Aditya sat on a vacant chair in a daze as he looked at the black Beretta 92 handgun in his hand. It weighed more than 2 kg when loaded.
His blood boiled when he hit all the targets as expected, causing the other members of the gang to be struck with awe and respect. Even Taarini had a 'real' smile on her face, not like the one she had when she gave the loaded rifle, when she formally asked him if he was interested in assisting her. Of course, he agreed. Aditya had not pulled his punches while firing as he had to demonstrate his worth for Taarini to take this teen seriously. But the firearms which he used and the range in which he practised were far from displaying his full potential but he didn't bother revealing this to her.
But after all the excitement died down and his heart relaxed a bit, he started feeling a bit of dread mixed with awe and hesitation when he looked at this instrument. He felt like he was at an important crossroad in his life in which whatever path he took, he wouldn't be able to go back.
He, a 16-year-old teenager had been given an instrument which when combined with his capabilities had the power to take human life at the cost of a single, almost worthless bullet. He was not trusted to drink alcohol or cast a vote in his country but now he was given the might to take a human life. Aditya himself didn't know if he could be trusted with such a force. Did he have the mental capacity to not act on momentary impulse?
He was puzzled as to how Taarini was cool with it, maybe living and growing up with people who played around with life like it was worthless did influence her to ignore these concerns. Maybe she was already pushed into a corner so that she didn't have the liberty to consider this. Even though now it looked like Taarini trusted him with a sidearm, Aditya knew that more than 3 people were keeping a close eye on his every movement. He was sure that he wouldn't get to celebrate his 17th birthday if he tried pointing his gun at Taarini even for a joke.
Aditya was always confident of himself. But when confronted with this situation, he discovered he was not as cool and chilled out as he expected himself to be. But his heart calmed down when images of two people drifted into his mind. Yes, why was he thinking too much into this trivial matters when the real priority is saving his parents. As to whether he might act on an impulse and do things which he might regret in the future, he had to bear the risk. One thing was for sure though, when his calculations, Slow Timing and a loaded gun were combined, Aditya was sure that he would only be left with regrets at best. He would not be the one hurt definitely so the guy who wants to piss him off will have only himself to blame.
"Do you like this gun?" Taarini came over after inspecting the skills of her subordinates. She was feeling optimistic about her gang's future. She didn't expect that her tryst with Flaming tiger which resulted in almost losing her life and innocence had actually concluded with her being gifted a child prodigy who could rival Olympic gold medalists. She really did not know who else could be called a prodigy before this kid. It was his first time touching a gun and he was naturally endowed with great prowess.
"yup, who wouldn't like the gun used by Bruce Willis?" Aditya said with a small smile which thoroughly hid away his concerns.
"Who?"
"Bruce Willis? Hollywood Star? Die Hard movie?"
"I don't watch Hollywood movies."
"Oh."
Taarini looked at Aditya as her eyes shimmered, "While being proficient with a gun is very good, it is not enough to ensure your survival in our circle. Not all places allow you to carry a firearm. Many of the meetings of the underworld leaders which usually end up becoming bloody actually prohibit firearms. So I want you trained in close combat as well. What do you think of it?"
Aditya nodded as he thought that Taarini's logic was flawless. He did not want to depend only on firearms either especially given his capabilities.
Just when he was about to follow Taarini out of this shooting range, he heard Tya's cutesy voice, "Adi, I want a lollipop."
"I don't have any." Aditya activated Slow Timing as he conversed with Tya while following Taarini.
"you are lying, I can smell lollipops," Tya protested with an adorable voice.
Aditya was stunned a little as he also sniffed a little but couldn't discover anything, "Why can't I feel?"
"Adi, its because you don't know how to properly utilize your faculties," Tya replied.
"Wait, I am coming inside, take over the body," Aditya stated as he willed himself to go into Tya's world.
"Okay"
This was another function which Aditya had discovered these days. Due to Tya bonding with him in some unique way, Aditya had discovered that Tya could take over basic functions of his body like walking, drinking, sleeping. It was alright as long as it was a small function which did not require Aditya to think hard or do any creative work. Most of these functions were 80% involuntary in nature so Tya could manage the remaining without any hassle but if Aditya wanted Tya to do 'real' work like repairing cars or firing guns, it was not possible as Tya did not have control over the finer centres of Aditya's brain.
Whenever Aditya came inside Tya's world, he would be confounded at the marvel of the sight. This realm was brimming with innumerable colours and lights. They were globes which had liquids of myriad shades flowing on their surface. Vapours of umpteen brilliance could be seen flowing around this world.
While some globes melted into gases and liquids, some gases congealed into liquids and these liquids coagulated into spheres.
Tya looked the same as the last time. If Aditya was asked to mention any changes, he could only say that Tya appeared cuter now and this world seemed more compact, real and defined than before. It was like 1080p becoming 4K.
Aditya always had high expectations of Tya's evolution and the subsequent abilities it brought along. So, when Tya said that it could smell lollipops and that Aditya did not know to utilize his faculties, he guessed that Tya had something new to offer. As he had this 'Auto Pilot' system and 'Slow Timing', he had ample time to converse with Tya before Taarini led him to the training room.
Aditya always felt relaxed and secure when he came into this world. It was like his own private hangout that no one was able to tarnish or intervene. Aditya would always spend some time talking to Tya and playing around this world before he slept in the night and after he woke up in the morning.
"Adi, do you know that a human mind can only concentrate on one particular thing," Tya spoke as Aditya listened earnestly. Aditya had developed an innate immunity to cuteness these days due to spending a good amount of time with Tya so he could concentrate on the words without getting embroiled in the world of adorable smiles, innocent, immature voices and lovely dimples. He also came to know these days that Tya was a born nerd. He had the most inquisitive mind ever. He wanted to know everything about everything.
Aditya had always marvelled at the fact that Tya had spent millions of years alone but after getting to know him Aditya roughly figured out how it was possible. Tya never remained idle, he was always working on something. He wanted to understand, experience and experiment on anything and everything. Boredom was a totally unknown concept for him before he met Aditya. Of course, these days Tya inherited some new emotions from Aditya which caused him to start acting more like a human.
"so you are saying that we can't multitask," Aditya asked when he heard Tya's words.
Tya shook his head as it replied with earnest eyes, "Some humans can accomplish multitasking only because they can control their mind to shift its focus at a higher speed than normal people. But concentrating on two things at the same time is practically impossible for humans. Even when you watch a movie, you may think that you are seeing and hearing at the same time, what happens is nothing but the mind shifting its focus to seeing and hearing at very high speeds in a second one after the other."
Aditya nodded involuntarily as he thought about these words. He looked up at this gaseous form of a kid and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
"Adi, it means that you can't smell when you see, you cant see when you taste, you can't hear when you feel touch and so on. So at any given time your mind or any human mind can only focus on one sense organ. Sometimes, when you are thinking about something absentmindedly, you won't be able to focus on a good car passing by you even if you have your eyes open." Tya tried its best to make it simple for Aditya.
Aditya nodded as he started to get the general meaning. Tya nodded its head as he continued, "even when a human is focusing on one sense organ, the mind usually focuses on a minute percentage of the receiving information."
here Aditya interrupted, "Like how you don't notice the people or things in front of you when you are eyeing a beauty."
"Adi, why would you do that?" Tya asked as it blinked its puppy eyes while tilting its head in mild puzzlement.
"Cough, cough, you will understand it when you grow up." Aditya felt embarrassed to explain this sex education topic to an underage kid. He seemed to have forgotten that Tya was eligible to be called as an ancestral figure with his age.
"Okay, so just like you said, even when the mind is focusing on one sense organ, it won't take up all the impulses that are transmitted. The mind usually focuses on things which it either likes or dislikes and ignores those things which are neither. But the percentage of the things ignored is usually far higher than the ones which the mind is focused on. So the human mind misses a lot of information at any given time. So in a way, we could say that the human mind is only capable of perceiving a minute fraction of the real world." Tya concluded succinctly.
Aditya feared that any more of this and he would start sleeping, so he asked, "So, what is this new ability that you discovered?"
"Adi, because of the bonding between us, you are now able to multitask with my help. Not only multitasking, but you can also pay attention to all the things which your senses are perceiving irrespective of likes and dislikes." Tya replied happily.
"And what does that mean?" Aditya asked the key question.
"It means that you won't be ever deceived by any magician or an optical illusion. No one can deceive you with lies as you can register all their body reactions simultaneously making it very easy for you to analyze their behaviour. A little practice is all it takes. Any proficient illusionist would always leave some hints which people usually miss but you won't because the illusionist himself is still a normal human unlike you." Tya spoke excitedly.
'What is the sentence' normal human unlike you' mean, am I not a normal human.' Aditya thought when he heard Tya's words. But he was pleasantly surprised at Tya's timely gift. He was about to enter the world of rats, the world of deception and subterfuge and he was given a talisman of protection.
When Aditya was also revelling with Tya, he heard Taarini's voice like someone was shouting from far away, "Aditya, what do you think of this training place?"
"Okay, Tya got to go, bye."
"Elder brother, lollipop, sniff sniff"
"Okay, I will definitely get them, don't cry."