Land Of The Gods

by Abhishek .

“Yes, but how? Wha...You are Vishnu? The Hindu god? The preserver?” Ram exclaimed. Under the table, he pinched his thigh to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

  “Yes. I have been called Vishnu, the Hindu god, the preserver. What is your name?” “I am... Ram,” Ram replied hesitantly.

  “Ah! Supposed to be one of my divine incarnations on your planet! Ram. Interesting. Ram, if you are to join Lok Vve, you must know as much as possible about the system, the organisation, and me beforehand. Or else, you will have a very hard time finding your way around. With unforgivable secrecy comes intense complicacy.” The man looked at Ram with hard eyes. “Are you with us?”

  “I am sure I will be staying here for only some time. I will go back to Mandagaar eventually.”

  “I am sure you have seen the terrible social conditions here in Asr-Gawa. As unlawful as we are, we strive to topple the feeble council of elders and reverse their futile and self- destructive policies to bring Asr-Gawa back to its glory. Lok Vve works completely independent of the government body,” he said, turning his head sideways. There on the small of his neck was a reddish-black bruise that was shaped in a pointed ‘B’. The bruise seemed to contain numerous perforations and thin web-like marks of trauma that emanated from the bruise. Ram winced at the gruesome brand. Alvis-nu turned back to face them, “Every Lok Vve member lacks the lattice. We need a very intricate operation in our brains to remove it. We encourage our comrades to flaunt their scar as a symbol of our independence from the repressive council.” Ram’a mind went into a swirl. He looked at Nanna who nodded at him reassuringly. Not that he could see any other option in view. This was the only way to ensure survival.

  “I am with you.”

  The man exchanged looks with Nanna.

  “I can vouch for him,” said Nana, glancing at Ram. “He is an obedient lad.”

  “Alright then! We have a new recruit. Before we make you sign the pact, I feel you have a lot of pent-up questions,” the man smiled at him.

  “Of course I do. How can you be Vishnu? You seem... so aged,” Ram cocked his head, nonplussed.

  “I founded this organisation as a means to solve the problems of this society, to preserve this world from an imminent period of deterioration. This is my bane. If a sand castle is built, I find an overwhelming emotion to preserve the structure against the largest of waves. Even in Mandagaar, whenever Mandaas made a mistake in the early stages of their civilisation, I was there to prevent their doom and ensure sustenance. After all, the world was the brainchild of my grandfather and father. While Odin and Bor-nu, my father, concentrated on the lands to the west of the great plain, I tried to make a difference to the other side, the eastern part. Whenever evil plagued your lands, I was there to protect you and ensure sustenance. Even when a burgeoning conflict between the Asurians and the Persian ‘Devaas’ threatened to finish the Mandaas, I was there to shield you from the damage, to ensure sustenance.” “So all the ten... practically nine avatars of Vishnu were nine instances when you came to Mandagaar to solve our problems?” “Not really. Many of those are figments of imagination of your people. However some of them are true. That was a long time back, when I still possessed my youthful strength. But I solved your problems only when necessary. More than that, I guided you to the right way. In the process, my guidance also opened my mind to the dark side of the Asurian moon.

  “Which is why, during the Asurian and ‘Devaas’ main conflict, I did not provide the Asurians with the potion of strength, which they called nectar of immortality, but gave it to the ‘Devas’.”

  “I admire your efforts to conserve our race, but your actions must have been treasonous in Asr-Gawa!” Ram was captured in a moment of respectful awe.

  “Invariably!” laughed the old man and spread out his arms “Look! I engendered an anti-government organisation to keep myself out of prison! I wouldn’t have gone to prison anyways. Odin is my brother. He wouldn’t let that happen, but I would have been rendered useless to this movement,” the smile disappeared behind a somber cloud. “But Odin is and always will be smarter than anyone. Greed for knowledge is not a bad thing we say, but not for Odin. My brother managed to get the secret of the nectar, probably by licking off a few drops from someone else’s vessel,” he scorned. “His hands are already slick with Asurian blood. I hope his greed doesn’t compel him to do something even more unpardonable than short circuiting his own optic nerve to score over others,” his voice trailed away.

  “So you’re coming again?” Ram asked again, his curiosity preventing him from noticing Alvis-nu’s sadness.

  “To Mandagaar?”

  “Yes.”

  “Probably not. I think Mandaas can handle themselves quite well now.”

  “But... it’s prophesied! You are to return as the avatar Kalki!” Ram asked a little testily.

  “So it may be. Do you think I can fend away evil with this wasting body while the evil of our lives grasp me from within: death?”

  “Perhaps in another way then?” Ram kept trying.

  “Perhaps. This is the beauty of prophesies! We do not know

  how we will reach the predicted moment in future... but it will!” He guffawed hysterically in a husky voice.

  “What about your abode, Vaikunth? What about the other Gods of the trinity?” Ram’s questions kept coming as volleys.

  “Ram, the stories from thousands of years have morphed in your world. I visited the world in times of simplicity, when men and women were satisfied with meeting someone who helped them and though they considered me as a God, they were neither afraid of me, nor did they kill in my name. The concept of God extended to every natural event or item beyond their control and they were happy building stories around. I was alone and had to create a whole story to at least remain safe.”

  “You mean to say that alone you made stories which gave rise to the myths of literally millions of Gods in Hindu mythology?”

  “Well, approximately yes. I did have some help though from Mandaa itself through locals who worked very hard and valiantly to ensure order and law into society. Many of them were revered as Gods.”

  “How does Lok Vve work?”

  “That will be difficult to explain as it is like the human body! There are so many paths, lines of control, intricate systems and components that it could be a subject to study about! But on the most fundamental level, it is an institution that seeks to bring about a much-needed change. It all began with me. As I had not acted in the interests of the council on many instances, my brother decided to implant the lattice inside my head too, to keep me in control. Every time I had perverse and seditious thoughts, electric shocks would bend me in the right way, but steel can bend only so much. I contrived a device that allowed me to extract my lattice through a process very much like osmosis. Secretly, free from the oppression, I started building. Whenever I managed to recruit someone and free him from his lattice, he reported a certain... open-mindedness. Not from the repressive regime but as if his doors to divinity of nature had opened. There was a surge in scientific aptitude and the effects of the Pandemic wore off! This was a breakthrough! I soon realised that the largest concentration of diminutive lives that caused the Pandemic were tangled within the mesh of the lattice. Removing the lattice removed the barrier, greatly reducing the stagnancy in scientific intelligence! This was an added incentive for people to join my cause and get enlightened after a long, long time. With the newfound brilliance and growing numbers, we strategically infiltrated every government office and ran many operations that foiled the government’s actions. Lok Vve sympathisers abound, sitting in most of the high chairs in in this nation. For them we replaced the mesh with a neutral one which felt like the same to the sensors, but did not have the power to control. Consider your aunt, Nanna. She holds one of the most important positions in this nation, and yet, she is one of us because she knows what is good shall be preserved,” he said, glancing at her approvingly. “We are still building and will reach our goal only when my brother and oth
er elders are toppled for good,” he clenched his fists, sounding extremely stern and resolute.

  “I still do not see the connection between your organisation and the Scandinavian god of mischief – Loki,” Ram rubbed his cheeks and grumbled.

  “Once the institution had been conceived, I attempted to travel back to the age of the Vikings, our most conspicuous window to your world, and admit them to my institution. They were a very strong race and would have been very helpful for us. Alas, my efforts did not reap the fruits that I had wanted. Instead, the primitive Vikings viewed us as the masters of mischief, you know, spoiling the council’s actions and trying to tactfully topple the regime. So my institution’s name Lok Vve, which was very close to ‘Lek Ve’ in their tongue meaning ‘playful woe’ or suffering, turned to Loki, the Scandinavian trickster in their folklore,” the man smiled gingerly.

  “Unlike all the deities that I have discovered so far, Loki was really not a man but a the mispronounced name of a concept, an institution! Wow! I did not see that coming,” Ram looked like a philosopher who had uncovered the deepest metaphysical mystery in human existence. “What next?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Am I in?”

  “Ah! You will not be an official member of Lok Vve, but I think you are with us,” the man’s eyes scrutinised Ram’s face and almost piercing into the privacy of his brain. “We will give you quarters and food. You are our guest and free to roam around our territory. We shall get to know each other better in due time.”

  Ram agreed with that, except that he felt that the man already knew everything about him.

  Kapittel 62

  Alexandria, Egypt

  Under the Lighthouse

  March 16, 2017, Thursday, 1010 hours EET

  A soldier dropped dead right next to General Kiyoshi. The general lay low amidst a circle of soldiers who were firing away at the hoards of Jargantaans. Just by watching their fellow comrades die gruesome deaths, the handful of soldiers who were still alive winced when they looked any alien in his eye. Kiyoshi kept shouting in Japanese, “Kill them all! We cannot lose! Never be afraid of death!” But inside, he knew what the outcome of this ambush would be like. The general looked around frantically, trying to find some hope of victory; a light that might lead them to a better and safer end. He remembered his days in Imperial Japan when their might was unparalleled. His squads used to walk through villages in coastal China and numerous islands in the Pacific, like lions. Defeat was something quite other-worldly. But even if victory isn’t in sight, a Japanese dies honorably. Kiyoshi felt great pride in dying for his beloved nation, even if it meant failing to save the world.

  “Aarrghh!” a Japanese trooper screamed before his vocal chords were torn open by an alien with a blade that looked colder than space itself, leaving a trail of frozen gas behind it.

  Screams of pain followed, all of them from soldiers who were fighting under him. Kiyoshi couldn’t stand this macabre sight for he knew that if he kept this battle on, he would die a similar death.

  “WAIT! WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER!” Kiyoshi yelled, waving his hands wildly. Having shrunken with age, nobody could see him outside the circle of soldiers. Once the troopers saw him, they couldn’t believe they were seeing Kiyoshi-san screaming for mercy.

  “WE SURRENDER!” he screamed as the circle parted a little so that the aliens could see him. Kiyoshi knelt down on the ground like a man in prayer. The aliens who were holding some soldiers cut them open and threw them away before standing still.

  For a moment, everything was submerged in tense stillness. Nobody moved a muscle, like men held before a gun duel.

  Suddenly, a sound of crunching glass pierced through Kiyoshi’s ears. Slowly, the aliens moved aside, drawing a path for a man who looked very much like them – milky white skin, translucent grey eyes and a bald head. Yet, his dark metallic robe, with some blue peeking out of folds, hugged his body and his solid stone spaulders and vambraces that were strapped tightly on his sinewy arms, setting him apart from the rest of the aliens. He walked steadily with a menacing calm, commanding respect from every alien around him: a reflection of Kiyoshi in dark waters.

  The man stopped some distance away from Kiyoshi who was hauled up from the floor by some soldiers. As the alien started speaking a button-like device set into the centre of his robe glowed red.

  “Let me ask you a question, sir.” The chief of the aliens spoke up with a voice that seemed synthesised from a recorder as he was unexpectedly speaking Japanese. “How did you ever think of defeating us? Either you have a disturbed frame of mind or your mind simply overflows with useless courage, for a person never attacks his enemy before knowing his enemy,” the man smirked.

  Kiyoshi steeled himself for some potential humiliation. “We know all about your operations, your plans, technology and....”

  “And yet you lose?” The alien grinned with amusement. “By the way, my name is Migdur. I am... you must know who I am and whom I work for, mustn’t you?”

  “We know that you are transporting massive quantities of sand and silica from our planet to yours for the production of Makto. We came in by force but find it right to settle this matter in diplomacy.”

  “Is it a Mandaa custom to beat up a person before beginning to talk properly? Anyways, if you would have known our operation inside-out, you would’ve known how badly you would be crushed by our numbers,” the man spread out his arms to the vast number of aliens around him, all battle ready.

  “Do not underestimate us Migdur-san. We have intelligence on all your transportation locations. As long as we live, we will never allow you to lead our planet into the path of destruction! How selfish can you be? The so called gods and demons who shaped our very own existence decide to finish our existence?” Kiyoshi argued, in a state of suppressed rage.

  “It’s all because of survival, Kiyoshi. We are compelled to do what we are doing. Otherwise, we have a dark future. Jargantaa has Makto, but it is not enough. In order to live, we must sacrifice something of lesser importace! Asr-Gawa needs it much more and would pay handsomely.”

  “Thus, you condemn us to this nasty death! This is how low you can fall in honour and stature. Think about your ruthless actions and reconsider. We can stop this bickering and fighting, Migdur-san. Shut down this transportation and aid us in our endeavour towards total domination. In return, you will get what you want. You are not the only ones now who can synthesise Makto.”

  That last statement managed to strike a nail. “I see you have been planning meticulously about your supremacy... but we cannot give you what you want, nor can you give us what we want! It is not only about Makto. It is all about being the boss. There can only be one leader, and it cannot be you or the Asurians.”

  “Here, we benefit mutually. Help us in defeating the Asurians and....”

  “I am sorry. Did I just hear you say that?” The pale man smirked. “You cannot beat us and you want to defeat the Asurians? I must say, as naïve as you Mandaas are, you harbour great ambitions!” “With your help, we can achieve this. Then, once we have attained enough power, we will be able to take over this planet and work in coordination with you people as well.” Kiyoshi faltered just a wee bit, stopping himself just in time from saying ‘please’. He had never begged before and had no plans to do so in the future.

  Migdur stood with a brooding face for some time before speaking. “I am afraid, we shall not be able to hold any such alliance. We have employed brutal strength once in history and learnt that victory with just force does not live long. Our plan towards a second Jargantaan supremacy involves a more diplomatic route. Yet, your diplomacy hasn’t worked out. We would get nowhere if we partnered with you, I apologise for saying so, puny Mandaas.”

  A moment of silence pervaded the tense environment.

  “Now that the talks are over, we must arrive at the end,” Migdur said with a sinister note in his voice. He paused before saying, “Look, I admire your efforts to get hold of such a well- g
uarded secret as us, but we cannot let you live. Last week, a poor Mandaa man, probably seeking refuge from the war going on upstairs, stumbled upon one of our entrances,” Migdur walked slowly towards Kiyoshi with his arms behind his back, until he was a few steps away from him. “Do you know what we did with him? One of my men cut his tongue out while another gouged out his eyes. With two of his five senses gone, two more of my men personally escorted him to his house,” his eyebrows raised in a sympathetic and humble manner. In the next instant, his face morphed into something even more vile than before. “We didn’t want him to die in the gunfire. No, no. We wanted him to serve as example to anyone who would dare coming into our territory.”

  Kiyoshi was speechless, betrayed by his voice. He retorted only after clearing his parched throat. “We can sort this out peacefully.”

  “Peace is a deceiving idea. It never exists. When it does, it only forms a thin coating on the outside of a body of chaos. No my friend. We’d have to get rid of you. No one should know that we are here.”

  “And these are your orders. You are in charge here?” Kiyoshi tried to continue the conversation vainly.

  “I am but a piece in this operation. But we have a protocol to follow. Are your wrists feeling fine?” Migdur asked.

  The Japanese general didn’t know what to say. Instinctively, he rotated his old wrists.

  “Ah! They seem to be very healthy!” He turned to the aliens and motioned towards dozen Japanese soldiers. Suddenly, volleys of icy white spheres mowed down more than half of the dozen soldiers left until Hikaru, Kiyoshi, the Technician, Vivek and Lifana, who had been quietly snuggled in between the ranks of the soldiers, were all exposed. The seven odd soldiers who were left stood with their guns trained at the aliens, except that their fingers quivered too much for the trigger. A dripping sound came from the pants of one of the soldiers, frozen like a carved statue. Everything had happened in the matter of a few seconds.