When Hari opened his eyes, he saw that he was in a bed rather than in the backseat of the car that he slept in. The first thing he felt was soreness in his back, which was followed by the sourness in his mouth and thus his breath. This was a sign to him that he slept for a long time.

As Hari adjusted his messy bed hair, he looked around him trying to gain an insight into where he was. All he saw was that he was in a room that looked ancient. The table looked like it belonged in an antique store or a museum than in a house, the chair looked rustic but comfortable, and the bed was fit for a king, the mattress soft and firm at the same time giving you the feeling that you were sleeping in soft sand with the mattress adjusting to his body but remaining firm.

He walks out of the room slowly, only to find himself in a bustling village like place.

The reason that he thought of a village is that the houses seemed to be simple and rustic. Each 2 stories tall at most. The houses also seemed to be surrounded by trees, shrubs, etc. which created a gap between them. This was unlike the cities where houses were mushed together like Siamese twins.

The chirping of birds and the bright sun whose light glistened in the stream nearby seemed to agree with his assessment.

‘Speaking of the sun, it seems warmer here….. scratch that it is hot in here. Where exactly is this place?’ Hari thought.

He sees someone walking past him and stops that person.

“Hey buddy, do you know where I am?” Asks Hari.

The man looks at him in confusion and says “Uh… You are in the Gurukul?”

“The what?” Hari asks tilting his head thinking he misheard him.

“The Gurukul you know?” The man says as if it was obvious, to which Hari just shakes his head indicating his ignorance.

“The Daemon School? The school of Daemonic Arts?” He asks.

This serves to only confuse Hari who just shakes his head again. He instead grows wary on the mention of ‘demon’. It was after all, what those that attacked them called him.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Where in the UK are we? Which city?” Hari asks to which the man just makes an exasperated expression.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“We are not in the UK you donkey. We are in the Underworld, the Paatal.” The man shouts and just walks away, clearly irritated.

“I wonder when these young idiots stop messing around and pulling pranks.” He mumbles as he walks away, leaving a flabbergasted Hari.

“What the fuck is the Underworld? Don’t tell me that I am in some sort of criminal stronghold or something.” Hari wonders.

“Hahaha, I knew you were gonna think it was something like that.” Said a very familiar voice from behind Hari.

Hearing the voice, Hari’s eyes bulge in recognition and he turns around to look at the owner of the voice. Standing there in his full glory was Vrika. He had a sling around his arm and looked a little pale, but for that, he looked perfectly fine.

Hari runs up to him and then into him. He covers Vrika in a bear hug. This makes Vrika take a step back to regain his balance, but his smile never leaves his face. Instead, his smile becomes warmer.

“Come on, release me you buffoon. I am still recovering.” Vrika says.

Hari sheepishly lets go of Vrika and takes a step back.

“How are you? Are you ok? Is it alright for you to be out of the hospital so soon?”

“Do you think that I would be out and about if it were not ok?” Vrika says.

“You were fucking shot man; how would I know when you would be ok? I thought you were going to die, you idiot. For a second I actually thought you were dead.” Hari retorts as his face falls remembering the near-death experience that they had. Tears well up as he is reminded of him nearly losing his brother.

“Hey, I am still here alright. Nothing happened to me. I will always be there for you little brother. I promise that I won’t let something like this repeat” Vrika says as he gives Hari a comforting hug with his one hand, patting his back as a mother does to their child.

Hearing that Hari wipes his eyes and then pushes Vrika away.

“Who the hell is your little brother. We are twins you twat. We were born within minutes of each other.” Hari spouts, clearly embarrassed at the emotional display.

“So what, I am still older than you even if it is only by a few minutes, and that makes you my little brother.” Vrika teases with a cheeky smile.

“AAH, I will fucking kill you.” Hari shouts.

“Oh my, my little brother wants to kill me as soon as I was saved from death. I must have been a very bad bigbrother to him. I should not have stolen his chocolate cake, and now my baby brother hates me for it.” Vrika says as he starts to run away laughing boisterously all the way.

Hari chases after him with unconcealed fury.

“I knew it was you, you bastard. And how the heck am I your baby brother?” He shouts as he continues chasing him.

The duo runs in circles, one chasing after the other. The people who pass by look at them in humor and with a tad bit of nostalgia, as they remember being children who used to play like this. Though the duo were far from being children, after all, they were reaching 18, their antics surely did resemble children.

At last, Hari catches up to Vrika and jumps on his back. He holds on to him and refuses to let go. Vrika just laughs more and tries to shake him off.

“Looks like you are awake then.” Says a man who just walked towards them. He was lanky and dressed in all black. The most noticeable thing about him was however his walking stick, which combined with his sunglasses left no doubt about his visual disability.

Hearing someone talk to them calmed them down. Hari gets down from Vrika’s back flustered.

“Yes, we are.” Hari says scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Well, it was a long sleep that you had. We were worried that something happened to you.” Says the blind man.

“Heh, he has always been a sleeping beauty, this guy.” Mocks Vrika.

At that, Hari glares at Vrika. If looks could be weapons, Vrika would have been drilled through.

“What? It is true. But in the hell did you manage to sleep more than someone who was actually shot and lost a ton of blood?” Vrika asks incredulously.

“Well, that might have to do with us assisting your healing rather than him being a sleepy head, but it is true that he slept for a long time.” Says the blind man. “Oh, and by the way, my name is Kris, Kris Nixon.” Saying so Kris offers his hand in greeting.

“Vrika Sivakumar” Says Vrika as he holds Kris’s hand and gives it a light shake.

“Hari Sivakumar” Pipes Hari as he does the same.

“So, tell me then, what exactly went down in that house.” Kris asks.