I AM AN ATHEIST

Death and Reincarnation

A total of 27 years passed since the tragic incident took place in Rohan's life.

First, he lost his son and wife then his sister, all of these happened because of a single person " Bishop Ruma" and a god named " God Tora ".

His hatred towards the Cathedral surpasses that of anything else.

This day the palanquin of the holy lady was passing through slums of the city Herbia.

The well-decorated palanquin was carried by four well-built men indicating that they were not just some carriers.

There were people lined on both sides of the palanquin expecting to meet the holy lady and the blessed one, the atmosphere is quite noisy due to all ill-mannered people from the slums.

" Holy lady, bless me"

" Holy lady, I want to be your maid"

" Holy lady, please take me with you "

While some fans of the holy lady were whispering some were discussing the blessed one.

The palanquin enquired no problem until an old man, who supported his body with crutches, blocked their way.

Crutches are the equipment wore generally on forearms to help the people to walk.

" old man, move aside "

One of the carriers yelled.

" old fellow, what do you want? Open your dog s**t eyes, you are blocking holy lady's palanquin "

An admirer of the holy lady cursed out from within the crowd.

At the same time, Inside the palanquin, a 7-year-old boy said to his mother " mommy look, that dirty geezer is blocking the road again ".

" Sister"

Ignoring others, the old man shouted.

"Sister please come out once, this brother wanna see you, only once please "

The old man begged as he prostrated in front of the palanquin "

" Old man, how many times should I tell you, my brother is dead?, he died for the sake of God Tora, he was a firm believer of God Tora and dedicated his entire life for the God unlike a disbeliever like you"

Famine voice carrying disgust sounded out from the palanquin.

" Oh I wondered who he was, he turned out to be that mindless old geezer, who  always runs behind the holy lady by mistaking her for his sister "

"Holy lady leave this geezer to me, you can go "

While exclaiming, the admirer grabbed the crotches from the hands of the old man and kicked him aside.

" Holy lady, don't worry I cleared the way, if this geezer comes again then I will just break these crutches completely then I would see whether walking is possible to him".

The admirer said as he made a bow of respect in front of the palanquin.

" Old geezer here is your stuff, don't you dare bother the lady again, I will cut your arms off"

The admirer threw the crutches on to the old man who was still trying to stand up.

The old man's head was hit by it, he fell back again.

No one bothered about the geezer at all, after the crowd dispersed, an old priest approached him and helped him to stand.

"Is it  2000th time? Brother you should stop chasing her, she has been changed, her faith reached the pinnacle, all the disbelievers of God Tora are nothing but enemies to her including you"

Gogoan suggested.

Rohan did not reply, he stayed stubborn as usual, on that day when Rohan was saved, the doctors who treated him declared the permanent injury to both legs, without any support he could not walk.

Rohan tried many times to contact Erena, but she kept on ignoring, In initial days she responded to some extent but after some time, she never bothered about Rohan.

But Rohan did not give up, he continued chasing her.

After losing his family, he no longer had the drive to manage the business, so he handed all his properties to his paternal cousin and settled in the slums.

Rohan stopped going out, he became antisocial, he does not even reply to Gogoan.

Gogoan is the only person who never forgets to visit him, even when Rohan does not reply, he continues to talk with him, often telling him the weird stories about a Prince and his sister Rita.

Gogoan helped Rohan to reach his home and left for the cathedral.

The night descended in no time, there was a full moon, Rohan sat in a chair as he looked at the moon while thinking about something.

It was calm and peaceful with cool winds calming the heated up earth.

While Rohan was still in deep thoughts an arrow was silently aimed at his throat.

" tang"

The sound of metals colliding spread through the atmosphere.

The arrow was blocked by an old priest with a sword.

Four silhouettes dropped out from shadows surrounding the old priest, and they were all wearing black clothes and their face was covered.

" Who are you?"

Gogoan asked.

The shadows did not reply and their target was Rohan, they did not get distracted from their target even when Gogoan interfered, they repeated their tactic of hiding in the darkness and attacking whenever they could see a chance.

"Clank "

"Clank "

"Clank"

Every attack the assassins aimed at Rohan was fatal but Gogoan managed to handle them alone.

" Is this priest? Aren't priests just paper? Why is he like a rock?"

Similar questions popped in the heads of the assassins, it is to be known that these assassins killed countless people and they faced several foes sometimes head-on, sometimes in dark but none of the foes has ever faced them more than two assassins at a time but today there was a man, no a priest who could four of them alone.

Gogoan's main concern was not these guys who are trying in to hit Rohan in close range, but the long-ranged bow user, so he was in the guard for the next arrow.

As expected by the Gogoan, an arrow was shot, but it came from the opposite direction.

" Ting"

Gogoan successfully blocked it, he wiped the sweat on his head,

"clang"

"clang"

The futile attempt of taking the life of Rohan went on.

As time passed " Aaaaaa"

Gogoan was sweating out of exhaustion, his efficiency of blocking the attacks decreased as he has to move many times while defending, finally heard the cry of Rohan, but he was sure he blocked every attack aimed at Rohan.

Gogoan turned around, there was a kid.

Yes, a kid pierced a knife through Rohan's heart.

" you old doggy, finally you can rest well, I wanted to kill you from a long time for annoying my mummy "

" you old crazy bastard, it's your honour to become this blessed one's first kill"

" And you spot nonsense of being my uncle, even if you are my uncle I will still kill you, I can't have my name maligned by having a hater and disbeliever of God Tora as my uncle "

The kid exclaimed.

Rohan had never seen his nephew, but he knew this one was his nephew Holder, the blessed one for sure, being killed by his nephew, he realized how much of impact a god made on the lives of the people.

" Brother "

With a shout, Gogoan rushed.

"See ya"

The kid disappeared along with the assassins in a second mysteriously.

Rohan was vomiting out blood continuously, his vision began to blur, the sensation of pain slowly began to leave his body then he experienced all his life again from childhood.

Mommy, Daddy,  why do we pray to God Tora?

Hearing the question, the mommy and daddy laughed at Rohan then they said our purpose of existence itself belongs to God Tora, God Tora will grant you heaven after the death if you continue to pray him else you would be burned with 23 different kinds of fire.

Mommy, Daddy look sister is not coming to the cathedral.

God Tora, Everyone says you are very good god, please give health to my parents.

Mommy, Daddy no......

Rohan, you have to take after the business of your Father.

Rohan, Rohan congratulations for having such a beautiful wife.

Waaawaaa, Hubby look at our child, he resembles you.

Daddy, I love you, you are the best.

Scene after scene of his life was being re-experienced by Rohan.

Then there came the scene of that day.

Honey! we will be going then, oh I forgot I made your favourite food today when the ceremony completes let's go back and eat it together

It was followed by the next consecutive events and stopped at the scene where his nephew stabbed him.

As some unknown power surged in Rohan who was almost dead cursed " f**k you God Tora "

" I Rohan killed my family in the name of sacrifice for you and donated all my things to the cathedral, but here I am going to die and  if there is next life I will........"

Rohan took his last breath before completing the sentence.

" Next life"

Gogoan who was shedding tears remembered something, he grabbed the locket on his neck and crushed it.

The surrounding got disordered, an unexplainable crimson coloured vertex appeared, the wind was chaotic around it.

The vertex changed to a figure of a beauty 

" Gogoan, why did you summon me? I told you to do it when you were dying ".

" I am sorry goddess, but please help my brother to reincarnate "

Gogoan pleaded.

" Brother? Him? but I thought you don't have any brother in this life "

Goddess was infuriated.

" Goddess, please "

" Goddess, if you want  me to sacrifice my life in return, I would do it"

Gogoan put his sword on his throat.

" Goddess please send him to reincarnate"

"Please"

"Please"

Gogoan cried in front of the goddess as he pleaded.

The goddess felt touched as she said " That will be unnecessary, I would help him to reincarnate with intact memories but these memories will be sealed until a trigger awakens them"

" But Gogoan, are you sure you want to give up your chance to reincarnate immediately after the death with the memories?"

" You are aware of it right, if you miss this chance, you have to spend at least 50,000 years in hell or heaven before you can have a chance of reincarnation".

" Yes, Goddess I won't"

No matter how much goddess tried to change the mind of Gogoan, it seemed to be a useless attempt.

" Okay then"

" I, the goddess of reincarnation and rebirth, an incarnation of the mother goddess, on behalf of my authority request the death god, to grant this soul the ultimate reincarnation"

The goddess chanted as Rohan's body which was on the ground started floating in the air in front of her.

The dead body began to emit an orange coloured holy aura.

" Let me see, the reason behind  Gogoan being too much good to this fellow"

With a thought, the goddess closed her eyes.

" A village appeared in front of her"

"This village, How familiar"

some feeling of nostalgia rushed into her, then she saw a young man, he had several comrades in arms who were so close,

The next scene was a big battle where he fought with an army which is almost more than ten times of his, but with his charismatic leadership and right decision making he crushed the opponents without any loss on his sides, his name was spread far and far away.

" Senior "

" no doubt, it's him"

"If it is him,  there is hope "

" No, I should give my best, I will try my best to bring your personality from your previous life to the next"

The goddess mumbled in her heart as the light emitted from Rohan's body began to become more and more intense before his body disappeared.

" Goddess, are you ok?

Gogoan concerned as he saw the goddess face turning pale and all her strength seemed to be dropped.

"  I am good, rest assured your brother is going to reincarnate in a good family "

The goddess said before disappearing.

Gogoan looked at the moon and whispered

" Brother, I hope we could meet again ".