Journey Of A Masked Couple - The Adventure Begins: Series 1, #1

By H Mystery

The cold murder of Arya and Annika's parents in the heat of the night by a mob of demons was just the start!

Fate brings Arya and Annika together at a very young age with this cold blooded murder. Who knew that this would just be the beginning of a lifetime of action and adventure…..a journey that cannot be refused. Witnessing their parents getting slaughtered brutally by the demons at the age of four leaves them wanting only a few things in life, one being survival  and the other being revenge. Once teens, the parallel universe sucks them in. Martanda and Mhalsa, a loving couple become their guardian teachers and guide them to achieve their revenge. Arya and Annika train rigorously to learn survival skills, and most importantly, the use of celestial weapons. Their journey is filled with loyal friends who help them in their fight against evil powers and consider them as their family. Join Arya and Annika in their quest to fall upon more clues to avenge the death of their parents while protecting their secret masked identities. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: H Mystery
• Release date: Oct 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393579458

Book preview

Chapter 1

Evil and right have always been at odds or war. We like it or not evil wishes to rule everything in the universe. It wishes to spread evil, turn heavens, and the human world into the world of darkness with monsters of different categories. This one reason is enough to go for war with evil, and eventual casualty is human beings. Humans are the weakest among the demons and demigods. The universe of ours was not that big as only three planets had life. The complete universe mostly filled with lifeless planets and black holes, dark matter. It was a very lonely universe One was Earth, where we humans lived. Another planetary system was demigods who are like superhumans with special powers and much longer lives. Both the demons and demigods have species or different levels of demons and Gods, with some having more and some having fewer powers. Some species called fairies were beautiful women with limited magical powers. Some species were just interested in various arts like dance, music. The most potent species of demigods were the ones who controlled the five elements of life on the human planet, which are water, air, fire, land, sky. In a demon world, there are minions, ghosts, ghosts with different categories and powers. Some have a physical body; some are only evil souls without a physical body.

A demon living in the demon world by name Zohrak had big ambitions and plans. He managed to use the universe dark energy, like the black holes and other dark matter, to increase his powers using dark arts of spells and magic. He was a demon with some very unique characteristics and powers, with no visible facial features. Just dark space was his face and dark other body parts covered in black. He had a body but also didn't as he could be everywhere; it is evil. He managed to win all challengers and became king of the dark world, along with becoming the most powerful demon. Zohrak was not happy with the little demon world. He wanted to rule the other two worlds as well. He tried to Lord over all living creatures and wanted to be master of the universe. He wasn't powerful enough yet to openly take an army to declare open war. He still needed a lot more strength. If a human being does a lousy deed, it adds strength to him as he had cast a spell on planet earth through which he can absorb all evil deeds done by humans inside of him. Zohrak found an effective way to win over the human world very quickly, but it was a slow process. It would take a couple of decades before it was the right time to attack.

Zohrak was ready to wait. A few years have gone by, and due to the spell of Zohrak, every human being was slowly and unknowingly doing more bad deeds than good deeds. Evil was spreading in every human being, family. No one was being spared, including monks and those who were supposed to spread the word of Heavens. They were also not able to control themselves into doing things that were not allowed after becoming monks. Monks were supposed to refrain from liquor, meat, and women, but the spell of Zohrak was too good for humans. From outside, the world looked beautiful, just like an everyday business, but it had started to rotten from the core. It was a slow poison with no symptoms, and by the time the victim realizes its already too late.

Zohrak had increased his powers substantially over the last few years thanks to the spell he cast. He proceeded to the next part of his plan of capturing earth by slowly placing his minions in the disguise of humans. He set various kinds of minions with different powers. Some had a physical body; many didn't have a physical body. The ones without a physical body were finding home in humans that were committing evil acts like murder, drugs, human trafficking, drug cartel bosses in every city. Terrorist organizations were killing people every few days in random countries. Some countries already had a dictatorship, which made it easier to take control. He just influenced the mind of the ruler of that country. He increased the evil deeds at gradual speeds with no one to stop it in these countries individually. These countries were like safe house zones for corrupt members to gather and plan for future strategy. There were many such countries. The underlings of these bosses were also Zohrak couldn't believe himself. He managed to get this far without any interruptions, especially from heavens. He was gradually working on having powerful demons, one battalion after another with unique characteristics. He was taking his own sweet time to work on quality and not quantity. The heavens were busy in their heavenly pleasures. Destiny had different plans. While Heavens were busy in their joys, ignoring the human world and demon Zohrak was also busy working on his projects.

I was born one beautiful afternoon on a bright sunny day. I was born in a small-town name Vayom. I have vivid memories like flashes a few scenes in my mind before I turned three years old. My real memory began by the age of 3, where I started remembering incidents. They were some of the best images I could remember of my parents. One event I remember was my mom massaging my whole body with oil before bathing me. My mother Archi playing with me while rubbing my entire body, and my dad Aran was equally playful. He would pick me up and fly me through the rooms. He would go to work everyday morning. My mother and I would see him off. I would play with toys in the day or run around in the garden of the house. Finally, my mother would run back to me to feed me lunch and put me to sleep. In the evenings, when my father would be back, he would look tired, but playing with me, he would forget his tiredness. He would feed me first and then have his meal. He would talk to me, keeping me in his big and muscular arms. Sometimes they both would put me to sleep together. On weekends both mom and dad would take me to either a temple or park in the evenings and play with me. Both my parents, at times while playing with me, would just forget about me and be in each other's arms, looking at me smiling. In the neighborhood, some teenage girls would, at times, want to play with me. They were nice girls as they took a lot of care, making sure I got handled very delicately.

My birthday celebration was something they made sure they did it at home, but there was a party. I had a milk bath and a visit to the temple of a deity, which was a round black straight stone. I asked my dad, who is this. He said he is everyone's father in the world. He is the father of the universe. The priest came smiling at me and gave me an eatable item from his plate, but for a kid my age, it was a delicious sweet. My parents then spoke with the priest, and we left. My parents looked happy, and they would play with me at times on the way home. At home, my parents would then have party decorations placed on walls, balloons got hung, neighborhood kids came, and they all were happy to come. Cake cutting got done, and I was some reason too busy playing that I was crying at the time of cake cutting for forcing me into the ceremony. Everyone coming and giving me gifts. Then there was dance, music, food. Everyone was happy and had a good time. At the end of the day at night, they thought I was fallen asleep, but I wasn't. I saw my mom and dad sitting together in each other's arms and talking. They were looking at the full moon and stars. They looked stressed out or a little worried. My father told my mother not to worry about anything. The prophecy about my age was here, and they had decided to accept the consequences. They looked at me, and they said it's worth it, it was a well-lived few years with our son.

I do remember when my parents celebrated festivals, and it was just a different atmosphere at home. After this, it was Christmas, and we weren't Christians. But till my parents kept me interested in this as they would tell me on the 24th night that Santa Claus, a divine figure would come and fill this empty bag with toys to all kids. I was an estatic hearing surprise new toys. That night some time of the night and woke up my mother. She was like your impatient soul. She lifted her hand towards the bag, and it looked full. She told me to sleep, check it out in the morning. I could barely sleep after that. The next day morning, I jumped on the bag. It had a lot of toys, and I was like, did Santa Claus leave the whole pack for me. I was just so happy that I believed it. The toys were very different from what I had, plus they had chocolates and candy. My father and mom made sure I got convinced about the existence of a Santa Claus. They both talked to each other about how Santa came and had snacks before he left. It was a festival that I could look up to next year.

In my neighborhood, there were only girls my age of three years, no boys around, so I would play with them at times while our mothers would sit nearby and talk to each other. One of them was Annika, we fought a lot pulling each other's hair and sometimes rode together on the kids' 3-wheeler bike. We were kids, and my mother was like my son is going to be famous among women when he grows up.

I was now four years old, and my father was trying to teach me alphabets and numbers. I didn't like it one bit of it as my crying was proof of that. I didn't think I would have to show those tears again, but I was wrong. One night as soon we all fell asleep suddenly, someone threw stones at our windows and broke them. My mom and dad both woke up. We knew what was going on. There was another projectile landing in our house which contained a fire. It started a fire in our home. We saw from the window there was a big mob. The mob was also at Annika's house. We saw the mob drag Annika's father to the compound and set him on fire.

My mother got terrified. The guys were coming close to our house. My father asked my mother to take me and run to the forest. He would stop them until then. My mother was crying, and she said no, but my father forced her with a stern voice, but even in his stern voice, it looked like he was pleading her to leave the house. My mother didn't go far but stood to see what was going to happen. My father Aran wholly overpowered, and the men didn't behave like humans. They managed to lift him in the air with the small movement of hands from one of the mob guys. They threw my father around, smashing him from one end of a wall to another. The mob then raised the sticks, and a large green beam came out and set my father on fire. It kept coming out until my father turned into ashes. They started looking for something or someone; maybe it was my mother and me. My mother was crying but made noise while running away towards the forest. The mob ran back from us. My mother picked me up in arms and started running fast. I could see from my mother's back the fire torches. They were fast, and my mom's speed got restricted due to carrying me on her back. She was running with all the strength she could see in the dark forest. I couldn't see anything just leaves and grass edges brushing my face. She stopped to catch her breath but couldn't stay for more than a few seconds as she saw the mob coming closer. It was scary that I thought of nothing. I wished it was a nightmare that would end. Sooner but it didn't. My mom was running, but it was now like stumbling and walking fast, stopping every few minutes to catch her breath.

She finally saw they were coming closer and kind of giving up and do something crazy, but at that moment, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hiding spot. It was Annika and her mother. I was not sure of the emotions, but both the moms were holding themselves, not even breathing, and placed hands on our mouths. We crawled under shrubs. The mob was looking, but a thick covering of bush was enough to cover us completely. Annika and I looked at each other. We both were too terrified to speak. The mob moved ahead, searching for us. We slowly walked out and kept moving in another direction.

We continued moving, and we landed up making more noise while running of the broken branches on groundbreaking up. The mob heard it and came after us. Both our mothers tried to run as hard as they could. They came closer, and my mom caught Annika's mother and said its time they do what's best they could to save the kids. We had to run and not look back. Our mothers hugged us one last time before pushing us into running as far as possible. It was not possible for us as kids to run far enough. We barely got a little now and turned back. The mob caught our mothers. I tried to run towards the crowd, but Annika stopped me. The mob caught them and dragged them in the center. The mob took the sticks they had and used the same method to kill them like our fathers. It was shocking our heart broke into a thousand pieces. They heard us running and came back from us. The mob soon surrounded us, and I thought this was the end of us. I caught Annika's hand as I knew she was also scared. They raised the sticks, and the green light was going to hit us. I closed my eyes and covered Annika, but nothing happened. A bright white light was shining from her. The men turned into demons from humans and tried again with all their might. However, the light was strong enough to protect against all attacks.

The whole mob raised the stick's and launched the demonic green beam on us. The white light created a protective circle around both of us. The demon mob failed again to break the protective shield. This time the demon mob tried another spell, but the white light started shining more brightly, and there was an explosion. The whole demon mob got vaporized in a flash. I felt the time had stopped for Annika and me, our both destinies or so-called fate were fixed from that day. Annika was supposed to be with me, and I was supposed to be with her. She was my shield, and if she is not with me, I would be dead. The explosion was too much for us to handle, and we both lost consciousness after that. 

Chapter 2

Iremember trying to open my eyes, and it was as if waking up from a nightmare. Everything was blurry, and slowly I regained full consciousness. It took me a few minutes to fully wake up, and I was in a room. I turned around and saw Annika also waking up. A man was standing by my side in between me and Annika. It was a Catholic priest Father. He asked us both our names and thought we were siblings, which we cleared that we were not. He told his name as Father Anthony. The institute named St Johns Orphanage and Educational Institute. He assured us that we were in safe hands. He said they found us at the edge of the street. I told him everything that happened last night. The priest believed only part of our story. He most likely didn't think the part of the demons and took it as a kid's imagination of seeing the parents getting killed in front of them. He said we could take rest for now, and he would come back and let us know about us. Annika and I were left alone in the room. I was still in shock, trying to understand what had happened. Everything was again playing in front of my eyes, and I still couldn't believe both parents were gone forever. Annika was crying, and my eyes fell on her. I don't know from where I found the strength to go and hug her, and even I couldn't hold back myself. We both cried together, looking at each other as it was the only way to let out our emotions. It was just too much for ordinary 4 year old kids. Eventually, we got tired after a few minutes and sat together silently for a few hours, like that staring at the beautiful landscape from the window.

The priest, Mr. Anthony, came back and told us in an excellent laughing way that we both didn't have to worry about anything. Annika and I will be living in the church-run hostel/school. They had up to bachelor's level college as well. Father Anthony said from that day onwards, and he was our legal guardian just like other orphan kids he has taken in. The nun who was like the assistant to Father Anthony took us to our sleeping quarters. It was a big campus as there were three different sets of buildings, each with its playgrounds. Fences separated them on the border of the vast grounds. One building in each building was a school for teaching, and the next building was residential quarters. The residential building three floors were for boys, and the other three stories were for girls. Our building was only up to age 9, and the next building was from students age 9 to 15. The third building was from age 16 to 21. In our building, Most of the kids were orphans, so even during vacations, they would stay in residential buildings. In schools during day time, outside kids were also allowed, which helped manage the finances for running hostel boarding for orphans like us as well.

It was a new place for both of us. We got a few old clothes to wear and shown where we could shower and wash our clothes. It was a new environment and a different way of living. Annika's bed was away from me. I had a few other kids come to talk to me. I barely spoke anything to them. Annika and I were only supportive of each other. Hence, we ran to each other if it meant sitting in class together or having lunch together. We barely made any friends in those years in the building. We had classmates with whom we did play and studied together. Time went by, and we realized that we had already come in the second building from the age group of nine to fifteen.  We are in grade fourth, and it was a new building and new accommodation. It was a little different as there were teenagers in with us as well. It was a harsh environment to survive. I choose to keep to myself, which read, go to class, and the same was with Annika. It looked like the reality of life was going to strike me pretty soon.

One day as I was going back to my hostel room. Some guys surrounded caught me and started beating me up. The guys were much older. I had never even argued with anyone leave alone fighting. The one in the center was just attacking like crazy. I was blank, didn't know what to do. I was punched and caught by my throat. The bully asked me to give him respect every time I come across him. They let me go, and everyday routine went by. Annika once saw my bruises and asked, but I just brushed it off as a small fight with roommates. It was once a few days getting beaten up. The bully was Timir. It had become a regular thing, and quite a few times, Annika intervened when she saw me getting bullied. Surprisingly she was much more daring and readier to fight. She would drag me to the nursing section and get the medications applied to my bruises.

Few years went by like this. Now we were fifteen years old. We were in the last year of high school. The bullying had intensified as nobody had been able to stop them. Annika was merely saving me at random times. Once I landed up getting beaten badly. It was final exams time end of the year. Annika was busy studying. She wasn't at my side to protect me. I was down with a fever that night. The next day she came looking for me. Seeing me burning with high fever, she created a ruckus. She got me to the medical area where sick guys rest. The doctor came, and I got treated for bruising. She said she had it enough and went straight to Father Anthony to complain against the bullying.

I was too weak and 95% unconscious to stop her. She later informed me that Timir and his gang got thrashed with the cane for my condition, and now my fear was they would be back with a vengeance. They were evil, they would trouble every new person, or someone they see is vulnerable. I was still burning with high temperatures, and she couldn't stand and watch me in pain. She went and got cold water with a towel and started applying the cold-water sheets on my forehead to bring down the fever. I could feel it, and at times when I opened my eyes, she was around doing something or other. When I sometimes gained consciousness, she would ask how I was feeling. I was barely speaking and said better, and fell asleep. I was feeling a bit better after a few days, and Annika brought her books and sat by my side studying. I offered to review as well, and she agreed to give me some reading books. She was crazy to the extent that she went and brought food of hers from the mess as well to eat with me. Father Anthony gave her exception for the rule of eating only in the dining area and special chicken soups. She got my food as well. I asked her chicken soup is not on the menu of our institution. She said just don't ask too many questions I arranged it for you. I just laughed as I know she must have fought with the head of the kitchen department to get it. I could see she was not taking care of herself as her hair was messed up and was looking tired. That was the first time I looked at her carefully. She was anxious for me. I said, look, I am fine. She can go and sleep, knock herself out for 12 hours.

I was feeling better the next day morning, and I was at the window enjoying the morning sun. Annika came to check on me. She asked what I was looking for in the sky. I went to her and grabbed her hand, taking her to the window. I said it had been a while since I enjoyed a morning sun. It had been a long time since someone showed so much concern for me. Annika asked me to stop being so emotional. I just hugged her and thanked her. I thanked her for taking care of me and also protecting me multiple times from the bullies. Annika was smiling, and she said I was the only one close to her. Someone without whom she couldn't have come this far after what they went through. I told Annika that I wished we get answers for what happened that night. She had tears in her eyes and said, maybe it's not the right time yet to know the truth. I agreed with her. We were still kids just entered the teenage years.

Annika and I were hanging out in one of the corridors, and I started chasing after a dragonfly. We landed up in the back part of the building, which was like a no-entry zone. It was all locked out. I was thinking of going back, but Annika was more curious to explore. Our summer vacations had started as kids get to play all day though we still in the hostel, so nobody was seeing what we were doing. Annika used her hairpin to open the lock. She was successful, and I am wondering where and when she learned that. We entered the building, and it was dusty with cobwebs. Annika was wondering why the room is in such a condition. We started opening the rooms one after another. There was a lot of old stuff around eating dust. It was a storage house. We couldn't and didn't find anything as of yet. Annika happened to press a mechanism for opening a secret room. Annika then entered the room as I just followed her. It was a secret room, so we were a little nervous about not knowing what we were going to discover. We checked the books on the bookshelf. The books were like manuscripts written in a language we had no clue. We both stared at each other and what this is. We kept it back, and we continued exploring. There were roaches and spiders all over.

I was able to see things only because of windows coming from the light. There was a weird feeling in that particular room. We felt there was someone else also in it. We saw something moving. It was an odd noise, and there was one house lizard on the front wall. It started multiplying. One became two, two became four, four became eight, and it went on until the whole room got filled with lizards. I was scared and so was Annika as we didn't expect anything like this. They slowly start merging into each other and increasing in size. In the next few minutes, there was a crocodile in front of us. It did start coming towards us, and we were out of our minds. We only thought of running out. It was a crazy situation. We ran on all corners, but now we had no option but to fight it or face it head-on. I turned around and told Annika to try to open the secret door or find something that could help us with the situation. I threw a book on the crocodile and made it run back of me. I could only run for some time, but now I decided to take my chances. I wanted to give everything for Annika to leave the place safely.

I decided to wrestle with it and somehow defeat it knowing very well there was no chance of me winning or surviving. As soon as I decided to jump on the crocodile and leave the rest to destiny, I looked at Annika one last time she was still searching for something like crazy. I ran towards the crocodile, and at the last minute, I stopped as Annika chopped the crocodile in one stroke into the half with a sword in her hand. It was black liquid coming out of the dead body, and it evaporated like it was never there. She looked a total warrior with the sword in her hand. I look at her in a way I had never seen before, holding the sword, her hair, her expression. I was not sure what was happening with me, but it was a weird feeling. She dropped the sword and came to me asking if I was not hurt anywhere, she was worried if I got hurt anywhere and was mad that I jumped on that monster like a mad man. I had nothing to say to her. She was having a mixture of worried and angry expression on her face. There was a sudden bright shining light coming from the center of the room. We turned around and looked and found two necklace chains floating in air shining like a diamond. We slowly approached it and grabbed it. As soon as we had it in our hands, there was a bright light in front of our eyes. We were entirely in a different place.

I looked around, and it was a beautiful landscape with mountains, waterfalls, green hills. From my side, Annika also appears from nowhere. I was more than relieved to see her. Even Annika was why we are here, and a more significant question is how. She still had the sword in her hand. A mere curiosity trip to the backyard is turning into dangerous situations. I suggested let's walk till that small house like in the hill. For now, that looks like the only place we can go to. While walking with Annika, I liked the beautiful, gentle sunlight and the breathtaking landscape. I asked Annika to do the same, and she was like yes, you, and your stunning views in a sarcastic tone. I guess I was supposed to admire someone else. I asked Annika if that sword isn't substantial, and she said no. It felt lite.

The weather suddenly changed really fast. There was a thunderstorm, and then it was dark clouds all over, and it started raining. We ran towards the house. There was not a soul around, not a single living animal or insects except trees. We finally reached the house and we just stood in the entrance covering. We didn't go inside as we were still catching our breath. Someone from inside said Welcome to my place Arya and Annika. I and Annika were staring at each other with as if new danger was waiting for us. We turned around and two figures were walking towards us. The man was tall, handsome, well-built, middle-aged, and walking towards us. The lady side of him was his wife, this I could say because she was wearing a necklace which only married woman wear. She was also equally beautiful in compared to her husband. They both were smiling at us. They introduced themselves as Martanda and Mhalsa. They were friends for Annika and me and asked us not to be scared of them. We decided to give them a chance to explain what's going on with us and which part of the world we were.

Martanda and Mhalsa had a little laugh at us and looked at each other. They said we were in the storage room holding the necklaces. We were currently in a parallel world. The chain opens a way from the subconscious mind to enter the parallel universe where this planet's located. We may be in this parallel universe planet, but in our world, we are still present under a deep sleep. Only one necklace was supposed to have appeared. Yet, since both of you landed up killing the crocodile monster together, the chain split itself equally into two. Like a couple of sets and has combined both you and Annika subconscious minds so both can be together. The necklaces, if you both wear it at all times, you can enter this world whenever you guys want. It's a portal to bring you guys here and send it back to your world. There is one more thing, however, and its something important. If you are in between a task or something important, this locket won't work to get us out of this universe. We have to accomplish the job we are doing if we are out in the wild or any place outside. It's preferred we use locket to come in this world when we are about to go to sleep in our world. So there is no disturbance from anyone trying to wake us up from our slumber.

I asked Martanda, so that means the deadly crocodile was your work. They said yes, they wanted someone brave enough to get the necklaces and also good human beings as they had a lot to give. Merely killing the crocodile wouldn't make the chain appear—something extraordinary was needed to show that you deserved this necklace. When Arya decided to sacrifice himself to save Annika, that's when he passed the test. When Annika, instead of running to the exit door, went around searching for something to fight the crocodile and not let you die, she passed the test. The test was passed by both of you. This place has its advantages. We will able to teach you guys how to fight against human enemies.

Once you have mastered the martial arts, Mhalsa can teach you both activating your kundalini energy. We will be using that to fight evil beings that are not human but go under demon categories such as ghosts, ghouls. They are different types of them that don't have a physical body and are spiritual beings, minions and demons are ones with physical bodies. Annika was like, why do we need to learn how to fight. Not only humans but demons of all kinds. I had the same question WHY? Martanda had an answer for that, and that answer was convincing enough for both Annika and me not to question him any more. Martanda replied that if we wanted to find both our parents killers and avenge the painful, unnecessary death.

You both have a lot of things to accomplish in the future. Death awaits both Annika and me if we don't learn how to fight and protects ourselves. Martanda and Mhalsa said they cannot forcefully teach us or guide us with anything against our wishes. It's a path that we had to decide to walk on by ourselves. The probability of getting killed is still present even after teaching attack and self-defense techniques. If we decide on saying No, we will be sent back to the storehouse, and the necklaces will disappear from our hands, and we can continue living our lives.

I grabbed Annika by the hand and dragged her on the side. We don't have much of an option here if we say no and turn back. We are still facing these monsters on our own, which we may not survive. The more significant reason to stay is they know about what happened to our parents and may help us figure things in the future or at least reveal the truth which both of us want to know. If we see the truth about our parent's death, we have to take this chance. Why should we get killed when we have an opportunity of avenging our parent's death. Annika agreed without much resistance as she was also equally eager to find the truth about her parents' death. She did have her reservation whether the couple was a not using them for an ulterior motive or they were also a bunch of demons fooling them. My argument was if the couple is a demon, they can kill us right now, and we don't even know how to go back or back to the awakened state. Annika said, yes, let's do it. We both turned back and said to the couple alright, we agree, but we have to go back as well. Learning martial arts takes time, and it could take years.

Mhalsa answered that query. She said in this parallel universe world, the subconscious time cycle is different from our outer world. One hour in the external world is equal to 1 day in this parallel universe world. We can enter this world when we fall asleep, and little sleep of eight hours will be eight days in this world. She assured us that they could send us back whenever needed as long as we were in this house premises.  It doesn't affect our aging process as well. Our body will get old only as per our world time. Both you kids can learn a lot in one night which will be around one week. Whenever you have to enter here just hold onto your necklaces and close your eyes. Same way you can go back to your world. Martanda said living with them will be like living in a medieval era with no modern era equipment. There will be days and nights and living in harsh conditions. It sounded really exciting actually to get a feel of living in such a lifestyle. We were mostly living in campus most of the time barely going out to see the world. Martanda and Mhalsa asked us to go back the way we were instructed and come back at night to stay for the first phase of learning.

We came back or say woke up from the sleep we fell in. Annika was also by the side. We both looked at each other and were saying the same thing. No, it wasn't a dream. The necklaces were still in our hands. We wore them and covered it under our clothes. Annika was actually excited for the upcoming adventure as her smile says a lot. I was in a hurry to get out before we got caught. We sneaked out slowly making sure nobody saw us. I and Annika finally made it to the main building and behaved as if nothing had happened. We went straight to the medical facility to get our bruises treated. The nurse asked us on how we had these bruises which looked like being smashed to walls. We said we were playing and fell as we hit a wall. After the nurse left I and Annika were laughing like crazy. It was fun and something we hadn't done for a long time.

Annika said it would be physically a tough thing. Still, we have to go through it. I was more nervous as sports were not my thing.