The Last Party

They were sitting around the table. While some had half filled glasses of whiskey in their hands, yet others had some cigarettes burning away, both tobacco and lives. The topic of conversation was mostly random. It varied from the latest TV soaps to sports to games to computers to software and so on. In other words, it was all looking like a normal bachelors party. It seemed that the converstations would never finish, but that wasn't the case. Being men, they weren't accustomed to chatting away without reason or logic. So there came a time when the conversation ended and the men kept quiet sipping away the glasses or the smoke.

Now, at this point of time, people would look at each other and wait for someone to say, "I'm going back home." and then take the oppurtunity to tag along home with them. This was the best way to avoid being the bad guy who wants to finish the party. But the silence continued. I would have continued, but it was sadly killed by the ringing of a mobile phone. Everyone looked at the owner of the mobile phone. The spectacled man calmly took out his phone,and then recieved it.

"Hello... Oh! How are you... <silence> ...well... <silence> ...ok ok... <silence> ...I understand, it's not really an issue... &lt;silence&gt; ...but I'm telling you... ...it's not an issue, is your head full of hay or something... &lt;silence&gt; ...ok I'm sorry... &lt;short silence&gt; ...listen... I'll call you back soon. Lemme get out of a situation first."and he dropped the call to look at his mates staring at him throughout the 10 minutes of the converstation.

"When did you get a girl?"
"I didn't get a girl... not yet... it was... an old friend of mine. H..he was... has been requesting me to meet him for the past 2 weeks."
"Like hell I'll believe ya."
"Well, you don't have to, not your concern anyway."
"No, but the girl is... who is she, or rather how is she?"
"Ugh... you all are so persistant... well... I'll have to leave now."
"OOOOOoooo... the bastard is diching us for some woman we don't even know is worth being our sister in law."
"God Dammit, how many times do I have to say it to get the idea through that thick skulls of yours."
"You think we've got thick skulls eh? Well, lemme tell ya, you've got the thicker skull amongst us, and let me prove it to you."

The big bloke took an empty bottle and smashed it on his head. It wasn't a fatal blow, but deep nonetheless. It did cause the specs guy to collapse. Blood spilled as everyone once again looked at each other and then the unconsious body amidst the deeper silence. But the depth of the silence was pulled out by the same ringing of the mobile phone.One of the guys picked up the phone and looked at it's display. It was an unknown number. He was alread steered by the 8 glasses of neat alcohol he had. He picked up the phone and heard a rather sweet voice.

"Hello? Hello? Ani?"
"Err... no. We his... I mean... We're his friends here. He rushed away forgetting to take his cellphone with him."
"Good. He must rush now. The deadline is down by another half an hour. If you can contact him then do tell him this, otherwise his promotion won't escalate."
"Err... Pardon. He is getting promoted?"
"Yes. That's all the message I had. Goodnight."
"Ah! Wait... lemme ask..."
"&lt;beep&gt; &lt;beep&gt; &lt;beep&gt; &lt;beep&gt;"

He removed the handset from his ears and looked towards his mates. His mates could only follow his side of the conversation. So they all questioningly looked at him.
"Tell me. Was he doing any job or was he employed somewhere?"
"Not that I know of anything."
And then they all turned their heads towards the unconcious specs guy... only this time, the specs guy wasn't there. He was gone. Only the small pool of blood that oozed out from his head remained.
"Where did he go?"
Before anyone could answer that question, there was a huge bang that seemed to come from a distance. The big guy fell on the ground flat. He had a hole on his forehead.
"Snipe..."
But another bang cut his shout midway. He too fell down. The others had scattered away in different directions by then. Each was running away for the sake of his or her own life.

===================================================
The inspector put down the morning newspaper. The headlines gave a news that a huge bombing plan was thwarted by the intelligence agency at midnight. A buzzer rang. A lean looking man came in.
"Things went well yesterday didn't it?"
"Yes. But the ending... was it good to do what you did?"
"No. It was actually a bad bad thing. But I decided so because he was involved in that for the past 3 years. There was no guarantee that he would continue to remain on our side."
"He didn't look like the kind of guy who'd jump boats. He kept all the flow of information from time to time, and always alerted us of major incidents."
"Maybe you didn't know this, but he recieved a call from some woman last night, about 15 minutes before the incident."
"Some woman? Who?"
The inspector smiled. "That's a twist indeed. He got a call form Officer Jenny."
"Officer Jenny?" and the lean man thought for some time. "Wasn't she on trial for leaking information to the terrorists?"
"And guess which terrorist guy she was leaking all that to?" and then the inspector laughed out loudly.
The lean man gaped at the inspector. "Don't tell me that..."
"I won't... it was unpleasant for me to. That bastard gave us the wrong coordinates... but somehow, his phone requested a GPS coordinate in middle of the call, and we intercepted it in time. He told me he was under the bridge, but you know where we encountered them right?"
"The Security station near the Parliament House..."
"All of them were there to dress up as security today."
The lean man shook his head in disbelief... that was all that he could do.


=====================
Author's Note
===========

Another creation out off the office desk :D
Well, it's arbid and very very incomplete. But I've never really managed to write complete sounding short stories. :-/

When...

When life seems to run out of options,

Remember me my friend.

For it was me who as always beside you,

Waiting, for you to reach the end.

When times seem to run ahead of you,

Come back to me my friend.

For you don't have to race it,

I'm a gift that God has send.

When things don't go your way,

Let me lead you down a different path.

For, you are my only existence,

And I am your conscience.

============================================

Something I wrote down in the office. I'm now feeling what it feels like to have nothing to do. :-/

I have problems with net connectivity at home (I don't even have a fixed home right now... -__- ), but I pray that I get out of these predicatements as soon as possible.

The laptop company gave me won't let me install any browser except IE8, so surfing properly is also an issue here... :( The laptop  is nice otherwise :)

Under a night sky

Copyrights, Selenium Glow :) (This image is the intro image.)

Do you believe in fantasies?
Do you believe that your dreams are a part of your own soul?
Do you believe that your dreams are a display of what your soul desires?
Do you believe that your dreams are a fallacy of god, an error that enables you to see through the fabric of space and time surrounding us?
Do you believe?
Or are you the kind that can never believe... not even themselves.

It is execptionally dark. Usually in cities, no corner escapes the bright night life of the civilization that is at it's peak.
But, just like a cloud with a silver lining, a city too has it's dark spots.
It's execptionally dark. She breaths the cold winter air. It's so cold that she wouldn\'t have inhaled it if she had an option.
But she had no option. She had to inhale. She had to breath the air to live. But why did she want to live? The only answer she could think was...

"Because I have no other option eh?"

==========================
Or so what I wrote on the intro of the VN I was programming. That has now come to a hold as I now have to take my job training seriously... -__-;

The moonlit sky image is what I made using that clouds brushes that I posted about last time. The Moon is taken from a photograph that my brother took of the night sky some time back. :)

I'll have less and less due to training and what not (miss my manga/anime T__T ) time but I'll try to keep posting here.

P.S - Oh. Yes, I liked the new draft.blogger page. It's very new and refreshing. :) Did you fellow blogger like it as well?

Clouds n Stuff

Well, long long time ago, I tried to make clouds using Photoshop. I thought it would be hard, so I tried to make some using 3D software. Not an easy task either. So?

So, I give up temporarily and decide to do some outdoor observation. After quiet a lot of sky gazing, I downloaded some tutorials on how to make clouds. I also downloaded some plugin for my 3D software which would allow me to make clouds. I tried the 3D software first. and the results weren't something I was happy with. :-/  Well, these two were what I came out with. Later, I would realize that the technique I used to make the clouds wasn't the best, and the actual technique I needed to used meant that I had to wait 20 minutes for one frame to render into an image that you see below. Ah! I realize I need a faster computer...

The first trial to make Clouds in 3D software. That obelisk is just to add some subject to the image...

This is the second trial. This time I tried playing the the position of the sun and some color effects for the obelisk.

Well, then I downloaded some tutorials to make clouds on Photoshop. Once again not an easy task if you lack patience. I tried to follow the tutorial and finally came up with this image.

Made using the original tutorial. No shortcuts used while making this one. It's completely from scratch.

But I realized that patience is something that few people have. Sadly, I'm not in that few... -__-;;
So, I Google, and find that there are some preset cloud brushes/textures available for download, that can be used with Photoshop to make some quick but good looking clouds. So, I download all that I could, and then create a new image. My first trial (without using layers or effects) at using these presets gave me this image.

Created in under 7 minutes using Photoshop.

Well, looks very impressive ne? Even if there isn't any bit of realism, even than it's very pleasant looking to my eyes. As long as something looks good, people will rarely question the amount of realism in it. As I wrote this blog, I created a night scene (again unrealistic) with lots of stars and stuff and a full moon. But I made that image while programming a visual novel... so I'll post that later.

Until then, Ciao. :)

-------------------------
Photoshop brushes used in the last image are credited to the following.

1) leboef.deviantart.com
2) Milinda Design - www.milinda.eu

My first Tablet sketch.

When I first purchased my (ultra cheap and local) drawing tablet in February, the first thing I ever did with it was to trace an image of Saber from the Fate/Hollow Ataraxia Visual Novel.

Original Wallpaper of Saber. There was a similar scene in the original "Fate/Stay Night" Novel

I used Adobe Illustrator CS 4 to do the tracing process. That time, it took me about an hour, but that time, I felt very satisfied with what I had done.

My Tracing for the above wallpaper.

However, do note that this is probably the most lousy trace you'd come across on the net. :-/ The lines are not clean and there are too many minor errors. In other words, this isn't something one would sit to seriously color. But yes, I have to admit, even tracing out many images is fun. It is hard work to do it nicely and professionally, but still, it's fun :)

The next image I traced was of a Wallpaper from "Jigoku Shoujo" (or Hell Girl).

Original Wallpaper of Enma Ai.

My (well) traced version. It's PNG. You can download and try coloring it yourself if you want ;)

In this trace, I specially tried to make sure the lines were cleanly done and that it was colorable. The complete tracing process alone took me about 3 hours, and the hairs were the toughest thing I had to tackle in this wallpaper. I even tried to color it, but then I was stumped when I had to do a background and work on highlights... -___- Copying things is turning out to be pretty hard work, I can only imagine how difficult it is going for me to make my own original creations... but I'm actually looking forward to that challenge.

The only trace that I've managed to color myself is this one. Also right now, I've traced an image of Belladandy and her two sisters (from the series Oh! My Goddess). I've already done the base coloring, but because I had some greeting cards to make for my friends upon their request, I couldn't quiet pick it up to completion. But I will complete it and post it on my blog :D

Belladandy and Her two sisters. More about them later. Color them if you want ;)

5 Weeks Later...

I originally wrote this as a facebook note. Here it is, in blogger where it should really be. Somehow, I don't like the Facebook notes thing. :-/ I have just copied and pasted the whole thing. Just remember while reading this, that this was originally written on May 10, 2011. This is the date that actually came 5 weeks later...

=======================

For the past 5 or so weeks, I've been giving 15 to 20 minutes daily trying to "Cel shade" a Sketch. The sketch isn't entirely my own original creation. I was watching the opening sequence of some animated series (it was "AIR"). I came across a scene where a girl was spreading out her arms. I took a snapshot and then decided to remake this in my way...

TV Original

Yes... easier said than done... specially by a guy who still isn't comfortable with digital inking and coloring...
Nonetheless, I accepted this challenge I put myself through... and then traced out the girl and the birds... or some birds... I couldn't do all of them... using Adobe Illustrator. I finally had this.

Traced in Adobe Illustrator

Things going nicely so far. But then I realized how difficult coloring was. I had to read and learn a lot of theory (yes... UPTU grade theory) on coloring, mixing and cel shading. I tried applying it on this outline, and somehow, it worked.
Many Many days later, I finally had this.

Colored version 1

But I realized the hair was too flat. On comparing with the Original, I find that I haven't outlined the hairs properly... :-/ It's an ultimate proof of either my carelessness or laziness... oh well... I draw the outlines in photoshop itself (instead of Illustrator) My untidy and unstable work is evident now...

Colored version with messy hair outlines...

Upto this point, I was coaxing myself for not being good enough with coloring and sketching. I told myself that cel shading is difficult and needs hard work... But what I found really really difficult and time consuming was the background. It's not easy to paint clouds realistically and above all - Beautifully. I had a lot of problems doing the clouds. I mostly copied the pattern of the original image. But this drove me nuts... Still I was able to make something.

My Final Version with these... umm... clouds.

I've done even a more lousy job with the background. The colors are out of control... the "Glare" effect is done badly... and the clouds look so... so... errmm... I don't even have the proper word to describe it's incompleteness or unrealism.

To conclude this note, I think I've learnt many new things in Photoshop and Illustrator alike, but above all... I realized I've a long way to go before I even dream of becoming a pro in digital arts... :-/
5 Weeks later... I feel morbidly discouraged... T__T

=================================
And thus, this concludes what I posted on facebook a long time ago. Well, this was my first attempt at coloring a complete frame myself. It was hard work...

P.S. - Yes, despite my negative post on Facebook, I did receive a lot of encouragement. Thus, I'm now in lookout for some more interesting frames that i can remake... :D

The Painter and The Photographer

Here is a render of what might look like sunrise on mars. Even though I added this as my status on Facebook 2 months ago, but what I didn't put on Facebook (mostly because of the public that would fail to comprehend) was a story behind this picture. Well, all my graphic or musical creations have a story with them.

A sunrise on "The God of War"

It was pretty silent. The darkness outside wasn't uplifting him either. However, he waited because he needed to burn the image of sunrise into his head. Unlike his partner who would do the same on his Camera. It annoyed him. He looked by his side. All his painting kit was intact.

About 1 hour later, the color of the sky started changing. His brother kicked him, "Get Ready!" and then prepared his Camera. He too jumped up from his seat and started rubbing his eyes hoping to clear of the slumber he was in a few seconds ago. As the colors brightened outside, the painter had already drawn the outlines of his scene. The Photographer was further ahead making strange poses. The painter wondered to himself... 'these Camera guys lack imagination.' The clouds started covering the horizon, much to the painter's annoyance and to the Camera man's delight.

But what was amazing was when they looked at each others results in the afternoon. The Painter thought the pictures turned out better than his painting. And the Camera man thought that his painting had more depth than his pictures. Being egoistic pigs that they were, neither accepted this fact openly but kept their secret admiration to the other's work within themselves.

================

P.S - Ah... well... or so was the story. I imagined myself as the painter though :P And I've put the so called "Painting" up now...

Hiatus?

Long long time ago, I said I will never rant about any of my personal problems in my blog.

Today, I won't rant as well :P

Well. I haven't posted anything on my blog since December (which I don't know is a long time or not... ) but the only reason (and it's valid as well) was because my final semester kept me more preoccupied than I thought it would. Well, now all that is over, and once again in 5 years I'm at a cross road in my life. Even though I have decided which path I want to finally take, there is always this insecurity about oneself that make you look back at the other turns of life and wonder... "Is this the right way?"

For starters, let me tell you what I've been doing these last 6 months...

1) Learning - Lots of Graphics Software. From 3D modelling and animation suits to (so called simple) stuff like Photoshop and Illustrator.
2) Planning - My way ahead in life... It kinda sucks when you realize you still have an year of two of studies left...
3) Discovering - Myself. This was probably the toughest thing I did in these 6 months. I realized that though I had potential for Electronics and stuff... I really didn't enjoy it. So, that one road of the cross road I won't take.
4) Writing - A diary. I took out that diary after some 5 or 6 years. When I read what I had written in the past, I was amazed how depressed I used to be. Sometimes I still am, but no to that level. Anyways, that diary was once again filled with some of my most negative emotions. And now that I think about it, I kinda understand why do I feel so insecure in the first place about my future... :-/
5) Drawing Pads - This time, for my birthday, I requested a Stylus/Drawing Pad that I could use for cell shading and sketching directly to my computer. IT'S FUN :D :D :D

Well, that sums up. I haven't really given up or dropped my music domain yet. But it's true I'm not making too many tunes now... I'm now more focussed on my Graphic Skill, something that I've genuinely begun to enjoy doing now :)
I hope to make wonderful things that I can post in this blog... but for now, I'll only be able to post my trials, experiments and mistakes... :-/

P.S - Ah. I forgot to mention. The new background in my Blog is the fruit of my new skills in Photoshop :) This (Unnamed) Blue Planet has been made from scratch thanks to a wonderful tutorial available on the internet.

Trapped...

This story is a continuation of the following two Parts.
The Car Trap - Part I
The Car Trap - Part II
============================================

And thus began her surprisingly short story about my fantastic ordeal. "You were abducted by some Extremist. They wanted to create a completely new dimension where they could try creating a new world. So, the extremist decided to abduct you. They took you to some suburb farmhouse and put you in a beaker with some strange life sustaining chemical... umm... didn't smell like formaldehyde, but maybe Cipher knows more about it... well... whatever and then used you to create a new dimensions."

The story was too fantastic to understand or even believe. "Why would they pick me??"
"Exactly. Why You? It turns out our last ordeal with the vampires has made you famous. You're someone who is isolated from this dimension. Even though you're in this dimension, you're not a part of it. If they pump you with enough amount of high energy, your dimension... or maybe you'll explode to tear apart this dimension's fabric and form a new kind of dimension, and eventually try and take control over it. That's exactly what the extremist were trying to do to you."

"OK. What the heck is Extremist? And why do they want to make this new dimension and stuff?"
"Now, that's difficult to answer. You'll eventually understand the true nature of Extremist, but for now, just know that they are people who think that this dimension should be mearged with our dimension. Or to put it in your language, unify the Heavens, the earth and even Hell into one single realm, where all can coexist together peacefully. Creating a new dimension, and combining parts of elements from all three realms in that new dimension was a mere way of proving their theory correct."

"Sounds like some fanatic making a Utopian world."
"Yes. And that's why, you've become their target. Thus, it turns out you've been assigned a bodyguard."
I had a bad feeling about this. "Who is my body guard?"
"That's me." she said and took out a small packet of chips from her jacket and started eating it. The heavens had cursed me in order to keep themselves in business. I closed my eyes and tried to understand what was this dimension business. Her sister, Ai, had already told me about my anomaly, which was the main reason why I could sense all these supernatural occurances. Then something struck me.

"Wait. If I was put in this beaker with chemicals... then I must have been unconsious. Right?"
"Yes. You were. It took us queit some time to break through their technology and pull out all the wires and pins from you body."
"Then all this time... when I saw the middle class man go rich and the tower and stuff... all that unrealism was... a dream?"
"Yes. Must have been. Because there wasn't any effect in the real world."
"Then all the blonde women I saw were all non existant people??"
"No. Cipher and her two familiars still exist. I think you must have sub consiously started taking all this information in your dream that you saw. You know, how dreams can change according to the sounds and noises around you. You must have thought cars, because the machine that they used to pump energy into your conciousness was humming constantly. When we came, you must have caught some of our conversation."
"I see. It must have been like that."

I was lost in thoughts again. I had more questions. "Hey! Wait. If I'm having this dimensional anomaly... or I'm a different dimension, why the heck am I sensing strange stuff like these happening now? Why didn't they happen when I was a kid."

Enma looked at me with serious eyes, and then looked away uncomfortably. "It's a lot of politics. It's better that you don't know any of it.  Anyways, that won't explain the reason why you have this anomaly... understanding the politics will only give a speculation to your anomaly and not explain it."

I closed my eyes... and then covered my face with my palms. "Enma. Just tell me what is going on?? I've had enough of this business."
Enma looked at me again. "You are not just an anomaly. You may be the key to something... I don't know what, and may never know. Just know this - there are more than two groups with varing motives that are after you. You must be kept alive and away from them."

Starting today I'm an Athiest. Because I know that my Gods can't do anything about the situation I'm in.

===========================
Author's Note
------------------

And thus, from here on, this would connect to a larger and more complete story, where Enma, and this guy are mere supporting characters. For those who might understand this example, what I've written here would by my "xxxHolic" to a "Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles." I wonder... How did I manage to end this story like this... -__-;

Anyways... this isn't the best I could write... I'll rant about my problems later... (or maybe never... I don't rant...)

The Car Trap - Part II

 Continuation of the Story - The Car Trap - Part I
================================================

She started walking towards the tower. I started following her when we came about half way to it, she suddenly turned back and looked at me.
"What?" I asked her.
"Well, I think it would be better to get some info on that tower before approaching it. Don't you think so?"
"I can't think over that... that... alien's lair."
"Hmmm..." she pondered and then took out a cellphone and called someone up. And then I followed her conversation out of curiosity which went something like this - "Hey. I need some info on some Spider tower in Sector 76, Noida... What? You're en route here?.. Eh? You are near 76?.. No Way!.. OK..." and then hung off.
"What happened?" I asked her
"My informant is coming right behind you."
I turned back and for the first time in the whole day, I saw something normal. It was an old and worn out Maruti 800. It stopped right next to us, and came out a golden haired woman with goggles on. She faced Enma, who surprisingly had her jaw on the ground. It was the first time I saw her this amazed.
"Oye! Where is your Q7??"
"I do not know. My car kinda disintegrated itself into this matchbox."
"And where are Erna and Delana? I can't see them anywhere?"
"This boundary field has a spell against familiars. I left them to keep them safe. But let us please come to topic. You said that there was a tower here? I can't see any."
"Huh? It's right on the top..." I said and then stopped immediately, as I turned my head to look at it. The tower was gone.
"Enma. I believe you. I know there must have been a tower here, but I just hope my fears are uncalled for." the blonde lady said. She took off her goggles to look at the building. And then she stared at me. She stared at me with her beastly vampiric eyes that I've only read of in books or seen in movies.
"You... are an unusual entity. You shouldn't exist here."
"Errm... Cipher... forget about him, and tell me what is it that you fear."
The blonde woman, who I believe is called Cipher turns towards Enma. "I fear someone is trying to alter or overwrite this dimension with his own."
"Are they the Vampires that tried to infiltrate this place a couple of weeks ago?"
"They may not be. I believe their dimension has been Quarantined by the Center."
"Who could it be?"
"I do not know now. I'll go and find out. You said the tower was over that building." Cipher asked Enma pointing towards the building where that piece of bone... or the tower should have been.
"Yes."
"Well then, let's go." Cipher said, and then she grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards the tower.
"Hold it Cipher!" Enma ... immediately. "I don't mind you taking him, but what are your intentions Cipher?"
"This man here has ability of dimensional isolation like you sister. Until your sister arrives, I intend to use him." Cipher replied without turning back.
"How?"
Cipher turned towards Enma with her eyes glaring at her and said something that froze my blood... "With Pain."
"Then there are better ways. You know it's not a good thing to involve common guys with no combat experience into all this."
"What do you propose then?"
"Use this." and then Enma took out a syringe from her pockets and threw them at Cipher. She caught it with her left hand and looked at it, and then looked at me.
"Hmm... Alright, I'll comply. But I'll have my share of fun as well." she said. And then I remember her moving towards me and tapping my shoulder. My body felt heavy and my eyes felt as if they were on weights. Things became dark around me.

I don't know how long it was, but I woke up to deafening sounds of gunfire and strong smell of gunpowder. Then something bumped my head. I shouted out of pain. It was then that I realized that I was at the back seat of a large SUV.
"What's going on."
"He's up. Take this and try to shoot anyone you see..." a woman in a black suit wearing goggles handed me a pistol. Where was the Cipher woman?
"Hurry up! Take it."
I didn't know what to do, so I took the gun and looked out. I failed to understand where the heck I was? I looked at the drivers seat. Enma was driving the Car and the kind of route we were following, she was driving amazingly well. I looked out of the window. There were armoured cars and tanks running parallel to us trying to blow us as we raced through the bumpy road. I was wondering how was I to shoot down tanks with a pistol.
"Don't worry about fire power... just shoot." Enma cried out from the drivers seat. Things must be real desperate for her if she was shouting like that. I aimed the pistol out of the window and fired at a tank taking a very very rough aim. The recoil of the gun threw me back, and my head and wrists hit the roof of the car rather hard. I was withering in pain when I heard Enma shout, "We're there! Hand on tight!" Something hit my head hard again and this time it hurt beyond what I could endure. I could see shards of glass flying around. And then I had this terrible urge to throw up... or maybe I did. I don't know. Things went black as I felt my torso come out from my mouth.

'CLANK...'
I opened my eyes. I was dark, but flares of light went on and off in front of me. There was this sound of metal, and a really really foul smell. I think I really did vomit as my stomach was feeling uneasy. There was intense pain in my head and arms. But before I could grasp what was going around me, something grabbed my throat and I was pinned down to the ground. A huge splash of water brought my remaining senses back. I saw the Cipher woman pinning me down by my throat and a Man with an empty bucket of water. There was a huge power transformer stuck on the roof, and I was wet with a thick and sticky liquid dripping from all over my body. There were some needles stuck to my arms, and they hurt as if hell was roasting them on hot coals.

"You OK?"
"I don't know... I feel sick." I could barely speak. The pain was too much to bear and my throat felt choked.
"That's a side effect. For now, you'll live." and then the cipher woman turned around and shouted. "We've got him! Everyone out. This space is going to collapse soon." Then the man who was standing next to her, threw away the bucket, grabbed me and put me over his shoulders. Soon I came out from the darkness into daylight. It was stinging bright, but it was warm and nice. My body felt too sick and too exhausted to celebrate this warmth. I went to a deep sleep soon after.

I woke up and found myself lying on a hospital bed. No wait... I've seen this Private room before. On a chair next to the bed was Enma... or was it Ai? well, whoever she was, she was reading a book or a magazine.
"Feeling Fresh?" she said in an annoying monotone.
"Nah..." I said with a disappointed tone. It was Enma, for her sister wouldn't speak so bluntly.
"Too bad. But feeling any better than before?"
"Maybe. But what happened? Things happened way too fast for me to understand anything."
"It's a long story. You wanna know?" she asked me as she lowered the magazine and looked at me with deep and serious eyes.
"I think I have enough time in my hands right now. So go on. Let me hear your story."

(To be continued...) - ( -__-; )

==================================
Author's Notes
-------------------

No. I'll rant about my faulty computer, exams, placement run offs and what not later... but I'll most probably rant about it here only... For now... this is a really really embarrassingly long gap. Part III is on auto post. So it will be this month only... Actually, anything posted this month is auto posted, the reason being my "Pain in the Neck" exams, which I must pass.

A Car Trap - Part 1

This was beyond my wildest dreams. Either everyone around me turned filthy rich overnight, or these sports cars that I've only seen on posters and magazines suddenly became cheap.
"Not bad. These cars will respond like the real thing when you drive them." Enma said with little concern. But she continued "Too bad you don't have a car."
"Well, I had a bike, and it's turned into a Ducati."
"Ducati? Ducati is a bike too right?" she asked with a very indifferent tone.
"NO! Ducati is a superbike!"
"What difference does that make... oh well. Let it be."
So, I let it be and pondered over that happened since I woke up.

*****

Early morning on this Wednesday, it all seemed normal. But as I stepped out of my house to go to office, I found my bike was missing. Instead there was a Ducati standing in it's place. I thought it was silly and expensive joke, when I noticed that all the cars in the parking were top notch luxury sedans or sports cars. The parking plot where there used to be Hyundai i10s, Santros and Suzuki Alto, WagonRs and Swifts... suddenly had Jaguars, Mercedez, BMWs, Corvetts and like I said, cars that I'd only see on posters and magazines. At first I thought that either I might be sick and having hallucinations, or it was a massivly expensive joke being played on me. But then my neighbor, Mr. Sharma, who used to have a WagonR stepped into a BMW M3. I called out Mr. Sharma, we exchanged greetings like we normally did, and talked about the weather and local politics. He got into the car, started it and backed it out from the parking slot. Just as he was about to leave, I summoned the courage to ask him - "Mr. Sharma, what happned to your old car?" He stopped. Thought for a moment, and then said, "You mean the Merc? That was too old and out of fashion. So I scrapped it."
"No no... I mean... the WagonR..."
"Huh? Wagon what?"
"WagonR."
"Does a car like that exist. Maybe you've mixed up someone else's car. Before the BMW, I had a Mercedes. Anyway, good day to you Mr. Srivastava. I must take my leave now." he said and roared his BMW (?) out of the society gates.

And then a boy in a School Dress. "Bhaiya! Can you give me a lift? I've missed my bus!"
"Ah! Rohit. Well, I would have loved to, but you see... errm... my bike..."
I was trying to think up something to say, when I saw something which made me realize that this world could have been as normal as it could possibly be.
"Hey. Shall we get going now? I've been waiting for quiet sometime." that 'something' said with her dark red and serious eyes locked on to me. Her Leather Jacket and black Jeans would've made a very storng impression on anyone who saw her. Thus, another younger set of eyes were locked on to me as well. "Bhaiya? Is she your girlfriend??"
"Err... no. She's a co-worker." I replied rather meekly.
The boy looked with round eyes at her, then at me, and then at her again.
"Wow. When I grow up, I'll work in your company. You've got great girls there..."
Ah! Youth. And the innocent mistakes they make in judging the opposite sex. I just smiled at the fact that he thought this pain in my neck as a beauty. Beauty is only skin deep, and I'd thought I'd lecture him about this, but I decided not to preach my experience with women to this... err... fairly innocent lad. So I apologised to him for being unable to take him with me and went upto my bike. I looked at the keys I had in my hand. They looked like they'd fit in the Ducati.

"Don't worry it's yours. You can play with it." Enma said. And I think Rohit heard it because he giggled as he walked on ahead.
"Don't say things that may cause a misunderstanding."
"Oh! But that's how we have fun. Well, fire her up. We need to get going."
"Where?"
"I'll tell you soon. Let's get going first."
So, I started the bike... No. I started the Superbike and I'll remember the thunderous sound it made. It felt like I was going to ride a beast. Enma got on the passenger seat. I throttled gingerly to take a feel of it's power and the bike immediately responded and shot ahead but then the bike stopped. I started again, and somehow managed to get my untamed beast out of the main gate, and then to the main road. However, the sight at the main road left my jaws on the road. On the main road, where only sport saloons and cars, running savagely fast and powersliding in the turns. It's as if the world was not just commuting, it was racing and all the roads were a massive racing circuit.

*****

And so, I stopped my train of thoughts because Enma patted my shoulders.
"Hey, looks like you're not confident about driving here. Hand me the bike."
"Huh?"
"Yes, I'll drive straight to the place where the disturbance is probably originating from."
We got off the bike and exchanged our seats. I didn't even question if she had a license or not, as my experience said that she could and was capable of doing anything that I'd consider insane. But that easygoing attitude of mine started one of the scariest experiences of my life. Enma was a good, but a ruthless biker. She immediately pushed the ducati to over 100 Kmph in under 4 seconds before breaking for turns. My head didn't work, and I think I was clucthing her tiny torso, trying not to fall down and loose my life. Add to this horrifying, dut efficient driving style of a street racer, the superfast cars trying to race ahead of us.

Soon we came to a halt. I wouldn't have realized that we were on road for only 13 minutes had Enma not looked into here watch and said out her time out aloud. To me it was like an hour in hell. It took me around two mintues to calm down and my heartbeat to return to human levels when I realized where I was standing. And here I could think of only one word - Unreal. But then, having experienced unrealism many times now, it didn't drop my jaw. But I was still surprised nonetheless, as you would be watching a Lion feed on grass.

"Where are we?" I asked while gaping at the 'Unreal' scene before me.
"That's strange. The Reports didn't mention a tower here." Enma said in an unshaken voice.
"That looks like a tower to you?" I said in amazement of her indifference, while looking at a large perforated bone like piece growing out from a building that was supported by what I assume must be ligaments and tendons, that were stuck to the ground.
"Oh! Yes, it's a tower all right. We call it a Spider Tower." She said pointing to the grotesque structure on the roof.
"That was made by a spider?"
"Yes." she replied and started walking towards the building that held the base for the bone... or should I also start saying Tower?

(... to be continued)


=================
Author's Note
------------------
Tried following a more Haruhi Suzumiya Style of story telling that it's author used in the Light Novels. (I have 8 of them :D ) Also, I think I should start thinking a name for this series? Maybe a name for the main guy too... All I know myself, is that he is some Mr. Srivastava...

Also, this time I won't laze around typing part II (or III... who knows...) and I'll make sure the story is completed properly.

P.S - The Car Trap - Part II

The Reader (Innocent version)

After the Check-in, the security checks and what not, I was allowed to walk into the waiting lounge of the New Delhi Domestic Airport. The shops didn't attract much of my interest, so I had two hours of time to waste before boarding my flight to Bangalore. I went upto the food court there, took a Zinger meal form KFC, and found myself a seat overlooking the airport view outside. Though it was a domestic airport, I personally thought it was a grand view. Passenger Aircrafts like Boeing 737s are about two stories high, but watching them from a higher place up, that too through the unobstructed view of the glass panel walls of the airport terminal - it feels like you're some King overlooking the majestic view of your Empire.

I stuffed in my headphones into my ears, played some soft Japanese Music (Noto Mamiko, by the way, she sang the ending themes for Hell Girl :D ) and took out my Notebook and Pen. I thought I'd write some fiction. But writing fiction isn't an easy task. I need to have a plot, then I'd require to cook up some situations that'd force my characters of the story to follow my plot, and some finer points that a writer should never neglect, had to be taken into mind too. After some though, I started writing something.

I don't know how much time had passed, but some four pages later, I heard someone say "Are you a writer Mister?" I turned around and found a girl of about 10 or 11 years of age looking at me. She was extremely fair, and her accent told me that she wasn't an Indian kid.
"No, I'm not a writer, but an Engineer. But I like to write some stuff up in my free time." I replied.
"You are not a writer... but you like to write..." she said in a doubtful tone with a face filled with an expression of curiosity.
"Yes, I like to write down my thoughts in free time sometimes." I tried to help her train of thoughts. She turned her eyeballs away with her small fingers over her lips. Then she suddenly looked at me again.
"So you write a Diary?" she said with a questioning tone. It turns out I totally derailed her thoughts... or wait. Were they on track at all?
"No, I write stories that build up in my  mind."
"So, you are a writer after all!" Her face suddenly brightened up. "So tell me Mister! Tell Me. Do you write good stories?" The brightness was too much for me, so I looked away from her to resume my own train of thoughts which by now seemed to be low on fuel. She asks me if I write good stories or not. Truth be told, no one ever read the stories I wrote so I didn't know if I should praise myself. I had no first hand proof or recommendation that my stories were any good. 'How am I supposed to know if I'm a good writer or not??' was the question that ultimately kept hitting me. But I finally thought of something to reply to her.
"I can't say, because no one reads my stories." To this answer, she made a curious looking expression.
"If no one reads your stories, why do you write them?" She asked me bluntly and innocently. But her bluntness to say, was sharp enough to pierce through my chest.
"Well young girl. You see, not everyone writes for others to read. Some people, like myself for example, write for self-satisfaction. I guess a girl of your age won't understand." No sooner I said my last few words, her expression changed suddenly. She turned angry and her pitch rose up.
"But I know. I'm not wrong! My Mom is a famous writer and she told me she has to write so that other people read them. My Mom can't be wrong!" I was considerably taken aback by this retaliation. One or two families sitting around us started looking at us. But my thought process started again. She was the daughter of some famous writer... so how many female writers I know who had Kids? My rather primitive brain didn't have enough information or resource, so it gave up thinking about this rather quickly.
"Well, your Mom is right. Writers write so that other people read them. But I'm an exception. I write for myself. Other people may not like what I write." She partially returned to normal. I guess she had a mother complex.
"But how can you say they won't like it if you don't let people read it?" she was now becoming exceedingly difficult for me to handle.
"Ok. So why don't you read one or two of them to decide for yourself if I'm good or not. I can't say I'm good, but at least you can see for yourself." and to this suggestion, her face brightened up again. She jumped over the two seats separating us to the seat next to me.
"Please Please show me your stories." I had a tough time trying to stop her from not falling off during her jumps.
"Ah! Wait. I'll search for a story that'll you may like." and having said this I started searching for a suitable story. 20 seconds into the search I realized all my stories were adult. Probably because I'm still single or something but somehow, unknowingly all my stories had something significantly adult. I couldn't make her read these kind of stories. But soon enough, I found something suitable for her. I handed her my notebook with that page open. She took it with much enthusiasm. But soon she made a troubled face.
"Is something wrong? The story not good?" I asked her naturally expecting her to reply 'Horrible.' or 'Hideous'.
"No. I can't understand what's written. It looks English, but I can't make out the words. It's a very bad handwriting." she replied promptly. I never felt as embarrassed or ashamed over my handwriting as I was feeling now. Even though I've been reprimanded by my parents and my countless teachers about it, only this small 11 year old could take my feeling of shame to a totally new height.
"Well then, let me read it out to you. I'm sorry for my bad handwriting though." I said, trying not to think heavily about it. She gave a smile immediately and handed me my notebook.
"Yes Please!" was her response. I was temporarily stunned. This girl didn't think my handwriting was an issue. She just wanted to listen to a story. That's all.
"But before I start, tell me why would you want to read my story when your Mom would have written far better stories?" I asked her. But she became silent.
"She writes good stories..." and then she looked at me with big innocent eyes "...but I can't understand most of them. I mean... she works so hard to write them and all... but they are all sad..."
"Well, don't think too much about it." I cut her short. I got the feeling she couldn't tell her mom that she didn't like her stories or didn't want to read stories that are probably for more mature audiences or types that she doesn't like. Simply put, she won't say something that'll hurt her Mom. "OK. Now, pay attention to my story. Promise me you'll tell me if it was good or bad. OK?"
"OK." She smiled again.

Then I told her a story that was a total mix of Harry Potter and Star Trek. I tried to act out the dialog so that she could take interest in the story. Every time I tried doing so, she'd laugh out in giggles. Finally I don't know how long it had been, but the story was over in what I assume was 20 minutes. Her beaming face was blinding my eyes. "Mister, this story was very very Interesting. You should let other people read your stories!!"
"Ah! Well... I guess I can then."
"Mister! You have more stories right? Please tell me more stories." and she got upto my lap. Her cute face was directly staring, or rather pleading to me.
"OK. Relax. I think I have another here." I turned the page hoping to find a story suitable for a 11 year old girl. I think I did, but 5 minutes into the story, I realized she fell asleep, resting herself on my right arm. I sighed. It must have been a boring story that she fell asleep. I didn't move... I just sat still so that i didn't wake her up. Her Mom must be here somewhere and it would be bad if this little girl out of excitement or curiosity or whatever mighty lord put in her head,  started chasing after me.

I looked out at the view in front of me. The airplanes were taxiing, and some were preparing for take off. But their movement felt like some video game screen where I could control which plane had to move, which ones had to take off or which one had to be sent for repairs. But soon, I rejected my thought because it started resembling like some Facebook game my friends played non stop. 15 minutes after she fell asleep, a lady called out "Excuse me!". I turned around. It was a foreigner lady.
"Ah! Are you this girl's mother?" I asked her immediately before she could accuse me of being a kidnapper or a child abuser or what not.
"Yes. Is she asleep?" she asked me with a concerned face.
"Well, yes. I'm afraid my last story must have been boring." and then I told her everything that had happened up till now before she could turn any of my aforementioned fears into reality. It turned out that she believed my story... well, I told her the truth anyway.
"I'm sorry my daughter has caused you so much inconvenience." she said in a friendlier tone than before.
"No. No. She is a very cute and very adorable child. I'm afraid I'm the one who must have caused you some worry." I tried to be very formal and very Gentleman-like.
"No. I'm happy that you took care of her. I wanted her to eat her Salad but she doesn't like them and ran away from the food court. I tried searching throughout the waiting area but couldn't find her. I was about to make the authorities make an announcement about her, but I caught a glimpse of her from a distance."
"Good that you came about. I must mention she is very proud of you."
"Ah! Is she?" She giggled in a similar manner.
"Yes. Even though she thought I was a writer, and wanted me to read out my stories, she still considers you to be the best."
"Well. I'm a professional writer, but recently I've hit the writer's block. I was frustrated and couldn't pay much attention to her. My editor let me take a leave, so I could come here to get over it. But I guess my breakup with my husband is still weighing down on me even though it's been quiet some time."

And then the announcement about my flight's final boarding call was made. I gently pushed the little girl away from my right arm as her mother picked her up. I picked up my bag, took my notebook and tore the pages of the story I had narrated to the little girl.
"Here take this. This is the story that your daughter liked. I'm sure she'd want to read it later on."
"But... isn't it your material... I mean you're a writer too. Right?" she said in a hesitating tone.
"No no. I'm just an engineer who writes sometimes for his feeling of self satisfaction." I said. She was hesitant, but she ultimately took the sheets form me. I then immediately rushed to get to Gate No. 9 to board my flight.
"But Mister. May I know your name?" she called out from behind. I turned around.
"Try writing a story your daughter will like for a change, rather than what your audience would like. I'm sure your daughter will love it and it'll help you get over your writer's block. Bye!" I said and ran off to catch my flight to Bengaluru.

===============================================

Author's Notes
-----------------------

This is a completely fictional story I started writing when I had to wait for two hours at the New Delhi Airport for my Flight. I initially thought I'd write a Description of this Amazing new Domestic Terminal, but somehow the notebook I had was filled up with story about some girl that didn't exist.

Come to think of it, the guy at KFC didn't notice my presence (and hence didn't take my order), let alone a cute 11 year old girl. :P

Plus, I wanted to write something like the way Ruskin Bond writes... hence this rather... Ordinary story. But if you're reading this far out in this post... Thanks for reading :)

P.S. - I also notice I've written a shorter story compared to my other works :)
P.P.S - I've italicized the dialogs for ease of reading.

Tears not Alone

A shade of grey,
In the month of May,
A time of waiting,
That seems too long.
A shade of blue,
My time with you,
A time I had then,
Now seems too wrong.

A shade of grey,
In the empty fray,
A time that doesn't
Seem to go on.
A shade of Yellow,
That once felt mellow,
A feeling so distant,
That absconds.

So now I seem to think,
My mind doesn't blink,
In doubt or in pain.
I know what has gone,
Has gone beyond me,
An empty hope that,
doesn't abandon me.
At least these feelings that I've grown,
Are with this irrepairable pain.
At least my tears are not alone,
They're falling with the rain.

A shade of Red,
That was once a thread,
A bond that felt strong,
Had broken before long.
A shade of Green,
That was so serene,
A feeling so pure,
That could play like a song.

A shade of Red,
Now fall with dread,
A life that wasn't,
supposed to be.
A shade of blue,
Now comes to ensue,
A life that wasn't
meant to be.

So now I think,
Without a blink,
Without doubts or pain.
I know what has gone,
Has gone beyond me,
And I'll go there,
Tough hell should stop me.
At least this feeling that I've grown,
Is dripping away with this pain,
At least my tears are not alone,
They are falling with the rain.

At least my tears are not alone,
They are falling with my blood...
   ...upon a cold stone.

==================================
Author's Notes
---------------------
I thought I'd try writing a sad poem/song type of thing. Primarily because I was feeling extremely frustrated over myself about something (I won't rant about it... -__- I usually never do...) so I decided to take it out by writing something extremely sad. :-| Then I have it attested by Mr. V (who tells me that it was good) and then decide to post it here... :)

Oh well... I was never good with poems, but I feel I have done well this time...

P.S. No one told me that I'd written is 2 times in one line... :-|

Monsoon Spirits - Part II

Please Read the first part (link below) before reading this part. Don't blame me for being vague or unclear this time... my mind just writes what it thinks without much explainations... >.<

This story is a continuation of Monsoon Spirits - Part I.
===================

"Akansha!!"
She fell on her knees and her forehead hit the train wall.
"Damn! What is going on here!!"  I went upto her and held her in my arms. I looked back at the red eyes.
'Bad news. I sense more of them coming.'
'More of who?' I put my thoughts back to her.
'The one who hijacked your girlfriend's soul.'
'Wha...'
And I look at some odd 15 people walking slowly towards me. And then I felt myself choking. My girlfriend was trying to strangle me with her lifeless eyes looking at me. I felt an opposing force grab me from behind. I swear I thought my neck was gonna tear apart like a piece of tissue paper, but luckily I and my girlfriend were hurled by the Red Eyed Woman out of the Metro Train. Upon landing on the station like sacks of rice, the grip on my neck loosened up a bit and I pulled her arm away from me. I struggled to find my breath and then looked up. The doors of the metro train had closed and moved ahead to it's next destination. But something was too obviously wrong. I didn't hear the sound of the train or the doors closing or even the sound of steel wheels moving over steel tracks. Something was obviously wrong and in pure desperation I first looked at my unconscious girlfriend and then looked towards the other girl with Red Eyes... Ah! it's annoying...
'What the heck is your name?'
'What would you do with my name?'
'Well... like I'm in no mood to refer you as - Oh! That annoying girl - right now.'
'For now, call me anything that you think suits me.'
'Red?'
She looked at me with here glaring red eyes and then smiled a bit. 'If that suits you... OK. So what did you want to ask?'
This woman was sharp. 'Well, for starters, what is going on. I can't hear any sound. There are no people around...'
'Maybe if you look a bit further off like towards the city, then you'll realize.'
'Huh?'
'Yes, go on. Look towards the city.'
I got up on my feet. My knees were still hurting as an after effect of Red's grab and throw action. I limped towards the railings to look out into the city. And I became more speechless and numb.
'Where are we?' was all I could think.
'It seems you understand now. This isn't the real world.'
'Where are we?' I repeated as I looked at the lifeless streets, empty buildings and parks. I couldn't see one person walking around.
'Something that's not real world.'
"FOR GOD'S SAKE JUST TELL ME WHERE THE HECK ARE WE?" I shouted at her in pure irritation. And then I suddenly felt my throat go numb. I didn't get it. Just what is going on here?
'You already know. If this isn't the real world, then either this is heaven or this is hell or maybe completely a new sub dimension created by the criminal spirit.'

I felt my whole body going numb now. I couldn't breath properly, I couldn't move my hands the way I was wanting to move them. It was a slow paralysis overcoming my whole body.
'Ah! You're in a pinch eh? Here, try and hold my hand.' Red stretched out her hand. I desperately tried to reach her hand but my breath was making it too difficult and my arms weren't moving the way I wanted them to. Was it moving at all? I don't know, but my vision was about to go blank when I thought I touched something. And then suddenly a rush of intense pain tore into me from my right hand to my whole body. It was as if  high pressure flow was trying to tear off my skin from underneath it. I thought my blood vessels were exploding but really, nothing was happening on the surface.  I was writhing in pain all over when I heard Red's voice. 'The Aura here in this dimension is toxic... at least for you. It went into you in large quantity when you screamed. So I just transferred some of my resistant energy into you, but it seems your body is trying to reject it. So here is my advice. Endure the pain if you want to survive this.'
After sometime the pain subdued or I felt that it subdued, so I was able to get up on my knees. I saw my girlfriend. I was breathless, but I managed to transmit my thought across to Red. 'What about her... is she OK?'
'She is not OK. Apart from being possessed by the spirit, she is even in this toxic environment and any form of protection won't work on her. We just have to wait and watch now.'
'What the...' I looked around me. No people, no sound and no change in the sunlight or daylight. I looked up at the clock that hangs down from every metro station. The minute hand didn't seem to move at all. As if time had stopped still.
'Red...'
'What?'
'What going to become of me or my girlfriend.'
'We have re-enforcements on way.'
'Am I gonna live?'
'You'll live, but can't say about her.'
I looked towards Akansha's unconscious body. I just didn't understand why would the spirit attack her. She was the most pure and innocent person I had ever met. She could do no wrong. And yet she was here unconscious and probably in pain just because she...

Something dawned to me. 'Just because her balance on the card was Rs. 99.90? This is absurd... downright silly.'
'Now you've started thinking eh?'
I was thinking. And as I thought, I dragged myself up to her body and started looking for her purse. It must have the card... maybe some clue as to where we must be. But there was no purse. Was it left back on the train? I then started searching in my pockets. I didn't have my wallet either.
'This may very well be the reason that why only the wallets with the metro cards in them were found. The attacked individuals had their body dragged out into this dimension and their metro card was left oouuuttt...' she slowed down on her last word. Her blood red eyes widened for a second. 'Hey! You... you check if there is any symbol for the Delhi Metro here in this station...'

'Huh?' I looked around. Indeed there weren't any symbols for the metro station throughout the station. Not even engraved in the concrete like it usually should be. By that time it seems that Red had already surveyed the whole area. She immediately came rushing to me... and kicked my chest with full force. I heard a terrible banging and cracking sound of crushing concrete. My senses were already numb with her anti-toxin treatment, so I didn't the pain of being kicked on the chest, but, I was desperately gasping for breath. I looked up towards where I should be if I hadn't been kicked. But there was a large crack and I could see Red desperately trying to defend herself from something by obstructing it with her two swords. I couldn't see who was attacking her. Suddenly she looked towards me and she shouted "LIE DOWN!!". I just obeyed and lay down. No sooner had I done that, I heard another cracking and banging sound from behind me. I could even feel the concrete dust hit my nape and head. "DAMN IT!!!" She shouted in even more desperation than before and then I don't know, or maybe I couldn't see what she did, but she made an extremely fast movement that resulted in some black ink like liquid splatter all over the floor and walls. The moment I saw this, I thought something cold was pricking the nape of my neck. And then a terrible gust of cyclonic wind surrounded me. I could only see a mix of black robes and silver steel go past me with a speed that must have caused the wind. And then I could feel something cold splash on my back. I slowly turned around to see that black ink surround me completely and Red breathing heavily as if she had no energy left.

She was still gasping for breath when she grabbed my wrists and said "Listen. I'll bring back your Girlfriend, but for now, you must leave this dimension. They are after you too..."
I had very little energy left in me to speak, so I continued to transmit my thoughts. 'Who is after me and how will you get me and Akansha out of this place?'
"Major explainations later, but right now, let me carve a Metro Symbol on you hands."
"Carve?"
"Yes, Carve."
"How?"
"With my sword."
"Huh? Hey wait. You can't do that right now..." saying that I pulled away my wrists.
"But let me do it. It's the only way out of this place for you."
"But what about Akansha? How will you bring her out then?"
"The same way as you but with a difference."
"I don't believe you. I don't believe..."
"Hey hey... I don't know why you won't believe me but this method will work and I will take both of you out of this place."
"But what if that spirit completely devours her. You won't bring her back then. You can't right?" I was getting desperate.
"She can only be devoured if the main spirit comes out."
"What if it comes out right now. Save Akansha first!"
"It won't come out that easily."
"Why?"
"Spirits don't have a brain do they?"
"Well..."
"See. This is a rather simple solution. Let's just do it."
"Bah! You don't know one thing about human emotion do you?" I didn't know I had that much energy left to verbally argue with her...
"I have plenty. Now just do as I say and I promise you won't be late for your next date."
I sighed. How did I get into this situation?

My senses were still weak for me to comprehend or remember things accurately. This time she forcefully pulled my arms towards her and started carving out a symbol on my wrists using her sword. She must have had excellent mastery over her sword because she drew a perfect circle of blood on my wrist followed by two parallel lines and a slash joining them. She drew a symbol of the Delhi Metro on my wrist drawing out my blood and I didn't feel the pain of having my skin cut either. That 6 seconds of my life felt the most unreal or surreal or any other word that would describe this situation. I still can never explain to anyone how unreal that felt at that time. But when she was done carving the Delhi Metro sign on my wrist, I suddenly felt an extreme pull... a pull so strong I felt as if I was some dirt been sucked by a vacuum cleaner. My vision distorted and blurred until I couldn't see anything and I had this extreme nauseating feeling. That was when I heard a voice. "Calm down! Calm Down! The Doctor will be there in a second... so please Calm down!"
I opened my eyes to see a nurse trying to pin me down with her slim and seemingly frail body. I instantly felt as if I had no power left in my body and simply flopped on the hospital bed. If there was some God out there, I had to sincerely thank him or her for protecting me. And if this was just a nightmare, then even more so.

=========================

I waved my friends goodbye from my room. It seems my mom and dad reserved a private ward for me. Can't trust those public beds for even once. Also, my girlfriend was in another hospital recovering. It turns out she is out of danger. Once all my friends left, I looked to my left where my Nemesis was waiting silently. "I'm amazed you can keep quiet for so long Red."
"It seems you are referring to my sister as Red I presume?"
"Heh?" I took a good look at her again. Yes, she looked a lot like my Nemesis, but I must confess... I too found it too strange that she was so quiet for such a long time (about an hour and half since she appeared in the room), and then she was in a completely different attire all together. She wore more traditional Chinese Japanese dress, and that would be the first time I would've seen her like this. Only that it wasn't Red, because she would always be in Jeans or Short Skirts. It was someone else. Good thing my friends couldn't see her. She then interrupted my train of thoughts.
"I'm the younger twin of the lady you are originally acquainted to. I deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused due to this confusion."
"No. Please don't apologize. There was no such inconvenience." I instinctively replied in a very formal and soft tone.
"If that is the case, then that relives me tremendously."
Yes. This version of my Nemesis was far more polite, soft spoken and sensitive of the person before her.
"So, what is your name? And if possible, what is your sister's name?"
"My name is Ai. I believe you must already know my sister's name."
"Not really. I only called her Red yesterday cause she simply refused to tell me her real name."
"I... I see. I'm sorry for my sister's rude behavior..." she paused and bowed slightly. Was she becoming uncomfortable? "... but you see, you two must have been in a situation where telling your real names must have been risky. Like... like soul-jacking and stuff happens because of it."
Yes. I could feel she was becoming uncomfortable.
"Well, the situation was pretty bad, so I think it was great that she did her best to not jeopardize the situation any more that what it was already."
She look towards me and then smiled slightly. "Thank You for understanding her situation. It relieves me to know that you two get along well. I feel I can tell you her real name. It is Enma."
Enma? Odd name. Was it Chinese? But I put my thoughts for a later time "Ah! Yes. Of course we do get along... though we get along in a different way, but yes... we get along pretty well." I said. I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. "So. Why are you here? Where is your sister? I was sure it should be her who'd come and pester me."
"I'm extremely sorry If I'm pestering you." she had a concerned expression on her face.
"Ah! No. Not you. I mean... it's my way to show my... err... friendliness to your sister."
"I... I see... well. You see, it was my sister who originally sent me here. She is currently recuperating from her injuries caused in the latest case. She couldn't come herself, but told me to come saying that you may have questions that I or she can answer." she said in a muted but rushed tone.
"Well... I do have questions... and a lot of them. So just tell me everything from beginning to end about this matter. Who were the spirits? Why they were attacking passengers or my girlfriend? What had metro cards or symbols had to do with this? Why Rs. 99.90 was particularly targeted?"
"I'll try my best to answer all your question with the best of my ability."
"Well then please. I'm dying to know all this."
"Well... first of all... the attackers weren't really spirits but something that you may understand as vampires."
"Vampires? You mean like Count Dracula."
"Count Dracula was really a mortal who wished to become a vampire. But a real vampire is a lot different from what you know from the Twilight saga."
"Twilight? You actually read Stephenie Meyer?"
"Yes. And I like her books. They are nice and sweet don't you think?"
"I'd rather not talk about this right now... Please continue with the Metro case." I clearly didn't want to criticize her choice of books... which by my standards isn't too good.
"So. These Vampires are special. They can't exist in our dimension and can gain significant amount of constructive or destructive power by consuming human blood and souls. Thus they began abducting humans from this dimension. However, they didn't have a method to enter this dimension on their own accord. They however could rupture and break in if a Magical code was place in the real world. That magical code turned out to be 9990. The dot between 99 and 90 in turn amplified this rupture. However, the only people who could detect space time ruptures is me and one other person. So no one in the agency was able to know.  Once those vampires made their way in they found they couldn't take the people in metro with them to their dimension. Logically they should be able to but something was causing an eventual rejection of beings in that dimension. It turns out that the Delhi Metro symbol is a seal of protection against their dimensional leaps. If you carry a symbol on the card or token, you'll be protected from being abducted into their world. So the vampire entities simply discarded the item with the symbol and carried out the abduction. Initially they didn't act in day time on crowded areas because it would be detected immediately and a cover up would require a lot of energy. This time though, they decided to speed up their gathering process by using previously collected energy to do the cover up. They could also puppeteer some individuals by turning some power energy into Prana - a form of energy used to sustain familiars."
"That clears up a lot of things." I lean back at the pillow. "There are still a few things left. Why is their dimension toxic to me? How did my girlfriend survive this without that damned anti-toxin treatment?"
"About that... well. You see, the good things is that your girlfriend wasn't that badly exposed. Nee-san acted quickly to bail her out of that place, but she was attacked by a lot of those vampires and got injured. It's not so serious, but still, it's the first time in a long time I've seen her like this. However, there is a bad thing too."
"What?" I was having a feeling something really bad was gonna be told to me, cause Ai now made a very difficult expression. She looked away and said "In order to normalize the state of your girlfriend's soul and body, we had to apply a procedure that uses up her life force. She may now not live as long as she is fated to."
I gulped a knot down my throat. "How much has she lost?"
"About one and half to two years."
I sighed. It didn't sound as bad. "At least she'll live to be over sixty?"
"I don't have the ability to feel life force let alone tell age. I can only feel space and dimensions. Maybe Nee-san can help you with this. I'll let her know when she gets all better."
I sigh again. "And how come the vampires didn't try to possess me? All they did was use my girlfriend to try and strangle me."
"That may be because..." she took a brief pause and then suddenly looked at me. "... because you are not a normal human being. You may be someone with a free soul."
"Free soul? I don't get you."
"A Free soul is detached from fate and is not bound to any dimension unlike normal souls. Thus there are no direct methods to access your soul by magic. Hacking the mind may be one way to control you, but hacking minds is too risky for the hacker. So ultimately, anything in this world will be unable to possess you, but may be able to affect you by altering your surroundings or environment."
"I am so not understanding this... but if I'm detached from dimensions and all, how did I get into that other world in the first place?"
"You didn't let go of your girlfriend when the attackers switched dimensions. Also, I believe onee-san threw the two of you out of the Metro train?"
"Yes..." I was trying not to recall it. "... Rather brutally."
"That must have caused your wallet to fall into the Metro Train. So you easily went into the other dimension."
Things now became clearer than before. I kind of understood what happened but personally, I still didn't understand what did she mean by me having a free dimensionless soul. I feel I still haven't understood a lot of things and yet, there are still even more that is yet to seep into me. Right now, the after effect of that "Unreal" experience has rendered my mind comfortably numb. I understood the whole situation, but I didn't or couldn't feel the impact of it on me or my life. Maybe I will in two days... but until then I'm waiting for my mother to bring me some hot chicken soup and I'm hoping that my girlfriend will get better soon. She too is good at making warm stuff meant for patients like me.

Ai Kept standing on her place and left another 20 minutes later, after politely bowing and bidding me a formal goodbye.


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Author's Note
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Yay!!! Finally completed this so called horror story. But you know I'm not one bit scared after reading this so I doubt this actually is a horror story. Maybe it's another one of my unconscious mix matches.
Well, this time I italicized all the dialogs between characters because a lot of telepathic transmission was going on between them.

And Finally, I've yet again failed to write a short story that is short enough by blogger standards. If you've read both parts then thank you for reading my story. :) The fact you're reading up to this part makes me happy... :)

P.S ::> Just noticed. This post is posted on 9th... T_T Damn... I wanted to post it within the 8th of this month.