An Upgraded Soul

"Adi, this is so boring."

Aditya was draining the engine oil of a Hyundai car while being nagged by Tya. Tya seemed to have gotten addicted to learning new things about the world since he had finished his basic education. He always wanted to continue this process which he found entertaining rather than spend time on seeing Aditya do the same things again and again.

As discovered earlier the time Tya experiences is 60x slower than what is the norm. So, Tya always thought that Aditya was slow and dull. It had to be noted that Aditya was the fastest when he came in servicing cars, not even the old experienced mechanics could catch to his speed. In normal people eyes, Aditya's movements were almost in the magical realm as he played with car tools skillfully like how a drummer fiddles with drumsticks. Every finger, even his pinky finger, fulfilled a predetermined role thus achieving high efficiency and speed.

"What do you want to do then," Aditya asked as he closed the plug and started refilling the tank with new oil. He had become used to Tya talking to him, given his increased mental capacity, multitasking was very easy for him. So. He could be doing his work with top efficiency while having small chitchat with Tya.

He could understand why Tya was bored as he himself would be bored if he started seeing everything 60 times slower. But, Aditya was sure Tya of the past would not have said these words. Imagine a being who had lived alone for thousands of year or maybe even millions of years complaining of boredom. Aditya theorized that just like how he had absorbed a part of Tya, Tya seems to have absorbed a part of him resulting in some partially merged state. So Tya's increasing display of human emotions could be attributed to his proximity with Aditya.

"what's so great about repairing a car, isn't it just for money, Why can't you get into stock market trade, I am sure you could earn millions." Tya pouted as he mumbled. Tya d.e.s.i.r.ed to travel this world, to see new places, to meet new people, to try new food.

"I have already told you that we both have a great enemy out there who has the capability to turn a bank account containing millions to a nil balance in a matter of seconds. It's better for me to work from hand to mouth before figuring out a way to become truly anonymous. haven't your abilities being developing lately, are there any useful ones for me." Aditya explained patiently. He had regarded Tya as his God-given younger brother and he cherished him very much. This feeling came quite naturally, it might be due to his loneliness caused by the absence of his parents or maybe due to the special bond they shared.

Also, as days went on Tya's bond with Aditya seemed to be evolving in a subtle way. Tya was able to connect to Aditya's senses. For example, in the beginning, he could only see and hear but now he had access to Aditya's touch, smell and taste also. The immediate consequence of this was Aditya was forced to start eating lollipops which he had not eaten since kindergarten.

In whatever angle one looked, Tya seemed like a kid, he likes to listen to children rhyme songs, eat lollipops and other candies. It was a strange sight to see Aditya working with a lollipop in his mouth. Tya did not like smoking so he would block his senses when Aditya smoked.

Tya also had the same childish mentality of boasting or showing off. In the past few days, he was boasting that he would get new powers in the coming few days. Aditya was also interested in this at the start but when someone goes on narrating and but shows no results, it does get tiresome. That's what happened.

"Adi, you would be shocked if you saw this achievement, it would stop your breath, your eyes would be dazzled, you would be drooling when you saw this….." as Aditya heard these words for the umpteenth time, he rubbed his clean forehead with his greasy hands unknowingly.

He didn't know where Tya learned these sales pitching scripts but he imbibed all of them. Aditya thought that Tya would be the world's worst salesperson if he was ever given a chance. When Aditya was thinking about the ways of getting Tya to stop, he suddenly realized the world stopped. No, it did not stop but the world 'slowed' down. It was like people in front of him including himself have become lazy. Everything felt so languid to Aditya.

He turned 'slowly' to see a dragonfly flying near him. As he focused his eyes a little, Aditya found that the back of the dragonfly became crystal clear to him. The movement of wings, the muscles wiggling and pulling directly on the wings. He even observed that the front and hind wings of this dragonfly move independently, there was also a small hole on the back of the dragonfly which was being squeezed and relaxed with the movement of the wings.

"That's the dorsal trachea, "Tya explained as if he knew Aditya's doubt. Aditya was astonished that when the whole world seemed to have become exceedingly slow, the speech of Tya remained at the same pace.

"what's going on?" Aditya asked as he viewed the sluggish movements of other people. His speech was also at normal speed.

"I have always thought that, as I could see the world through your vision, why was it not possible for you to experience this world through mine," Tya explained proudly. Aditya could almost imagine the cute expression on Tya's face as it demonstrated this unique ability.

Aditya tried to keep up his body speed with his vision but he failed. It would have been fantastic if his physique could match this pace, he could officially start taking action against 'those' bastards. But this was good also.

"Nice, Tya" Aditya praised as he enjoyed an hour of this 'slow' world. Only a minute had passed in the real world. He found that even the focus power of his eyes also increased in this 'state' as he saw many minute details he would otherwise miss.

"This is just the start, Adi, wait for another surprise in a few days, I think you like it, let us save mother and father together." Tya chortled as he supported Aditya emotionally. Tya had known Aditya's history in the past few days, he also experienced Aditya's pain first hand, he wanted to help Aditya rescue his parents as soon as possible.

"Thank you, Tya," Aditya answered with a smile, his confidence had just acquired a boost. Aditya who had restored to normal time experience continued with his work.

In the evening, as Aditya was about to return to his room after wrapping up his work. Chakri came and pulled Aditya as he said, "Come let's go check out that Hummer that Elder brother Dev had brought in the morning."

Aditya tried to shrug off Chakri as he replied, "I am not interested."

Chakri looked at Aditya incredulously as he said, "Are you the same Aditya who eats, walks and sleeps thinking about cars?"

"Nope, am not the same one."

"Come on, the boss has permitted us to check out the engine also."

"Not interested."

"Are you sure about it? 5.3-litre V8 engine, 300 HP, 430 Nm torque, four-wheel drive system, electronic controlled full-time."

"no"

"Intelligent Traction Control"

"..."

"fully bulletproofed by Armour Max, the best-armoured vehicle manufacturing company in the world."

"let's go faster."

"..."

By the time Chakri and Aditya had reached the car, it was encompassed by a number of young mechanics who were Aditya's colleague as they excitedly discussed among themselves.

Uncle Ramlal was at the centre standing beside the car. He smiled at the excitement of his employees as he started explaining, " the engine displacement of this car is 3700cc with a mileage of 6.8 km/litre, the kerb weight is 2134 kg, ground clearance is 246mm with a full tank capacity of 88 litres..."

Aditya listened with rapt attention along with the other mechanics but he was unaware that a pair of icy eyes were observing him closely from the back.

Taarini Shetty was the current leader of the underworld of East Bangalore, one of the four tigers, Star Tigress AKA Star Empress. She did not forget the person who had saved her that night. At that time she was confused due to her head injury from Rana, who betrayed her. She thought that she was going to die at that time, but somehow she survived while every other person had escaped. The only thing she saw was a youth who had covered his face helping her stand up.

She was not sure at that time whether her saviour was that youth so she maintained her guard against him. Her last week was spent hunting all the members of the flaming tiger gang. Flaming tiger had gone missing after that night but not all gangsters could escape her 'hunting'.

She had asked each and everyone about the incident that night. The first time when Taarini heard the story, she killed that gangster without thinking twice as she found the story ridiculous. Stones which always hit critical points. She was saved by someone who pelted stones, not bullets, not throwing knives but stones? How did this gangster naively think that anyone would believe this tale?

But reality stunned Taarini and her younger brothers as she heard the same story from every member whom they caught. If it was once, they could brush it off but, if the same story to the minute details was repeated and it fit the narrative of Taarini perfectly, she had to believe it. When the youth who covered his face, tried to fake his voice, appeared before Taarini's inner eye, her heart would start to beat faster.

She remembered that she had used that person's mobile to call her underlings. She had her contacts in the government to find out the details of that mobile owner. When she was expecting to easily find out that person, she was startled when she came to know that the details of that person were lost. When she tried to call that number, she found that the number was not reachable.

Even if her heart had hardened due to years of living through violence, deceit and betrayal. Being rescued by some unknown youth with mysterious abilities was like a warm breath which felt refreshing to her. She clearly remembered the apathy with which that person left her when he knew she contacted her people.

He did not expect any reward from her, even did not know who she was, did not know whether she was innocent, he still helped her even though he was just a person fighting a gang whose leader had brought a gun out. Only a person who lived among the people who could betray you any time knew the value of principles like honour, integrity and chivalry. Taarini knew that she might not contact such a person again in her life, this increased her thirst to find the 'person' all the more.

The only person whom she really loved and trusted was her big brother Manu. They both were orphans while her elder brother served in the army and fought in the Kargil war. He retired afterwards that and set up a Dhaba (highway restaurant) in the land given by the government. At that time her brother had a conflict with these underworld gangs which eventually led him to become a mob leader himself. Though his brother still held onto human principles, he was still betrayed by his subordinate who was now known as the flaming tiger.

Taarini knew that money was easy to find and earn in this field but truly trustworthy men were as rare as gems. She wanted to find that person, know that person, to make that person hers.

These past few days she had been trying her utmost to get that person, she had not thought that her elder brother's favourite vehicle which she treasured as a precious memory would lead her to the person whom she wanted to meet. It's like her elder brother was still looking after her from heaven.

Taarini had not forgotten that thin physique, those bright eyes. He was younger and more handsome than she had imagined. A small smile appeared on her face as if a tigress had spotted her prey. How could someone who grew up in the underworld where everyone possessed all kinds of disguises not recognize Aditya who had just covered half of his face? It was like competing with a rat in the ability to shuttle through rat-holes. She walked up to Aditya who was immersed in hearing his uncle's explanation as she said, "Got you."

Aditya pupils shrank when he saw Taarini standing behind him with a gang following her, she looked at him with an 'icy' smile, his fast brain immediately knew that he was recognized.