Samsaara : Devadoot

Your mission should you choose...

She said, "I'm glad you guys came here, Rishaan doesn't really get many guests at home."

"Thank you," Paviraa said while helping mom pour the juice.

"So you are the girl that he spent such a long time drawing. It's nice to finally see you," she told Paviraa.

"Oh so he took a lot of efforts to make this, but forgot to give it to me. Rishaan can be so forgetful," Paviraa said.

"Yes, he is. I hope my son is not troubling you two much. He can be a handful at times," Mom said.

I had to intervene, "Mom, please."

"Yes, I'm going. You two are always welcome. Next time you will have to stay for lunch. No excuses," Mom said as she was leaving.

I changed the topic, "So where were we?"

"Ah yes, Omar?" Paviraa said.

"There have been a major problem amongst the guardians, so we needed some of your help in dealing with something," said Omar.

"What thing?" I asked.

Paviraa said, "That is confidential, we are just supposed to tell you that Lord Ishrafil has summoned you to Alkapuri. He will brief you on the situation."

I asked, "Right now?"

Omar said, "No, you have a day to sort your affairs out properly. You should report at Alkapuri at 1800 hours tomorrow. Also, you should be prepared to spare at least month of your time."

"One month is a long time, but I think I can manage," I said after taking a long pause and pretending to contemplate.

I had made my decision the moment I saw her; still I acted busy just to seem less desperate. Although after seeing her sketch on the wall, nothing could save me from being deemed desperate.

"Great! We will make a move. See you tomorrow bro," said Omar while opening an Ethereal gate.

Suddenly Paviraa darted towards the wall and removed the sketch from the wall and said, "I'll be taking this with me. You owe me royalty for using my image without my permission."

She teased me by sticking her tongue out and walked towards the Ethereal gate to make the transit. This was the first time I had seen her playful side. It was nice.

"Please take it, I wouldn't want something like that anyways," I said with a carefree expression while the sound of my metaphorical heart shattering echoed inside me.

She walked away into the light and the Ethereal gate closed. I was glad she no longer blamed me for her disappearance. Time does heal all wounds, if only it could have cleared the scars I got from years of acne.

I spent the next day handing over the reins of my Investigative Agency to Jerry. As it turns out, Jerry was a pretty quick learner. He said he would send me updates regarding any cases on my phone. This time I took my own clothes and emergency supplies in my rucksack since I didn't want to be in a robe all the time. I also went through all the things I had learnt about my core and prepared for using it in my own way. I told mother that I was going on a month long trip with those two. She had to look after the renovation in the library. So not having me around to pester her worked in her favour.

The time for my departure inched closer and I grew progressively anxious. Physically I was prepared to make the trip but mentally I had slowly grown to like the drab life that I had just begun to get used to. The only thing that kept me motivated was to meet Paviraa and perhaps getting to know her better.

Next evening at 1745 hours sharp I was packed and ready. I wore the black robe which old man Ishrafil gave me, strapped my core to my wrist, wore cherry around my ring finger and carried all my essentials in my rucksack. The transit through the Ethereal gate brought me to the temple where it all started. From there I transited to the old man's study. The others were waiting for me but the old man was nowhere to be seen. There were four chairs in front of the desk, Omar sat on the far end, followed by Mary and then Paviraa.