An Unearthly Game

One day the newly-appointed King's Assistant went to Hell. He was ordered by King of Heaven to choose a soul. King of Heaven was an optimistic God. On the previous day, he had won a game of Chess against King of Hell. As his prize he asked King of Hell to let one soul from Hell go free. Hell's King accepted his request and told him to come to Hell and choose a soul for himself. 

When Shamodhar, King's Assistant, arrived at Hell he was stunned by the number of souls living there. There were hundreds of thousand times souls living there in comparison to Heaven. Though Shamodhar had expected there to be more souls in Hell than in Heaven, he hadn't expected there to be that many.  

"Mr. Shamodhar, I am Hanjala and this is Jamala. We have been ordered to take care of you and help you find a soul. What type of soul are you looking for?" Hanjala said to Shamodhar. Hanjala was Registrar of the Hell who registered every soul into her Book of Crimes. She wrote their names and their misdeeds into the Book and every day made sure Hell contained neither a soul less nor a soul more. 

"I don't yet know the type of soul I am looking for. Maybe those who arrive here last?" Shamodhar asked.  

"I don't think you want them. There are not properly trained yet and might try to harm you." Jamala told Shamodhar. Jamala was the youngest sister of the King of Hell and she was in charge of torturing the souls. She chose punishments for them and divided them into groups on the basis of their misdeeds they committed during their previous life.  

"Then I might take older ones?" Shamodhar asked Jamala.  

"I wonder if they will be willing to go. Older ones are so old that they don't remember Land anymore." Jamala told him. 

"Oh. Then I want to sit and think." Shamodhar told them. 

"Sure. Our Castle is 2 minutes from here. Let us take you there." Hanjala said.  

They walked to the Castle and to the Guest Room where the King of Hell met with his guests. Shamodhar sat and started to think what kind of soul would please his King. Even though the Hell tortured their souls they never injured a Guest from Heaven. Heaven and Hell often fought but it was only after a proper declaration of war. 

Eldest son of the God of Wisdom, Shamodhar was an intelligent demigod. He was chosen to assist the King because of his high capabilities. But to choose a single soul out of trillions was a tough task for him. There was only one soul that would please the King of Heaven and if Shamodhar didn't bring that one, he would stop existing.

He thought hard and then asked Jamala, "How long will it take to ask one question to all the souls living here?" 

"My men can do it in 15 minutes. If you do it yourself it may take thousands of years." Jamala told. 

"I trust you and your men." Shamodhar said. 

"Then what is the question?" Jamala asked. 

"Ask them 'Which direction is hell?' All those who say ‘below’ or ‘down’,  bring them to me." Shamodhar told her. 

Jamala smiled and left the room to give the order to her men. Twenty minutes later she returned and told Shamodhar that the souls had been brought to in front of the Castle.  

When Shamodhar arrived at the location where souls were, he smiled. There were only ten souls.  

Shamodhar addressed the souls. "Hello! I am Shamodhar Samajh, Assistant to the King of Heaven. Today I will take one soul with me and the one I will take will be send back to Earth to live its life again. Now, you 10 will compete against each other in this game. In first round 5 of you will be eliminated. You have to do nothing for this except tell me name of your loved ones from your last life."

One by one all the souls told him the names of their loved ones. Some named their little children, some named their old parents. Some named their lovers, while some named no-one. Shamodhar chose his five instantly. Without delay he asked Jamala to take the others back. 

"Now tell me your names now." Shamodhar ordered the remaining souls.  

The names of those remaining souls were Ismail, Naman, Kailash, Farida and Damini.  

"You know who is waiting for whom. Naman's Daughter is waiting for him. Damini's husband is waiting for her. Farida's two sons are waiting. Kailash and Ismail's brothers and parents are waiting for them. Vote for one who deserves to be returned to their last lives. You cannot vote yourself." 

All 5 of them started to look at each other. Human World was best understood by Humans; Shamodhar understood that. Even though Gods and Shaitaans held lots of power, they were powerless in Human World. Human World wasn't one which could be bent using force. That World fought back with everyone who tried to confine it, let it be humans, Shaitaans or even Gods.

After a long voting session, Naman and Damini were chosen to go into the next round. Again Shamodhar had to make a choice. But since this time he had to pick one soul out of two, he had to choose between life and death. It was also important for Naman and Damini. One of them would be able to live again. He picked Damini. He picked her because she had newly experienced love, while Naman was already the father of three. She would cherish her new life more than Naman would.

Shamodhar took Damini with him to Heaven. He was nervous what his King would say. Had he made the correct choice or not? Will he live or not? Shamodhar's heart was in his mouth. He had never been this nervous before.  

"Good work, Shamodhar." King of Heaven praised Shamodhar. 

"Thank you, My Lord. Thank you." Shamodhar said standing to the left of King's chair.  

Before Damini was sent back to Earth, King of Hell arrived in the room. He sat on the chair in front of Heaven's King. "I am here now. What are we waiting for?" Hell's King asked King of Heaven.  

"I am still wondering why you let me choose the game, when you had already won four matches. I know you were waiting for me to win." Heaven's King replied. 

"It was your idea to experiment. You had to choose this game." Hell's King smiled and replied. 

King of Heaven laughed and replied, "If it was so, then you should have said so. We wouldn't have played 5 games compared to our usual 3."  

"Pardon My Lord, but I don't understand anything." Shamodhar asked. 

Heaven's King laughed even harder. "Shamodhar, you don't know? We are starting our game. And we needed a soul for it." 

Damini was then sent back to Earth. With all her memories of Heaven and Hell wiped out, her mind was balanced to commit a crime or to not commit a crime. Her life was balanced with her death, Heaven with Hell. Her decisions were not determined by her experiences in Heaven, Hell and Earth. It all depended upon what experiences she would gain in the future.

"The first thing the human world will make her do decides the winner of our game." Heaven's King told Shamodhar.  

"Oh, then My Lord, would you have spared me if I had brought a different soul?" Shamodhar asked. 

Both the Kings laughed. Heaven's King replied, "Who told you I wanted one particular soul?"  

Shamodhar let out a sigh of relief. He knew he had made a fool out of himself but he was happy.