Parasu began a restless night in the small guest room of an inn, in the outskirts of Amravati. The innkeeper was a portly Yaksha, with shifty eyes and an oily smile. He counted coins like a miser and gave out rooms by how affluent the guests looked to be.
Parasu laid down a roll of coins, and the yaksha showed him the accommodation, modest for the gold it cost. But it was tidy, and the bed was firm, the way Parasu preferred. The open window was letting in currents of cool breeze, a welcome comfort after the long, tiring day.
Parasu sat at the table where the lamp was burning the night oil and placed the ancient tome before him. The book carried with it the smell of an old library. The front cover was mysteriously absent, but the thread binding was still there, and so was the back cover, made of hardwood with golden polish.
The pages were yellow and crinkled, made of palm leaf but still intact, with a curious golden shine. Parasu flipped open the first page. The writing was in red ink, and it listed all the asura clans that had been in existence since the beginning of time in this Yuga cycle.
Parasu ran his finger down the list, reading the name of each clan soundlessly, with a quiver of his lips. Agni Asuras were at the very top, one of the oldest and most powerful asura clans. They came into being not too long after the second Cycle of Yugas began, in the very first age of the cycle, the Satya Yuga or the Age of Truth. The clan's history was filled with fame and glory, boasting of some of the greatest warriors the realms had ever witnessed.
The earliest of those heroes was Asura King Bali, the first demon king to capture the throne of the old heaven. Eons later, a descendant of Bali, Lord Puru, another agni asura, successfully merged the three realms and began the Age of Oneness. He was also the first sovereign ruler of the newly founded OneRealm.
Between Asura King Bali and Asura King Puru, there was another eminent agni asura, Yaman. Legends say that it was Yaman who first imagined a place whose gates would be open to all, gods, asuras and human. Before he was defeated and murdered by the wicked god-king of the heaven, he left behind a journal, the Book Of Asura.
Parasu did not know what words were hidden in the journal, not even a slight hint of what it contained. But, there were claims by ancient scholars in scriptures that it was the single most powerful weapon in the entire universe, that it had the power to change the past, the present, and the future.
And, it was likely to be the only way to change the future that he saw in his vision, the complete collapse of the OneRealm, the Mahapralay. Parasu flipped through several pages of the historical tome, and there it was, neatly folded between two palm leaf pages, a map of the old mortal world. He spread it open, and motley colors of white, brown, grey, and green greeted his eyes.
The lines had considerably faded from the years of collecting dust, but they were still visible. They always said that Lord Puru had founded the present OneRealm in the image of the old world, and Parasu could see why.
A gust of cold breeze interrupted Parasu's study, and he went to close the windows before returning to the desk. His keen, gray eyes scanned the map. In the north were two white lines of tall hills covered in snow that slipped down towards the central kingdom. Rakhtaprastha, they called the central kingdom in the olden days, the blood lands. On the map, it was fertile green divided by the clear, blue lines of the two holy sisters, Ganga and Yamuna.
The west was all gold, the immense waste of the Thara desert, and the south was blood red. The east was a jumble of yellow, pink, and green with a spattering of red, and it was in this jumble that the old agni asura settlement was hidden. The map only spelled out Lord Yaman's temple in the old east. Nearby settlements of asura clans were not named, but they were marked, and one of those was drawn in dark red fire symbols, the mark of the agni asura clan.
A chilling draft woke up Parasu from his uneasy slumber. He had no idea when he had nodded off during his study of the map. He jerked his head up and immediately looked to his left, where the window was.
"Return the book," Parasu said, voice cold as a dagger, eyes staring at a slender, shadowy figure holding the History of the Oldest Asura Clans of OneRealm in its hand.
In the tender light of the shaking flame, Parasu noticed two shiny fangs peeking through the mouth of the ghostly figure. The figure lowered its face to glance at the book held in its hands.
"It does not belong to you," Parasu warned once more, slowly raising himself to his feet as though he did not want to alarm the figure into fleeing. He advanced towards the silhouette, his feet pressing softly on the ground. "If you want gold, I have plenty of it," Parasu tried to make a trade.
But it seemed the ghostly figure had found what it came looking for, clutched tightly in its hand. It snapped its head back to Parasu. The sage realized those were not real fangs but part of a colorful mask that was hiding the thief's true identity. The rest of the shadow was covered in a dark robe, like the ones that tantrics wore.
Parasu pounced at the ghostly shadow, quick as a snake. But the shadow was quicker, whirling around and swiftly hopping towards the open window.
"No!" Parasu hissed, reaching out with his hand.
The lithe figure of the ghost was half out of the window when a tantric thread slipped around its right foot and tightened, stopping it from escaping. The ghost stumbled to the floor with a thump, but almost immediately, a sharp weapon appeared in its hand, a gossamer air sword that sliced through the tantric air threads that Parasu had weaved.
It hopped to its feet, the sword in its right hand and the book in its left. Parasu was an arm's length apart. The shadow swung the sword, wheeling it in, aiming for Parasu's neck, but Parasu jumped back a step, evading the attack. Another blow came down, but this time Parasu caught it on the flat of his conjured air blade before flicking it away. The thrust sent the ghostly figure stumbling backward. It only took a second to catch its balance before spinning around and slipping through the window.
Parasu chased after the thief, leaping out of the window and landing outside on the dark, deserted alley. He turned right and came face to face with a tall, two storied wall, a dead end. He spun around and dashed down the empty street until it blended into the main street. Parasu looked from his left to right. There was no sign of the burglar.
Disappointed, Parasu returned to the inn. Walking through the front doors, his eyes immediately went to the innkeeper's desk and found two youths standing there. One, he knew and was pleasantly surprised to see.
"I did not expect you back so soon," Parasu called out, and Sachi turned around. He stepped up to his guru and bowed like an obedient pupil always did. Beside him was an unfamiliar face in a familiar robe, the black robe of tantrics.
"Guruji, pranam," Sachi greeted Parasu before noting his guru's mildly curious eyes. "I have decided to return. I am bound by my promise to my father and must do my duty as your pupil."
Parasu gave a hurried nod and invited them to the room he was boarding on the floor above. "Is that a friend you bring?" He asked, climbing up the stairs, the two young men behind him. He hoped that the stranger Sachi had dragged along with him was a guest of a few moments and would be on his way soon. The less the tongues wagged about their delicate mission, the better, especially after the intrusion not moments ago.
"He wants to assist us with the search of the book," Sachi explained, entering the room.
Parasu scanned the young tantric and immediately felt wary of letting him join. There was something sly behind his steady, dark eyes and the faint, smug smile. He had grown out his dark hair, something that was common among the tantric folks. Before Parasu informed them of his decision, the young man reached out with a book in his hand.
"We passed by your friend in the street. He dropped this," the tantric said, smirking. In his hand was clutched the History of the Oldest Asura Clans of OneRealm.
Sage Parasu took the book and secured it in the drawer of his end table. "If I am not mistaken, he must be your friend, not mine," Parasu claimed, "he wore a tantric's robes."
The young tantric opposed, "Not all those who wear robes are tantrics." He paused and then pointed to the book, "I suppose that is not the book you are after."
Parasu considered the locked drawer for a second and then shook his head. "No, but it has certain information we need for the mission."
The young tantric smirked. "Then, you must be very thankful I crossed paths with that person, or you would have lost the valuable information."
Parasu fished into the hem of his dhoti around his waist and pulled out a large, folded piece of paper. "It was too valuable to let the man leave with it." He spread out the map on the desk before turning around to the two youths. "Rest up, tonight. We will leave at the break of dawn tomorrow. But you must bring your own horse."
"Not to worry, Guruji," Sachi informed with a childish excitement, "we both have our own horses."