The Destiny Eclipsed

18th July 2018, Wednesday, Chennai

In a premier Beach Villa, far from the busy, noisy city. A 6-foot tall, muscular silhouette stood under the shower, steamy hot water forcefully hitting right on to his face. The water was too hot, it covered the entire bath with water vapor, giving a tinge of ethereal touch.

Still, a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e-skinned person might even get mild burns from this hot water. Yet the man below the shower stood there like a stone statue with utter disregard to the near-boiling water; even his eyelids were still.

A few minutes later, he closed the shower, and the fog slowly receded, revealing the silhouette's prominent well-defined muscles. His strong hands reached out the towel, and sluggishly wrapped it around his waist.

Though the guy had a perfect stature, his peerless figure wasn't a beautiful sight to behold; it was instead a scary hideous portrait, riddled with endless scars from the neckline to ankle.

Of that humongous torso, only his face free of scars; the wounds ranged from long slashes, cuts, or burn marks.

Most people would have a trauma just seeing those hideous scars, yet this man somehow survived such inhumane torture and is still very much alive to tell his tale.

The muscular guy is Hariharasudan, a retired soldier, nothing but a poor soul pushed into the world of an ordinary man after decades lurking in the darker side of the world.

Hari stared at the mirror, silently observing not-so-handsome yet a flawless face and all the stomach-churning scars below the neckline.

Even these scars couldn't wipe that small smile on his face. His dull eyes held utter disregard for everything around him.

His eyes had long lost their sparkles, all that remains now is an empty eye with an unsettling numbness and those everlasting unreal smile. The indomitable heroic spirit was nothing but a part of a distant yet unforgettable past.

His career as a soldier ruined in a simple scouting mission. The mission Crippling a valiant soldier through a strange, unimaginable set of coincidence.

He voluntarily retired from the Indian army and returned home.

His parents were clueless about his military career; somehow, he fooled them for 14 full years from being a non-existent student in a reputed college to an urban-vagabond genius employee jumping from company to company in the pursuit of new challenges.

He could have lived a kingly life had he accepted any one of the money bags from his pile of rewards or if he hadn't donated all his hard-earned savings from all the missions.

Hari turned down all the awards military offered for his legendary service; he even refused the minimum privileges given to any Indian soldier. Anything remotely connected to the army would evoke memories, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

His odd behavior didn't pass unnoticed, and his dead fish eyes weren't giving convincing signs either; thus, parents quickly discerned something amiss. They used every dirty trick in the books to pry the tightly sealed mouth of his; of course, they turned empty hands.

Prying information from a hardened soldier is easier said than done, especially when the soldier is a member of the Special Squad. Still, his parents used emotion blackmail to force him into an arranged marriage.

Last week he married Shreya, a typical cold beauty, and escaped his parent's torturous questions. But it wasn't an ideal marriage; instead, it was more like a facade to ward off both their parents.

Hari and Shreya married with a non-involvement contract. They lived under the same roof, but that's all they had in common with normal married couples.

Both of them moved to a mid-size suburban villa but lived in different rooms, Hari knew nothing about her except her name. Hari followed the contract by word and a led peaceful new married life thus far.

Surprisingly, the agreement was Shreya's initiative, and Hari gratefully accepted her plan; his brain was already smoking just thinking of ways to escape marriage and his parent's nosy inquiries.

'Life can screw you bad. huh...'

Back in the day, his team 'Nine Chakoras of India' was the most successful team with an envious track record under their belt.

Their team fed upon the dark and evil, the weeds in the society, 'Where Red Chakora goes blood trail follows' and they never failed to live up to their reputation.

Two years ago, Hari led 3 of his team members to scout out the caves in remote pockets of the Himalayan Range, supposedly terrorist hideout.

After hours of search, the cave turned out to be an abandoned outpost with few broken pots and animal bone, Hari and his teammates cursed that incompetent informer while munching on the bland hard nutrient bars.

They were forced to camp in the caves to escape the sudden bone freezing storm. Little did they know the downpour was just a minor step for the onset of the series of disasters that followed.

After a few hours, the storm strengthened further, building tension in the makeshift camp; while Hari and his friends were cracking jokes and giggling to lighten the mood, a sudden thunder dashed all their efforts.

Following a massive landslide shifting half the mountain above them neatly sealing the cave's narrow entrance.

Hari was running out of ideas; the weather made it impossible to send any signal. They must at least survive a week without food or water. But their most significant problem was air, every single Chakora were survival experts.

They could go for months without food and last at least a week without water, but no matter how hard you train, no one can survive without air.

While Hari was fiddling with his fingers, the tension was slowly building it up. Everyone is smart enough to figure out what's going on. All his comrades briefly looked at each other before nodding their heads and silently retrieving their pistol.

*BANG BANG BANGGG*

*******

[Chakora

It is a red partridge in Indian mythology that feeds on moonbeams. It is said to be a devotee and is obsessed with the moon.]