The seen and the unseen

CHAPTER 10 - hidden secrets

CHAPTER 10 - hidden secrets

My inner anger was at its peak now. The soul really did not want me getting any information. Resisting the soul again seemed too tiring and impossible. The internal fight was unknowingly taking a toll on my physical health. I let go of myself, with a last minute decision regarding what I was going to do.

Finally I could take over Sana's body again. She was trying to resist me. She'd been talking to Clark, Shera’s colleague. I always silently monitored her from within. This time it had gone too far, she'd gained too much information. After Shera's daughter and Armaan, the chief was the one I would target.

 I was tied onto the chair. Smart. No doubt I was strong as steel. But as long as I was tied to this weak body, I had physical barriers.

I had the perfect plan. They knew who I was now. Never mind though. All I had to do was to pretend like I was Sana. "Guys, I think it's a lot for today. We'll continue this tomorrow. Please untie me, I'm very tired. I wanna sleep." Sometimes it was a headache to talk like today's generation. Good thing I managed it well. Everyone believed me. I was free. I walked along with the girl who Sana was always so attached to. She kept talking to me, full of sympathy, swearing about Dravya i.e. me. I had so many targets lined up, one adding each minute.

To avoid spectators, I chose to leave when the other two girls were asleep. I walked to the door wondering if I should kill them now or leave it for later. Their screams would probably wake Armaan and Clark. Clark may have been a talented and skilled chief, but I knew his secret. And that  alone was enough to deal with him. I'd get to him once I was finished with Shera's daughter.

I went straight to the one human I could trust. Kumar. He had played his part well in getting Sana to me. A part of my soul was in Sana, true. But the other was in Kumar. He had willingly given up his body, lured in by my lies of giving him an eternal life, like mine. However, I liked residing in Kumar’s body than my other victims body. The one I’d used to meet Sana as ‘Dravya’. He was long gone at this point of time. Completely taken care of.

"Welcome. How did you manage to get out of there? And what’s in this sack?" He was curious, but I didn't give him any details. "You've not completed your task efficiently Kumar. You bought the girl to me, but she managed to meet Clark and his student. She is aware of everything that's going on here." He looked aback. I left no chance to abase him. He looked vulnerable. Good. "I'm sorry master. I should have taken care of it." He knelt in his usual style and bowed. I wished I could hurt him, real bad. With shoes, probably a belt, or nails for that matter. But I reconsidered my plan given the fact that half my soul was in him. He was an efficient soul host, yet weak before me. The perfect target host. If I found a few more fools like him, I'd be on the top of the world in no time. I asked him to keep the bag in his car.

"I'm not gonna let go of Sana's body now. It's important that she doesn't find a way out. The time is nearing. Just a few more hours, and the tables will turn." He looked at me, dreading the future. He didn't know anything. But he knew I was up to something deadly. I’d asked Kumar to find me Shera’s lookalike. That was the only way I could reach her daughter, Tiara. She was otherwise so protected, with her guard always up. Armaan was always around her and he’d curbed many of my previous attempts to reach her. Kumar had done a good job with Sana. She looked a lot like Shera, and just like I expected, Tiara talked to her. She never talked to anyone, her extended family, her friends, no one. That made her even more difficult to get. Sana was the perfect bait.

I needed to wait for the perfect time, the strongest time, the time when forces of both, the sun and the moon would be in favor. At the stroke between midnight and dawn. But before that, I needed some prerequisites. I couldn’t do this alone. “Kumar, come here son”. He was such a beautifully loyal dog. Since I was going to kill his soul in a few hours, I thought of giving him a brief about what was going on. Despite of his constant begging to tell him what my plan was, I’d declined. Tonight I’d tell him. Not the part where I’d kill him though. “We need to go somewhere. Come on.” He followed me like a little puppy, not that he was really very different from that. “Tonight I’ll tell you all about it. About what my plan is.” I didn’t see him but I was sure his eyes popped out of his face in surprise. “We’re going to where it is all hidden.”

 “We’re approaching the secret I’ve been after for so many years. The ultimate power. The secret that the guardians are guarding. But I never knew until today, that they didn’t even know what they were looking after.” It made me chuckle devilishly. Kumar started driving his Volkswagen. “Shera knew it, and her highness, Kshar. Those two were the highest ranking officers of their time. Shera had guarded it well. She’s surrounded it by all kinds of positive energy. It was impossible for an evil soul like me to go anywhere near it. That’s when I targeted Clark.” Even more surprise on Kumar’s face. He didn’t know his son Armaan too was on their clan now, and I was going to make sure he didn’t learn about it. I’d kill him before that. And by killing him, I mean, kill his soul. His body was important. Many many bodies were important.

“I tricked him into believing that if he’d help me, I’d bring his dead wife back to life. He loved her so much that he forgot all about his duty. He took me there, agreeing to be my soul host. Through his body, I could easily pass the positive energy protection cloud. I’d almost reached the place, when Shera appeared out of nowhere. Man, she was good in her work. From what knowledge I gathered, some other boy was supposed to be there, but in his absence, Shera took over. Such wrong timing the boy had. If it was anyone other than her, I would’ve succeeded that night itself.” The ‘boy’ was none other than Armaan, or Mr. devoul like Sana liked to call him. I actually liked that name. Though it kind of suited me more than him. But no way was I telling Kumar that his son was involved in any of this. He looked at me, silently urging me to continue with the story. I did. “She had really good negotiation skills. She convinced me to leave Clark’s body. She had these womanly charms, mixed with her negotiation skills, and bragged me with taking over her body. I did let go of Clark. Only then did I realize that she lied to me. The other boy came after that, to the rescue of his colleagues. Shera instructed him to take Clark out of here, and he obeyed. She put up a good fight, but she was human after all, weak. I managed to get into her. I finally gained access to all her mysteries. I had no idea a soul has so much enigma.”

I directed Kumar to drive to the city and buy me some doctor gloves and sugar. I checked that the sack was safe in his cars backseat. He was surprised at this combination but obeyed me. Once he got in the car, his curiosity shot right out of his mouth. “So what was it? What were the secrets she was hiding?”

“Shera had a husband and a daughter, Tiara. After a year that Tiara was born, she was hospitalized. She was diagnosed with some disease and she lay on the death bed. Shera started her research then. She was already a guardian, so she explored the soul world completely now. Somehow she found some ways to duplicate souls. She experimented it for several days and when she was absolutely sure, she duplicated Tiara’s soul. In about two minutes, Tiara’s duplicate soul died and her plan failed. The original soul within her was critical. If Tiara’s body died, so would her soul. So she duplicated her soul as well. And she planted her other soul in Tiara. Even today, Shera literally lives, within her daughter. But she has been so subtle that no one doubts Tiara to be a soul host. Even the guardians don’t see Shera’s soul in Tiara. Because she’s not active, she only lives to keep Tiara alive.” Kumar stopped the car. Digesting what I just said. I asked him to drive right into the forest. I think he was surprised, again, because he expected a drive somewhere far far away. But all the mysteries were right here, right in the forest where we all lived. The souls, and the guardians.

“As I reached this confidential information Shera’s original soul started rejecting me. Then she thought better, and picked up the gun. I was completely inside her body. She kept the gun on her head. If she killed herself, I’d die too. This information I’d gained from her was too crucial, and apparently more important than her life. She couldn’t risk me having this knowledge, knowing what I could do. Thanks to my quick response and thinking, a microsecond before she pulled the trigger, I left her body. Her sacrifice went in vain, though I must admit, she was pretty clever. Exactly in the center of the forest, in the cave behind the waterfall, there is something written on the walls that gives the procedure. I tried doing everything it said, to duplicate my soul. But all I could do is split it. Half of which lives in you Kumar. Once I have Tiara, I can experiment in and out of her. Then I’ll know what is missing.” “But master” Kumar said, “how will we get Tiara? I mean she’s all protected right?”. Now I smirked. We already have her, I said “She’s, in the sack in your backseat. I sedated and snuck her out on the way to your place.”