Tyrell
"Celina?" Tyrell mind-connected, dropping the book aside and instinctively taking a step toward the hole.
"Still alive!" Celina replied, her voice as faint as the beating sound coming from the other side of the wall. The slow fumes creeping out of it seemed to be getting whiter and thicker.
Tyrell let out a soft sigh of relief hearing her voice.
He went back to check on the books. It was strange, but in the given amount of time, he wanted to study as much as he could and refresh his memories. Much against Tyrell's better judgment, he admired his father's works. The book was a thorough handwritten guide to dark magic. Not to mention it was explicitly detailed, illustrating techniques- both basic and advanced. The chants, spells, and hexes. Everything good and bad sides of the magic – the differentiation of which came into full glare now that Tyrell thought of magic with both his mind and heart.
How bad can it be anyway? He debated with himself. Jyran used it for good once, did he not? And King Harsh lauded his proficiency in using magic. Hayden, Pruthvi, and Leena don't seem to mind too. What could go wrong with continuing the legacy? What's wrong with developing an extra knack and using it for the country's benefit?
No! Tyrell shook his head and another voice spoke in his mind. Dark Magic brings more trouble than joy. It's better to stay away from it. You're a Samagraha. Be proud and satisfied with the gift you possess.
He went back to reading the part where Jyran explained how the stones of the Breaking Samagraha were being used to manipulate the creatures. Fascinating! Then he searched for anything that gave further explanation of the stones of the Formation Samagraha and if there were any other purposes of these stones beyond giving them elemental powers and serving as the portal between Authentic and Parallel universes. Clearly, Pruthvi's stone was separated from the four of them. Didn't that mean that Shashi had taken a special interest in his stone? None of their Constellia was able to figure out where Makara and the Constellia of the breaking Samagraha were held captive.
He heaved a sigh of inexpressible resignation. Too many questions remain unanswered, and several issues still need to be resolved.
The crisp, earthy smell in the basement shifted and turned pungent. A faint chilled energy touched something primal inside of him. Tyrell perked up. The feel indicated that a mage was in close proximity. An extrasensory perception that every member of the Clan of Maya possessed, the ability that came with practice. How and why though?- educated mages had barely scratched the surface regarding the subject. In general, mages had to come in close contact with another mage to pick up the sensation, a touch per se did the trick. But Tyrell had been sensing the presence of another mage even from a fair amount of distance. It was no miracle. Jyran had believed it had something to do with Tyrell being the successor of First Opal User, who was both a mage and a Samagraha.
Even though Tyrell recognized the odor, he hung up on the energy that seemed to be getting sharper. The person was coming closer. Tyrell hurriedly threw the book to the ground and tiptoed toward the window. He crouched and hid in the shadowed corner. There was a faint frustrating grown. The person was murmuring something. Tyrell lifted himself a little and peeked through the window. The person was tall and seemingly robust. His loincloth was dirty and also...vaguely familiar. Morbid curiously crept up on Tyrell. That outline of the person...Tyrell know who he was.
The man stood against the wall, directly opposite the room where Tyrell stayed hidden. The former turned around and pulled his hood back. Tyrell's breath caught in his throat. It was Shashi Thribhuvan, indeed. His expression was full of hate and anger, and also cautious, almost like of a careful thief sneaking into a house. Shashi squinted around the surrounding. Then he pushed the wall inside. A hidden door, colored as same as the entire expense of the wall, came into the picture. Still looking around, Shashi went inside.
The door slammed shut.
What do I do? Tyrell began to fidget. Just ignore and wait for Celina here? Should I call her back and together we go inside the door? It could be two against one and that sounded safe and the ideal thing to do. Maybe he should just ignore it. But then he would never know what Shashi had been up to and where Shashi was hiding the Maiden's cup or the Emerald. "Let's take a pledge to not come back home unless we make progress." Hayden's words at once boomed in his head. It sounded like encouragement and Tyrell needed that at the moment. Without contemplating anymore, Tyrell gritted his teeth and proceeded toward the hidden door.
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Colder, dimmer and greyer. Tyrell let out a sharp breath through his mouth. Mist vanished away as if blown on a cold glass. Keeping a focused eye on the trail, Tyrell crept slowly into the tunnel, squinting around at the circular greyish-black walls, keeping himself at enough distance from Shashi to remain unseen. The ground was at an angle, the slope decent enough to work up a gait. However, Tyrell felt was as though walking downhill on a snow sled.
Tyrell walked and kept walking, the tunnel bifurcating and trifurcating. The presence of the dark magic being vigorous aided him in easily choosing a path. It was like the red carpet, showing him the way to proceed, luring him towards the place unknown. A slight fright bubbled in the pit of his stomach, knowing that he was getting closer to Shashi Thribhuvan. Shashi's expression which Tyrell had seen earlier, made it clear that this was some secret place known only to Shashi, a place hidden deep underneath the well-known basement concealed loosely within the walls.
Being alone and in peril was more nerve-racking than actually being in danger. This may or may not be the right decision to follow Shashi. He had come too far inside to take a U-turn now. Despite the imminent danger ahead, Tyrell was thrilled to keep moving forward and figure out what the son of the biscuit was up to. One thing was to be taken utmost priority- whatever happened today, even if there had to be a confrontation, his blood should not be spilled at any cost.
After around a thirty-minute walk, Tyrell stumbled to a halt. Sudden wind crossed past him, inflicting a raw bite on his exposed skin. He saw light and a full load of adrenaline shotgunned through his system.
Tyrell picked up the pace. The pressure from the dark magic was building up to dangerous levels. Shashi was right there! His conscience screamed, demanding a halt to his earnestness. He knew that he was walking towards the edge of the precipice and trying to look over, but he wouldn't stop. He wanted to look over. Pruthvi's stone, the Maiden's cup, and the Shaatrumani Stone, Shashi could have been guarding them himself in this very place. Tyrell geared up. He was intent on risking a confrontation.
The light and wind got stronger. The shift of the smell hit the spot. There was the grunting groaning deep visceral sound coming through. Tyrell couldn't see where Shashi was, but he knew the man was ambling around. Tyrell quickly hid beside the wall and peeked through, as a bold opening gambit. The location, too far away from Celina and too smelly, was a large isolated chamber. Tyrell gawked in surprise. Did the world end here, or what!
He took a quick survey of the chamber.
Had it not been Shashi's home, these underground basements and caves hidden underneath the grounds of Paramarashtra could easily be deemed incredible and breathtakingly beautiful. The chamber was a massive sinkhole, a cenote per se, seemingly formed by the collapse of the ceiling. Sunlight poured from the opening above, falling on the staircase attached to the wall and leading to the very opening. The shadow of the staircase falling on the ground was as though of a giant snake. The walls, sheer vertical, were lined with unknown plants and mosses. The ground was covered by puddles and from it grew tall stalagmites, the length of Tyrell's height. The runaways, oh the runaways stole the show. There were two of them, coming from opposite sides, artificially and primarily made of limestones, meeting in the middle to form a junction. The runaways ran over clear crystal-blue water, the natural pit of fresh groundwater seemed ideal for swimming or snorkeling.
The smell, in contrast to the beauty of the sinkhole, was beyond terrible. It wasn't necessarily coming from Shashi's decomposing body but the air reeked with the smell of iron and rotting bacteria. Tyrell felt his lungs filling with it. A rush of instinct came about, what could only be called sympathy and heartache. Tyrell did the crouching walk and reached a stalagmite with a dried-up puddle on the side. He crouched fully down behind the stone wall of stalagmite and peeked over. There he found Shashi who was standing still and blankly staring down.
A lidless dumpster was perched by the wall, underneath the shade of the staircase. It was rusty and bloodied, hands and legs overflowing and hanging down like banana peel. Buzzing flies hovered over them. Women's limbs, Tyrell thought. The dumpster was filled with corpses. Or probably with the living dead.
Shashi sidled towards the dumpster, head bent down, feet a little wide apart. He lifted the lid and stood absolutely still against the dumpster for the better part of the time. He must be staring out for something warm and cozy to fix his foul mood. Then he picked up a limb and brought it up closer to his mouth. The grotesque clarity sufficed. Tyrell turned aside, pressing his eyes shut. The slurp! slurp! sounds gave him a repellant image of Jyran Kerenza, the way his father had skinned several poor unconscious women and savored the blood...Tyrell opened his eyes and pulled himself together before he retched.
"Tyrell?" Celina called in his mind. "Can you hear me?" She sounded muddled and desperate. But it was better not to reply. Shashi might hear him speak. Tyrell couldn't afford to make a mistake now.
A sudden shift steadied him. He cast a furtive glance over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Shashi's long shadow traveling towards the walkway over the stilled water. His gait had a drunken staggering quality. Amidst every halting rolling step, Shashi kept letting out mild groans of displeasure. Then, he dramatically slowed down on reaching the junction in the middle of the pond. The shadow shrunk dramatically.
A moment later Shashi spoke. "She slapped me in the face. That hurt. Not because of how hard the blow was but...it reminded me of my dear father. After all these years...why can't I still forget him, Mother?"
Father? Mother? Tyrell craned his neck a bit and gaped from above the stalagmite. Shashi had his eyes fixed on the water. His shoulders were slumped. No matter the sturdy body of a sixty-year-old, Shashi appeared weak, worn-out, and a lot older than he had been a few hours ago. Like an almighty phoenix reduced to a whimpering whining cat. Sunbeams directly fell on him, his decomposing outline shimmering a bit and floating dust particles visible in the rays. A face peel fluttered on his cheek, his eyes angry and focused.
"I am so close to my goal," Shashi said, his voice now trilling with murderous intent. "So close. Only if a twenty-year-old girl stops playing games with me. But I'm not tired mother, I tell you. I'm not tired."
Oh, you so are! Tyrell turned around and settled down with his back against the stalagmite. He listened to Shashi speak.
"Almourah and I are similar in so many aspects," Shashi continued, and Tyrell heard a disgusting lip-smacking sound. "Little things in life make us remarkably similar. Our love for our mothers made us what we are today, to begin with. He was so very impressed finding me as his equal at using dark magic. He was convinced that his legacy will prevail once he perishes. He lived for thousand years, and Mother, I'm going to live for thousand years too. Just like I promised I would. Probably more and forever. The country will require no Samagraha to fight magic. I will live and strive and grow my clan, and demolish the existing ones until this entire country survives on just one clan. Everyone will be equal. Equal in strength and rank and status. There will be peace. The kind of peace that you and I used to dream about. And I will hold the peace of the country in my hands."
Tyrell's head spun. Just one clan? How? Are you trying to rise tyranny by shutting down crores of people? Tyrell ached to pour his electricity down Shashi's throat.
"Today the kings may not acknowledge what I'm about to do with normal humans, but years from today youngsters will worship me for letting them prosper in magic. They are hung up on the notion to give people a choice to live their lives. What choice? What lives? Why don't they understand the greatness of this opportunity I'm about to give them? Why don't they realize how important it is to abolish the injustice mages have been facing for years? Do you remember Mother, when the mages threatened the authority of the Kings by plaguing this country with the virus? And Father happened to send me to hunt down the Maiden's Cup?"
That was how Shashi had the Maiden's cup with him in the first place. Tyrell perked up remembering the day when they first encountered this cruel man. He listened more carefully, trying to fathom the possible consequences of every word that came out of Shashi's mouth.
"My first and only chance given to prove my worth, how very thrilled I was to embark on the journey," Shashi rambled on. "A chance to use my full potential in every way possible to make Father believe that I'm also worthy of kingship as Harsh. I studied, researched, and investigated, spent day and night- more than necessary- to grasp every single detail about the cup. Sure it's worthless unless it comes in contact with the Tears of the Maiden, and Father never knew that, how very silly of him. Yet, he desperately wanted the cup secured. I researched more and figured that the magnificent cup had much more qualities than just generating the cure for the disease. It is after all one of the Third-Eyes belonging to one of the Pancharatna, the stones of the five Formation Samagraha. The Maiden's cup is only one of the keys with the potency to unlock the Molten Vault."
Molten Vault? Tyrell knew this. He blinked as a faded memory jogged in his brain. The lesson he learned from Jyran...gosh, now he knew the value of it.