(In) Sanity I Trust

I Will ……. Therefore I Am !!!

They were standing a bit relaxed. The morning had been good. Quite a few from the other side had been slain. Their numbers were far too low. The more confident senior ranking members had started discussing of the celebrations. They wouldn’t think of attacking even if their numbers had been double. That would mean pure, intentional suicide on their part.

From down here, they could see their defense shields shining in the hot sun. They must be thinking what would be the least embarrassing way to concede defeat, one of them thought.

Meanwhile, the almost-defeated, bruised and battered, bloodied and tired soldiers, were in fact, planning the least embarrassing way to concede defeat. Just lay down the weapons and hold your head high. Accept defeat with dignity, suggested one…. Murmurs of approval…. Don’t mentioned “defeat”, substitute the word with “truce”, said another voice…. A louder murmur !!

More such suggestions. One could hear the collective brain thinking !!!

Only one amongst them doesn’t seem to be contemplating the situation at hand. They were still a good number of them alive. Sure, the ones below, were way too many for an easy victory. But still, it wasn’t impossible.

Was everyone else really ready to put down their weapons ? Did they really believe everything was over ? Do such people really exist ?

Even as he gripped his defense shield harder , he was unable to comprehend the psychology behind theirs.

One quick glance of sympathy towards his colleague. “Poor souls” … he spared a thought… “They are doomed to win !!!”

The next moment he found himself bouncing down the slope. The hot, fine-grained sand made it difficult for him to pick up speed. But after the first few steps, he had picked up a good pace.

They saw him jump down and start to run in the direction of the enemy.

First they thought it was an hallucination.

Then , they wished it was !!!

As he was nearing his full speed, he could feel each and every tendon in his body. He could feel his muscles tightening and relaxing with his every move. The shield was fiercely gripped. No one would be able to take or break through his defense mechanism. Let them try their luck on the exposed parts of his body.

A cool streak of sweat was breaking down his brow. The rhythmic motion of his running and the swelling anger from within was almost soothing. In a different circumstance, in a different world, in a different time, his heart-rate would have been dangerously quickened. But today, he had to fight his biggest battle !! Today it would not skip a single beat !! Today it remained loyally constant !!!

The wind from the opposite direction was brushing past his eyes, causing them to water slightly. That didn’t blur his vision !! That didn’t budge his focus !!!

When the soldiers below saw a dot coming towards them, most of them couldn’t suppress a smile. One lone warrior comes to take on their entire army , while all his colleagues contemplate giving up and watch him run towards certain death ?

The commander heads asked for binoculars so that they could see who this foolish albeit brave warrior was.

One glance at his menacing persona and they knew, that more than a handful of their soldiers would perish trying to stop him. Sigh.. the wastage !!

As a form of respect towards the running warrior, the commander ordered two rows of soldiers to be ready for attack. Somewhat bemusingly, the soldiers prepared themselves.

Let’s teach this son of a bitch a thing or two for acting smart, they thought.

Even as the small puddle of an army below him was slowly turning into the large sea that it was, he did not loose his pace. There was no thought of his colleagues, who had not joined him. There was no fear of death. No tiredness in the body from the grueling run in scorching desert under the unforgiving sun. No illusions of victory. He had no time for perspectives !!!

He was just focussed aggressively on what lay ahead, in the next few minutes.

And then it happened !!!

From somewhere within him rose a blood-curling, guttural shriek, the likes of which no man had ever heard before. It was the bellow of a determined mind.

It was the thundering sound of a man who knows what he is doing. It was the kind of sound that tears through ambiguity , through indecisions, through self-doubt. The shriek conveyed a single , unmistakable sentiment of the brave warrior.

“Bring it On !!!”

All those who heard this in-human wail, found a chill running down their spine !!!

Those who were to face him, in all their confidence and knowledge that they were backed by innumerable colleagues (whilst he comes down alone), felt a tug in their loins. They felt a hard stone rising up their throat, so that they had to swallow to resume normal breathing.

Even as he ran full-throttle towards his so-called nemesis, he was now aware of another sound. A sound quite like the one coming out of his own body. The shrieks had the same rhythm, the same tempo, all in all, the same notes.

From below, the army and commanders, their jaws dropped, poured into their binoculars, their eyes popping out. They were seeing a sight they knew they would not be seeing had it not been for that god forsaken dot.

One single dot making it’s way down the huge mound of sand…. followed by a thousand other exactly similar looking dots.

None of them seemed to exhibit any fear, doubt or uncertainty in their eyes. None of them seemed to move hesitantly. All of them looked eactly alike… determined, focussed, fearless, emotionless, alone !!!

A thousand sure hands came down upon a million shocked, unsure, over-confident ones and what followed after that was a clamor of metal and flesh, only to be paused intermittently by the gushing of blood, like no one had ever heard before.

After an indeterminate interval of time, HE stood on top the bodies panting. Bloodied and bruised, battered and tired, but with a gleam of victory in his eyes.

As he looked around the scores of dead bodies and his colleagues, he thought to himself, “Poor souls. They were doomed to win !!!”