It was a beautiful summer evening, when the people of the kingdom of Levon received a message
through the royal mail. The last surviving heir of the royal minister-Adam was going to perform an
act on the epic battle between Levon and Baltimore.
Levon used to be a colony of Greece during the reign of Alexander the great, shortly after his death, the
kingdom saw a lineage of powerful, wise and just kings. These kings made structures which seemed
impossible at that time, distributed power to the people, all collected tax went in development purposes
and not a single ounce of gold was spent for the royal family’s luxury until the kings found that the
kingdom was safe, sound and secure. Levon as a nation was at the epitome of success. But as is said,
joy is followedby sorrow. The last king died at a young age before he had an heir. The “Royal Directory”, similar to constitutions today, as formulated by the second great king of Levon
stated the power to pass on to the “Royal Five”, the league of ministers. Unlike their kings, the Royal Five
weren’t fond of ruling wisely, three of them went rogue and killed each other in a dispute for ultimate
control over the kingdom. The other two decided to follow the path of the kings. But as fate would have it, the greed of power and money invaded the other two ministers shortly. One of
them assassinated the other by adding poison to his drink. Adam was the son of the last minister, hence the
most powerful man in the entire kingdom. Due to this dispute the next generation of Levonons had seen a
lot of bloodshed involving a civil war which nearly uprooted the kingdom. Levonons had now lost all humanity, they were corrupt, they were torturers, women were not respected,
children were beaten, there were kidnappers and thugs moving all around the city as there was no system
of judiciary left. The only hope that Levon would rise back to it’s former glory was a teenaged
child- Adrian, the last surviving heir of the priests, most of the priests were killed during the civil war.
Adrian was in the good books of every person in Levon. Every child, every man, every woman, even
Adam, whom he befriended after saving his life from falling over the cliff when they were children, knew
and respected him for the noble and kind man he was shaping into.
The moment he heard the news of a stage play being performed by Adam he immediately contacted his
friends Richard and David and organised a ride up to the royal castle which hung between two closely
situated mountain peaks. The north peak served as the entrance gate where all security staff resided, the
middle part of the castle hung a thousand feet above ground level connecting the entrance to the lavish
royal quarters on the south peak. The place where the play was to be performed was in the hanging hall
between the two mountain peaks.
On the way to the castle David was in a cheerful mood. He saw the sulky Adrian and Richard drown in
their own thoughts. “You two aren’t worrying that the king of Baltimore will take advantage that the kingdom’s guard will be
down today, are you?” said David in an attempt to tease the two. “Not today, tomorrow” said Richard in a nearly inaudible tone. “Nah, it’s just that my head is exploding with pictures and thoughts that I can’t relate to” replied Adrian,
still lost in his thoughts. “Hey how come Richard’s here?” inquired David. “He’s new in town, so I thought it’d be a good time for him to meet everyone.” said Adrian, as the horse
cart reached near the gigantic black iron gates of the castle. For the first time in three decades , the castle
of Levon was well lit and beautifully decorated and more importantly, open to it’s people. “It’s gonna be one hell of a night!” Adrian exclaimed looking at the preparations for the event. “I’m sure it will be brother” replied Richard in his usual I’m-not-interested-tone. As the iron gates opened, they revealed the walls of the castle which hid years of sorrow under the colorful
decoration of flowers. The three saw the last Royal minister upon entering the castle, who seemed to search for someone in the
crowd of guests. “Just the man I wanted to see!” said the minister, pulling Adrian towards him. “How is the last priest of
Levon doing tonight?” “I’m fine, how’s your health minister?” questioned Adrian, feeling pain deep down. “I’ll be fine, look I got a job for you, remember the legend of how our first king and his first son were
awarded the two sacred keys to the kingdom’s oldest church and this castle itself?” “Did you....” said Adrian, but was interrupted by the minister. “Yes, we happened to find them today morning while the castle’s old rooms were being cleaned. Isn’t that
just amazing?” blissed the minister with visible dirt in his eyes which the three friends clearly observed. “I get it, you want me to hand over these to you and Adam after his performance” said Adrian. “Yes, you cunning son of a priest, but I wish I had spared some priests during the war so that according to
the legend both me and Adam could get it from different priests.” said the evil minister. “Don’t worry, Richard here is the son of a priest” replied David. “Who’s Richard never heard that name.” “This young fellow over here, he’s new in town.” “Oh hi, I never learned Levon had any visitors after the Great Dispute, only heard of the families that run
away every week.” said the minister with a cunning smile. “You and your methods brought me here Benjamin.” said Richard with a flame in his eyes. “Did he just call my name?” said the minister trying to control his anger. “No he didn’t sir” said David and Adrian in unison. “Well, that better be true, since I don’t want to pull out the heart of a priest from his chest using swords and
scalpel again, anyway here are the keys” said the minister as he handed over the large two feet tall keys to
Richard and Adrian. Adrian nearly prevented rolling over due to the weight of the key. The keys were rusted and weighed
nearly ten kilograms. “Thank God he gave just the keys. Just thinking about these keys’ lock gives me the jitters” said David. David spotted his uncle who was clearly not in a good mood. “I gotta go, God knows what’s the matter with him now, see you soon...” said David as he vanished away
in the crowd.
Adrian and Richard went inside the hall with the gigantic keys which they could barely hold and
occupied the last seats where the royal guards used to sit once right behind the king. It took no more than an hour for the hall to reach its full capacity. The royal scarlet red curtains were drawn
and the first scene began followed by a huge cheer from the crowd. “I don’t see the minister” said Adrian. “Where would he be, look near the curtains.” said Richard. There was he, eagerly waiting for his son to show up in front of the crowd. When Adam came out fully
dressed as the last king of Levon did during his last battle, people shouted in happiness, tear rolled out of
some elderly people who still remembered that blissful sight. As soon as Adam came out, Adrian’s brain
burst with pain he tried to control his squeals but he couldn’t. No one could listen to him tough, all were
engrossed in the play. Suddenly, the pain went away and Adrian’s eyes filled with darkness, in the dark he saw a spot of light,
the reflection of a faint memory from his childhood. He saw exactly what was happening now around him.
He forced open his eyes only to see Richard atop him. “Are you okay, brother?” there was visible fright and concern in his eyes. “Why do you call me brother?” asked Adrian in a down tone. He felt a tinge in his head and suddenly rose from his chair. He started to look around like mad. It felt as if
his brain was processing, storing, relating and retrieving information and data all at once. He felt like a
superhuman with enormous brain capacity, looking at hundreds of things all at once and determining all
possible outcomes there could be. He saw Adam first, then the heavy stage props hanging above the stage in mid air representing the
heavens, what if the loose wire that holds it breaks, Adam will die; what about the sword that one of the
actors are holding, what if he falls and slips on that little puddle of red water being used as blood, it will
cut through Adam’s throat, Adam will die; what if that guard by the door who is sitting half asleep and
pointing the gun in Adam’s direction loses balance and shoots accidently, Adam will die; what if Adam
has a heart failure, as the look on his face clearly shows he did not take his medicines due to the stress of
his big day today?, Adam will die; what if..., Adam will die;what if..., Adam will die;what if..., Adam will
die;what if..., Adam will die. No matter what, Adam will die today and so will Levon as without a ruler, no
matter how cruel or insane, a kingdom shall fall, Levon shall fall. Or maybe not, thought Adrian, what if he falls down into the chamber beneath the stage? The chances of
him dying today shall go down from 99% to just 10%. How will he open that little door which has been
closed for centuries. He went inside his brain to access his childhood memories. He saw his grandfather
and himself in his ancestral home’s garden. He focused and tried to listen to their conversation and recall
what he had been told about the architecture of the royal castle. “The great hall of the royal castle holds a stage situated right at the centre of the castle.”said the old priest. “There are two gates one which opens to the space between the stage and castle floor to act as a hideout
for a surprise appearance whenever the performer desires, and the other which opens the castle floor itself
down to the Earth a thousand feet below. It was designed by the chief engineer to execute any assassin or
enemy right at the spot, who tends to attack the king during his leisure time at the hall” recollected Adrian
in the sweet voice of his grandfather who he dearly loved. But there was no time to mourn now for his long gone grandfather. There must be a way to open that door. He looked around quickly, his head was spinning faster than ever.
He thought the way to open that door to hell must be available with the Chief of the Army. Which
reminded him that he was at the right spot where once the Chief actually used to sit. “Both doors should open so as to perform an execution, therefore, the Chief must have the machinery to
control both gates. If I unlock half the mechanism only the gate to the chamber shall open.” thought
Adrian. He looked around the seat like mad men. All this happened in a matter of few seconds which left Richard
startled and confused. “What’s up with you brother?”he demanded an explanation but didn’t receive it. “Found it, help me get this lever up” said Adrian as seriously as one can imagine. “What?” “Just do as I say.” They pulled up the small, rusted, jammed lever, the seat sprang up revealing two key holes. “I thought so” said Adrian more to himself than to Richard. “What the hell is going on around here?” enquired a perplexed Richard. “Adam is going to die, follow my instructions or see a kingdom fall tonight.” He looked down to the keyholes. Saw the key he was handed. It was a perfect match. “The key to God’s home opens to the hell below as well, how smart dear great great great grandfather.”
said Adrian. He took the key inserted it right into the hole, started rotating it. Click, click, click, click, click, click, the
key was a match but it was just moving in the keyhole, sure some mechanism down under was working
which was giving the click sound but nothing happened so far. “Help me my lord.” he rotated it once more. Click-click.
Something opened, but not just the door below but also the one under. Adam fell right down. Only his left
hand was there supporting his entire body weight. Everyone in the hall froze in shock. Not a single limb
moved. Not a single voice was audible. The guards hesitated and did not move an inch. His father, the
minister ran like a mad man to rescue his son. He with his hand tried to push him up, but the old man’s
spine cracked because of his young son’s weight. The father and son fell to death in front of half the
Levon, but no one could do anything. There was chaos all around, people were shouting in shock and
pain. Women started to cry, men started to gather their family and started to run towards home. The
officials and soldiers started to investigate what triggered this age old mechanism to suddenly spring
back to life.
Adrian was back to normal, Richard was nowhere to be seen, probably fled the scene. Adrian too was
startled to see the sudden unfolding of events. All he did to protect them, all went in vain, moreover he
had red in his ledger now, the murder of the ruler and his successor. Levon was in danger because of him. The chair went back to it’s position with a crack which no one could hear due to the shouting and
squealing. He dropped the key and ran towards his home in fright, trying to fight the odds of the sin that
he had committed. All he now could think was of whom to trust with this secret, where to hide and what
to do to ensure that Levon stood safe. He reached home, locked himself in his quarters and started
moaning. The scene outside the window had become horrific, there was utter chaos. It reminded him of
the barbaric times of the civil war.
There was a sudden knock on the door. A shiver went down his spine. He had hardly controlled his
emotional state. Who would it be? The intensity of the knocks started to rise with the passage of every
second. “Adrian, get down son it’s the army, they are here to inspect.” it was Bob, Adrian’s neighbor. “I’ll be down in a moment.” he replied trying to control the heaviness in his voice caused due to moaning. He gathered his inner strength, went down with the last words of his father, in his ears- “Justice must be
served, to all.” With every step that he took towards the door, his heartbeat rose exponentially. When he was near the
door, he thought that if not the law, guilt will surely kill him. He pushed open the door, the ground was full of people, with wild dogs searching everyone. “What’s going on?” Adrian asked Bob with all the sincerity that he could gather. “The army found a piece of torn cloth on the last benches of the hall with a large key that is supposed to
be used to open that execution door, the dogs have smelled the cloth and the key.” explained Bob.
“It won’t be long till the new king is found. Thank God he killed those bloody bastards. Benjamin’s son
ate all my mangoes that I had bought for myself.” Adrian couldn’t believe what kind of society he was a part of. Instead of mourning on the death of his
fellow countrymen, the people were happy that someone killed them just because of some petty acts that
they did. Just as Adrian was ready to pour out his disgust on Bob, one of the dogs started to run towards him.
Adrian was dead shocked, ‘this is the end’ he thought. The dog came to him and started to lick his legs,
apparently he was one of the little pups that Adrian had brought up in his childhood. The soldier ran
towards the dog, to control him and get him back to work. “Come on Jack, no time to play, got some serious work to do”said the soldier in an embarrassed tone
looking towards his seniors who saw him in disgust, a person who can’t even control a dog. Just as he
tried to get the dog off, the dog started to bark at Adrian. This brought the other dogs near him. All of
them started to sniff him and then barked at him in unison. This got the attention of everyone present
there. Everyone’s face turned white, no one could believe what was turning out to be the most surprising
night that Levon had ever experienced. “This couldn’t be.” said the Royal guard, looking as though he had lost all his senses. The look on Adrian’s face proved that had openly confessed his crime. He looked down to the ground,
tears rolled down his eyes. The soldiers cuffed him and walked him to the cart. No one said a word, no one moved an inch, they
just saw the last hope of Levon’s resurrection walk away into the dark. Everyone knew this was the end
of their nation. The horses started to run, Adrian and the soldiers disappeared into the darkness of the
darkest night that these people had ever seen.
The cart stopped, Adrian was asked to follow the soldiers into a dimly lit room full of people. Adrian
gathered the courage to look up after a long time of stooping under the weight of his sin. He found that he was in the Ground Guards room near the entrance of the castle. The room was filled
with all kinds of officials, army heads and Adam’s family members including his mother, with whom he
couldn’t dare to have an eye contact, though she was continuously staring at him in the face. Everyone in the room was dead silent, not looking at each other, not even at Adrian. “Of all the people I thought would ever hurt me.... you didn’t even make the list, Adrian.” Adam’s mother
broke the silence. “A decade ago you saved his life, I thought you were friends, I wanted him to become
like you....”she broke down, her voice became heavier with every word. “It doesn’t matter anymore, he committed the murder of the crown prince and his only son, he has
committed treason of the highest level possible, moreover we have solid proof against him.” said the
royal guard. “According to the Royal Directory, as formulated by our second king, anyone who commits
such a crime shall be immediately executed in front of all the people in power.” The royal guard sighed after reading the scroll. “We were waiting for you.” The Guard said as a man dressed in black clothes appeared in the room with
a sword, it was the executioner. He walked in just as any ruthless person would, tall, muscular with a grim
look on his face, but even he was taken aback when he saw that he was summoned to execute the son of
a priest who had not even turned into an adult yet. “A job is a job.” he said to himself and walked towards Adrian. Adrian was made to sit on his knees, with
his head bent down, his hands and even legs now were cuffed. The executioner put the cold sword on
Adrian’s neck near the spine to slice his head off. Everyone tried to avoid the dark moment but as is
mandatory during an execution, they all had to look as a sign of solid evidence. Adrian with his head down was shivering and sulking like a child. He could feel the sharp, cold blade
of the sword on the back of his neck. The executioner lifted the sword to perform the swing when
suddenly, a soldier opened the door. “Yes, sir?” he said. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”said the Guard. “Didn’t you call me sir?” “No, I didn’t. Now move the hell out of here, we have some unfinished business in here.” “Yes, sir!” the soldier roared. “And close that door properly” said the Guard. “Please shut the back door of the room too, will you Mr. Guard” requested Adam’s mother. “Yes ma’am.” replied the guard. The soldier and the guard moved to their respective doors and shut them, there was a sound- click-click, as the doors closed simultaneously.
Adrian’s head started spinning again, everyone and everything seemed to slow down until it nearly paused,
he passed out and fell on the floor, however his head was working faster than ever before. The sound of the simultaneous clicks was playing over and over again in his head. He traced it back to
five hours ago in the hall, right before the doors beneath the stage opened. It was the key mechanism
which had produced the click-click earlier that day. His mind constructed a possible design of how the
doors beneath the stage might have opened, but couldn’t find a possible reason for the two clicking
sounds. Then it occurred to him- it wasn’t the mechanism, someone had used the other key to open the
second door using the second keyhole he found there. The second click was the second key in the second
keyhole, moved by the second person...... “Richard!” shouted Adrian as he woke from his slumber. “What, who?” said nearly everyone in the room. “I swear to God, it wasn’t me alone, there was another guy by the name Richard, he is new in town, he
was there when I passed out in the hall and foresaw Adam’s death. Then we together rotated the keys to
save Adam but we went wrong somewhere.” “What are you talking about? Are you trying to imply that this ‘Richard’ could be from Baltimore, a spy,
an assassin.” asked the Guard. “I don’t know, but there is a lot you all need to know before you sentence me to death.” “Thank God you spoke up.” said the Man of Arms, “I can’t really see another young priest die in front of
me in this life”. Everyone realised that they weren’t liable to take that call, they turned to the now queen of Levon. She seemed reluctant, then after a short while of staring in Adrian’s eyes, she told her decision- “I give you one day to prove your innocence, if you are not able to prove it, you will be executed in this
same manner tomorrow at this very time.I will seal all gates of the kingdom to ensure that no living soul
crosses the boundary of Levon, including you. But first I’d like to listen to a detailed version of your
account of what exactly happened in the hall today evening.” “Yes your highness.” said Adrian.
Adrian didn’t sleep that night, he went from place to place searching for Richard. Apparently, he realised
he knew almost nothing about him. Just the name, no address, no family name, no background. He
wondered why he even became friends with someone he knew nothing about. “It was completely stupid of me to believe a stranger” he punched a wall saying this to himself. Adrian had searched half of Levon before the sun rose, but had no trace of him. It was the darkest dawn in
the life of young Adrian. He did not give up, by lunch he had searched every nook and corner of Levon,
all in vain. But nothing could stop him, he went down to the lowlands of the kingdom completely given
up on any reason to live or to enjoy the last evening of his life. While crossing through one of the huts in
the lowlands, he saw a human figure walking along the horizon. He moved towards him. First it seemed
like a baby, an infant, as he grew closer, his reflection seemed that to be of a child, then a man and finally
an old figure. When Adrian was close enough he realised, it was no one else but Richard himself. “I was searching for you all day, where were you, why did you flee the scene, do you know I was going
to be executed yesterday and will definitely be executed today if you don’t agree that Adam’s death was
an accident.” said a breathless Adrian. “It wasn’t an accident, it was a planned murder.” replied Richard in the palest tone possible. “What kind of a friend are you?” “That murder was planned by me from A to Z.” “No, you need not do this Richard, I’ll think something out, don’t waste your life for me” “I am not wasting my life, I am just doing my job. I am not Richard.... I am death.” Adrian put his hand on Richard’s head. “You are all right, right?” Richard smiled from his heart, “You don’t believe me brother, huh?” “Look to the kingdom of Levon, look over to your beloved city, your beloved ‘Hanging Castle’, it’s all
going as planned brother.” Adrian looked over to the high mountains. It was all burning up there, everything from houses, trees,
gardens even the castle was on fire. Baltimore attacked Levon and this time they were winning. “The Guard was right, you really are from Baltimore. You set me up, befriended me to take advantage
of my good image so that you had no fingers raised against you.” “Oh come on, now, don’t you get it, I am not human, so not from Baltimore, I am death. The sins of the
people of this city had crossed the level even father could bare. So he sent you down in this mortal
avataar so you with all your kindness and love could change the hearts of these people, but as I said
before you left, they are beyond saving. But you did your thing, did arouse some hope in father’s heart
that they could be spared. But the minister-Benjamin’s last address to you, the crowd not helping the
father and son from falling to death and the thinking of Bob were completely unbearable to father. He
commanded me to end the kingdom and the entire population. But, no, with your taking all the blame of
the minister and his son’s death, the cards were turned. The good within people started to show up. I agree
with you now, you were right, ‘there is good in every bad and better in every good’.” Silence, with awkward curses and explosions audible from the burning town above clouded the two boys. “How come then everybody up there is suffering?” asked Adrian. “Not all, few, who deserve to be punished are being offered various massages from the All-Father in all
possible places.” Adrian grinned. “So why save me from execution?”he asked. “Who will then relieve the people of Levon from pain? Your life in this mortal form is still long brother, you
will be the medicine to the wounds of Levonons, you will be their messiah, their saviour, but after this
invasion from Baltimore of course. Your service to the people of Levon will serve as a proof that you did
not intentionally kill the minister and son, it will be forgotten as an accident and Levon shall rise back to
glory.” Adrian started to think. “What’s troubles you now?” Richard asked. “In the hall, when my head started spinning, I knew somewhere it was me, but at the Ground Guard’s
house, it felt like something in me was commanding me. Those were two different experiences.” Richard smiled wide and pointed a finger at himself, “and….the soldier who entered at the wrong moment
during the execution too”. Adrian passed a notorious smile. “Uh-oh, time to say Adieu brother.” said Richard as he saw the setting Sun, and started moving towards
the cliff. “Hey, why do you call me brother?” asked Adrian waiting for an obvious answer, but wanted to listen to
it from Richard’s mouth. “Coz we are unidentical twins!, I am death and you are......” said Richard with a cunning smile as he
walked past the horizon on thin air. “What if I need you again?” he asked at last. “Death is always around, brother” he replied as he vanished across the horizon.
through the royal mail. The last surviving heir of the royal minister-Adam was going to perform an
act on the epic battle between Levon and Baltimore.
Levon used to be a colony of Greece during the reign of Alexander the great, shortly after his death, the
kingdom saw a lineage of powerful, wise and just kings. These kings made structures which seemed
impossible at that time, distributed power to the people, all collected tax went in development purposes
and not a single ounce of gold was spent for the royal family’s luxury until the kings found that the
kingdom was safe, sound and secure. Levon as a nation was at the epitome of success. But as is said,
joy is followedby sorrow. The last king died at a young age before he had an heir. The “Royal Directory”, similar to constitutions today, as formulated by the second great king of Levon
stated the power to pass on to the “Royal Five”, the league of ministers. Unlike their kings, the Royal Five
weren’t fond of ruling wisely, three of them went rogue and killed each other in a dispute for ultimate
control over the kingdom. The other two decided to follow the path of the kings. But as fate would have it, the greed of power and money invaded the other two ministers shortly. One of
them assassinated the other by adding poison to his drink. Adam was the son of the last minister, hence the
most powerful man in the entire kingdom. Due to this dispute the next generation of Levonons had seen a
lot of bloodshed involving a civil war which nearly uprooted the kingdom. Levonons had now lost all humanity, they were corrupt, they were torturers, women were not respected,
children were beaten, there were kidnappers and thugs moving all around the city as there was no system
of judiciary left. The only hope that Levon would rise back to it’s former glory was a teenaged
child- Adrian, the last surviving heir of the priests, most of the priests were killed during the civil war.
Adrian was in the good books of every person in Levon. Every child, every man, every woman, even
Adam, whom he befriended after saving his life from falling over the cliff when they were children, knew
and respected him for the noble and kind man he was shaping into.
The moment he heard the news of a stage play being performed by Adam he immediately contacted his
friends Richard and David and organised a ride up to the royal castle which hung between two closely
situated mountain peaks. The north peak served as the entrance gate where all security staff resided, the
middle part of the castle hung a thousand feet above ground level connecting the entrance to the lavish
royal quarters on the south peak. The place where the play was to be performed was in the hanging hall
between the two mountain peaks.
On the way to the castle David was in a cheerful mood. He saw the sulky Adrian and Richard drown in
their own thoughts. “You two aren’t worrying that the king of Baltimore will take advantage that the kingdom’s guard will be
down today, are you?” said David in an attempt to tease the two. “Not today, tomorrow” said Richard in a nearly inaudible tone. “Nah, it’s just that my head is exploding with pictures and thoughts that I can’t relate to” replied Adrian,
still lost in his thoughts. “Hey how come Richard’s here?” inquired David. “He’s new in town, so I thought it’d be a good time for him to meet everyone.” said Adrian, as the horse
cart reached near the gigantic black iron gates of the castle. For the first time in three decades , the castle
of Levon was well lit and beautifully decorated and more importantly, open to it’s people. “It’s gonna be one hell of a night!” Adrian exclaimed looking at the preparations for the event. “I’m sure it will be brother” replied Richard in his usual I’m-not-interested-tone. As the iron gates opened, they revealed the walls of the castle which hid years of sorrow under the colorful
decoration of flowers. The three saw the last Royal minister upon entering the castle, who seemed to search for someone in the
crowd of guests. “Just the man I wanted to see!” said the minister, pulling Adrian towards him. “How is the last priest of
Levon doing tonight?” “I’m fine, how’s your health minister?” questioned Adrian, feeling pain deep down. “I’ll be fine, look I got a job for you, remember the legend of how our first king and his first son were
awarded the two sacred keys to the kingdom’s oldest church and this castle itself?” “Did you....” said Adrian, but was interrupted by the minister. “Yes, we happened to find them today morning while the castle’s old rooms were being cleaned. Isn’t that
just amazing?” blissed the minister with visible dirt in his eyes which the three friends clearly observed. “I get it, you want me to hand over these to you and Adam after his performance” said Adrian. “Yes, you cunning son of a priest, but I wish I had spared some priests during the war so that according to
the legend both me and Adam could get it from different priests.” said the evil minister. “Don’t worry, Richard here is the son of a priest” replied David. “Who’s Richard never heard that name.” “This young fellow over here, he’s new in town.” “Oh hi, I never learned Levon had any visitors after the Great Dispute, only heard of the families that run
away every week.” said the minister with a cunning smile. “You and your methods brought me here Benjamin.” said Richard with a flame in his eyes. “Did he just call my name?” said the minister trying to control his anger. “No he didn’t sir” said David and Adrian in unison. “Well, that better be true, since I don’t want to pull out the heart of a priest from his chest using swords and
scalpel again, anyway here are the keys” said the minister as he handed over the large two feet tall keys to
Richard and Adrian. Adrian nearly prevented rolling over due to the weight of the key. The keys were rusted and weighed
nearly ten kilograms. “Thank God he gave just the keys. Just thinking about these keys’ lock gives me the jitters” said David. David spotted his uncle who was clearly not in a good mood. “I gotta go, God knows what’s the matter with him now, see you soon...” said David as he vanished away
in the crowd.
Adrian and Richard went inside the hall with the gigantic keys which they could barely hold and
occupied the last seats where the royal guards used to sit once right behind the king. It took no more than an hour for the hall to reach its full capacity. The royal scarlet red curtains were drawn
and the first scene began followed by a huge cheer from the crowd. “I don’t see the minister” said Adrian. “Where would he be, look near the curtains.” said Richard. There was he, eagerly waiting for his son to show up in front of the crowd. When Adam came out fully
dressed as the last king of Levon did during his last battle, people shouted in happiness, tear rolled out of
some elderly people who still remembered that blissful sight. As soon as Adam came out, Adrian’s brain
burst with pain he tried to control his squeals but he couldn’t. No one could listen to him tough, all were
engrossed in the play. Suddenly, the pain went away and Adrian’s eyes filled with darkness, in the dark he saw a spot of light,
the reflection of a faint memory from his childhood. He saw exactly what was happening now around him.
He forced open his eyes only to see Richard atop him. “Are you okay, brother?” there was visible fright and concern in his eyes. “Why do you call me brother?” asked Adrian in a down tone. He felt a tinge in his head and suddenly rose from his chair. He started to look around like mad. It felt as if
his brain was processing, storing, relating and retrieving information and data all at once. He felt like a
superhuman with enormous brain capacity, looking at hundreds of things all at once and determining all
possible outcomes there could be. He saw Adam first, then the heavy stage props hanging above the stage in mid air representing the
heavens, what if the loose wire that holds it breaks, Adam will die; what about the sword that one of the
actors are holding, what if he falls and slips on that little puddle of red water being used as blood, it will
cut through Adam’s throat, Adam will die; what if that guard by the door who is sitting half asleep and
pointing the gun in Adam’s direction loses balance and shoots accidently, Adam will die; what if Adam
has a heart failure, as the look on his face clearly shows he did not take his medicines due to the stress of
his big day today?, Adam will die; what if..., Adam will die;what if..., Adam will die;what if..., Adam will
die;what if..., Adam will die. No matter what, Adam will die today and so will Levon as without a ruler, no
matter how cruel or insane, a kingdom shall fall, Levon shall fall. Or maybe not, thought Adrian, what if he falls down into the chamber beneath the stage? The chances of
him dying today shall go down from 99% to just 10%. How will he open that little door which has been
closed for centuries. He went inside his brain to access his childhood memories. He saw his grandfather
and himself in his ancestral home’s garden. He focused and tried to listen to their conversation and recall
what he had been told about the architecture of the royal castle. “The great hall of the royal castle holds a stage situated right at the centre of the castle.”said the old priest. “There are two gates one which opens to the space between the stage and castle floor to act as a hideout
for a surprise appearance whenever the performer desires, and the other which opens the castle floor itself
down to the Earth a thousand feet below. It was designed by the chief engineer to execute any assassin or
enemy right at the spot, who tends to attack the king during his leisure time at the hall” recollected Adrian
in the sweet voice of his grandfather who he dearly loved. But there was no time to mourn now for his long gone grandfather. There must be a way to open that door. He looked around quickly, his head was spinning faster than ever.
He thought the way to open that door to hell must be available with the Chief of the Army. Which
reminded him that he was at the right spot where once the Chief actually used to sit. “Both doors should open so as to perform an execution, therefore, the Chief must have the machinery to
control both gates. If I unlock half the mechanism only the gate to the chamber shall open.” thought
Adrian. He looked around the seat like mad men. All this happened in a matter of few seconds which left Richard
startled and confused. “What’s up with you brother?”he demanded an explanation but didn’t receive it. “Found it, help me get this lever up” said Adrian as seriously as one can imagine. “What?” “Just do as I say.” They pulled up the small, rusted, jammed lever, the seat sprang up revealing two key holes. “I thought so” said Adrian more to himself than to Richard. “What the hell is going on around here?” enquired a perplexed Richard. “Adam is going to die, follow my instructions or see a kingdom fall tonight.” He looked down to the keyholes. Saw the key he was handed. It was a perfect match. “The key to God’s home opens to the hell below as well, how smart dear great great great grandfather.”
said Adrian. He took the key inserted it right into the hole, started rotating it. Click, click, click, click, click, click, the
key was a match but it was just moving in the keyhole, sure some mechanism down under was working
which was giving the click sound but nothing happened so far. “Help me my lord.” he rotated it once more. Click-click.
Something opened, but not just the door below but also the one under. Adam fell right down. Only his left
hand was there supporting his entire body weight. Everyone in the hall froze in shock. Not a single limb
moved. Not a single voice was audible. The guards hesitated and did not move an inch. His father, the
minister ran like a mad man to rescue his son. He with his hand tried to push him up, but the old man’s
spine cracked because of his young son’s weight. The father and son fell to death in front of half the
Levon, but no one could do anything. There was chaos all around, people were shouting in shock and
pain. Women started to cry, men started to gather their family and started to run towards home. The
officials and soldiers started to investigate what triggered this age old mechanism to suddenly spring
back to life.
Adrian was back to normal, Richard was nowhere to be seen, probably fled the scene. Adrian too was
startled to see the sudden unfolding of events. All he did to protect them, all went in vain, moreover he
had red in his ledger now, the murder of the ruler and his successor. Levon was in danger because of him. The chair went back to it’s position with a crack which no one could hear due to the shouting and
squealing. He dropped the key and ran towards his home in fright, trying to fight the odds of the sin that
he had committed. All he now could think was of whom to trust with this secret, where to hide and what
to do to ensure that Levon stood safe. He reached home, locked himself in his quarters and started
moaning. The scene outside the window had become horrific, there was utter chaos. It reminded him of
the barbaric times of the civil war.
There was a sudden knock on the door. A shiver went down his spine. He had hardly controlled his
emotional state. Who would it be? The intensity of the knocks started to rise with the passage of every
second. “Adrian, get down son it’s the army, they are here to inspect.” it was Bob, Adrian’s neighbor. “I’ll be down in a moment.” he replied trying to control the heaviness in his voice caused due to moaning. He gathered his inner strength, went down with the last words of his father, in his ears- “Justice must be
served, to all.” With every step that he took towards the door, his heartbeat rose exponentially. When he was near the
door, he thought that if not the law, guilt will surely kill him. He pushed open the door, the ground was full of people, with wild dogs searching everyone. “What’s going on?” Adrian asked Bob with all the sincerity that he could gather. “The army found a piece of torn cloth on the last benches of the hall with a large key that is supposed to
be used to open that execution door, the dogs have smelled the cloth and the key.” explained Bob.
“It won’t be long till the new king is found. Thank God he killed those bloody bastards. Benjamin’s son
ate all my mangoes that I had bought for myself.” Adrian couldn’t believe what kind of society he was a part of. Instead of mourning on the death of his
fellow countrymen, the people were happy that someone killed them just because of some petty acts that
they did. Just as Adrian was ready to pour out his disgust on Bob, one of the dogs started to run towards him.
Adrian was dead shocked, ‘this is the end’ he thought. The dog came to him and started to lick his legs,
apparently he was one of the little pups that Adrian had brought up in his childhood. The soldier ran
towards the dog, to control him and get him back to work. “Come on Jack, no time to play, got some serious work to do”said the soldier in an embarrassed tone
looking towards his seniors who saw him in disgust, a person who can’t even control a dog. Just as he
tried to get the dog off, the dog started to bark at Adrian. This brought the other dogs near him. All of
them started to sniff him and then barked at him in unison. This got the attention of everyone present
there. Everyone’s face turned white, no one could believe what was turning out to be the most surprising
night that Levon had ever experienced. “This couldn’t be.” said the Royal guard, looking as though he had lost all his senses. The look on Adrian’s face proved that had openly confessed his crime. He looked down to the ground,
tears rolled down his eyes. The soldiers cuffed him and walked him to the cart. No one said a word, no one moved an inch, they
just saw the last hope of Levon’s resurrection walk away into the dark. Everyone knew this was the end
of their nation. The horses started to run, Adrian and the soldiers disappeared into the darkness of the
darkest night that these people had ever seen.
The cart stopped, Adrian was asked to follow the soldiers into a dimly lit room full of people. Adrian
gathered the courage to look up after a long time of stooping under the weight of his sin. He found that he was in the Ground Guards room near the entrance of the castle. The room was filled
with all kinds of officials, army heads and Adam’s family members including his mother, with whom he
couldn’t dare to have an eye contact, though she was continuously staring at him in the face. Everyone in the room was dead silent, not looking at each other, not even at Adrian. “Of all the people I thought would ever hurt me.... you didn’t even make the list, Adrian.” Adam’s mother
broke the silence. “A decade ago you saved his life, I thought you were friends, I wanted him to become
like you....”she broke down, her voice became heavier with every word. “It doesn’t matter anymore, he committed the murder of the crown prince and his only son, he has
committed treason of the highest level possible, moreover we have solid proof against him.” said the
royal guard. “According to the Royal Directory, as formulated by our second king, anyone who commits
such a crime shall be immediately executed in front of all the people in power.” The royal guard sighed after reading the scroll. “We were waiting for you.” The Guard said as a man dressed in black clothes appeared in the room with
a sword, it was the executioner. He walked in just as any ruthless person would, tall, muscular with a grim
look on his face, but even he was taken aback when he saw that he was summoned to execute the son of
a priest who had not even turned into an adult yet. “A job is a job.” he said to himself and walked towards Adrian. Adrian was made to sit on his knees, with
his head bent down, his hands and even legs now were cuffed. The executioner put the cold sword on
Adrian’s neck near the spine to slice his head off. Everyone tried to avoid the dark moment but as is
mandatory during an execution, they all had to look as a sign of solid evidence. Adrian with his head down was shivering and sulking like a child. He could feel the sharp, cold blade
of the sword on the back of his neck. The executioner lifted the sword to perform the swing when
suddenly, a soldier opened the door. “Yes, sir?” he said. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”said the Guard. “Didn’t you call me sir?” “No, I didn’t. Now move the hell out of here, we have some unfinished business in here.” “Yes, sir!” the soldier roared. “And close that door properly” said the Guard. “Please shut the back door of the room too, will you Mr. Guard” requested Adam’s mother. “Yes ma’am.” replied the guard. The soldier and the guard moved to their respective doors and shut them, there was a sound- click-click, as the doors closed simultaneously.
Adrian’s head started spinning again, everyone and everything seemed to slow down until it nearly paused,
he passed out and fell on the floor, however his head was working faster than ever before. The sound of the simultaneous clicks was playing over and over again in his head. He traced it back to
five hours ago in the hall, right before the doors beneath the stage opened. It was the key mechanism
which had produced the click-click earlier that day. His mind constructed a possible design of how the
doors beneath the stage might have opened, but couldn’t find a possible reason for the two clicking
sounds. Then it occurred to him- it wasn’t the mechanism, someone had used the other key to open the
second door using the second keyhole he found there. The second click was the second key in the second
keyhole, moved by the second person...... “Richard!” shouted Adrian as he woke from his slumber. “What, who?” said nearly everyone in the room. “I swear to God, it wasn’t me alone, there was another guy by the name Richard, he is new in town, he
was there when I passed out in the hall and foresaw Adam’s death. Then we together rotated the keys to
save Adam but we went wrong somewhere.” “What are you talking about? Are you trying to imply that this ‘Richard’ could be from Baltimore, a spy,
an assassin.” asked the Guard. “I don’t know, but there is a lot you all need to know before you sentence me to death.” “Thank God you spoke up.” said the Man of Arms, “I can’t really see another young priest die in front of
me in this life”. Everyone realised that they weren’t liable to take that call, they turned to the now queen of Levon. She seemed reluctant, then after a short while of staring in Adrian’s eyes, she told her decision- “I give you one day to prove your innocence, if you are not able to prove it, you will be executed in this
same manner tomorrow at this very time.I will seal all gates of the kingdom to ensure that no living soul
crosses the boundary of Levon, including you. But first I’d like to listen to a detailed version of your
account of what exactly happened in the hall today evening.” “Yes your highness.” said Adrian.
Adrian didn’t sleep that night, he went from place to place searching for Richard. Apparently, he realised
he knew almost nothing about him. Just the name, no address, no family name, no background. He
wondered why he even became friends with someone he knew nothing about. “It was completely stupid of me to believe a stranger” he punched a wall saying this to himself. Adrian had searched half of Levon before the sun rose, but had no trace of him. It was the darkest dawn in
the life of young Adrian. He did not give up, by lunch he had searched every nook and corner of Levon,
all in vain. But nothing could stop him, he went down to the lowlands of the kingdom completely given
up on any reason to live or to enjoy the last evening of his life. While crossing through one of the huts in
the lowlands, he saw a human figure walking along the horizon. He moved towards him. First it seemed
like a baby, an infant, as he grew closer, his reflection seemed that to be of a child, then a man and finally
an old figure. When Adrian was close enough he realised, it was no one else but Richard himself. “I was searching for you all day, where were you, why did you flee the scene, do you know I was going
to be executed yesterday and will definitely be executed today if you don’t agree that Adam’s death was
an accident.” said a breathless Adrian. “It wasn’t an accident, it was a planned murder.” replied Richard in the palest tone possible. “What kind of a friend are you?” “That murder was planned by me from A to Z.” “No, you need not do this Richard, I’ll think something out, don’t waste your life for me” “I am not wasting my life, I am just doing my job. I am not Richard.... I am death.” Adrian put his hand on Richard’s head. “You are all right, right?” Richard smiled from his heart, “You don’t believe me brother, huh?” “Look to the kingdom of Levon, look over to your beloved city, your beloved ‘Hanging Castle’, it’s all
going as planned brother.” Adrian looked over to the high mountains. It was all burning up there, everything from houses, trees,
gardens even the castle was on fire. Baltimore attacked Levon and this time they were winning. “The Guard was right, you really are from Baltimore. You set me up, befriended me to take advantage
of my good image so that you had no fingers raised against you.” “Oh come on, now, don’t you get it, I am not human, so not from Baltimore, I am death. The sins of the
people of this city had crossed the level even father could bare. So he sent you down in this mortal
avataar so you with all your kindness and love could change the hearts of these people, but as I said
before you left, they are beyond saving. But you did your thing, did arouse some hope in father’s heart
that they could be spared. But the minister-Benjamin’s last address to you, the crowd not helping the
father and son from falling to death and the thinking of Bob were completely unbearable to father. He
commanded me to end the kingdom and the entire population. But, no, with your taking all the blame of
the minister and his son’s death, the cards were turned. The good within people started to show up. I agree
with you now, you were right, ‘there is good in every bad and better in every good’.” Silence, with awkward curses and explosions audible from the burning town above clouded the two boys. “How come then everybody up there is suffering?” asked Adrian. “Not all, few, who deserve to be punished are being offered various massages from the All-Father in all
possible places.” Adrian grinned. “So why save me from execution?”he asked. “Who will then relieve the people of Levon from pain? Your life in this mortal form is still long brother, you
will be the medicine to the wounds of Levonons, you will be their messiah, their saviour, but after this
invasion from Baltimore of course. Your service to the people of Levon will serve as a proof that you did
not intentionally kill the minister and son, it will be forgotten as an accident and Levon shall rise back to
glory.” Adrian started to think. “What’s troubles you now?” Richard asked. “In the hall, when my head started spinning, I knew somewhere it was me, but at the Ground Guard’s
house, it felt like something in me was commanding me. Those were two different experiences.” Richard smiled wide and pointed a finger at himself, “and….the soldier who entered at the wrong moment
during the execution too”. Adrian passed a notorious smile. “Uh-oh, time to say Adieu brother.” said Richard as he saw the setting Sun, and started moving towards
the cliff. “Hey, why do you call me brother?” asked Adrian waiting for an obvious answer, but wanted to listen to
it from Richard’s mouth. “Coz we are unidentical twins!, I am death and you are......” said Richard with a cunning smile as he
walked past the horizon on thin air. “What if I need you again?” he asked at last. “Death is always around, brother” he replied as he vanished across the horizon.
Very nice Bhavya...
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