Shambhu entered the bus after his father. Entire bus was filled with boys and girls of his age. All of them were wearing dark black pants and blood red shirts. They did have different hair styles but it was clear they were either from an organization or some UNIVERSITY. Some of them had swords, some spears, some had long swords and some them had staffs too. All the students were wearing wrist bands, gloves and shoes all of which were following the same black and red theme.
Shambhu's father had already booked the first row of the bus so their seats were confirmed. In just a few minutes the bus was on the bridge. One could see the vast water body flowing under the bridge, which was creating a rhythmic tune of its own by hitting the pillars of the bridge. The Bus soon reached its destination.
The Eastern zone was divided into different sectors(areas) and they were to stay in central area where only buildings were available for accomodation. The central area was a circular area where high rise buildings were more prevalent. Moving west will take you to the river, where large tent quarters were constructed in open fields, where more religious people and monks were staying. While going east from here will take you to the main City. This whole central area was build around a big circular central building. Their stay was near this building in a 5 story building on the ground floor. They dropped off and the bus went ahead towards the city.
One week passed without any problem. In these seven days Shambhu met other monks and protectors. He learned many things about the city, as well as how to officially move forward on the path of being a protector.
On the 8thday, in the morning ,when his parents were gone to bath in the river, Shambhu and his brother were alone in the quarters, studying some books. Suddenly they heard screams of several people and one distinct scream of unknown origin. They dropped their books, and immediately went outside. What they saw was anything but a good omen. People were running away from the central building, it seemed, as if there life depended on it. Nobody was caring or stopping for somebody else.
The boys couldn't see the main building because of the building in front them . As they were watching and trying to understand what was happening, the building in front of them suddenly collapsed revealing a blackish red sphere which was covering the central building. Shockwaves were coming out of the sphere as if explosions were happening inside it. This was causing the buildings nearby to collapse. This upheaval became death of the people staying in central area. Collapsing buildings ground people like tomatoes smashed by stones. People who were on higher floors got smashed against walls, then other objects or broken pieces of buildings smashed into them, causing blood and organs to splatter around. And when buildings collided with each other, these exterior walls broke and blood, organs and even dead bodies started pouring down from inclined half fallen half standing buildings.
Some bodies had mashed heads, some were pierced by shattered glasses, some were slashed completely into two. Some bodies, on the ground, were completely pierced by pillars and rods in such a way ,it seemed these non living objects were growing out of them while some other bodies were hanging in air with iron rods and pillars first piercing them and then the ground. The earth seemed like it had bathed in blood. And the reason behind all this chaos was still growing in size.
Shambhu came out of his reverie after hearing a piercing scream both from the central building and his side. A glass shard had pierced his brother, slightly above the waist on the right side. Seeing this Shambhu's adrenaline kicked in, his eyes changed from shocked to focused in a second. The shocked boy was nowhere to be seen. Even the gory scene of numerous dead bodies couldn't distract him now. He picked up his brother and tried to run away to the hospital but the wound was deep and blood was gushing out. It needed some first aid. He put his brother down, took the dhoti his brother has draped on upper body, folded it several times and put on the wound. Then he took his own upper dhoti around his brother's waist tightly. The folded dhoti did work as a good stopper and blood flow stopped. He started running again with the goal of reaching the hospital as fast as possible.
The bloodcurdling screams coming from the central building were becoming more clear and it now seemed to be screams of a female. With a sudden outburst and explosion the central building collapsed. Due to the shockwaves more buildings collapsed and Shambhu himself too, fell on the ground. He used his body to shield his brother both from the impact on the ground and possible rubble coming towards him. The screams from the central building had stopped, instead deep grunts and rumbling sounds could be heard from it. The sphere covering the building was increasing in size, more rapidly. There were some translucent black tentacles, which looked illusionary, coming out of the sphere. They were moving in every direction but only for a short length. It seemed that the sphere itself was alive and searching for something. Shambhu tried to stand up and run to the hospital as it seemed his brother was losing his consciousness.
At this exact moment, an outline of a human like creature appeared in front of him. It had light red aura and a saree was draped around it . It did not seemed to be real as one could see through it. Then this entity spoke in a voice heard only by Shambhu " Please, save me. Only you can do it." said the ethereal entity.
It was a feminine voice.
This request caught Shambhu by surprise. Still, he calmed himself down and asked. " What do you mean by it? And how can I save you?"