29
She knew she couldn't ask anybody about Zest but what's the harm in checking his profile? Irena clicked on his profile and went through his uploaded pictures.
Within a few minutes of seeing his pics, her world shattered.
There were few pics when he was very young say 7 or 8 years and he looked exactly like the boy she remembered from her memories.
The other pics showed the faces of his parents and those faces were the ones she never once forgot. These were the same faces she saw daily. They were Kelvin and Ulva.
She then explored Kelvin's and Ulva's accounts. Now she became confident that they were the same people.
Tears started falling from her eyes. Tears of happiness.
The boy whom she loved all her life was alive and so near to her. The uncle and aunt she adored had not died. Her happiness knew no bounds.
She immediately called her dad and told him everything.
There was a long silence on the call.
'Are you there dad?' she asked.
He told her the truth of her findings.
It was none other than Kelvin and his family that had betrayed the village. They were alive and doing well while all the others had died. This was concrete proof that they were the ones who fled the village.
Irena froze in her seat.
Ivan's words made perfect sense but Irena still couldn't believe them.
He said that it could also be that they miraculously resurrected like them and there is a slight chance that Kelvin and his family might not be the traitors.
Irena readily agreed. She really wanted this to be the only truth.
He then asked Irena to be good friends with Adam and get all the information from him. She agreed.
Even though Ivan's words had sown seeds of doubt in her mind but still finding Adam after 15 long years was all that she could think of.
* * *
The next month went into getting to know Adam. His personality was the same as before. Shy, obedient, fun-loving.
She wanted to have a long talk with him all alone but an opportunity never came by.
He chickened out every time there was an opportunity and the few good conversations which they had were possible because of his friend Charlie who helped him out at times.
He really was the same.
Like in childhood, she used to push him around for getting into fun things and now after 15 years also he needed a friend to give him the final push to take the lead. She was quite amused to see the adult Adam again behaving in the same way as the young kid Adam she remembered.
Irena was sure that he would never text or call her and now she even doubted that he was interested in her. She was thinking of texting him first but then to her surprise, he initiated the conversation on text.
They talked for quite some time and she got a lot of info from him.
His dad was now a partner in a successful local construction company and his family was rich. He had no siblings. His parents did tell him that in his childhood they lived in a village but moved to Arcvale 15 years ago. There was no memory of Zest in his brain. He even didn't remember the name Zest.
Did he forget about everything? Did he also forget about her? Such thoughts made Irena quite sad.
But she was clear on one thing. Adam didn't play any role in the village's downfall. The only possible culprit could be his parents.
After the chat with him, she reported the same to Ivan.
Then on Valentine's Day, Adam took Irena out on a date and confessed to her. She gladly accepted and they became a couple from there onwards. Her childhood dream finally came true. She was now officially Adam's girlfriend.
30
A few days later Irena visited Arcvale. She came under the pretext of coming along with her dad but in reality, she was the only one who came around.
She visited Adam's home along with Charlie.
Ulva opened the door and welcomed them. It was nostalgic.
Irena was seeing her after 15 long years and even though she had grown older, her face was still a memoir of her past self.
Then came Kelvin. The same gentle uncle who used to bless them daily after the morning prayers. Both of them were the same.
They were the same people whom she had been looking for a long time. She was emotional but she managed to control her tears and portrayed herself as being normal.
They then chatted for some time and Irena tried to extract some info from them. Ulva was mum about their past and Kelvin was also not much helpful. He did mention that long ago they lived in a village but his talks were mostly centered around their lives in Arcvale.
Adam on the other hand remembered everything from his Arcvale life but before that, he had forgotten everything.
Irena was sad.
She thought to herself, 'Even though the four of us shared 5 years in Zest, even though both of these adults lived most of their lives in Zest but we can't openly talk about it. The same Zest that had been their home, the same home that they cared for and which in turn cared for them was forgotten and lost in time.'
She came back to Rille and told everything to Ivan. To her surprise, he didn't say a word. He just asked her to keep observing them and get Kelvin's number from Adam by any means.
She agreed and did as told.
At times she used to feel that Ivan knew a lot more than her but never told her anything. His face told that he wanted to keep those secrets to himself. She wanted to know more but the thought that Adam's parents were really the culprits made her sad. Ignorance was bliss. She chose not to pry on her dad's secrets.
She then returned to the campus and met Adam and his gang. She knew her dad wanted revenge. A part of her also wanted the same. But the bigger part of her wanted to make peace. Wanted not to doubt them. Wanted to forgive them.
This burden of knowing everything but not being able to tell Adam made her dizzy. But even if she wanted to confide in Adam, she was not allowed by Ivan. Her dad's orders were absolute.
A few days later she managed to get Kelvin's number from Adam's phone.
She bought an anonymous number and contacted Kelvin. Ivan had instructed her what to text him. She did the same.
Her words were: "Hi Murderer. We know what happened in Zest. Come to this place all alone at 11 pm and don't tell anyone about this conversation. Remember that it wasn't just you and your family that survived that night in Zest"
Kelvin fell in shock after receiving the text. His past had come back to haunt him. His sins which he thought had disappeared with Zest's disappearance, still existed.
He didn't tell Ulva or Adam about anything and went straight to the location all alone at night. It was an abandoned factory.
He reached and nobody was there.
He waited for a few minutes and then a person arrived. He saw and recognized her. He was in disbelief. She was none other than his son's girlfriend, Irena.
'Irena! What are you doing here?' he asked.
'You still can't remember me, uncle.'
He refreshed his memory but there was not a single girl named Irena in Zest.
'Who are you?' he asked.
'Uncle! Every morning you used to bless us. You played with us countless times. You came to our home countless times. You called me your daughter all the time and you still can't remember me?'
He was in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. 'Girl, is your real name Irena?'
'Irena is my real name but in my previous life, I had a different name. I was called Maria, daughter of your best friend Erwin.'
Kelvin fell onto the floor in disbelief.
Was she a ghost? Or was she a living person? What was she? And how did she manage to find Adam? His mind ran wild with a stream of questions.
'Are you really Maria?' he asked.
'Yes uncle' she replied. 'Both me and dad have been looking for all of you for the past 15 years.'
'Even Erwin is alive?' he was astonished.
She told him all that had happened after they died and Kelvin understood that the spell of reincarnation was used. It all made sense to him.
'So then have you come to kill me Maria?' he asked.
'I don't know. I am not capable of killing a person. I just want answers as to why you left us to die when everything was so good. We all were so happy' she asked him.
Kelvin cast his eyes down. He was ashamed. Tears started falling down his eyes and he started crying loudly.
'Thank god you are alive Maria. I have never once forgotten about my sins. I am really happy to see that you came back and lived a good life. From that night of torment, I have always carried the sin of abandoning the village. I'll tell you the reality of Zest and what exactly me and Erwin are.'
31
He told Irena about the dark culture of the God of death and the sacrifices of the children from the outside world that had been around from the time of the village's inception for more than 1000 years.
He also told her about how he and Erwin killed young children with their bare hands for the village to maintain its boon of long life.
Irena felt disgusted. The dad she loved the most and the uncle she adored were murderers. Cold hearted mass murderers.
On top of that, she wanted Adam to become the head priest in the future. She felt glad that he didn't become one.
Kelvin paused. There was a moment of silence.
'See Maria, you have been like a daughter to me. I am a sinner and I know I will go to hell. But I want to tell you the other truth that we have hidden from all of you.'
'There are more truths to be told. What else have both of you killed?' she taunted him.
You will understand when I'll tell you.
'It happened to us when we were just 15 and were apprentices in training at the temple.'
'The concept of spells did not exist before and the only sin that the priests of each generation carried was the sin of the deaths of innocent. But one night both me and Erwin were blessed or you could say we were cursed.'
'In our dreams, we heard a voice. A voice of our own. The voice called itself the inner voice which each human has but if the human is able to unlock the dormant potential of his brain then this voice can do wonders.'
'Supernatural things that you might have seen only in movies were now at our dispense. We heard the voice in our dreams and it gave us spells to cast.'
'Both me and Erwin were affected by it.'
'You may know that in our village couples were only allowed to have a single child. If a woman used to get pregnant then the priests of the past used to wait for the child to be born and then kill it.'
'But we received the spell that helped us to kill the baby in the womb itself and then transfer its life energy somewhere else. We lied to the villagers that we had received God of life's blessings but in fact, it was spells given to us by our inner voices.'
'We had become the mightiest priests in history.'
'Erwin had always been faithful to me. He shared all the spells with me that his voice told him and I did the same. Except for that one last spell.'
Irena was astonished. She couldn't believe the nonsense that this old man was spouting but she knew how her dad had used the spell of reincarnation and she was alive even though she was supposed to be dead. She had no choice but to believe Kelvin.
'What last spell?' she asked.
He continued.
'A week before we fled the village there was an incident.'
'Our inner voices had the power of future sight. They always told us things that were about to happen in the future and we made preparations for them accordingly.'
'On that night I heard from my inner voice. The strongest spell to exist. The spell of eternal life.'
'It told me that this spell would make me live on this earth as long as there exists a human being on this planet. Until the human species went extinct, I will not die. This was eternal life.'
'It told me that my wife was pregnant and will tell me shortly about it and I should not kill my 2nd child in the womb like I do for the others. I had to leave the village with the unborn child and once the child was born, I had to kill it and drink its blood. That will be my boon for eternal life.'
'I asked it what will happen to our village if I left.'
To this, it replied 'Your village has lived in sins for more than a 1000 years. Its end is near. After you leave, the mighty Zoln will destroy this evil land and not a single soul will survive.'
'My mind was in splits. If I could just kill my 2nd child and continued living as the priest, then nothing would have happened to us. I would have still lived for 100 years.'
'But the voice told me something that forced me to make a decision.'
'It said that I would lose all my powers if I were not to follow the rites of the spell and would become an ordinary priest like my ancestors'.
'My pride and greed as the mightiest didn't allow this.'
'I anyhow had to kill my newborn so I thought why not follow the ritual and then kill it.'
'My greed took over my senses. All I could think of was how to fulfill that spell and become a God myself.'
'I put Adam and Ulva to sleep and then fled the village. Adam did not wake up for a few days from my sleep spell when he was supposed to wake up in a few hours. He lost his memory for the entire 5 years of his life.'
'Ulva's pregnancy failed and she lost our child. My whole purpose was defeated. She even became infertile due to some complications and we could never have another child of our own.'
'On the same day, all my powers suddenly vanished and I just became a mere mortal.'
'I fell into severe depression. I lost my powers, lost my unborn child, lost my home and my people. There was no meaning left in my life. I just wanted to die.'
'But then Adam woke up. He was just 5 years old and lost his memory. Ulva just lost her child and also lost her right to be a mother again. And I felt responsible.'
'Even though I was not able to save anybody but I wanted to give Adam and Ulva a happy life. They deserved this.'
'I clenched my heart and decided to work hard while carrying my sins.'
32
Irena had become numb.
She thought that it was the Gods who were the most powerful in the entire universe but that was not true. The most powerful entity was the Human Greed.
The Gods allowed the village to prosper for 1000 years but human greed brought its downfall in a single night.
She just thought that the only good thing about being born in Zest was that she was able to meet Adam. Otherwise, Zest was a living hell on earth.
'There is one last thing that you must absolutely know my child' said Kelvin.
'What? There's still more evil left to tell me?' she asked him.
'Yes there is. Something more evil than anything I know of. It's the nature of your father.'
'Haven't I heard already? What else is there to know more?' she questioned him.
'It's the truth of this spell of reincarnation.'
Her eyes widened.
'What truth are you talking about uncle?'
'Seeing you here had made me realize one thing. He and I are the same. We are the slaves to our voices because our greed has made us one. You being here is the undeniable proof of that.'
'What?' she was now confused.
'The spell of reincarnation can only work if you have willingly sacrificed a closed one to the God of Death. You may know that your mother died during childbirth. But death in childbirth has never happened in our village which has always been blessed with abundant life energy.'
'And never ever the wife of the priest who is blessed by the Gods experienced death in childbirth. Then how can one justify your mother's death?'
Irena was shocked. She was briefly able to understand where exactly Kelvin was pointing at.
'At the time of her death, I was confused whether Erwin had already used the spell. But even by his standards sacrificing his wife was just too much.'
'After her death, he was mourning her in grief.'
'I didn't have the courage to ask him whether he had used the spell. But seeing that both of you are alive now makes me feel that he did sacrifice your mother.'
'No. No. You are lying.' Irena shouted.
'This can't be true. My dad killed my mom. This can never be true. You are just trying to save yourself. You don't want me to tell all this to Adam and aunt right?'
Kelvin looked at her. His eyes were wet. He looked at her like a proud father looked at his accomplished daughter.
'You sure have grown a lot, Maria. I am glad that I got to meet you one last time.'
'What last time?' asked a puzzled Irena.
'After 15 years when I received your text last night, I again heard my inner voice in my dreams. It said just one thing.'
'I should repent for my sins. I deserve to go to hell and I shall go there now. My time's up.'
'I felt glad for those words. From the day our village perished 15 years ago, I have lived my life as a sinner with no means to repent.'
'But I am glad you survived. Thank you for growing up. Thank you for coming back into Adam's life. Just the last words from this miserable Uncle of yours'
'Beware of Erwin. There's lot more to him than it seems.'
'This is my last request, Maria. Please always stay with Adam and make him happy and send my dead body to my family.'
He looked one last time at Maria and smiled with his eyes wet.
Irena was baffled. She couldn't grasp what the hell was happening. She rushed towards Kelvin.
He immediately took out a pistol from his pocket and shot himself. Kelvin died instantaneously.
Irena fell in shock.
'What just happened? He shot himself?'
He was really dead. She had many things which she wanted to ask from him but could she believe what all he said.
'Why did you have to die like that uncle? Adam will be very sad. Please you should have thought of your family,' she mourned his death as she cried.
Then she thought to herself.
Was her dad really like Kelvin? A cold blooded mass murderer who also killed her mother. She was losing her mind.
There was also this issue of Kelvin's dead body and his last wish. She called her dad's PA and asked him to dispose off the body and leave it near Adam's home. She then left.
The PA called some guards and disposed of the body as asked.