First Encounter

Shapra lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was already midnight, but his mind refused to rest. Everything that had happened today kept playing in his head. His thoughts drifted back to the moment when Anmol had mentioned hearing the word "Zarian" somewhere.

In the flashback, Shapra had immediately asked, "Where did you hear it? Try to remember!"

Anmol had frowned, deep in thought. "I can't remember exactly... but I'll call you if I do."

And with that, they had gone their separate ways. Luckily, when Shapra reached home, his parents hadn't figured out that he had lied about his whereabouts. He had breathed a sigh of relief and gone straight to his room.

Back in the present, his phone suddenly rang. Shapra grabbed it quickly and saw Anmol's name on the screen. Why was he calling this late?

He picked up. "Did you remember something?"

"Yes!" Anmol said excitedly. "You promised to buy me momo!"

Shapra nearly dropped his phone. "YOU WOKE ME UP AT MIDNIGHT FOR MOMO?!"

His voice was so loud that he almost woke up his parents. Realizing this, he quickly hung up the call and buried his face in his pillow in frustration. "Idiot!"

The next morning, everything seemed normal. Shapra ate lunch at home and noticed something odd about his mother again, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. Pushing the thought aside, he met up with Anmol, and they started walking to school together.

The road they took ran between two villages, surrounded by trees. It was usually quiet, but today, something strange happened.

Out of nowhere, a random man appeared in front of them. He pointed at Shapra and shouted, "Sid! So you finally showed yourself!"

Shapra blinked. "Uh... what?"

Before he could react, the man lunged at him, throwing fast punches and moving with expert martial arts skills. Shapra barely dodged, stumbling backward. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

Anmol jumped behind a tree. "Bro, I think he's trying to kill you!"

Just as things were getting dangerous, a woman suddenly appeared. She grabbed the man by his ear and pulled him back like an angry teacher. "Do you think that Mr. Sid is this small, you idiot?!" she scolded.

"Oww, oww, let go!" the man whined.

She turned to Shapra and bowed slightly. "I'm so sorry for the trouble. Please forget this ever happened."

Without another word, the two disappeared in a flash, leaving Shapra and Anmol standing in shock.

There was silence for a moment.

Then they both screamed.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"

Anmol grabbed Shapra's shoulders and shook him. "Bro, did we just get attacked by a ninja or something?!"

"I don't know! I think I almost died!"

They both sat down on the roadside, trying to process what had just happened. After a few minutes, they decided they were too hungry to be scared and continued walking to school.

On the way, Shapra took out his phone and showed Anmol the picture of the mysterious rock he had taken the night before. As soon as he looked at it, his vision blurred, and the strange words appeared again:

Her blood was of this world, but not entirely human, a hidden truth that lingered just beneath the surface. The gem's energy made the child feel an uneasy link to something she couldn't escape.

Snapping out of it, he quickly wrote the phrase down before Anmol could catch him zoning out again.

"What's wrong?" Anmol asked.

Shapra explaining everything about the rock and the visions that he had. Together, they stared at the phrase, wondering what it could mean.

Anmol sighed. "Well, at least no one is trying to punch us anymore."

Shapra gave him a look. "Let's just get to school before something else happens."

And so, their next mystery began...

To be Continued.....