At the outskirt of the mountain forest....
In a hut, Ambhik was sleeping unaware of anything outside or the world. But he suddenly heard a voice and someone shaking him madly. He tried to open his eyes and recognize the voice. He knew that voice, it was his younger brother's voice. When he tried to shoo him away, he heard there was not only his voice alone but there were shouting and crying voices too.
When he heard those voices he felt like electric throwing his veins and assaulting his brain. He jerked his eyes open, cause these voices where from his mother and other women. He focused his ears to hear those voices, when his brother said in a soggy voice, "Brother we have leave from here now."
Ambhik turned around his brother to see a trail of water was flowing from his eyes as he stood up and ran for outside. Ambhik was still in dizziness when he heard some voice coming from the outside, "Mother, brother is awake. Now let's run….."
Rumble…..
Suddenly the whole earth vibrated….
Thud…Thud….Thud….Thud..
Some massive footsteps were heard approaching nearby.
The hut in which Ambhik and his family of four used to live shake like a leave in heavy winds. Ambhik was terrified on seeing the hut and earth shaking like a leave. He stood up and was about to run towards outside, he heard a shout….
"AMBHIK...."
This was a woman's voice, Ambhik was familiar with this voice, this was his mother's voice but he felt scared when he heard that shout as well as he was confused on why his mother shouted like that but he didn't stop running towards outside.
He was just a few steps away from getting out of the house, he saw something like massive tree thump which was moving rapidly towards him. He stopped for a moment seeing that but as closer that moving huge object reaching towards him, the more earth was shaking below him.
But just as the massive thing was about to reach him, a strange light flashed in the dark sky, unnoticeable untraceable to anyone on the mortal plane and the hut collapsed burying Ambhik underneath itself.
.....
Buried under the debris of a fallen hut Ambhik looks like he was sleeping there soundlessly without any care of the world or any worry about what he had just witnessed. If not for the trail of a crimson fluid originating from his head and dripping from his forehead, anyone would mistake him being in a comfortable sleep instead of being unconscious.
But this unconciousness was broken soon cause his ears started listening some voices that were screaming and begging. Slowly suppressing the pain he was feeling in his head he opened his eyes. There was darkness everywhere around his eyes but there was a dot of light coming inside from outside of the debris. He concentrated himself and tried to look throw that tiny peeping hole.
For few moments he was unable to collect his thoughts. He was feeling that he was still in dreams seeing some humongous strange beings in front of him a little away. He had heard of them from his mother in stories but he had never seen them before. He remembered what they were called, they were called demons.
Although they were sitting on the ground, they were still reaching the height of the trees. The eyes were so big that they look like moon in a sky of blood, those eyes were radiating their viciousness and cruelty that can creep out any living being with fear. The teeth look nothing less than a devouring guillotine blade soaked in crimson fluid. The neck was almost invisible cause of the white garland he was wearing, the garland was made of skulls and bones of animals. The hands were large enough to make them look like a thick tree thump and palms were big enough to grasp a bulky middle aged human.....
...bulky middle aged man.....
With eyes almost popping out of the socket he looked towards the hand of a demon closest to him, he was carrying a man in his hand just like a man carrying a carrot in his hand for eating. On seeing that man, Ambhik felt like he was struck by lightning. The man's face was coated in layer of crimson liquid. Ambhik couldn't see the man's face but somehow he recognized the man, he was his father.
"F..."
Ambhik was shaken to his core, he tried to shout but the voice was suppressed inside his throat, refusing to leave his throat. He tried to stand up and run towards his father to save his father but this time he felt like someone was pressing his whole body on the ground, not even letting him stand up. He tried his hand to push on the ground but again he felt someone had pinned his hands on the position they were already in, not even letting them move.
He used every ounce of strength in his body to shout or stand up but they were being suppressed by some unknown force. He tried again and again, stared that demon with his all might, wanting to burn him to ashes just by staring at him.
But when nothing happened, the universe the heavens refused to help him, the only thing he could do was closing his eyes from seeing his father's head being ripped out of his body and chewed like dried berries. He closed his eyes to look away from the face that was filled with a smug and satisfaction. He looked away from the eyes that were looking towards his father like a hungry lion looking towards a sheep.
In the end a trail of water started flowing from the corners his closed eyes. It seemed like his body was only allowing him to suffer cruelly, the heaven only wanted him to be buried here.
But the screams and the wailings he was hearing were like the hammers striking on his mind and his heart, making him go through an insufferable hell. He tried to shut his every senses, his eyes, his ears, his mind and even his heart but expect his eyes everyone was refusing to listen to him. He cursed his senses, he hoped this was all a nightmare, he hoped to wake up soon but everything kept him in that hell for eternity without escaping.
After an eternity of suffering, the voices died down and again the cruel but the silent darkness prevailed everywhere.
He opened his eyes hoping everything to be a dream but the scene before his eyes remained the same, the only difference was that those demons were nowhere to be seen, there were replaced by just silence and darkness. Now falling into an abyss of sadness and pain he kept staring where that demon was sitting and thinking of his father. The water kept flowing from his eyes like a faithful friend never leaving his side.
When he felt like he should be buried there, his mind filled with some past memories, he stopped his train of thoughts, he was immediately filled with an unknown courage. There were still his mother and brother, they must have escaped, they must be alive.
"Yes... Mother.... you're are alive right?"
"Brother, please tell me that you escaped from here with mother."
Sniff..... sniff....
"Mother... brother..."
"I must have to find them. I have to find them."
"I have to....."
He stopped, he realized something, the voice was again coming out of his throat, it was not being suppressed in his throat anymore. He was trying to speak and move his body all the time but he felt that he was being suppressed by some force but this was not the case anymore. He tried to make a punch with his hands and...
"I can move again..."
"I can.... sniff..... Fatherrr... sniff...."
At last all the voices suppressed inside him came out loud all at once.
When finally all of his wailings stopped, he realized he was standing at the same stop where that was demon devouring his father's body. A murderous light filled his eyes.
"Son....."
He trembled unconsciously, he heard a voice behind him. He gulped a mouthful of saliva down his throat, prepared his legs to run as fast as he can. As a last preparation he took a deep breath and was about to run like a lightning bolt from there.
"Son... You're called Ambhik. Right?"
He froze there, a tiny hope, a tiny ray of joy lightened his whole heart. He recognized that voice, even if he had not seen the owner of that voice that many times but he had seen him atleast four or five times and these many times were enough to imprint that person's figure in his soul and mind.
He was about to just turn behind to look at that person but suddenly he crushed every thoughts, he had just witnessed demons so he immediately filled with doubts about that person, if he is alive or not. He once again started making those preparations.
But for reason, his mind was saying he should just peek just for a fraction of second before running from there. He took a deep breath and turned his head behind at the lowest speed possible. On seeing the person before his eyes, he once again took a deep breath, this time it was due to shock. He saw his tribe's sacred priest was standing before him.
"Son... calm down. No need to fear this old man."
Said the old man with a brilliant smile on his face, except the eyes that were showing the pain of his soul and heart, his face was shining with brilliance and the smile on it was soothing for any frightened or fear-stricken soul.
"....."
Ambhik was surprised, he didn't know what to say. The face he was seeing even if it was filled with brilliance, it was also covered in crimson layer. One hand was carrying a wooden stick or maybe he was supported by that wooden but the other hand had lost its other half somewhere, blood was still dripping from the end of the ripped part. His legs were filled many places where there was not even skin but just white bones. But he was still smiling, surprised Ambhik was about to blurt out something.
"Son, these wounds are just superficial for us, our soul is still brimming with energy, those demons could never harm our soul."
Said the sacred priest. Every time he spoke, Ambhik felt a pleasant wind was passing by his heart and cleaning his soul along with soothing his mind.
"But...."
"Son, don't worry. A body is just a house of a soul. Even if a body dies away, the soul will always remains alive."
Remembering something Ambhik immediately asked,
"Great Priest, have you seen in which direction my mother and brother fled?"
Ambhik was still filled with hopes, the hopes of his mother and brother being alive. That's why the question he asked was not if they are alive or not but where they fled.
"..."
Hearing this question, the smile on his dimmed a little, the eyes that were looking at him, turned away.
"Great Priest, what happened why you...."
As if realized something, his mind again started to crumble, his body again started to getting weak and trembling.
Seeing this the sacred priest closed his eyes and said,
"Son, calm down I think they are still alive but unfortunately I didn't see in which direction they fled."
Hearing this, Ambhik calmed down like a fish again get into water after spending some time on burning sand. He looked toward the sacred priest as if wanting to ask something. But the sacred looked at him and said,
"Forgive this old man son, but this old man will soon depart from his body but there's still a work this old man has to do.
Can you please help this old man in that work."
The first thought came into Ambhik's mind was to refusing the priest afterall he has to search for his mother and brother.
As if seeing something in the Ambhik's eyes, the old man spoke again,
"Ok Son, let this old man help you first."
While saying that he closed his eyes once again.
"..."
".....Hmm... if my divination skills are correct, then they, your mother and brother must have gone to the plains down in south."
With eyes filled with hopes he looked toward sacred priest with reverence and amazement.
The sacred priest opened his eyes and said with a sad face once again,
" It seems like my work is also in south. Now would you like help this old man?"
Ambhik still doesn't want to waste his time in doing something else except searching his mother and brother but this time he felt like he couldn't refuse him as it was priest who told him where his mother and brother went. So he nodded his head and said,
"Great Priest I'll definitely do your work if it's south afterall I'm already going on south plains.
So what I have to do?"
Ambhik was still in doubt as it was the work that even this great sacred priest hadn't been able to do so. But he determinated himself that he'll try his best for helping the sacred priest.
"You just have to deliver this to Prince Shantanu of the Kashyapa Clan and tell him everything truthfully whatever he ask to you."
The sacred priest brought out three things, a strange black pearl necklace, a seal and a token. Both the seal and token has something similar carved on them. In all pf these three items, Ambhik has only seen one of them many times, it was a strange black pearls necklace that was worn by one of the woman of the tribe chief.
....tribe chief....
"Great Priest, where is tribe chief? He is very powerful, why doesn't he kill those demons? Why doesn't he save us?"
His mind was now filled with many questions like these and he was even getting angry for some reason. The tribe chief was the most powerful person he had ever seen but still his tribe was now destroyed and almost everyone is killed.
Sigh...
A long sigh was heard. It was sacred priest.
"Son, be respectful towards the chief. He died along with his wives protecting this tribe from those demons." Sacred priest told Ambhik with his eyes closed.
A shock replaced the anger, even the most strongest person he had seen was defeated and killed by those demons. He sucked a mouthful of air.
Suddenly something occured in his mind.
"Great priest, In which direction those demons left? You saw?" He asked feeling a bad premonition in his mind. What if they had gone in the same direction of in which his mother and brother had gone?
He wanted to go in the direction they had gone as soon as possible and find them before the demons.
"The demons... You should hurry and leave this place, son. If my divination is correct then those evil spirits must be planning to burn this place."