Lohit didn't leave the place till the bell announced the commencement of classes. He was to scared. Not only scared, the fear also came mixed with a confusion. How could a mere whisper scare him out of his wits. He did not even know who or what the voice belonged to. Nor could he tell how he had been able to feel the raw hatred that was filled in the voice.
To be completely honest, he was totally incapable of any movement till the bell, because it seemed that all the parts of his brain, even those not required for thinking, were busy creating scenario after scenario of the ugliest monster in the world coming after him. He knew it was childish and willed himself to stop thinking about it as soon as the bell shook him out of his thoughts. He walked to his classroom, receiving weird looks from some of the students who had witnessed his dramatic entry that morning.
He deliberately chose a seat away from the windows looking out of the classroom. He had a very bad feeling that whatever happened a little while ago might repeat itself.
The teacher entered the class five minutes late, and to add to his mortification, began the class by asking him if he was fine and then making the class wish him a happy birthday, which they did without any real enthusiasm. Birthdays happen, no big deal.
You see, there is a thing that kids acquire as soon as they enter sixth grade (middle school), and it's called attitude. It's true that some people seem to have born with it, but it manifests itself in all kids right as the sixth grade begins. This means that they all become high maintenance queens (yes, guys included) and have their heads in the heavens.
So, after the cold and uninterested greeting, Lohit settled back into his seat, ready to avoid everyone. After the roll call, he found his thoughts drifting back to the events of the day. he could not bring himself to listen to whatever the teacher was saying so he shut her out completely.
He had chosen a place right in the back to sit. This was the first reason how he managed to slowly drift into a slumber (the second was the presence of fifty kids in the class). As his thought left the reality and entered the subconscious realm, he found himself hugging his knees besides a lake.
The lake seemed to be boundless in front of him, both in depth and in expanse. Thought the reason for this could be that the only source of light around him was a fire cackling some distance away from him along the shore of the lake. Except for that, there was complete darkness, spread eternally. Even the sky, assuming he was in an open place which actually existed, a notion he was highly doubting at the moment, was completely blank and dark. All he could make out in the scarce light was the tree beneath which the fire was lit, the ground around him to the point the light allowed him to see, and the surface of the lake, utterly still and dark, like a black mirror.
The tree was banyan, with the roots hanging all around, part of the reason why the light was so scarce, despite the fire being fairly brilliant. All of a sudden, he felt his instincts tugging at him to walk towards the fire, so he did exactly that.
As soon as he reached the fire, he noticed the fire seemed to be burning out of the ground, and the flames were slightly blue at the base. Not the blue flame of the LPG, but a brilliant sapphire blue flame he had never seen before. It turned to golden near the middle, and didn't seem to radiate warmth, but rather absorb it. Sucking it out of the surroundings. He stood there, gawking at the flame with his jaw hanging slightly, eyes full of childlike wonder.
"It's the Venom Flame of the Vasuki."
Lohit jumped a bit on hearing the familiar voice of a woman, a shrill yelp escaping his lips. He had never noticed when a certain figure clads in saffron robes emerge from behind the thick trunk of the banyan.
Now if he remembers all his birthdays clearly, he had taken at least one nap on each one of them, but the woman always only appeared once at the dawn. No repetitions. And even in those, she had always appeared through a curtain of flame and only urged him to find 'it' before disappearing, again into the flames, which marked his wake-up time.
Seeing that the woman was not going to disappear anytime soon, he thought about asking her all those questions he had been dying to ask and make sense of, but he could not bring himself to speak as he was frozen to the spot, shock and fear evident on his face, contemplating whether speaking would get him in trouble or not. But before he could reach any conclusions, the woman spoke again.
"Stability is not what nature ever intended to create. Chaos is the only way everything could exist. Controlling the chaos is difficult, and mostly dangerous. Flow should never be reverted, it only leads to the chaos to take over. Nature unleashes chaos when attempted to be meddled with. Calmness is a facade. It only always leads to turmoil. Turmoil paves way for destruction. Destruction opens possibility of a new chaos, a new beginning. Letting the calm takeover would cause turmoil. Trying to contain the turmoil leads for it to mount up and then unleash in the most horrible ways. The destruction led by it is even more merciless. The new chaos always comes, but this time, it does not rebuild itself. Something is lost forever. And it leaves its marks. The chaos brings pain this time."
Lohit's mind seemed to be in a haze.
What in the world is she talking about? Chaos? Turmoil?
But his thoughts stalled as the woman suddenly reached out to lift the curtain of the matted coils of hair to reveal her face, something she had never done before. As he looked on, his breath caught in his lungs, his eyes widening, jaw dropping even lower than before, and he gaped with a look of pure amazement at what was in front of him.
The woman had a dark bronze skin, something he had always known from her hands. Her face was the apt definition of flawless. High cheekbones, intense jawline an, angular face with a slightly pointed nose, she looked like she was chiselled out of a slab of bronze. Her lips were smooth and thin, a pale red in colour. But all those did not make Lohit stare like fool. It was the eyes.
Two bright burning orbs of pink, a bright, burnt pink, almost a magenta. They looked like to balls of pink flame, sparkling with life. The look in her face spoke authority. Lohit instantly knew that entering the woman's bad books would be the worst mistake of one's life. It seemed like she was expecting Lohit to speak. He spoke in a cautious tone.
"I am really sorry, but whatever you just said did not make much sense to me. But now that we are in the position to talk, how about you tell me what has been happening to me and why have you been appearing to me with cryptic messages of finding something without any clue. I would be really thankful if you could assure me that this is all not only in my head, and that I won't be needing a psychiatrist anytime soon."
He flashed a small smile, intended on making light of the situation but it seemed the woman wasn't the one for jokes. Her face remained serious as she looked at him.
"I do not bear the answers you seek. You have stalled the turmoil for far too long. You did not let the chaos to take over, now chaos will take over on its own accord. Brace yourself for the outcome. Chaos is unpredictable. You tried to part ways from the flow, you diverted the course. Now the flow will widen itself to reinstate you. If you do not want the chaos to destroy you, you have to be the part of the flow. Remember to follow the flame. Through all the chaos and destruction, follow the flame. You will never lose it, because it will never lose you."
Lohit grew more and more confused with every word the woman spoke. He had no idea whether to take this all seriously or shake it off as a dream again. Then he remembered what happened this morning.
"Look, I still can't understand whatever you are trying to tell me, but I have a feeling that you know everything that happens in my life. So, could you at least tell me what exactly happened this morning?"
The woman's expression flickered a bit, but she managed to maintain the proud facade again.
"Those are the ones who want to control the chaos. They do not intend to revert the flow, they wish to stop it. To collect the chaos, because they believe the containment of chaos will bring calmness and control. They want to use stability to gain control. They are foolish in their beliefs. If they succeed, chaos will have to destroy itself, and with itself, everything else that ever came into existence due to the flow. And then, nature will not leave a possibility of revival. That would be the end of chaos, and an eternal calm would begin. And calm means nothingness. They are foolish enough to believe they will be controlling the calm. Calm means oblivion. Nothing can exist in oblivion. They are just preparing for everyone's doom."
"Do you mean the people you are talking about are the ones who were watching me this morning? How am I relevant to all this? Can please give me a clear answer for once? And what is it that you want me to find, that you keep reminding me every year?"
The woman stood silently. Lohit was getting frustrated now. Suddenly she started walking towards him and came to stand right in front of him. She was a head taller than him. As she looked down on him, everything around seemed to still. She took a slow breath and opened her mouth wide as if she was going to scream. But all that came out of her mouth was ringing.
Ringing!
It was the bell. Slowly, the image of the woman, the lake, the tree, the fire, all dissolved from his vision as he opened his eyes and found himself looking at his desk with his head between his arms crossed over it. He sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. Now he had a slight headache and he was left more confused than he had ever been. No matter how much he tried to make sense out of the woman's words.
The rest of the classes went on like that. He was doing something h never imagined himself doing in his life - ignoring the teachers. By lunchtime his head was bursting. He went to sit in the cafeteria with Anuj and Kritika. Kritika had already forgotten everything about the conversation they had in the bus, but Anuj was still looking at him weirdly, but seeing that Lohit seemed a bit troubled, he kept his mouth shut, instead trying to steer the conversation towards the little party his parents were throwing for his birthday, but he was barely listening. His head had started hurting bad now, and all the noise of the cafeteria wasn't helping in anyway.
By the end of lunchtime, the pain became too much to bear. He had to see the school nurse. Seeing that he was not really in a condition to continue classes, the nurse wrote him a slip excusing him from the rest of the classes. This woman is an angel. He thought to himself. He would have bowed at her feet to worship this god-woman but he chose a heartfelt thank you and polite smile before leaving. But as soon as he neared the main entrance, his legs started to tremble slightly.
He tried to convince himself that it was all in his head and was the result of reading too much fiction. None of his mental encouragement worked. It seemed like his body had its own mind, because now it was the turn of the hands to start trembling. A step closer to the main entrance and his heart started beating his rib cage, as if it felt trapped and wanted to break free from his chest. Next step and his breath started escalating.
Oh, come on stop it!
He finally made it out of the entrance, but he still was a jumpy bundle of nerves. He quickened his steps and walked towards the nearest rickshaw.
Now, he knew it wasn't safe for eleven-year-olds to travel alone in a rickshaw. More so when the said-eleven-year old is a scrawny kid with basically no physical activity. He also knew that the safer option would be to get back inside, use the receptionist's landline, and call his parents. But he let his teen judgement takeover and decided he needed some time alone. He knew both his parents won't be home, so it would be easier to get a rest without any fuss over leaving school early, or his health. They won't notice his absence from school, because he always was home before both of them. Well, unless the school notified them in advance. But he knew that wasn't going to happen. Talk about irresponsibility.
The rickshaw driver looked really creepy and really uninterested in leaving his afternoon nap to give a ride to a lonely kid, even if he payed, but Lohit managed to convince him. He happened to have some extra cash on him as part of his birthday allowance - perks of being an only child.
When he reached home, he somehow felt at ease. Not much, but his headache seemed to have gone down a notch. This home he had had been his safe place since forever. He always felt that nothing could ever go wring in this place. Whether his parents were there or not, this place always seemed to have a calming effect in case he was ever troubled.
Calmness is a facade.
There it was again. Just like that, his mind was sent into the clutches of confusion again. Suddenly, he felt really tired. He felt like taking a nap.
No! There's no way I am taking a nap again. What if that crazy woman decides to take a stroll into my dreams again? It's my birthday, I need to be feeling happy about today. I shouldn't be spending my time thinking about some weird alien looking woman who speaks in riddles.
Sighing, he went to his room and carelessly dropped his bag at the foot of his desk. Slipping out of his uniform, he wore his favourite snake print jumper. He knew if people knew he liked anything and everything to do with those fascinating slithering creatures, they surely will label him as a freak, and that's why he kept it in.
He always found his attraction to the serpents quite weird, but it came to him naturally. Even his name, Lohit, was Sanskrit synonym for the snake, or simply the carrier of poison. Hen always thought his parents were a bit weird for naming their son a snake, but oh well, what could he do about it.
He leaned out of the window, looking out at the strange town with a strange name.
Anṹpaṹ - the root of poison.
Lohit frowned. Now that he thought about it, he was surrounded by things that had something to do with snakes or poison, right from his name. There was only one temple in this little town, and it was dedicated to Vasuki, the serpent lord that adorns the neck of Shiva, the lord of destruction and oblivion.
He went back to his bed, still thinking about his newfound revelation, and he did not even notice his was slipping away into a long and (thankfully) dreamless slumber.
***
"Lohit!"
He heard someone whispering his name. His world was shaking when he emerged from the darkness.
"Lohit! Wake up! Everyone is waiting for the birthday boy."
Lohit opened his eyes to see his mother looking over him with a smile and an overly excited face.
Great. I guess the party is about to begin.
"You won't wanna miss it. All your friends are here waiting for you."
"By all you mean Anuj and Kritika. I see those idiots every day." He muttered as he sat up rubbing his eyes. His headache seemed to have ceased and he was feeling well rested, and he was really thankful for that.
"Oh, come on! Don't be grumpy. Your dad really outdid himself this time. You're going to love it."
"Yeah yeah. Like you didn't feed his mind with ideas beforehand."
Latika gave him a knowing smile before asking him to get dressed and be downstairs in five minutes and leaving.
As he did that, he momentarily forgot all about what happened that day. He went downstairs, greeted by his parents and his two best friends, who were the most important group of people in his life. He spent the next hour joking with them, as his mother brought out treat after for the kids (yeah, she was awesome like that), and in that moment, he was like just another kid, enjoying his special day, content and happy. Turned out, Raman's surprise was actually breath-taking - a PS4. Needless to say, it was fully explored the very minute it came out.
It was around nine in the night. As the three friends were busy opening the presents (there were many, as compared to the number of people present, because some of his relatives had also been generous to remember that day and sent their 'well wishes' in the form of gifts that were mostly useless), Raman was calling the kids' parents to come and pick them up, or send their stuff if they wished to have a stay over and Latika was collecting the Empty dishes and getting mentally prepared to deal with the mountain that has formed in the sink.
At the same time, there was a knock on the front door. A knock. Despite the fact that they had a doorbell. And it was a strange knock too. Just three slow taps.
And with every tap, Lohit found himself being pushed deeper and deeper into the pit of fear he was now familiar with after that morning. He didn't even realise when he started panting. His heart was beating against his rib cage, and he was sure it would break free in a moment.
"Kids, you better go upstairs to Lohit's room", said Raman, still staring at the door intensely. Latika had also stopped doing the dishes and was standing a step behind Raman.
All three kids were confused as to what was happening, but Lohit just got pushed deeper into his pit. He had never seen his parents behave in a way they were doing right now. It was like a battle stance he had seen his characters do in his games. Regardless. he followed Anuj and Kritika up the stairs and closed the door behind him slowly.
There was only one thought that ran over and over in his brain at that moment.
The turmoil has come.
His back slid along the door as he sank to the floor and hugged his knees and rested his forehead on them. Anuj and Kritika took a seat on the bed facing the door. They all could hear muffled talking from beneath, but none of them could decipher the words. The rooms were soundproof to a great extent.
And then the talking turned to argument. Lohit's heartbeat escalated even more than before, something he didn't think was possible.
Then there were sounds of throwing objects, moving furniture and loud fighting. He was panting heavily by now.
And then there was a scream. His mother's scream.
Lohit bolted outside the room, Anuj and Kritika right at his tail. He was in the middle of descending the stairs, when he looked around and took in the scene in front of him. What he saw made him falter in his step.
Everything was out of place. The decorations had been torn off the walls. Vases were broken. A couch was upturned. But Lohit's mind didn't register all this.
Because at the end of the stairwell was lying his mother, motionless. Her back was facing him, but the pool of blood around her said that he won't want to see the front.
At the door of the kitchen stood the most horrible creature he had ever seen. It was humanoid, but far from anything that could be called human. Its skin covered in scales, eyes a sharp green, with slits for pupils, it didn't have a nose or ears or any hair. In fact, it appeared to have a snake's head. Its arms ended in two talons, razor sharp and oozing a green liquid. It had the torso of a man and his legs also ended in talons.
The creature held his father, strangling him with his arm. It looked straight at Lohit, sending shivers down his spine as it's face contorted into a sinister grin, and reached for Raman's stomach, and skewered his guts with its talons.
Lohit's knees buckled and he fell down the stairs, stopping just a few steps from his mother. His body hurt from the impact and his vision was cloudy. The creature slowly walked towards him and stood there towering over him.
"Greetings little one"
It spoke in the same raspy whisper he heard that morning. It lifted one of its arms, ready to strike as Lohit gave in to his dizziness and dived into darkness.
The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was a flame behind the creature.
A blue flame.