Dwandv:: The Battle for the Gate

by Dinkar Goswami

  “We have to find the banyan tree.” Gerua sounded a bit worried. “Master Shalya had told me to find the biggest banyan tree in the forest. If we find it, we might get a clue where to go next.”

  “Mom, we will find the tree,” Danta said, eating and talking at the same time.

  “Yes, we will.” Gerua realized she must refocus on her objective.

  CHAPTER 31

  UNEASE

  Gerua needed a reality check. She realized that she had been too focused on Danta and had momentarily neglected the search for the gate. The gate could be right in front of her, and she wouldn’t know it was there if she was not focused. She had to see what ordinarily could not be seen, to find what was unfindable. But how? What was she missing? She had to consolidate and evaluate.

  They had traveled south as she had been told. She had in her possession the belt for their protection. She had a scroll. She had two weapons, the bracelet and the urumi. She probably could not use the bracelet because it was a weapon that could only be used with lethal force. She could, however, use the urumi for limited purpose. She had seen the Makara. But apart from the creature examining and acknowledging Danta, nothing much had happened. She knew that the Makara was the guardian of thresholds and gateways. In any case, if the Makara had led them to the gate, it would have been too easy. The Makara was not an immortal. Besides, they were not south enough yet.

  The last six years of her life had been quite surreal. Yog had come to her when she had hit rock bottom in her life, and it had saved her because she had surrendered to her fate. Sacrificing her ego she had clearly and discerningly embraced the principles of yog. She had learned to be selfless, living for Danta and submitting herself to the teachings of the masters. She still had a long way to go, but right now, she needed to use all that she knew or did not know to find the gate. She knew now that the impossible was possible. She had to trust her instincts and find the gate so that Danta could fulfill the prophecy and his destiny.

  Gerua looked at Danta tenderly and with a loving smile.

  Danta smiled back, chewing the fruit. Everyone seemed to know something that she did not—the masters, the citadel guardian and the elder, the naga that had appeared in the citadel, the Makara, even the forest animals—and they all admired Danta. It was almost as if they wanted to be in his presence.

  Gerua already knew that the events of the last six years were no accident. Her trust in the masters’ judgment was absolute. She concluded that for the time being, they had to continue moving south. Eventually, she would figure it out. She had to have patience, make sure they were safe, and move on.

  “Shall we get going?” she suggested. Danta had finished eating. They got up to move to the denser forest to their south. Now Gerua was even more alert to any sign from the forest or the creatures dwelling there.

  “Yes, Mom. I’m getting cold. Let’s keep moving. The fairies want to travel with us, but they’re shy around you,” said Danta. “Do you want to meet them?”

  “Of course I do,” Gerua responded, removing the cape from her backpack and draping it around Danta. Danta looked up, apparently beckoning the fairies. At first, Gerua couldn’t see anything. Then as she focused, she saw two bird-like creatures come down from the trees, leaving a trail of tiny sparkles. They were about the size of Danta’s fist and light green in color, just like the Narilatha blossoms. As they got closer, Gerua looked at them in astonishment, her mouth open. Why didn’t she believe Danta when he told her earlier? She should have known better. Even with his active imagination, Danta did not make up things. Gerua composed herself as the fairies approached, and she extended her palms in invitation. The two creatures landed on her palms, giggling melodiously. They were miniature Kinnaras with the upper body of a tiny beautiful woman and a light green swan body from the waist down. Gerua looked at their twinkling eyes as they smiled and giggled.

  Her hands tickled, and she could smell a sweet flowery scent off them. She looked at Danta in amazement and then quickly looked around. She hoped they were not being watched.

  The fairies fluttered their wings and flew from Gerua’s hands onto Danta’s shoulders. They spoke in Danta’s ears, squealing and chirping. Danta understood. He tugged at his mother’s hands and whispered in her ear as she bent down, “Mom, we should go southeast. If we head directly south, we’ll come across cliffs that are very hard to scale. They say it will be easier to go southeast. Also, we should be careful because we were being followed.”

  “We were being followed? So, are we not being followed now?” asked Gerua, whispering back.

  “I think we still are. They say they’ll fly ahead and see what the best way to travel is,” Danta informed her.

  “Okay, let them go ahead,” she said. As the two fairies flew off toward a southeasterly direction, Gerua and Danta followed. With growing unease, Gerua wondered who was following them and how much they had seen. Her concerns were justified.

  CHAPTER 32

  KARCE

  Bubba watched a three-dimensional hologram of Gerua and Danta again and again. He saw what Gerua was wearing and what she was carrying. He recognized the urumi and knew what it could do. He also saw the belt partly and the bracelet but could not understand why she was so brightly adorned. The top of the bracelet and the belt buckle were under her long-sleeve choli. He was sure that they were either defensive or offensive weapons. The belt could generate a shield or be an antigravity device, and the bracelet could be a communication device. He saw that Danta and Gerua continued to travel on foot and did not communicate with anyone. He was sure that the belt and the bracelet came from the ashram.

  From the way they moved, Bubba was also certain that the masters had trained not only her but the boy as well. Bubba wanted to know the exact extent of her training. He had to act, and he had to act fast.

  Bubba waved his hand over the dials and whispered a command. A circular half orb protruding from the tabletop lit up in front of him. Bubba gently touched it, and a prism the size of his forefinger popped out of the orb. Bubba removed the prism and walked to the throne on the wall behind him.

  When Bubba approached the throne with the prism, the throne activated. The armrest adjusted to a larger size. A footrest appeared in front of the throne. The cushioning changed constitution, and the backrest adjusted to accommodate a huge body. A weapon rack popped out of the side on the left armrest. When the throne modified to accept the Asura Bubba was trying to summon, Bubba inserted the prism into the slot in the center half orb just below the seat of the throne. The orb accepted half of the prism, leaving half the prism out. Bubba dialed a code on the prism, turning it clockwise and then counterclockwise a number of times while chanting an incantation. After he was done, the pentagram on the wall behind the throne came to life.

  The pentagram on the wall behind the throne enlarged outward toward the throne in the form of a huge pentagram shaped bubble sizzling with energy, partly engulfing the throne. The bubbling pentagram crackled loudly and turned into a pentagrammic-crossed antiprism and then turned into a great stellate dodecahedron, engulfing the throne partially. Abruptly, it reverted to a pentagram, reversing each process in the same way it had progressed. The pentagram on the wall returned to its original form in the wall, and the throne remained as it was.

  Bubba let out a sigh. He knew that the Asura was not available. After taking the prism out of the slot in the throne, Bubba left the inner cave momentarily, returning to the great hall after a while. He reinserted the prism into the orb under the seat of the center table. He sat looking at a paused hologram of the woman and the boy in the water with the Makara. He tried to figure out what was being communicated between the woman and the boy, but he could not reach any conclusion. As he sat examining the projections, a pounding sound behind the pentagram told him that the Asura was ready to appear before him. Bubba went to the throne and repeated the dialing process with the prism as he had done earlier.

  Step-by-step, the pentagram began to engulf the throne as
it had done earlier, turning into a great stellate dodecahedron. It continued to turn into a dodecahedron, which turned to a small snub icosidodecahedron and, finally, into a great retrosnub icosidodecahedron. It crackled as it changed shape and slowly engulfed the throne completely and, with a large crackling sound, pulled the throne into the wall, within the circle, while the points of the great retrosnub icosidodecahedron remained settled until the surface within the circle in the wall looked almost like a mirror, and then, there was total silence.

  Bubba crouched and withdrew slowly backward toward the center table, keeping his head low and shielding his eyes with his arms. Bubba knew that he would have the pleasure of a visit from Karce of the Cosmic Council because a great retrosnub icosidodecahedron had engulfed the throne. With a blinding flash, the circular mirror-like surface of the wall suddenly burst outward into a great retrosnub icosidodecahedron, bringing the throne occupied by the Asura out into the great hall. Then the great retrosnub icosidodecahedron collapsed into its original carved surface of a circle with a pentagram, leaving the throne with its enormous occupant in the great hall. Bubba stooped low, not looking up, waiting for the Asura to speak.

  Karce was an imposing Asura with four arms. In one hand, he held a huge ball, and in another hand, he held a sword hilt. Karce inserted the ball and the sword hilt into the slot in the throne. His four arms were perfectly built, and his red veins popped out of his reddish skin like a bodybuilder. His massive frame was superlatively built with broad shoulders, a large chest, a narrow muscular waist, and long immensely muscular legs. He had thick fingers with immaculately manicured nails. On his upper body he wore nothing except armlets made of a dark metal around his wrist and forearm. A broad belt with an intricate high tech buckle held up fitting pants made of skin like bluish-colored metal. On his feet, he wore sandals made with the same metal. His face was flawless, with outstandingly attractive features. His eyes were the color of the sun, and he barely breathed.

  “Why have you called for us? What is so dire?” asked the Asura in a deep, clear voice.

  Bubba straightened, looking up at the huge Asura.“Excellency, the green-eyed woman we sought six years ago is alive. She is on the mountain. She along with her friend had been tagged six years ago as a potential mother of the paragon. She is with a young boy whom I believe is her son. From his age, I believe he could be born during the astronomic alignment.” It had been the Asura who had told Bubba about the significance of the astronomic alignment and that someone born under it could become a daunting foe or a formidable ally. Even though neither the Asura nor Bubba knew of the prophecy at the ashram, the Asura knew how to read astronomical signs. Under the advice of Rahu and Ketu, the Asura had agreed to tag certain mortals with certain traits who could be parents during the astronomic alignment. Bubba had agreed to be the instrument of their destruction or consumption. Prior to that, Bubba had believed the alignment to only be a rumor spread among superstitious mountain people.

  “Show me,” the Asura commanded.

  Bubba ran the three-dimensional hologram of Gerua and Danta. After it was over, Karce was silent for a moment, and then he spoke in a chilling voice. “She was reported dead?”

  “I reported that she had been lost to the mountain. I did not report her dead, as her body was never found. Even after Excellency closed the search for her body, I kept on searching. I suspected that she might not be dead. I have kept ears and eyes open since, in case she reappeared. That is why I was able to find her now,” Bubba explained quickly. He hid the fact that Gerua had confronted his edict earlier when she had destroyed the churel and decimated his pishachas.

  “She has been hiding for six years?” asked the Asura softly. “Don’t we have eyes and ears everywhere? Who helped her, and how did she hide on the mountain? She is a mere mortal.”

  “Excellency, I believe she never left the mountains,” Bubba replied softly and cautiously, pausing. Getting no reaction from the Asura, he continued. “She could have been saved and taken to the ascetics that are like living ghosts. The mountain people whisper about them, saying some have spiritual powers. They believe the ascetics to be the guardians of the mountains and vice versa. Now there are also rumors that the paragon who was protected until now is on the mountain.” Bubba wanted to know how the Asura would react to his indirect reference to the masters. The Asura’s reaction was exactly as Bubba desired.

  “Guardians of the mountain! Buahahaha! We are aware of the rumors about the so-called ascetics as well. Our tech has not detected them. There are no alarming EARE waves. If they exist, they are of no significance and no threat to us. They have never been seen, let alone seen rescuing anyone. They are just a myth.” Karce leaned menacingly forward. Bubba cowered pretentiously. “You need not concern yourself with them. I want to know about the woman and this boy. You understand?” Karce put his hand below the ball he had come with lifting it up. The ball turned into a round mace of green-golden metal. The mace head was the size of a baby elephant’s head. Grooves ran from the bottom of the head to a pyramid-shaped appendage at the top. The baseball bat–like handle below was broad where it connected with the mace head, narrowing to a horizontally grooved grip, which fitted perfectly into the Asura’s hands. The grooves in the mace’s head rippled with energy. “How do you know it is the same woman?”

  Bubba knew he had to control not only his tongue but also his mind and thoughts. One slip and he would be a pulp consumed by the energy of the mace. The Asura leaders were very powerful giants with even more gigantic egos. He knew that he had perhaps, already spoken too much. “I have her picture from six years ago that my disciple had sent me. I am sure this woman is the same woman we tried to possess six years ago. She has been heading south with the boy. The appearance of the Makara in front of her and her son intrigued me. The Makara interaction alerted me.”

  “Neither she nor the boy demonstrates any special skills, do they?” Karce had and was capable of defeating Deva.

  “That is correct, Excellency. They do not,” Bubba replied softly.

  “Other than the pathetic weapon she carries, she seems like any other visitor. She is also dressed like a tourist,” the Asura proclaimed haughtily. “No child can be precisely linked with the astronomic alignment on this planet. It is not just the general timing of the birth during the alignment that matters. The birth has to take place at a very precise time when the energy from the alignment is mightiest. This fleeting moment of birth has to be attended by those with siddhi, who must then perform a particular ceremony. The birth also has to take place to at least one parent with some siddhi. There are no EARE waves detected from the woman or anyone else on Earth.”

  Karce leaned forward menacingly “Only you emit EARE! Are you the father?”

  “No, Excellency! I have fathered no child!” Bubba cringed outwardly, knowing fully that all the conditions the Asura mentioned could have been satisfied in the ashram. “I merely said that the child seems to be of age and is her son.” Bubba attempted to be logical.

  “Hmmmm... how did she get on the mountain without your detection?” The Asura mocked Bubba, and he knew he would get no answer. “Where is the woman and the boy now?”

  “She and the boy are still heading south in the forest,” Bubba responded softly.

  “Has the boy shown any trace of even karmic siddhi?” asked the Asura.

  “No, Excellency, not yet. Other than the incident with the Makara, he has just been accompanying his mother. The woman is likely possessed with martial skills. She may have some mantra knowledge.” Bubba knew that the Asura considered human martial skills and mantra as pathetic, at best.

  The Asura thought for a moment. “They are of little consequence. Do with them, as you desire. If you are suspicious, use your subordinates to neutralize even a remotely possible threat. Do not ask for us unless you have something substantial.” The Asura whispered a command, and he, along with the throne, disappeared into the wall the same way he had appeared. When the throne reapp
eared, it was empty.

  Bubba smiled, pleased with himself. Karce himself had again chosen to appear before him. Bubba knew such an appearance was a privilege granted to only a select few on a chosen few worlds. Bubba was pleased with himself. He had informed the Asura of events in the valley, and Karce himself had granted him complete control over the Gerua situation. They are of little consequence. Do with them, as you desire. The gates of fortune had swung wide open for Bubba.

  After consuming the small aghori with a fire demon, Bubba had commandeered a phantom called a vetala that could be mistaken for a huge bat-like ghoul, to follow the woman and the boy. Hanging upside down, legs gripping the roof of the outer cave like a bat, the vetala had taken instruction from Bubba and flown off to the forest.

  When Bubba had stepped out of the great hall upon learning that he would have to wait for the Asura to appear, he had time to communicate remotely with the vetala. Bubba had the power to communicate remotely with most of his paranormal minions and even see what they were seeing. The vetala had reported to Bubba that the two travellers had spent a lot of time admiring the flowers and trees and were now resting under a tree and eating. The woman seemed lost, and the boy behaved like a normal child admiring the flora and fauna in the forest. The vetala saw nothing alarming, apart from the fact that they had spent a lot of time at the Narilatha tree. Those aligned to the edict were not capable of seeing the fairies that Danta had brought to life.

  Bubba took a deep breath. He knew that this was a chance to become indispensable to the Asura. Bubba would be able to access all the other Asura on the Cosmic Council if he could show that they had been wrong.