Chapter 6 Beyond the Flesh––II
Rudranath stood up. Time started to move again as Annihitep’s silhouette vanished. The frozen spark finally dissolved, and Annihitep’s voice lingered in his ears.
“Feel the air, child.”
Rudranath closed his eyes. The same strange familiarity spread through his body again. He could feel the gentle breeze playing and curling through the hair on his arms, like a child brushing his fingers across young leaves while running through a familiar garden. He had no idea when a new spark had flared to life. Saanvi’s voice reached his ears.
“Are you going to stand like a statue when your family is in this situation, Rudra?”
His pulse quickened for a second, and a punch landed on his nose immediately. He staggered back a little. It was not physically strong enough to make him fall. His brows drew together. Why the hell was he falling to such light attacks?
Annihitep giggled.
“Good. Focus on the smell, now.”
Rudranath drew in a long breath. The sweet smell of marigold and the burnt smell of ash flooded his senses. It soothed his pounding heart. Annihitep whispered in his head.
“How does it feel?”
Rudranath stood silent.
“…”
Then his lips parted. The words escaped from somewhere deep inside him.
“Like home…”
“Excellent. Stop fearing the unknown…”
Annihitep’s words faded in his head. He kept his eyes closed, but he was no longer confused. He could feel the thick liquid flowing against his legs. He could hear footsteps around him—not one, multiple. He tilted his head.
“I am not alone…”
Splash!
A single step on the liquid made him snap his head toward his right.
“Rudra, look at me…”
Saanvi’s voice came from his right. But this time, along with her voice, Rudranath heard something moving against the liquid at tremendous speed. The splashes stopped near him as he felt the cold breeze intensifying from his right toward his head. He lowered his head, just in the nick of time.
A sharp kick cut through the air above him, brushing the tip of his hair. His fighter’s instinct kicked in at once as his body reacted before his mind could. He took a small step toward his right and twisted his torso with a hook. His knuckles touched a fabric first, then he felt the ribs behind it.
“Raaggghh!”
The shout tore from his throat as his fist drove into the ribs. A sharp crack confirmed the fracture. A thin cough followed as something rolled across the liquid surface.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Saanvi screamed in his ear.
“Rudra, stop! You are hurting me.”
Rudranath swallowed. But Annihitep interrupted his thought.
“What are those voices, child?”
“My wife’s voice…”
Annihitep smacked his lips.
“WRONG!”
And instantly a body shot was driven into Rudranath’s torso from his left. This one was heavy. His body hunched to his left under the force, and another cross slammed on his jaw. His ears rang from the brutal one-two. A bitter and salty taste flooded his mouth. Saanvi shouted as Rudranath spat the blood out.
“You dare to raise a hand on me!”
Rudranath ignored the voice and focused on the movement around him. A cold breeze swept across his legs. He jumped as a low sweep cut through the liquid beneath him. Then he felt the breeze shift toward his face. He raised his arms high, guarding his head, as a snap kick touched his arm. Again Saanvi’s voice roared.
“Accept your punishment after raising your hand on me!”
Rudranath’s body had shifted to attack, but her voice made him freeze. In that tiny window of hesitation, a side kick sent him flying backwards. The cool liquid against his skin dulled the pain. His eyes remained closed as he drifted in it. His ears were submerged. Only his face remained above the surface.
Annihitep’s voice rang in his ears with the same question.
“What are those voices, child?”
His thoughts spiralled inside: Saanvi is sleeping in that ward. These voices aren't real. Every time I focus on them, I get attacked. This is a trap. Then the answer came from his heart, trembling his ribs.
“Distractions…”
Annihitep grinned.
“For what?”
“…to keep me away from the truth.”
The instant those words slipped from his lips, Rudranath felt multiple hands on his body. They latched onto him from beneath the liquid. Their embrace was not choking him. They were full of gentle care, as if Saanvi was hugging him from behind. Then, with a quick pull, they dragged him beneath the liquid.
Rudranath gasped. His eyes snapped open. Bubbles escaped his mouth and drifted toward the surface as it grew farther and farther away. Then the whole world tilted before his eyes. The liquid surface above him rotated. Within a moment, He was standing against the liquid surface instead of drowning.
The darkness had vanished. The whole world glowed in a crimson hue. His gaze drifted down to the liquid beneath him, forcing him to swallow hard. It was blood—thick and sticky, as if decades of blood had gathered together to form the river beneath him.
And the hands, touching him? He snapped his gaze to his shoulder. They were only bones. There was not a single trace of flesh in them. They slipped down from his body as the skeletal hands slowly submerged under the blood river. Sekhar’s voice drifted from ahead, groaning a little.
“Outstanding performance, Mr. Bhattacharyay.”
Rudranath looked ahead. The system screen flickered before him. Annihitep’s presence faded from his mind.
[User has successfully erased his false sense of attachment.]
[Innate skill awakened: Soul Vision—the eye that sees through all.]
Rudranath trembled. Sekhar sat cross-legged on a throne made of bones. The throne was placed on a platform floating on the blood river. A circle of Sanskrit inscriptions decorated the platform’s surface, radiating green energy like drifting smoke. But Rudranath’s eyes were neither on the platform nor Sekhar. His fists tightened at his sides. Every strand of hair on his arm stood on end.
“What are those…?”
Multiple human figures drifted through the air, circling the throne. Black smoke wrapped around them like cloth. Their faces still partially carried traces of human flesh, but the rest of their bodies were nothing but bones. Sekhar’s lips moved.
“Are you shocked, Rudra?”
But it was Saanvi’s voice. It came from the ghosts surrounding him. Rudranath’s heart skipped a beat. He could clearly see Sekhar’s lips moving, yet not a single word came out of Sekhar’s mouth. Instead, they were echoing through the creatures in his wife’s voice.
“You have done a great job, Rudra…”
Sekhar stopped for a moment.
“Sorry, Mr.Bhattacharyay.”
Then he rolled his eyes. His natural voice came out through the ghosts.
“I should stop using your wife’s voice.”
Rudranath was trembling in fury.
“What’s the meaning of this circus?”
Sekhar chuckled.
“A test…”
“For what?”
Sekhar stood up from the throne. Instantly, an invisible pressure forced Rudranath to his knees. He walked toward Rudranath. With every step forward, the pressure increased. Rudra’s arms went numb under it. Sekhar stood before him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“To see if you're worth giving a chance to have a say during your daughter’s trial next month.”
Trial? Aarohi’s? In a month? Rudra’s eyes widened. He looked at Sekhar.
“Yes, Mr. Bhattacharyay. We are currently trying to subdue her soul calling to stop them from coming to this world.”
Soul Calling? Rudranath shook his head but remained quiet. Sekhar leaned forward with a grin.
“You have not only learned to activate Soul Vision within this brief time but also damaged me.”
He drew in a breath. Rudranath finally noticed the red stain on Sekhar’s white shirt near his torso. A smile appeared on his face. He muttered to himself.
“So the ribs I felt…”
Sekhar nodded, laughing out loud.
“Correct!”
Then he snapped his fingers. At a little distance, a white line stretched upward from the blood river, forming an empty archway. The darkness inside it split into two by a thin white light at its centre. Then they swung outward like a door. White light flooded in.
“You have earned my respect…”
Sekhar pointed at the door.
“Outside that, you will find an SUV waiting to take you to D.O.S.A.M.’s training facility.”
The pressure vanished. Rudranath was gasping. His whole body felt like a mountain, impossible to move. Yet he stood up. His voice came out weak.
“Training for what?”
Sekhar smiled and tucked a piece of paper into Rudranath’s chest pocket.
“To show your resolve as a father, because right now you are too weak to have a say.”
He turned toward the door as Sekhar returned toward the throne. What sin had his six-year-old daughter committed to deserve all of this? Yet his gaze hardened. If getting stronger meant freedom for his daughter, then so be it. He had no idea how he was walking on a liquid surface. Yet he did.
When he passed through the gate, Sekhar’s voice rang out from behind.
“While you are out there, don’t forget to witness your daughter’s sin.”
