After finishing the dubbing, we came out of the studio with a heavy heart as because we suddenly heard of news about the untimely demise of Sourav. I was still wondering if it was suicide or because of a prison fight. Even Guwahati central jail is merciless these days.
"He didn't deserve this." I squirmed with both doubt and concerns.
"Karma is a bitch." Zayne, stoic as always.
"Hello? We can't be crying a grieving. Your album needs a big marketing and PR. I say we do a press conference with Rolling Stones India and G Plus at Guwahati Press Club. I will arrange your flights and also, I've arranged a small launch party there at Hendrix Bar." David meant business.
[Elsewhere]
"Is it done?" a cult member asked the masked killer we met previously.
"Did I have any choice?" Karma with a cynical tone.
"Serve the cult and all debt shall be settled." The cult member with a sinister tone.
[Meanwhile]
"Troll and all, he died a brutal and undeserving death Himanshu, we should seek a fair justice. So, let's starts a petition and organize a protest." Arindam with a socialist tone.
"You are right Arindam, I can get Mayank and Yusuf and the rest of the guys as well and I think we should meet Zayne Da and Aaron Da as well, look at how they are holding up." Himanshu with his own concerns.
"I agree, we should meet them a apologize in Sourav's behalf and maybe restart Carrion for a collaborative gig?" Arindam like a true admirer of the EMBER SCARS.
[At MIASMA JAM PAD.]
"I Don't feel like jamming today." Zayne with an upset face.
"Me neither." I complied too.
"Hello? Your whining ain't gonna cut it. The launch is still happening whether you guy are in the right mind or not so pull yourselves up together." Trisha like a true legal advisor and Manager of the band.
She complied to manage us on David's order which I forgot to mention earlier. The band got a serious grooming and an overhaul. We gained more maturity after the incident and with a heavy heart I composed a new song titled "Shotgun."
"We are a broken generation
Of this twisted fucking
nation
We are the lost cause
We are the degenerates
We are the outcasts
And we are nothing but losers."
These lyrics were meant for the lost ones and him, Sourav, for even he was lost.
[Launch day at Hendrix Bar.]
A crowd of 800+ or so showed up, their reaction was both sad and intense, the bar looked like a cozy underground club dedicated to Jimi Hendrix himself with a sweet aroma of Beer and wine elevating the ambience and smooth Blues music playing in the jukebox. But everything became still and silent when we got on stage and when we started playing our first song it escalated like a crescendo.
"What an amazing performance. Unreal and unlike anything we had witnessed in the old days. And with the band Ember Scar's last song the next band to take the stage is…. Oh my God, It's Carrion with the new vocalist Himanshu. Give it up for Carrion." The host with his full energy.
Carrion played a melodic death setlist, a new shift in their sound since the passing of Sourav. All in all, it was good gig and the album launch was successful with us selling 600 copies if our CDs and more than 900 units of our merch.
"It was awesome guys." Arindam complemented us backstage.
"Zayne Da, you'd killed it." Himanshu like a true fanboy.
"Aaron Da, awesome singing like always." Mayank with a cheerful tone.
"Thank you and you boys were tight as well. Loved the setlist you've played. But an advice, don't push covers too much try composing originals more, good luck." I was trying to shape up their future while mine and my band's future was slowly tuning dark.
I sensed an enigmatic power has been influencing these events without us knowing anything about it and unknowingly been getting drawn to it like an accident.
First Sourav commits an arson and then he dies mysteriously at the prison, these cannot be a fucking coincidence.
Déjà vu or not, I have seen this before, the pattern, the darker aura when I was a roadie for band in Guwahati back in 2012. The year when the scene was taking its form and was laid foundation by, you guessed it right, David fucking Kennedy with Magna Carta, the first ever true cult like black metal band to emerge from the darkest pits of Assam.
But David was always afraid of me and my guts and gumption, he found my stubbornness dangerous back then.
It was like I was the leader despite being a roadie for him and not him himself.
The fans loved them and lived by the aesthetics, the very aesthetics that unleashed hell on earth. Church and temple burning, a plan to shootout a mosque, random acts of arson and vandalism, we had seen it all. It was like Norway with Mayhem and Burzum influencing the events there was happening in Assam as well.
These were not perpetrated by David but someone more dangerous than David himself, the godfather figure of THE ORDER OF CHOAS a division of Magna Carta lead by Vikram Rae Kennedy, the estranged elder brother of both David and Trisha.
He is more dangerous than any cultist, a devil incarnate himself, walking and breathing in human skin who can even influence the local rebel outfit ALPHA. Remember 30th October 2008? Rumor has it, it was escalated by ALPHA under his influence.
"You look like you are in some deep thought, care to share?" Zayne with a coffee mug in his hand.
"It's nothing just too much going on currently." I shrugged him off.
I had to, because I intended to unravel the truth myself.
[Elsewhere]
"He is overthinking and his intuition is off the charts, what if he finds out?" David with a concerned tone.
"You worry too much. Everything shall go as per our plans." Vikram with his own assurance.
"I hope it does brother, I hope it does." David, both in doubt and awe.