Rajveer came running. Heart pounding. Mouth wide open as well as eyes. Sidharth was down motionless. Aditya was standing trembling, looking at his hands. Blood roared in Rajveer's ears.
'what have you done' Rajveer yelled in disbelief, his watery eyes glittering in Sidharth's phone light which was still in his hands.
Rajveer took a step forward. 'wait for a second' breathing heavy 'you are not Aditya' he frowned his grip on his Kattar and shield. He crouched in a fighting position. Ready to attack, his shield and Kattar close to his face, one foot forward. Like an MMA fighter just Panchdhatu weapons instead of gloves. 'tell me who you are' Rajveer bellowed.
Aditya was in no condition to speak. He did that because he was sure that it was not Sidharth it was a Chalawa, an impersonator. He was getting them close to water where a Chalawa always kills his prey. If Aditya hadn't done that, both of them would have been killed so far, but what if he was wrong? What if he killed the real Sidharth? his best friend and he killed him with his own hands. A feeling of guilt was building in his chest.
When Aditya didn't reply Rajveer ran out of patience. Rajveer closed in, in a flash second and pressed Aditya hard with the wall while using his wrist against Aditya's neck. His shield ready to smack him on the head. 'tell me' Rajveer demanded. Aditya didn't try to free himself instead he turned his face to Sidharth's body, tears dripping from his eyes. In the next second his expression changed from grief to both shock and relief. Rajveer followed his gaze, suddenly with a bubbling sound flashlight fell from Sidharth's hand to the ground and everything went dark. Rajveer left Aditya and pulled his mobile phone out and turned on the light and as the light turned on Rajveer's weapons dropped from his hands. He glanced back to Aditya 'how what..' he put his hand off his forehead and took a deep breath. 'it is not Sidharth what is this and.. and how did you know that' Rajveer wondered.
The thing laying down with the sword in his gut was a huge black figure. Now it was about 7 feet tall, long arms and legs with no particular features for his face just two glowing red eyes and pointed gobbling like ears. Its body had no hairs on it just thin black skin. The axe it was holding a moment ago had vanished. Sidharth's mobile was laying on the ground.
Aditya went close to it he picked Sidharth's mobile gingerly. lest the thing may not get up again. When it doesn't, he pulled his sword out of his gut. His sword got out dipped in the syrupy liquid. That things blood was red like us but too dense. Almost like jelly. Aditya cleaned his sword with the thing's body 'it is a Chalawa' Aditya announced half relieved half scared 'I noticed his eyes. A Chalawa never blinks his eyes and nor did he. And when I heard the sound of water, I become sure of it because a Chalawa kills his prey in water and then hide it in the depths so it can eat that later.'
Rajveer was feeling like he had been hanging upside down from hours and his head will burst any minute with blood overflow.
'so, this was what you wanted to tell me' Rajveer asked finally 'but if this is not Sidharth where is he'
'maybe somewhere in the tunnel' Aditya guessed 'I heard him once calling my name but when I sheered back to see there was nothing, he may have been in danger, but he is alive. I am sure.'
'then let's go find him' Rajveer said while picking their weapons from the ground.
♦♦♦
So, the third time in the story Sidharth woke in a dark place alone. This time his back laying on a wall. His Panchdhatu axe in his hand. He stretches his stiffed neck. He got up, Because of the Mantrik possession, he was still feeling no dread of being alone in a dark haunted place. Instead, he roared in anger 'that miserable Chalawa.' Sidharth said really angry 'If my master would be here..' he swatted his hand. Then he calmed himself down with a large breath and started to move in the dark.
Without any light, he was walking in the pure darkness with no problem. Taking turns without hesitating. Like he had a GPS fit in his mind. Soon his walking turned into jogging and in the next minute when he stopped, he was at T point. On the right side, at some distance, he saw three flashlights. He ran toward them and yelled 'Aditya!' on the same bloody moment something griped Sidharth from behind. Covering his mouth with its hand and flew him backwards. Just in the time, Aditya could turn to see him he was the way too far in the darkness and out of the reach of flashlight. Sidharth tried to free himself by using his strength but he was overpowered. Finally, he used his Panchdhatu axe to attack the thing.
only by the touch of the metal the thing left Sidharth and flew away with an echoing snarl in the tunnel. Sidharth got up ready for the next attack but nothing happened for a moment. Sidharth relaxed considering it to be an attack of a minor spirit who retreated with a single strike of the Panchdhatu. With the powers Mantrik had given him to navigate his friends to the museum, he knows that he had been taken very far from his friends. But if he ran, he could still catch them before Chalawa could do any harm to them, hopefully, and Not because he cares about them but because Mantrik wants them alive, YET.
As he put a step forward, his body tensed. He felt a sudden urge to sit down and he does. A stone tile passed overhead of him chipping the wind and crashed somewhere in the dark and shattered. Sidharth turned to see who did that and he saw a young boy about his own age, Sidharth was able to see him because the boy was faintly glowing. His skin was pale. As pale that one can ever imagine, almost white. His eyes were covered with his scattered hairs, his lips were black. His expressions were full of disdain and anger. He was wearing a hand stitched, dusty shirt and pants which people use to wear years ago. Sidharth put a step forward and the boy disappeared.
Without giving him a second thought Sidharth started to run to stop his friends. Mantrik had set Sidharth to help his friends to find the key no matter what, and this was the only thing Sidharth knows that time. Sidharth kept running and the boy's spirit kept troubling him. after every two or three turns, he threw tiles on Sidharth. twice he tried to strangle him with the roots and Sidharth cut those with his axe. However, Sidharth kept avoiding the hurdles though it was unsure how he was dodging those tiles. He was a good runner, no doubt but he never had reflexes that fast.
Every time he does that the spirit seems to be getting more and more angrier. If it not had been for Mantrik's possession, Sidharth would have been killed when the boy threw the first tile. With the Mantrik's support, Sidharth managed to survive for more than an hour. He was running continuously, dodging the rocks and cutting the roots blocking his way. now all of it was going out of his limits. Reluctantly, his body started to slow down. Dripping wet with sweat he was still running somehow. When a stone tile shot from nowhere, Sidharth tried to dive but this time tile caught his right shoulder and Sidharth dive turned into a midair spin and Sidharth fell of ground wailing in pain. The axe he was holding in his right hand, fell from his hand and got lost. Sidharth got up lamely. Holding his injured shoulder. In his daze, it took a minute for him to realize the wheezing sound coming from just behind like someone breathing with a whistling sound through his chest. he turned slowly, knowing the ghost boy was standing behind. On the cue the boy caught Sidharth neck and lifted him in the air, crushing his windpipe. The boy was grating his teeth while breathing with exasperation. Without his Panchdhatu weapon Sidharth was compactly defenseless, in first few seconds Sidharth tried everything to get rid of the hold then suffocation took over and he ends up agonizing.
The boy's spirit was waiting for Sidharth to lose his weapon, it was attacking from distance because of the weapon. Now, when Sidharth did not have the weapon it was just a matter of seconds before Sidharth will die. Sidharth body was now stabilizing, he was already too tired, now his eyes were shutting down. He made last few attempts to breathe some air but was unable to. His eyelids slowly forced shut, like going into a deep sleep the way it happens when we are too tired, and the shimmering spirit of the boy went out of sight. He felt his heartbeats slowing down, he was vaguely aware of a voice calling his name. but he was not sure whether he was dreaming or actually hearing the voice.
The next thing Sidharth remembers was the crushing pain in his chest like someone jumping off his ribcage before he got up with a start. Coughing. Sidharth took a really large breath before noticing Rajveer kneeling beside him. Rajveer was really looking really lost. His small eyes were bloodshot and a tear was making his way down on his cheek. 'ohh, my goodness' Rajveer whooped 'you are back' and he gave a bear hug to Sidharth which was even more painful than Sidharth's whole adventure. Sidharth's own eyes turned wet. For a second, he was the real Sidharth.
then Mantrik again took over and his eyes turned dark and cold again. In the meantime, Sidharth saw Aditya who was standing guard holding his sword, shifting his weight momentarily and looking around. Then he turned and saw Sidharth and ran back to him.
'thank god' Aditya sighed in relief 'you are fine'
'he was not fine. His..' Rajveer stammered 'his breathing was stopped his pulse was not working. That spirit literally killed him. if we hadn't reached on time..' Rajveer's voice broke.
'no' Aditya put his hand of Rajveer's shoulder 'that won't happen. Somebody once told me that special ones never die so early and believe me no one is going to die till I am alive' that make Rajveer smile
'yeah, right' Rajveer nodded.
'the boy' Sidharth coughed. 'where is he'
'that spirit, it disintegrated when Aditya threw his chakram at it' Rajveer chided 'and almost, almost missed to cut your head off'
'I said, I don't have a choice!' Aditya protested 'Sidharth was looking pale'
'so, you thought being dead is better than being pale'
'don't be a jerk now I saved him'
'you call it saving. I haven't seen a throw that wild in my life.' Rajveer turned his face toward Sidharth 'he threw that disk and instead of hitting the legs of the boy where he should attack. The disk hit the wall, bounced from there and with luck it hit the spirit and missed your neck by an inch'
'I aimed that'
'hah'
'guys, guys, guys' Sidharth interrupted 'that spirit is not disintegrated I hit him with my axe too but it came back. He is really powerful. As long we have the weapons, he can't close in but he still can do some nasty things from a distance. We have to steal the key and get out of here as soon as possible.'
'but you need rest' Rajveer protested
'we don't have much time' Sidharth opposed 'he will be back soon enough'
In the meantime, Aditya was thinking about the spirit how could a normal ghost stay here when even the Mantrik was not powerful enough to come here. It shouldn't be possible. that's when Aditya's noticed something shiny laying close to the corner on a crossway at some distance. 'Rajveer guard Sidharth' Aditya instructed 'I think I found his axe and I have to find my chakram too it would be somewhere near also. so, I am going to find it'
'wait, we will go with you' Rajveer offered.
'don't worry it's just over there' Aditya showed him 'see, I'll be back in a second. You gave some water to him and let him rest as long we have some time'
'okay,' Rajveer nodded and pulled out a 2 litters water bottle out his backpack while Aditya went to bring their weapons.
Even though Sidharth was working as a puppet for Mantrik still he was extremely thirsty after his long steeplechase marathon. Once he set the bottle to his mouth, he didn't stop till he finished the last drop of water in the bottle.
Till now Aditya reached the point from where the shin was coming. It was Sidharth's axe. He picking the axe and sheathed his sword. Then he lighted the tunnel on his left and saw a similar shape his chakram, sitting in the middle of the of the tunnel. He turned and saw his friends. He thought to call them. He was a bit scared he doesn't want his friends to go out of sight. But he thought it would be a bit cowardly besides it was not more ten steps what could possibly be happened. For him it wasn't enough reason to put his respect on risk so, he decided to go alone. He started to follow the way on the left. He was holding the axe tightly which was filling him with the courage because he knows if something happened only his weapon could save him in the tunnel. Putting a step after another carefully he reached to the chakram. His plan was to pick the weapon and ran back in full speed but when he touched the weapon, a strong gust of wind came from nowhere, blowing the dust which was practically impossible. He only had the time to close his eyes and back off. When he opened his eyes in the next moment, his jaw dropped.