A Journey Into Unknown

by Aditya Kumar

  Trepon said, “Because… in order-to become the savior of universe… you needed to understand the universe first. You had to fight to eradicate people’s suffering… so you needed to understand the real meaning of pain and what pain can do to anyone.” He added after a pause, “You have to become something, that we couldn’t become. You have to start and win from the place where we got defeated.”

  Trepon continued, “And Acouch… he is their part… an unrecoverable part… kill him and it will make them weak… It will make them come out in open and then we will attack on them.”

  “Who is them,” Mark asked.

  Trepon said, “You shouldn’t be asking this question. You need to focus …”

  “Yeah… Yeah… I know… I am not ready yet… I need to focus on Acouch… everyone yet said so,” Mark told.

  Trepon said, “Listen… everything should go in order. You just tried to go out of order… and saw what happened… you almost died.”

  Mark asked, “Yeah… you are right… wait a minute… how did you know that I am in danger?”

  “Xeuca told me,” Trepon said and saw Mark’s eye getting wider and wider due to this sentence.

  “How do you know her… wait a minute… she also knows you… how… Can you come to war with us…” Mark was stammering.

  “Like Xena, Xeuca and even your mother… we all have our secrets… and hidden paths… and our terror from which we are running… and we can’t disclose any of those things to you right now,” Trepon said.

  “So… you are the only reason that I am gifted with these extra ordinary powers,” Mark asked.

  Trepon replied, “No, you were born like anyone else who are the inhabitant of Earth… you got these powers in the night just before your 18th birthday… but being my son, you got strength to hold these powers… but you should understand you are not here to know or understand about those hidden things…”

  “Yeah… I understand… So, let’s come to the point… they say Acouch is immortal… how will I able to kill him,” Mark asked.

  Trepon replied, “No… Acouch is not immortal… As far as I know no one is… that’s why ‘They’ made death shield and gave to Acouch which was passed to Quaiak. Acouch himself spread a rumour to create a fear in people’s heart… and to make everyone follow him.”

  “And I am not allowed to ask question that who is ‘They’,” Mark asked.

  “No… you are not,” Trepon replied.

  Mark asked, “But… Acouch is too much powerful. How will I be able to defeat and kill him.”

  Trepon replied, “You will have to figure out this by yourself. But, I know you… son. I know that you will not give up. Acouch will even try to distract you and will even try to enter in your mind… but you don’t need to believe him… Just believe in yourself and your success will be certain… I trust you, son.”

  Brightness shined in Mark’s eye when Trepon said him ‘son’ like he wanted to hear this word from billions of years.

  Trepon continued, “But, now I have to go if I don’t want to end up like Xena,” and then he disappeared sending Mark to Xeuca, Queon and other Quiak… in Xanser where they were waiting to him.

  ◆◆◆

  CHAPTER 15

  The Final Battl

  e

  Mark returned on Xanser, but with a lesson. Now, he knows that his curiosity to know everything and unravelling all the mysteries is not the solution of everything. In recent times, he showed that he is very much powerful… but he was going over confident and much more aggressive. But now he understands that he needs to keep patience and fight with one problem at a time. His father saved him from going into the mouth of death… but he doesn’t know how his father saved him, and he doesn’t want to know right now.

  He thanked Xeuca, “I will really be thankful to you… not only for saving my life… but also for giving me opportunity to meet my father.”

  “I hadn’t any other way. I knew that you will need help after what you did. I didn’t want that you should be killed for your stubborn nature.”

  Mark asked, “So… are we ready now… to go against Acouch…”

  Xeuca said, “Are you… I mean… you just won a race from death… I mean are you okay to go into this war right now in this condition?”

  “Yeah… I am,” then Mark called Queon.

  "So, where we can find them and how to defeat him," Mark asked Queon.

  Queon replied, "I thought that you can defeat him, but the power I saw of yours isn't enough to defeat him. First, you need to know more about him. Acouch is immortal. Some of our secret mission was also trying to kill him. We failed, and he must be trying to know the one who attempted that. And if, we will take the attempt to kill him from his front… we can't take this kind of chance. Just one miss and you can't imagine where you will be and in which condition. He is the one who gave death shield and time slower to us, which they call time pool."

  Mark remembered Xena's word when Xena said that he is someone else, different from everyone and he is even made for something bigger than what he thinks… and then his father’s word echoed in his ear, ‘Acouch is not immortal. He is just much more powerful… but you can defeat him… you just need to believe in yourself… you need to do something else, that we all couldn’t do… You don’t need to feel inferior… you are strong, more than anyone else…’

  Then, Mark told confidently, "I am ready for him and you all should be. This is the time which will be remembered forever. This is the time when we will start the real peace… and not the peace by death." Now, Mark just need to make Acouch come here because he can't defeat Acouch in their universe… moreover there wasn’t any way Mark had to go in the universe where Acouch is right now. Queon said, "Acouch will come again only if he would believe that we have made all the planet suffer and this universe is ready to be taken by him. Then he will kill everyone including me and then this universe will be his forever."

  Queon also warned Mark that calling Acouch with a lie is too much risky. Queon told Mark, "if Acouch would understand the lie, you can't even imagine what he can do." But Mark told that we all could defeat him together. And then all they did the same as they had thought. Everything went according to plan except that when Acouch reached, he was alone but looked like millions of warriors. He was angry. Perhaps, he had understood that they lied. When he came in this way, everybody got frightened.

  He came without any problem destroying everyone… destroying everything that came in his path. The burning rage of fire in his eye… and the real fire coming out from his whole body… what anyone could have done against him. Mark felt at first like he has made a terrible mistake by applying this plan. 'But I have to go in his path to fight him. It doesn't matter if today, I live or die but the thing that will matter is that Acouch should die today,' Mark thought. Mark came in his way. Both emitted fire on each other, but Mark wasn't any match for him. He threw Mark away terribly.

  Then Acouch came to Mark and said, "You are the one who executed all the plan against me. Do you even know me? Do you know what I can do? You all have no any weapon that could harm me in any way. You all are here to suffer. But, I heard something else about you too. I restricted love here, but you fall in love and today… for your love… your love Emily will be punished."

  "No... No... you can't do this. If you kill her, you can't imagine what I will do with you," Mark shouted in agony.

  "You know I don't kill anyone who is fresh and not suffered yet. Can you see that," he told Mark indicating a machine, "We tell this, time pool. We basically use this to slow the time. But here you can also live single moment of your life for eternity. Your life will be endless, but you will have the same mental and physical condition infinite number of times. Now, I will make her suffer and send her into time pool," Acouch told laughing.

  "No...., you can't do that. Please, don't do this. I will take everyone back… I will surrender, and this war will be over right now," Mark literally begged.

  "Perhaps
you are too late to make any kind of deal. You should have thought through this earlier," Acouch laughed.

  "Listen to me… watch towards me," Mark told Emily. "You will be alright… I am here… I will not let anyone to do anything to you… Just watch towards me… just do it… no one will do anything to you."

  But that word was of no importance… she was frightened.

  "And here comes the fun." And Acouch threw Emily towards the time pool.

  Mark screamed. That one moment felt like eternity to him and perhaps love realized him of something more. It awakened his senses to save his love. He had promised to protect her, and he must have to do this now. And then something happened in that one millionth of a moment which also shocked Acouch. Something mysterious came out of Mark, he doesn't know what, but this time he can't ignore the power of love. Even before, Acouch could even hurt Emily, something miraculous happened and she was somewhere else... beyond the sight of everyone but safe and maybe happy. Mark recalled the moment when Xena had said that he learnt something new. Today Mark understood that this is love, about which he was talking. He learnt what love is, and how beautiful this world can become if love will spread everywhere. Only love among people can save the universe and can make everyone happy.

  "What did you do… What did you do," Acouch asked in desperation.

  "I saved her," Mark replied in calm tone.

  "I saw something… What was that," Acouch couldn't able to believe the thing that has just happened.

  "There is so many things about me that you don't know. Actually, you can't know. You can't understand," Mark told calmly.

  "But you can't meet her again ever. May be, she would be safe, but you can't ever find her," Acouch still didn't understand, what just happened.

  "No, you are wrong. She is safe and I will find her, one day… she would be with me," Mark told in confidence.

  "You can't ever find her because you can't survive this fight. You don't know me. I am immortal and lived billions of years, but you are not. You are just like everyone else. I will kill you right now. I will have to change my way of not killing anyone fresh, but you are supposed to die with immense pain and I will definitely provide you that," Acouch told in angry voice.

  "You are welcome to try," Mark replied with calm voice, "I told you that you don't know me at all. You may know my history. But that's not real me. Well, how can you know me if even I don't know me."

  Acouch reacted like falling from sky. He started smiling. He told, "You are real.... You were real... All this time, everyone considered this as a myth, but I believed in you. Everyone made my fun, saying I got mad when I tried to prove your existence. My proof wasn't complete, but I always believed your existence. But I never thought that I will have to fight you. So, all the consequences are real."

  "What are you talking about? Do you know me? Who I was," Mark asked.

  "My research was never about you, but it was about all the consequences that everyone will have to face because of your existence. You thought me as a master of evil. But I am not. If you are real, then someone else is real too. I was right about everything all this time. Now, I just need to prepare for his arrival," Acouch couldn't believe his success of finding Mark, whose past self, he knew from a long time ago.

  "Whose arrival and what are you talking about," Mark asked desperately.

  "I always knew I am not alone. Someone is there. They also might be watching me. Now, I just need to wait to see their arrival. When everything will be destroyed, then you will be here alone regretting that you lived… because you will be… your existence will be the reason of everybody’s destruction," Acouch told in excited voice.

  Mark recalled his father’s voice when he said that Acouch will even try to distract you.

  "No, you can't. Because you will not survive until then," Mark told.

  "May be, you were too much powerful, but you have not yet realized your true power and goal. You can't kill me… Not now… not ever. Did you forget that we are in the Xanser where no one can kill any one… where everyone is immortal. You may hurt me, but you know I heals much faster than what you can imagine," Acouch told.

  "Didn't you see what I just did. And do you still think I cannot destroy this death shield," And then Mark saw a nearby planet, took its all energy converting the planet into ashes. He contained the energy and with full force, he directed it towards death shield. In a moment, an unbelievable amount of flashes was seen, and death shield isn't there anymore providing everyone to choose their freedom to choose death. Maybe it was for getting death, but it was a victory of life. Mark asked, "Do you have anything more to say."

  "Don't you think that by destroying death shield, you made yourself more vulnerable to death," A scarier laugh from Acouch showing that he already won, "Because, I am immortal."

  "I don't care what you are... since when you existed and what you can do… this is none of my business. I always fought for truth and this is it. Today, I have one more chance to make contribution for life," Mark is confident and perhaps he will make his way.

  And the war started. This is the war which might haven't seen in millions of years. Fortunately, war is happening in Xanser where there is very few livings and all the prisoners of Quaiak were taken to a safe place. It is the cluster of planets, millions of planets. Anybody can lose their way easily here. But both of them perhaps got irritated with the huge number of planet and this is time to reduce their number. Yeah... They are kind of playing with those planets. On one side, Mark has ability to convert anything into energy and on the other side, this is Acouch… a terror which says himself an immortal.

  This can be definitely said that very few have seen this kind of war. Mark is emerging, he is evolving into something new. He needs to understand his purpose and perhaps, he started to run on that path. It is the time for him to step up in between. There is very high amount of sound producing in every moment and it feels like even the sound is travelling through space. The lightning, it is producing is unable to explain. And there, both are standing against each-other. The fight is going on between life and terror.

  Mark has always believed that he can make his dream real, a dream to make everything better. A dream, and now he has chance to make it real. But there is Acouch, who is never defeated. He got the bad time, because of Tecton and left this universe and made his own way, where he was sleeping for more than 3 billion years. But he is awake now and he wants to get everything that he should have gotten billions of years ago, when he couldn't fulfil his dream. But one had to win. Mark, a young, but confident and committed towards life wants to make everything better and he is not disappointing anyone. Acouch has no solution to those quicker attacks.

  "I am immortal. I have lived here for more than 5 billion years. I am the reason that Tecton couldn't able to do what he is supposed to. Yes, Tecton... That's you... The past you... Who sacrificed himself to make a better future... he did something, but you... you will die for nothing," A victorious confidence is in Acouch's eye can easily be seen.

  "What you did to him," Mark asked in furious way.

  And this was his plan when he is about to get defeated. He is trying to go inside Mark's head. He told, "He was a coward, who ran away and now this is your time."

  And there he failed. Mark doesn't know if he is telling right or wrong, but he has never imagined his past self to be coward. He just believed on his father’s voice. He got furious, but on Acouch, "Do you really think that you can go inside my brain? If yes, then you are right. But I also planned the same thing, to fight with you mentally. You are definitely a strong enemy but only physically. You can't fight with me in brain game," and then his thoughts get captured and so Mark got able to go inside Acouch's mind. Mark just need to figure out how to operate time pool and he didn't have any trouble in finding and this is the start of Acouch's end.

  From next moment onward, Acouch started getting weaker. Mark's brain is responding much faster. But this all isn't sufficient to kill Acouch. This all wa
s just to make him stable at one place so that he can't move. It is difficult for Mark, but he did it however for short moment. Mark was always ready for this. He signaled to Queon and he did what he should have done. In next moment, Acouch was surrounded by circular wormholes, whose start and end are at same place where Acouch was. Queon used the same ability which he was using for transport of ship and the same ability that Acouch has provided to him along with death shield and time pool. Mark pushed Acouch to enter in wormhole.

  All this time, Quaiak was forced to use time pool only to make time slower. Then Acouch himself showed that it can also be used to repeat the time but there are also many other uses of time pool which was still untold and Mark found all this use by going inside Acouch's mind. As soon as Acouch's mind got recovered, he tried to run... tried to run away..., but in vain. He is surrounded by closed wormholes. End-point of wormhole is connected with the start of wormhole in circular way.

  But there is worse to come yet. Mark came to know that time pool can be used to contract the object too. Time pool can reduce the distance between molecules of object, decreasing electrostatic force and increasing strong nuclear force making protons and neutrons to fuse at one place. They got a lot of object there. Xanser is a cluster of planets and today Mark decided to contract them together in very small place. The place was same where Acouch is trapped, and Mark did it. On increasing mass in very small place, its density started to increase, and the time came when its density went far beyond expected. At this time Mark, also crushed the nearby Neutron star using time pool, and hence crushing all those into black hole.

  But, Acouch wasn’t that much static as they thought… he came out of wormhole trap. Queon saw this and said, “Acouch need to be at center of black hole, otherwise he will outrun the gravity. I will have to make him stay there manually.”