Samsaara : Devadoot

Lose Your Head Over

The rest of the room was similar in construct to Lord Ishrafil's office that I had visited earlier. Cherry had told me about the four generators on the roof on each spire, I assumed that this stone was the one that created Pionic energy for those in Alkapuri. A glowing ethereal gate lay waiting at the far end of the room for us. As I reached close, Lord Ishrafil appeared out of the shadows.

"Ah, he finally appears," he spoke with an irritated tone.

I replied in my standard, indifferent tone, "Yes, just a minute or so late."

"We don't have time to brief you about the mission at this point; Omar will do the same when you reach the place. You should depart at the earliest," said Lord Ishrafil.

Omar greeted me with a nod, while the two ladies were discussing something among themselves. Paviraa stood at a distance with her white robe draped gracefully over her, her brown locks fastened with some clip, exposing her long slender neck. I saw the glint of the gold chain that I had given on her neck and I was overjoyed, she really did keep it with her.

As I reached close, Paviraa turned towards me and Omar and said, "Ladies first," and gestured asking us to go first.

The small curve at the end of her pink lips soon blossomed into a giggle. Nothing in this world feels better than when the girl you like smiles at you. Mary, clueless to the concept of sarcasm stared at us wide eyed, trying to explain to Paviraa that we were not women. Though I had not noticed it earlier, even Mary was a very pretty girl in her own bespectacled cute way.

We all walked towards the Ethereal gate and stepped in one by one. I didn't think I would ever get used to the feeling of stepping into this dense viscous air inside the Ethereal gate. On the other side we were greeted by a gust of fresh air and the scent of petrichor. Along with it came an unusual and beautiful sight; a gigantic boulder perched precariously upon a slope. It looked as though it was ready to roll down any moment now.

All of us walked towards the boulder instinctively. We looked at it in amazement, wordlessly for a few moments. That was when it struck me. I remembered reading about this place, the Venn Irai Kal. A place in the heritage city of Mammalapuram. It justified the glorious description in the book that I read. We walked on the grass towards it and as usual I was tempted to play around. With both my hands I tried push to it down, Omar quickly followed suit much to the dismay of the two women who were with us. Even both of us pushing with all our strengths, the stone didn't budge. It was almost as stubborn as I was.

The rough surface of the stone left temporary dimples on my palms as I pushed it hard. Paviraa and Mary laughed watching our hopeless attempts. Just as the mood had lightened a bit, we all remembered what we had come there for.

Omar said, "Let's split up and look around. Each person can take one direction, that way we will search faster."

"And that's how every horror movie starts," I replied.