“That was a weird one,” said police officer Orion. He was communicating to Officer Ethan. Ethan was his most reliable friend in the (police) force. Ethan would be the action man while officer Orion would be the mastermind. Even though Ethan was in a more special rank than Orion, both appreciated each other's talents and functioned accordingly. The duo was like the North pole and South pole of a magnet. Opposite in character, but not repelling.

They had just finished resolving a crisis of robbery. The person who reported the theft was the thief himself. This could have been reasonable if the residence was not his. So, “Eric stole from his own house and reported on his theft ?” asked Ethan counting to 3 with his fingers. “Elementary Officer Ethan. He wanted to gain through insurance. He kept things from his own house and requested insurance.” responded Orion extemporising the Sherlock Holmes dialogue.

“But some of the elements that he kept were slightly strange. Heading the odd-list would be 10 pencils from a box of 15 pencils and a set of letters from a publication. The other kept things would be explainable.” said Orion. “We will examine him in the department,” said Ethan who was going inside the car. “Mmm...” affirmed Orion.

The power suddenly went out, leaving everyone in darkness. This was not a declared or awaited power outage. Some wails were gathered from people who were either writing an important document or in the last level of a video game. Even the road enlightenment was off. Some people tried to switch their backup energy supplies but were discovered to be dissatisfied. Mysteriously everyone had misremembered to energise their backup power supplies.

The moon was the only light origin (Scientifically articulating the light SOURCE would be the sun. It’s light gets mirrored on the moon). They were both shocked (Not literally) when their automobile stopped and its lights also did. It was like they had progressed back in time. It was like the light bulb had not been discovered yet!

No electronic devices operated. Everyone was truly in darkness (Both literally and mentally addressing). Someone demanded his neighbour for a light source and obtained a negative response. Officer Orion took his phone to question the situation and discovered that his phone was off. He suppressed his surprise and attempted to start their car. That was an ineffective attempt. He made a mental record that nothing electronic is working! He went to a house and requested a bicycle to go to the station. Ethan did likewise. They successfully acquired bicycles and began their “Journey through Dark England”.

Most of the people were dreaming. The ones awake were truly terrified (Who wouldn't be?). Orion biked with Ethan and reached the police station. It was dark (as with everything else). They would have tried to intercept the "Cloaked figure" if they had noticed it moving in the darkness.

They walked to the table and started a kerosene lamp (Their station was one of the "historically significant" stations). While biking they had noticed that they could do nothing. They couldn't question anyone about this incident, because they knew no one who knew anything about it...

Zooming out from England and staring at the global scenario, many personalities were not having a good time. An explosion in a chemical company, small parts of the ISS (International Space Station) got destroyed by space debris and some other civic problems would be great examples. But, not everyone in the world had a "complete blackout".

Amazingly both Ethan and Orion were on night duty. Orion was actuating towards his seat when he spotted an envelope on his desk. He was recalling who had sent a letter to him. It was a small yellow one. it didn't seem like an official post. It had no stamps! In it, he discovered the letters that had been separated from the magazine! He also found the 10 pencils out of 15 that were stolen.

He already realised that the night was going to be considerably longer than he anticipated. He would have gone directly to Eric (The insurance thief) if Eric was in their cell. But Eric was not. He was thinking about going to Eric when Ethan came there and said that Eric was missing in his cell.

Orion was grasping what had been said to him. Ethan said, "A letter was left in his cell. It is addressed as... nothing. There is no address...". Ethan suddenly stopped as he saw the envelope in Orion's hand. He also looked towards the window. His eyes were full of surprise and fear. He asked, "How... Where was it? How did you get it?". Orion snapped back to the correct space and time. The float in his mind had ended. He queried "What is written on it?". It was now Ethan's turn to be stunned. His mind was thinking: Should I answer? or Wait for Orion's answer?. He decided to answer.

"It says: No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes" said Ethan. "It also has some English letters and 4 numbers" continued Ethan (still with eyes full of fear). Orion didn't know why Ethan was afraid but he didn't ask. He went to Ethan and showed the contents of the letter and asked, "What about a puzzle to spend our time on?". The letters were: R, L, S, A, F, A, O, R, E, S, L. The same letters in the other envelope.

Suddenly, Orion saw someone through the window. He knew that Ethan had been disturbed by that. But Ethan wanted him to give the orders. So he had waited for Orion to see it. There is a time-lapse scene after this (Like all the movies and some great stories).

Orion had turned his head.

He focused his eyes to get a better view.

It was a cloaked person with spectacles and a mask.

He tried to act like he didn't see.

He wanted to see what the "Cloaked person" was up to.

But his deception had deceived no one.

Ethan looked outside almost immediately.

The anonymous visitant turned around but didn't run.

The time-lapse ended, But their composure had been terminated. They were about to run towards the door and catch him when he elevated a hand like a Jedi. He said in a whispering and entirely forged voice, "Don't even try. I'd be long gone". Then he rustled, "I made a mistake, but now it has been corrected". He slowly and creepily moved towards the darkness. It would be a basic instinct to run after him. That is precisely what Officer Orion and Ethan did...

After roughly 3 hours (a very long time for Ethan, but short for Orion) they were left with the words: REAL, FAR, SO, L. They were trying to solve the unarranged letters. Now both of them were thinking. Was it: Really far so LOW or was it: So far really LOW? Was this Artemis Fowl finding the fairies underground? (Really far so LOW).

They had tried to find the ambiguous invader but had no luck. It was very dark and they could not see a lot. So, They had started to try to solve the clue. "The numbers could be a time..." said Orion.

They were thinking if they could even add the O and W to make the last (remaining) L as a LOW. What did L stand for? They took a dictionary and started to speed-read its L section. They found too many needles in the haystack. They gave up and started to write their "Mission Report". "What should we write? We have lost the accused!" inquired Orion. "Both of the accused! Not so mysterious Eric and Completely mysterious Cloaked Person..." said Ethan in a sad voice and then continued "But still, we need to write one for finding the culprit in the first case. Eric was found! The solving of the enigma".

They wrote the mission report while chatting about how the law has forced the police to write more than what they do. They also were talking about how "Walls had been built for a playground" in their writing. They were talking about how they were supposed to not only write a report but also stay within the requested parameters.

They had given up on the event for the night. They were going to unwind until morning and clear their minds. After the break, Ethan was brushing his teeth outside the station. Orion was bed-thinking about the case. Ethan said, "The sun is bright...".

That struck Orion. He got up and said, "Yes...It is...BRIGHT". He had solved it. He went to the letters and rearranged them. He was stunned by this.

"We arrested Eric for insurance fraud but something was wrong with the whole plot. The cloaked person said that he had made a mistake. He said he had corrected it. The cloaked person wanted us to know. He used Eric to give us the clue. The clue we didn't solve correctly. When the cloaked person told us that he had made a mistake and then he corrected it, he meant the release of Eric. He released Eric. The pencils are indeed a time... The time of the power outage! The words are nothing we think they are! They are just 2 words. " said Orion staring at the letters on the table.

Ethan took a peek at the letters and read "SOLAR FLARE 10:15". Orion continued "The flare is supposed to be predicted and announced before but the space people were dealing with the loss of the ISS. And lastly, the letter that he left behind when he released Eric. It said: No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. That was intended for us! Everyone indeed makes mistakes...".

***

IMPORTANT: To appreciate this story, a 3-minute investigation on SOLAR FLARES might be beneficial.