Thissà

- Chapter 2

" If walls could tell stories ,
Would they speak about those moments where they shielded from cold , heat and beasts ?
Or would those carvings and blood on the wall speak ?

If mud could tell stories ,
Would they speak about the times life has sprouted in them ?
Or would those dying pieces of humans beneath the mud speak ?

If time could tell stories ,
Would they speak about men of purpose who lived ?
Or would they speak about the graveyard of empires ? " .

Somewhere north of Tawang ....

In the midst of the night, in the company of a flickering candle and roaring storm ...
Penlama rushed towards the monastery's central library,
Panic and fear stricken penlama was searching for something in the central library's restricted section,
Old age didn't seem to effect him anymore, penlama's weak legs seemed quite fine as adrenaline was driving him .

There was this recurring vision in his dream which has stole penlama's sleep, he got his hands on his guru's personal records,

Saint Vashisht was Penlama's master and was a widely acclaimed yogi who is said to have tamed the natural elements and further dimensions.

Penlama could feel the droplets of sweat on his forehead , even in the bone chilling cold of himalayas, penlama started to sweat and started mumble in his panic stricken state to himself
" Yes it's true, it's today , the day has come..
the prophecy is about to be true,
today is the 9th of the 9th month and it's amavaas!(the dark moon)"...

Penlama heard the front door of the library opening, he quickly kept the records back and came out of the restricted section as he didn't want to be seen in the restricted section at this ungodly hour and he didn't want to raise any questions .

Penlama's apprentice came in with a boy in
his hands,
Penlama could hear people shouting and a women's loud scream at monastery's front door,
apprentice face were filled with fear and his voice was trembling , the apprentice was carrying a boy in his hands,
the boy was awfully still , his eyes had gone all white and boy's face pale as snow, weird patterns had covered all over his skin.

Penlama not only a widely read and wise man, he was a man with thorough knowledge in medicines and ayurveda, it could be said that penlama was officially the village doctor of tawang valley .

The boy was taken over to the medicine room, a thick smell of herbs and potions filled the room,

Penlama started asking questions to his apprentice; while he was shuffling through the cabinets which was filled with bottles of potions ,
"what happened? Who brought him in? what's happening at the front door ? "

apprentice told that it was the boy's mother who was screaming and she's the one who brought the boy in , half of the village is outside the front door and they are saying this boy has been cursed or possessed by " Gulikan" .

Penlama summoned the boy's mother;
she was sobbing and the woman spoke in her trembling voice ,
"He was outside of his home unusually late, once he came back in, he was cheerful and happy and said that a man with only one leg asked him for some water and in return the boy was gifted this ,
And by saying that ,
boy's mother handed over a small wooden box to penlama, with caution penlama emptied the box on his apothecary table and looked closely, old age didn't effect penlama's eyesight as he was having the most strange night of his life and his recurring vision had already been keeping him out of his right mind recently , penlama felt as if something of unspeakable is about to come ;

the pouch contained a piece of black Stone, a small piece of gold, and piece of animal bone .
Apart from the gold nothing in the pouch seemed valuable to penlama .
Lama turned to his examination table where the boy was laid down, boy started breathing heavily and he was all sweating,
the weird patterns on the boy's body started changing , his veins started popping up and the boy struggled for breath
It was the first time penlama has seen something like this ...

"this dreadful storm, today's date, and now this! May God protect us"
Whispered penlama to himself...