Ari seemed skeptical. “How can he do that? He’s not a Buddha or even a good monk. And the guy kills kids. How in the world does he get to become a god for doing that? It seems pretty unfair to the rest of us.”
Kelsey shook her head. “First, Devas are not gods, though they like to think they are. Second, becoming an Asura Deva is not considered better than being reborn a human. In fact, it’s considered one of the four unhappy rebirths, next to being sent to the animal kingdom, being a hungry ghost in Preta or going to any of the hell realms. And you don’t need to be an expert monk to do this. Karma is all about habit and habit supposedly dictates one’s rebirth. If you commit crimes against humanity in the human realms, then you will pay for your sins in the next incarnation. It’s as simple as that. You’ll go to the plane of existence that deals with that negativity of your previous actions and that’s where you’ll spend what may feel like eternity until the negative Karma you acquired is used up.”
Ari stared at her strangely. “So, you mean if someone kills millions of people, they may not come back as a human? Even if it was for the greater good? Even if the people they killed all deserved it?”
Something in his voice made Kelsey stare at him suspiciously. “Ari, if someone killed millions of humans in this lifetime, there is more than a good chance they will spend more millennia than they can count in the hell realms where Mara and his minions will cook you in hot cauldrons and poke you with flaming spears for fun until you use up all your negative energy. You’ll just be reborn repeatedly in the same situation for as long as it takes as punishment. There is no way you would ever return as a human. You wouldn’t even have the luxury of being reborn as an ant, destined to be stepped on for a millennia over and over. Why do you ask?”
He flexed his jaw and rolled his shoulder as if to untighten them. “No reason.”
She studied him and clicked her tongue. “No reason. Yeah, sure.”
He shook his head. “We’ll talk about this later. So what you’re saying is that Sitaula may be hoping to reincarnate himself in a specific realm, but that means he has to die, doesn’t it?”
She nodded. “Technically, at some point, yes, he’ll have to die.” She tossed the nugget in her hand and then studied the picture of the man again, struck by the similarity to Desmond. And the fact that someone had sent this to Sitaula? Coincidence? No way. This meant something.
Kelsey read the words of warning above and below the picture. She examined the golden colored pebbles at Desmond’s feet and a thought came to her. She grabbed her phone and pulled up the screenshots of the Voynich Manuscript--specifically the ones with the star charts and mountains. She studied them and began to scribble the codes to decipher the words. “Ari, help me.”
Together they pieced words and phrases together. Stories emerged. Tales of battle, tales of suffering and misery. Instructions on how to escape.
Kelsey stared at Ari. “There’s a war going on in the world of the Voynich Manuscript. The drawings of water and all these strange women sitting in these tubs, caves and fields must be areas where there are portals. The strange flowers and animals are from the other realms.” She racked her brain, remembering one time with Desmond when he’d been thrashing in his sleep. He’d been yelling a phrase over and over and she’d had no idea what it meant. She wrote down what she could remember. “Help me figure this out. He used to scream this phrase out in the middle of the night and I used to swear it was in Tedanaleese but I couldn’t make it out. Like he had this crazy accent or something or he’d just yell out partial words.”
Ari and Kelsey worked together efficiently and feverishly, the way they used to. It took only a few minutes for Kelsey to jump up, her eyes wild. “They’re going to kill us all? That’s what he was screaming all this time? Who’s coming to kill him?”
“Sitaula?” Ari asked.
Kelsey thought hard. “Let me think. This is all connected. Desmond, the Voynich Manuscript, Sitaula having all his grandfather’s things from the burned shop in Nepal and the link between them. Bianca, you, me. All of this. What is the distinguishing factor? What is the focal point?”
Ari snarled. “Children. This all has to do with him taking and killing children.”
Kelsey tapped her chin, thinking. “Okay, let’s go with that. Desmond was just a child when he left his world. Actually, when both he and Finley left their world. And I remember in Xanadu, there were so many babies and children without parents. What if they all were in Xanadu for their safety? What if the children on Desmond’s world all left to keep them from some kind of harm?”
Ari’s cocked his head. “Or what if they were just dead, Kelsey? Xanadu is the place people go after they die to choose their next incarnation. At least, that’s what you’ve told me.”
“It’s true for some, but not for everyone. It wasn’t for me. I wasn’t dead. And Desmond was obviously not dead. What if others were being protected, too?”
Ari crossed his arms. “Then why send the children away to Xanadu or Earth? What is the reason their parents put them in the portals?”
Kelsey paced, and then stopped. Her jaw dropped. “What if children in Aihika were some form of currency and gave someone an advantage? What if they were sent away to both protect and help the cause?”
Ari frowned. “And Sitaula is bringing them back? For what reason?” His eyes widened “Wait! If you’re implying he sent all these kids back to Aihika, then maybe he did this with his own daughter. But, why would he send Bianca to her death? Why would he do something like this?”
“I don’t know, Ari. Maybe these children aren’t dead. Maybe they’re being used for something else. We’ve recovered no bodies.”
“There’s been bloodshed, Kelsey.” He drummed his thighs. “Wait, if Sitaula sent Bianca there and didn’t kill her, she could conceivably be alive after all this time, right? She could be a prisoner in Desmond’s world these past seven years. There is a chance, right?”
Kelsey could see the look of expectation and hope in Ari’s expression. “Yes, that’s where she’d be, if she’s not already dead.” She caught herself and placed a reassuring hand on her brother’s arm. “Let me rephrase that. I think she could be alive, or what hold would they have over Sitaula?”
Ari huffed. “So where is Sitaula? How do we get to him and then, how do we get to Bianca?”
Kelsey flipped through her screen shots and studied the pages intently. She stared at the golden nugget and tossed it in her hand when she let out a startled cry. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this before! I know exactly where he is and I know what he’s doing. He’s in Dyea and I’ll bet he’s waiting for us. Get your gun and let’s go.”
Chapter 20
With no transportation handy, they made their way to Dyea by foot on the trail the Yeti had shown Kelsey a few nights before.
Ari grew angrier by the minute. “We’re losing precious time, Kelsey. We should have gone to town and had someone drive us. Walking to Dyea ten miles through the woods was an absolutely stupid idea.” He hacked away at a thin branch in their path with a knife he had filched from Sitaula’s kitchen.
She shook her head. “We can’t get anyone else involved in this. Look what happened to Charlie when he helped us. I would never forgive myself. Besides, I don’t think time is the issue. I believe Sitaula is already waiting for us. His alibi with Flora was weak and he knew it could be easily blown. Be on your guard. I feel like we’re being watched.”
A rustle in the trees stopped them both cold and Ari took out his gun. “I can’t believe you didn’t take a weapon with you,” he whispered.
She pursed her lips. “I didn’t think I’d need one on this trip. All I was doing was getting away to a Buddhist retreat for a few days.”
“At least take the knife.” He handed it to her.
Kelsey gripped it and they remained silent as a great brown bear ambled towards them. They froze as the creature came within just a few feet of them. It was so close she could see it clearly and
it didn’t go unnoticed to Kelsey that it was the same color as the hair sample Ari had found near Bobby’s kidnapping. There were old scar marks across the beast’s face and it gave her chills. “You ever see a bear with hazel eyes flecked with gold, Ari?”
He licked his lips. “Kind of describes the eyes of the Yeti you mentioned.”
“Shapeshifters?” she whispered.
When the bear didn’t move, Kelsey touched Ari’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.” They gently backed away and continued on their way and while the brown bear remained at attention, it did not follow. Still, a sense of being watched shadowed Kelsey the entire time. The feeling came from all around her, as if the very forest were stalking her every move.
It took nearly two hours for them to near the abandoned building where Sitaula had conducted his strange prayers. “He did his chant about the Asuras here, too. I believe he’s training his mind. When you repeat the same mantra repeatedly, it’s a type of study. The thought is always sitting in your subconscious because you speak this chant repeatedly throughout the day.”
“So that if he dies, it’s the last thought he has, right?”
Kelsey nodded.
“Then, I still don’t understand,” Ari stroked his beard, thinking. “If he keeps the Asuras top and center in his mind, he could become one at death? If he is doing all these evil deeds, even if it’s considered an unhappy rebirth, how can he possibly think he’ll become a god?”
“Remember what I said. Asuras are not gods. They are Devas and there’s a difference. They just think they’re gods because they’re so pompous. While some humans would want to be one, they’re not without negative karma.”
“It doesn’t seem like it’s all that unhappy for them. Power, greed, wealth,” Ari muttered.
“It’s like wanting to become a vampire,” Kelsey explained. “Everyone in pop-culture glorifies it and believes it would be cool to have immortality and be all powerful, but the fact is, you’re dead, you can only come out at night, and you have to drink human blood to survive. They don’t even have souls. Our souls really don’t want this type of life, Ari. Our souls want to be human. It’s what they strive and yearn for. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.”
He gave a mirthless laugh as he hacked away at another shrub covering the trail. “Really? I never told you this, but I would have thought that living in the hell realm as the princess of desire would have been pretty perfect. Anything you ever craved you got at the drop of a hat. I’m surprised you ever left.”
Kelsey’s nostrils flared. “Yeah, because it was so lovely to watch our servants be tortured day in and day out for the indiscretions they committed from when they existed in this human realm. Do you know I used to play at the feet of slaves getting their insides gutted with flaming spears? Or, I would crawl all over them as they lay tied up naked on a bed of nails? When I was little, I would use their bodies as trampolines and each time I landed and their backs connected with the nails, their blood would squirt up like those spurting fountains at water parks. The guards would hold slaves down on the ground for me and slash their guts so I could fingerpaint on the floor with their blood. I’d make little handprints all around the walls of my father’s meeting chambers and he would clap his hands with glee and egg me on.”
“Kelsey,” Ari started, but Kelsey put up her hand.
“No, you need to understand why I left that realm. Nothing about it is glorious. Nothing about it is fascinating. Our pets mauled the very people who cared for them. My servants who catered to me were so burdened down with the weights they carried, they were hunched over and deformed. They had to crawl on their hands and knees to serve me.” Kelsey gave a bitter laugh. “Mara taught me that their screams and tears were funny, and he would reward me if I caused them more pain and suffering. And lastly, as I got older, I remember watching some of the more evolved humans who were in Mara’s good graces lounging with him in his meeting chambers. They’d be cavorting naked on the couches, having sex for hours at a time but not once were any of them ever satisfied. Can you imagine that type of existence? No release, ever, until their own negative karma was used up? That was their torture. So, while you might think me getting everything I ever wanted was perfect, think again. I left that realm to live in this one, and because of that decision I suffered for more lifetimes than you can ever imagine. I’m still recalling the deaths of every incarnation. Mara’s minions murdered me viciously in each and every lifetime. The hell realm may seem like I had everything I ever wished for, but it was filled with misery for everyone else around me. My soul knew it needed to be somewhere else. Like now, it knows it needs to be with Desmond. I will find him and fulfill that.”
Ari made no more comments as they passed by the shack, giving it no more than a side glance, and then moved further onto the widened trail. It placed them in the same area as the day before. They arrived at the edge of one of the great rivers and Kelsey ushered them along the shoreline. She stared at the cliff faces. “It’s near, Ari. What we’re seeking is close. I feel it.”
Ari pointed to the sky. “It’s going to pour.”
The sky was thick with dark storm clouds. Kelsey nodded. “The Emperor told me that all the worlds were connected, so if something of this magnitude is happening here, imagine what is going on in Aihika whose land is closer to the sky? There must be a raging storm there.”
They hiked along the water’s edge for some time until Kelsey noticed something on the rocks that jogged her memory. “Hold on a second.” She removed her hiking boots and rolled up her pants and then waded into the water. It was freezing and she felt her toes numb instantly.
“What are you doing?” Ari asked.
“I’m looking for something I saw last time we were here.” She splashed further out and perused the rock faces. Suddenly she pointed at the cliff. “There! I knew it. That’s what we’re looking for. I remember seeing this before, but we were across the river at that point and I saw it from a different angle. There’s a cave cut into the rocks. It’s probably one of the old mines from the Klondike Gold Rush.” She removed the gold nugget from her pocket and stared at it and then at the mine opening. She nodded. “That’s it. This is what the Yeti tried to tell me. I was searching for something that had to do with the gold rush.”
Kelsey waded back to Ari and quickly put her socks and hiking boots back on. Then they moved to the base of the mountain. The wind had picked up and it whipped her hair about. A flash of lightning, followed by a deafening peal of thunder, cracked above them. The sky opened up and it began to pour.
Kelsey swiped the water from her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears. “We’ve got to get up the trail.”
“It’s going to be tough. It’s steep and we have no gear with us.”
Kelsey grinned. “Just like the survivalist program we did as teens. Now aren’t you glad I got mom and dad to let us do it?”
The opening to the shaft was hidden halfway up the cliff-face and the trail was soon muddy and slick. Ari tried to make a joke. “Hopefully, Vector and his men won’t be up ahead ready to shove us in a pit for two days when we reach the summit.”
Kelsey’s response was grim. “That’d be lucky for us. At least when it was over we’d get a certificate of completion. I have a feeling the person waiting for us up ahead plans on killing us. Just watch out.”
Ari glanced up the trail and held his gun tight. “Let him try.”
They started to climb.
Chapter 21
Desmond, Odran and Finley made their way to the base of the mountain in the company of a hundred other Aihikian soldiers. The heavens above had exploded in a hail of colored fire as the Asuras made it past the third of the Four Great Kings. All that was left were the dragons before the Asuras finally entered the land of the Trāyastriṃśa Devas and reclaimed their place at the top of the mountain. The fight in the skies was furious with battle. The Trāyastriṃśa Devas were using everything in their power to fight back and the sky was ablaze from
their efforts.
The window to do what needed to be done was tight. At this most dangerous time of battle, the moments when the Asuras made their way further up the mountain, most of their assets were being used in the mêlée and not many of the Garudas were left guarding the children. It was their only chance to get to them.
An eagle swooped past Desmond’s head and he ducked at the sudden sighting. It landed on a high tree branch further ahead. This isn’t good. It made it through a portal somehow.
The eagle emitted a high-pitched whistle in three parts and then took off towards them. It swooped low again, and they had to duck or it would graze their heads. The other soldiers finally caught sight of it, and many raised their weapons, wary that this creature was going to be used against them by the Devas above. They had never seen an eagle before.
Desmond yelled as loudly as he could. “No! Don’t kill it! It’s not dangerous!”
An arrow whizzed past his head, barely missing the eagle. The bird swooped by them again and then flew up the mountain and perched itself on a branch. A worn trail lay next to the tree where he rested.
Desmond tried to put himself between the soldiers and the eagle. “Will you stop trying to kill it? It’s trying to tell us something. I think it wants us to take this particular trail up the mountain instead.” He moved towards the bird.
Odran gripped his arm to stay him. “That’s not the way up, Garrett. That trail leads nowhere but to a dead end because that path is compromised. We have to go this way if we’re going to save any of the children.” He pointed to a well-worn path up the mountain that had been traveled many times before. “Earth rules are different. Here, in Aihika, we can’t let animals rule our actions. It’s just not done. Come, we must hurry. It’s a long hike and there is not a lot of time.” He turned and joined the other soldiers as they returned to their trek.
The Call of Mount Sumeru Page 16