Ivaan found himself in front of yamadutas,

  “No, it’s not possible, I cannot die,” he shouted, “I want to take revenge”.

  “Silly human, you don’t even know what’s possible or not,” said one of the two

  “Come with us,” said the other yamaduta

  “No,” he shouted, “I’m not going anywhere until I get my revenge”.

  “That’s the problem of the humans,” said one of the two, “they can’t see anything beyond revenge”.

  “What you know of being a human, you are not a human,” he said, “so you have no right to judge us”.

  “Don’t worry, your real judgement will not happen here, it will happen in the court of lord Yama,” said one of the Yamaduta

  “Looks like you are not ready to leave your world yet,” said another yamaduta

  He took a pause and said, “No, I’m ready to leave this place.”

  “What made you change your mind?”

  “I’ve many questions to ask lord Yama”

  Both Yamadutas took him to the court of lord Yama and presented him in front of Lord Yama.

  “What sins this man has committed,” lord Yama asked Chitragupta.

  Chitragupta looked inside his book, “he has done some minor crimes, but the most significant sin that he has committed is the one of using Magic to harm other people and to benefit himself and his mother.”

  “It’s a very heinous sin; he should be severely punished,” said Lord Yama

  “Lord Yama, I have to say something,”

  “You are free to say what you want.”

  “Where were you?” he said while staring into the eyes of Lord Yama, “Where were you, when me and so many kids and many women were being tortured by the raiders, do you even know what humans have to go through in their lives, because I don’t think so”.

  “Yes, I do know that,” said Lord Yama

  “Then why, why does no god come to help us?” he said with tearful eyes, “how can you judge us for being wrong when the circumstances force us to do wrong. Lord, you know what happened to me in my childhood, how I was tortured and abused. After facing so much, I understood the harsh reality of the world that we are all animals and we harm and kill each other to live, and there’s nothing wrong with that”.

  “I know you’ve been through a lot, but the thing you said that you understood the reality is an illusion. The truth is, you were told by your mother that this is reality, which wasn’t the truth; it was an excuse your mother gave herself each time for harming others,” said Lord Yama.

  “But our parents are the ones who teach us everything, and they’ve lived more than us, so how can they be wrong?” he said

  “That’s why all the generations repeat the same mistakes,” said lord Yama, “because no one questions whether the things they are doing are right or wrong.”

  “Then how is it our mistake that we need to follow the old beliefs?” Ivaan asked

  “it’s your mistake because the choice of following the belief without knowing it is true or not is taken by you and everyone is held accountable for the choices they have made in their lives,” said Lord Yama, “the thing is, you always knew what was right but you never tried to understand it or question it that how your choices are effecting you and others.”

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  “Lord Yama, I was just a kid, and I didn’t have the understanding of this world.”

  “But you did grow older, am I wrong?” said lord Yama, “When you grew older, you still choose to do wrong when you knew that you shouldn’t do that, so you deserve the punishment”.

  He lowered his head.

  “But your kindness towards the kids hasn’t gone unnoticed,” said lord Yama

  Ivaan gazed at lord Yama, “I’ve seen how you help the kids in every way possible so that they don’t have to face any difficulty like you faced in your childhood, because you see yourself in them, which is a really good thing. But you are not aware of the damage you caused to children by your other actions.”

  “This can’t be true,” he said, “in my entire life, I haven’t harmed any kid, so that is not even possible.”

  “Oh, is that so?” said lord Yama, “Looks like I have to show you what you have done”.

  Lord Yama spoke some words in his mind, Ivaan’s eyes shut, and he started having a vision. In which he saw how the kids of the victims whom he killed or stole things from have suffered in ways he can’t imagine. Lord Yama made him feel all the pain that those kids had suffered.

  When he opened his eyes, they were red, and tears were dropping from them.

  “So, what do you want to say now, Ivaan?” asked lord Yama, “You have made those kids suffer the same things that you did in your childhood”.

  “But I never harmed them, I didn’t even know that my actions were causing harm to them,”

  “It is because you never bothered to think of the consequences. Tell me, whenever you killed a member of any family or stole something from a family, you never knew that it would affect their family. I don’t think you are that foolish. Damage is done by you and you will have to pay for it even if you don’t want to” said Lord Yama, “All of your lives are interconnected in your world, so your smallest action can have drastic consequences, if you’re actions are good then the consequences will be great but if you’re actions are bad the consequences will be worse”.

  “I understood, lord Yama,” said Ivaan after a pause, “After knowing the harm that I have caused to those children who are going to have the same fate as me, because of me…I can’t bear this…I’m ready for the punishment…I deserve it”.

  “You can still do good,” said Lord Yama, “Souls are sent to hell for a duration only for the sins they have committed, and after getting the punishment, they reincarnate on earth.”

  “Which is also going to happen for you, and in the next life, you will have the chance to do good that you haven’t been able to do in this life, and you will also receive the rewards for the efforts, but till then you have to wait”.

  Ivaan nodded, but he didn’t say anything.

  The Yamadutas took him to Krimisha,

  “Who’s this new sinner?” asked the lord

  “This is Ivaan,” said Yamaduta, “He is a dark magic practitioner and he is responsible for many people’s sufferings”.

  “Ok, you can go now,” said the lord, and both Yamadutas disappeared

  Ivaan was standing still,

  “Let me introduce myself, I’m the lord of Krimisha,” said the lord, “and here you are going to be punished for your sins.” he stared at him, and chains appeared from nowhere and tied Ivaan down.

  “You can do whatever you want, it doesn’t matter,” he said while being on his knees

  “Well, I have no doubt in that,” said the lord, “but the important thing is that you want this or not”.

  “I’m not a fool, I know that I don’t have a choice,”

  “I know…that you don’t have a choice,” said the lord, “but what if…you do”.

  “What does that supposed to mean?”

  “I thought you would be smart enough to understand it, I’m surprised,” he said, “okay, let me simplify it for you, what if you have a choice, will you choose to get punished or not?”.

  “Only a fool will choose to get punished,”

  “That is what I expected from you,” said the lord, “I can do that for you, I’ll make sure that you will not get punished”.

  “First, tell me what you want from me,” he said while staring into his eyes, “and whatever it is, I should get equal benefit as you because I know that lord Yama is not aware of this.”

  “That is the passion I want for my work!” said the lord, “There are so many souls here who have practiced magic in their lives, but no soul is like yours; there’s something magical about your soul which makes you very much valuable to me.”

  “Why do you say that?” asked Ivaan, “I’m tired of listening to this my whole life, first my father used to say this, then my mother, who adopted me, and now you, why do you people keep saying that?”.

  “It’s something that you can’t feel much, but it is very much noticeable for the other people around you,” said the lord, “anyway, you said that you will do my work if you get equal benefits as me, right?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” he said

  “Then consider it done.”

  “What’s the work that I have to do?”

  “The work is very simple,” said the lord, “you have to do what you always do.”

  “Magic? But we are in hell right now, are we getting out of here?”

  “We are not going anywhere, you have to do the magic here only,” said the lord

  “Here? In hell!!... I don’t even think it is possible,”