Blessed?

Sikandar was sitting on the roof, still trying to process what he had seen.

“I’m inside a story.”

He watched a small comet streaking through the evening sky, while the moon rose.

“Not even the good kind of story.”

The sky turned darker with every moment, reflecting the darkness in his heart.

“I’m in a s***ty AI-generated revenge slop.”

It made no sense to him.

“Except it makes perfect sense.”

He stood up and started pacing around.

“I mean, why else would everyone be so unnecessarily mean to me? Especially my parents. Why would they allow our servants to be mean to me? Our hair colors look straight out of an anime. And the karamats, they are called karamats but they are obviously different powers based on two of the most popular animated series. This is all a setup for a long-winded revenge plot where first I go through the wringer and then I get powers, then I go through more sh** and then after the readers are p***ed beyond measure, then I satisfy them by getting revenge on anyone and everyone who wronged me.”

The thought of revenge appealed to him somewhat.

“Except what’s the point? We aren’t real, we are all words inside an AI chat. Everything that I did, everything that happened to me, was all a work of fiction. None of it is real. None of us was in control of what we did. We are all puppets of a puppet.”

He might as well seek revenge-

“Just stop. Stop trying to make me into a vengeful edgelord.”

…

“I don’t want or need revenge. It’s completely pointless. I want peace. Peace of mind, of soul, of life,” He ranted, “I want my parents to love me but they are completely incapable of that, I want my classmates and teachers to respect me but they are programmed to hate me. I don’t want to feel these feelings but I can’t control that. All I can do is try to get some inner peace.”

To attain it, he made a phone call to one of the few good things in his life.

“Assalamualykum, Suleiman. Can I stay over at your home for a few days?” He asked his friend.

“Walaikum assalam, what happened? Did your parents kick you out?” Suleiman inquired.

“Not yet, but I don’t want to stay here anymore, I’ll go mad if I do. Let me stay over at your place, I’ll find another place to rent in a few days.”

“Why would you need to rent while I’m still around? Come home, my family will be thrilled to have you here.”

“Thanks bro, I’ll see you later,” Sikandar smiled. It didn’t take him long to pack his stuff. He had surprisingly few things to take with him.

“A time skip, so that’s what’s been going on,” he realized as he marveled at how fast he got the packing done.

He went downstairs with his baggage, where his family and servants had finally come back to consciousness.

“You! What did you do?” Ismail asked him, pointing his finger at him.

“You don’t remember?” Sikandar asked.

“Remember what?” Aafiya asked, back in her usual looks.

‘Looks like they got amnesia from hitting their heads against the wall, very convenient,’ He sighed, “It doesn’t matter, I’m leaving.”

“Leaving where?” Raeesa asked.

“To my friend's house,” Sikandar answered.

“When will you come back?” Aafiya asked.

“Likely, never,” he replied.

Everyone was flabbergasted.

“Wait, you’re leaving home for good?” Raeesa asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Are you crazy?” Aafiya asked, “How will an unblessed like you survive on your own?”

“I’ll manage,” he replied.

“I see what this is,” Ismail said, “You want to guilt-trip us into forgiving you for your insolence. Guess what, we see right through you. Go wherever you want and never return.”

“Allah hafiz,” Sikandar greeted them before taking his leave.

“Sikandar, wait!” Raeesa called out but Sikandar ignored her.

“Let the boy go,” Aafiya said, “He’ll come begging us to take him back when he sees how harsh the real world is to the unblessed.”

But Raeesa didn’t listen, she went after Sikandar to try to talk him out of doing something stupid.

“Sikandar wait!” She ran up to him and held his hand, “Just what do you think you are doing?”

“What I should have done long ago,” Sikandar answered, “I’m honestly surprised, I didn’t expect anyone to stop me.”

“Of course I’d stop you, you are making a big mistake,” Raeesa scolded him.

“Am I?” Sikandar scoffed.

“Boy!” Rayan said, “before you leave we need to check your bag.”

“Why?” Raeesa asked, “Whatever he has belongs to him.”

“Young miss, we need to ensure nothing precious is missing,” Rayan said.

“Tsk, more like frame me for theft and get me sent to jail if possible,” Sikandar scoffed.

“You are exaggerating,” Raeesa rolled her eyes, “Rayan uncle would never-” 

Sikandar flicked his finger, making Rayan seemingly trip down the stairs. As he fell, a few stacks of cash fell from his sleeves.

“What the-” Raeesa was shocked by Rayan’s deception. Too shocked to register what Sikandar had done.

‘Isn’t that convenient?’ Sikandar scoffed internally.

“This is how your servants treat me,” Sikandar pointed at Rayan,  “and you think I’m making a mistake by leaving home? Get real.” He walked out, leaving a flabbergasted Raeesa.

Her parents had come out to check the commotion by the time she came to her senses.

“What happened?” Ismail asked.

“Rayan uncle tried to frame Sikandar in theft.” She replied.

“I’m sorry master, I don’t know why I did what I did,” Rayan begged for forgiveness, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“It was just a prank, that boy is oversensitive for no reason,” Ismail said.

“Did he hurt you?” Aafiya asked Rayan.

“No, I’m fine,” Rayan said as he limped up.

“Huh?” Raeesa was surprised by how fast they let it go. If it had been her brother, he’d be grounded forever. ‘Is this how we’ve been treating him?’ she asked herself for the first time in her life.

Meanwhile, Sikandar was at Suleiman’s humble bakery, enjoying cheesecake with his friend and his younger siblings.

‘Do they get names?’ Sikandar asked the AI.

Junaid and Farrukh were fighting for the last slice, unaware that Farha already ate that slice.

‘They all look like mini-Suleimans,’ Sikandar smiled.

“How was the cake?” a kindly woman who looked just like Suleiman asked.

“It was good Humaira aunty,” Sikandar smiled.

“I’m glad you liked it,” She said, “You must be tired. Your uncle just set up the bed in Suleiman’s room, you two can stay together.”

“Sounds great,” Sikandar said, “Thank you so much.”

“None of that, you are just like a son to us,” Humaira said.

“Okay,” Sikandar smiled, ‘Just got her screentime and she’s already a better mom than my mother.’

Sikandar and Suleiman went to the latter’s room where they laid on their beds. They had been like that until Suleiman had enough of the silence.

“Sikka,” He said.

“Yes?” Sikandar asked.

“What happened? Why did you leave?”

Sikandar stayed silent for a while, internally debating whether he should share everything or not, ‘He’d think I have gone mad from all the neglect and mental torture. Even I can’t believe what happened.’

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want,” Suleiman assured him, afraid he’d stepped on a landmine, “Just know that I’ve got your back.”

Sikandar sighed, sharing the complete truth would be risky, ‘I don’t know which would be worse, him not believing me or him believing me,’ but maybe he could share a part of it.

“I just realized my family’s love is conditional, they don’t love me for who I am and I don’t want their love if it depends on me having karamat,” Sikandar opened up.

“Did your karamat by chance awaken?” Suleiman guessed.

“Yes, but I haven’t told my family.”

“What is it?”

“I can nullify other karamats and control void.”

“Void? What’s that?”

‘Right, so super rare people don’t know it exists,’ Sikandar scoffed, “It goes something like this.” He raised his hand towards his phone which was on the desk. The phone levitated into his hand.

“Whoa!” Suleiman sat upright, “What more can you do?”

“I don’t know much, just that my intrinsic karamat is nullification and element is void.”

“I bet the library has books on void that can help.”

“Or we could search the internet?”

“No way, the net is filled with fake information, we need reliable data from genuine sources.”

“Okay nerd,” Sikandar poked fun at Suleiman who responded with a playful jab.

“I can’t wait for school, it’ll be worth it seeing everyone’s faces when they see your karamats.”

“Unless for some convoluted reason we decide to hide my powers or never get the chance to show them,” Sikandar said aloud and flinched because he didn’t mean to.

“Lol! Don’t tell me you’re into those silly micro dramas.”

‘Bro, if you only knew.’