OBLIVION

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Chapter 1
A Warrior

"SLOW down there tiger!" Amal yelled trying hard to catch her breath as she ran behind me.
I laugh at her in response and kept running even harder.I could feel my heart pounding against my chest almost trying to make its way out. Every inch of my muscles pained as I kept running. The wind hit against my face with full force giving a light sting. I laughed over the howling wind. Twigs and branches snapped and snuck beneath my feet. All I could hear were the distant song of the cuckoo and the wind blowing against me.

I felt every nerve and fibre in my body. I felt like I was under control over me again.
I felt alive.

I love running. And I always do when am sad, happy, depressed, frustrated and lonely and....well, you get the idea. Except when I sleep, trust me when I say sleep is bae. Yuck! There's nothing more I despise than that word yet here I am, using it.

"Ziyaaa, slow down sweetheart! Yeah yeah! You're the boss!" A triumphant smile traces its way to my lips as Amal shouts behind me.
Finally my steps come to a hault beneath the mama tree, that's what I call it anyway. Its tall and bulky and been my favourite tree since the past 13 yrs; since I was five.

We were a at a good distance inside the forest by now. By my excellent skill at observing time by the sun's position, I still got about an hour to get back home without getting caught. Yeah, I was grounded and I skipped at the perfect opportunity. But why so? I have no idea too buddy. No idea. Other times I knew the reason because I was either stealing jumanjis mangoes or preying other humans away or doing something stupid,but this time. I couldn't put my finger on it no matter how hard I tried.

I shoot a quick wink at Amal, my bestie, and climb smoothly up the fat tree. Years of expertise does help. And yeah, my overloaded awesomeness too.*wink*

"Ughh! Not again Zee! Hurry down. Someone's been grounded and we can't hang out all day!" She says giving me 'the look' with hands on her hips.

"Hold your horses girl! And climb up if you don't want to tire your precious legs." I say as I balance myself on a thick branch,high enough for me to see what I have been looking for-One word.

Perfection.

The view from here never ceases to amaze me. I can literally see the whole of Azad from here.

I can see the hills far away, the setting sun, the river that flows down all the way from the hills to join the sea. The site is crystal clear. The water is shining a bright shade of orange. Beside this comes our world and its people. All specialised in God knows what. We are apparently too young to know it all. *eye rolls*. All we children know is to learn Math, Science and self defence. If interested, we can opt for more subjects. Yeah! Yeah! Like seriously, give us more!

I just gotta hold on a little longer. After reaching 18 years of age, which I will be in a matter of few weeks, I'll finally get answers to a lot of things. I'll finally be brought to light after all these years of darkness. The pathetic thing is not many understand there is more than what meets the eye. Many of them at school clearly doesn't. After 18, we finish our schooling and then KABOOM! "they" take us to God-knows-where and they never comeback. But one thing I know and care about, is to join the Abda. I don't exactly know what it is but according to me, they are a bunch of serious looking guys who learn some awesomely sick martial arts.

Amal finally gives in and settles behind me. She smiles at the sight infront of her, like I said, its beautiful.
We sit there for a while reminiscing our childhood memories. I caress its bark thinking back to the days we tricked others into believing that the tree and the place was spooky, how we had grown along with it, how we had shared our pain and silly problems by its side, the swings tied to it, the limb fractures it gifted us....oh, those were the days.

Meanwhile, first a drop came, then two and then it was a downpour of rain. Not too harsh, not light. Just the way I loved it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I ask

"What?"

"The rain?"

"Humour me M'lady"

I ignore her poor accent and continue,"How it falls down with so much of ease without caring for a perfect landing. The vulnerability it shows, the hope it gives..."

"Uh-oh! Someone's getting a bit Shakespear-y"

I chuckle along with her.

Out of nowhere, I hear foot-steps even in this whether. My reflexes kick in as I shush Amal and instantly grab a branch lying near the trunk. Amal gives me a questioning look.

Nobody knows this hideout of ours except us and-

"Habeeb! You scared us! More like scared Ziya" Amal says winking at me. I throw away the branch which I held on for my dear life not a minute ago.

"Scared much? Who were you expecting? Kidnappers, especially with that face of yours?" Habeeb exclaims in fake astonishment and laughs at his own joke.

That ladies and gentlemen is,Habeeb. Anybody could clearly make out the strikingly similar features of Habeeb and Amal, their long pointed nose, their same tanned skin, their tall figures and the same big black eyes. Yeah, they were siblings.
Habeeb helped Amal down and was talking her into going back home as it was getting late meanwhile I stared at the duo fondly.
I wish I had a brother too.To scold, to fight, to have fun with, to have inside jokes with.

"Stop staring at me Zee, I know am handsome!" Habeeb shot at me.

"Eew! Handsome? Who? You? Have you even seen yourself?" I almost wanted to say but I held it back and gave him a tight lipped smile, careful to keep my distance.

"Guys! Hold it! Why don't we race back home?" Amal said barging in.

We walk back in silence for a few minutes and then sprint  into a run. We could barely see one another in the dark and we had to rush home too and God knows when I'd be able to escape next.

I could see past the trees that we were nearing our compound. Oh man! How I dread going back there locked up in the little house. I hate not being able to do anything. I am an extremely  restless person.

"Here we a-" Habeeb was cut of by a loud voice. My heart stopped beating for a second and all of a sudden started beating like there was no tomorrow. I was caught offguard and thrown onto the ground by its impact.

All the three of were on ground as we heard it go again
Once
Twice
And then nothing

We looked at each other still traces of fear evident in our eyes. We didn't need an extra brain to comprehend what it was.

An explosion.

"I-Is it over?" Came Amal's voice, bearly audible. The silence that followed deafeningly loud.

"I guess so." I managed to say after a few minutes.

We slowly got up and walked to check where the damage had occured. The sound came from west and by the looks of it, it wasn't far away.

It was were we stood a few minutes ago.

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