What came to me as a blessing last year has now been taken away. Clearly, greed is indeed very bad. The sins I committed have given me the outcome, not the one which I desired, but I am pretty sure that the people of SHAPAZ, my native kingdom would have desired them! My fairytale has now, at last come to an end, relieving my fellow citizens and starting a new fairy tale for them! Rahul Bakshi was right; I deeply regret not following what he told me.

I would love to share what it is that I am talking about but would prefer telling the past before revealing the present, thereby ending the reader’s suspense!

****

I am Paiz, a muffle. To end your curiosity, a muffle is someone with special powers. All the residents of our kingdom have some qualities which distinguish us from normal human beings. Some of us can change our body colour, change our gender, change our form and be visible or invisible depending on the situation. But these actions are not based on our will but happen automatically on the basis of the situation. What sets muffles apart is their ability to change their form on their own will whether for the good or the bad. The muffles have a certain time period within which they can convert themselves. For example, they can turn into another form only in the starting 15 minutes of an hour and the ending 15 minutes of the hour (2:00-2:15 and 2:45-3:00). There was a speciality in our kingdom. We were not known to the bad side of life, not until I met Rahul.

Everything was fine. All of us were happy and frankly speaking, I was the happiest. I had become a muffle. It was the best day of my life. Everyone started loving me and all were in praise of me. I was the fourth from this kingdom to become a muffle and the only one alive. Little did I know that I would turn into a bad one!

****

I was sitting in my office, which I was given after becoming a muffle. I was pleased with the weather. It was raining. My thoughts were broken when I heard some footsteps near the door. There was someone out there. I saw a glimpse of him. He was three times bigger than me. I was scared. I tried to change into invisible form, but it takes 10 seconds to convert into another form. I did not know the time but assuming it to be the time period within which I could use my powers, I started changing myself into invisible form. The last time I checked my watch, it was 3:58. I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but I did not check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. Ten, nine, eight, seven...   And before I could have said six, he appeared in the room.

“Who are you?” I asked, gathering some courage. He saw me scared.

“Hi. I am Rahul Bakshi from India. I don’t know how I came here. Please do not be scared. I will do no harm to you.” He assured me. 

“What is this place, India?” I asked him, unaware of what he just said.

“Oh! I think I have come to a completely new world. I saw strange people on my way. Please tell me something about this place,” he urged me to tell him all I knew.

“But, can I trust you?” I asked him again.

“Yes, you can. Please tell me about this kingdom. I have much to share with you,” he said.

I now trusted him. He did not appear dangerous and thus, I treated him like a guest.

“So, this is Shapaz, the kingdom where you currently are. We don’t know much about you and I am pretty sure you know nothing about us.”

He nodded as a sign to agree with me.

“What differentiates us from humans is our ability to change our form, from visible to invisible, from small size to a bigger size depending on the situation. But these changes are not done according to one’s will. It happens automatically. We don’t know how it happens! There are people like me who are called muffles. Only four people of this kingdom are known to be muffles. I am the only one alive. We have the power to change our form on our own will,” I told him.

“That seems interesting. Okay, tell me something about the government, the difference the between rich and the poor,” he asked me.

“Oh! There is no difference between the rich and poor. We all live equally. We exchange things for other things. There are no conflicts. Everyone is as happy as a clam.” I replied.

“What? That sounds strange. And what about the religions? In how many religions is your society divided?” He asked, quite stunned at what he just heard.

“Religions as in on the basis of which the society is divided?” I asked, puzzled.

“Yes.”

“Well, there are no divisions in our society. We all live together, happily.”

“Oh wow! How nice this kingdom is. And what about corruption? Are the people corrupt?” He asked me.

“Neither are the people corrupt in their actions nor in their thoughts!” I replied, feeling proud of my fellow citizens.

He could not believe what I just said.

“How is the law and order of your country maintained?” He asked me with a hope to receive a normal reply.

“Why do we need someone to maintain the law and order when the people are so good?” I asked him rhetorically.

“That is enough. I have come to know much about your kingdom now. Do you know why your kingdom is called Shapaz?” He asked me.

“No, I never asked anyone.” I accepted truthfully.

“Shapaz is a word combined from Shanti in Hindi, Paz in German which means peace. That is why; this kingdom is a model of peace for the world.” He told me.

I was excited to hear this.

“I didn’t know about it. Thanks for making me aware of the same. Okay, now it’s your turn. Tell me something about the people of your world.” I asked him curiously.

“Well, you will be bewildered to hear about them. I am from India. We are normal humans and don’t have any powers. Our world is full of greed and selfishness. People are mad for money and can do anything for it. A strict law and order has to be maintained, but still, crime can’t be stopped. Murders, rapes, etc. are a common sight. There is a vast difference between haves and have-nots. The officers appointed for the welfare of the country are corrupt. The society is divided into various religions. People of one religion sometimes quarrel with people of other religions and it results into riots. Peace is something which is read only in books,” he said feeling sad about his nation.

“Oh! It would be difficult to live in such a nation.” I gave my views on the same.

Rahul lived with me for 10 days. In those 10 days, he told me about various frauds and other happenings that took place in his world. Instead of feeling bad with them, I got inspired. One day I asked him, “The various practices in your country have inspired me. I was wondering if I should introduce these practices to Shapaz. I can be the most powerful person here.”

He denied straight away. He said, “Don’t think about it. We are suffering from all these practices and you wish to introduce them here. Take this thought off your mind now.”

After 10 days, Rahul disappeared. I think he returned to his own world. But before leaving, he told me that the days he spent here seemed to be a fairy tale.

But how can a fairy tale be completed without a villain? And in this case, I am the villain.

The feeling of becoming the richest person of the kingdom took over me. I used some wicked ways for this. I became a guru for the people. They started believing everything I told them. It did not take me to introduce religion to our kingdom. The barter system was also replaced by things being bought by money. Everything was changed. Our fairy kingdom was lost. The people were unhappy, but I was happy. I tricked many people and was the richest. My dream was at last fulfilled. But one incident changed my life forever.

Once, I changed my size and went on to sell some land. I gave them my address. No one knew that the address I gave belonged to me. I sold the land, took the advance and then came to my original form. Then, the one whom I sold the land came to my place. The land was the most expensive one available. Something for the welfare of the kingdom had to be constructed. Everyone contributed for the land to be bought. It was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. I had decided that it was going to be my last wicked deed. Just after I had tricked the people of my kingdom to buy the land, they came to their guru seeking help. Yes, they came to me. I asked them to donate all the wealth they had to the temple owned by me. I asked them to wait and see the results.

And this step of mine changed my life forever! As soon as the villagers went, the sky filled with black clouds. Lightning struck making sounds that scared the hell out of me. No sooner did the clouds come, it started to rain. The dreadful darkness, screeching sound of a bird was enough to scare me. I converted myself to my invisible form. Then appeared the ones whom I will never forget. From the sky, came a flutter of fairies, beautifully dressed. I stared at them thinking I am in invisible form. My opinion was soon broken. They could see me. “How” was something I could not quite place?

“Who are you,” I asked.

“We are from the Ministry of Muffles.” One of them replied.

“What is that?” I asked.

“All the powers you have are governed by us. It does not happen automatically. ” They told me.

I knew they had come for me and there was no way I could save myself. But still, I ran. I ran away from there, continuously changing my forms. At one point, my powers vanished. A force stopped me from moving any further. The fairies reached me and held me from back.

“There is no way you can escape now.” I was told.

Accepting my defeat and realizing the sins I committed, I apologized. But it was too late now. They were going to punish me badly. Before they could do anything, there came another flutter of fairies. This time, they looked even more dreadful. Every one of them was in black.

“The Black Beasts are here!” exclaimed one of the fairies.

 I could sense something wrong happening there. And within a few seconds, there started a fight between the fairies and the Black Beasts. The black beasts had come to save me as they were the supporters of bad deeds. Their leader, Paz was punished a century ago and from then, no bad deed happened in the kingdom.

They were fighting like anything. Nothing could be seen. It was raining which made the scene more dreadful.

Unluckily, the Black Beasts lost. They were killed. The fairies emerged victorious as to tell that “Goodness begets goodness”.

The villagers came to know of me. The Ministry did not give me a second chance to improve myself. I was taken along by the fairies and was sent to a magical sleep in which no one ever woke up. When I was being taken away by the fairies, I saw the innocent people of my kingdom. They were celebrating and the guilt of what I did to this beautiful kingdom was haunting me.

****

There were mixed emotions, both sweet and bitter. The happiness was because the people could lead a happy life again and I was sad because of losing my powers. But yes, this incident was indeed a moral lesson for everyone who wishes to be bad! The people thanked the fairies for restoring the peace.

****

Every fairy tale ends with a common saying: “The people lived happily thereafter.” But this one is a bit different. As mentioned earlier, I deeply regret not following what Rahul said. The magical sleep I talked about, in which no one ever wakes up is indeed magical. It is so because one sees all wrong that happened with him. What I saw stunned me, my heart stopped beating even though I was in the magical sleep in which one loses the sense of feeling.

My dream started with Rahul laughing and passing a wicked smile to his fellows. If I would have known that earlier, I would have never betrayed the people of my kingdom. That Indian Rahul had not come to my kingdom on his own. It was a plan, a plan through which they wanted to capture our kingdom and exploit its resources. Our kingdom was actually a part of their world but was unexplored. Rahul and his fellows found it and wanted to be famous. For that, they needed to know everything about our kingdom so that it could be easy for them to rule over it. But, the talk Rahul had with me could not clear his doubt as to who governs the various actions that let us change our form. For that, they targeted the innocent ‘me’. Rahul knew that I would be tempted to hear the bad side of life, he knew that I would try to do the things he told me to establish my supremacy, he knew that the one who governs the various actions of the people of the kingdom would come to save the people. But, why didn’t I know this?

****

All this was a plan. Our kingdom is now in danger. I want to stop Rahul and other humans, I want to inform the Ministry so that they could prepare them self but all I can do know is lie down and enjoy my magical sleep. It is too late know.