by Varun Sayal
18.
The Last Laugh
Tej observed him for a moment. Bhasin was a short man with a fat belly and a rugged face. He wore a white polo t-shirt, blue trousers, a lavish chocolate-brown coat, and thick sunglasses. He was smoking a Cuban cigar with aplomb. An emptied.22 caliber sat on the ground at his side.
“Now, who are you?” Bhasin asked as he puffed out a thick ring of smoke out of his blackened lips.
“I’m Tej, and I am here to take you with me.”
Bhasin cackled again and coughed as he laughed. Tej felt bizarre. If Kumbh was in there, he showed no sign of fear.
“Don’t conceal yourself, Kumbh, I know you’re in there. Hiding, and afraid.” Tej maintained a confident demeanor, but his hands were shaking.
Bhasin’s coughing subsided. He looked at Tej, chewing his lower lips as if carefully weaving his next words.
“I am not hiding, buddy. I openly declare I am Kumbh, the greatest time-demon ever. Among the people present in this room, I am not the one who is afraid.”
“Greatest time-demon?” Tej mocked. “You are sitting in the vessel of an old man. Did you take this vessel up to garner sympathy? Believe me, I will show you none.”
“You are a fool, Tej. This is not three thousand BC. These are modern times. Physical strength doesn’t matter as much. What matters is how many resources and machines one has at his disposal. This fortified castle and the army which welcomed you outside, they all were possible because of this vessel, you moron. I did not possess this body to engage in physical combat with my enemies.”
“Yet all these resources which this body provided could not protect you, Kumbh. I penetrated all your so-called defenses.”
“Commendable job! Do you want daddy to pat your back, son?”
“Don’t call me that, I am not your son. I am Tej, son of Dhara.”
“Oh yeah, Dhara. She was a lovely broad when she was young. Has she died in the time you are coming from? Anyhow, I don’t care. Though the question is, if you are also claiming to be Tej, then who was that kid I shot a few minutes ago? He was also calling himself Tej. Has Rigasur gone so desperate that within one time-slice, he sent two different versions of the same person to capture me? Well, he forgot that I have seen more futures than any of you kids he has or ever will dispatch to fight me.”
“I don’t know about that. Renowned sage Shri Rigu sent me to capture you.”
“Shri Rigu? Renowned sage?” Bhasin again burst into loud laughter and even clapped.
Tej carefully measured his next words. They were both alone in the room, Bhasin was in the wheelchair, and Tej had the gun. He could easily overpower him and cast Rudrakshini’s spell. But he had to make sure this was not another of Kumbh’s moves. He did not want to waste the spell and the sacred powder on an imposter pretending to be Kumbh. The sweet taste of revenge was so near, yet he needed to take each step with caution. He required more information and he wanted it fast. For that, he needed to continue the conversation. But Bhasin’s laughter was bothering him.
“Why are you laughing, Kumbh? Have you lost your senses?”
“Not me. You have lost your senses.” Bhasin pointed his finger at Tej. “That scoundrel Rigasur is making a fool out of you innocent time-demons. He is not Rigu, he is Rigasur. Rig-asur—an asur, a rakshasa, a demon. He is himself a time-demon. In fact, he is one of the first time-demons, hence the oldest. The first ones to have received the gift of God, or nature, or evolution. Whatever you call it.”
“Stop lying through your teeth.”
“Oh, am I the liar? Have you not read the texts on ancient time travelers? The lore says almighty Trikaaldevi, the goddess of time, rarely sleeps. She is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and watches over the universe through the minutest of the time-slices. But on rare occasions, when she sleeps, a time-demon is born. Ancient texts say Rigasur was born the first time Trikaaldevi ever slept.”
“Whatever!”
“Yeah, whatever. This is just a story. Fiction concocted by primeval men. Same as the fiction fed to you by Rigasur. In his fable, you are the hero, I am the nemesis and he is the hero’s munificent, righteous mentor. While you are considering me a villain, the true villain of your story was always standing behind you. We are not different, Rigasur and I. We are both monsters. But I’m more open about who I am, whereas he prefers to stay in disguise.”
“You’re a lying bastard. Guru Rigu is not a time-demon. He can’t be.” Tej knew Kumbh would fabricate any story to dissuade him from his cause. Rigu had warned him that this would happen.
“I know I’m wasting my time trying to enlighten you, kid. You won’t believe me. Rigasur is a master deceiver and an expert manipulator. Even I and Vetri couldn’t recognize him that night when he captured us by deceit. I can’t blame you. You are a tiny tot, a quaint, freshly minted time-demon. You are no match for the fallacious world he has constructed around you.”
“No, I don’t believe you. Now that you know your capture is imminent, you’ll say any crap to prevent your exorcism,” Tej taunted.
“Exorcism? I like the specific choice of the word. Don’t you tell me that Rigasur is planning a necromancy angle on me, using you? The kid I shot, came with a futuristic technology but failed miserably. I am curious to know what has Rigasur planned with you.”
“Stop calling him Rigasur. He is no asur, no demon. Guru Rigu is a time-reader.”
“Kid, this isn’t funny anymore. Wake up. He is not a time-reader, although he may have a few time-readers as his slaves, or disciples, as he likes to call them. By making them read time visions, he tracks the movements of other time-demons, like myself. He has also enlisted loyal, gullible time-demons such as you in his ashram, to aid him in capturing and taking down other powerful time-demons. Who else can know that better than me? I was one of his first disciples. I did similar odd jobs for him. When I refused to be his puppet, I became his foe. He is a team player though. I’ll give him that. I, on the other hand, am more of a lone wolf. I play alone, I hunt alone.”
Kumbh paused for a moment, reminiscing over a sad memory. “Though I was not always alone. I used to have a partner, my beloved brother Vetri, whom Rigasur captured. With a little help from an eight-year-old you, if I correctly remember.”
“And here I am again. This time, to capture you. Guru Rigu may have enabled me to come here, but I am not here on his orders. I am here to avenge my mother.”
“Oh, that’s the story Rigasur has pumped you with? Filled you with the hatred of revenge? Yes, we enslaved your mother. But did he not tell you that he indirectly sent your mother to spy on me and Vetri, before our men captured her? And what other fibs did he stuff inside your brain? That I will kill a lot of people in the future? Did he tell you what ‘he’ will do in the future?”
Tej felt the seeds of doubts being sowed inside of him. He did not feel Kumbh was lying. But again, Kumbh was the one who’d tormented him and his mother, made his childhood hell and would have killed him that night. He needed to satiate his perennial thirst for revenge against Kumbh.
“All right, kid. Go ahead. You seem to have a nasty gun in your hands. Pump these bullets in my body. Kill me.” Kumbh goaded him.
“Ah, I wish it was as easy. If I fire these on you, it will be a mere delay for you. You will move your consciousness to another body, and I will have a hard time finding you again. Unfortunately, I’m on a clock.”
“Keep dreaming, because I am on a clock too. A few more minutes and my time in this realm will be over.” Bhasin smiled and took out another cigar from his coat pocket.
Tej knew time was running out, and he was fairly certain that the man in front of him was Kumbh. Even if he wasn’t, Tej would have to take a leap of faith here. He would have to administer Rudrakshini’s spell.
Tej moved forward and took off Bhasin’s sunglasses, but was appalled to see that Bhasin’s ey
es were severely burnt. In fact, there were no eyes in those sockets, only dead skin.
“What have you done with your eyes?”
A victorious grin swam across Bhasin’s face. “What happened? Shocked? Let me explain. When I escaped Virtexo a week ago and entered Samarth Bhasin’s body, I knew someone was coming for me. With only seven days left in my future journey, Rigasur would definitely create roadblocks in my voyage to the future. So I used my newfound influence—that is, Samarth Bhasin’s influence—and made this fortified castle my home. I was confident that these private armies, huge castle walls, well-laid traps, they would keep me safe. But experience has taught me that even the strongest armor can be pierced through with the sharpest blade. So I took some extra precautions.
“I suspected Rigasur would try necromancy on me, but most necromancy spells built to capture consciousness require eye-contact. So, I played safe. Five days ago, I got my eyes surgically removed. The doctors here are fabulous. Sorry to disappoint you. You were not going to perform any spells here, were you?” Kumbh had a smirk on his face.
Tej was devastated. With Kumbh’s eyes gone, he wouldn’t be able to look into them, and the spell wouldn’t work. His mission had ended in failure just before the culmination. He looked at his watch—it showed only eleven minutes to sunset.
Should I go ahead use the spell? No, I can’t. He was reminded of what Rudrakshini had said. If you fail this aim, then the spell would suck your consciousness from your body and throw it into an abyss. You will never be able to return from that dark pit.
“Why are you so quiet, son? Within a few minutes, your father will leave you, again, for a distant journey to the future. Say your goodbyes to Daddy.”
“You are not my father. You are a vile apparition from my past.”
“Stop being a puppet of Rigasur. You are a time-demon! Past, present, and future don’t apply to us time-demons. Look at the immense power we have, Tej. Look at me. I have been reading brains and living alternate lives for millennia. My consciousness carries all that information. Omniscience, you see, is not a consequence of immortality, but a mere side-effect of being a time-demon, a time-god.”
“I am neither a demon nor a God.”
“Are you not? Have you not experienced travel through the black holes? Only a God can enter a black hole and come back. Looks like you have a lot to learn about yourself, about our species. Let me educate you, kid. We time-demons have been using these black holes to travel through space and time, ever since we knew they existed. My first time-jump happened thousands of years ago. But I can never forget that first lunge towards that supermassive black hole.”
Kumbh blabbered incessantly while Tej was counting every passing second. He knew Kumbh was only wasting his precious time. His enemy, the devil of his life, was right in front of him. Yet he stood there, powerless. He had run into a barrier he never anticipated. His mind was blank now.
“Oh, Tej, I cannot describe that feeling in words. As I was being sucked into that giant vortex at such a staggering velocity, it petrified me to the core. But boy oh boy, when you cross the event horizon, your view of the universe transmutes. From the inside, the black hole is actually a giant three-sixty degree spherical lens. It offers infinite doors to countless realms. It has absorbed so much light that it contains a tremendous amount of information about the universe. Past, present, and future, all three of them co-exist in this surreal space, together. You must …”
“Keep quiet, will you?” Tej shouted. He could not think of anything with this constant drivel pounding his ears.
“You didn’t like me educating you? I can understand. Kids usually find their parent’s valuable teachings useless.” Kumbh was offended. “Let me tell you another story which will interest you. Some details about your mother, which you won’t know. She was terrific in bed. Me and Vetri, we took turns on her.”
“Shut up, you bastard!” Tej screamed.
“No, no, you need to hear the details of our first night with her. When we removed her clothes the first time…”
“You son of a bitch!” Tej struck Bhasin’s face with the butt of his shotgun and knocked him unconscious. “Thank God, you won’t utter another evil word,” Tej murmured to himself.
He sat near Bhasin’s body and started thinking. Kumbh was definitely trying to buy time. But why? Why distract him at this moment when he knew he had won? Why this diversion? Was there another way for Tej to cast the necromancy spell? Maybe getting his own eyes removed was just a false distraction created by Kumbh to dissuade Tej from using the spell.
All these were only speculations. Time was running out. His watch showed four minutes to sunset. With no other alternatives left, Tej decided to go ahead with the spell. He took out the sacred green powder and smeared his right palm with it. Then he started chanting the demon invocation mantra given to him by Rudrakshini. Simultaneously, he took the knife and sliced his powder-smeared palm. His palm bled. He did the same thing with Bhasin’s right palm and clasped both of them. Blood connect was established. Kumbh’s consciousness was in Tej’s control now.
But eye-connect was part of the ritual too. It was essential for their senses to align so that both of them can travel to the past together. Without that the spell was incomplete.
While Tej was trying to rack his brain for ideas, he recalled the Aghori from his childhood, who performed an exorcism. He remembered that the Aghori touched his forehead to the subject’s forehead. He also remembered the moment right before the commencement of his time travel to 2024 AD—Rigu had applied sandalwood paste onto his forehead.
Maybe these activities were not mere rituals but had an actual scientific meaning? What if a forehead was in a way a door for consciousness to travel out of the brain into the time-realm? If the sight is a sense, then the touch is a sense, too.
He knew what he had to do. He took some leftover powder and smeared it on his forehead, then smeared some of it on Bhasin’s forehead. He touched his forehead to Bhasin’s and kept reciting the mantra. He couldn’t know for sure if the spell had worked or not.
After a few recitations, Tej decided he had to begin his journey to the past. He focused on the picture of Rigu’s chamber, his original anchor. Ravi Kumar Cheri’s body fell to the ground like a dead tree. Tej was traveling back to the year 3057 BC.
19.
A Dark Deception
Tej woke up in his own body in the Chamber of Time-Travel. He gathered his senses and looked around in haste. Rigu, who was meditating on a seat nearby, opened his eyes and came running to him. Tej looked at the body of Kumbh, which showed no movement.
“I could not capture Kumbh. I have failed, Gurudev.”
“No, you didn’t fail. You bought him back. I saw both of you traveling.” Tej heard a soft voice. He thought it was Manika’s voice, but saw another girl walking towards them.
“She is Saavi, another of my disciples, who is honing her time-reading skills under me.” Rigu gave a short introduction. “What did you see, Saavi? Tell us.”
“It was genius of you, Tej. You took a calculated risk, and it worked.” Saavi smiled.
“It worked?”
“Yes, it did. I saw both of you traveling back from 2024 AD. When you touched your forehead to Kumbh’s forehead, his anchor to this time-slice was reestablished. And when you traveled back, you dragged him along. Kumbh is again inside this body.” Saavi pointed to Kumbh’s vessel, lying on his side, still tied in chains. Tej took a sigh of relief.
Rigu beamed and patted Tej’s shoulders. “Amazing, my boy, you did it. I will be honest with you, I had my doubts. But you did it.”
“Where is Manika, Gurudev?” Tej had a weird feeling that something bad happened to Manika.
“She had to go somewhere, Tej. But we don’t have time for these questions. We have to move fast.” Rigu signaled Gajendra to get into action. “Gajendra, first administer the de-
tranquilizer on Kumbh’s body. We need to awaken Kumbh before we give him a dose of the toxin which we prepared from Tej’s blood.”
“Toxin, Gurudev?”
“Yes, it the neurotoxin in your body, using which you entrapped Vetri in his body twenty years ago. We will do the same to Kumbh. While you were gone, we took a sample of your blood and sent it to our lab. Some brilliant chemists at the ashram have extracted the venom out of your blood.”
Gajendra picked up a small earthen pot of de-tranquilizing liquid kept on a table nearby. He dripped a few small drops of it into Kumbh’s mouth. Kumbh started gaining consciousness.
“Good, he is waking up. Gajendra, now give him the neurotoxin. But do so with care. Too much of this toxin may kill the vessel and free up Kumbh’s consciousness,” Rigu cautioned.
Gajendra wore gloves made of sleek-leather and picked-up another earthen pot. He dropped two drops of the neurotoxin into Kumbh’s mouth. But the dose had no clear palliating effect on Kumbh. He was getting more and more agitated by the passing moment.
“It’s not working,” Rigu said in a grim tone. “Kumbh will escape as soon as he is conscious. We have lost everything.” He clenched his hair in anger. Gajendra and Saavi looked at each other. They didn’t know what to do.
Tej, already tired from the whole ordeal, felt helpless. His mind was blank. In addition, he didn’t completely feel as though he was back in his own body. He was moving his jaw, clasping his fingers into a punch and releasing them over and over.
Rigu saw Tej doing his jaw movements and an idea struck him like lightning. “Bite him, Tej.”
“What Gurudev?”
“Bite Kumbh right now. Bite him on his wrist, the same place you had bitten Vetri.”
“But Gurudev, we gave him the toxin. It didn’t work.”
“Forget that toxin. It was in an extracted form of the chemical. Your original neurotoxin, running in your bloodstream, may have a different effect. Do it, just do it!”