Chapter 4: Ch. 4 An encounter
Akash heard the beeping sounds from the alarm clock and woke up quickly.He had finally managed to get his lifestyle under control and had been living a rather healthy and balanced life over the days.The new routine had made him sense many changes in his body and attitude.Now he was able to focus much better on anything he wanted to do and he didn't feel tired all day either.He had been exercising for over 10 days and the constant improvement gave him a euphoric feeling as though he was a game character that was levelling up constantly.
Akash got out of bed and like the past days went to get fresh.He had changed his attitude towards life ever since he almost died.Now he paid attention to every little thing, things that he previously took for granted.
Akash used to be a chatterbox when he was young.Every person has a story, some are dramatic, a few others tragic, some of instant success, and others of indefinite struggles.What Akash had gone through couldn't be classified in such categories and he thought it was pretty common.
His father was in the army and sometimes had posting in different areas.In those years he could only stay with his father for a few days.After they settled down in Delhi,his father got posted to Chandigarh and thus they couldn't meet frequently.He got admitted into a rather expensive but prestigious private school.He just didn't like the atmosphere of the school.The teacher at the reception had a really bad attitude and was almost used to pushing sick kids around.She was called sharmistha but most of the children called her witch.He always thought she was a psycho for even through his five years at the school, her actions and the way she treated the children never changed.She was unanimously hated by the students in the school.The atmospheric of the school was monotonous and it felt like a factory where robots were produced.He was admitted in third grade back then in year 2013 while his sister was admitted in eighth grade.His admission to the school was already late and by the time he joined, cliques had already formed in the class.He didn't know how to talk to them when they were already in groups and he didn't want to intrude in their conversations so he kept quiet and listened to the teacher.Everyday felt the same to him and school was as monotonous as it could be, the only good thing being he was at least accompanied by his sister on his way to school or home.It was because of this that he was closer to his sister than his brother.The shift in environment had an effect on him and so he couldn't fit in.After not talking much with people throughout the yars he almost lost the ability to talk casually.He became a taciturn introverted person throughout the years.He took a liking to reading as it allowed him to experience a very different life from his own, ones filled with adventures, dangers and excitement, very different compared to his monotonous lives.He started from reading famous western novels like journey to the center of the earth and around the world in 80 days, both by Jules Verne.His particular favourite during those times was the memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and the hounds of the Baskervilles.Later Akash started reading webnovels as he accidentally came to know about them after a wrong search.He got so engrossed in reading them that it became like an addiction and it was hard for him to stay without reading more novels.Even though his family told him to stop reading webnovels, and he even had a fight with his brother over it, he just couldn't stop reading.The silver lining to this was that at least his vocabulary was better compared to his peers.
It was only after surviving the attack from the barren giant that he managed to regain self control over his activities and restricted every activity to a period of time needed for it.
Akash left quickly for the park while holding his bag over his shoulders.He ran faster than before he started doing yoga and exercising.The stat gain during the barren giant incident had made him realise that if not for those stat points it would have taken a long time for his body to condition itself to his present state as before that he was so weak that he felt overexerted after going 4 or 5 time through the stairs.
Akash reached the park and went to his usual area to do yoga.After completing his daily session of yoga, he ran a round around the park.When he was passing by a corner, he found an anomaly there.Their was a swirling black portal like structure that appeared in games and novels.Akash understood the difference between novels and reality,so he was definitely not going to go in alone without informing about the dangers to anyone.He didn't even have a suitable weapon to use.After looking at it growing bigger, Akash hid behind a tree and called the police and informed them about the weird swirl in the park.
For the sake of safety, he decided to get something that could be used to protect himself.He went to the store that sold sports items.The owner of the store was a middle aged man who seemed to be a bit grumpy.Akash didn't pay much attention to him and asked for the price of a hockey stick.
"400" he replied gruffly.
Akash didn't say much but promptly paid him and took the hockey stick.Holding the hockey stick and swinging it a few times,Akash felt like he had a bit more confidence in dealing with unforeseen situations.If not for the fact that he would not be able to keep concentrated acids and the dangers in keeping them, he would have gladly kept a few bottles to ensure his safety.But of course, it could only have been used as a last resort as there was a pretty big possibility of him harming himself accidentally while using it.
Akash went back to the park and looked for the weird swirl in the corner and he was shocked to find that the previous palm sized swirl had grown enough to let three grown men to pass through it in just 20 minutes.Akash was wondering when the police would arrive when his phone started ringing.The caller was an unknown number but Akash still took the call.He heard a rather charismatic voice coming from the phone.
"Are you the one who reported about the abnormal phenomena in DDA park in hastsal?Where are you and what is the location of the weird swirl you mentioned?"
"Sir you can enter from gate no.2 and reach the corner of the park in front of the hospital."
As soon as he told them about the location the call disconnected.He soon saw a squad of soldiers with guns.Even though he was not sure about the name of the gun, he could tell that they were assault rifles or something similar.The way they moved was also systematic and in sync which signified that they were well trained personnel.They were wearing masks on their faces so it was not clear about how old they were,but Akash could still able to piece together that they were not older than 30.
Akash felt it was weird how they were looking left and right even though they were standing only a small distance away from the swirl.The leader of the team spotted him and asked,
"Where is the abnormality you reported."
"Right behind you sir, see that weird big swirl."
The leader of the squad looked back and as if he couldn't see anything,asked in a slightly infuriated tone,
"Where is it, the black swirl you mentioned.The only thing I can see there is a wall."
Akash pondered for a moment as the tone and expression of the squad leader depicted that he really didn't see anything.Akash wondered why he was the only one there who could see it and thus he reached the conclusion that he must be able to see as he had the system while the soldiers might not have it.
The leader slightly furrowed his brows s he thought that they had been pranked.Just from the look visible outside his mask it was clear to see that he was feeling indignant that someone was still causing troubles in the time when panic was rising in the populace.
Akash didn't say much to him as he knew nothing he said would help him clear his name and even though the only consequence of his call being taken as a prank and him having to apologise later, he didn't want the soldiers of his country that he respected to see him in a bad light and he was sure that if his dad came to know of it, a beating was in store for him even though his father generally never condoned violence and almost never hit him.He didn't want to be misunderstood so he went towards the swirl while carrying the hockey stick in his hand.
The leader of the squad of soldiers appeared exasperated and probably thought that Akash was insulting them but he didn't say anything and just watched as he stood in front of the wall.
Akash extended the hockey stick into the swirl as he didn't know whether it was safe for his body parts to touch the black swirl.To the soldiers it appeared as if the part of the hockey stick that entered the black swirl disappeared and they were shocked by the spectacle but they reigned in their shock almost immediately, a testament to their training.
Akash turned to look at them, hoping to resolve the misunderstanding but he heard the leader yelling while holding up his gun and removing it's safety,
"Run kid, get away from there quickly."
Before he could react he felt an impact on his right shoulder and before he knew it his body flew and he fell two metres to the right of soldiers who were about 5 m away from him previously.He somehow managed to cushion his fall with the bag he kept his yoga mat in and reduced the damage of the fall by rolling.His right shoulder was hurting very much and appeared visibly deformed.He could tell just by looking that his arm bone had come out of shoulder joint.He could make out the sounds of gunfire and thus decided to hide before doing anything.He was not strong enough to help and could only be a liability even if he tried to help with his dislocated shoulder.He dragged his body behind a tree and then peeked out to take a look at the situation as the sounds of the gunfire had stopped.He looked up only to find out that the monster that appeared this time was also a barren giant except that this one appeared much weaker compared to the one he had dealt with before.The leader of the squad of soldiers was examining the corpse and was stunned by the blue screen that appeared before him but the look quickly changed into indifference as if he was aware about it.Akash could guess that messages that appeared in the squad leaders system were pretty much similar to his except that he got more stats for being the first to kill a two star monster.He looked at the corpse of the weaker looking barren giant and the prompt with its information soon appeared in front of Akash.
[Corpse of one star barren giant]
[Barren giants are monsters blessed with great strength and have a very strong sense of smell.They prefer living in tribes.Only the strongest barren giants hunt alone.The ability to hunt alone is testament to the status of a barren giant.Their monster core is located in their skull.The core can be utilised to make medicines.]
Just by taking a look it was easy to understand that as it was a weaker barren giant as it was only a one star monster and thus it definitely couldn't have been an independent hunter and thus must have company.After coming to this realisation, Akash quickly yelled at the soldiers to get them to get back from the swirl and that more monsters should be coming soon while gritting his teeth because of the pain he felt from his right shoulder.
The leader of the squad of soldiers understood the gravity of the situation and thus ordered the soldiers to retreat about 40 metres and then he quickly informed the relevant authorities of the monster appearance in DDA park.The authorities quickly led the evacuation and the people in and around DDA park were moved to a safe distance.
Akash was also taken to medical personnel to get his shoulder treated.It had already been 30 minutes since he was injured and his shoulder had already swelled considerably.The doctor disinfected the bruises and wounds that he had due to the fall.The doctor also performed closed manual reduction to set the bones right and then a splint was used to avoid strain or muscle movements and facilitate correct bone placement.The doctor advised Akash to stay in bed for about 2 weeks after which he was allowed to move about but no intense exercise was permitted even then.
Akash felt that he would get better much faster if he ate the core of a barren giant.After all his injuries back then had been much worse compared to now but the only problem was that he didn't have any left.He could only lie down on the bed for two weeks.He was then later sent outside the defensive zone together with all the people who were being evacuated.He called his family to make sure they were also evacuated and then met with them at the shelter.They were anxious when they saw his hand in a sling and his pained expression when moving.He told them about the discovery of the portal and the possible invasion.The passing time seemed especially harrowing.
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