Moving Forward | Earth

"NO, IT'S INTOLERABLE!" Ilm shouted. His voice might be like the thunder rumbling the silent sky. Pema was trying her best to make Ilm understand the situation. Around six years. He had waited around six years. The dream was so near to being completed and yet so far. It was frustrating. He pleaded, "Tell Baba to request to the President again."

"He did. He... he had done wh... what he could do." Pema's voice trembled.

Originally, today Ilm was going to learn about earth. But it turned bitter when Pema informed it was his last day of training on the planet Earth. It was just before the Alur Nawvara for earth.

How our society resembles this element. The earth is a compound of many entities of different quality and characteristics. Our society, like that, is full of different people with different beliefs, upbrings and behaviours and still we live together, biding with an unknown force. She had taught him the Itti part.

Earth is the element of strength. Sometimes the world forces us to lose our inborn quality, forging us into an indifferent boring substance. The way to escape this matrix is by keeping strength in your heart and having a great level of tolerance. So that even when the storm comes, it can never detriment you. Be like earth, whenever it is needed.

Pema lost the anchor. Ilm's anger could be shown by his newly gained ability on air, thunder, and fire. Thankfully, no piece of metal was there, or else he would forge something dangerous. Ilm looked like he was burning while fickle winds surrounded him. And thunder was zipping around. It took Ilm only two days to come to this point where his power was mightier.

The place would become more ruined if Pema didn't do anything. She kicked to the ground and wall like small boulders were uprooted. Then she made a gesture of creating a fist, so those boulders detained Ilm from doing further anything.

"Release me!" Ilm ordered. He could feel the tremor of his heart. The memory of Salin, Coby and Treta was hammering on his mind. He cried loudly. "Please."

Tears were on Pema's face also. She said, "No, you need to learn."

It was certainly a cruel act as a mother but not as a teacher. On the training ground, you can either be a teacher or a mother but not both of them. And Pema chose the role of teacher. The teacher's mind could beat the mother's heart on the training ground.

"Listen carefully." Pema prepared herself for moving forward. "Aum Suyashixu Ṭhaṭa'chi. Ṭhaṭa Tāra'chi Uvūdraqu Ojon Nejapa'ke. Tasakhu Niṭ'lé Mate'chi Ghyca Kumw Tāra'chi. Ajhi Diwadkhu Mána Thittī'chi Ṭhaṭa'ke."

"No, stop… PLEASE!!" Ilm yelled. Still not being able to accept the order. He was picturing the scene from his seven-year birthday party.

"It means: 'Oh the God of Earth. Your ground holds the weight upon it. Teach my body your strength and bond. Please grant the power of control over earth.'" Pema continued.

"I... I don't." His voice trembled. The image of those three kids, and how they were eating, was flashing in his mind.

"Aum Suyashixu Ṭhaṭa'chi. Ṭhaṭa Tāra'chi Uvūdraqu Ojon Nejapa'ke. Tasakhu Niṭ'lé Mate'chi Ghyca Kumw Tāra'chi. Ajhi Diwadkhu Mána Thittī'chi Ṭhaṭa'ke." She didn't stop.

Ilm was still in pain. How they talked about their condition. Knowing what type of water they consumed. Oh, let it go.

"Oh the God of Earth. Your ground holds the weight upon it. Teach my body your strength and bond. Please grant the power of control over earth." Pema forced herself.

And Ilm stopped crying.

"Aum Suyashixu Ṭhaṭa'chi." He finally accepted the fate. "Ṭhaṭa Tāra'chi Uvūdraqu Ojon Nejapa'ke. Tasakhu Niṭ'lé Mate'chi Ghyca Kumw Tāra'chi. Ajhi Diwadkhu Mána Thittī'chi Ṭhaṭa'ke."

Just a few seconds later, Ilm rescued himself on his own. He broke all barriers or walls made by Pema. He found himself stronger. Then he directly looked at Pema. She was staring at him. Pema fell and started panting. Ilm came near to her. His head down. Then they slowly embraced each other and were sobbing for a while.

"Sometimes… sometimes, we need to go through all agony. And we have to move forward for a better tomorrow. Just because we are accepting our fate, it doesn't mean we are weak. But because we are strong enough to face it. Ilm, for this time, we have to be patient… you need to be patient. You have waited six years; cannot you wait another one?"

Yes, he could. But a horse never drives a cart itself, until you force it to do. The fast-working system may have errors, but it is still better than the slow-working or never-working system.

Pema talked about sometimes. It's sometimes but not every time.

The next day, it was the departure. All the employees and their families plus their house robots had come to the office building. Bharatas were no exception. Shiro was left behind to care for Bhagavat. But except for them, many outsiders were gathered around the office. But these outsiders didn't come here for their usual work like cab driving, jet flying, or opening shops. Instead, they came to forbid their 'Northern Star', Paradise Industry. Closing this office meant closing their way of income.

Many universal sentinaries and some Universal Civil Service officers (in short, UCS officers) had come to escort them throughout the journey to Boduin. Including Bharatas, a total of 139 families were going. Sentinaries brought their large starship with them. The starship was standing in front of the office.

People started to carry their things into that spacecraft, and sentinaries were helping. Pema on the other hand was carrying her things on her own. She secretly feared about that sword. When she went to take the sword, she saw Ilm and Rov stirring things. Children were doing their childish things.

"Is this a sword?" Rov asked Ilm. It was the first time, both of them had seen a sword practically. It was a blue shiny sword. Its one edge was sharp and the other edge was sharper. The hilt was designed with detailing. At the shoulder part, there was written something in an unknown script.

"Yeah, but I doubt swords are this bright. Maybe, Maa soon teach me with the sword," Ilm answered.

"Ahh, you are so lucky. I also want to learn to fight."

"You will. Wait some more years till you become ten."

"What is it written there?"

"Gibberish," Ilm smirked.

"Gibberish? What is it?" Rov confused. It was a new word in his vocabulary.

"It means meaningless nonsense writing."

Rov was bewildered for a while. Ilm started to laugh to Rov's surprise. Rov analysed everything and then realised.

"Ohhhh! You don't know too?" He raised his eyebrows.

Ilm burst out. "How can I know? I am not even good at my mother tongue. How can I know an alien script?"

They were so into themselves that they didn't sense Pema's presence behind them. She was standing with crossed hands.

Before they could touch the sword, Pema coughed. Both children turned their faces scared. They smiled at her fearfully. Pema smiled back angrily.

"How often have I said not to touch my things without permission?" Pema asked.

"Two or three times," they answered.

"Two or three times? Two or three times, I've said that. Are you joking right now?" Truthfully saying, Pema warned them more than a hundred times, but who listen to whom? Pema didn't do so much, just patted their heads so hard. Then, she took the sword and went off.

"That was totally child abuse," Rov puffed his cheeks.

"Then wait for her training and you will know what abuse looks like," Ilm smiled. He remembered every fight where he ended up with a muddy face and lost.

Shakhai and Kuro came to them. Shakhai was laughing at their situation.

"I hope she didn't hit mightily," Shakhai said.

"Go and ask your wife," Rov grimaced.

"My wife? Not your mother?'

"Well, before becoming our mother, she is your wife," Ilm said.

"Boys, you should be grateful that she is softer to her kids than her husband," Shakhai said.

This statement left them bewildered. Soft? They couldn't imagine.

"If it is her soft side, what does her 'hard' side look like?" They asked.

"It was so hard that you two might never born," Shakhai answered. He recalled his and Pema's childhood. She was testing her martial arts on me.

Ilm understood what Shakhai wanted to say, and Rov? Well… he was still young… never mind.

Then they walked towards the starship. Ilm and Rov became speechless seeing a gigantic spacecraft.

"This is a passenger starship," Shakhai said.

"Is there another type of starship?" Ilm asked.

"Yes, like for military, and goods carrying. A starship is so huge that it requires much energy like ten thousand yottajoules. That's why the government needs McWorld's innovation." 

"Ahh, his much!" Then Ilm suddenly realised something. He looked at the starship, his eyes glittering. Not because of admiration but knowing the mocking reality. "So this is how. Seeking to touch the moon and neglecting the nearby garden. The government has a poor sense of energy allocation."

Seeking to touch the moon and neglecting the nearby garden. This line made Shakhai understand what Ilm meant. The government indeed extremely looked after the great houses and the elite houses. In the end, they gave a damn about needy people. Luxurious ambition often overshadows basic needs.

"Ilm, you should be careful. Those people are Universal Sentinaries," Shakhai whispered. He pointed to some sentinaries with his index finger. "Some of them are pets of the President. If they heard anything bad-mouthing about the government, you will be finished."

When Shakhai was going towards the entry gate of the starship, he heard a loud moaning sound. He looked back and saw those outsiders were weeping. They were asking him not to leave. The Northern Star was leaving them in the darkness… forever in a maze. Bharatas were their pathfinder from generation to generation.

Their cry was quaking the sky. Nooooo. Please. They repeated.

Shakhai stopped and said, "Please! Don't moan. We, Paradise Industry, have been given a great task. On the planet Boduin, there are people suffering from its vulnerable environment. But I, as the head of Paradise Industry, promise you that we will return and continue our moral works."

He turned back and entered the starship. His heart felt heavy, but he kept moving forward. Soon, the starship started to fly, leaving the Earth behind.

From the outside of the world, Earth was a yellowish, barren planet. Once a Blue Planet, now a lost planet. The planet with 50-degree Celsius average temperature. They could see the seven regions of the Earth. Suantan, Agnayat, Slahaistan, Nyaushi, Enitchland, Azertina, and Bevenida.

Enitchland on the North. To the west of Enitchland was Nyaushi, and to the East was Azertina. Beside Nyaushi was Slahaistan. And beside Azertina was Bevenida. In the end, Agnayat and Suantan were below Slahaistan and Bevenida, respectively, in the South.

All regions together made a ring. In the middle, there was a large ocean, the Great Middle Ocean. But now, the ocean was all black.

Ilm and Rov noticed a tiny island in the centre of everything. Then they again saw Suantan, the same Suantan from where they departed.