In the passages of the castle, a soldier running with uneven breaths ran toward the main room where the dazzling throne of the king and jewels of the court were situated, and the voice of slow murmurs of chatting could be heard.
Suddenly, the man burst into the room, panting heavily. A man sitting beside the king stood up in astonishment. The other jewels and subjects of the kingdom, witnessing the sudden arrival of this man, focused their eyes on the anonymous figure who was bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing laboriously.
The man said with seriousness, "My lord, the west sea coast of our kingdom is attacked by something which our soldiers were unable to see." After this statement, the subjects and the courtiers suddenly started discussing in murmuring voices.
The man behind the king said with a dominating tone, "Stay quiet, let Maharaj begin to speak." The murmurs faded in the atmosphere as the king began to speak.
The king said with an unbelieving tone, "Are you sure about what you are saying?"
The man said, "Yes, my lord! Our ships used for trading are destroyed." The king looked towards the man beside him, then that man bent towards the king. The king said something to him. The man beside him said, "Who are you? And on what basis are you saying that our sea ports are attacked?"
The man said, "Respected Senapatiji, I am a local of the coastal area. This morning, while we were normally working, suddenly a ship was pierced by a tentacle-type thing, pulled down into the deep sea, and lost. The same thing happened to other ships."
The Maharaj said with a slightly threatening and surprised tone, "Senapatiji, you must immediately investigate this, and you can take a bunch of soldiers with you for this task."
Senapati bowed and left for the sea region.
While en route, Senapati was fully threatened, and some of the soldiers ran away because as they were getting close to the coastal region, the water from the sea was coming over the land. While this might seem normal, the seawater was not transparent; it was dark red, and bones and flesh were flowing with it.
The clouds were dark black, and thunders were roaring loudly, so much so that ears could bleed from hearing it. Senapati dismounted from his horse. Senapati realized that the soldiers walking behind him were dead, but he didn't know the reason behind it.
Senapati took a gulp. As ordered by the king, he had to investigate, even if it cost him his life. So, he took out his sword and started slowly moving on foot, having written a note and tied it to his horse. Senapati reached the port area; the scene there traumatized him and sent cold shivers down his spine.
When Senapati reached there, he started observing the area. But he realized something strange: there was no rain, yet the clouds were black and thundering. Without rain, how could the water of the sea cross the sea level? And now, at this time, there was no high tide either; how could this even be possible?
Senapati was observing the atmosphere there, but suddenly the sea started moving against the direction of its flow. It was as if the sea hated the coast and was flowing in the opposite direction. The fishes in the water died weirdly, as if their bones were consuming their own flesh, and the fishes were being eaten by themselves.
Seeing all this, Senapati, now fully threatened, turned back and ran, but suddenly a tentacle came out and grabbed Senapati. The tentacle tightened its grip, and Senapati's eyes popped out, and blood came out from his ears and eye sockets, and he burst. Senapati's flesh was scattered on the land. The tentacle went back into the sea.
THE SCENE SHIFTED BACK TO THE CASTLE:
The guards were at the gate of the castle, sitting near a campfire in the dark black night. Suddenly, a soldier reading a book, leaning on his spear, heard a slow chewing sound. The soldier took a gulp and pointed the spear in the direction from where the sound was coming.
The soldier said with a fumbling voice to the other soldiers sitting around the warm campfire, "Guys, something is here."
The soldiers stood up and reached him, and one of them said with a serious and on-guard tone, "Where? Where?" He took a firestick near the place and found a horse.
Eating grasses, one of the soldiers patted its back with his hand and said with a relieved tone, "Oh! Man, it's a horse."
A soldier noticed a scroll tied on the right side of its back. He took the scroll, untied it, and after reading it, he was fully threatened and sweating.
The other soldiers asked him what had happened, but he didn't answer. He ran from there without answering anything towards the castle. The other soldiers shouted loudly, but he ignored them and ran.
THE SCENE SHIFTED TO INSIDE THE CASTLE:
The king had just finished his dinner and was going to rest in his bedroom, but as he was about to retire to bed, a shadow appeared behind the curtains and said with a polite voice, "Your Highness, a messenger has come for you." (That shadow was a guard of the king.)
The king, in his nightgown, left for the main throne room.
When he reached there, he found a soldier holding an anonymous scroll. He sat on his throne and ordered that soldier to read the scroll without any delay. "I know this was sent by Senapati Chhawan," the king said. The soldier, without any delay, read the whole scroll.
The king, now a little worried, said with a knowing tone, "The deaths mentioned by Senapati are a little strange." The soldier said in an obedient way, "My lord, may I have your kind permission to say something?" The king nodded his head in "yes," then the soldier said, "Senapatiji mentioned uneven flow of water tides. I think the main root of the deaths is in the water."
The king said, "Hmm…, you are saying right! So, what can we do about it?" The soldier said, "My lord, we can try to investigate there. We can hire our special spy for it."
The king said with a sigh, "The investigator will be brought forth the next day. You can leave now." The soldier left the castle and went home directly. His mother opened the door and said in a surprised way, "Ooh, Arush, you are home! You have a night shift today, right?" Arush said, "They sent me early. I am going to my room!" His mother nodded in agreement. Arush took a bath and directly dived into bed and started thinking about that scroll.
Arush remembered that he had put the scroll in his pocket, and his clothes were wet. Arush had put them on a rope on the terrace. He ran toward the roof, took off his kurta, and when he put his hand inside the pocket, there was nothing.
But little glowing blue particles floated in the atmosphere. Arush, seeing them, chose to ignore them, but they were going to be important.
Arush was fully astonished that if the scroll was in the kurta, wet pieces of paper should be there, but there was nothing Arush could find. Arush was a little worried that he had lost the scroll, but on the other hand, he was relaxed because the king knew the situation written inside the scroll.
NEXT DAY AT THE COURT ROOM:
The chief mantri stood from his seat and said, "Our Highness is entering! Everyone stood up and bowed to him!" The king entered and took his seat on his throne and said politely, "Give me some fresh news." The chief stood up again and said with devoted respect to the king, "My lord, some traders are here. They have very latest types of weapons, ammunition, and etcetera." The chief mantri said, "My lord, may I have your kind permission to ask something, if you are okay with it?" Then he asked, "Your Highness, our Senapati Chhawan has not returned yet. Is he okay?" The king said, "We will talk about this later, Mantriji." Mantriji bowed, and the king took his seat. The king ordered his soldier to bring Arush at once.
CHAPTER 1