Hyderabad in 2010 was a rapidly burgeoning city. Construction on many massive skyscrapers was just beginning at that time. It was one of India's major metropolises. Like other major Indian cities, it housed a grand Central Library containing over a hundred thousand books.
The Hyderabad Central Library was a prime hub where city residents arrived early in the morning to read books and newspapers. It was situated in the heart of the city. Like many other government structures, it was a relic of a building from the British rule over India. People from various parts of the city gathered there; to secure a seat inside, one had to arrive at the crack of dawn.
That day, David Anthony had arrived there to read book for the last time, may be he will leave hyderabad after today for good. David was a Kerlite. Reading a lot of books is necessary for his Civil Service studies. Like him, many others attempting to crack government exams were regular readers there, seeking a quiet place to study.
A common thread among most of them was that they lacked the financial capacity to pay for systematic training at expensive tuition centers.
David stood one hundred and eighty two centimeters tall and sported a light beard, which grew in the last week. He used to always look clean and tidy, not like today always something in his mind. Looking at him, no one would guess he was twenty-four years old. David's mother, Mary Anthony, was a school teacher, and his father was a farmer. His father, Anthony Francis, having spent the money from the sale of his own land on his siblings, was now farming on leased land. He also had a younger brother, George Anthony, a first-year engineering student. George's biggest dream was to build and fly his own drone.
The librarian, Bhaskar, along with all the regular readers, knew this young man who arrived for his reading punctually every day. Bhaskar was a very calm individual, in his early fifties. He used to provide David with all kinds of assistance within the library. He disliked those who chatted or came merely to wile away their time.
"Bhaskar Sir, I need a book on World History today." With Bhaskar Sir's help every day, he could usually find books very easily. But today, there was very little enthusiasm in his request.
It had been exactly one year since he started coming to the library. Bhaskar remembered all this precisely. "Why were you absent for more than a week?" Without waiting to hear the answer to this question, Bhaskar had already started moving to retrieve the requested book. "Stay there, I will search for the book you need," Bhaskar said with a slight smile on his face as he walked toward the stacks.
—
Hearing that question, David recalled many things that had happened over the past week. In reality, David had not come from Kerala to Hyderabad just to study with his friend. Hyderabad was the hometown of his girlfriend of four years. His girlfriend, Chaitanya Sanji, was the most beautiful girl at the university. He learned she was the daughter of a very wealthy industrialist, Gautam Sanji -Owner of Sanji Group, only after they had fallen in love -so he thought; David's family was not financially prominent. Therefore, she had told him she could not marry him without him having a job or becoming a scientist.
However, it was only last week that he learned her marriage was taking place.
Immediately upon hearing the news, he went to see her. When he called, she asked him to come to a restaurant in one of the most expensive five-star hotels in Hyderabad.
Upon arriving, David saw Chaitanya talking and laughing with a young man sitting next to her. Although he felt angry seeing this from a distance, realizing that the money in his hand wouldn't suffice if any items there were damaged, David clenched his fists and went to sit on a chair at the table where the two were seated.
"David, you came?" She started speaking to him with a smile. Her hand was still resting in that young man's hands.
"Who is this?" David went straight to the point, he voice was cold.
"This is Armith Obroi. You know him, he was one year senior to us at the university." The smile on her face vanished as she said this.
"He was the one who proposed to you back then, right?" There was no expression on David's face now. He spoke very calmly.
Armith could feel her hand tremble slightly upon hearing this question.
"Hello! Mr. David, we have met once before. Yes, the day I proposed to Chaitanya. But you must understand that you are not worthy of being her boyfriend. So, do not disturb my wife anymore." Armith said the last part with a slightly raised voice.
Hearing this, David could not contain his anger, "Your wife? Don't speak nonsense about my girl..."
David couldn't say more because Chaitanya interjected, "Do you know why I was your girlfriend all these years. I just wanted to know what it felt like when a university topper always walks behind me like a dog. Now I know, so don't disturb me anymore."
"You go to the restroom and come back, let me talk to David." Armith sent her away and then turned to David. Pouring alcohol into a glass, he said, "David, you know about me. You haven't forgotten what happened between us at the university, have you? Also, do you know one thing? Do you know why you didn't get the Civil Service Rank even after the interview?" As he said this, there was a small smirk on Armith's face, "Yes, I did it. Not only in civil services you won't get any government job."
David's heart sank when he realized that Armith was the reason his rank didn't come despite writing the exam so well. He knew about Armith's background —the son of the top tycoon in the State, Gilwan Group. It meant that if Armith wished it, he would never be able to pass the Civil Service exam.
However, there was one more thing he needed to know, and for that, Chaitanya had to return.
When Chaitanya returned, David grabbed her hand and asked, "Did you know that he is the reason I didn't get the rank?"
"Let go of my hand." She didn't like David holding her hand in public in front of Armith.
"Answer my question. Did you know?" David asked, raising his voice.
"I knew. Not only that, I agreed to it. I thought you would go into some research field. Since you are of no use to me anymore, don't come to disturb me." As she said this, a look of slight disgust was visible on her face, "Why are you standing here its not like can afford to eat here."
—
Although Bhaskar took ten minutes to return, David hadn't realized the passage of time amidst his thoughts. Bhaskar held two books in his hand. "David, this is World History. And this one... I haven't understood what kind of book this is, so you must tell me which historical era it belongs to after reading it. If you don't understand anything, leave it; at least the pictures in it are good to look at." Saying this, Bhaskar placed both books in front of him on the Desk.
Returning to reality from his thoughts, David looked at the two books in his hand.
'I will surely get into civil service and I will find a more beautiful wife, no wives,' Now David was like a wounded Lion.
Then, picking up both the books, he went and sat in a corner. For a while, he gazed outside through the window next to him. Before, when sitting here, his mind would be filled with her smile and her gaze. But he was certain that wouldn't happen anymore.
To get a distraction from his wild thoughts, he decided to try reading the book Bhaskar had mentioned first. On the cover, only 'History' was written in English, and the first page inside said 'Volume One'.
He couldn't understand anything in the subsequent pages because they were in Sanskrit. Although he knew how to read Sanskrit, he didn't know the meaning. Sanskrit was an ancient language that any person who had learned Hindi could read with a little effort. Today, its use has shrunk to knowing Vedic theories, mantras, and tantras. After trying to read it up and down several times and understanding nothing, he decided to close the book.
—
"What did I say? Didn't I say he isn't worthy of it?" Someone was speaking to Bhaskar from behind.
"He hasn't returned the book yet, let us wait." Bhaskar did not turn around to answer that question.
After that, the voice said nothing more.
—
Remembering the pictures Bhaskar mentioned, David leafed through the book again. Many of the images were very strange and depicted creatures never seen on earth to this day. But on the last page, the images of two creatures stood out. One belonged to a creature with four arms, two legs, a lion's head, a snake-like tail, and a ball at the end of the tail that looked like it could be used to strike. Furthermore, instead of fur, it had scales like a snakes or fishes. The second picture was of a dragon, but its entire body was covered in fur.
Seeing these pictures, he felt the artist had made a mistake. 'The idiot drew fur on the creature that needed scales, and scales instead of fur.'
Realizing the book was useful only for viewing pictures, he prepared to stand up, leaning his hand on the book after looking at the images. It was then that the writing in the book turned into a liquid and climbed onto his hand.
"Ah..." Seeing this, he screamed in shock.
The liquid transformed into a bracelet around his hand very quickly. Therefore, when those around him turned to look upon hearing the scream, they only saw David lying on the floor.
David tried to take off the bracelet. Seeing that he couldn't, without saying anything to anyone, he went to the washroom outside; there too, he tried to remove the silver-colored bracelet.
But no matter how hard he tried, other than his wrist hurting, the bracelet did not budge.
—
"Didn't I tell you he would succeed?" Bhaskar could be heard saying this very happily, looking into the void.
"That book...?" Bhaskar received a question like this.
Bhaskar took the book, from which the ink had disappeared, and placed it back on the shelf he did it as soon as David went out. "Now everyone will get time to run," Bhaskar muttered again.
—
David stood in the washroom for a while, looking into the mirror. After some time, it was a loud commotion that brought David out of the washroom.
It seemed to him that someone was screaming, 'FIRE... FIRE...'
When he went out to look, what he saw was the library, near the washroom where he had been standing, blazing with fire.