Beneath the shelter of the starry dark blue sky sat a boy with golden yellow eyes. His jet black hair swayed with the wind as he smiled and looked at the night sky. There he saw a half-shattered moon casting a bluish radiance upon the sandy dunes of Khandrath, a village nestled within the desert of Vindhara.

  “Vikram, Come for dinner!” Suddenly he heard his mother calling for him. Climbing up to his feet, he dusted the excess sand that hugged his clothes. “Yes maa, I am coming. Wait,” He yelled and ran towards his small house with thatched roof, which was hardly illuminated by a single lamp.

  Inside the home, Vikram’s mother Chandrika served some soup and salad for Vikram.

  “Hurry up, wash your hands first Vikram” Chandrika ordered with a chuckle as she saw doe eyed Vikram staring at the food. With an irritating sigh, Vikram had to do what he was told by his mother before finally sitting legs crossed on the ground to have his meal.

  As he was drinking his soup, his mother looked at him with endearing eyes. “Vikram”

  “Yes maa” he said after chugging down the soup.

  “what is there in the moon that intrigues you so much that you never miss a night where you go to watch its half-shattered figure?” Chandrika revealed her curiosity.

  “Maaa-“Said Vikram with a gleam in his eyes “I wonder how the full moon looks like? I always see its half part and cracked surface but yet it is so enchanting that makes me want to see it as a whole. When I see the moon, I just hope that it never should have been broken. Aren’t you curious how the moon would look like once it is full? How radiant it would be?” Looking at the fondness with which Vikram was talking about the moon, Chandrika expressed a disheartening smile but before Vikram could see it, she sighed dramatically.

  “Vikram, I told you, once upon a time there was a powerful, gigantic Asura who loved a beautiful girl but the girl did not like him back for he was nothing but a cruel, arrogant and a ferocious man who always mocked weak people.

  Asura was adamant to marry her but once he learned that she is in love with the moon, he became enraged.

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  He envied the radiating beauty, sharp intellect and the serenity of the moon which charmed his love of the life. Fueled with immense jealousy and the determination to have her for only himself, he took his axe and attacked the moon, shattering it in the half. And then-----“

  “Maaaaaaa! I know you are making up all these stories. Don’t you expect me to fall for it” Vikram sulked with an annoyed but seemingly cute pout on his face. Chandrika couldn’t stop herself from extending her hands to pinch her son’s cheek with adoration.

  The time ran fast and their conversation came to an end. By the time Vikram arranged the bedsheets on the floor, Chandrika was done with dishes. She saw Vikram sleeping soundly. Chandrika smiled to herself and patted the head of her dear son with love.

  “Don’t pretend to sleep Vikram. What is keeping you awake, hmm?” Vikram opened his eyes and looked at his mother. There was a glint of worry in his eyes which Chandrika couldn’t unsee.

  “Maa, when we will be able to live our life normally? When will the misery on our planet come to an end? When will the greed and crimes that is taking us to our end will be vanished maaa, when? The terror of these brutal Asura and human’s fight against their cruelty does it have any end? Will we humans ever win? I want to be able to live a day with you without any worries of survival. Will we both ever be able to live happily forever?”

  A silent pause engulfed the atmosphere. Chandrika looked at her son with a heavy heart. Without her knowledge a tear slipped down her eye. Her hands trembled as she kept patting her son’s head.

  “Where there is life, there is hope. Don’t ever lose your hope, my son. There is always an end to all the things which exists and that includes misery and this is the order of the nature. The light will soon pervade the darkness.”

  “How if there is no source of the light to begin with?”

  “Who says there is no source of light to begin with?” Interjected Chandrika “I know one and that is Lord Nalor, The Supreme Preserver of the Cosmos. He is there to guide us on our path. We are not alone, Vikram. We were never alone. If you believe in dharma then he will be your guardian just know that.”

  “Then how come he has not yet appeared to guide us on the path of humanity?” Vikram scoffed to which Chandrika sighed.

  “You don’t have to believe in him, Vikram. You just have to walk down the path of truth and righteousness. Now enough about our discussion. It’s getting late. Go to sleep Vikram” Chandrika covered her son with the bedsheet.

  After clearing his heads from all the worries Vikram closed his eyes and soon the sleep engulfed him.

  That night was another attempt at survival yet it was peaceful. The breeze whirled through the dunes carrying the sand in her flow. The moonlight from the shattered moon wasn’t enough to light up the darkness but it was enough to guide on the path of hope. The serenity surrounded the atmosphere yet it was just momentary until a blaring alarm reverberated converting the calmness into chaos.

  To Be Continued…