Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

Vivek gazed out of the train window, the arid landscape of Rajasthan rushing past like a sepia-toned painting. It was nothing like the lush greenery of their hometown in Kerala. Aksha, seated beside him, shared his enthusiasm. The rhythm of the train was almost hypnotic, lulling them into a comfortable silence.

"Rajasthan is so different from where we're from," Vivek said, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon. "I can't wait to see everything."

Aksha smiled, her eyes twinkling with excitement. "It's like a whole new world, isn't it? I've never been here before."

As the train slowed down, approaching the small town of Manvar, their excitement grew. They stepped off the train, their feet meeting the dusty platform. The town was quaint, with narrow streets and small houses, each telling a story of its own.

"So, this is where your grandfather lived," Vivek remarked, taking in the sights.

"Yes," Aksha replied, her voice tinged with curiosity. "But it's my first time visiting here, not just here, but in Rajasthan."

They walked through the town, absorbing the vibrant culture. The scent of spices lingered in the air, and the sound of a flute being played somewhere in the distance added to the charm of the place.

Their exploration was abruptly interrupted by a heart-wrenching cry that echoed through the narrow alleys. The sound was unlike anything they had ever heard, filled with profound sorrow.

"What's that sound?" Aksha asked, her brow furrowing in concern.

Vivek listened intently, his expression serious. "Someone's crying… can't you hear it?"

They followed the sound, which led them to an alley where the cry grew louder and more intense. The source was a woman, dressed in black, weeping bitterly as she led a funeral procession.

"She seems extra sad," Vivek commented, a mix of curiosity and unease in his voice.

"She must have really loved them," Aksha said softly.

As they stood there, a man passing by noticed their puzzled expressions. "She is a Rudaali," he said, pausing to explain.

"A Rudaali?" Aksha repeated, unfamiliar with the term.

The man nodded. "Yes, she is hired to express the grief of the deceased. Back in the day, people would always call one to funerals, but it's a custom that's fallen out of fashion."

Vivek's curiosity deepened. "So that's a job? But it looks like she's really crying."

The man smiled faintly. "She is really crying. The Rudaali around here are no fakers. They know real sadness. They couldn't be Rudaali if they didn't."

Aksha stared deeply at the Rudaali, something in the woman's grief resonating with her. Without warning, she began to cry.

"Hey, Aksha…," Vivek began, but she was already sobbing heavily, tears streaming down her face.

Chapter 2: The Weight of Tears

The town of Manvar, with its dusty streets and ancient customs, was a world apart from the life Vivek and Aksha had known. As they wandered through the town, Aksha's unexpected tears weighed heavily on their spirits.

Vivek held her hand as they strolled by the river, trying to comfort her. "Sorry… I was just suddenly so sad," Aksha said, her voice trembling.

"You surprised me there," Vivek replied, his tone gentle but concerned. "I know other people crying makes you cry. But still…"

Aksha shook her head, unable to explain the depth of her sadness. "I don't know what happened. I just want to go home now."

Vivek nodded, understanding. "I've already booked the train tickets."

As they waited by the riverbank, the eerie cry of the Rudaali echoed once more, sending shivers down their spines. The woman, shrouded in black, walked past them, her sorrowful wails filling the air. Aksha and the Rudaali's eyes met for a brief moment, a silent exchange that left Aksha trembling.

When they returned home, Vivek noticed a change in Aksha. She would burst into tears at the smallest things, her sadness seemingly bottomless. It wasn't long before her tears became a constant presence, as if she was carrying a weight too heavy to bear.

Chapter 3: The Descent

Vivek lay awake at night, listening to Aksha's sobs beside him. Her tears soaked the bed, and the sound of her crying echoed in his mind, driving him to the brink of despair.

"Aksha, why are you constantly crying?" he asked one night, unable to keep his concern to himself any longer. "I mean, I know you felt for the Rudaali woman, but still… isn't it a bit too much?"

Aksha's sobs grew louder. "I'm… I'm so sad, Vivek. It's just…"

"But what is it that's so sad?" Vivek pressed, his frustration mingling with his worry.

"I don't know," Aksha replied, her voice breaking. "But I'm sad."

The days turned into weeks, and Aksha's tears showed no sign of stopping. The once joyful and lively woman Vivek knew had been replaced by someone consumed by inexplicable sorrow.

"Maybe she's not happy with me," Vivek thought one night, as he lay beside her, her sobs echoing in the darkness. "Maybe the Rudaali was nothing more than a catalyst."

"Aksha," he whispered, turning to her. "Are you unhappy with me?"

"No… it's not like that," Aksha sobbed, but her tears continued unabated.

"It's weird, though," Vivek said, his voice filled with worry. "I mean, crying for no reason. I don't know if we can live like this. Maybe we should call off the engagement for now."

Aksha's sobs turned into wails, her body shaking with the force of her grief. "Unh… Waaah!"

"No, no!" Vivek panicked, pulling her into his arms. "Aksha, I will never leave you. So don't cry…"

But Aksha's tears wouldn't stop, and Vivek could feel her slipping further and further away from him.

Chapter 4: The Search for Answers

Vivek was desperate. He had taken Aksha to doctors, hoping that they could find a cause for her endless tears. But no one could offer a solution. The prescriptions they provided did nothing, and Aksha's condition worsened with each passing day.

In the end, Vivek realized that if this strange affliction had begun in Manvar, then perhaps the solution lay there as well.

"We have to find that Rudaali woman," Vivek decided.

They returned to the small town, seeking out the house where they had first seen the funeral procession. But the people there had no idea where the Rudaali had come from. They asked around the town, but no one knew anything about her.

"What's going on?" Vivek muttered in frustration. "Everyone in town says they have no idea about that Rudaali woman."

Aksha's tears were now constant, her face pale and exhausted. "I feel like crying too," Vivek admitted, his own eyes stinging with unshed tears.

As they wandered through the town, the eerie cry of the Rudaali echoed in the distance. They followed the sound, walking until they found themselves near a small lake, shrouded in thick fog. The fog seemed almost alive, swirling around them, its tendrils reaching out as if to pull them in.

Suddenly, the fog transformed into a large eye-like shape, moving toward them with terrifying speed. Vivek and Aksha stumbled back, falling to the ground as the fog dissipated, leaving them shaken.

"Was that real?" Vivek gasped, helping Aksha to her feet.

The cry of the Rudaali rang out again, and when they looked up, they saw a town that hadn't been there before.

"A town… all the way here?" Vivek whispered, disbelief coloring his voice.

They walked cautiously through the streets of the mysterious town, the sound of crying coming from every house. Water spilled out of each doorway, flowing down the streets like rivers of tears.

Chapter 5: Echoes of the Forgotten

They walked cautiously through the streets of the mysterious town, the sound of crying coming from every house. Water spilled out of each doorway, flowing down the streets like rivers of tears.

"Excuse me," Vivek called out to her. "What is this place?"

The girl stopped and looked at them, her voice soft yet haunting. "This is where we remember the dead. The rudaali cry for them. I think... the deceased is at peace now."

With that, she turned and walked away, disappearing into the mist.

Without a word, they followed the path the girl had taken, eventually arriving at a house where a group of women, their faces covered in veils, sat in a circle. At the center of the room was a woman they had been searching for—the Rudaali.

"It's you," Vivek said, his voice tinged with recognition.

The Rudaali looked up at them, her eyes filled with a deep, ancient sadness. "I've been waiting for you. I remember you from the funeral." Her gaze shifted to Aksha. "I especially wanted to see you again. You have cried a lot, haven't you?"

Aksha's eyes welled up as she nodded, unable to speak.

The Rudaali's voice was gentle, almost soothing. "People like you are rare. You understand true sadness. Most people can't see the fundamental sorrow of this world, but it becomes visible to them when their spirit leaves their body. People know true sadness when they die."

She continued, her words like a lullaby of despair. "The tears you shed are those of the dead, just like ours. The amount of tears a rudaali sheds is proportional to the number of souls she helps find peace. And I have never seen anyone shed as many tears as you."

The Rudaali stood, her movements slow and deliberate. "I'd like to show you something. Please, follow me."

Chapter 6: The Sacred Ritual

Vivek and Aksha followed her to a temple-like building. The air inside was heavy, thick with the scent of incense. At the center of the room lay a corpse—its face sunken, its eyes nothing more than hollow sockets. It was more skeleton than flesh, barely clinging to what remained of its humanity.

Vivek recoiled in horror. "Ngh!"

The Rudaali's voice was calm, reverent. "These are the remains of a legendary Rudaali. Her face has caved in because she has continued to cry over the 200 years since her death. But in recent years, those tears slowed... until they finally dried up last year. That means many spirits are now unable to find peace. Since she stopped crying, many souls have lingered in this area, unable to move on."

She turned to Aksha, her eyes gleaming with a strange hope. "But you... you might be able to renew the legendary Rudaali's tears."

"Wait, hang on a minute!" Vivek protested.

But Aksha didn't hesitate. "What should I do?"

"Please, cry along with us. All you have to do is weep before the legendary Rudaali."

Aksha nodded resolutely. "Alright."

"Aksha!" Vivek tried to stop her, but it was too late.

Aksha approached the corpse and sat down beside it. The tears from her eyes began to flow uncontrollably, like a dam that had finally burst. She screamed, her voice echoing through the chamber.

"AAAAAAAAH!!"

The legendary Rudaali's corpse began to react. A few drops of tears formed in its empty eye sockets, slowly increasing in volume until they poured out in a torrent. Outside, the dense fog that had shrouded the village began to lift, revealing the sky above.

"The dead... they're finding peace," the Rudaali whispered in awe.

Vivek stared in disbelief. "Th-this is..."

The corpse of the legendary Rudaali suddenly let out a piercing cry, a sound so loud that it shook the walls of the temple.

"AAAAAAAAAA!"

The body jerked upright, tears now streaming from every orifice. With a sickening crack, its skull split open, releasing a flood of tears.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Chapter 7: The Awakening of the Dead

The legendary Rudaali's teeth began to fall out, her hair melting away as her body was consumed by the tears.

"She's coming back to life!" one of the Rudaalis exclaimed, her voice filled with a twisted excitement. "The legendary Rudaali is back!"

Vivek grabbed Aksha's arm, panic rising in his chest. "Aksha, we have to get out of here! Come on, she's not coming back to life—her body just swelled up from all the moisture!"

But the door was too heavy; it wouldn't budge.

"Dammit!" Vivek cursed.

The legendary Rudaali pointed a skeletal finger at him, her mouth opening in a silent scream. The other Rudaalis rushed toward him, their hands outstretched.

"Wait! Don't go! You must keep crying! Make her cry even more!" one of the Rudaalis pleaded.

Aksha shook her head, her voice barely a whisper. "Vivek, you go. I'm staying here. I'm going to be a Rudaali."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Vivek shouted.

The legendary Rudaali's cries grew louder, drowning out all other sounds. Her head was now completely obscured by the torrent of tears, her body dissolving into the flood.

Suddenly, with a final, ear-splitting scream, the legendary Rudaali's body melted away, leaving nothing behind.

"Nooo!" the Rudaalis screamed in unison, their voices filled with despair.

One of them turned to Vivek and Aksha, her eyes wild. "What do we do now?"

Before they could react, Vivek managed to force the door open. Grabbing Aksha's hand, they ran, the cries of the Rudaalis echoing behind them.

"Please wait! Don't go! You have to become a Rudaali! We're begging you!" they cried out, but Vivek didn't stop.

They ran until they could no longer hear the cries, until the village was nothing but a distant memory.

Chapter 8: The Final Farewell

Vivek couldn't recall how they made it back home. He stared at Aksha, who had grown pale and weak. Her tears hadn't stopped; they kept spilling from her eyes, day after day.

"I'm so sad... so sad..." Aksha whispered, her voice faint and fragile.

The endless crying drained her. Each day, she grew weaker, her vitality slipping away. Vivek remembered the day her father and aunt came to take her back. He had tried to explain everything about the Rudaali women, but they didn't believe him.

"Vivek," her father had said with a firm, unyielding tone, "For now, the engagement is off. Goodbye."

Aksha, worn down by the relentless sorrow, passed away three months later. When Vivek was allowed to pay his respects, he found himself standing over her lifeless body, but something wasn't right.

At the funeral, Aksha's father stood by her side, his voice trembling as he spoke. "How can this be? Aksha is dead, yet the tears won't stop... Is she still alive somehow? But she's so cold... Her eyes are so swollen..."

The room was filled with mourners, their grief palpable. Suddenly, a loud, eerie wailing cut through the somber atmosphere. Vivek turned to the source, his blood running cold.

A group of Rudaalis had entered the house, their cries echoing through the air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they wailed, rushing toward Aksha's body, their hands outstretched as if to claim her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As they approached, the tears from Aksha's eyes began to pour out more intensely, forming a river that seemed impossible for a lifeless body.

"What is happening? How can this be?" her father stammered, his voice filled with fear and confusion.

Before anyone could react, Aksha's body jerked upright. The tears didn't stop—they only flowed faster, an unstoppable torrent.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Aksha screamed; the sound so piercing that it drove everyone to cover their ears.

Chapter 9: The Endless Search

She stood, drenched in her own tears, her once vibrant figure now a haunting silhouette of sorrow. The tears flowed like an endless river, washing away the last remnants of life that once filled her. The room, filled with mourners' moments ago, was now a place of utter panic. The sight of Aksha, standing there in death but consumed by a grief so powerful it defied the grave, sent shivers down the spines of those who witnessed it. Cries of terror filled the air as everyone scrambled for the door, desperate to escape the eerie spectacle unfolding before them.

Vivek stood frozen, his heart pounding in his chest as the chaos erupted around him. His eyes were locked on Aksha, unable to comprehend the horror of what he was witnessing. Her body, once so full of life, now seemed a vessel for something far beyond human understanding. The tears that poured from her swollen eyes, the cries that escaped her pale lips—they were not just the echoes of her own sorrow but the manifestation of a grief that spanned generations, a sorrow too deep to be contained within a single soul.

In the midst of the confusion, amid the screams and the rush of fleeing bodies, Aksha's figure began to fade. The Rudaalis, their cries harmonizing with her own, moved closer, their arms reaching out like tendrils of despair. Vivek's breath caught in his throat as he watched, helpless, as the Rudaalis encircled her, their mournful wails growing louder, more intense. They seemed to draw her into their fold, their ghostly forms merging with hers until she was no longer visible.

Amid the chaos, Aksha's body vanished, swallowed by the collective grief of the Rudaalis. A deep, suffocating sadness gripped Vivek's heart as he realized she was gone—taken by the very force that had once only been a legend to him. He stood there, unable to move, his soul weighed down by a sorrow so profound it felt as if the ground might give way beneath him. The Rudaalis retreated, their forms dissolving into the shadows, taking Aksha with them to a place where the living could no longer reach her.

Vivek's mind swirled with questions that would never have answers. Was she still alive, somewhere in that dark, cursed village, or was it only her lifeless body that had continued to weep? The line between life and death had blurred so completely that he no longer knew what to believe. All he knew was that Aksha was gone, lost to a fate crueler than death itself.

The days that followed were a blur of emptiness and grief. Vivek tried to carry on with his life, but the image of Aksha standing there, tears streaming endlessly, haunted his every waking moment. Sleep offered no solace, as his dreams were filled with the echoes of her cries, the image of her vanishing into the night. The weight of his loss pressed down on him like a stone, each day a struggle to endure the pain that had taken root in his heart.

Even now, long after that dreadful day, Vivek finds himself drawn to Mahvar. It's as if an invisible thread connects him to that place, pulling him back to the edge of the world where the living and the dead coexist in uneasy silence. He wanders through the forests, hoping against hope that he might find the village again, that he might catch a glimpse of Aksha and the Rudaalis, that he might somehow bring her back. But the village remains elusive, hidden away in a fog that never seems to lift, leaving Vivek to wander, lost in his grief.

He knows that Aksha is beyond his reach, that she has become a part of the endless sorrow that the Rudaalis embody. Yet, he cannot let go, cannot stop searching. Each journey to Mahvar is a pilgrimage of pain, a reminder of the love he lost and the life that was stolen away. The memories of Aksha's tears, of her final moments, play in his mind like a tragic song on endless repeat.

Sometimes, as he sits by the side of the road, exhausted from his futile search, he imagines her standing in the distance, just out of reach. Her eyes, still filled with tears, gaze at him with a sadness that transcends time, and he feels a connection that words cannot describe—a bond forged in sorrow, one that death cannot sever.

Vivek knows he may never find Mahvar again, but he will keep searching. For in the depths of his grief, there is a hope—a faint, fragile hope—that somewhere, in that cursed village, Aksha's tears have finally dried, and she has found the peace that eluded her in life. Until then, he will carry her memory, and the tears she shed, as a testament to the love they shared and the sorrow that binds them, forever.