Code K

"Yo... You... Are you reading my thoughts and how are you doing so?" Samir had a frightened look in his eyes.

"Calm down, little one. You are safe here." The man had a serene smile on his face.

Seeing the smiling man Samir also calmed down. There was something soothing in the man's smile. Samir could sense it but couldn't understand it.

"Are you a magician or something? Also, what is this 'Narak' and how did I come here?" Samir started asking his round of questions.

The man replied in his usual calm voice, "Firstly, I am not some cheap magician or something that you are talking about and secondly, Narak is what you people may call hell in your realm."

"Wait, hell?! Why am in hell?!" Samir was horrified.

"As I said you don't need to worry, you are safe. Narak is not hell, it is like hell. It is a place where one's karma i.e. good and evil deeds are judged and given punishment and rewards depending on the outcome." The man said reassuringly.

Samir sighed in a relief.

"So... If you are not a magician then are you the 'God'?"

"No, I am not God you are talking about."

"Then what... who are you?"

The man said in a domineering voice, "I am a 'Dev'."

Samir took a step back breathing heavily. The man's aura suddenly changed to a domineering one. It was like he was a totally another man from that calm and serene man.

"Wh... What is a 'Dev'?" Samir had a confused look on is face.

"Let me tell you some things first. In the last 200 years you are the first human with good karma and as reward I will impart some goodwill to you. The people have become more and more corrupted as the time has gone by in the recent years. Moreover you people have totally forgotten about your roots. Let me impart you the wisdom that has been lost for years."

"What wisdom are you going to share and why? Also, won't the knowledge be useless once I am reborn, if I do so?"

"Firstly, you don't need to worry about you being reborn and knowledge being useless. And secondly, you will understand when you listen to me. Now then, here take a seat and listen to the story which is also the history of mine, yours and the whole cosmos."

Suddenly two chairs appeared out of nowhere across each other. Samir was astonished and eager to broaden his horizons. He quickly sat on a chair and started listening to the tale like a little boy.

The dev started his story, "A very long time ago, at the beginning there was nothing in the universe. Now there are many stories that state different things and actually all of them are true. The first one is that 'In the vast sea of chaos there appeared a child on a palm leaf which was swimming around and the child grew so fast that one could see him growing with his own eyes. The child became an adult in an instant and that palm leaf grew to become a big snake with infinite heads."

Samir was curious after a long while of his boring and repetitive life, "Who is this child and snake?"

The Dev explained, "He is the supreme one, 'Vishnu', a "Bhagwan' and that snake is his most devoted follower 'Shesh-naag' the serpent with infinite heads. Now listen, after his growth into an adult, a lotus flower bloomed from his naval and another Bhagwan appeared from within it and at last from the radiance on Bhagwan Vishnu's forehead appeared the last Bhagwan completing the trio known as 'Tridev'."

Samir asked hesitantly, "Then Bhagwan Vishnu should be most powerful one among them all, right?"

The Dev cleared the misunderstanding and said, "No, all three of them are equally powerful because they have different role. The Bhagwan who was born from the naval was 'Brahma' and the Bhagwan who was born from the forehead was 'Shiva'. Brahma's role was to create, Vishnu's role was to protect and Shiva's role was to destroy."

Samir asked in confusion, "But create, protect and destroy what?"

The man chuckled and said, "Of course the universe and the living creatures residing in the universe."

Samir's mind went blank for a second, "What?!"

The Dev said reassuringly, "Don't get flustered. They are the supreme ones, didn't I say? Ok, now then, let's continue. Brahma created the universe and after some time first humans were created. The job of these humans was to procreate and populate the Earth and to guide these humans four 'Ved' were also created by him which held the knowledge of many things such as literature, warcraft, spells, etc. They were Rigved, Samved, Yajurved and Atharva-ved. Everything was peaceful for a period of time."

Samir suddenly remembered and asked, "Wait, wait! Didn't you say that there are many stories? What are the other ones?"

The Dev had a proud smile on his face, the reason for which was not understood by Samir.

The Dev said, "Nice question! The other one says that it was Shiva who was born first and another one says that Brahma was born first."

Samir asked again, "Then who truly was born first?"

"As I said earlier that all these stories are true. This is because of what you people call parallel universes." The Dev explained patiently.

"Oh! I understand, so every story happened in another universe." Samir said in an understanding tone.

And the Dev replied, "Exactly."

Up to this point Samir had gotten used to being the one to ask questions. And so, he did.

He asked, "So, happened afterwards?"