[3rd Person POV]
16th April, 2014. Almost midnight.
"Father, why does stars twinkle at night?" A child with his curious eyes pointed at the clear night sky, teaming with stars, asked.
"Oh stars, as I had told you before, they are our ancestors. They come out at night to bless their descendants who behave properly. So..." before father could complete his fantasy explanation, the child interrupted.
"Nooo father, you promised not to tell me lies. Mother was telling me that the were like sun or something," the child stated his reason in firm voice but at his age, it only appeared cute to his father.
The man in late thirties chuckled, "Oh, so why didn't your mother explained the whole things, huh?"
"Well, because Vanya started crying so mother told me to ask you," the child answered, a bit flustered.
"Hmm, okay. So according to science, all those twinkling stars are like sun and their light reaches our eyes at night easily. So they appear twinkling to our eyes because of distance and light." The father answered.
"Anything more, it will go over your head," he added.
"Can we go to the stars we see?" the child innocently asked.
"No, at least not yet," the father replied.
"But if I had the powers of Superman, I could go over there," the child presented the solution himself.
"Huh? Where did Superman come from? Just as moment ago you were advocating about truth and who spouting the nonsense now brat?" the father faked his anger as he spoke.
"Hehe, but I will get powers of Superman and walk on the stars someday," the child proudly declared, ignoring his father fake anger.
"Well, I am here to see when that happens, humph!" the father taunted to get a reaction from his little son.
"Are you doubting my son? Of course, he can do whatever he says, isn't that right beta (son)?" a feminine voice came from behind.
"Yes, mother, absolutely. I will become Superman," the child excitedly replied upon hearing the sweet voice.
"Oh, now both mother and son are tagging together huh?" the father spoke with a smile on his face.
"I am always on my son's side," the mother retorted.
"Reyansh let's go cut the cake, I have lighted the candles," she added.
"Is Vanu sleep mother? I wanted to cut cake with her?" the child asked.
"Yes, she needs her sleep to grow. You can give her cake in the morning," the mother explained.
Just then a streak of white light shot through the sky bringing the attention of the child.
"Mother, a shooting star! Let's make a wish," he spoke and hurriedly closed his eyes and folded his hands together in prayer mode.
Few seconds later, he opened his eyes, relieved like he completed his biggest duty till now.
"What did you aksed for?" the father asked.
"Simple, I wished for power to travel to the stars so I could go myself and with my family. It would be an awesome place to celebrate birthday, isn't it?" the child joyously shared his wish and reasoning behind it.
"You are reading too many comics nowadays. Now let's go before those candles melt completely," father said as he walked towards the room from balcony.
The child followed in with his mother, to celebrate his fourth birthday with eyes full of hope and joy.
.
.
.
16th April, 2025
Two tired and overworked brown eyes of a boy with dark circles under them were starring at the clear sky during night. There was no appreciation of the beauty of night or the shine of the stars.
The only thing keeping those eyes open work were responsibility of a bedridden mother and growing little sister. And beneath all that a small flicker of determination to complete his dreams and protect his family.
The boy, Reyansh Kaul, was laying over a mat on the roof gazing at starry sky. Reminiscing about old times but he was too tired to even dig through heap of memories to find a particular one.
A lot had changed in the recent years. 5 year ago, The Merge happened suddenly, introducing Earth to monsters, dungeons and multiple dimensions.
The Cosmic Nexus Interface (CNI), a system, came along with merge that affected the way of life on earth forever. During those turbulent times, some awaken as Hunters and gained the ability to kill monster.
The peculiar thing about CNI was that it came with Cosmic Broadcast System, allowing hunters to stream their dungeon run to other dimensions and earning multiple rewards through that.
Buzz! Buzz!
Half sleep eyes of Reyansh suddenly shot open as his hand automatically went towards the phone beside him. He clicked at the recent message, it read:
JOB AVAILABLE!
In need of a worker to transfer heavy materials into storage room.
Payment = 2000 Cosmic Credits
Job duration = around 4 hours
Would you like to accept this job?
[YES] or [NO]
Without a second thought, Reyansh clicked on Yes.
"That's a decent job with good pay. Is universe giving me a gift on my birthday?" he mumbled to himself as he stood up.
JOB ACCEPTED!
Please reach the mentioned address within an hour.
Unit No. 17-B, Shakti Storage Compound
Opp. Old Scrap Yard Lane
LBS Road, Kurla West
Mumbai
"And it's at a walking distance. Thanks for the early gift universe," he commented as he read the address.
Just as he came down from the stairs, a girl wearing a long frock with faded sunflower imprint and eyes brimming with worry and complaint appeared in front of him.
"Bhaiya (Brother)! Where are you going at this time? It's almost midnight, I have made a cake at home for you. Can't you rest properly for one night," she lodged her complain in strongest way possible.
"Shush! Tone down a bit, you know mother is sleeping," Reyansh spoke signalling to talk in low volume.
"Can't you rest properly even on your birthday brother? We will get by if you don't work for one day. Your rest is essential too," she hushed with lowest audible voice possible.
An inexplicable smile appeared on his face as he rubbed his little sister head.
"I won't be swayed by whatever you do, humph," she appeared to stand firm on her earlier suggestion but blushing smile on her face told otherwise.
"Look at my Vanu, caring for me. Don't worry, it's very easy job with nice money. I will be back in few hours then we will cut the cake, put it in the fridge till then," he suggested.
Vanya opened his mouth to protest but Reyansh signalled not to speak by putting his finger on his mouth.
"Aah, go to sleep for now. I will be back shortly," he insisted.
"Okay, but you better come back before mother wake up," she relented, knowing it's very difficult to change his brother's mind when it's made up.
Vanya went towards the bed while Reyansh exited his flat, making his way to designated address.
This job will be his 4th one today, this was his daily routine of doing small or big jobs and providing for his family from it while scraping to save for his dream.
He mentally opened Cosmic Trade Network, available to everyone above 12 years old. With this one could trade to any dimensions.
However, Reyansh didn't have anything to sell particularly and never had fund to even think of buying something except one thing.
– - –
[COSMIC TRADE NETWORK]
Name: Reyansh Kaul
Age: 15 years
Status: Non-awakened
Balance: 58,000 Cosmic Credits (cc)
– Bookmarked Items
1. Awakening Potion
Rank: Unranked
Effect: Help any being awakening their Talent and formation of Mana core.
Cost: 7 Cosmic Coins (CC) (70,000 cc)
[BUY]
– - –
He has been waiting for three years to be able to buy this potion after failing to awaken naturally at the age of 12 years.
He probably would have gathered this much amount a year but expensive treatment of his mother, rent, Vanya's school fees and other daily expenses prevented him doing that.
He sucked in cold breath as walked through mildly busy roads of Mumbai to reach at the job's address.
"Just twelve thousand credits more and I will be able to buy that," he spoke to himself as he clenched his fists.
For a moment, there was a fire in eyes which longed to become hunter, surfaced and subsided again as he hurriedly stepped towards his destination.