The Obscure Consciousness (Part 2)
Checkout Part 1 here
It’s been many days since Akutra encountered that mysterious being. He was still trying to figure out the power which was told to be given to him. All he knew was the power was related to some force that he could exert on any matter, maybe control them. But no matter how hard he concentrated he was not able to use this power. Now every day instead of meditating, he was involved in figuring out how to use the powers — starting with trying to control a small feather. He tried this for weeks but could not move the feather with his mind, far from controlling it. Frustrated he stopped trying and tried to convince himself that all of this was indeed just a dream.
One day Akutra was strolling through the park. Suddenly he heard a loud blast from away. Seeing up he saw a small plane whose engine seems to be broken, and it was coming towards the park at high speed. Many thoughts ran through his brain, and his hand automatically pointed towards the plane and it seemed like he was trying to control it. This was it, this was the trigger point to Akutra’s power. He slowed down the plane and the landing happened smoothly. A minor pain in his head was caused but it went away quickly. All praises went to the pilots. But Akutra now knew, what he is capable of with these powers. He remembered the last words of the mysterious being, “giving Earth a fair chance to be saved”. And he has to use these powers carefully to save Earth. From that day onwards he explored his abilities and tried to control them in a checked manner, not to strain his brain.
The world today is chaotic, every day there is news of some mishap. With Akutra’s power, everything could be solved. But Akutra is confused about when to use his power. His power comes with a price, it has a severe impact on his brain and body. Akutra thought of the bigger picture and remembered the words of the mysterious being, to save the earth. But save from what? There are many threats to Earth — climate, war, asteroids, pandemics, etc, most of which are caused directly or indirectly by humans. He had a vague thought of becoming a guardian of Earth. But to manage humans is hard. Even though his intentions are good, the world will only perceive him as a tyrant. So he discarded this thought. He started to learn more about the possible dangers on Earth.
The world was getting more and more chaotic. There was a possible war going to start between two nuclear nations, which would seriously affect the whole world if they decided to use their nuclear arsenal. Akutra thought he might be late and he had to act quickly before humans destroy themselves and Earth. He planned to reveal his powers, hoping the people will listen and understand him and the rules he will set to define a proper order for Earth. The next day he decided to go to a place where he could attract the whole media, and what better place would be there than the president’s house? There are always media outside the building, Akuta just had to attract them. Akutra had tried different things with his powers, one thing he unlocked was the ability to fly, controlling his matter to glide. So he hovered himself above the president’s building. After some time he got people’s attention and within a few minutes, there was a plethora of news personnel and police vehicles surrounding the building. The people were curious but also prepared. They had never seen something like this, a man flying!! Akutra grabbed a mic and started to speak — “My name is Akutra, I am here to tell you all that Earth poses a great threat and I have been chosen to mitigate all those things which might be a threat. I declare myself as the guardian and protector of Earth, and as a guardian, I would like to make some amendments. Rules will be imposed to make Earth sustainable and future-proof. Starting with the abolishment of all ongoing wars and the demolition of all weapons of destruction.” All over the world people and world leaders were listening to this. And humans of all creatures do not like being ruled. After hearing the words of Akutra, world leaders instantly had a meeting, they discarded Akutra’s words immediately and thought Akutra could be a threat to humanity. Never a person with so much power had done something good. And they don’t even know what is Akutra’s true motive. So they decided to capture him using military force.
Akutra was waiting outside the president’s building hoping to have a conversation with the leaders. But instead, he saw a convoy of military vehicles coming toward him. He was surprised to see this, he suspected the military is here to resist him. He did not want any violence. The military approached him and made a circle around the building. The general stepped forward and start speaking into the mic — “Whoever is you, you have breached the law, surrender immediately”. Akutra replied — “I am here for a greater motive, the leaders have to understand, or else there will be severe consequences”. The general gave the final warning — “Surrender or we will open fire”. Akutra stood firm in his position. The military encircled him and with their assault rifle started firing towards him. At that moment Akutra had several thoughts coming to his mind, he could fly away from all these, or he could retaliate. But retaliation would mean going against humans. But if this would help in future objectives, then he has to take this tough decision, a little sacrifice for the greater good. Akutra deflected all the bullets with a minor eye blink. He then took control of all the guns and pointed to back to their respective users.
Meanwhile, the government was doing a background check on Akutra. His parents were dead in a car crash long ago. All he had was his grandmother who lived in the countryside not far from the capital. The officials had already reached there and took her to a secret place for some interrogation. Akutra on the other hand was a click away to execute all the military personnel in front of him. The general was in the back of the formation, he had to save his boys from this. He shouted through the mic — “ Drop these weapons, we have your grandmother”. Akutra was infuriated after hearing this, he never thought they would bring his innocent grandmother into this, she did not even know anything. Akutra immediately flew toward his hometown. There he did not find his grandmother. The calm and sane Akutra was becoming agitated and angry. And this become worst when he saw two fighter jets roaming above him. They were ready to engage. They fired missiles toward Akutra. He stopped them in mid-air and with equal force reverted toward the jets. The jets exploded and Akutra had his first kills. Akutra flew away to search for his grandmother. The government officials on the other hand were panicking, by destroying those jets he had declared war. The other nations also came to support the war.
They would not have taken Akutra’s grandmother far in such a short time. Akutra was scanning through all the suspected places nearby. In one of these places, the officials were interrogating his grandmother. Akutra’s grandmother was in her 80s and she was very fragile. She was tensed seeing all these people around her. One of the officials asked her, “How your grandson obtained such powers?”. Another one shouted — “Is he from a different planet?”. She was getting nervous and didn’t know what to say. The officials repeated these questions again and again. This causes a panic attack for the 80-year-old and she was not able to breathe. The people there quickly escorted her to the ambulance. Meanwhile, Akutra was flying past some deserted buildings and saw an ambulance exiting. It was peculiar so he decide to have a check. He stopped the Ambulance with his powers. He saw his Grandmother lying still inside the ambulance. The heart monitor was showing a flat line. She passed away a few minutes ago. Akutra did not want to believe his eyes. He screamed sorrowfully, which trembled the people and the officials nearby. They immediately called for backup. Akutra destroyed the building nearby with just his hand gestures. The backup arrived with the army troops, tanks, and all the modern weapons humanity had seen. Dozens of jets were flying above. The motive of the operation was to capture Akutra dead or alive. Hundreds of bullets and tank shells fired toward him. He stopped them before reaching and the bullets fell like dead leaves. Other nation also joins hand and send their troops. By the looks, it seems neither party was ready to surrender and this war would not end soon. Akutra was using his power to its full potential. He was dodging attacks and at the same time reverting with full force to the thousands of sources that were striking him. Days passed, and humans faced a lot of damage thousands were dead and injured. Akutra also faced serious repercussions, his brain and body were wearing off. He could not handle it anymore. He never thought he would have to use his power to this extent. All he wanted was peace and keeping the earth safe. All these things were coming to his mind. On the other hand, humans were not backing off. They were constantly giving Akutra a tough time. His body grew fragile and his defense and attacks were becoming feeble. He could not take it, he used whatever energy he had left to flee from there.
Weeks passed, and there was no sign of Akutra anywhere. The government had appointed a search task force, but even they could not find him. They had won this war. The presidents and prime ministers of nations praised the heroic efforts of those who died in the war and announced severance packages for the family of the deceased. And after a few weeks, the world becomes normal and everybody resumed their normal routine as if nothing ever happened. On the other end Akutra was having an enormous pain in his body and mind, he had overused his powers. He had fled towards the north and hid in the mountains far from any human beings. His body had become fragile. He was somehow surviving. To control his pain he started meditating again, back to the basics. He did not want to die not just yet, he knew he was chosen for something important. This gives him hope to live.
Months passed as Akutra wandered through the mountains. His condition had improved a little bit, but still, it is nowhere near his fit state. He is now afraid of using his powers, if he does it would be his end. While wandering through the mountains he saw a small village in the valleys. He was tired and decided to stay in the village. He got acquainted with the village tribe, they seemed good people. Akutra stayed in a small abandoned hut. Slowly he was adopting the tribes’ lifestyle. He started teaching the children of the village. He was in peace, he forgot about the world outside.
Meanwhile, in space research offices across the world, there was panic among people. Scientists have tracked down a large asteroid about 50 km in diameter and its trajectory is passing through Earth and will hit Earth in 48 hrs. And if collided it would mean the complete annihilation of all life forms on Earth. Governments around the world were figuring out ways to avoid this calamity. Within a few hours, the military spawned their missile rockets, hoping to change the trajectory of the asteroid by hitting them. But to hit that with so much accuracy is a hard task, and even if it hit also, the outcome is unknown. Several rockets were launched toward the asteroid. Most of it did not hit properly and those that hit were not strong enough to change its trajectory. The scientists also confirmed through their simulations that this is unavoidable. The current arsenal of weapons and rockets is not enough to stop the asteroid. Less than 10 hrs were left for the collision. It had come so close that the people could see a spot in the sky. Every news channel had this picture. Finally, the officials also announced — “An asteroid is coming towards Earth, which is likely to collide, Stay inside your houses and be safe”. The bureaucrats and the rich flew to the other side of the Earth “the non-impact side” and hid inside bunkers, hoping to reduce the effects of the asteroids on them. There was chaos in the rest of the world.
Akutra was teaching the village children in his hut, and suddenly one elder member of the village came with a radio in his hand, where they have announce this event. Akutra panicked and went outside to see a large asteroid. It had come even closer. As the Earth is rotating the asteroid was not there last day. Several thoughts were coming to Akutra’s mind — “So this is it, this the Mysterious Being was talking about, that will destroy the earth”. At that moment Akutra froze, he was confused, what can he do to stop this? He was not sure that he even wanted to stop this. He had to use all his powers that were left. And he knew this will kill him. Did he want to sacrifice himself for all these people, who killed his grandmother and tried to kill him also? But there are good people too, the village where he was living accepted him and gave him a place called home. And like them, many people have good hearts and they deserve a chance. After all these thoughts, he flew toward the asteroid to stop it and change its trajectory. He was not sure if he would be able to do that. He concentrated all his energy on the object. His brain veins were popping out. He held his hands toward the asteroid and it looked like he was pushing it. He was experiencing an enormous pain in his body. He was losing consciousness and he was so high up in the sky that he was not able to breathe properly. He moved even closer to the asteroid which was literally in space. He prepared himself mentally for one final strike. With all his force he flew towards the asteroid and pushed it. This deviated the path of the asteroid and it changed its trajectory slightly which was good enough to avoid its collision with Earth. At this moment his entire life flashes before his eyes. He could see his body burning. And within a matter of seconds, his consciousness left. All that was left was a half-deformed body floating in the vast space. On Earth people were in joy. There was no proper explanation of how this happened. Everyone believed God had saved them. There was celebration all around the world. People greeted and hugged their loved ones. Earth was back to normal once again.
Akutra woke up and there was a smoke-like figure in front of him. It was the mysterious being. It said — “So you saved Earth”. Akutra asked — “Am I dead? Where am I?”. The mysterious being replied — “Of course, you are dead. And it’s kind of hard to explain where you are. In short you are part of my consciousness now. It is similar to a dream for you”. So am I stuck here, with no physical form no body just pure thought asked Akutra. Physical form is just the thought’s manifestation told the mysterious being. I know you have so many questions, and we have a lot of time you’ll get everything slowly. Anyways there are several more planets that need help and deserve a “fair chance”. Prepare yourself for the work. Akutra still couldn’t believe all that had happened. It all seems like a long dream, maybe it is, thought Akutra.