For nine months, he was bundled beneath layers of flesh in a crazily busy environment. The systems were working 24/7 to deliver on their 9 months contract, which involved building an intellectual being from scratch.
As expected, the project was completed in record 40 weeks as per the laid down guidelines. There’s only one word to describe the final product–meticulous. The ovum had been transformed into head, limbs, eyes, ears, nose, heart, liver, kidney, brain, blood vessels, skeleton, spinal cord, etc. all working together in coordination earning the title ‘human being’.
On the morning of 22nd April 1992 at Meridian Hospital, the tiny wonder was safely delivered to meet a not so enthusiastic family. His progenitors were strangely indifferent about the whole issue. There is no worse fate than being condemned to an uncaring family.
So the little Prince (as they ironically named him) was introduced to a world of dejection. Luck was not on his side. And as he grew from an infant to a toddler, fate overpowered him. He was too young to uphold or dictate his destiny.
November 1995, Badilaka Village
Prince and his parents lived in a small village called Badilaka in Fosake Island. Their immediate neighbor was an unmarried research scientist who kept to himself. There was a rumor doing the rounds that his friends had inducted him into a secret movement whose activities were questionable. Because of his aloofness and mysterious life, neighbors had nicknamed him Crazy Explorer.
One Saturday afternoon, as Crazy Explorer was returning home from a work-related meeting, he found the 3-year-old Prince playing near his gate. Instinctively, he welcomed the boy into his home and served him snacks.
As Prince scarfed down the cocktail of snacks, Crazy Explorer remembered his conversation with the sect leader the previous week. Apparently, he was supposed to upgrade his membership status by dedicating a young child to their master. Who could be a better target than the dejected boy whose parents seemed to care less about? What took me so long to spot this easy prey? he wondered as he poured Prince a glass of the fresh mango juice he had just prepared.
In boyish vigor, Prince cleared his bowl of snacks and swigged the juice in three gulps. He thanked his host and went back to play, beaming with pride and satisfaction.
Crazy Explorer sat stiffly on the couch in disbelief, sipping his juice absentmindedly. Things were shaping up fast; it was hard to believe his wild dream would soon become a reality. It took him a while for the new development to sink in his smart but wicked mind.
Dedicating a non-relative was quite risky, and it had already cost many sectarians their lives. But he was daring to take the risk. Somehow, he had confidence that Prince’s parents would not stand in his way. He had heard older members of the sect mention that Prince’s late grandfather was one of the founder members of the movement. Hopefully, he had dumbed them before he passed away as that was a requirement for every member.
Once a person joined the sect, he/she was supposed to make all his family members compliant using scientifically processed drugs, which they added to foodstuffs or water discreetly. The drugs were specially formulated for triggering the release of a chemical that inhibited the optimal performance of certain parts of the brain.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Whoever ingested the drugs would not comprehend, leave alone object the underhanded activities sect members engaged in. Consequently, none of the family members would intervene to help the kin dedicated to the master.
So, one week later, he (Crazy Explorer) gathered all his friends and threw them a seven-day feast (a week-long ceremony was required where one was dedicating a non-relative). He slaughtered an animal each day and prepared other rich delicacies. They feasted merrily, thanking their god for making a way for one of them. All the while, the toddler would sneak in every evening for more snacks.
As the feast climaxed on the seventh day, Prince came for his daily portion of snacks, but this time around, his generous neighbor had an unpleasant surprise for him.
The drugged juice induced the boy to sleep and Crazy Explorer dedicated him to the master (Lucifer) through a ritual, without the knowledge of his parents.
From that moment, Prince’s destiny shifted to Lucifer’s hands, though he still retained the power of choice. However, his life was closely monitored from Lucifer’s headquarters hence his will to act right was perpetually weakened through manipulation of his thoughts.
It was a sad turn of events. Crazy Explorer became respected in his circle for attaining such a huge feat and his fame earned him a pass into the company of the great. Earlier, he was a less known scientist pursuing a crazy idea of gaining access to unmerited possessions. But now he was rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty, having filled the last slot on the who’s who list. On the other hand, dejected Prince had lost grip on his destiny, and his future had turned from neutral to bleak.
Apparently, Prince was not privy to all this, and neither were his parents. They didn’t know they had lost the real Prince. They had no idea their son had been reduced to a mere puppet, whose thoughts and actions were now controlled from Lucifer’s headquarters.
However, his father noted he had become distant and depressed. His vigor and charm had been replaced by hysteric gimmicks here and there. But with time, they shrugged it off as developmental changes, if anything, they didn’t care much.
(15 years later)
Despite the carefree life that his thoughts charted for him, Prince became an unwilling partaker of hellish lifestyle. His convictions, however weak, were still keeping him grounded on the right path. He knew the easy life that was ever so tempting would someday lead to doom; so he steered away from it. However, drifting in and out of hopelessness became the norm, as every milestone he made was followed by twin setbacks. His life was a damned living hell.
What was he supposed to do? Besides, he was not getting any younger. When he was sold off few years back, he was just a toddler, now he had grown into a visionary teenager. And despite his dreams and efforts, it’s like his life had a huge outlet at the bottom where God’s blessings exited through as soon as they flowed in. Would God ever favor him by allowing His blessings to settle in his life?
(5 years later)
The poor guy kept on refining his game over and over again, while years wrapped before him at jet speed. His own life had become a mystery that he didn’t have the intellectual capacity to unravel. How could a robot unravel such a deep mystery anyway? He was more like a robot because inasmuch as he had the knowledge on how to live right, his destiny was in the hands of Lucifer, meaning, his life was programmed to align with Lucifer’s wishes.
Coincidentally, Crazy Explorer’s associates had also traded off young children for unmerited possessions…….. Continued in RPHF 2.