Chapter 18

“Finally, you woke up!”

As Dhruv slowly opened his eyes, the soft morning light filtered in through the window, illuminating the room. Alia sat beside him, her warm smile brightening the atmosphere. She was busy cutting a few apples, their fresh scent filling the air as she meticulously arranged the slices on a plate. Dhruv couldn’t help but return her smile, feeling a wave of warmth wash over him at the sight of his childhood friend. However, his moment of happiness was short-lived as a sudden realisation hit him, freezing his expression into a mask of confusion and concern.

"What are you doing here, and where's Tara?" he asked, his voice slightly shaky. Panic surged through him at the thought of the events that might have unfolded while he was unaware.

Alia shot him a pointed glance, her eyes narrowing slightly. “It seems you’ve grown rather attached to her during this trip. You completely forget about me, yet the moment you wake up, your first thought is of Tara. You haven’t even asked how you are doing or where you are now.”

A vivid flash of memories rushed through his mind, the chaotic scene of the bus that had been the backdrop to their recent adventures replaying in his thoughts. The unsettling feeling in his throat made it hard to speak. “No... it’s not like that with Tara. What! I’m really sorry, I mean Alia. What’s wrong with me?”

“Ah! You kissed me on the bus. I remember now,” Tara’s voice chimed in from the other side of the bed, casually munching on one of Dhruv’s apple slices as if she hadn’t just dropped a bombshell.

Dhruv’s heart sank like a stone in water, the weight of her words crashing down on him. It felt as though he had been given a life sentence for a crime he didn’t even commit. He turned his head slowly to face Tara, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Hey, you’re here. Why didn’t you say anything earlier? And what do you mean by kissed? Nothing like that happened!” The urgency in his voice heightened as he whipped his head back towards Alia, whose expression remained unreadable. Desperation clawed at him as he continued, “I swear, there was definitely nothing of the sort. We were just inches away; we haven’t done anything.”

“Nice one, dude!” Tara interjected with a teasing lilt in her voice, clearly enjoying the circus of emotions playing out before her.

“I believe you,” Alia said, her tone laced with irritation, making it evident that she wasn’t entirely convinced by his frantic denials.

“Come on, can’t you even pretend to be jealous?” Tara chimed in, her eyebrows raised in playful disbelief.

Dhruv felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as he absorbed Alia’s exasperated response. He realised that he had probably made the whole situation even worse with his panicked attempts to defend himself. ‘I definitely made the case even worse, didn’t I?’ he thought, silently lamenting his apparent inability to navigate this tangled web of emotions and misunderstandings.

He sat on his bed with difficulty and gazed at Tara.

"Don't look at me, it's all you."

“How long was I unconscious?” Dhruv asked.

“It's quite complicated but to sum it up, two weeks.” Tara responded.

“Two weeks!” Dhruv was dumbfounded by what he heard. "There is a limit to joking around, don't you think?"

“Yeah! But in this case, no. You will be amazed at this new revelation. You should call your ‘Mind Clone’ back.” Tara spoke seriously.

Dhruv's eyes widened in disbelief and he whispered, “Are you nuts, why did you say that in front of Alia?”

“You don't have to be secretive, I already know about everything.” Alia admitted from his back.

Dhruv turned back to look at Alia then to Tara who nodded her head in agreement. He let out a sigh of relief and thought, ‘I guess many things have changed in the last two weeks.’ He closed his eyes and observed his consciousness. A vast amount of neurons have been dead or damaged. ‘I guess this is the side effect of two ‘Mind Clone’s’ being damaged. Should I ask Tara? No, wait, how much does Alia know?’

He opened his eyes and asked Alia, “What do you mean by everything?”

“You can use some kind of superpower and all the stuff you did in Patna.”

Dhruv asked in confusion, “Were you there? And how long have you known about this?”

“Not me personally but one of your father's friends was there to keep an eye on you, and protect you if needed.” Alia stated honestly, and looked at Dhruv's reaction. Seeing no change in his face she continued, “We as a collective are four people, we have already known about you from your father, due to a revelation.” She confessed and thought, ‘He is a perceptive and cautious one, I guess it's time to tell him the truth. Let's hear it, what's your question then?’

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‘Hmm, keep an eye on me? and father is also somehow entangled with them. I definitely sense some mind boggling conspiracy behind it because I haven't found my father's soul. But let's put this issue for later. First let me call back my ‘Mind Clone' and see what happened in the last two weeks. I don't think they will bail out as they were ‘protecting’ me.’ Dhruv thought internally and closed his eyes to connect his senses with his clone.

Somehow it took longer than expected. As the connection was established, he saw the burning cars on the street, smashed down walls of houses and the military tanks entering a facility. ‘What in the world is going on? I'm in Chennai, great. In one week asteroids are going to fall here and I'm chilling in the hospital unconscious.’ He used a red bead in his Receptor and as a reflex of any common activity from a body, the ‘Mind Clone’ came out of the Sniper’s body and went to the sky moving towards Dhruv.

Seeing a purple star on Dhruv's hand and not responding to her, Alia lost patience, as she was contemplating on how to explain the situation to Dhruv for days. “Are you really not in the least bit curious about your father?”

“I am and I will get to that but before that let me take a step back and fill up what happened in the last two weeks. I know you have a lot to say and explain, similarly I'm also the same.” Dhruv proclaimed and turned his head towards Tara and spoke.

“Thankyou for keeping your word and protecting my unconscious body.”

“No worries, dude. Get your things sorted out then we'll talk.”

After hearing her say that, he took a few apple pieces, which were cut by Alia and stuffed his mouth and closed his eyes once again.

His clone went inside his subconscious and connected itself to the neurons. In an instant tons of memories flowed in, Dhruv was overwhelmed by these memories as this is his first time doing this. His confusion and irritation was clearly shown on his face.

“Think of the date when you went unconscious and the memories will arrange themselves.” Tara's voice resounded in his ears.

He followed her instructions and sure enough they arranged themselves in a big line in front of him. He touched the first frame of a memory, and his vision changed.

Darkness shrouded his eyes. The sound of the loud blades of the helicopter reached Dhruv's ears. But he could not see anything. Dhruv started thinking, ‘I can hear it but why can't I see? Maybe this clone's eyes are closed at this time’

“So where are we going?” Mia interrupted his thoughts and asked Anbu.

“Where do you think we are going? Don't be afraid, no harm will come to you, we are going to Chennai where our last friend is.” Shambu replied with a smug smile.

“Brother, your mouth is working too much. Is there a reason why? Or do you fancy Rajiv?” Anbu scolded him lightly.

“No, not at all brother Anbu, what are you talking about? Don't take it to heart and tell me what to do with these dead bodies?” Shambu asked in a low voice.

“Use your brain a little, will you ask me everything?”

“You know you two are quite attached together for someone who is Black Soul user.” Mia chimed in seeing both of them bickering.

“You stay calm White Soul, what does that have to do with it?” Shambu shot back.

“Nothing much, I heard that unlike us Black Soul users start fighting each other for profit. But after seeing the brotherhood between you two, I feel that these statements are wrong.” Mia explained.

“Don't fool yourself, if you had said this in front of Rajiv, he would have laughed at you loudly.” Anbu replied and continued, “And Shambu, what are you waiting for, throw these bodies out.”

As soon as Dhruv heard this line of Anbu, he gasped. And he tried to move his arms and legs quickly but nothing happened. Then he realized that he was just a spectator here like watching a movie. His eyes slowly opened Mia's leg came into his vision. ‘What the world am I looking at?’

Anbu threw the body of a soldier and started moving towards the commander. “Either help me or step aside your legs. This cabin is not big enough to move around comfortably.”

After listening to Shambu, Mian looked at him with a slant eye. “Do you have any problem with my legs? You don't need to tell me indirectly, I will help.” Saying this, she held Dhruv by his neck and picked him up.

“Huh! Are the other bodies alive? And you're throwing them from such a height.” Mia shouted in disbelief.

“Now what's the problem with you? Of course nobody is alive.”

“He's alive.” She pointed her index finger towards Dhruv while holding him with the other hand.

Shambhu came forward and touched Dhruv's chest.

“Pervert”

“Don't take this the wrong way, I'm just checking his heartbeat.”

“Yeah! Right. We definitely can't change his pulse through his hand.” Mia teased.

He ignored her and spoke in disbelief, “Brother, he is alive. There is someone who can withstand your skill in this world. Isn't this amazing.”

“Really, then tie him up tightly. I want to experiment with his body thoroughly and comfortably later.” Anbu replied.

“Oh my God, I was wrong. You are a bigger pervert than him.” Mia exclaimed and put both of her palms on mouth. Thud! Dhruv's body fell and he opened his eyes again. “Aww.”

While throwing the commander's body, Shambhu saw something behind them. “Brother we are being followed.”

Everyone looked back together. Anbu confirmed, “Don't worry, it's not a military helicopter, probably it's news.”

“It is good that we have reached Chennai, but if it continues to follow us like this then Rajiv will be exposed. Let's get rid of it first.” Shambu suggested.

After listening to his brother's suggestion, he turned the helicopter and started moving towards the news helicopter. Meanwhile, Mia picked up Dhruv's sniper rifle so that he could not do any harm in this commotion. “Tie him up, if you want to keep him.” She instructed Shambu while pointing towards Dhruv.

Shambu picked up another soldier, took out a knife from his jacket and threw him down. Then using the knife he cut a two meter long rope which was kept under the seat. Then he asked Dhruv to stand up and put his hands back so that I could tie them up. Dhruv silently followed his instructions.

They reached near the news helicopter and Anbu put his hand out of the window. A black 4 came out of his hand and went towards the helicopter. The pilot of the news helicopter reacted in time and pulled back, but the cameraman who was on the side got hit from the black fog and fell down. Looking at this, other members were stunned, the Repoter shouted. “Get us out of here quickly, I think we got the required footage.”

Looking at the departing helicopter, Anbu didn't pursue them and went ahead to land on the ground.

“Do you think they captured my face?” Mia asked cautiously.

“How would I know?”

They landed safely and hijacked a car. Looking outside the window Shambu shouted. “Haha, look at that big screen. You got saved by this fellow for hiding your face while they took pictures.”

Mia looked out, then turned toward the tied up Dhruv. With complicated feelings she spoke, “You killed my partner and you definitely intensely came between me and the camera to hide my face from them.” She turned her head towards Anbu and said, “Hmm, he is definitely not normal.”

“I also think that.” Anbu admitted and with a cold gaze he looked at Dhruv. “Why aren't you talking?”

Dhruv clone didn't speak but Dhruv was screaming inside his subconscious. 'Why aren't you leaving in your soul form? Wait, did he think I was watching through him and took the risk to go ahead with them. Huff! I should just watch quietly from now on, as he was alive when I woke up.'

“Don't want to respond. Let's see how long you can keep quiet when we reach to our destination.” Anbu said with a smug, but those words sent down a chill in Shambu's body as he remembered the experiment process of his brother.