The Pishachas were relentless. Every iteration, six or seven of them attacked, and as soon as they retreated back, another group of four or five clawed their way to us. They were like a pack of starving hyenas trying to take down an already wounded lion. The thing that surprised me the most was my new agility stat. I could now feel the attack pressure from my opponent much earlier than before and could react accordingly. Swinging the Kundalini Sword like a baseball bat, I already managed to kill two of them because of their low defense. I wouldn't have been able to cut them if their hide was a bit tougher, but the thing is, despite my newfound speed in my arms, I've already sacrificed my limp right foot, which was put forward as a bait since I couldn't sense anything there, clawed away by a Pishacha who had already fallen back to the perimeter. It was now having my foot as dinner somewhere out there in the darkness.
The baby was crying between Dweep's anchored shield and his legs, whenever a hand appeared from either side, he would kick it away from the baby or use his own legs as a meat shield. His shield was circular at first, and now rectangular with the lower end tapering off to an angle, which was currently buried below the ground.
Dweep and his shield totally covered our right side, Saiyan took care of the front, Anik at the back and I was at the left. Dweep's arms were actually creaking, his bones shattering further as he countered the Pishachas and their claw attacks with his shield. I was surprised to see Kundalini getting scraped off the shield from their attacks. Another two malevolent beings came forward from the left, scratching at my right shin which was already bleeding. I swung my sword to cut it down, but it was totally ready to jump back. As soon as my weapon went to my right end, the other Pishacha pierced my left leg around the knee with its claws, and started to pull my body away along with it.
"Help!!" I shouted, almost pissing myself. If I was ever stranded away from the group in this condition, I would surely lose both my lives, one helplessly and the other while coming back to the formation.
Turning around, I grabbed Dweep's leg with both my arms as the claws dug deeper. It was trying to take away everything below my knees.
Suddenly, an arrow from Anik pierced right through the assailant's temple neutralizing it, keeping it attached to my leg. Before any other Pishacha came and dragged me away with its fallen comrade, I cut off its hand at the wrist, picking up the sword I had left below Dweep while holding onto his legs, leaving only its claws and palm with me.
That was close... I sighed and quickly opened my messages and saw no new notifications. Isn't it due time that help arrived? Anytime now...please.
I took a glance again at the baby which was still crying, making me unable to concentrate. If it's crying, it's still alive I guess.
As another wave attacked, I left the hand attached to my knee as it was and started swinging the sword again, chopping off arms and fingers away from the Corpse Eaters.
After taking down four or five I got another level up for both Kalpa and Panna's status, as I put the extra stats in agility. The attacks of the Pishachas grew slower with 5 more points in agility.
Wounds kept appearing all over my legs that were put out as bait. Saiyan, Anik both were bleeding profusely, and Dweep's arms were now deep blue in color because of internal haemorrhaging.
Only the Gods knew what kind of diseases we have gotten being scratched by these unholy beings.
How long have we been fighting? How many of them are there? How many did we kill??
I suddenly felt pressure at the back of my head, and lied down instantly from my sitting position.
I almost vomited seeing the lower part of the brave Pishacha that had jumped in directly between the four of us, right above me. Dweep put out his hand to protect Saiyan, sending it flying somewhere in the process, while Anik dodged it jumping away from the middle. The smelly rotten flesh was nauseating. Bringing back my arm in a moment of disgust, which was pointing to my legs, upwards in a circular motion, I cleaved the Pishacha in two showering myself and the baby in pungent yellowish blood.
I looked back again to check if the baby was still fine, dreading I had also cut down the baby in two like the Pishacha. Shit! The baby is licking off the blood of Pishacha from its face!!! Since it is an Asura, it will be fine right? Clearly not!! What can I even do at this moment?
I again checked my messages in vain. Isn't it time for the seniors to arrive like heroes and impress us??
Sitting back up I saw a Corpse Eater chewing on Anik's shoulder as he cried out in pain. Dweep's arm which was a stub at the elbow slammed against its face, again and again until it fell down like a white thermocol model.
"How many did you shoot Anik??" I asked trying to keep his mind off the pain.
"More than thirty..." He said, "The technique to use a small amount of Kundalini and stretching it really worked..."
"Good job.." Dweep groaned, as he held onto his shield with his intact arm. He ducked sometimes to dodge the claws swiping at him from the top of his shield while kicking away stray claws from the sides keeping the baby safe. Dweep had been gaining my respect everytime I saw him fight. He's really admirable.
"Guys..." Saiyan shouted suddenly. "We are in deep trouble.."
I looked around and saw transparent wispy bodies floating between the trees, just a few meters away from us. A chill ran down my spine, giving goosebumps on my arms...
"Bhootas.." Anik mumbled. "We can't counter them until we have sacred mantras... They haven't taught us yet at the Ashrama..."
"What have they even taught us? It was only the first trial week back there...!!!!" I corrected him.
More and more wisps appeared, as disembodied voices echoed everywhere...Cries, Laughters and Shouts assaulted our eardrums, dealing psychological damage. It was unbearable for the Pishachas too, as they hurriedly retreated away from the area.
One after another... We atleast had a chance before...now it seemed impossible... hearing the dread from Saiyan's and Anik's voices.
Saiyan picked me up roughly and started running without any prior warning.
Anik, with the baby in his arms, and Dweep also followed.
Making way through the swamp, we ignored whatever sound that was coming from our surroundings, knowing it will all be over if we stand our ground now.
I was like a social media addict, checking my messages every minute, waiting for a ray of hope.
Saiyan was already sweating like hell, from all the running, fighting and the tension. I don't think I would have managed running this much. I regretted playing only cricket which required very less activity since you are in fielding position most of the time. I should try out some football next time.
"What's your agility?" I asked Saiyan from his shoulder.
"Above 60." he said.
"How many points do you get every level up?" I asked to confirm some of my suspicions.
"Eight points."
Fuck. This Kalpa... how much more biased are you gonna get?
D:"We get only two. So, make sure to not announce this publicly. And yeah, do you have no other skills than that fiery travelling wave? Why do you use nothing?"
S:"Most of my skills won't even activate...until I get another chakra. The minimum requirement is 3 Kundalini. I should have chosen properly. I'm sorry..."
My body suddenly trembled as he ran through the forest.
"Wait!!! Go back! Back!!" I shouted, recognising the feeling of a Shakti Rekha. "We just crossed a Shakti Rekha."
S:"I felt it too... but I don't think it's a good idea to stop now."
D: "How far are we going to flee? For how long?" I asked, "If someone comes looking for us, where do you think they would first search for, if they don't find us at the remains of the Mahal?"
"Can you heal lost body parts?" Saiyan asked instead, "Even if you heal yourself, you won't be able to run, nor Dweep will get his hands back. There's no use healing now if you're still alive..."
"Atleast let me cover the wounds bro...how long do you think I've been bleeding??"
Saiyan looked up, and sighed. "I'm sorry, I lost my reasoning for a second..."
Saiyan helped me sit at the Rekha, putting my legs underneath, and I started filtering Shakti. As soon as 1 point of Kundalini was created, I created a thin film over my wounds, especially the right foot which was missing. I plucked the hanging hand away from my left knee and gave Dweep a covering over his right elbow, which was bleeding thanks to his missing hand and palm below it. I checked the messages again and again only to get disappointed.
Two Kundalini were already used up by the time Bhootas arrived again in our field of vision.
"First aid is done." I announced, "Let's run again."
We again started fleeing until the Bhootas suddenly appeared in front of us.
"Did we go behind them somehow?" Anik asked, his voice breaking down in panic. He was disoriented, continuously carrying the baby while hearing it cry all the way.
Saiyan looked behind changing my field of vision too, since I was on his shoulder.
There were Bhootas at our rear too. To our horror, we realised that we were already surrounded.
I opened Kalpa's messaging window again and pure joy washed over me.
"Where are you guys? We somehow fled from Vritra and currently making way towards the broken Mahal. Are you guys in the jungles? Or towards the river?" Apsara Didi's message was right there, like a breath of fresh air. Don't fall for her now...she's two years older!!
"Aaniikkk!!! I need arrows!!! That will blast off reaching high up in the air!!"
"Gotcha!" he said nocking a Kundalini arrow after handing off the baby to me. Props to Saiyan for carrying me, who was in turn carrying a little baby now.
"Fireworks. In the jungle. Follow." I messaged back thinking the words in my mind quickly. Gods, my messages look like Hulk is talking over at this side.
"Something is wrong with the Bhootas to be honest..." Saiyan pondered, "They are keeping a distance from us. We would have been overrun already if they were your usual ones..."
"It's great no?" Dweep commented, "The only thing unusual among us is this little child. I'm not gonna act dumb and get surprised later when it comes out to be a special existence."
I followed the arrows that left Anik's bow with my eyes and saw them reaching quite the height before bursting like fireworks.
"We'll never know who her parents were... should we have kept a piece of that flesh sac for DNA matching later?" I wondered, getting weird looks from them.
"Well I didn't tell you guys beforehand since you'll keep getting impatient if you knew, but our seniors are coming to rescue us." I added.
"My cousin is also coming, the one I told you about." Saiyan mentioned, "Didn't say it for the same reason too..."
"I knew about it already...their messages have been pinging for a while now. I didn't say it for the same reason." Anik joined the conversation looking at the Bhootas warily. There was now a circular boundary of the wispy beings surrounding us.
"Again," Anik continued, "If the Bhootas are not attacking us because of the baby, wouldn't they get crazy if we take her with us?"
The realization dawned upon us.
"We're surrounded by a horde of Bhootas. It'll be great if you can take care of them. Quickly." I copy pasted to both the elder sisters.
Suddenly, we felt a huge pressure above us, as three blue spheres marking the three ends of an equilateral triangle appeared overhead.
"UFO??" my conspiracy theory loving self manifested unknowingly.
"Vimana!!!" Anik shouted out excitedly.
Lots of things happened all at once as soon as the holy object arrived.
The baby started crying really loud, drowning the humming sound of the Vimana.
The Bhootas got wild, as they rushed towards us.
The Vimana lit up in blue hues showing off its true form as a white light washed over us from above.
The Vimana looked like the outer structure containing the main sanctum of a temple. It was like a carefully sculpted cone, filled with glowing Aksharas and statues of the Gods, as well as intricate symbols that kept glowing and dimming alternatively. The top was not tapered off to a pointed end though. It ended in a flat horizontal structure that seemed to hold canon like structures which seemed to have broken down before coming here. It was also tilted a bit, a thin trail of black smoke coming out of a damaged section near the middle of the structure.
The next moment, we were floating a few feet above the ground and gradually accelerated upwards leaving the Bhootas below. I had no idea, and was not curious at all to experience what kind of damage the Bhootas dealt to mortals. Still holding the crying child in my arms, my vision flashed white for a second, then it slowly dimmed away to reveal my new surroundings.
We were on a rectangular platform in a huge circular room. Lots of levitating devices kept vibrating and humming in different frequencies all around us. It seemed like an orchestra of voices, warming up in different pitches and frequencies.
A panel infront of us opened up, revealing several people and a set of stairs going upwards.
"They are heavily injured!!! Take them to the healing stations, fast!!!" a mature and old voice ordered the other silhouettes.
Saiyan suddenly dropped me to the floor and fell on his knees.
"We're safe...finally..." he said, falling sideways, probably exhausted with all the mental pressure, guilt and tension he had been enduring.
I clutched the baby in my arms carefully, rocking it gently to make it fall asleep. But it kept crying, with big blobs of tears running down its cheeks.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Ehh? What's a baby doing with them? How many years did they spend here??" The sixth standard sister said, who swiftly sat beside me with Apsara didi.
"Why are you panicking, Ananya? It shouldn't be more than two days here, according to what Lord Mahabali said. Good job you guys, for not losing all your lives...the others weren't so lucky..." Apsara didi said patting my head, as I recognised the sensation of Recovery being cast upon me. The feeling of my legs were slowly returning.
"This child is the only one left among the people of Mahabali's kingdom...Vritra decimated everything..." I mumbled and handed over the baby to Ananya, the other person in my friendlist whose name I didn't even know. She took it awkwardly, with her arms bent comically, revealing her as an amateur in handling babies.
I saw some middle aged people as well as senior brothers among the crowd who arrived. Saiyan and Dweep were being carried away to the healing station as ordered.
Anik looked once at me and then at the other two wondering where to go. He tilted his head with a smile and left me here, following my other two teammates after retrieving the Asuran baby from Ananya's arms.
"You two can take care of him right?" The middle aged guy asked Apsara.
"Yep, I practiced vessel manipulation a lot. I'll be able to recreate his leg again, so leave it to me." she replied confidently.
"Okay, we'll be in the navigational floor. You can relax now I guess. Let me know if you need anything." The man left us three here as the panel closed behind him.
"Thanks for worrying about us." I told no one in particular, curling my toes slowly, as if I was going through a rehabilitation therapy.
"Can you tell us what happened after arriving here?" Ananya asked gently.
I told them vaguely what happened, omitting Saiyan's special circumstances and our crimes. How we found ourselves in the mountain forest, fought seven wild Kaalbheriyas, where Dweep lost one life trying to keep us safe. That we next arrived in Mahabali's kingdom, found hospitality under his daughter's care, escaped the Mahal bombardment and then got swept off the ground by Vritra's tail slash. How Anik and I lost lives this time falling from a height. Then the encounter with the baby covered in a fleshy sac, as well as with the numerous Pishachas in the jungle, finally ending with the Bhootas...
"That chosen one guy with you...did he lose any lives?" Apsara didi asked seriously. "You don't have to defend him like this... if you want to lie, you need to practice a better Poker face in front of me."
"The other teams were not as peaceful as you guys, when they returned. The Ashrama is already up in flames after this came out...everybody now knew how the chosen ones were using up others' lives when they died." Ananya informed.
"We weren't peaceful either... Dweep and I lost our lives like that. We were spiteful and furious...should I take special lessons from Lord Ashwatthama, on how to reduce my spiteful childish anger?" I smiled at the end.
"He'll probably call you an amateur and ask you to come back for therapy after murdering his whole family..." Ananya joked and laughed by herself.
She stopped after realising that our weird looks were targeted at her.
That was funny, but there's no way I could laugh at that in public. Ananya is quite the straight forward girl, with a weird sense of humor.
In the meantime, my leg was slowly growing back thanks to the Apsara Didi.
"Kaalbheriyas, Pishachas, random Asuran terrorists and Vritra..." Apsara counted, "This was crazier than most other teams. Probably their stories could have gotten crazier, but they didn't stay alive for that long... Perks of having the highest levelled Rakshak of the batch in your team."
"What happened back at the Ashrama after we were teleported? How many lost all their lives?" I asked softly. My body was almost as good as new, except my right foot which was still growing out slowly. I tried to remember the sensation of how my distribution channels were being attracted to my right leg, completing the channels that were supposed to be there before, creating a new limb out of nothing...
Isn't she only at seventh standard? Do most healers know how to do this by that time?
"This is impressive... I thought only the sages could regenerate limbs." I complimented her.
"Yeah, I left all other fields and just concentrated on healing from sixth standard. I knew how to do this during your Vrata too, but as you can see, it requires too much Kundalini. During Vrata we just needed to keep our classmates and juniors alive, so I didn't need to use this." she explained.
"So that's why everyone said how awesome of a healer you were. I didn't know you were this far ahead..." I remembered Somi telling me about Apsara.
"Whoa!! Why are you saying good things about me with that face?" Apsara didi looked bewildered, "You must be really competitive, getting jealous over someone who's been studying for more than two years compared to you."
"No it's not like that... I just remembered something unpleasant. Sorry, if you were hurt."
Ananya and Apsara glanced at each other and smiled instead.
"I told you to let me know if you ever needed any help right? I'll wait for you to tell me about it yourself. Okay?" Apsara didi repeated what she had told me just a few days days ago.
"Instead, let me tell you about what happened back at the Ashrama while you guys were absent." Ananya tried to change the topic.
"As soon as we learnt that the students were thrown all across Brahmand, we feared the worst. The alumni in Satya Marta who had already graduated before from the Ashrama were contacted and they returned to their Alma Mater. We were given a list with your roll numbers and asked to keep sending messages incase they replied. People divided the students among themselves and since we were already friends with you, we took your team under our wing. Two senior teams depending on familiarity were allocated for the students in Patala Loka and one for Swarga Loka." Ananya took a deep breath and continued, "So time in Swarga Loka flows slower than Marta. While in Patala it is faster. If I sent a message now from Marta, it will take hours on your side until it reaches you in Sutala but only a few minutes for us. While for Swarga, we had to wait for hours to get a message back while only a few minutes would pass for them. Thus, the students in Patala were experiencing much more between two messages and with Asuras, you were in much more danger. All the students without the chosen ones in their teams were sent to either Bhuvar Loka or Svar Loka, the first two Lokas above Marta." she went quiet for a few seconds.
"Bhuvar Loka where the celestial bodies reside is a warzone right now with the immortals and the forces of Swarga fighting against Rahu and Ketu. Most students were caught in the cross fire losing most of their lives... Rahu's strategy to keep his pursuers engaged worked as he brought in innocent children from below." Apsara didi continued instead, "Three chosen one's teams were sent to Atala, three to Vitala and your team was sent to Sutala... the first three Lokas below Marta respectively."
"What about the other teams? Of the chosen one's? Are they really fighting among themselves?" I asked.
"Yeah they were, when we left for Sutala. There are 12 lives in total for each team. Most of them have lost 4 to 8 lives. Two teams have lost one member forever...One team has lost two... they have returned to their Gurukul directly after losing three lives. And with the case of the Seven taking others' lives, I doubt anybody would want to join theirs." Ananya described, "Communication with them was happening much faster than you guys. We waited dozens of minutes for them...but for you, we got your message hours after we sent it."
I tried to think about this. If I didn't visit Panna, how much longer the messages would have taken to finally reach us?
My teammates might have gotten the messages after the rescue team arrived in Sutala themselves. Shit ..what if they start suspecting me? To get the messages when I did, I would have to be in a higher cosmic level than Sutala...
Ananya and Apsara studied me for a while but didn't say anything...
"You look curious about something. Did you want to know specifically about someone?" Apsara didi asked me, watching my expression.
"Uhh...there's a guy named Soovam, he's also in a seven's group I think...Can you check?" I asked gradually coming to the topic.
"Hmm..."They both started scrolling through their invisible status.
"We need to know their roll numbers... I can send you the data sheet if you want." Ananya said with a smirk. She knows what I'm up to.
"Yes...thank you!!"
I received the link for the data sheet where the roll numbers and their current status was written. The list was filled with red, green and yellow highlights.
Green is found with lives.
Red is found at Gurukul without lives.
Yellow is still missing.
Wait...I grabbed my hair in frustration. I have forgotten Somi's roll number. I have only seen it twice... before deleting and accepting it.
Both the elder sisters were looking at me amusingly.
"It wasn't Soovam you were interested in right?" Apsara didi was right on point.
"I don't even remember her roll number. What a shitty memory I have."
"Ohhhh..." Both of them sounded excited. "What's her name??"
"Somi."
Ananya and Apsara looked at each other. "Her team is in the most turmoil right now... she lost two members..."
"What happened?" I asked remembering how one team had lost 8 lives. If four lives are left among twelve, three will be from one of the seven and one life from one member. The rest two are now gone, forever forgotten from Satya Marta.
"They arrived right inside the court of the demon King Baali, who's nothing like Lord Mahabali. The Asuras were... heinous." Apsara didi stopped.
"What happened?" I repeated, anger rising in my voice.
"They treated the little girls like helpless prey. Putting them in a cage with starving demonic beasts... they fought for hours on end for the Asura's entertainment, until Narada arrived to strike a deal with Baali. By then, they had already died and resurrected multiple times, torn apart and eaten by those beasts." Apsara didi and Ananya were already pale, remembering what they heard before coming here.
"I don't know how it will affect them in future...it was a truly traumatic experience." Ananya stated silently.
I was feeling sick. I remembered the Asuras I have killed here... how we chopped their bodies up...
Hold it in...please...
Bitter bile came up to my throat as I tried to swallow it back in vain. They patted my back as I emptied up my gall bladder and stomach. Only liquid came out...everything inside had been digested long ago.
I can't say anything about how we murdered people here...after we went through the painstaking process of hiding and destroying evidence. But after what Baali did to her, a small part of me was glad that Asuras, allies or not, were destroyed today.
'Not all of them are savages like Baali... don't give in to hate like this!' I told myself.
I'm still holding onto her, I realised now. She's still interfering with my emotions to this extent, even after I decided to move on.
"Did you talk with her?" I asked.
"No. We only looked from afar because we were a little curious about Narada. He arrived at the Ashrama with these two girls suddenly, and described what had happened. We were already on our way to board this Vimana otherwise I would have stayed back and taken a look at the patients." Apsara explained.
A panel again opened up at the front as two senior brothers trudged in carrying plates of fruits.
"Eat up, Generator." One of them said, "Congrats on losing the least lives while getting teleported to the deepest Loka, compared to others."
He looked quite young, maybe in seventh standard. He had bright and smooth skin, with an earring a little different than mine. In simple words, he was handsome.
Apsara Didi's eyes were glittering as soon as he arrived.
Ohh... I wanted to tease her just like how she had teased me when I mentioned Somi. But refrained from doing so without knowing their current progress.
"There's a problem." the handsome guy continued, "Vritra is chasing us right now. We can't return to the jump gate until we shrug him off. Aditya has been blessed with the sigil of Garuda, so we're thinking of summoning him. We'll need to be batteries for the summoning."
I was already devouring the fruits by then. If they required batteries, I might be able to help.
"This Vritra... he already attacked us once, now he wants to swallow us whole??" Apsara didi cried out in frustration. "His treatment is almost done. I'll be coming in a few minutes. The navigational floor right?"
"Yeah. Thanks for your help as always." handsome boy said what he wanted and walked away.
I inspected the other guy who was looking at worriedly. He was much older than the other guy who just left.
"I'm sorry." He said suddenly, "You could've kept all your lives if not for my younger brother."
"Saying that won't change anything." I said, "I believe Saiyan will come out and talk about it himself, so you don't need to do this."
"Yeah, got it." he said and walked away in quick steps.
"Whoa!" Ananya was surprised, "You don't mince your words do you? He has already seen ugly arguments about this before coming here, so maybe he was trying to put out some raging fires before they exploded. Don't blame him."
"Yeah, I know, that's why I don't want him to interfere between us friends. We have already talked about it, so it won't get much worse... hopefully."
It was awkward for a few seconds.
"So that's the guy you like huh? Didi??" I teased Apsara.
"Well, yeah. He's got his charms as you can see." Apsara said straightforwardly.
"What's keeping you from getting serious?" Ananya said suddenly, getting interested in the topic, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while to be honest."
"I want him to show he's interested too...even if it is a little. But all he talks about with me is work. Heal that, heal this... How would I know if I should approach him like that?" Apsara complained.
This guy is a chad.
"He might be looking for the same signals too. Most guys are afraid of breaking what they already have by taking things quickly. You can give some little signals in my opinion." I said. "Well I'm not sure how popular good looking guys think though."
Ananya looked at me awkwardly. "Don't put yourself down like that okay? Once someone starts talking with you, they'll find you cute too..."
Damn.
She is really unpredictable, saying these things right in front of my face.
They both started laughing after watching me change expressions.
"This guy is blushing. Hahaa. I'll make sure to talk once with Somi. Ask her discreetly what she thinks about you." Apsara let me know beforehand.
"I think it's better you don't do that. Things went from great to complicated within a few hours for us. We haven't talked afterwards. She's got this sister like childhood-friend-bodyguard named Ariya who just keeps coming at my throat for the littlest of reasons." I described out current situation so that outside forces didn't make it worse than it already was.
"But it's not going to go anywhere." I continued, as their faces darkened, "I'm already trying to move on, after deleting her name from my friend list."
"If you take this case to Ashwatthama, he will start giving you therapy instantly. What a world class spite you have." Apsara was surprised.
"This was unexpected. Why did you take this step?" Ananya was curious.
"Her family situation is kind of strange. She has the curse of eternal purity bestowed by Saraswati Devi, and..." I stopped, it was getting painful now, just thinking about it. Then I realised what she has gone through recently and stopped talking about her, behind her back. What a hypocrite I was...
"It's fine. She became a really good friend within the span of a week. I can't help if she directly requests me to forget about her and move on." I finished.
"She's from that ancient family then. We've heard about their situation..." Apsara said, "If it was someone else, I would have asked you to keep trying. But now... I'm not sure."
"If it was someone else...huh..." I mumbled and went quiet.
"Well well," Apsara clapped, with her treatment ending, "Good job trying to move on. Don't jump the gun this fast from next time, okay? Take your time to build your friendship first. Best of luck to both of us then!!" she gave a bright smile and then glanced at Ananya. "And what will you do?"
"I'm okay with what I have. Being too greedy will only destroy it." Ananya smiled back.
"Okay, let's go the navigational floor. Finish your fruits fast!" Apsara ordered.
"I need to walk a bit first, been a while being paralysed below my waist." I said, slowly getting up with Ananya's help with a lychee in my hands.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The stairs were brutal. You got a light elevator for picking up people from the ground, but you have stairs inside... Who designed this??
I met the handsome guy whose name I never got to ask, Saiyan's cousin, Saiyan, Anik, Dweep, and four other people, three boys and one girl, who were probably the team members of the two seniors.
Anil had been taking some time at the washroom so we waited for him at the navigational floor. The baby was put to sleep in the recovery station to keep distractions away.
The screens showed Vritra following us, leaving a trail of dust and debris behind him. How long will he keep up this chase?
There was a huge circle drawn on the floor, with intricate patterns inside. The Aksharas filling up the empty spaces were moving erratically between the designs and lines. The Aksharas turned gold in color and transformed to look like the feathers of a bird, vibrating with the desire to come together and find their place in this world.
A guy among the four, presumably Aditya, sat at the middle of the circle. The folds in his white dhoti crumpled, ruining the flat ironed look it had before. Did he change clothes for this ritual?
I realised there was a star with seven points drawn within the circle. The two teams, with four members each sat at different points on the star, their bodies flaring up in their different colored Kundalini.
All the colors turned into golden as the Aksharas got more and more excited. They crawled over towards Aditya's body and started crawling up making him gnash his teeth in pain. An eagle sign started burning brightly on his left arm, just below his shoulder.
I concentrated, suddenly hearing chanting coming from deep within Aditya's diaphragm, and realised his lips were not moving... how was he doing this???
Aditya's body kept vibrating, following the motions of the feathery Aksharas, which were now adorning his hands and legs like tattoos.
"Om Thathpurushaya Vidhmahe
Suvaarna Pakshaya Dheemahee
Tanno Garuda Prachodayat"
Aditya chanted from deep within his chest.
"O' mount of Lord Vishnu, the Supreme Being of this Universe, the one who vanquishes evils with his crimson beak and golden wings, please manifest in our moment of desperation, to guide and inspire us!!"
The other seven continued.
Their Kundalini became pillars reaching the ceiling of the navigational floor, which wasn't shaped like a small room. It was like an auditorium inside.
"Is Garuda going to descend inside a mortal body? Or will he be summoned like those Asuras summoned Vritra?" I whispered to Anik.
"I don't know either, let's watch. It will be awesome if he can activate an Ayudhapurusha." he said excitedly.
"Ayudhapurusha is not the same as summoning. If you ever own a divine weapon, the weapon will incarnate itself into a humanoid form...that is an Ayudhapurusha. Avatar is also different. You'll be giving your body away to a divine being so that they can use it without any constraints." The middle aged guy who's probably an alumni had been eavesdropping our conversation. "Both Vritra and Garuda will be severely constrained when called to a different dimension other than their actual ones, and Garuda even more so since Sutala is in Patala. It should be overridden by his bonus damage over reptiles and snakes though. Let's not relax, just because we summoned a divine being. The cost is never worth it... Never." his look went dark. Did something happen back in his school days? I probably won't be able to know about it right now, so let's not think about it.
My field of view snapped towards one of the screens which was showing what was happening above the Vimana. A huge circle with golden Aksharas was following us overhead, which was slowly taking its true shape increasing in size.
"Don't think you can run away, weak guard dogs of the Devas!!!" Vritra cried out hissing, his voice still being transmitted to me. I looked around to see everybody was enduring it, their faces tensed with concentration. They can't stop the summoning midway, or all the Kundalini will be wasted.
"This is not for running away, Vritra. It is the harbinger of your annihilation." I heard a voice rumbling next, followed by the cry of an eagle, its volume multiplied a hundred times than the ones I had experienced on Discovery channel.
"Garuda... arch enemy of the Nagas. No wonder they've been biding their time... Come, let us finally engage in battle, today we'll decide who comes out on top!" Vritra hissed, sending shivers down my rejuvenated spine. Was it more sensitive now? After getting healed by Apsara?
The golden Aksharas on the circumference broke and floated away, as a huge humanoid with an eagle head came down from the summoning circle. In the dark night, he was like a radiant sun, his golden feathers shining so bright through the screens that his body lost contrast against the black background, turning everything white.
Garuda, the Bane of Nagas had arrived.