"Vikram!" Prakash shouted in joy and enveloped one of the seated men in a bear hug.
"Brother!" The man too reciprocated the emotion as his eyes moistened at the reunion. After a few seconds in their embrace, the duo separated and silently wiped their tears away from their eyes.
"Thought you went overseas; when did you return home?" The man addressed as Vikram quickly regained his calm, but his tone had become quite soft.
"I returned during the afternoon of the same day we became munchkins," Prakash replied.
"Thankfully you returned on time. Otherwise…. Where's sister?" Vikram let out a sigh of relief when he began to notice something amiss. Prakash had never left Anita alone, not even once even during normal situations; not to mention leaving her alone in such turbulent times, which only meant that she had...
"We got separated by the tsunami but she's alive. That's one fact I know for sure," Prakash said with a determined gaze.
"I see…" The bright cheerful eyes of Vikram dulled all of a sudden; he felt a sense of loss as he didn't know how to carry on the conversation.
"Don't worry, I'll find her soon," Prakash gave him a comforting smile as he continued; "Anyway, can I get some water? I can barely think as of now."
Only now did Vikram notice the dehydrated state of Prakash as he hurriedly instructed one of his men to bring him a glass of water. The man returned with a small plastic cup that was big enough for Prakash to dip his head into it.
'Glug' 'Glug'
Prakash drank the water with relish as he immediately felt his body brimming with vigour while a sense of clarity returned to his muddled mind.
"Thanks," Prakash finished the entire plastic cup full of water and returned the empty cup to the man who had brought it with gratitude.
Vikram whispered something to the man who was about to return with the empty plastic cup as the man's eyes lit up with surprise and he immediately rushed out of the meeting room and soon returned with a lego block and a piece of cotton cloth.
The man then arranged the lego block next to Vikram's seat and then carefully placed the folded cotton that acted as a cushion for the seat.
"Come and sit here, brother. We were just discussing some safety issues and would like to hear your inputs on it," Vikram motioned for Prakash to take the seat next to him as the other seated people stirred in response to his action. Vikram was the leader figure here and seeing him be so cordial with another person gave them a feeling of apprehension. The effect was actually more impactful after they had claimed witness to all the miracles the man had created overnight.
Prakash sat in the seat provided to him as he gazed at this brother of his who seemed to have matured by a significant amount in the short time they hadn't seen each other which was just a bit longer than two weeks.
Vikram was the biological younger brother of Anita who had been quite lackluster in all aspects as compared to her when he last saw him two weeks ago. The man was still in his university days who didn't have much ambition to strive for and was satisfied as long as he got to slack in his room and spend time playing games.
He was a lazy man who didn't get the chance to cherish his laziness as his older sister worked him to the bone wherever she caught him slacking. She made him do yoga for the morning hours, joined him into a gym for the evening hours, and had him learn traditional martial arts during the weekends. His entire free time was consumed in such detestfull labour activities while he had to study during the day in college.
It was to such an extent that he one day packed a blanket in his bag on the way to his university library; found a good spot among a pile of books and slept comfortably like a king atop the blanket as if it were the softest mattress to exist on earth.
He later got found out by the librarian who in turn suspended him for a week and also send a copy of the CCTV footage that recorded his sleeping behaviour along with a timestamp. What he next experienced was a nightmare under the hands of his devilish sister.
Unlike with his sister who always bossed around with him, he shared quite a good relationship with Prakash who happened to be that pitiful soul that tried to snare a tigress.
"You have a good demeanour about you now, Anita would feel proud of you had she seen it," Prakash said. Based on the conversations that went to and fro in the meeting room, Prakash gleaned useful information that had all pointed towards the miracles created by Vikram. He had singlehandedly built everything outside from scratch and also opted for flexible management tactics to keep everyone in line.
"Circumstances forced me to change in order to survive," Vikram replied with a helpless smile. If he could help it, he would go back to being his prior lazy self, but he no longer had that option.
A man with a semi-bald head began to address another topic of importance when the man with a wide forehead rushed into the meeting room with a flustered expression carrying an urgent piece of news, "We are being attacked by Pigeons!"
There were fourteen other people in the meeting room excluding Prakash who all stood up in response to the news and began to rush out.
"Stay here brother, it's dangerous outside," Vikram warned him and soon disappeared from his vision.
Prakash didn't have any thoughts of hiding inside while his brother fought outside as he too rushed out to provide help.
"Get to the shelter!" Numerous bellows rang out from all around him as he saw throngs of people rush into the three buildings that had been completed by now while those who were confident in their fighting prowess bravely charged out with their weapons.
Prakash noticed that the weapons they held looked sturdy and glistened under the light.
"The heck? That's jewellery made from gold!" Prakash exclaimed in surprise and paused for a moment to recollect himself. This wasn't important at present; he had to help them.
As someone who had faced off against those pigeons once, he had some experience and insight that might prove useful. Moreover, he didn't want to sit back and watch people die if he could help it.
Purple smoke gushed out of his orifices and transformed his eyes and ears into that of a dog's as Prakash ran out of the lego structure.
He saw a flock of birds fly towards their base and hover in the air just a foot away from the net. On a careful count, there happened to be fifteen of them, all gazing at the humans in front with bloodthirsty gazes.
His dog ears and eyes immediately dissolved into purple smoke as he summoned out Ugly Shaggy that hovered beside him. Prakash began to sprint towards the front as he manifested his 'Record' and checked the amount of Karma he currently possessed.
Ant-3435 (1.00%) Gharial-26 (0.00%) Mosquito-3 (0.00%)> "Brother, where are you heading off to?" Vikram, who had been hurriedly assembling a group of warriors for the fight immediately shouted in concern as he saw Prakash run towards the net. The nets were only designed to trap and kill the insects, they weren't lethal enough to damage the robust bodies of the pigeons. The concerned shout of Vikram paused as he gazed at Ugly Shaggy that hovered beside Prakash. "I see," Vikram nodded his head in comprehension as he could now understand how Prakash had been able to survive outside till now. Unlike how he calmly took the information, the others weren't so calm about witnessing Ugly Shaggy that hovered beside Prakash. Prakash ignored the shocking exclamations that occurred behind him as he observed the pigeons in order to pick a suitable target. After his previous loss, Prakash was careful about selecting his target so as to avoid recklessly expending his Karma reserves. Among the fifteen pigeons, Prakash picked out one that looked to be the strongest out of the birds in his range. Even if Shaggy could stretch itself quite far enough, the farther it went from him, the weaker it became. So Prakash selected a feasible target. "Go," Ugly Shaggy shot forward like an arrow towards the target pigeon but when it had approached within a metre towards its target, the pigeon suddenly swerved towards its right. Even though it couldn't see Ugly Shaggy, its wild senses that had been forged through daily encounters with numerous threats immediately picked up something amiss. After the pigeon swerved towards its right, it crooked its head in all directions in a puzzled manner. It couldn't pick up anything that could threaten itself in its immediate vicinity. Without pausing after its initial failure, Ugly Shaggy proceeded with another lunge that was once again avoided by the pigeon, its puzzled eyes filled with a mild sense of fear. The pigeon kept performing various maneuvers in the air and soon piqued the interest of the other pigeons which immediately lost interest after a second and began to gaze towards their mouthwatering targets. They were thinking about the best method of attack with their pigeon brains when one of their companions gave out horrific screeches and began to fall down. "Shit," Prakash cursed in response as he hadn't factored about such a possibility. When the pigeon began to resist the invader that had entered into its mind, its flapping wings stopped momentarily which resulted in its thrashing body to fall down. 'Plop' The pigeon fell into the murky waters on the first floor before it could gain balance in the air and was pounced upon by the numerous fishes swimming in it. Prakash recalled Ugly Shaggy and let it hover beside him as he retreated towards where Vikram and hundreds of armed troops stood in a battle-ready stance. He had lost about 200 Ant Karma in the previous exchange and hadn't even gained an upper hand in the mental battle between Ugly Shaggy and the pigeon. Prakash also noted that the consumption in Karma was drastically higher as compared to when he tried to convert the fish. He came to the conclusion that the conversion efficiency lowered when he used Karma that was of a different species on the creature he was trying to convert.