THEORY OF EVERYTHING - Chapter 1: Gypsy

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Final Year Illustration project.

Sir. J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Year 2017-18:

The 69th CAG 2018 - Bronze trophy.

What would you ask for if you could have anything? All I wanted to do was to make the world a better place.
I wanted to help build a planet lush with beauty and wonder. We live in a jaded world. A world just like us, broken but soldering on. A world that is determined but self destructive, also just like us. My naive inner kid wanted to undo the damage, but the wounded adult in me wanted to hope and let that hope drive me. And that is how I became a wild bird technician. It was a way for me to be close to things that made me feel alive. And I'd be lying if I said, it wasn't exquisite. An important part of my job profile was studying rare birds and their habitats. Patience, patience and more patience constituted my usual work day. Yes it doesn't exactly sound like world changing stuff but I was doing a small part in helping bird species on the verge of extinction. And that felt like redemption to me. Until one day, I uncovered something so crazy, I really did change the world.
My name is Dev Mallick and this is the story of, well everything !!

This story starts on a regular day. I was on my search for a rare Asian paradise flycatcher. The weather was foggy and not because of humidity. The air around was pregnant with mist and mystery. The last noted sighting was two days ago. Not many people enjoyed doing what I did. It was a lonely job, one that included lots of travelling to remote corners of the world.

Most people preferred lying back with a drink in hand gazing into nothing while whole species were erased into nothingness. Not me.
My quite though process was disturbed by a whirring sound followed by the familiar rush of adrenaline announcing a sighting, a chain of events I could never get tired of. Something that made all the waiting worth it. I carefully and as soundlessly as possible leaned forward to take a step. What my job description doesn't include are tripping into something dangerous. The whirring sound again.

As I regained my consciousness, I realized I had stepped onto the edge of a hill and kept falling for what felt like both eternity and a passing moment at the same time. I was okay somehow. There were no broken bones or injuries.

I started to take in the place around me. I couldn't exaggerate if I wanted to. If the place was beyond any frontier known to man, it couldn't be described in any language known to us either. There were mushrooms as tall as buildings and tress as short as grass. And the grass! The ground grew blue feathers instead of grass and clouds grew on branches. The clouds were replaced by soft liquidy waves in the sky.

It was trippy and irresistible, a place you'd never leave if you could. Like a stunning dream married the best day of your life and decided to invite you to the party. While exploring the place more, I came across statues of small owls placed along the edge of a path that lead to a house on a hill. The lights inside the house were on. Someone clearly lived there. Instinctively, I followed the path and when I reached the window, I decided to stop and take a look. There I saw the most weird sight that out-weirded everything I had seen so far. I took out my binoculars and looked closely.

The man was intimidating, busy drawing a moon in a large book. Suddenly my pocket clock started to vibrate, I'd almost forgotten about time. I checked to see what was going happening. The arms of the clock took hurried rounds and stopped at 12'o clock. As if time itself had flown by. As I wondered what was happening I took a moment to notice what the man was wearing. He had a sleek mint bike helmet on and wore a sharp black blazer that reminded me of daft punk. .
He then drew a sun on a different page. My heart began to beat faster, my watch was doing the weird thing again. and stopped. It was now 6 in the morning. Not just according to my watch but also everything around me. A deluge of questions flooded my mind? Was this real? Am I real? Unfortunately it all was. Was he the creator? Who made it all? I couldn't resist knowing more and continued to peak inside.

I was curious and frightened. I saw a mighty tsunami bringing wrath upon people followed by a huge storm causing destruction on earth. It was all so despicable i couldn't bare to just stand there.

My intrigue turned into disgust. I felt a cold breeze run through my body, how could anyone be this cruel?
That was the moment i knew i had to do something. I had to destroy the book!

I waited there for what seemed like years. And maybe it was years.
The second he stepped out of that room i sneaked into the room and there it was. The wicked book sitting open on the table, careless about the lives it had wreaked.

On the cover, in large ancient words was written "Project Earth"
Is that all it was? Just a project?
My anger took me in its sturdy grip. I picked the book up and threw it in the fireplace.

I came out and ran as fast as I could in the direction of the place I had fallen. My blood was more adrenaline than blood. I spotted my bag and stood still with only this single thought of going back to home, suddenly the place became foggy and my eyes turned to lead. That was me blacking out again.

When I opened my eyes, everything was on fire. Tall pillars of angry red blazes had engulfed everything. Everything that I ever stood for, lived for was burning. We change the world, everyday, with every little thing, and I had burned it down to ashes in just moments . How many lifetimes would it take to make the world like it was before. There I stood watching everything go up in flames and thinking how I had accidentally set the whole world on fire.

Thank You!