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When I opened my eyes, I was on my bed and surrounded by my anxious parents. It was morning but the curtains were drawn and the room was shaded except for sunlight peeping through the chinks.
I lay back quietly, unwilling to talk. My mother fluttered around me, speaking fast and informing me that the Rajguru had managed to overpower the prince and some of the Daits who had been lending their power to him. The prince was being confined. On losing the Dait power, he seemed to have just shriveled and collapsed.
I felt something in me also shriveling. I had failed to notice the evil in his aura and desired to see the red and gold again. But with the Daits gone, would the red have gone too? What was the shade of the prince's original aura?
My parents, interpreting my stubborn silence as a need for rest, left me alone. I recollected every interaction with the prince like a nonstop rerun. Nowhere had I sensed anything amiss. Ok, I was being too arrogant in thinking I could have. But even the many brilliant and capable power wielders around him had not suspected anything. Not just now but in the last so many years. Was that really possible?
The plain gold shone starkly in my mind and I felt the need for a warm hug. I felt myself floating and seeking the gold out. I gently drifted towards the palace and was startled to see red encircling the palace and the gold still stretching itself out towards the sky unperturbed. Alerted by my presence, it glistened and I found myself with Amrit in a bower just outside the palace.
I had never really spoken much to him and so felt oddly tongue-tied. He seemed equally embarrassed and an uncomfortable silence followed.
"I saw red," I finally said.
"Everyone does," he replied.
"No, I mean I saw a red aura around the prince and now around the palace," I explained.
"You can see auras?" he asked.
"Can't you?"
"No. But from you, I suppose it was to be expected."
"Much is expected of me and I find myself falling short," I said bitterly.
"It is not easy," he agreed.
"You can read auras too, can't you? You recognise mine? Just like I see yours."
"No, I can't read auras," he said.
"But you respond every time I have approached you!" I exclaimed.
"I do?" he seemed surprised.
"How are we here, together? Isn't it because our auras met?"
He became silent, looking at me as if for the first time. "I really don't know. Something happens to me and then I find myself with you..." He said that and blushed, realising how suggestive that sounded. "I mean..."
"I understand," I said, feeling my face grow warm. I added hastily, "Today I saw it was all red around the palace. Normally I have seen the prince's aura like that, red and gold. I want to see him. Can you take me to him?"
He looked at me doubtfully. "He is confined and bound by charms. No one is allowed there."
"Not even you, his friend?" I asked, I pleaded actually.
He lowered his eyes. "We were never friends."
I looked at him surprised. "I always saw the two of you together?"
"We have to work as a team, like the current king and my father. So the prince and I train together. We are nearly the same age..."
"Did you never guess that he was under the influence of the Daits?"
He blinked. "It is hard for me to judge. He has always been like this. Ferocious, daring, reckless... But I have also seen him kind and considerate... No reason to suspect anything."
I sighed. Though I knew the prince very little, there had been nothing about him to suggest deviousness or evil. It bothered me that it was so easy to be fooled by the Daits. "I can't find my area of strength or how I can fight the Daits," I looked at him and my eyes filled up. I felt strange sharing my deepest fear with this near stranger. He took my hands in his impulsively and said, "Don't let that worry you! Your escape from Mars is remarkable... Have you tried rousing the previous Shakti?" he asked.
I shook my head in wonder. How to do that?
He laughed, "You have been to Mars, you have been to Jupiter, you have been in space and you don't know what to do on earth?"
"Do you?" I challenged him, hurt to the quick.
"But I am not the power of earth!" he pointed out, still grinning boyishly. "Anyway, come, I found a way into the prince's room. But you have to be careful."
"You found a way? How? You are here, with me!"
"Only in spirit..." he said and beckoned me to follow him, turning into the golden light that I had reached out to.
This was a second skill I had to master, I realised. My body was lying useless back in the room as my spirit roamed around, but here he was, finding a way inside the palace even when talking to me outside.
I felt as if I was being dragged. But I couldn't pay attention to it as I stood looking at the prince, his eyes closed, looking peaceful, like an angel. There was not a shimmer of any light, red or gold.
And then my spirit was being dragged back forcefully. I saw Amrit and the unconscious prince being surrounded by red and the red turning into armed beings of strange form. Amrit took the stance of a warrior and I heard him chant. Before my spirit joined my body with a hard impact, I realised that the two men who held the future of the Sacred Shell in their hands were trapped together.
I could think of nothing brilliant to save them as heat welcomed me like an old friend. I was back in Mars, in my old cell, and shackled unceremoniously.
(Continued here)
To read the previous chapter, click here.
When I opened my eyes, I was on my bed and surrounded by my anxious parents. It was morning but the curtains were drawn and the room was shaded except for sunlight peeping through the chinks.
I lay back quietly, unwilling to talk. My mother fluttered around me, speaking fast and informing me that the Rajguru had managed to overpower the prince and some of the Daits who had been lending their power to him. The prince was being confined. On losing the Dait power, he seemed to have just shriveled and collapsed.
I felt something in me also shriveling. I had failed to notice the evil in his aura and desired to see the red and gold again. But with the Daits gone, would the red have gone too? What was the shade of the prince's original aura?
My parents, interpreting my stubborn silence as a need for rest, left me alone. I recollected every interaction with the prince like a nonstop rerun. Nowhere had I sensed anything amiss. Ok, I was being too arrogant in thinking I could have. But even the many brilliant and capable power wielders around him had not suspected anything. Not just now but in the last so many years. Was that really possible?
The plain gold shone starkly in my mind and I felt the need for a warm hug. I felt myself floating and seeking the gold out. I gently drifted towards the palace and was startled to see red encircling the palace and the gold still stretching itself out towards the sky unperturbed. Alerted by my presence, it glistened and I found myself with Amrit in a bower just outside the palace.
I had never really spoken much to him and so felt oddly tongue-tied. He seemed equally embarrassed and an uncomfortable silence followed.
"I saw red," I finally said.
"Everyone does," he replied.
"No, I mean I saw a red aura around the prince and now around the palace," I explained.
"You can see auras?" he asked.
"Can't you?"
"No. But from you, I suppose it was to be expected."
"Much is expected of me and I find myself falling short," I said bitterly.
"It is not easy," he agreed.
"You can read auras too, can't you? You recognise mine? Just like I see yours."
"No, I can't read auras," he said.
"But you respond every time I have approached you!" I exclaimed.
"I do?" he seemed surprised.
"How are we here, together? Isn't it because our auras met?"
He became silent, looking at me as if for the first time. "I really don't know. Something happens to me and then I find myself with you..." He said that and blushed, realising how suggestive that sounded. "I mean..."
"I understand," I said, feeling my face grow warm. I added hastily, "Today I saw it was all red around the palace. Normally I have seen the prince's aura like that, red and gold. I want to see him. Can you take me to him?"
He looked at me doubtfully. "He is confined and bound by charms. No one is allowed there."
"Not even you, his friend?" I asked, I pleaded actually.
He lowered his eyes. "We were never friends."
I looked at him surprised. "I always saw the two of you together?"
"We have to work as a team, like the current king and my father. So the prince and I train together. We are nearly the same age..."
"Did you never guess that he was under the influence of the Daits?"
He blinked. "It is hard for me to judge. He has always been like this. Ferocious, daring, reckless... But I have also seen him kind and considerate... No reason to suspect anything."
I sighed. Though I knew the prince very little, there had been nothing about him to suggest deviousness or evil. It bothered me that it was so easy to be fooled by the Daits. "I can't find my area of strength or how I can fight the Daits," I looked at him and my eyes filled up. I felt strange sharing my deepest fear with this near stranger. He took my hands in his impulsively and said, "Don't let that worry you! Your escape from Mars is remarkable... Have you tried rousing the previous Shakti?" he asked.
I shook my head in wonder. How to do that?
He laughed, "You have been to Mars, you have been to Jupiter, you have been in space and you don't know what to do on earth?"
"Do you?" I challenged him, hurt to the quick.
"But I am not the power of earth!" he pointed out, still grinning boyishly. "Anyway, come, I found a way into the prince's room. But you have to be careful."
"You found a way? How? You are here, with me!"
"Only in spirit..." he said and beckoned me to follow him, turning into the golden light that I had reached out to.
This was a second skill I had to master, I realised. My body was lying useless back in the room as my spirit roamed around, but here he was, finding a way inside the palace even when talking to me outside.
I felt as if I was being dragged. But I couldn't pay attention to it as I stood looking at the prince, his eyes closed, looking peaceful, like an angel. There was not a shimmer of any light, red or gold.
And then my spirit was being dragged back forcefully. I saw Amrit and the unconscious prince being surrounded by red and the red turning into armed beings of strange form. Amrit took the stance of a warrior and I heard him chant. Before my spirit joined my body with a hard impact, I realised that the two men who held the future of the Sacred Shell in their hands were trapped together.
I could think of nothing brilliant to save them as heat welcomed me like an old friend. I was back in Mars, in my old cell, and shackled unceremoniously.
(Continued here)
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