Agni....the secret door

When it started, no one thought that there was something coming for them to destroy everything they knew.

Maybe the danger is like that. It comes with no warning.

It's middle of the night and all the tribe was sleeping in their tiny huts except for a few which had the duty to guard them on that night.

"It's just an earthquake " that's what they thought. It's common to that area. They felt that shaking often.

But, after some time it did not stop like other days. On the contrary, it reached its peak.

The shaking of the land got worse and worse. The bamboos, holding those huts were not able to stand still. They started to fall along with the roofs and walls.

People came out, shouting, feeling terrified. Some of them were carrying their children tightly.

Within a fraction of time, the jungle was echoed with the screamings, and not only those people were screaming, but also the animals and birds and every living thing in the jungle, even the diurnal one too.

Everyone could feel it, that something incredibly powerful was coming for them.

"What is happening?" One of them shouted coming towards a guard.

The guard kept looking at him with his eyes wide open. Words were not coming out from his mouth. It's a cold winter night, though he was covered with a layer of sweat.

Those were the people who did not know anything about the world outside the jungle. Their thoughts were primitive like an animal. They kill anything only for two reasons, when it comes to eat them or when they need to eat it. A long time ago, some outsiders tried to enter their territory, but it did not end well.

Stones, poison arrows, and stakes were their weapons, and the new threat coming for them, they could not stop it with all those.

At this time, only hope for them was Pradhan.

Pradhan was not a name. Its a title given to the head of the tribe. For them, Pradhan was the smartest and bravest man they had ever known. He saved them from infinite menaces before. Once, they remember, a tiger was hunting them one after one. They lost many of them. But, Pradhan was the one who killed that man-eater and saved his people.

They believe, he will come up with something this time too.

Everyone ran toward him.

"Pradhan, what are we going to do?"

"Pradhan, we are going to die, "

"Pradhan, do something,"

He was surrounded by questions...questions of which he had no answer. By looking at his face, it is hard to tell, but he was also scared like others. He had no idea what was going on and what to do.

"Everybody, calm down. It will over soon," he said, hiding his fear.

Pradhan's word could not able to give much impact on others. He himself not confident about what he said.

"Wait, something is coming. It's close, "someone said.

Everyone looked at him. Closing his eyes, he was trying to hear something.

He was right. There was something close to them. But it's not what they thought.

The land started to crack all over, like someone moving below the surface.

" Run, " Pradhan shouted.

"That's the only reasonable thing we can do." He thought.

They were waiting for him to say that.

Everyone started to run. They did not know where they were going. Just running and running as far as they could. Pradhan went with them too.

After some time, the situation seemed to be got calm. Shaking of the land stopped.

With heavy breathings, they kept looking at each other, trying to feel the situation. They were still in shock.

"I think it's gone," one of them whispered, touching the ground.

"Wait, don't go near it. It may be waiting for us,"

"But someone has to go,"

They were looking at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

"No one needs to go. " Pradhan spoke, "We will wait here until the sun rises,"

Everyone agreed not to go back to their place at night. Anyway, it's almost dawn. They decided to wait for the sun to rise. They sat down wherever they were, leaning to trees, or rocks.

After a long period of the fearful night, the sunlight touched the ground.

"Pradhan, I think we should go now," one guard said to his ear.

Pradhan was taking a nap, resting his head on a tree. He opened his eyes while yawning.

"We can go now. Tell everyone to move," he stood up and looked around.

"Pradhan asked everyone to walk with him, "that man shouted.

Those people were laying here and there. As they got the order, they stood up.

"But, keep your eyes open. The danger may not over yet," he said looking at them.

Slowly slowly, they approached their home. The guards were keeping their spears ready to attack if something jumps on them.

But, there was nothing which they could consider scary, except for the broken pieces of their huts.

The condition of the huts was not good.

Their eyes remained wide open to see them. All of them were scattered into pieces. The land had many cracks all over.

"It looks like those cracks are coming from that side," one tribal people said, observing the pattern.

Pradhan sat down and started to get a closer look.

"Yeah, you are right. Those are coming from that side. There must be something happened last night on the bank,"

"What will we do now, Pradhan?"

"All of you start to work. Build your huts again. Help each other," he ordered.

They began to collect the scattered pieces of their huts.

"Romeng," he summoned someone.

"What is it, Pradhan?" Romeng asked, rushing towards him.

"We have to go and see what happened last night," he said, keeping his voice low.

"Will it be safe to go there? This thing looks very strong. What if it is waiting for us?"

Romeng was terrorized to go with him.

"We can not sit like this. We have to do something. Otherwise, it will haunt us again. So, let's gather some of our men and go,"

"You want to go right now?"

"Yes, we should not wait. As time goes, it will get more and more powerful. It's better to crush it now,"

"But.." Romeng wanted to say something but stopped.

"You see those people, those families. They count on me. I can not let my fear stop me. You understand that?"

Romeng nodded his head and went to gather a few men to go with him.

Pradhan was standing there, looking at them. They were busy with their works. Some of the were making their huts, some others were preparing the meal.

He released a sigh.

Romeng was returned with two men.

Pradhan looked at them and said," Gaurang and Mirgang, has he told you where we are going?"

"We are going near the river to see what's there," Mriganag replied.

"Do you two agree to go with me?"

"Yes, we do. You are our Pradhan. We will follow your every order without question,"

"In that case, I don't see any reason to wait. Go and take your weapons. We will leave now. Bring my spear too,"

They immediately walked away and quickly returned with spears in their hand. They were also carrying bow and arrows.

"Pradhan, here it is, your spear," Romeng gave him a spear.

"You people keep doing what you are doing. We are going to deal with the cause of last night's attack. When I return, everything should be rebuilt,"

Giving them orders, he walked towards the river with his three companions.