Memories were not always pleasant.
Some were worse than others. But certain memories would be better off untouched. Such memories arose from the depths of my mind. I didn't understand how it happened. As soon as the coldness stuck at my feet, I lost sense of my surroundings and people. I looked down and closed my eyes trying to force the memories shut. My body felt a sudden chill. A pain long forgotten bloomed once again.
A small girl cried in pain. Bruises and cuts all over her body. She hugged her mother tightly as her father raised his whip to hit once again. It was on a side of a street that happened — a busy street on that. But still, nobody saw them, nobody cared. Her mother took the next blow, her body was nothing better than her daughter.
Nobody came for the lament of her mother. Nobody cared to glance at their pitiful cries of pain. Because, they were simply beggars. The father — a thug who organizes begging and earns money from that. He never considered the two as his family. They were nothing but slaves to him. Even worse than slaves. His beatings were usual, but this day, it went to some extreme levels.
He had never beaten them in a crowded area like that before. Fortunately, a man, unlike the others, cared. The unknown man had investigated the matter from the townsfolk. Then he filed a police complaint on the thug — her father. The unknown man could've been new to town. For he knew not to mess with such thugs.
The next day after her father's arrest, she saw that unknown man's body strung up on a pole in the middle of a crossroads. She was never freed, still the same beatings, the same cursings. Only the doer changed. Now it was a different man, the one above her father. The unknown man's sacrifice wasn't for nothing. He had inspired the girl.
After some years, the girl had grown up and led her community to start a rebellion. I was the girl who did it all. I gave them hope. I gave them courage. At last, my pain had lessened, as I and the others filed a case against our laborers. The police managed to put almost all of those thugs in prison. But one escaped — the boss.
A year later, when most of my bruises started to fade away, he came. The boss came for revenge and had it. He had killed most of the rebels and came for me. Years of beatings hardened me. I wasn't frail. I was strong.
I fought with him barehanded and almost won. But he pulled a tricky move and used a hidden mini dagger to hit straight at my waist. It was a deep cut. I immediately removed the dagger and used it to kill the man — the first kill of my life. The wound I bore from the fight was agonizing beyond anything I had ever felt. Blood soaked my blue gown and filled around me.
But knowing that I had prevented the slaughter of the remaining of our people and more over my mother, I felt a new feeling, proud. I had never been proud before. The world swirled in my eyes, in the brink of death. I was rescued eventually and had to spend half a year there.
Time didn't move fast. Even if those were only visions. Time barely moved. It felt like I was living through the memories rather than remembering them. I prevented myself from remembering those agonies. 'But now. I'm once again living it all over!', I yelled in annoyance but it didn't come out. I was inside my younger version, just as the eyes.
I simply lay on the bed in the hospital. For months. The pain was never-ending. The agony kept growing. Though the wound healed over time, my heart felt void. My mother was the only one who ever cared for me. And she too at last…
She was taken by the COVID. I smelled mucus and heard coughs from the isolated room she was locked in. I was forbidden from entering the room. The agony didn't end with that.
The night my mother was infected, Master spoke in my dreams for the first time. His voice rang through my mind:
*Anya, let me introduce myself. I'm uh… never mind. It's not important. Simply call me Master and I will be. Come to Kaalam. I need your help, that's why I came to speak. Not for free of course, in turn I'll cure your mother*
I shrugged that as a simple dream. But the next day, he teleported me to Kaalam, to king Yali the Time Emperor. There, the Yali had given me the mystical power — weapon summoning. But the part where I was teleported to Kaalam and got my powers didn't appear in the vision. It focused only on the pain — strangely. Finally, it showed the last bits.
The day that Dalāy had interfered with my dreams, to wake me up and save Velan from Master. Just one day prior to the current events. He had never intruded into my dreams before. And the disturbing dream he gave me — I forgot all of it the moment I woke up. Maybe he didn't master it properly like Master. Through the vision, I couldn't see what I dreamed that day, but I felt the pain and suffering of the person whom I dreamed about that day.
I felt sickeningly anxious. The vision made sure to make me feel my past pains again. Even though I couldn't see the dream that Dalāy had shown that day, I could feel the pain in it. The pain of living. The struggles of life. The struggles much like the ones I had faced myself.
And then, all went black. I let out a sigh of relief, "Finally".
I landed on a smooth and cold surface.
My eyes were too sore to open. As if it stayed close for decades. Indeed, the vision felt that way. Beside me, two more people thumped to the surface.
Grounding my teeth, I opened my eyes. I looked at my feet — a frozen lake. There was no such thing in South India. Where are we? I thought, looking around searching for Dalāy. But he wasn't there to explain what the vision was about. Like always.
Only Velan and King Veer Bāndha stood behind me. They looked as confused as I was. But they didn't have the same expression as I. They looked rather… happy.
I pushed aside my thoughts and faced Velan. His untidy free hair flowing gracefully in the cold wind. The wind blew in a single direction. As I looked at him, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What?"
I was stunned to say anything. And said, "It must've been hard. I get it. Forget the vision you had. I'm here for you". It sounded stupid and I knew it. He simply stood staring at me. Finally he said, "Why though? Those were the only few good things that have ever happened to me"
'Good things?', I frowned in confusion.
Maybe I was weak. To get such a vision. "No", king Veer Bandha declared, "you're not weak, child". He said it as if he read my mind.
His power was very odd. But I knew better than Velan did. He spent little to no time with the king. But I was fascinated by his powers. He said one day, "I'm sorry, child. But there're only 3 souls in the whole universe that are concerned about you". I thought that to be something normal. But he had also said, "and it's not normal, child. The least I have seen was 4 and that too, was so long ago". But I wasn't discomforted by that statement.
I found it amusing that even 3 souls cared for me. I had wondered who those souls could be. One must be my mother, always wishing me good. Maybe one of the others is Velan?
The thought itself made my cheeks turn red. But in that climate nobody would know. Or so I thought.
"Anya? Why are your cheeks so red?", Velan asked, his voice was barely a whisper in the noisy winds. The king quietly walked a few feet away from us and stood silently. My cheeks turned even redder, as I said stuttering, "No! It's nothin' I'm just allergic to cold air!".
He just shrugged and then asked in a more serious tone, "Anya. Are you alright? What visions did you see?"
There was still some time for that. I'll eventually tell you everything Velan, I thought.
"The sudden teleportation made me dizzy. That's all. Don't mind me", I lied. Moreover, I didn't want him to feel bad for me or pity me.
"Velan. We should search for the others", I said.
"Anya. This is his domain right?", he asked.
"Yes…"
"Which could mean that he has great control over this place, isn't it?"
"I guess…"
"DALAY!", Velan shouted. "Where are you?"
In the wind, his voice barely reached me but I somehow felt the same way as he did — Dalāy could hear it even if we whispered something. That's what we believed.
I joined him, "Dalay! You there?"
After a few seconds, a reply came — not from Dalāy. But the frozen lake burst open a few feet to our front. I instinctively extended my left arm, as to summon a weapon. But nothing.
No weapon came for my aid. Maybe when I faced Master, he didn't simply make that weapon vanish, he took away my power entirely. I clenched my teeth in annoyance as a massive figure jumped up through the hole that it had burst open.
I stood without any weapons. Velan to my side, frowned. He might be trying to remember a spell from his wasted scroll of mantras. The creature that came out was standing on four legs, easily towering over even Velan who must be at least 6 feet. It had the body of a horse and the head of a large cat. Its fur was glistening in dark scarlet colour and its eyes a contrast to its body — cyan slit like pupils and blue iris.
It looked docile and harmless, but I stood defensive — ready to run at any moment, without abandoning Velan of course. But Velan laid a hand on my shoulder and said, "Calm down Anya. After all you believe in Dalāy don't you?"
I nodded my head in agreement and stood waiting. Why would The Space Emperor's creature attack us? It must know at the very least that no intruders can enter here without Dalāy's permission. It came close to us and to my surprise… it spoke:
"Dalāy wants you to be there in his mansion. And you're wandering off on your own?"