Fiction: A 2032 war ends when a supernatural event saves Lalbag, an obscure town, from destruction

God is not listening, because not a single prayer is bringing what’s expected of it. But if there’s a time for prayer, Seth knows, this is it. Over the last three months, without any warning, without heed, China has captured most of India. Millions of people have been killed. Lalbag is one of the last standing frontiers and, at any given moment, a bomb is expected to fall on it.

It’s almost midnight and the ceasefire is minutes away. So, the townspeople are praying. They’re praying to their beloved Lord Shiva, for it is Maha Shivratri, the holiest day of the new moon month of Maagha. Seth watches their eyes shut tight in devotion. War does not change you, it reveals you, Seth thinks. He admires their piety, the surrender that it brings. But has a single man prayed himself out of the life meant for him?

Seth hears the ring of a large brass bell and watches Swamiji rotate a lamp throwing fire two feet into the air. The sandalwood scent of the incense, the rhythmic chant of Om Namah Shivay, and the gentle breeze flowing in from the North ensconces the temple into a calm that can lull the fear in every...

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