Realm of the Goddess

by Sabina Khan

  Shiv and I silently took in the wonder of what stood before us. In the center of the enormous hall stood a statue of Kali. It was big, a little taller than me, but shorter than Shiv, who stood at almost six feet. It was adorned with the traditional jewels and garments that could be found on any statue in temples throughout India. Then, just as Shiv and I began to walk toward it, we heard a growl. I looked around and to my surprise I saw that standing all along the wall in a wide circle were statues of monkeys. Not small, cute ones like back in the jungle. These ones looked ferocious, like they could rip your throat out. Or bash your skull in. I couldn’t help thinking of the skulls we had seen in the cave. But they were statues, not live monkeys.

  I looked at Shiv in surprise. “Were those there when we came in?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, I didn’t notice them until now. Do you think that’s where the growl came from?”

  “I don’t think so.” A second later I wanted to take back my words. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement but before I could check to see what it was, the statues came alive around us. My blood ran cold as I watched, my mind working almost in slow motion as it registered what was happening. Shiv looked at me, and my terror was reflected in his eyes as we realized that we were surrounded by monkeys that didn’t look particularly pleased with our presence. Also, we were trapped inside the temple with no way out.

  I could feel my pendant beginning to get warm. A tingling started to travel from my gut, up my body and down my right arm. I raised my arm and brought my hand closer to my face to see what was happening. The monkey to my immediate right must have noticed the movement, because it growled, low and menacingly. Then it charged. My response was automatic. I didn’t hesitate or think about my action. I just let the energy shoot out of my arm with a blast of light and the monkey was down. I had just enough time to see the entire herd closing in on us and I knew this was the end. But then the earth shook and we all froze. Me, Shiv and the monkeys. A loud roar thundered through the temple. It felt as if the very walls trembled from the sound. I closed my eyes in terror and when I opened them I saw Hanuman standing before us. He stood over seven feet tall this time. His tail was draped around his right arm. His large black eyes seemed to see deep into the soul of me.

  “We meet again,” he said, in a deep rumble that echoed through the temple. “And you have just killed one of my own.” I looked around at the monkeys, who were now prostrate on the ground before their master. I was in shock. I had no idea where that blast came from and I certainly had no idea that I could kill with it.

  “Forgive me, Lord Hanuman. I...I don’t know what happened...my hand...” My words trailed off as I surveyed the damage I had caused. I could not look at the monkey that lay lifeless on the ground. The walls behind where it had been standing had scorch marks on them. This was insane. The pedant had gone from just giving me a warning glow to turning me into a killing machine. I turned to Lord Hanuman, desperate for his forgiveness.

  “I had no choice. I thought they were going to kill us. Please...can’t you do something?” I rushed over to where the monkey lay and gently put my hand on its face.

  Hanuman walked over to us. He placed his right hand on the monkey’s forehead. A soft light emanated from his hand into the monkey’s body and in just a moment the its eyes fluttered open. As it saw the face of its lord and master, it rose to its haunches and then touched Hanuman’s feet in an age-old gesture of respect and gratitude. Tears of remorse sprang to my eyes as I realized what I had done.

  “It seems that you are not yet in control of your powers,” Hanuman said, rising and standing before me. “It will bring you much pain and regret if you do not master them soon.”

  And with that he disappeared in a cloud of dust and wind as quickly as he had come. The monkeys reverted back to their statue forms.

  I looked at Shiv, who still seemed to be in shock. “So...you have a pretty deadly power there,” he said, nodding toward my hand.

  “I honestly don’t know where that came from,” I said, looking at my palm to see if there were any burn marks. Nothing. It was as if fire had not just come shooting out of it.

  “I think my connection with the pendant is getting stronger somehow.” I couldn’t think of any other plausible explanation. The one good thing about this debacle was that finally I felt like I had an actual power. I’d thought that I was going to have to develop some serious ninja skills to pull this off. I looked at the monkeys and felt a lump in my throat. It was hard to believe that they could have been here for thousands of years.

  “It looks like they were just protecting the temple for Kali...or you,” Shiv said, pulling me toward him. He put his arms around me and held me as I sobbed softly into his shirt. I wasn’t really sure why I was crying except that I was so relieved we had made it here alive. After the sobbing had subsided, I wiped the tears on my sleeve and took a deep, shaky breath. Shiv stepped back and studied my face.

  “That was something else, wasn’t it?” he said.

  “I can’t believe we finally made it...in one piece,” I said with a watery smile.

  “Well, I guess now we start looking for the sword,” he replied.

  We walked over to the statue of Kali. She was all arms. She was magnificent, proud and powerful, black hair flowing down her back in long tresses. Eyes blazing with anger, dark as the night. This was no demure goddess; her beauty was not traditional. She represented other strengths, fierce protectiveness, fearlessness and above all a desire to fight against evil. Her beauty was the fire in her eyes, the anger in her grimace. She inspired fear in her enemies and loyalty in her devotees. She held all the weapons that had been given to her by the gods. One of them was a sword. Of course, the weapons were usually not real, but rather replicas. However, since we were in this particular temple, I wanted to think that this sword was the one. I touched it and pried it out of her statue hands. Despite my wishful thinking, this one was made of wood, too light to do any damage at all, other than a few splinters maybe.

  “Any luck there?” Shiv asked wryly from the other side of the statue.

  “A girl can hope, can’t she?” I quipped. I walked around the statue toward another exit. I peered around the doorframe. A short hallway connected this larger room to another.

  “Shiv, I’m going to check out that other room, okay?” I called over my shoulder.

  “I think I’ll keep looking around in here,” he replied.

  I went quickly down the hallway and entered the room on the right. It was much smaller than the main hall I had just left. There were no statues here. Instead I saw a few brass pots covered in cobwebs sitting on the floor by the wall. On one wall there were little indentations. Curious, I went closer to take a better look. There was a tiny object in one of them. At first I couldn’t tell what it was because it was shrouded in cobwebs. Suppressing my disgust, I brushed away as much as I could and peered at it.

  It was a ring. A beautiful silver ring in the shape of an eternal knot. As I held it and tried to figure out what it was doing here, I felt my surroundings fade away. I blinked in confusion, and when I opened my eyes, I was still in the room. Except it was bright and clean with sunlight streaming in from tiny little windows set high close to the ceiling. There were four young women in the room, but none of them seemed aware of my presence. They wore pretty yellow saris with red borders running along the bottom. Each had a garland of jasmine flowers twisted in her braid. One of the girls stood by a small fire, where she was pouring heated milk into small vessels. Each of the other girls then took one, picked up a small platter of sweets, fruits and nuts and walked out of the room. The one who remained sat by the fire for some time. Then she looked around furtively before reaching into the folds of her sari and producing a ring. She put it on her middle finger, admired it, then changed her mind and put it on her ring finger. Suddenly she looked up and I froze, afraid that she would see me. But although her gaze was pointed in my direction, she saw right through me.

/>   Then a couple of the other girls came back. I decided to return to the larger room. I went down the same hallway, but this time it was clean and well lit by sconces that lined the walls. I looked down at my hand as I walked into the large hall. I was still holding the ring. Somehow I knew that I was having this vision because of it. I wanted to know what was going on and felt that I was witnessing this because something important was going to happen. I stood by the entrance. The girl stood in front of Kali, pouring water over the statue and washing it with slow, careful strokes. Then she dried it with a cloth and put garlands of marigolds around Kali’s neck. She carefully placed the tumblers of milk and the platter of sweets on the ground in front of her. Then she sat on her haunches and proceeded to create a rangoli pattern on the floor. I watched as she made intricate designs with different colored powders, all the while humming a pretty tune. I put the ring in my pocket and instantly everything around me transformed. I still stood in the same temple, but now it was dark and musty. Shiv was still looking around in every nook and cranny.

  “Shiv, you’ll never guess what happened,” I called out.

  He came bounding back from the other side of the room. I held out the ring. I sort of expected that I would have another vision, but I didn’t. Shiv looked at me in confusion.

  “A ring? Where’d you find it?”

  “In the other room. But it was so weird...as soon as I picked it up, I had a kind of vision.”

  I told him what I’d seen.

  “So you think they were the priestesses of Kali?”

  “Yes...think about it. Who else could they be?” I wish I could know what time I had been transported to. From their attire, I wasn’t able to hazard a guess. Women still wore saris like that.

  “The vision stopped when I put the ring in my pocket. I thought I would see it again when I touched it.” I was a little worried that I might never be able to get it back. I didn’t know why, but it seemed important.

  “So maybe it only shows you what it wants you to see and when it wants,” Shiv tried to reason.

  I nodded. That made sense for now. “Have you had any luck here?” I asked. Even though I wanted to find out more about the priestesses, I knew we had to find the sword quickly and get back.

  “Not really. I was thinking maybe there was some hidden panel or compartment or something, but if there is I haven’t found it.” He shrugged. “I’m just going to keep looking.”

  I decided to return to the room. Maybe I would find some clue there. I walked back down the hallway and entered the room again. I took out the ring and stroked it absentmindedly as I walked around. Suddenly everything shifted and I was in another time once again. This must have been a different day, though, because the girls were not wearing the same saris. They were preparing for some ritual; I could smell incense and there were trays with garlands of marigold and other ones with sweets. Once again, all the girls left except for the same one as last time. But this time she put the ring on her finger and went to the wall farthest away from where I was standing. There was cloth hanging over a part of it like a curtain. To my surprise, she pushed it aside to reveal a small opening, just large enough for her to slip through. I ran to the spot where she had disappeared and followed her out.

  After I squeezed through the opening, I found myself outside. I stood in a beautiful garden, surrounded by blooming marigolds and jasmine. To my left was a shaded corner where the trees made a little canopy, providing shelter from the sun. That’s where I found the girl. But she wasn’t alone. A man sat on the grass with her and held her hands in his. I was pretty sure I was witnessing a secret rendezvous, because according to what I had read about the priestesses, they were celibate. They devoted their entire lives to the worship of Kali, protecting her sword and guarding the temple. But of course that didn’t mean that they weren’t subject to the same desires as the rest of us. This priestess had obviously fallen in love.

  The man began to caress her, running his hands up and down her arms. Then he brought his face close to hers and kissed her. She responded timidly, but then as his hands became bolder she pushed away and said something to him. He smiled and then continued the same way. This time she pushed him away a little harder and his face darkened with anger. He grabbed her by the arms and shook her. I could hear her protests getting louder and looked around, hoping that the others would hear her. But we were at the at the back of the temple in the far end of the garden, and I didn’t think they would hear her. I had to do something.

  I shouted, knowing it was futile. I ran to them and tried to pry him off her, but my hands just touched air. She was crying by now, desperately begging him to let her go. I didn’t understand the words, but I didn’t have to. It was clear she was afraid of what he was going to do to her. She fought him, at one point managing to scratch his face with her fingernails. As they raked across his cheek, leaving a bloody trail, he began to transform. Right in front of me his face changed into something grotesque, his thin lips bared, exposing sharp teeth. He grabbed her and threw her on the ground as if she was nothing more than a doll. He ripped off her sari and then began to shred her blouse until she was exposed. Suddenly everything disappeared and I stood in the middle of a patch of jungle that was overgrown with vines and grass. Where the trees had made a canopy, now there were thorny branches growing into each other. The ring was on the ground by my feet. I must have dropped it and somehow been expelled from the vision. I had to go back. I had to help her.

  I picked up the ring and went back instantly. But I was too late. She lay on the ground, naked and bleeding, her clothes in shreds around her. She wasn’t crying, she was probably beyond tears, but mine ran down my cheeks. I went to her and tried to touch her, to comfort her, but she could neither hear me nor feel my presence. Then as I stood helplessly, she got up, gathered the torn sari and blouse and dragged herself back through the opening in the wall. I followed her inside and watched as she covered it up carefully with the cloth and went into a small area in the room that I hadn’t seen before. It was a washroom, with a pitcher of water and a bowl. She cleaned herself up as well as she could and put on a fresh sari and blouse. Then she walked out to the main hall and joined the others.

  I walked right behind her, wondering if she would tell them. She must have, because a few moments later they all huddled around her in tears. They embraced her and checked her over. When they saw the bruises and scratches they cried some more, but I could also see anger rising in them. They must have realized that her lover was just another demon, using her to get to the sword. But this time one of their own, their sister, had been hurt. I wondered what they were going to do next. I didn’t have to wait long.

  They had talked for some time and then one of the others left the hall. She returned after a while with an assortment of bowls and incense sticks. It looked like they were going to perform a ritual. I thought that they were doing some sort of healing thing, but then to my surprise, one of the other girls went to the statue of Kali and removed the sword. My eyes widened as I saw the girl’s arms bend under the weight of it and I realized that this was not the wooden sword that the Kali statue held now. This one was the real one. I watched as they chanted an incantation and in front of my eyes the sword disappeared. Then they gathered their things and left. At the same time my surroundings changed yet again and I was back in the main hall with Shiv staring at me in concern.

  “Callie...what happened? I heard you cry out, but you couldn’t hear me. Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head. I was still in shock at what I’d seen. But it all made sense now. After Kali had given the priestesses the task of keeping the sword safe from Mahisha and his demons, they had devoted themselves to this duty for generation after generation. Even though they did not marry, there were always plenty of young women ready to take their place when they died. They must have fended off many ploys and had kept the sword safe for centuries. But this attack must have hit too close to home. So they decided to put it somewhere where no one could
find it. Unfortunately for me, knowing the story behind it still didn’t tell me where it was hidden. But deep down inside I knew that it was somewhere here in the temple.

  “I’m going back to the room,” I said. I had a strong feeling that I would find something there.

  “I’ll come with you,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything here.”

  Shiv looked around the parts I’d already covered. I went to the corner where she had cleaned herself up. There was a tiny hallway that led out of this chamber, which I hadn’t noticed at the time. I went through and ended up in a small alcove. It was empty. I looked around just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I was about to turn around and leave when I noticed that my skull pendant was getting warm. It was glowing, but the light was blue, so no danger. It could only mean one thing. The sword was hidden somewhere in here. But where? There was no place to put a sword. Still, I walked around once more, not know what I was looking for. I was about to give up yet again when I noticed that the pendant’s light was getting brighter, casting a bluish glow throughout the room. I stopped and looked at the wall. Could it be hidden inside? It made sense. The priestesses wouldn’t have wanted to take a chance after what had happened with the demon. What better place to hide it than buried deep inside the structure of the temple itself?

  “Shiv,” I called, hoping he could hear me. He was there in a flash.

  “Did you find something?” he said.

  “I think it’s in here,” I said, pointing to the wall. I looked at my pendant, which was now straining away from me. It was getting warmer, uncomfortably so, and the string was beginning to cut into my skin. I thought I felt a vibration and looked at Shiv in a panic.

  “Did you feel that too?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I think we should get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  I did too, but I wasn’t about to leave without the sword. The vibrations were getting stronger and the pendant burned my fingers when I tried to pull it back. It wouldn’t budge. I had to get the sword out. This was my only chance. Unfortunately, the ground began to shake and I knew we were running out of time.