by T. G. Ayer
"So if we die in Swargaloka . . . ?"
"We can't die there. Gods, demons and humans can be grievously injured, though. But we have enough time to return to this room and awaken you to tend to your injuries."
"Oh, okay so anything that happens there will happen to our real bodies too?" A bizarre image appeared in Maya's mind her body lying supine, unprotected, blood seeping into her clothing at her chest as an invisible weapon speared her. Maya drove the scene from her mind, such ridiculous thoughts for a warrior. Surely, she was meant to be more courageous than this, stronger, more befitting the title of the hand of Kali.
"Yes, unfortunately that is correct," Nik answered, reminding Maya she'd asked him a question.
"Oh, well we'd better get on with it right?" Maya raised her eyebrow at Nik and got an enigmatic grin and bow from him. She even allowed him to hold her hand and lower her on to the cushions. Maya snuck a quick glance at Joss to be sure she was okay. Joss threw her a ghost of a smile. Well, seems Joss is also affected by the whole lying-around-unprotected plan. She has no idea what she's gotten herself into.
Maya lay back and relaxed, holding tight on to her weapons. The last words she heard were in Sanskrit as Nik's voice rang around the room loud and strong.
Chapter 42
They awoke in a field of dreams. Maya had no words to describe the balmy beauty of the garden, green with grass and dotted with an endless variety of blooming flowers. The sky above shone the deepest bluest blue she'd ever laid eyes on, so deep she could barely pull her gaze away.
And yet other amazing sights still vied for her attention. To her right a waterfall rushed over a cliff of glistening white marble, crashing wildly into a pond far below, throwing up froth and fine sparkling spray.
Even the pool was lined with beautiful white stone, veined with silver and gold, the reflections danced in the pool's mist. The epitome of beauty.
Maya and her group rose to their feet, dusting blades of grass off themselves. Neither Nik nor Chayya looked upon the realm with the kind of awe and fascination as Joss and Maya.
They were surrounded, almost protected by a circle of trees guarding the clearing - grand old white oak trees. Oaks had always fascinated Maya, but white oaks looked more majestic than the plain brown variety.
"So, what now?" Maya asked, lowering her voice only because the secretiveness of their arrival implied the need for silence as well.
"We head for the palace. And unfortunately we can't use our powers until we get there."
"Why?" asked Joss. "Will there be an army if they detect you?"
"No," said Nik, "Nothing that dramatic. What we want is to get inside the palace grounds undetected while doing a little recon just in case. Then get you into Varuni's room so you can get the goddess safely out."
"Cool." Joss nodded, giving Nik's plan her approval.
Good thing Nik likes Joss, and tolerated her far-out, borderline rude comments. But maybe I'm too critical of Joss in the first place.
Brought up on a tight leash, respect had always been paramount to Maya, manners just as important. There were always girls like Ria who'd never dare to express their opinions to their parents. God forbid kids ever dared to have their own thoughts.
A rush of pride and happiness flooded Maya's heart. Despite Joss's malfunctioning parent-child relationship at least she'd had grown up confident in herself, knowing her own identity enough not to be lost within the maelstrom of teenage hormone-hood.
"Very well. Ready yourselves," Nik addressed them. "We will have to walk. Keep to the tree line. As long as you two don't lose your glow you will be safe."
"What do you mean glow?" asked Maya. Nik pointed at Maya’s arm and she gasped. "Oh, wow," she whispered. Her hand gleamed, iridescent, luminescent and yet ethereal.
And godly.
Yup, just like a god should glow.
But nobody else glimmered, just Joss and Maya. The girls giggled, staring at each other.
“So what happens if we lose the glow?” Maya asked Nik.
“It means you are in grave danger. That your body, back in Patala, is in some sort of physical danger.”
“Danger? Danger like what?” Maya’s eyes narrowed.
“Yeah, Nik, talk to us about this danger.” Joss added, her words ending in a nervous lilt.
“Danger as in your body is dying, or injured.” Nik said, far too calmly, especially since he calmly talked about the possibility of their physical deaths.
Maya nodded slowly. “But our bodies are safe right?”
“Yes, I’m sure they are. Other than being in a full on battle Patala is safe and in addition to the wards, your physical bodies are also being watched by our royal guard.”
“But what if our bodies aren't safe? What happens to us if our bodies die?”
“Then you will remain here in Swargaloka for all eternity.”
“Huh? Our souls won’t go to Patala for judgment?”
“No. Not unless you want to go to Patala. But, if it does come to that, I’d suggest you don’t leave. Souls who come here get to remain here in happiness and serenity. Down in Patala it's a totally different story. Trust me, you want to stay here.” Nik shook his head. “But Maya. You really don’t have to worry. You and Joss are safe. Believe me, nothing will happen to you.”
“Okay. I guess I have to trust you on that.” Maya fell into silence, giving her glowing skin a dark glare every so often. "So how did Narakasura get into this realm?" Maya frowned. The demon king certainly didn't seem deserving of entry to Swargaloka.
"Because he is allowed to," said Nik. "Anyone who yearns for the next plane of existence, can attain a higher consciousness, and can therefore enter into Swargaloka."
"One would think entry into a place like this means you'd have to be very good, or mostly good at least. A person, god or not, who goes around abducting goddesses should be barred from here," Maya said, her voice dry, her tone unforgiving.
Nik shook his head, a shade of regret coloring his features. "This time we aren't that lucky. Narakasura is special. He happens to be the son of Vishnu. And his mother is Bhumi, Goddess of the Earth. So he's pretty powerful himself. Some say he doesn't deserve such privileges-"
"You'd think!" Joss snorted and rolled her eyes.
Maya elbowed her friend. "Shut up."
"Why? It's true. Why is he allowed to steal stuff and still live to do it again?"
Nik sighed and continued. "It seems to be the way of the world- all the worlds actually- For good to tip the scales in its favor, evil needs to gain control."
Maya nodded. "Otherwise, how will we ever know how good good is if it doesn't defeat evil every so often, right?"
"Well said, Maya." At the compliment, Maya blushed, turned her head and began to find the view extremely fascinating.
Maya and Joss walked behind Nik in quiet companionship. Maya loved that her friend had insisted on coming along but her heart hurt to think of the possible danger to her on this journey. Tears pooled at the corners of Maya's eyes and she blinked them away hurriedly. She threw a quick glance around her, crossed her fingers and whispered a prayer. She firmly uncrossed her fingers and marched ahead before she could begin an argument with herself about prayer and its place within religious indoctrination.
When they reached the crest of the hill they paused to take in the view. Maya sighed, blissfully happy at the entrancing scene before her. For a second she forgot everything except for what her eyes saw.
A white marble palace shimmered within the palm of the valley before them. A central square building surrounded by ever larger squares.
The shimmering sheen of the buildings seemed to have the same glow as Maya's skin. She stared in wonderment at the gleaming light, moving her hand back and forth. With a sudden gasp she stopped. For the briefest moment she was dead certain her hand had disappeared and she'd seen rocks and grass through her very body.
Bodies shouldn't be invisible. But when she looked again, the strange phenomenon had dis
sipated.
Must have been a trick of light.
She'd lagged behind the others so ended up jogging to join them.
Chapter 43
Maya's gaze remained fixed up ahead. A great stone wall enveloped the beauteous citadel of white fire and sparkly marble. The facade gleamed as if someone had stuck a hand into the center of the Milky Way, withdrawn a fistful of stars and thrown them into Swargaloka where they were drawn to every piece of solid marble in the land, leaving the remainder of the fine dust to settle within the very air of the realm.
Maya touched her face certain she'd wipe off fingers full of stardust. But her flesh remained clean. She turned her hands over and over inspecting digits and palms for certainty- and yes not a single speck of dust. How very strange. Distracted by dust that bore the power not to settle, defying gravity so strangely, Maya missed Nik's words.
A jab in the ribs courtesy of a glaring Joss brought her back to her senses. Back to her duty. She flushed as she stared to find all eyes on Nik as he outlined their plan.
Maya shook her head and tried to peek at Nik's electronics over his shoulder. The tablet blinked and flickered on, and the upper bar showed the clear lack of reception to any network. So Swargaloka was out of range. Guess they really were in another dimension.
Maya frowned. "We appeared here straight from Patala. Why couldn’t we just reappear beside the palace instead of making this long journey to get there?"
"Because I'm also doing a little recon. Checking to see what Narakasura has done to the place, how much security he has around the city and the outlying areas. Maya, should you fail the gods will have to consider leading an army into Swargaloka to retrieve the goddess." Nik gave an apologetic shrug.
She nodded. "I understand. It makes sense," Maya said despite feeling the swift tug of fear within her gut. She took a deep breath. "Priya said all the rooms on either side of Varuni's are empty?"
"Yes, her room is the fourth one on that floor. We have three balconies to pass before we get to the one leading into her quarters," said Nik
It didn't take long for Nik to detail the layout and draw a path of entry, from the corner room, to the window of Varuni's chamber. Nik turned to Maya and Joss. "So once we enter the city try to act normal. Take your direction from me - we have little knowledge of what changes Narakasura may have made within the realm. The gods are assuming he'd keep things pretty much as is but that is still speculation. Be aware in case you have to respond to an attack."
She fell into step alongside Nik, matching his large purpose-driven strides. Nik certainly did nothing in halves. Enigmatic as he was he always seemed to have a good reason for his actions and decisions.
It struck her into a strange stillness, and while her feet propelled her forward, her memory took her back to the day of her first kill. Nik had encouraged her to tell her parents. What would have happened had she ignored him, gone home and went straight upstairs or made up a suitable story to placate them? That would have been easy enough.
But something in Nik's eyes that day, the angle of his shoulders when he'd urged her to talk to them, the shiver of fear in his black, black eyes meant she'd never have considered not telling them the truth.
Nik was . . . convincing.
The truth of course had been far harder to accept but Maya had taken the lies, the deception and the reality on the chin, imploding instead on the inside. Her gut still twisted when she thought of how well she'd received Nik's lies in the end. And though the last days had only ingratiated the damned demi-god further into Maya's own good graces, she wasn't about to forgive and forget this easily.
In the first place, he wasn't supposed to even exist. Neither was the celestial plane of enlightenment supposed to exist. Maya had to get used to a topsy-turvy world where reality defied common sense.
A noise, perhaps a gleaming bird squalling overhead, drew her out of her swirling thoughts. The band gathered together and faced the marble wall. Maya must have missed the part of their debriefing on how they were to scale the beautiful monstrosity. The shimmering white wall ran along endlessly, disappearing into the distance on both left and right of the waiting group. Seemed this spot was as good as any.
The wall shivered and began to melt into nothing and Maya blinked. She waited, holding in a shocked breath for fear she'd damage this inexplicable magic.
Pure white marble dissolved providing the group with a ragged yet beautiful doorway. Nik and Maya followed Joss and Chayya, stepping over the makeshift threshold. They made it through the shimmering entrance seconds before the wall solidified barely an inch behind them. Maya at last released the breath that had turned stale and begun to burn in her chest.
Inside the wall seemed no different from being on the outside. They just faced the same silence. Swargaloka wasn’t a very noisy place at all.
Yeah, considering the concentration of higher consciousness that's no surprise.
"Umm, Nik. How do we get up to the rooms in the palace?" Maya stared at the massive building in the distance.
Nik looked up from the tablet. "That's easy. We climb up."
"You are kidding right?
"Nope."
"Have you seen the palace? Look over there." Maya pointed over his shoulder. "Look, great big smooth marble walls, your highness. What magic will we need to get us up there?"
"Okay, Maya, I'm looking at the palace, but clearly you're not seeing what I'm seeing."
Maya glared at him, wanting dearly to be alone sparring with him so she could throw him flat on his back, too breathless to be pompous and condescending. "Do enlighten me."
"I'm looking at balustrades and balconies, domed parapets and spindly spires. There are lots of architectural points on the corner of the building to allow us to scale the wall up to Varuni's floor. We can do it well enough with a little rappelling equipment and a dash of bravery." Now Nik had the nerve to grin at her.
"Fine, as long as you don't end up getting me killed, your highness," said Maya. She may have gone a bit too far with the sarcastic tone. Nik and his father needed her more than she needed them. Maya shrugged the thoughts off and scanned the tablet face, intent on memorizing the route as well as any and all possible exits and entry points.
Their journey to the citadel had been uneventful enough to make them complacent so Maya tried to be more on guard. But there was something so calming about the place. The population seemed to have increase exponentially within the walls of the city. Everywhere around them were people dressed in pristine white, walking in calm serenity, head down, eyes lowered, moving up and down the streets.
The streets. Maya almost did a double take at their condition. Such cleanliness should be impossible, but most of the residents walked barefooted across the marble cobbles of the tree-line streets. Ancient white oaks interspersed with huge trees of jasmine or what Maya's grandmother call 'Raat ki Rani' or 'Queen of the Night'. Maya remained bathed in awe and the scent of the night blooming jasmine as the band slowly made their way in the direction of the distant spires of the pale palace.
Maya almost felt the need for a pair of sunglasses, the combination of white on white was so dazzling. In tandem with the white was the silence. There seemed to be no need for the rush of sounds people made in cities. The clatter of wheels, the patter of feet, the chatter of gossip and whispers. Here in Swargaloka, it seemed silence was golden.
From beyond the line of trees came flashes of shimmering light and the sound of rushing water. As they traveled Maya tried to peer through the trees and managed to catch a glimpse of pure white pools of clear rushing water.
Suddenly Maya felt thirsty, and reached for her flask.
"Beyond the trees are the temples," said Nik, keeping his voice to a whisper, almost shocking Maya out of her skin.
Chapter 44
"Temples?" she asked.
"Yes, the souls who come to Swargaloka are of the people who have given up all material wealth. They would have attained a state of supreme divine consciousness - al
most a state of constant meditation, of pure peace. Or they're so adept at meditation they're able to enter this state with ease."
"Do you have to die to get here, then?" Maya said, a little sarcasm slipping through.
She didn’t really expect him to answer. "Some people do, and some don't. Some yogis and spiritual masters reach this plane regularly within their lifetimes."
Maya's gaze flitted around her from face to face. Were all these people really dead? And yet it seemed harder to understand how many of them could be alive either. She looked at her glowing arms, ran a finger across the glittering surface - she was alive and she was here too. So it's not impossible that people who'd attained such purity of soul and karma could visit Swargaloka regularly, as if going on vacation.
As Maya looked up from her hand her eyes met a pair of dark and amused ones. Across from her stood a group of four monks, who gathered before an older man, a teacher perhaps. He smiled at her, the twinkle in his eyes making deep black turn to honey gold. He inclined his head and the sun caught the earring he wore, glinting sharply enough for her to look away, and when she glanced back after blinking against the tears she found him, along with his disciples, gone.
Nice vanishing trick, old man.
"Let’s move. The palace is close," said Nik, putting a warm hand to Maya’s back and sending little shivers up and down her spine. She clenched her jaw a bit, stiffening her resolve as well.
Now is not the time to get all romantic with the prince of the underworld.
They walked further, everyone strolling as if they weren't together. Maya hung back letting Nik walk ahead and followed in silence, since talking seemed to be not the activity of choice around here. Head down, she tramped along, giving only minor curiosity to her lack of hunger in the last few hours.