Seth woke up with a scream……

No way could this be a mere co-incidence. He had already gone through the complete compilations of Freud and yet he could not find a single clue to why this was happening. It was as if the term ‘deja-vu’ had been coined just for this reason.

Satishwar Shah, or better known as Seth, a name coined by his colleagues not out of adoration but the necessity to avoid pronouncing his rather ‘difficult’ name, was the Chief of the Research Department at Global Corp., a company with a great reputation in herbal medicine. Seth had been working there since their inception and had risen to the top of his department through sheer hard work and brains. A successful scientist with everything to aspire for within his reach, he was the role model for any budding biologist

And yet, it had been the last week since when he had been having these strange dreams. What was all the more disconcerting was that they were always the same, maybe a bit different but the difference too was extremely subtle. They all seemed to revolve around a woman, sometimes a tree or sometimes, even the entire earth. The dream itself was all the more fascinating for, it always somehow soothes his nerves initially, with sweet music being played somewhere and then he, almost floating towards the woman or tree, just like an iron piece being attracted to a magnet.

However, just as he was about to reach that place and reach out to the woman, the vision turns blurry and soon the entire scenario becomes violent: the tree, the woman all ending up drowsed in flames………..And it is at this juncture, that he wakes up. He has tried communicating this dilemma with his colleagues; however they all laughed it off. One of them even told him to go and visit a shrink while another taunted him and told him to stop “getting high” on drugs.

Seth was thinking about taking a vacation to soothe his jittery nerves but the CEO had already told him that it was entirely out of the question, for the company had found a new forest reserve in the Amazons and the flora over there was something that the human race had never before withheld. So the entire Research Department was being planned to work in double shifts.

Two days later, the CEO called Seth and said, “Seth, I need you to go to Brazil!” Seth was astounded at this blatant assault of a request. But he could not say no to his boss. After all he had a very valid reason for sending him out over there: one of the search team over there had found a new plant which strangely emitted radiations. Preliminary investigation however had revealed that there was no trace of radioactive elements present in its body.

Once again, Seth had the same dream and woke up just as the plane was descending. As the air hostess told them to tie their seat belts, Seth realized that something was amiss this time. The dream…..there was something different about it. It was as if he could almost place his finger on the anomaly. It then struck him that the woman was calling out his name this time and was beckoning him to her. “What the hell was happening”, he thought.

By the time Seth reached the site, it was almost afternoon. Without wasting any time, he asked the in-charge to take him to the place where the plant had been found. However, as soon as he reached that place, he was astounded for the plant that he had come to visit was actually a tree and not just any tree but the same tree which he had been seeing in his dreams. The junior scientist beside him kept on rattling the data collected over the last few days but Seth paid no ears to it. He just kept on staring at the tree……..

“Oh!” exclaimed Seth, just as he had thought these mosquitoes were driving him crazy. Well, good for him that he had remembered to get the mosquito-repellent. Just as he was about to apply it, he heard the same music being played that he had heard in his dreams. “Wait, are my ears ringing or is it for real”, he said to himself. He went out of his tent, following the sound although he did not need to for he already had an idea where it was coming from. And as he had thought the sound seemed to emanate from the tree. However the tree was not only making that eerie sound, there was a strange glow around the tree, it was as if the tree had an aura about it. Seth walked up to the tree, removing the scaffoldings surrounding the area. He touched the bark which seemed almost velvety to his touch – however as he started to stroke it, a shiver coursed through the entire length of the tree.

As Seth recoiled in fear, the tree started transforming and in its place stood the lady from his dreams. Draped in just a long piece of cloth, she was carrying a harp along with her. “At last, you have come, Seth”, the woman said. “How do you know my name…and er…who are you? Where did the tree go?”, Seth inquired. The woman laughed, “ You sure do have an inquisitive mind, dear one, but time is of the essence now. I am Ariana, princess of the Natalya Race although I have also been given many names by you people, namely Gaia as called by the Greeks or Bona Dea, by the Romans or as you now call me , Mother Nature. We are not from this planet but had adopted this planet almost five millenniums ago. We were the first to grow plants and eventually you people came. But as your numbers started to grow, you tried to wage a war against us. Eventually, my race had to leave this planet but I could not, for I was directly bound to this planet. You see all the plants that grew on this surface were borne right out of me. As a result, they thrive on me and the radiation which I had been giving out is the nourishing force behind your entire flora. However, the recent ravages of your company made on my home ground have unsettled my foundation, thus disrupting my radiation pattern. If this continues, I am grieved to say that the world could soon get depleted of all vegetation.

To prevent that, I had to use my telepathic powers to call upon you. Now it is up to you, to see that wrongdoings come into an end.”

“Now I need to go but pay heed to my warnings…………”. With that she vanished and the tree resurfaced out again. The words continued to ring in Seth’s ears but he already knew what he had to do. After all, he had an entire world to save..