I would say I hated days like this, but of late I had come to hate my days in general. The overseer of our yard was keeping a close eye on all of us as we shaped clay into bricks. He had his hand on the little riding crop he used to “Give us incentive” to work. 

His eye took an appreciative look of my mother as she kneeled and formed more bricks. His eyes drifting along her body not bothering to hide his lecherous gaze. I shuddered at his intent. 

“Aakesh” my father whispered. “Keep your eyes on your work.” A few days ago I had been caught taking a moment for a deep breath. And the over seer had pulled me up and beat me across my buttocks till I screamed for stealing money from my betters with my laziness. 

I moved my eyes back down at my fathers words. And refocused my work. 

It hadn’t always been like this. A few short months ago we’d been living in Mumbai. Far from rich but My father was doing well as a computer technician and my mother kept a tidy home for us. 

It had been on a trip to visit family outside of the city when things went wrong. 

Riding the train to our destination we were surprised to see the train stop far from any destination. Our surprise turned to fear when they men came on board holding rifles and machetes. 

They ushered us out of our cars and loaded us into trucks. All the while my Mother and Father looked scared but did their best to keep me from any harm as the armed men stopped the vehicle and pushed us all out. 

More trucks waited, and money changed hands as we were led to them. And like that, we were slaves. 

Of course some objected but the first ones were gunned down on the spot, one man shot through the gut, and left to die slowly. His cries and moans reminding us all of the fate of those who disobeyed. 

And now. We who had once been free people building lives together were simple slaves, whose only roll was to make bricks. And…

I saw the overseer, a man who name I did not know but had simply named. “Filth” In my mind. He was a large overweight man with dark curly hair and a perpetual sneer. Every night he would grab one of the women and drag her back to his hut. 

And then we would try to sleep over the screams and cries. 

A lizard sli by me, and I grabbed it quickly and snapped it’s neck. Food was in short supply so we made do with whatever we could make work after we returned to our sleeping huts. I tucked it into my pocket and took a deep brath. 

For what felt like the thousandth time this day I shaped a brick, each one formed with a prayer for escape and revenge. Feeling the need to scream again and again until my lungs burst, my soul screaming for any sort of justice for us all. 

Which is when I saw it happen. The ground behind the overseer began to bubble and rise behind him. The gray earth rising and forming silently. Then becoming the form of a man. 

He was tall and powerfully built. His long dark hair so perfectly kept as his eyes swept the courtyard and took in the whole scene. The overseer and our hard brutal work. His mouth formed a scowl and I could see muscles tense like cables in his arms. 

My eyes were glued to him. Unable to move. The overseer saw me and began to walk over. “What is the matter child, is work too good for y…”

Which is far as he got, he pulled out his crop and took half a step forward. When the man behind him simply grabbed him by the back of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. Turning him violently his fist came forward and smashed the overseer in the stomach so hard I would not have been surprised to see it exit his back. 

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Sadly for the overseer, and in the end fortunate for us he was simply broken but not killed by the blow. The man looked the over seer in the eyes and help him as if he was reading his soul. 

“My children!” The man said in a deep voice that shook us all with it’s power. “You have been victims of terrible abuse by this man and his associates. I give him to you to be punished in accordance with his crimes.”

He pitched the man into the center of us like a bowler in a game cricket. His body landed awkwardly on a pile of bricks and he moaned as we all looked him over. At first we all felt fear as we wondered if it was some sort of trap. 

“Visit upon him the evil he has done to you.” The man said. 

Which was in the end all we needed to hear. And we surged forward, in that moment every beating, every intrusion, and violation every insult was handed back to him again and again. Beaten with his own crop smashed again and again with bricks. 

In the space of moments the so called man I knew as filth was less of a human being and more of a pile of beaten and exposed muscle. Blood flowed from the wounds he suffered his skin now torn and ripped, stripped in spots. He bled from his mouth and his legs were bent in ways no one should be. 

Except for the ones who had called pain back on themselves. 

The man looked at us with eyes full of pride. “Today, all of you are my children. Free in the eyes of man and Gods. Reclaim your lives, live to the fullest, and be ready to join me as I strike at the evils of this world.” 

His voice was like a warm rolling thunder sweeping over us all. It filled us with a terrible strength. Like a part of our souls had been unlocked by the mere power of his voice. His eyes swept the collection of newly free people, then settled on me.

“Come forward child, let me speak with you.” 

I paused a moment, in fear wondering if in that moment I was trading one master for another. Then stepped forward, even if I was about to be taken again at least this master had given us a chance to visit our revenge on Filth. 

Standing before him he looked me over curiously. “Tell me your name.” He said once he was done looking. 

“I am Aakesh.” I said 

“Named after a God of the sky. Have you ever wished to fly child?”

I blinked if I were expecting something, this was not. “Who would not wish to fly? May I ask..” 

“Ask any question. I shall answer.” 

“What is your name?”

He grinned. “My true name is my own as is yours. But I do know the true name of Dharmaraja. But you may call me Dharma.” 

My eyes went wide at the name of the final judge of all. “Thank you.” 

“Do you wish to fly child?”

I gave it a long hard thought, and then nodded. He raised his hand and settled it on my head. Then he let out a long breath. As he did I could feel a warmth spread through me. “You are born to take your place among the Gods little one, soon you will see me again, but for now there are other evil men here, and they must meet their fate.” 

He walked off toward the next compound as I walked back to my father who was standing slack jawed as I approached. “AaKesh?” He asked. 

“Father I feel…” The world faded away and I saw the ground rise up to meet me. 

I woke in a hospital bed a few days later. My Mother cried as I woke and held me tight. The next day I showed my first sign of having powers. I stepped off of the curb walking hoe and kept walking on air. 

My mother nearly fainted in the street. 

A few hours later the Doctors looked me over again and pronounced me one of the new breed of Human called The Touched. 

When we left the hospital with the card for a man in the countries Army in my fathers pocket for me HE was waiting for me. 

“You can fly now child.” 

“I can.” I answered simply letting the simple news of my extraordinary power be explained in two words. 

HE nodded to my parents. “Your child is exceptional, and you should be proud. With your permission can I show him the keys to using his abilities.” 

Mother and Father looked at each other nervously. Then with no words simply nodded. 

“You have my word I will return him soon.” He set his arm on my shoulder. “Join me Aarkesh. Together we will bring justice to our world.”

And thus did my true life begin in that moment.