Nyx, by her nocturnes entices them awake.
The corpses, they dance out of the bleeding lake.
Grinning in their slumber, they dream of fleeting deaths.
The she-devil in her fire hath their souls possessed.
Flesh and their bones, rot, decay and fall.
Putrid stench permeates through it all.
The water red and rusted, stained by their blood.
Tears soaking earth, their footprints mark the mud.
Entranced by her songs, the soldiers onwards marched.
Bones, like rattles ring, throats eternally parched.
Trickery and lies, her eyes led them to lust.
They dance to her tunes, until they turn to dust.
Death, by her nocturnes, entices them awake.
'Carpe noctem, carpe noctem, carpe noctem', she regales.
I had been having visions these past few days. Thoughts of suicide, death, and dead bodies. In all of those visions there was one thing common. The silhouette of a large woman. As I stepped into my room I got another vision. I was lost for a few moments.
I regained my consciousness when I was greeted with a, "Hey!" and a, "Finally!" simultaneously.
Omar and Paviraa were in my room waiting for me. Omar was being his usual perky self, treating my old bed like a trampoline, while Paviraa was looking ever so graceful pacing around in my room.
"What's up with this?" were the words that came out from her perfect lips as she pointed to the sketch of her that I had made. Here I was hoping to look cool and try to impress her but I am sure that I looked like an obsessive stalker.
"You're in love!" exclaimed Omar trying to tease me in a high pitched voice.
"Shut up," I said, "That's just some random sketch that I was trying to make; it was just a coincidence it ended up looking like her."
Paviraa said, "It is not love, this looks more like an unhealthy obsession. Leave that aside, there are so many books here, and no girlfriend. You sir, are a nerd."
'We can discuss the contents of my room and personal life later. First tell me what you came here for," I asked.
Mom came in my room to serve some juice to my unexpected guests. Omar hopped off the bed the moment she came in.
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.
There was a vacant chair next to her, I promptly took that seat and asked, "Hey, what did I miss?"
Omar mocked me by saying, "Dude, apart from missing Paviraa dearly, you did not miss anything. Also, we just reached here se we are in the same clueless boat as you. Mary came here an hour ago, she might know."
I turned red when he said I missed her. Since I did really miss her, I did not have any sly responses to his remark. Paviraa concealed a giggle within a fake cough while Mary continued to stare at the floor while fidgeting with the tassels in the edge of the carpet with her feet. The rest of the 10 minute wait was just one big awkward silence.
That was when I realised I know absolutely nothing about Paviraa, except that I want to devote the rest of my life to finding more out. She was making small talk with Mary and Omar was staring out of the window while tapping his hands rhythmically on the flame maple desktop.
I noticed that we were sitting inches apart, me and her. This was the first time I noticed the difference in our complexions. I was just a few shades darker than her, but her skin glowed. I barely managed to control my urge to touch her soft skin. Now I was being intoxicated by her perfume, and I am not talking of the fruity perfume which she wore, but of the sweet natural fragrance of her.
We were so close to one another but the silence made it feel as though we were miles apart. There was a pitcher of water and a few inverted tumblers placed on a tray on one side of the table. I helped myself to a glass of water to get rid of the knot in my throat.
Somehow, I didn't feel nervous around her anymore. Just as I had gathered the courage to make small talk with her, the old man fell through an Ethereal gate from his ceiling straight onto the chair behind his table. The chair buckled under the impact and flexed right back to its original state.
He smiled at me and said, "It's good that you came early; let's get straight to business, shall we?"
Disappointed, that he spoiled my chance to speak with Paviraa with his 'straight to business attitude' I let out a sarcastic, "Yay."
The old man said, "There have been a few incidences which have created furore amongst the guardians."
The old man's serious disposition made me understand the gravity of the situation and I said, "What kind of incidences?"
"As you must have noticed, since the year 2000, our world has been afflicted with constant rise in the acts of terrorism. We have researched that almost 90% of these acts have been prompted or set into motion by non-human entities." the old man said.
"Non-human entities?" I mumbled with a puzzled expression on my face.
'The Watchers are behind these acts of terrorism. We knew this since the very start and continued to put a stop to their actions. But lately we have realised that there is a lot more to their actions than random acts of violence. Much of their actions have been the root cause in a chain of events which results in a far greater loss of life than anticipated. They just trigger an event which causes war or rioting: a lynchpin. The humans begin fighting amongst themselves and this makes their work easier," Ishrafil explained.
I asked, "So most of the wars and riots of the past few years --"
The old man interrupted, "-- were caused by the watchers. We realised this rather late. We noticed a similar pattern across the world where a single act of terrorism caused widespread panic and suspicion. This in turn leads to wars and civil unrest. To investigate this, we sent some of our best Guardians. Most of them have been MIA since then, and the few whom we managed to track down had been killed before we could find them."
"Killed?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," the old man said.
"If your best Guardians have not been able to stop them, why ask me to help?" I asked.
"When I was inside your head, and when I checked your actions from Lord Metatron's records, I saw that you have something that not all of our Guardians have," he said.
"And what might that be?" I asked, being genuinely intrigued.
"Deductive reasoning, foresight and preparation. Also you survived a fight with one of their stronger minions, which is something I can't say for most of the Guardians here," he said.
"Oh that. I thought you were talking about my drop-dead gorgeous looks and impeccable hair," I jested.
"If only you'd learn to be more serious, you would achieve so much," the old man responded.
"But then, I would be boring," I said.
Paviraa interrupted, "You already are boring."
Omar, "Ouch!"
Lord Ishrafil looked at the others and said, "I am sending some of my best guardians with you. So I'm sure you will be fine."
"This guy? Really?" I said pointing at Omar.
"Enough, disperse now. You have to leave tomorrow," Lord Ishrafil said.