Ninety six years has passed by since he came here. The fact that he lived ninety six years would be considered a record, back home. Pandora is my home now, he said to himself. He let out a big sigh and walked towards the private garden of his. He then plucked the only flower that blooms here, a red rose, smiling while doing so. He wanted to surprise Raji, his best friend, ever since he came here. This is the day, he thought.
He had already made the two rings, with the only hard metal that you can find here –Adamantium. But, no one knew that he had brought a few grams of gold when he left home. The artisan, who made this ring, offered up to 2 billion credit for the 8 gram gold, but Ashok refused. He knew Raji had a special kind of likeness for that yellow color metal. It would look lovely – the gold plated Adamantium, on Raji’s little fingers!
The last one he wanted was her favorite book. He knows she likes a lot of books, he even thought of buying one of her favorite books “The Divine Comedy”. But, there is one other book that she likes the most. It was written by someone like Marquis err… or is it Marquez? Before he could ponder his head further, the alarm blared. The book has to wait, Ashok thought. It’s time to hunt more hammerhead Titanotheres.
One of the main problem with the Titanotheres is, they cannot be killed by the Rheinmetall RMK30, because their skull is just too thick. Rheinmetall RMK30, let’s just call it RRMK30, one of the best recoil-less rifle, is the highest form of weapon allowed here. That is lethal too. It is also present in almost all the home here. Reason – as you guessed, there are a lot of Titanotheres, Thanator and Viperwolves.
When these animals breach the border of river Stynx, an alarm is made to the prolific hunters. They would have one hour to assemble at the hunting point, which is the only way inside the city. Wasting no time, Ashok took the Tachi and RRMK30 and rushed towards his vehicle. Tachi, by the way is the only way to kill a Titanotheres.
The helium powered automatic Argo, was running at about eighty miles an hour. Ashok was addressing the passengers, “This is not a drill, gentlemen. This is what you’ve been trained for. Now, I know most of you guys are not used to hunt. Atleast, not a Titanotheres. Use the RRMK30 only on the legs of the Titanotheres. Yes, on all the four front legs. That will slow them down. Tachi will be provided to you when we reach the hunting point. Do not test the sharpness of it. Remember your biology lessons. Tachi is the only sword that will pierce the skull of Titanotheres. When you have the Tachi and you have slowed the Titanotheres, go for the brain. Either you kill Titanotheres or it kills you.”
They reached the hunting point and were soon taking positions. The sound of the Titanotheres running mad was so clear. Ashok turned and saw Sanjay, who was sweating like he just took a shower. “Master your courage, Sanjay” Ashok patted on his back and looked for anyone else running scared. Almost all of them were afraid of the Titanotheres. ‘They should be afraid. Fear of death is the most motivating thought for one to live’ he thought.
The hunting point, more looked like a baseball stadium, only bigger in length. As soon as the animals rushed towards the entry gate, the only one for the city, people fired at will. While the Thanator and Viperwolves were taken down by the RRMK30, the same weapon slowed the Titanotheres. There were only six Titanotheres, so Ashok and another senior hunter Rishank, charged in the field. They both know where the brains of Titanotheres exactly are, and with ease, they jumped up on them and sent the Tachi right through the skull. With only one Titanotheres left, Ashok’s sword was stuck in the skull of the last Titanotheres he killed.
The last one, charged towards Ashok. Realizing he don’t have the Tachi to kill it, he jumped down from the killed Titanotheres and started running for the gate. Rishank, watching this, but unable to help because the Titanotheres had already crossed him. It’s difficult to get on top of it when it already crossed you – the only good chance of getting on top of Titanotheres is when it is running towards you.
Ashok quickly got on top of the gate, searched for anyone who has a Tachi. But, almost all of them were at the other side of the gate, still firing at the remaining Viperwolves. He looked at Rishank, still at the field, unable to think of what to do next. Ashok quickly shouted, “Rishank, throw your Tachi on his stomach!” He knew that, stomach is the only area where the bones are so deep that the Tachi would just create a flesh wound. It will also be quicker to remove the sword from there. As soon as Rishank’s Tachi went inside the stomach, Titanotheres slowed further and bent a little more, while still running. Ashok quickly jumped on it, from the gate, removed the Tachi from its stomach and sent it right inside the brain, not from the top, but from the bottom and slide out of it, inches before it collapsed on the ground.
It took another twenty more minutes to kill all the animals. Only one casualty was found, a young hunter died trying to kill a Viperwolf. Ashok was collecting all the blood stained Tachi, yelling “Good job, folks!” Some of them were used to kill Thanators and Viperwolves as well – you can’t aim RRMK30 when they are so close to you. When he finished collecting all the Tachi, he looked at the sky, as he always do after a fight. A VAAC, was piercing through the brightly lit blue sky. “Too late, guys” he said.
~———~
Raji knew that Ashok was not home. He should be busy fighting the animals. She had told him numerous time to quit the hunter job, but he insisted that it is for the safety of her and all the other people that he care about. He always know how to shut me up, she thought. He’d be coming home tired, so she decided to make him a cup of blue milk that he loves. As she walked closer towards his home, she couldn’t help but admire the beauty of it.
She stood there, near the big tree and waited a few more seconds to admire the house. Ashok had said that he wanted his home to be exactly like the one he had seen in an image back home. He was so specific with the details that the builders were bewildered he would soon take over their job! The thought created a smile on her lips and she moved closer to his home. The yellowish lights on the inside made it look a little haunting, but she was not afraid.
As she started boiling the blue milk, she thought about why Ashok always compared her love as ‘haunting’. “The thoughts about you are haunting me, Raji” he would declare now and then. ‘Haunting is not a bad thing, Raji’ he would explain ‘it just means you are persistently and disturbingly present in my mind all the time’. He really knows how to shut me up, she thought once again.
Ashok had a little more time before it gets dark after the formalities were over, so he headed right to the book shop. When the angry Titanotheres was running for him, it made a twitch in his brain and made him remember the book Raji loved the most, “One Hundred years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He opened the book, folded the pages from the center in such a way, it formed a heart. Inside the heart, he placed a note “I stopped hunting. Will you haunt me for the rest of my life?”
~———~
“Ashok is becoming more and more famous” declared the lieutenant Vineeth “everyone in the city will vote for him if he decides to run for the Mayor.”
“He is right, Mr. Mayor. You have to do something about it” said General Ashish, backing up his lieutenant. The three of them had been the partners. They had done things that is not supposed to be done even back home.
“What did he do this time?”
“He lead a fourteen member squad, out of which twelve of them were inexperienced in today’s breach. It is one of the biggest breach too! And he still managed to kill all the animals, with only one casualty.”
“What do you suggest we do to take care of this Ashok?” asked the Mayor. With a cruel smile, General started explaining his plan.
~———~
As Raji and Ashok were walking towards the hundred year old church of Andromeda, Raji couldn’t help but smile all the time. Her lifelong best friend is going to be her husband. And, he quit the hunter job too, just because she requested it! She would never forget how he proposed her. The thought brought more smile to her, making her cheek go all rose. Ashok was equally happy, but was impatient. He just wanted to be her husband now. But this age old groupies who call themselves the ‘fathers’ have a lot of ceremonies to finish.
As the ceremony continued, Ashok was smiling and acknowledging the wishes from the crowd. His thoughts drifted back and ofcourse, he couldn’t take the words from Sanjay seriously though. “I heard the politicians are afraid of your popularity, Ashok. They may try something at your wedding” he had said. ‘Almost all of my friends and the ones who I care about are here’, Ashok thought. He had earlier seen General Ashish and Lieutenant Vineeth casing this place. He knew they both were kind of a right hand for the Mayor. ‘No, I’m just thinking too much’ Ashok consoled himself.
The ‘fathers’ were rigorously shouting what seemed to be the verse from the holy ‘Book of Ymir‘. Ashok had little faith in religion, but Raji seemed to be having a lot of faith in it. That is also the reason to choose this hundred year old church, otherwise he’d have preferred his own home! He remembered how they had debate on Ymir whether he’s just a man or a God. It will go on and on! Raji surprisingly had a lot of opinion on God which Ashok himself wasn’t aware.
While Ashok drifted into the old memories, his hands and heads subconsciously acknowledging the wishes from the crowd, a hired gun was spraying the acetone around the church. His usual choice was always methyl, but the person who hired him was so adamant that he use acetone. The chance of survival when using acetone is almost zero! This city is going to lose a lot of people today was his thought. Once he was finished, he removed the uniform with that famous fertilizer company name in it, sprayed some more acetone in it and lighted a match.
Ashok’s day dream was cut short by the gasps and screams he heard. Just as he feared, he saw the fire broke out of nowhere. Ashok knew that it is not an accidental fire immediately, as the fire surrounded the church completely, leaving no exit path. Sanjay’s earlier words on his life threat echoed on Ashok’s ears. Although he did not believe and took it seriously, he did however, took some precautions, courtesy of Rishank and his another best friend Mujeeb. One of that, was to install the Nanadium sand packs found only at the bottom of the Eureka Mountains. He ran towards the confession room and pulled the liver that Mujeeb had installed there recently.
~———~
Ashok was sipping his favorite blue milk prepared by Raji on his lawn when the Mayor’s Paragon Panther stopped in front of his house. The big man had trouble getting out of his own vehicle. His face did not look happy and he surely hasn’t slept last night. Lieutenant Vineeth and General Ashish were at the small gate, as if they’re guarding that small-arch-like-gate. Ashok offered a seat to the Mayor.
“Is it true that you are going to nominate yourself for this year’s Mayor Election?” The Mayor had no pleasantries to exchange.
“After you tried to kill almost all the people I care about? Yes” he was not interested in small-talk too.
“You do know this is just the beginning, right?”
“Oh I know this is the end of you” he pointed the two at the gate and “you too!”
With that, The Mayor stormed out of Ashok’s house with a puzzled Lieutenant Vineeth and General Ashish following him. At the same time, Raji’s voice came running from the garden.
“Ashok, come here, come fast… The caterpillar is almost a butterfly now!”
THE END.
~———~
PS:
1. This is a guest entry for the short story competition hosted by me at Cognizant Blogs! :)
2. The competition insists that the contestants use given topics/images to write the short story. The topics are: a. Caterpillar to Butterfly b. Blood stained sword c. [A fire breaks out in a 100 year-old place of religious worship, during a packed religious ceremony…] Images are:
i.
ii.
iii.
This story is written on all the topics and images given. I sincerely hope you get all of it 
[The third topic was a little tough to include in this story, some may feel like it was 'inserted' if you know what I mean] Leaving this “PS” aside, I have 2182 words in this story, well within the limit 
[Limit was !<600 and="">2400]
3. Dedicating this story to a good friend of mine, Ashok and his newborn.
4. The italic words in the story is not a normal term. Although it can easily be related to the intended reference, I thought I should make an index. Here it is:
| Reference | Meaning |
|---|
| Pandora | Name of the planet |
| Adamantium | A strong metal – like iron |
| credit | Money like $ or Rupee |
| Rheinmetall RMK30 or RRMK30 | Ricoil-less rifle |
| Titanotheres, Thanator andViperwolves | Animal names, copied from Avatar movie |
| Stynx | A fictional river |
| Tachi | A sword |
| Argo | A vehicle much like the same name in Star Trek Movie |
| VAAC | VAAC – Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier, A Flight |
| blue milk | Just like our normal milk |
| church of Andromeda | a religious place |
| Book of Ymir | Bible kind of religious book |
| Ymir | God – like Jesus |
| Nanadium sand | a form of sand which controls the fire easily |
| Eureka Mountains | A fictional mountain |
| Paragon Panther | A vehicle name from the novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang |
