Tonight, he had the bedroom to himself because his older brother, Nimesh, wasn’t home. But the solitude felt lonely. If Nimesh had been there, he would have shared stories from the past week at the Air Force camp. Akash remembered one particular night when he’d accompanied his brother to the base. Using an old, low-magnification telescope meant for observing aircraft, he had tried to glimpse celestial objects. All he managed to see was the moon—and even that was blurry.

What Akash really craved was the telescope with powerful magnification owned by a private institution affiliated with the University of Colombo. Now a first-year technical science student at the university, Akash had had the chance to use that telescope, marveling at celestial wonders like the moon, Venus, and Mars.

But only Akash knew the true reason for his obsession with the sky. It stemmed from an extraordinary event he had witnessed with his own eyes. His account of the incident was vague, and no one had paid much attention to the ramblings of an eight-year-old. But Akash remembered it vividly.

* * *

It was an auspicious day of the month. The evening should have been bathed in the golden rays of the setting sun, but the entire Anuradhapura sky was cloaked in massive, dark rain clouds. Thunder rumbled across the heavens, drowning out the temple sermons and shaking the earth. Most villagers had gone to the temple to take part in religious rituals, leaving the streets eerily deserted.

Akash had accompanied his mother to the temple that day. For a young boy, sitting through hour-long sermons was a tedious ordeal. Luckily, his schoolmate Kamal was also there with his mother. Taking advantage of the situation, Akash suggested they leave the temple. Claiming they were going to explore the temple garden, the two boys slipped away and ran down the path that cut through the middle of a wide paddy field, heading toward the forest.

“Hey… it’s going to pour any minute! My mom’s going to thrash me if I get my clothes wet,” Kamal called out, glancing nervously at the ominous sky. He had to shout to be heard over the howling wind.

“No, no. We have to go today! By tomorrow, all the mangoes will be on the ground, ruined by the rain,” Akash replied, walking briskly ahead.

“But what if it starts raining hard? And what if we get caught by Puwak Banda while we’re picking mangoes? He’ll come after us with an axe!”

The mention of Puwak Banda sent a shiver down Akash’s spine. Puwak Banda was an eccentric middle-aged man who lived alone in a small house deep in the jungle. His real name was Bandara, but the villagers nicknamed him Puwak Banda because he made a living selling wild fruits at the local bazaar. Although harmless, his bouts of anger and colorful curses had earned him a fearsome reputation among the village children.

“Puwak Banda won’t come out in this rain,” Akash said, trying to sound confident. “Let’s go quickly and grab the mangoes. If he says anything, we’ll tell Uncle Sirinelis.” He pointed toward a distant house in the middle of the paddy field.

After a few more minutes, they crossed the paddy field and entered the edge of a small forest. The area, located on a gently sloping lowland, was dotted with lush mango trees. Beyond it lay the vast Anuradhapura Forest Reserve, a sprawling expanse of wilderness beginning at a mountain pass.

Kamal stayed on the ground, gathering fallen mangoes, while Akash climbed as high as he could on a tall tree. Balancing on a swaying branch as the wind picked up, he began tossing mangoes down. But the stormy gusts made it difficult to hold his position. Realizing it was getting dangerous, Akash decided to descend—but something in the distance froze him in place.

From his vantage point in the treetop, Akash could see beyond the smaller forest to the mountain pass where the larger forest began. Suspended above the mountain pass was something he had never seen before—something utterly otherworldly.

It hung in the sky, its size impossible to estimate. The object had a light blue hue, blending almost seamlessly with the sky, and emitted a faint glow. But what struck Akash most was its transparency. The object seemed to shimmer, its edges and shape impossible to discern. He watched, transfixed, as it hovered for barely five seconds before slowly descending behind the mountain pass, disappearing from view.