This chapter begins with seemingly unreal laughter. These people may look irrational to you but among them, they are just making perfect sense. The subject is as unreal as their hilarity, love. Have you ever been in love? Is probably the most misunderstood question of all time.

Shyam- Come on guys, I really love her, I want to marry her. You know her eyes are a sea, if mine are pearls, for I am forever lost in her. They glimmer like the moon and bring light in the darkness of my life. If she's the Sun, I am Earth, if she's Earth, then I am her Moon. Anyway, I just want to revolve around her.

Rohan- That would be fantastic, you revolve, I visit.

Prithvi- Don't forget it could be the Sun, and you could be burnt.

Shyam- Guys I am serious!

Prithvi- Okay you are 18, she's 18, she can marry someone. And you may get to revolve around her, but her children may see you as their maternal uncle.

Shyam- Forget revolve. Ahh, the temptation to defy the law, to become an insurgent is greater than ever. Guys help me.

Rohan- I told you I would visit, what more do you want from me? Do you want me to visit you too?

Shyam- Serious, please!

Prithvi- How long have you been with her?

Shyam- Long enough, today is our 2-week anniversary.

2 min silence, Rohan's jaw drops, and eyes lock. Looking at Shyam. Prithvi was sitting with his palm across his face.

Shyam- What happened guys?

Rohan- You gotta be kidding me!

Shyam- Come on, it's love at first sight, technically second sight, or maybe third, but how does it matter? What matters is that we are crazy for each other.

Rohan- Crazy, no doubt. Were you two lovers in your previous birth, that this "love at first sight" happened? Else how could it have happened?

Shyam- I don't know, it's just her eyes and technically it's. Maybe you are right, maybe we were married last birth, and our souls are bound to each other. We are connected with some sort of thread, for all our seven births, the power of Indian marriages is wonderful.

Rohan looks at Prithvi, Prithvi looks at him

Prithvi- I would prefer the word, "imagination".

Shyam- You people will never understand.

Prithvi- Well, everything looks beautiful at a distance, it's only when you get close, you realize. The moon and alike eyes magnetize every optic which is human, but when you get closer you spot the dark spots, then you turn your eyes away. You find a new moon, a new pair, and this feeling of allurement blossoms again. In youth everyone looks perfect, it's only when you meet old age, you realize the imperfections that the distant time hid. Then again when you turn your eyes, it's the attraction of the youth.

Shyam- Here he comes again! Our weeping philosopher.

Prithvi- Okay, okay, just remember, love also means loving them with all their imperfections that may arise. And love should not bind you to a person but help you when you need it, and encourage you to uphold your responsibilities and duties towards your parents and all other loved ones, not abandon them for a girl, or lady, or woman. Anyway, Love-life is just a part of life, not life, and it should free you.

Shyam- Okay sir, now allow me to introduce her, then you would know what I am talking about. We are meeting near Kali bhai's chai stall, wanna tag along?

Rohan- I knew I would visit her, but I'd appreciate some privacy.

Shyam- I didn't ask you.

Rohan- Don't get me wrong, I was just being... wait! I am coming.

They were walking down the street, bursting with laughter, but the 6 ft tall, bit dark, and much more handsome Prithvi was abstracted. Yes, he smiled but it was more of a mask, just like for most of us, something was eating him. And everyone else was too lost in their words to notice it.

Prithvi- Those blocks of concrete, there was once a grove of trees there.

Out of nowhere, in the middle of the sky, materializes a black cloak and a body inside it. The face was hidden behind a white Gyodo  mask(this one's literal), in a voice, deeper than a plummet sound, he spoke, "You must come with me", "Prithvi"(while looking at him)

Rohan- Is it a ghost?

Shyam- You can see him too? Thank God, I haven't lost my mind.

Prithvi- And you are?

The mystery guy(faintly)-   Crescent moon, obliterate 

Huge figures shaped like crescent moon emerges out of thin air around his hand, filled with darkness, and devoid of light. Figures filled with hunger. He manipulates them and it destroys or maybe absorbs the nearby concrete blocks and every ounce of human flesh that came in between. Many partly lost their limbs, body, and soul.

The mystery guy- The one whom you cannot deny.

a police vehicle nearby

Officer Laltu- What do you think it is sir? Some pishacha (wicked and evil spirit)?

Officer James while his beer belly break-dances in the sound of traffic and bad roads- Will know soon enough when we see it through our eyes. Are you afraid?

Laltu- Well I remember Hanuman Chalisa, so...

Meanwhile

Noone- I give you 2 minutes to bid farewell.

Rohan- Prithvi, what should we do man?

Just in time, for the first time, a police vehicle arrives.

Officer James with a mic- Whatever you are come down and hand yourself to police custody, else my men would (someone-"James"), would fire("James"). (He looks away for a bit and then he shouts) FIRE!!!! FAST! At him.

The music of gunshot cues and stops. There falls the guy and his mystery, James's eyes witnessed it for himself. He moves stealthily toward the corpse, unmasks him, and it was as if he was looking into a mirror. For it was his own face. He falls back, looks above, and sees the mystery guy. He looks down again, it's a dead crow.

Laltu- Sir, the bullets just went across his body, he sheds no blood.

James- Have you lost your mind? We filled his bones with lead, he fell down! (looks at him) how a--ren't yo--u de-ad (his voice breaks) (breaths heavily) What is happening? This can't be? Why are you all turning into demons, leave me LEAVE ME I SAID LEAVE ME!

He panics, heart pounds faster than death metal. He runs into a building nearby

Officer Vijay to Laltu- Should we go in

Comes out a 7 ft monster wielding a dual-faced, double-edged halberd (combination of an axe and a spear), James's head was attached. He swings it and through a chaining mechanism, it extends far enough to cut an ounce of flesh from every officer. Blood was trickling on his blade, which he licks. Now comes another demon with eyes full of white, with two daggers. All officers shot each other in apprehension, the marrow was turned into cavity.

Shyam- Maya

Rohan- What?

Shyam- What's she doing here? She's unsafe, I must rescue her.

Rohan and Prithvi hold him, "Please let me go", Shyam cries

Mystery guy- Mesakaku

Mesakaku, the one with the white eyes, breaks his enchantment, and he faints.

Rohan- I guess it's a break-up then?

Prithvi- You wanted privacy with her?

Rohan- Wanted, not want, although she really seems to be "spellbinding".

Mystery guy- Come with us unscathed or Tsuskikaku will make you come otherwise.

Prithvi- At least give me your name

Mystery Guy- I am, Noone.

Secret base, location, covert, 12 hours ago

Sur, tiger-faced, and Saxum are trying to decipher the Asur's riddle. Sur is seated, unlike the rest in his matte black chair, in front of his matte black super-computer in his matt black bunker in pitch blackness.

"My mind wiggle wiggle, here's a riddle:

Change 11000 Change 101 + . Change 10111 Change 100

Jha

iiiv1

I am water but I am also solid, and my core burns. I am not a circle, neither am I flat.

That's all you get, thanks to our little chat, I evolve again. अलविदा (Goodbye)."

Sur- The Earth is water and also solid, its core burns and it's neither a circle nor is it flat. The last word "अलविदा" might be a hint. If we translate it into Hindi, then it becomes Prithvi, which is an Indian name, and Jha a surname. The number in Roman numerals is 8, which gives us 81 but considering the titan to be in his youth, it's most probably an anagram.

Saxum- So we are looking for an 18-year-old Indian guy named Prithvi Jha, that would make him accessible?

Tiger-faced- But not soon enough. What else do you understand?

Sur lifts his hand to bring up a hologram of the riddle and zooms into the binary section- The numbers in binary are 24,5,23,4. (changes the hologram to alphabets) A common mistake would to be compare it with the English alphabet, which would give you XEWD. The word "change" does not apply either. (switches to Hindi alphabets) Here we have "swar" and "vyanjans", in the "varnamala", swar comes first. If we decipher the riddle by this knowledge and translate the "swars" into "matras" and take that small . into account, then we get मुंबई (Mumbai), a city in India.

Tiger-faced- I shall start a search in the city for distinguishable patterns of energy, you must start your journey.

Sur- At this time I may be spotted as an Unidentified Flying Object, the last time government had a tough time covering for us.

Tiger-faced- This risk is worth it.

Saxum- I will also go

Tiger-faced- You are not ready.

Saxum- He will need my support. Don't forget who we are going to recover is also a potential God.

Tiger-faced- Then we may try.

Tiger-faced brings in a stone

Tiger-faced- This is the stone of the Gods, it has the potential to make you realize everything including your potential. But the question is can you take so much? It would drive you into your unconscious mind and make you conscious of the mechanisms of the universe.

Saxum touches it, and it was as if he was being electrified, after some excruciating seconds, he was thrown away by the force.

Sur- I must leave.

Present time

Sur descends from his flying chariot and reaches close to them stealthily.

Sur on comm- I reached them.

Tiger-faced on comm- Status report

Sur- Seems like I am late, again, although they did make him easier to find.

Tiger-faced- Who and how many?

Sur- Black cloak, some (Apsara display info about the mask) Gyodo mask. One monster with a dual-edged halberd while the other with two large daggers. Must be the Noone and the Sakakus. Should I engage?

Tiger-faced- It is high priority, if you can, then you must.

Sur- My chances are negligible.

Tiger-faced- You must

Sur- Apsara, inject type 67, also release product 39 and activate battle mode(2 robo-spiders come out of his suit, he also shoots 4 square boxes onto four buildings, and the electrochromic glass on his helmet turns red)

Sur bends up his fist and fidgets on his wrist. With the strength of a lion and the speed of a horse, comes a motorcycle in which he rides. He leans forward and his "motorcross" transforms enclosing him in it.

Sur- Apsara, fire smoke grenades and scan for life-forms (the whole scene was soon filled in smog, there were no humans in the scene, and Noone showed no trace of its existence either)

Just before it crashed into Tsuskikaku

Apsara- Target set

Sur- Activate concentrated hydrogen explosion, area, marked. Disengage, towards the target.

Tsukikaku's blood thirst was quenched, at least temporarily through the ravaging fire of the explosion which lacked oxygen. It lasted for 38 seconds and occurred in a limited vicinity. Enough to turn a man of steel into a pillar of salt. Although only his lower limbs, and abdomen were demolished completely, while his upper limbs and thorax were annihilated only partially, and his head remained intact.

The disengaged part of the bike started spinning while it was in flight. And the carbonized blades from all sides with two tall ones at the front and back slewed out of it when it reached the other monster. After accepting a few lacerations she reciprocated with her dagger. Sur lost his blood and then his motocross(bike), which lost its lion roar. Although the two robo-spider attached themselves to her eyes.

He ejected himself and threw 4 high-tech balls at her.

Sur- Apsara, activate battle mode, release laser ropes and noose.

He tangled her through his sorcery. The square boxes enclosed the building through some laser tech. While the balls expanded and attached themselves to her limbs and got connected with the squares through laser ropes which were in part were protected with some kind of electromagnetic field. She was unable to move as the square box laser ropes were also applying a pull. Sur uses all his propulsion engines and his newfound strength to suffocate the monster.

Sur- Activate electrocution, vicinity 1 meter square.

The monster also starts experiencing currents. Noone gets close and raises his fist

Noone- Oblite—, ahh

He too gets electrified. He then moves to destroy the ropes

Noone- Rays, obliterate (the electromagnetic field recovers as fast as it was being destroyed)

Noone moves to the building it was attached to and obliterates it, "Rays, obliterate"

Sur- Just a little and his neck would—

Mesakaku raises her hand, Sur tangles her wrist by sacrificing on suffocation. The square box auto-attaches itself to the ground and gives Sur some leverage back again.

Noone- So this is what it would take, obliterate, phantasma. Obliterate, four rays of ghost. (From the inside of his cloak, comes out four rays, each targeted to the square, and after 4 four seconds, they all vanish. As if they were never there.)

Mesakaku disappears and appears Noone, "It's you and me now."

Sur- Your bad luck

Sur- Apsara, activate concentrated electrocution plus magneto (his right fist glows as if a spear of lightning, and further electricity flows through the sky onto his fist) who knows, I may be remembered as a demigod(mumbles)

Noone- Obliterate (his left fist glows with darkness)

Both of them charged towards one another, Sur levitates with his propulsion engine while Noone moves as if his feet were sliding. Just before the collision of the forces. Sur with the expression of realization, "Apsara, inject type 0x"

Everything blanks out

A 6ft tall and lean guy wakes up on his bed.

Apsara(Human)- You are awake, sir.

(To be continued in the next chapter, "Noone and the jeopardy of reality Part 2- Perforated)