Death

It has been four years since Dev and Tara got married. They have been living a blissful life these few years.

The lucky rescue shelter has also changed during these years. It has been enlarged several times. Everything has changed in the rescue shelter during the last two decades. Khushi wasn't there to make everybody smile. Dev bank balance increased instead of decreasing due to the rescue shelter.

It has been more than two decades since Dev bought this rescue shelter. It was Lucky's death anniversary today. Dev decided to have a function for Lucky. Everybody started decorating the rescue shelter with flowers in the morning. It took them the whole day to decorate the rescue shelter.

Dev got emotional seeing the rescue shelter. When he bought this, he was just a boy who had just become an adult and was going through tough times. Now, he has become a middle-aged man.

Everything about the shelter was different from when he bought it. He missed Khushi and all the animals the rescue shelter has lost these years due to old age. He looked up at the sky and thought to himself, "If Lucky was alive today, maybe he would've healed."

While Dev was reminiscing about the rescue shelter's old days, he got disturbed due to someone grabbing his legs.

A smile came on his face when he saw the thing which disturbed him. It was a little girl.

The little girl looked no more than two years old. She had brown hair, white skin, and black eyes. She raised her hands, looking at Dev, waiting for him to pick her up. Dev smiled after seeing the little girl. He rubbed her hair and picked her up.

"Finally came to see your father," said Dev while smiling toward the little girl.

The little girl was named Natasha. She was born less than two years ago. She had the same features as her father except for hair and skin color.

"Mummy wasn't letting me come," said Natasha innocently to Dev.

"Are you sure, Natasha?"

Both Natasha and Dev heard it at the same time. Dev smiled but Natasha hid her face in her father's shoulder. Tara and Dev both smiled after seeing such a response from Natasha.

Tara glared at Dev and said, "This is the result of you spoiling her. She has already started lying."

Dev only smiled after hearing Tara's accusation.

Natasha stopped hiding her face. She made an innocent face and said, "It was the cat's fault. It wouldn't stop playing with me."

While she was speaking, her eyes started getting wet.

"Okay, I'm sorry for saying you are spoiled. Please don't cry," said Tara while sighing.

This fun continued for a while. It was time for the function.

Dev showed Natasha the pictures of him playing with Lucky. She giggled after seeing younger pictures of Dev.

Dev gave tribute to Lucky by doing the most cliche thing. He ordered a statue of him made by an unknown material to Earth. It was a fallen piece of a meteorite. He did what he does best, spending money like water. He could've made several new rescue shelters at the price he bought the statue.

The statue was completely black. It couldn't be painted as paint would remove the shining character of the material. It will shine the whole day due to sunlight, and the whole night when moonlight will be visible.

It looked very beautiful. It was the same size as lucky. He wasn't able to buy more material than this due to the Government's refusal.

They prayed for Lucky's soul and the function ended. Natasha slept early due to running the whole day.

Dev and Tara got some alone time for them. They didn't waste it. The first thing He did after closing the door was to undress her. She tried to stop him from doing it so hastily, but he didn't stop.

After releasing himself once, he took a breath of relief, he looked at her and said while smiling, "You've got no idea, how much I was waiting for this. I've done it for me now, let's do it for you." He then started playing with her all over again, but this time slowly.

After some time, they both had a look of fullness, he looked at her with eyes full of gentleness and said, "I think we should organize two or three functions every week, otherwise I'll have to act like an animal every time we get free from Natasha."

She responded with a sigh, "It's fine, only then can we have such a good time. Otherwise, it'll just be lust. It's now lust with the addition of passion."

He was playing with her body while she was talking, a moan suddenly released out of her mouth. The moan turned him on. He looked at her with a lewd smile and said, "I am going for it again."

They both were in no position to stand up the next day, They laid on the bed the whole day. They both promised each other that day, "Never again like this." It felt fun while doing it, but the repercussions weren't good.

As there was a one-child policy in the world since the world population crossed 10 billion in 2075, they couldn't have another child. They wanted to have another child, but after having a child, both mother and father had to have surgery. The Government paid for the cost of the surgery. If the parents didn't have the surgery, the punishment can be very serious.

They spent their lives peacefully after that. It all came to the end when someone who shouldn't exist entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Tara has just put Natasha to sleep, Dev and she have got some alone time after weeks. So he was hugging her from behind when he and Tara both got an alert at the same time. He didn't check the alert and didn't let Tara check it either.

He picked her up and took her to their room. She smiled wryly after seeing him in such a haste, as it was a regular occurrence whenever they got some alone time, so she didn't mind.

He put her down on the bed and went to kiss her, but suddenly the watch glowed Red.

He had to stop as She blocked his mouth with her hands and glared at him. The watch glowing red wasn't a good thing, it only glowed red once: when the nuclear attack erased a city.

This time the watch was glowing even darker than that. He could try Kissing her but she wouldn't let him, so he checked what happened and how many people died this time like he had nothing to do with it.

He tapped on the watch and saw the destruction of a Nation in seconds. When he saw the criminal, a jolt passed through his body, he couldn't stand steady and fell.

He grabbed his head and started screaming, "No, No, No, No, this couldn't be true."

Tara was shocked to see Dev in such a state, even Natasha woke up and started crying.

Tara didn't have the time to check up on Natasha as Dev looked terrible, his face was pale, his body was shaking. She had never seen Dev in such a state, so she went toward Dev and asked worryingly, "What happened, are you alright?"

He didn't speak anything, his face was becoming paler as time passed, she was becoming more and more worried.

"Answer me, Dev. Please don't worry me," said Tara again with a hint of crying in her voice.

Dev still didn't give any response. Tara has never found herself in such a situation, her daughter was crying on one side, her husband looked like a dying man on the other side. She didn't know who to go to. She didn't have to be in a conundrum for long because Dev started hysterically shouting, "So, I am gonna lose everything in an Illusion too. I am not even allowed to live a happy life in an Illusion."

Tara had no idea what Dev was talking about, she couldn't take it anymore and started crying, she shouted at Dev, "Are you all right, Dev? Why are you doing this to me? Can't you hear Natasha crying?" While crying.

Dev came out of his stupor due to Tara's crying. He turned around to look at Tara, he couldn't hold the emotions in his heart, Tears started pouring out of his eyes. He stood up, grabbed her hand, and took her to Natasha's room.

Natasha finally stopped crying when she saw Dev and Tara, she rushed to her father and said, "Papa, pick me up." In a shaky voice.

For the first time, Natasha's voice made him break down instead of smiling. He released Tara's hand and nudged her to sit on the bed, He picked up Natasha and also put her down on the bed.

He faced both of them, he kneeled, and said, "Please forgive me, it's all because of me, you'll have to go through this again." While gasping.

Natasha was just a child, so she had no idea what was happening. She nudged her mother's hand and asked, "Mummy, why is Papa crying?" to notice her mother crying too, the tears that had stopped started flowing out of her eyes due to seeing her parents cry.

Tara was confused, she couldn't understand what Dev was trying to say. Before she could ask anything she noticed a slight increase in the temperature.

Dev knew he had no time to waste. He tried to act strong. He picked Natasha Up and kissed her on her cheeks. He then kissed the hands of Tara.

He looked at both of them and said, "Just wait for me, I'll bring you back at any cost. I'll become an evil person If evil gives me the power to bring you back. I promise you, I'll bring you back." With determination in his eyes.

All the determinations he had got erased out of thin air when he noticed the pain his wife and daughter were having. He felt someone was ripping out his heart seeing them in such pain, even though he was feeling the same pain.

He pushed his lips on Tara's. He didn't release her lips until they were erased from the face of the planet. This was the last thing he did because even his ashes weren't left.

The moment he died in the Illusion, he woke up on the platform.

Will Dev pass the test?

We'll find out next time...