It was evening time. The sun was ready to set for today. The sky was colored in saffron with darkness embedded with it. Meera was all set for the forbidden ritual to summon the dark lord. She was chanting some ancient unheard mantras for early preparation.
Setupati entered the room, he had brought Ketaki along. Vishwaprit and Raghav were right behind them. Ketaki glanced at them for a milliseconds while adding some holy ingredients in the fire. She was waiting for her father to join, for powerful energy she needed to perform the ritual. Though her own aura was powerful enough, she felt to be extra careful.
While room was enchanted with chanting and the aroma of delicate flowers, decorated in the ritual thali, evryone felt hypnotized. Only Meera could feel the uneasiness in the air. Something was not right in the air, the winds were trying to change their flow against natural direction. But Meera's early chanting had made the protected aura around them, so that no one can feel the uneasiness except her and few others, which includes Shastriji and Setupati.
Meera asked Ketaki to sit in front of the holy fire, on her right. Evening was closing in fast, sun was going to set within few minutes. Shastriji hadn't arrived, so she asked one of the students to look for him. But Shastriji entered the room before the student could leave. Shastriji walked towards the fire and sat on left hand sude front of Meera. Meera looked at her father, and she felt a lot better and relived. She started chanting mantras again and asked Ketaki to join with her. They added some ingredients in the fire while chanting the usual mantras. This continued for few more minutes. This was just the starting ritual. Real process was going to start now. For that Meera had to prepare a lot, because she had never actually performed dark ritual which was of this magnitude, and it was to summon dark lord. She didn't even know if that would work, but she had faith into herself and higher power, that it wouldn't let her down. She picked some unusual ingredients from her tray, and started add it in the fire. Sound of their burning filled the room with unusual aura, and became fully tensed and she started chanting dark mantras, which no one had ever heard before. The Sanskrit she was speaking was also had bit hard pronunciation. Everyone was genuinely curious and terrified at the same time.
"Will the dark lord going to show himself tonight?"
Everyone was wondering, but no one actually knew where this will lead.
Setupati was fully 'awake' and he had sealed the gates of the mind realm to cause any interference. He looked at Vishwaprit, who was fully engaged in the ritual, and he felt at rest.
Raghav was mesmerizingly focused on Meera and this unusual ritual, he had so many questions. And he was ready to fight if Dark was causes any trouble. He was ready, it's just he knew it wasn't a good thing that they were summoning a dark lord, but they didn't have a choice. He knew, so he prepared himself for unexpected chaos.
Meera stopped her chanting and, said,
"Show your hand to me, Ketaki Mathur".
Ketaki forwarded her hand towards Meera. Meera picked a small knife from the tray, which she had sterilized before, and sliced on the tip of her finger and held it in the fire. As the blood drops touched the fire, the intensity of fire increased by several times. Ketaki noticed it, she got scared a little. Everyone was on their toes now. It was starting. The unknown, the summon of the most dangerous being of this world! But how was she going to show up. In what form? Would he human, or would he look like a demon, or something else. Will he visible, or not? Would they be able to recognise him?
Everyone had these questions, but no one had the answers. It looked like they had get the answers in real now. They were going to witness the real thing.
Their only assurance was that, the Shastriji's aashram was protected and the dark lord wouldn't be able to perform any kind of treachery in this environment. At least that's was they were aware of. No one knew, what's gonna really happen.
As the fire got bigger, the chanting got louder too. It looked like the fire was trying to break through and open the gate to suck someone out. The blood was doing the tracing of the being. The colour of the fire turned orange to dark red and it was traveling in circles, making a path through the universe, trying to find him. The dark lord had answer, the blood had summoned, he had to answer. He had made a deal, he had to. The time was kind of frozen for a minute or two. Everyone was totally invested in it, no one even blinking. The was getting denser, the temperature was lowered, but everyone was still sweating. It was unusually hot in the chilling cold environment.
The silence broke in the room as the fire roared heavily. It was trying to pulls omething through, but the dark lord was resisting. The roaring got increased, the chanting got louder. Meera asked Ketaki to join in chanting mantras. The chanting sound got louder and stronger, the air got colder. The vision got blurry for most of them.
This continued for few more seconds and the fire blasted out something, or someone. But no one could see anything. Meera knew what happened, she looked on her right hand side, he was in the invisible plane, trying to hide himself, he didn't want to face anyone. She stood up, so did Shastriji and Ketaki. He was standing beside Ketaki, but she couldn't see anything, Meera could see his watery image in the air, she grabbed some holy ingredients and hinted Shastriji to join with her. She started chanting powerful mantras, working against him, and threw the powder towards him, he tried to run but couldn't. His invisibility got blown away.
Everyone was trying to see him, and the moment Meera threw powder towards Ketaki's right, she saw something moving, the image of a man, whose hand was reaching her and she felt the chill inside heart, she screamed hard, as she lost her consciousness. And the dark lord was still hiding himself behind fog.
Meera held her and spoke in a very loud voice,
"Andhakareshwara (Oh dark lord), you have been summoned here by the Mathur clan of Vishwa---. We're going to ask you some questions and you are bound to answer them truthfully."
"Answers!!!!!" He chuckled from behind the fog.
"Fools!! You are going to question me? You don't know what fire you're playing with!!!! Let me leave now and I will spare you all." He smiled.
"Yes, we're going to question you, and you're going to answer us." Shastriji hard and loud words reached every ear in the room.
" The last person I am bound to answer in lying unconscious! Who is going to ask them?" He referred to Ketaki.
Shastriji waved his hand in the air towerds Ketaki, and she opened her eyes. She was totally in shock and wasn't able to gather her senses, but she did and tried to understand what was going on.
"She is us, we're her. And you're going to answer us." Shastriji repeated.
Dark lord got disappointed in Ketaki as gained consciousness, and he stepped out of the fog.
Everyone gasped their breath and tried to see his full image. They saw a man, plain harmless man with unstably expressive face. He looked like a harmless man with hatred and despite on his face towards all the bothering people around him.
"Ask away!!!" He said harmlessly.
Meera and Shastriji walked towards him, while Setupati and Vishwaprit covered him from another side. Raghav also stepped forward and stood beside Meera. Ketaki stood up and stood behind Meera nad Shastriji.
"The enemy who was locked away under you supervision has entered this world again. How?" Shastriji asked directly the main question.
The dark lord looked into his eyes, and said, " I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know what we're talking about. And you have to answer, we call upon you in the name of deal made 300 years ago. If you deny to answer, the consequences will not be and you know that. Better you hurry and tell us what went wrong." Meera tried to get answers from him as fast as possible. Beacause more you try to word with him, more he would corrupt and weaken your mind with his dark presence and had ability to make someone lose his mind.
He chuckled again, "I really don't know what you're talking about!" He said
"Andhakareshwara, 300 years ago, on this very land, you made a deal with us human and locked him away from this universe under your supervision. And he has returned. The enemy has returned to this world. How?" Shastriji asked firmly.
The dark lord looked towards the floor, then right corner of his eyes and looked back towards Shastriji.
"The promises made 300 years ago, are broken already. I have nothing to do with it. The enemy was more powerful I guess. He just got lose. Who knows how?" He expanded his both hands, showing he had nothing to do with it.
"Broken? How? Blood bond is still alive. I can feel it. You're still bound to keep him away from this world." Setupati said firmness into his voice.
The dark lord looked at Setupati, and Vishwaprit. His facial expressions changed for a bit. No one could say, he was afraid, but thought of something before answering.
"The lord of mind realm and the man of God himself are present here. I got to answer I guess."
He walked towards Setupati and looked into his eyes and said,
"The enemy is more powerful than we thought. He tricked me into something and vanished. It was out of my hands. He got loose..."
"So you're not holding the enemy anymore. So, you are no longer feeding on our sorrows. We no longer owe you anything." Setupati replied.
"I guess, no. And now that I have answered your question, I am no bound to stay on this land or in this universe. Goodbye, nice talk." He waved his hand for goodbye and trying to transport, but he couldn't. He looked confused.
He looked at Meera, who was holding a thread in her hands, a thread of power, dark power, which preventing him from using his powers.
"You're using dark sorcery against me. You must have paid heavy price for that power " he said.
Meera held on to the thread harder.
"Now that you've admitted that the enemy tricked you and escaped from you, then you will help us defeat him again. After all, you're the only one who knows him the best." She said.
He laughed,
"Help you! Dreaming you are. You cannot control me with that little thread. And if I think deeply, I guess I know the origin of that thread you're holding."
He walked towards Meera and raised his to get the thread back from him. But his hands couldn't get through, she was shielded. He felt frustrated, and tried to find another solution. He thought,
'if the break the land beneath her feet, she crumble down and will listen the grip on the thread, it may fall down. And he can escape within seconds. But he couldn't use his powers until she is holding the thread. '
He looked at his surrounding. Everyone was alert and ready to fight. He wasn't in the mood of one on one fight right now. He thought of something else. He suddenly jumped towards Ketaki and pushed her on Meera. Meera was thrown back by few steps and she stumbled on the fire holding rocks. Raghav acted quickly and tried to hold her, he managed to grab her but in the process, the thread fell on the ground.
The moment that thread lost Meera's touch, the dark lord regained his powers. He smirked from the corner of his lips and tried to vanish in the thin air. He was nearly vanished, but suddenly he couldn't. He observed that someone had held him back and he couldn't get through the pass through the wall. Then he looked at the someone who was holding him, Vishwaprit. He didn't know how! He pushed him away and ran towards open space with lightening speed and tried to get vanish. But he couldn't. Vishwaprit caught up with him.
Everyone was looking at this mouse and cat race. Setupati was smiling proudly, Raghav was confused and ready to fight. Shastriji was amazed, Meera was relieved and started to think of something else to control the dark lord.
And the dark lord confused. He asked,
"How dare you hold me back? You're merely a fragment of his presence. You're nothing in front of me. I am darkness myself. No one rules me. I answer no one. Not even God try to reason with me. Then who are you to stop me?"
"He is the light and he is the night. He causes the day and he starts the night. He is the part of God and he rules the darkness. You're merely the lord of his kingdom. You answer him, you're his servant, dark lord. He is your master, the lord of lords. You need to bow in front of him." Setupati voice ran through the room like lightening.
The dark lord looked at Vishwaprit. A humanly looking man, born on this Earth, was his lord, he couldn't believe.
" I can create you and I can destroy you, dark lord. Stop fighting it. It's painful to see you trying so hard." Vishwaprit said calmly.
"How? Who are you?" The lord asked an honest question.
Vishwaprit didn't answer the question.
So the dark lord answered himself,
"If I recall correctly, your mother was someone close to his highness, the god himself. But she got involved with something dark and she left this world very soon. So the darkness she touched was your father. The king himself. And you were born, who can touch both the world's, light and darkness. But your mind didn't get corrupted into darkness. Marvelous!! So you became the lord of darkness, who stands above me, and you also represent him. That's unbelievable. No light and darkness ever stayed together. I don't think anyone can handle this much power. Your mind may go into madness soon. I feel sorry for you."
Vishwaprit wasn't affected by his comment. The dark lord couldn't understand his confidence. But he heard someone voice talking.
"His mind is safe and protected."
Setupati, the lord of mind realm!
"Of course! He protects him from inside. That's not good for me." He looked scared now. He tried to use his all the power to run away.
"You're not running anywhere dark lord. You're going to help us." Shastriji declared.