Many Odes Of Night (MOON)

Chapter-2: "Lies and Silence- Two Tools of Liars"

Flashback (4 years before present)
(12 years left of the stay period)

“... since then Tak, a royal member of the Mirintak tribe, became known as a worshipper of ancestors and was blessed with power to change appearance at his will. It was in his honour that all ancestors are referred to as ‘Tak’ and this island also came to be known as ‘Tak’.”

“No one really knows what the 5 tribes were known as, before the birth of Tak. But after his birth, all the tribes changed their name to include Tak in it. They thought it would bring them good luck and ancestral blessings. Hence the names- Mirintak, Critaka, Detaksu, Atakul and our own tribe Bertakog came into being. Note it down on your papers everyone, as it has a high probability of being asked in the final exams.”

“And yes I forgot to mention, It was also why Mirintaks had been chosen as the rulers of the Island, before Critakas replaced them.”

Few students hollered in the back of the class, which was basically a large sized room with no doors, and spaces for windows, through which lush vegetation could be easily seen. The teacher scolded those backbenchers and made snarky comments about their abysmal scores, as usual.

None of it bothered Kamal though, as he was lost somewhere else today.
Usually very alert during the classes and listening carefully to the teacher, that was Sarthak's and his thing and the reason for their great marks. Not to forget the reason why they were bullied as well.

Well, mostly it was Kamal who was bullied. No one ever bullied Sarthak as Sarthak always beat everyone in military training as well as all types of combat training. So they picked on Kamal extra, to compensate for their humiliation.

Today though, he didn't even pay attention to the teacher making fun of his bullies’ dung brains, which had always made Sarthak and him laugh, glee with happiness.

Infact Kamal was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice that even Sarthak wasn't paying attention today.

“ So where were we?” the teacher asked, finally done with his rant and moving to the front of the classroom again.

“You said Tak got powers to change appearances,” a student, who was sitting to the left of Kamal, answered.

“Ah, yes. So the day Tak was granted those powers, is what we all celebrate as Takotsav every year. It is a festival to remember and honour our ancestors and the Tak, and is the main festival of our island.”

“Sir, What about the Takols?” asked the bully, whose name was Tanmay. Although still indignant at the humiliation, the topic was enough to make him forget that momentarily.

Almost at once, all of the class sat up in excitement, a never-before seen sight in the Island history subject class.

If there was one topic that the whole island loved to discuss, it was Takols.

Shocked, even Kamal came to himself, as this lecture was of paramount importance to him. More so than anyone else.
It was his chance to find out more about Takols, whom his father never discussed despite his long lectures on almost every other thing.

Beside him, he felt even Sarthak sit up and a smile came up on his face.

Takols were such a mystery for a reason and they caught everyone's attention, no matter what. No one on this island, no matter how nonchalant, could pass a group of people discussing Takols and not stop to listen.

Strange, Kamal thought to himself, the mystique and the hold this topic still had, when everyone in Tak island practically grew up hearing the tales of Takols ever since birth.