Rushes of Passion

This is dedicated to a very special person, without whom these words of love would have been extremely plain without lustre.

“Close your eyes and step into the water” – was the only thing she had heard from him in days. She felt his left palm cover her eyes, while his right palm gently held her waist and guided her into the water. She slowly felt the warm waters of the ocean caress her feet as she took sturdy steps towards the unknown path without questioning his intentions. The ocean was as calm as ever and her intuition told her that this was a path of no return. Sensing her feelings, he lifted her off her feet in one quick motion and waded through the water.

In a minute, her feet touched solid ground. Slowly, she opened her eyes and took a look around. They were aboard a magnificent sailboat that looked like it was all set to go on a trip around the world. She steadied herself on the deck and looked at the ocean around. The blue waters had never been more welcoming and the distant sunset appeared to transfer its energy to the water, as the fiery ball plunged into the ocean, beyond the horizon. As he moved closer towards her, a gentle breeze blew her soft hair towards his face and its fragrance kicked in all the memories they shared together.

Slowly, he guided her to the main deck. She was not prepared for the sight that greeted her. There were her favorite long stemmed, red roses taped all along the railings of the deck. In the middle of the deck, on a stool no more than 2 feet tall, lay an oyster. The shell glowed in the faint moonlight, adding more charisma to the already magnificent setup, which assured to sweep any girl off her feet. He let her absorb the details and gently detached himself from her side and walked to the other side of the stool.

He looked into her eyes and she noticed his green eyes that were usually unfathomable, today, had a serene and submissive look. Time froze for a minute and sped in the reverse direction, till the point when she first saw him standing alone on the pier, staring at a bunch of migrating seagulls. His denim shirt traced the contours of his physique while he leaned on the wooden railing, displaying the tattooed words “Live and Let Live” emblazoned on his back. A moment later, he turned around to look at her. Standing tall for a lady, her 5’10” figure confidently strode towards him with the sounds of her heels on the wooden pier, knocking in sync with the water crashing on the rocks below. She stopped only when she was a foot away from him. Leaning back on the pier railing, she faced him and asked,” What brings you here? “ He stared at her for a moment and looked away with a smile on his face and answered “ Destiny”

She pushed the golden moments of the past aside and looked at him. With a look of determination in his eyes, he began..

“I sailed the seven seas looking for a symbol of true love that was worthy enough to light up your heart. I braved the rough storms, travelled along the length and breadth of the unchartered territories looking for the very entity that would bring back the lost spark in your eyes. Little did I know that the thing I was looking for was buried in the heart of the ocean” Saying this, he pried open the oyster. Inside it, there lay a fabulous white pearl that looked like the eye of the ocean. It looked like a piece of jewellery that had been stolen from the goddess of beauty.

Words failed her. In a fleeting instant, she found herself running towards him and embraced him like never before. Tears rolled down from her eyes but he gently wiped it off and pointed to the skies. A shooting star slowly hurled itself towards the earth creating a golden streak in the starry sky. Making a wish that they would not be separated until death parts them apart, he lifted her chin and kissed her passionately.

The Moment of Revelation

The dying rays of the Sun hit the castle that stood on Mt. Wolford. The young duke Schneider shielded his eyes and snuggled back to sleep on his hammock without a care in this world. The exquisite garden surrounding him was littered with bottles of Romanov and this wasn’t an uncommon sight to any passer-by. The once most respected aristocratic family stood on the brink of disaster and the great deeds of the clan were dipped in mud and became a part of the forgotten folklore.

The distant weeping sound of a lady woke the prince up. He strained his eyes in the darkness to make out the silhouette of the person near the high gates. In a fleeting moment, all his senses kicked in and he jumped out of the hammock and began to run towards the person. As he ran, he wondered who followed him regularly at night and was determined to crack the mystery of the lady forever. He accelerated his pace and launched himself up the garden wall and just managed to catch a glimpse of the lady running around the corner.

The full moon bathed the village ahead in a milky light. It had been ages since Schneider had used that path. The heavy rains had torn apart the houses, leaving no place for the villagers to house themselves and their young ones. The kids cuddled up on the streets and their parents remained awake to defend their family from the predators of the forest. The strain on their faces showed that they had barely eaten in months and their clothing spoke volumes about their living conditions. In short, the entire place looked like the remnants of a war zone. As he passed by the place, the people looked loathingly at his attire and his rich looks. Unconsciously, the duke compared his lavish lifestyle with that of the villagers and felt a pang of guilt.

The lady fastened her pace and he also did so accordingly. His focus was slowly being drawn to his past about his squandering activities. Little did he care about his late father’s reputation and made not even the tiniest of attempts to uphold it. The family that once was the synonym for justice and royalty now became the perfect example to be tagged to any prodigal heir. All the words of wisdom uttered by his advisors in the past hit him with an enormous amount of force, and he began to feel weak in the knees. He felt the moment of revelation dawn upon him and saw a new purpose in his life.

The lady took a precarious path along the hillside and made her way to the cemetery. The cold winter wind ruffled the trees and their moving shadows added to the eeriness of the night. The duke was more intrigued but followed her all the same, as the entire journey had been an eye-opener. For the first time, he noticed an aura around her and it illuminated her path. Hundreds of tombstones bordered on either side and she walked on and on, on the moss covered stone path. Finally, a few hundred feet away, she came to a stop near an ornately carved tombstone. The creepers had engulfed it completely and hid the epitaph from view. Suddenly, without warning, the lady circled the grave for a moment and vanished into the darkness. It took some time for the duke to digest what he had just witnessed. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward and tore the creepers that wrapped the headstone. The essence of truth finally sunk in him.

The epitaph read:





The single-most loss of the Wolford town

If only the Elixir existed…


“Mr. and Mrs. Schneider”

----------R.I.P------------

Steps Of Our Fathers

Maximus crept behind the tree and stole a glance through the leaves. His wife spread a velvet carpet on the lawn and gently placed her new born son on it. The baby’s eyes were completely fixed on her while he tried to figure out with his limited knowledge, as to who that wonderful lady was. The warmth in her eyes was as comforting as ever and it shielded him with a sense of protection that could not have been matched even by his father’s suit of armor. Little did he know about the immensity of a mother’s love but would eventually grow up to realize its true power.

She brushed her hair from her face and turned to look at her eldest son. He was panting hard and was leaning on his sword for support. He mustered his courage and trained relentlessly with his father everyday for he knew that with royalty came great responsibility and he displayed the right qualities of royal blood.

But he couldn’t figure out the vast difference in love exhibited by his parents. He knew his mother was his guardian angel and she lifted him every time he stumbled over obstacles. His father remained a mystery to him. He wanted to be noticed, to be loved, to be hugged but his father hadn’t displayed anything vaguely similar with him. How he wished to sit on his father’s shoulder on a breezy evening and look at the expanse of his empire! To sit with him on his horseback while thousands of his soldiers chanted the words “Hail Maximus” out of fanatic devotion! To be tossed high into the air while he tried to clasp the Sun with his hands. Never once did he express his concern to anybody but his soul.

Maximus read his son’s thoughts and felt a wave of emotions hit him. His fingers dug deeper into the tree trunk while he thought of his inability to openly embrace his kid and shower him with tons of fatherly affection. For a split second, his childhood memories flashed past and remembered the time he encountered a similar incident with his own father. His father held Maximus shoulder with both his arms and said,” Son, a leader is no ordinary individual. He is made, not born. He has to master all experiences known to man, both physical and mental. This knowledge will chisel him to perfection and guide his spirit till eternity. Now, how can i allow you to be victimized by such trivial human emotions? “.

The memory rolled a tear down his face but Maximus swiftly wiped it with his hand. He steadied himself, took a deep breath and transformed back into the charismatic leader he always was. He stepped out in the open, looked at his son and commanded,

“Get up, soldier. Pick up your sword! ”.

Leap of faith

The delicate twigs lying on the ground snapped under the enormous pressure riding over it. The dry leaves surrounding it were swept off the jungle floor and the swift wind gave a life to the dead leaves as it hovered above the ground for one last time. The Earth woke with a jolt and flexed its hidden energy outwards like the waves from a nuclear bomb radiating from its epicenter, wiping away everything in its path. The magnitude of the earthquake was so intense that it was guaranteed to put the seismograph inventor to shame. Thundershowers, not wanting to be left alone, eagerly joined the other partners in crime and unleashed a torrent of rain which was unheard of.

The marriage of all the forces of nature at their best would have been the greatest spectacle mankind has ever witnessed if anyone lived long enough to pass on the tale to the budding generation.

But nothing….nothing could deter the spirit of the youth whose threshold for challenge was far, far more than what nature could design. He ran and ran, making his own road in the jungle, almost immune to the events surrounding him. His entire body ached and took a beating of a lifetime and the more the minutes passed by, the more he resembled a soldier who was scarred in uncountable battles and ready to take on an entire army with just a spear. The only source of illumination was lightning in the form of irregular flashes to illustrate the ongoing havoc.The overhanging branches hit him like a whip but he brushed them all aside without the slightest of hesitation.

The enormity of his determination to push himself to such an extent puzzled him. He always thought he surrendered to fate in the early stages. But now, a superior power comprising of ambition, toughness and anger instructed every action of his life. He always knew he was different from the others but was unable to recognize his own strengths, his true inner self. For the first time in his life, he realized how strikingly similar he and the Earth were. Born with a fury to challenge the universe but later subdued by external factors, resulting in a massive cooldown condition. The energies, namely fury and passion were bundled up and weighed down by an anchor which slowly pulled it down into the deepest caves of the heart that is commonly termed as “The Core” in the case of the Earth.

The wisemen once rightly said – “You can be the master of man but you cannot be the master of his spirit”. There will be a day when the core will rocket itself upwards and refuse to sink in life again. “That day of my life has come” – he thought to himself as he plunged himself deeper into the jungle.

Up ahead, he noticed the cliff was about to come to an end with a deadly drop of unfathomable depth. The rest of the cliff continued after a separation of several hundreds of feet. The quake seemed to have realized his end was near and followed him at a distance of few inches away to end his death defying race. This sight was more than enough to wipe away the most remote form of hope from the bravest of knights.

With one swift look behind, a smirk formed on his face while he thought “You may have got me in the past, but not anymore”. The sight of the remaining few feet of land exploded the barrels of adrenaline within him and every inch of his body was invaded by the energy source like a dam breaking free and flooding every crack in its path. With a deafening shout that said “COME AND GET ME IF YOU DARE.”, he took a leap off the cliff.....