(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

23.1. Caged, Cursed and Consumed

"There!" Pruthvi jerked at Kumbh's sudden outburst. In that delirious, starved, and semi-conscious state, he watched only a faint outline of the Constellia running toward the other end of the place. "Master Pruthvi!" Kumbh's voice startled him. "It's Makara! Please hurry!"

Without saying another word, Kumbh turned around and dashed away, gone into the toned-down brightness of the tunnel- narrow, damp, and filled with the metallic smell of blood. Kumbh's announcement set Pruthvi's heart racing but was left alone surrounded by the intensity of his blurred vision and the pungent smell. Kumbh was so close to Makara and Pruthvi was afraid to give up now. His consciousness was fading away into a space. His heart was pounding loudly. Perhaps, this was it. This was the limit. His alternative kinetic power could keep him going only that much.

He slumped further down, tears slipping from his eyes. Further and further he lowered. And then...

A burst of energy and his eyes shot wide open.

It was no wonder drug or miracle cure that had showered upon him. It was the result of one of his friends' ingenuity, he was sure of it. His chest muscles bulged and his biceps swelled with an incredible amount of strength. Blurriness was gone, hunger was however there but the mad craving vanished. Liveliness returned, infusing his insides with oodles of get-up-and-go spirit. He took in a deep breath, no matter the disturbing smell. With the feeling of restored quizzical enthusiasm, he sat up on his knee and punched the ground.

The ground shook to a minor earth tremor. His Formation was working. He relished the presence of the stone inside his pocket.

"Leena!" he mind-connected.

They had a quick talk. Leena spoke swiftly, passing on the information with a profound exhilaration, and the discovery she had made sent a shudder down Pruthvi's spine. Agnidaanav? She has been fighting with that hell of a monster again? Together they quickly came up with a dangerous plan yet that might be helpful to act unpredictably in the face of unpredictable situations.

Pruthvi crept along the path, carefully studying and pitying at the dead bodies piled in mini debris. His senses had gotten back to being sharp and focused, not that he was too happy about it. Underneath the glowing roof, the piles cast the worst kind of silhouettes across the icy floor. It wasn't just a murder, it was genocide. Tons of bodies lying abandoned, skin peeled off and limbs cut off, they surely had been dead for some time. Pruthvi's anger towards Shashi grew even more. The desire to see Shashi dead burned incessantly in his heart.

Makara! Kumbh had mentioned his Constellia's name before his little episode. He gritted his teeth and kicked his heels before running towards the tunnel Kumbh had disappeared to.

The shift was obvious. Inside the tunnel, the atmosphere was much more foreboding. Wall turned craggy, glistening with melting ice as though sweat. There was an opening, like a maw, threatening to swallow anyone who dared to enter. Illumination was bad in here though. There were unlit torches clamped against the wall by the rusting iron brackets. Pruthvi had no time to fire them up at the moment of desperation.

Pruthvi rushed down his way, clinging onto this feeling of wandering around, turning his head to locate Kumbh. Then, at the corner of the desolate place, Pruthvi found Makara, and... an exasperated sigh escaped his throat. There were the  Constellia of Breaking Samagraha! All seven of them. None of the Constellia noticed his appearance, nor they shifted in their position. It took a moment for him to study the condition of the Constellia, and when it dawned his face hardened with disbelief and anger. 

The Constellia were mercilessly caged, chained, and hanged from crudely-carved wooden gibbets. And Makara...the poor Constellia was seated down, legs slightly spread out, and had his eyes closed as though unconscious.