In the ashram, Raghav wakes up in that same bed. He looked around, and then got confused,
" Why does hell look like that old basterd's lab?"
" Cause it isn't hell " Came the voice of the old sage from behind.
" And my ashram isn't a lab. "
" Yeah, and my father was doterernery. Raghav said sarcastically. And stands up, stretching.
" I thought I died. "
" You know what you did was very reckless and foolish, you should never underestimate a kaal no matter what, you almost lost a part of the city, and you could- "
" Could have died, but I didn't so - "
" You died, and I resurrected you. " Said the old man, looking at him.
" Wh-what you mean I died. "
" You haven't read the turned pages yet, don't you? " and he motion him to follow him,
" Wait, what do you mean you resurrected me?"
" It's exactly what it sounds like, you died and I resurrected you, again. I have the power to resurrect the Maharakshak, as long as I'm awake. "
" Wait what that means again? You resurrected me, how, and how many times did you have done that? "asked raghav.
" Many times, more like everytime you die. "
And he looked shell shocked.
" It was pure reckless of you , if I haven't had the power to resurrect you, you are dead right now. Why did you do that? "
" You didn't know that you could have died, you have the chance to run, so why did you run, and why didn't you choose the kaal, she knows your real identity, you are at risk. You loved once will be in danger. Why ? Did you choose to die? "And Raghav looked at him with a serious look. And raghav kept looking at him for some moment .
" There is nothing wrong with trying. "
" You could have died "
" I know I wouldn't have. " He said, not looking convinced.
" You know you are going to die, you know you are dying, your heart is beating fast, your hands are shaking. and you were thinking about your mother and father. How much you wanted them to be with you, how much you wanted your mother to wish you happy birthday one more time, how much you wanted to hug your father once more, you didn't care that time how much you hated him. You were ready to meet them, you were ready to meet them at the beginning. You never wanted money, you didn't care about fame, neither power or woman. So what did you want, Raghav? "
And raghav gave him a glare.
" You don't have any right to talk about my life." Said Raghav, with anger filled eyes.
" I have my own privacy. And remember, I'll die before I let anyone die. " And after saying that he left the ashram, by lift.
And as soon as he entered the lift, his clothes changed to his office once, and he immediately clasped his hand, and focused his power on the fish carving on his braccers, and he got glimpses of a storm, and a person swimming in the storm.
" You can track her. '' Came the annoying voice of the old man. Raghav cursed his luck and asked.
" Is there any way to cut off the mind connection with you? "said raghav.
" Not that I know off. "said the old man.
" I can sense her."
" Looks like you have quite a trick up your sleeves. "
" She is in the Indian Ocean, still it's a coastline away from shore. How much time will it take to go there? "
" An hour if you go flying, and five seconds if you use the lift. '' And the button he used to go down there changed to a see Mark tower.
" What's there ? "asked raghav.
" A supposed blank ocean, and a ton of soma. And If it explodes, you have to go somewhere else in the summer, cause Maldives will be out of order."
" In number? "asked raghav.
" What you felt like in the city would be a gentle breeze compared to that. " And raghav gained a thoughtful look.
" Why didn't they use it distroy the world. You said that we have plenty of them, and sure did they also. And the end goal of this whole ordeal in the annihilation of human race, why didn't they do it earlier. Why not now? " Asked raghav.
An old man took a pause.
" Because of jurisdictions of ours. If they use soma, we will be free to enterfear in the matters of mortals. And more important they didn't want to wipe us out. "
" Why? " He asked. And he went quiet for a bit, and then reply.
" Because we are seeds Raghav. "
" Of what ? "
" Of sins. Longer we live, the more we indulge ourselves in the desire of this mortal world. We humans are the seeds of his arrival, and all the kaals are farmers, who are farming the corpse at the right time. Killing humans is the last thing they'll ever do. If there is no human, there will be no adharma. "
" That's terrifying. "said Raghav with a deadpan look.
" Whatever, let's see the ocean. " And he pressed the button, and the door opened slowly, and he saw himself sky high. The lift was just hanging in the air like it's a normal floor for it. He looked down, and saw the wind roasing up in the sky. It was stormy weather.
" It's lever three tornadoes on the coast, it's a storm, and guess what people are calling it? "
" What? "
" Kalikal. "
" Nice name, any advice? "
" We don't know what's inside there or if it's even real, be careful. You must be half immortal now, but they can still harm you in many ways. "And Raghav looked thoughtful.
" Hey, old man, if you can resurrect the Maharakshak, how did they all die? " Asked Raghav.
" I was sleeping. " Came the sudden reply.
" Not a time for jokes, tell me the real reason. "
" What I said is true. Every once in a while, I need to sleep for a certain amount of time, to regain my strength, and to make the flow of chakra right in the world. And in that time frame many Maharakshak have died. And they are random and unavoidable so, you know the reason. "
And Raghav sighs, and sits on the edge of the lift.
" And here I thought we had some huge curse of shorts. " And no reply came. And that makes him werry.
" I don't have a curse or do I? " Asked a now little terrified Raghav.
" No, not you. Just try to stay away from poisonous snakes. "
And he again sighs.
" You know nah, when I was seven I brought a cobra into my house ."
" Yes. Your mother told me, you were heing it by his tail, and dragging his way to your home. She told me that your father almost has a heart attack then and there. "said the old man.
" We guess, I can't do anything now. " And he jumped from the lift. And went down directly toward the water, and his gills emerged. And his sensory abilities went to work. And he didn't find a single trash of any anomaly, he looked at his phone, and it was showing the exact same location where he lost the signal.
" Is it possible to hide from my sensor abilities?"
" They might have made a barrier. Maybe that's why we both can't find them. "
" Is there any way? "
" Use your familiar, on a smaller scale.. '' Said the old man.
Raghav concentrated, and made several small blue fish out from his braccers, and waved them to go each in a different direction. And he closed his eyes, and focused on every single one of them. He saw several things, and marked several things. He was looking for something odd and different, and when he was paying close attention, he felt one of his faces get eaten by some unknown force, he sent two more fish there, and they just vanished away.
" If that doesn't sound suspicious, I don't know what will. " And raghav went there, and saw nothing special. It was just a normal part of the ocean.
" Did you sense anything? " Asked raghav.
" No? I'm seeing what you are seeing. " Said the old goat.
" Well, I can see something really off. "
" And what is that?"
" There is an air bubble in front of me. " And he tossed a stone which just vanished after a certain point.
" That might be. '' Said Raghav, and went directly in. Ignoring all caution.
And his guess was right, there was an air pocket. And he can see the water running over him, and small fish and stones littered on the ground. He ignored them and looked straight. And what he saw made his eyes go wide.
" Are you seeing this? '' Asked Raghav in astonishment. Cause in front of him was the biggest industrial mine he has ever seen. And he was mear dust compared to it. And he saw several industrial level equipment and cranes, heavy duty transportation carts, and people, lots of lots of people.
He was so surprised that he didn't even realise that he couldn't hear the old man at all. And when he came out from his surprise state, he realised that he couldn't hear the voice of that old man. He peeked out his head from the invisible wall, and heard the sudden voice of the old goat, and he immediately regretted his decision to peek his head. The old man was scolding him for being reckless, and acting so immature when Raghav cut him and told him to look in his memory. And when the old man did, he got quiet for some time and then said.
" Destroy it. " Said the old goat in a firm tone.
" Destroy it? And how you expect me to do it. There are atleste near a thousand of those men or creatures, and maybe two or three higher ups. And there somewhere is maya, and she knows who I am. "said raghav.
" Seal her form, and bring her to me, I'll erase her memory, including your identity, if they already didn't know? "
" They don't know I sensed it, she lost her voice in that battle. "said raghav.
" Seal her, and then destroy this base . "
" And How? " Raghav asked sarcastically.
" They must have a spell or a device, which must be holding this place standing, destroy it, and let the mine be submerged. our man will seize this area. "
" Wait, I have goons. "
" I have, and don't worry about it, focus on the task. I've put an identification spell on you, they won't be gonna identify you."said the old man.
" We are gonna have a long talk after this. "said Raghav entering the air pocket.
He went in, hiding, and inspected the area. He saw several lifts, and pipelines. The place was built like a diamond mine, but they were extracting a liquid like petroleum. They were in the deep ocean, and the only source of light in that dark and cold area was a red lite, that was coming from a massive red pillar of light in the middle of the mine. People working there were not human, if their appearance and weird demonic nature is anything to go by . And if we are talking about the soma, there was a tone of that .
" Why do they need this much? " Asked Raghav looking at the pond of endless soma.
He stops in the middle, when he sees a composition. He went there he saw from a distance, that some human-like peoples were gathered around the fire, and they all were holding each other's hand, and enchanting some mantras, and a weird kind of aura, and that aura was red in colour . And if that didn't sound suspicious, then the skulls and the sunbeam of red light heading toward the ceiling lighting up the entire area in it's glory is any indication to go by. He placed their weird triangular thought aside, and focused on the main objective, finding maya.
He focused on his senses, and tried to see the image of maya, when he got the first person view of the ship's window , and a man in black clothes holding his forehead, and that same red beam of light from that window, and a crane with number eight written on it. He immediately opened his eyes and looked around for the eight number lift. And his eyes immediately landed on a section, which has a number eight written on it. He went there and tried to find her, he found the eight number crane. He looked at the left, and saw a sunken ship. And the windows that he was looking for. It wasn't a ship, it was a submarine, a submarine of Indian arm forces . And by the looks of it, it crash landed here.
He looked around, and when he saw an opening he went in. And after getting inside, he took some deep breaths. His Heart was pounding, and sweat started to show on his skin. The dim light of the sub wasn't helping him in any regards of safety or security, it was making him totally scared. Seeing the sweat running down his face. He wiped them clear, and focused on his task. After calming himself down he went down stairs by the metal staircase, and saw some guards, and hid from them, and when a guard saw him, Raghav started to sweat, and he was about to transform when the guard looked at him, and then turned, back walking away. He takes a sigh, and for the first time in his life thanked the old man for his spell casting.
He looked around, and started looking through the door windows, and he didn't find anyone yet. He focused on his power once again, and he saw that same man and that same crane from the window. They were still trying to fix her.
And when he turns, he barely dodges a wooden swing toward his head, and ducked down from another swing. He grabbed the offender's hand, and punched him in the stomach, and avoided a sudden grab by a man, and then the first man punched him in the face, and Raghav grunted and punched the man again, and blocked a kick from the second person, and pushed him by his shoulder. And then a man choke held him from behind.
He makes a fist with both hands and hits him in his solar plackses continuously, when he notices a silver bracelet of Lord Mahadev in his hand.
" You are human. '' Said Raghav to the man in front of him who was now standing up.
" I'm also a human, hay I'm Raghav suryvansi from drishyam. I'm also a human, Har har mahadev, jai shri ram. A kaal will never say those words." He said, trying to convince the black clothes man. And after hearing that, the man loosened his grip, and Raghav inhaled a heavy breath.
" What does kaal mean? "Asked the first man. And when Raghav looked at them, he recognized their uniforms. They were marines, the navi guys.
" Who are you? " Asked the second man, who got a solid punch in.
" I'm Raghav suryvansi, owner of Drishyam news and paper. " Said Raghav, and got his composer back.
" What are you doing here? "
" Are you with those creatures, and what are they? Demons? "
" There are no demons or any other things, they are kaal, short of demons, but different . They feed on human sins, and we call them kaal, and those who look more like demons are chaya-ratri, born from sins. " Said Raghav.
" How did you end up here? '' Asked the first man.
" I came here to destroy this place, I'll tell you more later, first I need to find a woman, who is in this room, she is in a purple dress and a little bit burned . " Asked Raghav. And the first was about to reply when the second stopped him, he wasn't trusting him much. Raghav seeing this said.
" I'm not a threat, I came here to destroy, but I promise I'll save everyone. How many are you here And where? "Asked Raghav. And they didn't look convinced.
" Listen I don't have time to explain, but I can asure, I'll save everyone, just tell me where that girl is. " Asked Raghav . And they still didn't look convinced, and then a elderly voice came .
" I trust him. '' Came the voice of a veteran army man. All eyes turned to the voices direction, and they saw an old man in military uniform.
" But sir. " And the old man cuts him of
" Let him go, I trust him. And the girl is three rooms away." Said the old man. And Raghav thanked him. He left them and went directly toward the area he said.
And the second army man asked the old guy, why did he let him go?, and the first soldier also raised this question.
" Yes, General Raghav, why ? "
" Have you ever called someone a brother who isn't a brother? " And they didn't know what to say.
" We all did. But he not just called that, but also went so far to help his spoken brother in the most dire need. " Said the old man.
And down there Raghav reached the door where the old man had said, and peeked in, and he saw the process still going on. He took a deep breath, and transformed by hitting both breckers. He kicked open the door. And immediately hit both his hand holding maya I'm between his arm, and she transformed into a gem. And when Raghav looked at the tall white clothes man in front of him, the time seemed to freeze for the black clad man. And a single thought rained through his mind.
" Maharakshak. " And he saw the Maharakshak again hitting his braccers, and he looked at his braccers, and then at the man in front.
" He is early . '' Said the black clad.
" He is strong. " And then his eyes roamed to his braccers, which had a carving of fish.
" A fish? What can it be? A fish , a fish, a fish. Something has changed? " And then it clicked.
" That's why she was so terrified. He is early." Think the black clad like a man. He was still seeing the world in slow motion. He raised his hand slowly, he was about to make a spell, when his head suddenly hurts, and he flinches, and loses his concentration, time reaumes.
And when Raghav touches his braccers to each other, nothing happens. He saw the man in front of him was gone, and some weird black cloud was there with black feathers, He looked at his hand, at the purple gem in his hand.