The Guardian of Soul

In the Thought

(Disclaimer - Used the image of The power Within  from Google image search)

Chapter - 1

The Guardian of  Soul

It was a hot afternoon but the cool breeze from the sea was nullifying its effect. Harish stood on the sand and gazed at the waves of sea and tried to concentrate on the sound it made. The soaring sound of the waves was trying to prove its mighty and made him feel how inferior he is in front of it. It has been a long day for him, the old man is gone, the only one whom he called family. It was inevitable, his grandfather was suffering a lot in the death bed. It was all well that he left but for Harish it was another loss in addition. One by one life has stanched everything which was near to him and all he had was the feeble old man, but his last mortal remains are in the process of mingling with the five elements at the Swargdwara.

'Come Harish, let's go, the old man has become past, and you are the present and you have a future. Moreover the funeral party has dispersed' said Mukunda with compassion to his grieving friend.

'Mukunda, will you, give me some time. I want to be here for a while' requested Harish.

'Never feel alone, I am there, my family is there....'

'I, Know..I Know.  I am just trying to give away some thoughts of the old man... I will join you in the evening'

Harish never knew how his parents were, had never seen him, it was his grandfather who raised him all these years. It was few days before the old fell seriously ill, that was on Harish's  20th birthday. The old man was both happy and restless, they both prepared a good dinner and after the food, the old man calmly said,

'I have done my duty to make a man out of you. Its time, I should leave'

'I will not let you leave, Buddha. You are still young', Harish replied.

'You Scoundrel, One moment you call me Buddha and yet tell me I am still young'

'Ok, Toka!!'

'Ha ha, 90 year Toka......Ha! Toka.' The old man became serious.

'Son, Its time, I should reveal a secret'

'What!, about some hidden treasure!...' Remarked Harish jokingly.

'Treasures are no good for our kinds, It is of no value.'

'Our Kinds?!'

'Yes, our Kinds! we are human like, But not humans, we are representatives of Anadi, The Eternal'

.....We are the Guardians of souls....'

Harish couldn't understand what old man is speaking about, fully perplexed he asked,

'Guardian of souls?!'

'Yes'

'What Guardian of souls do?'

'We are assigned to guard special souls who are sent by God for some great cause. When the cause is finished, the soul attains eternity and mingles with The divine'

'Then what does the Guardian of the soul do? Does it also mingles with the divine?'

'No, they are assigned to nurture a young Guardian to maturity, as I did for you.'

'To whom you guarded and what was the cause?'

'You will get to know about it near future, only thing I can tell you that I was Guardian to your Father'

'If I am born of my parents who are normal human beings, How come I am not humanlike, and  a Guardian?'

'A Guardian is born from the union of a human and a Guardian'

'My mother was a Guardian of Soul too !'

 'Yes' The old man pause for a moment and said 'Let the bud become the flower of its own, then only it will reveal its real beauty. Boy, You will get to know everything, every bit but in its actual time'

'Grandpa! It seem the world around me has transformed to a magical world at this moment. I am pondering, to believe it or not. Do the Guardian possesses extra human power?' Harish asked.

'Yes we do. You also have those powers'

'How come I don't not know about it yet?'

'A Guardian can know about his powers when he realizes it, and he only can use it to protect or help the soul he or she is guarding'

'To whom I shall Guard'

"Even I don't know, All I know You will meet your soul to guard on the day I will leave this mortal shelf, The day I will die. And it is near'

Sitting on the sand and facing to the sea, Harish was doubtful about his future. He was not sure that he will meet somebody to whom he is going to guard. At that time he felt helpless, as if he is the one who needed an guardian. It was a moment of irony for him.

He stood up and looked back to the funeral ground and he could see the faint smoke from the brunt pyre of his grandfather was mingling with atmosphere. Again he looked at the sea but this time the vastness of the sea, seemed welcoming to him as if it is saying 'Dear the whole world is yours'. Then he started moving towards north on the beach itself.

The sun was setting on the western sky and the eastern horizon of on sea started becoming darker. The beach was filled with people and hawkers. For Harish it was as if he was slowly coming out of a dream world and mingling with the real world. He could see people enjoying the dusk ambiance at the sea beach, playing with the waves and taking photographs. At times he has to change his path or pause for a moment to allow photographers to click images and then continue along the beach. From the time he has started he must have walked a kilometre or so. As he was walking ahead, suddenly from the crowd a couple approached him, to click photograph for them.

'You have to click the White button' hurriedly the man said to Harish and posed with the woman he was accompanying, 'Ok you can click now'

'Ok', Said Harish as he focused the camera on the couple.

'Ok'

Harish Clicked the White button. There was a flash, it was unusual. The camera yielded so much of light that it almost made everything white for a fraction of second. Strange camera ! Harish thought. Then went ahead to return the asset to its owner. What!, The Hell!. The couple have become statues. He looked around it is not the couple alone everyone has become still, even the waves of the sea.

What is happening to him, has he gone mad or so. He slapped himself on the face. He was about to give another hard blow, he heard a voice from behind.

'Stop hurting yourself Harish, It is all real, I have made the time pause for a moment, to  just let you know something you are longing to listen.

It was just a voice from nowhere. Harish bluntly asked, 'Who are you?'

The voice replied, 'didn't your Grandfather told about me'

'You, The eternal, Anadi?'

'Smart Boy!, listen Son, now onwards your super human powers will be unfolded, You can only use it to guard the Soul to whom I will assign you.'

'Who?'

'She is just near you'

 'Who?' Asked Harish Again.

'The woman of whom you just took the photograph'

'The couple!'

'They are no Couple'

'You 1st task is to protect her from the man'

'The man with her?'

'Yes Him'

'Do I have to kill him'

'When I told of killing? Just protect her. If Anything you want to ask me, do it quickly. Every second paused , is 100 times past in real-time '

'May I know about The Cause'

'You will get to know, remember The Bud and the Flower, when it is time it will blossom. Ok now you go back to real time. Its more than two minutes'

Once again there was a flash of light.

It was all dark at the sea beach.  There were few people here and there at beach. Harish Stood perplexed. He frantically looked everywhere. The couple were also nowhere to found. 3 to 4 hours must have passed. How to find that woman, Harish thought. All he had of them is the camera.

Harish remembered of the photograph he clicked. He switched on the camera. he could manage to find the last clicked Image on the camera display. When he saw the woman in the photograph, he could as if remember or rather saw where she went. He could see....

After the flash. The couple stared searching of him. The man looked here and there, He was annoyed and swearing words. Then they both straight way went to the police station and gave an FIR at the nearby police station for their missing camera. There they described Harish features, camera details and gave their contact. And he could realise they were staying in a hotel nearby. At first instant he thought to go to the hotel straight. But to make the things more practical and feasible he thought of going to the police station instead.

After getting out of the beach on the adjacent marine road of Puri, Harish took an auto rickshaw to the nearby police station.

'Sir, I found this camera on the beach', Said Harish as he handed over the camera to the police officer.

'Found or Stole Boy?', tell the truth asked the police officer.

'Why shall I steal, if I would have stolen, why would I have paid a visit here', Replied Harish politely.

'Don't behave smart. I Know of ways to make you speak the truth', said the police rudely.

'I know of only this truth. If you think you can make your version of story by forcing me then I have my rights!' Said Harish with added courage.

'Hey! What's going on.' The real inspector of the station shouted from the back.

'Sir, we have found the boy who have stolen the camera of the couple', the constable said as he rose up and saluted his officer and said to Harish, ' Hey boy, Go to Sir'

'Good Evening Sir!'

'Hmm, Sit on the chair' as he indicated Harish to take the seat across the table.

'Thank You Sir'

'Where you found the camera?'

'Sir, on the beach'

'Why you came to return it?, You could have kept it'

'It is not mine, it belong to some others'

'of whom?'

'Of the couple' Harish replied on the flow.

'Of the couple?, How you know of the couple, if you found it on the beach?'

Harish felt crossed, He paused for a moment and said, 'Sir actually the couple approached me for clicking a photograph for them, I did ,but after I took the photograph, they all of a sudden vanished'

'Vanished?!'

'Yes, Vanished'

'The couple also told you vanished, after clicking their photograph. Either you are telling lies or they are'

' Sir I am an innocent man and I have came all the way here in search of them to return the camera' Said Harish politely.

'Ok, Let me call them here.' said the inspector and asked the constable to make a call to the couple.

'Boy, You have to wait here till they arrive, have you taken any food?' asked the inspector

'Sir I am ok. I will wait'

After an hour or so only the man arrived. When he saw Harish. He straightway said to the inspector.

'Sir, superb! you caught the boy!'

'No, we have not caught him, He came here voluntarily to give this camera. He told you vanished'

'There was pretty large crowd, we must have lost each other'

Then you withdraw your complaint against this boy!' asked the inspector to the man.

'yes sir!'

'Can I have my Camera?'

'Sure, here it is' The police inspector handed the camera to the man.

The man grabbed the camera and securely kept in his bag ad Said to the inspector

' Thank you.'

'Thank the boy', Said the inspector as he indicated toward Harish.

'Thank you! thank you for getting me back my camera', said the man as he looked at Harish.

Harish gestured a smile.

' Is your wife in the hotel?' asked the inspector to the man as wrote something on the register.

'Yes , yes ..she is?' replied the man.

Harish could sense the man was telling lies.

'Boy, you can go now', said the inspector to Harish.

Harish went  out of the police station. He could realize his power of penetrating the mind of others.

He saw the man had actually drugged, the woman and she is laying unconscious in the hotel room. He became restless, he wished that he could fly to the spot and help her any way.  In the mean time the man came out of the station and got into a car and went. Harish ran towards the car and all of a sudden he realised he could fly up in the air. He flew above the car.

'What a magical experience', Harish thought.

The car was pulled over before the hotel. Harish landed himself at a dark corner near the building. The man came out of the car and started dialing some number in the his mobile. Harish could hear the conversation.

'The parcel is in the room. Take it said the man from this side

'Why you went to the police station?' came voice from other side

'My Camera was lost'

'you could have been in trouble'

'I would have been even in more trouble If would have lost it'

'Explain'

'I'll, but when I will meet you personally'

'Ok, I am sending my man'

Within a minutes a man came and they both went inside the hotel. It seemed the hotel officials are also involved in the crime.

 Harish closely followed their movements. Then he flew up the sea facing balcony of the room the woman was laying unconscious.

They were about to carry the woman. But same moment Harish wished the time be paused as it happened earlier in the evening. It happened, One by one slowly Harish  was getting the grip of his powers. It is all his thoughts guiding the process.

All were in still form. Harish carried the woman in his shoulder and snatched the bag which contained the camera from the man who was standing still with open eyes. He knew he cannot hold the moment for long time as it has strong impact in real time. He called out the spell as he came out of the hotel. And he flew up in the air rescuing the woman- Her Soul he was supposed to guard.

 End of Chapter 1