searching for words. Then continued after a pause, “I cannot explain it to you properly but imagine a bowl sunken into the earth and spinning. Such is the great city of Asr-Gawa. Initially, we were united in a spirit of brotherhood but you all know, experience and understand the complexity of the human brain.” She turned away from the window with a solemn face and let the thought hang in the air. “I was excited about the ocean because in Asr-Gawa, we are not able to go outside the city and view the sea.”

  “How is the city of Asr-Gawa?” Vivek asked Lifana.

  “Asr-Gawa used to be paradise. It used to be literally, the land of the Gods. Technology was flourishing, our society was modern with enforced law and a lavish lifestyle. Everybody was enlightened and everybody played an important role in the life of Asr-Gawa.”

  “I think you’re mistaken. In English, you should normally use the present tense in this case rather than the past tense. You know, like ‘is’ and ‘play’,” Vivek tried to correct her.

  Lifana starred at him frostily. “I am well aware of the rules and my usage of tense is undoubtedly perfect.”

  “Then what happened to Asr-Gawa?” Vivek quickly changed the subject, realising his foolishness.

  “Everything was destroyed when the Pandemic hit us. It all happened in the genetic engineering department of the Scientific department for Research and Development (SDRD). At least that is what is believed in Asr-Gawa. In the SDRD a new strain of diminutive lives was said to be discovered, I don’t remember which. People say that it was this diminutive life which affected us for generations to come. The average intelligence of the population dropped and so did the standards. Technological discoveries were history and the modern and advanced society of ours declined. None of us know how to fix this. None of us know what exactly is wrong either. All this... just happened. And on top of that, there is the shortage of Makto!” Lifana grew tense and worried with every sentence she spoke. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. “Our world is not what it used to be. Our world is plagued by crisis. Our world needs a saviour.”

  All of us remained quiet throughout the journey. The stillness was only disturbed when the road was blocked by rubble from a broken building for the first time. A pile of mutilated vehicles made us go around the complex and the third time, Vivek reversed the car to avoid falling into an ongoing battle in a compound which was formerly a summer resort.

  The density of the buildings increased gradually as we entered the city of Alexandria. The three of us looked out of the window and noticed many buildings that had caved inwards or been completely grounded. Occasional gunshots would ring out of a nearby alley. Patrolling units of the pro-Morsi militia could be often seen on the streets. All of them were geared in brown camouflage coveralls, a Kevlar breast piece and assault rifles. Out of the tens of such units we passed, two of them tried to shoot us down on suspicion but Vivek raced the tiny Citroen away. Finally, we reached downtown Alexandria.

  Although most of the buildings were simple cuboidal structures, the whole city of Alexandria was truly Mediterranean. This was felt through the usual buildings of Islamic architecture but influenced heavily by Greek and Roman techniques. Out of the few such heritage sites, some were transformed to rubble while some had large gaping holes indicating a bomb blast.

  The air was dusty and the sun was high. The entire city seemed to be deserted. Nobody was on the roads save demolished cars, rubble from nearby buildings and a handful of soldiers marching away. The wind whistled through the streets while we spied an old woman who shut the windows of her apartment as soon as our eyes met.

  Vivek drove the car through streets filled with political graffiti, heading for the harbour. Frequent gunshots and blasts ringed through the streets, accompanied by shouts and laconic military commands. We stopped in front of a plain-looking building situated right on the arc of the Eastern Harbour. It was a small hotel and seemed relatively unscathed, with only a bullet holes and a few large scars from shrapnel. It also seemed to be running and so we took our chances.

  Kapittel 50

  Asr-Gawa

  Earlywhen

  March 15, 2017, Wednesday, 0630 hours Earth EET

  The life of Asurians could be compared to a cold and listless play. Scarcely, does a twist bring about a change in the day- to-day life of an Asurian nowadays. Many revolutions ago, when enlightened men walked on the planet, there used to be something new to think about everyday: a new method of superconducting levitation or a bizarre diminutive particle for transmission of information, a new way of tunneling through solid walls or simply, trading information with different dimensions. While it was the enlightened men who created Asr-Gawa as it is today, they bear the responsibility for the state of the modern Asurian after the Pandemic. Since Asurians are no longer used to change, they find it hard to cope up with a sudden turn in their life. Heimdallr found himself in such a situation. He remembered his thoughts when he first read the alert.

  “An unauthorised entry into Asr-Gawa!” He re-read the alert, back straighter, thinking, “How can that happen? It’s not possible.” Yet, the alert was there. He found himself hyperventilating, “If it is some Jargantaan terrorist group then... no. That cannot be. But other dimensions don’t know about our teleporter! What in the name of Guđhamr is happening?” He threw away his wristband which rolled to a stop on the polished stone floor. He had to meet Nanna as soon as possible.

  “Are you there in the lobby area?” Heimdallr looked at the proj
ection of Nanna float in front of his eyes, as if she was walking with him in the dark streets of Asr-Gawa. As Heimdallr of Asr-Gawa, the head of the Teleportation Security department, his neural lattice had been upgraded so that he could call someone directly through his brain electric impulses.

  “Yeah, yeah. Come quickly! I don’t like waiting in the dark,” Nanna replied in a hushed voice.

  Heimdallr blinked away the connection and rubbed his palms while he walked briskly through side roads, still taking in the mental image of the alert on his wristband. This is going to be the beginning of a new chapter in Asr-Gawa’s history. He felt that he could look into the matters himself but he feared digressing from the protocol. The wristband was reminiscent of Heimdallr’s father, the previous Heimdallr. He had helped refugees flee from Asr-Gawa to other dimensions when the state of Asr-Gawa started to decline. While he managed to save scores of lives, he was tortured and executed for not following his protocol and... for being associated with LOKI.

  Heimdallr stopped inside a narrow passage and squeezed his eyes shut. He still remembered an Asurian official leading him into a room with a small glass pane through which he could see his father’s brains being beaten out. His screams echoed throughout the chamber and no matter how much Heimdallr tried closing his ears, his father’s agonising cries engraved one rule into his head: swear fealty to the council of elders and shut your five senses to the rest of the problems in the world.