The call of a child

by R.G Shivakeshavan

Thews Lohr leaned over the bent railings of the bridge and spat into the black slimy river that flowed beneath him. They had said that he wouldn't last a minute when the final confrontation took place. He gave a bitter laugh over the little success he had achieved over the others.Over all the others. They called him a coward, a greedy old fool. But now he had outlived the others. He trudged down the path of broken gravel to the next town. He hoped someone was alive there. He was feeling hungry.

The sky was a solid gray wall of clouds. Dust hung heavily in the air and the stench of burnt damp wood was overwehlming. The land was a cruder reflection of the sky, grey rocks spanned the distance all around. It seemed that the prophecy had come true. The rebirth of the world. The start of a new beginning. Only this time the creator's rival seemed to have won.

Thews was a shabby, ugly person. He gave the doctors a fright and his parents a heart ache when he was born. They never hated him for his appearance infact they loved him so much that he would blush during his teenage years when his parents fussed over him. No, it was not

them. It was the rest. The pretty girls and the muscular boys of the town, especially. He would have been in a better state even if they had just left him alone or ignored him. But they teased him and played with his gulliable innocence. They gave him false love letters from pretty girls and encouraged him to propose to them, and then the chosen she would laugh at his face or slap him.

It took him some time to understand, but he did at the end. And he hated them for it. He hated them with a vehemence.

It was then that he met Borh, a satanic cult follower who seduced him into the cult. Borh fed fuel to Thews hatred for mankind and soon Thews himself became a leader of the cult.'The cloaked ones' they called themselves. He became a powerful black magician. But he was always in a cloak when he undertook tasks of the dark one, so no one knew who he really was.

Thews had released Satan from the prison and had become almost as powerful as satan himself. There had been rumors that he was satan's other half. But to release Satan he had to battle against other forces such as the good and the material evil. In the process the world was shattered. People and places destroyed. Everything was pushed to the brink of existence till Thews felt that he was the only one left. The priests, sages, warlords, armies & even his own cult had but all fallen.

Now he was confused. He couldn't think about what to do next. Suddenly a movement caught his eye. A little child was crying over the half burnt body of one of her parents. Thews smiled and walked upto her. As his shadow fell across her face, she looked up, stared and sent a ear shattering scream into the air.

Thews halted.

The sky turned black. Lighting flashed and thunder roared across the vastness of the sky. A hundred flying crafts with blinking lights all over them, whizzed past his head. Thews remembered people saying that people from other planets would come in vehicles like this. He had even seen fiction stories about them on the television machine.

The sky turned dark blue. The earth cracked around Thews. Thews turned around very confused. Satan was standing there beside hime with a vast horde of the undead behind him. Thews look of surprise and happiness and surprise faded into more confusion as he noticed the expression on the darkone's face. Satan was as confused as Thews was. Suddenly a burst of bright red light burst across the sky. The flying vehicles had landed around them. A voice boomed across the sky -" Slaves,prepare to be ruled by the children of Gwanique from the star of Gwanique."

Thews laughed at the message. Even Satan laughed in his deep throaty laugh that filled the sky with his creepy laughter. His voice boomed louder and deeper than the previous voice.

" Fools! I am the new master of this world. I ,the wonder and beauty of evil have conquored the world after years of striving. And now you infedels dare to challenge me!"

Some of the children of Gwanique had come out of their crafts and stood staring at the horde's of the Darkone in disbelief.

The child stared.....

The sky turned white.

Everyone shut their eyes at the brightness. The true source rippled, touched by a huge force of innocence and faith....and belief.

The ground shook. The world was a topsy-turvy. Thews screamed. The children of Gwanique screamed. SATAN screamed.

The child laughed with tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.

The sun peeped over the crystal white fluffy clouds. The invincible one had atlast been realized and summoned. Summoned by the call of a child. Grass oozed out of the ground. Birds came back to sing. The trees grew back to sway in the wind.The animals came back to play. The people came back to Live......

By the call of a child....