“Kalki Commands!” Vikranth replied.
“So, the favourite Dalapathy is given a new mission?” Shukra asked in his grim voice, his hands folded beneath his robes.
Vikranth didn’t reply. He was a man who kept his business to himself.
“Be careful out on the wastelands, young man. The end world is still young. We keep hearing new rumours everyday of stranger and stranger threats,” Shukra said.
“I will, Shukra ji,” the commander nodded.
“The Avadhani will pray for you!” Shukra said before heading off towards the inner sanctum.
He entered the sanctum and closed the metal doors behind him. The dark sanctum seemed to be illuminated with his white robes. The Purohit was expecting him.
“So, we are raiding the scavengers,” he said to Purohit.
“Vikranth told you?” the Purohit asked.
“No. You know him. He is too clever for that,” Shukra said. “But since when did the Avadhanis need someone else to tell them their secrets, Maharshi?” he smiled.
The Purohit smiled back.
“So, tell me Shukra, what secrets do you bring me today?”
Shukra sighed. “We lost another one of our low priests. Around seven in the evening.”
The Purohit’s eyes widened and his voice lowered to almost a whisper.
“Who else knows?”
“None except us Avadhanis,” Shukra replied. “He was reporting for night prayers when he collapsed. Only we were present. There’s blood all over the prayer hall. The others are cleaning it up.”
He shook his head.
“Didn’t he get his pills?” the Purohit asked. “Don’t tell me this was like the last time. Have the pills stopped working, Shukra?” The Purohit clenched his teeth in anger.
Shukra bent his head low. “We don’t know, Your Holiness. This is only the second case. We don’t know what’s happening”
“Then find out, dammit!” Purohit bellowed. “What if the workers or the Ashvins catch wind of this? We are not supposed to die. That is the whole point. Fix this, Shukra or you and your Avadhanis will soon be out on the roads hanging by poles, being stoned to death by the workers.”
“We are trying, Maharshi. For now, the pills seem to work for the majority of us. You are still breathing, aren’t you? Trust us as you always have. We are trying to better the composition of the pills. A little patience is all I ask.”
The Purohit paused for a moment. “The dead priest. Does he have any relatives among us?” he asked.
“A wife. In second tower. First floor. Works in the stables,” Shukra replied.
“Tell her, he was given the gift of the Beam force but he got greedy and tried to access too much of it and that fried his brain. You know what to do with the body.”
Shukra nodded. “Taken care of it already!”
“We are at crucial times, Shukra. Vikranth is going to invade the scavengers soon. We don’t need any crisis now.”
“But, Maharshi, the scavengers are down south at Belum caves. The journey is far from safe. The highway is too long and slow to lead back a pack of captives. They’ll have to divert. We have reports of mutated beasts spreading out of the fission and moving south. Vikranth is an able commander, I am sure, but what if things get out of control?” Shukra asked.
“If that’s the case, Shukra, we just need to remember that sometimes the Lord needs sacrifices,” the Purohit said.
Eighteen-year-old Avinash hadn’t left his house for the past three weeks.
The purge that had come upon Bhopal last month had killed his mother, when she had gone out to buy some vegetables from the black market and his sister was gone the next week in her sleep. Kalki had picked her.
Avinash went to sleep every day, expecting to die but had always managed to wake up so far.
“I might be gone anytime,” his father had said one day, sitting beside him. “Promise me you won’t cry.” Avinash had nodded his head that day, but he hadn’t known that his test would come so soon.
There was a sudden knock on the door. He opened it expecting his father. It was his father indeed, but he seemed unconscious and was carried by a sturdy man in saffron robes. He knew what the saffron robes meant. They were the group of priests that called themselves the Sinless. Their speeches were broadcasted using speakerphones for most of the day and those were the only things he heard from his home. Some of his friends said the Sinless would save them all.
Others said they would kill them all. It didn’t matter. They were all dead now.
It was when the man walked in and placed his father on the ground that Avinash noticed the caked-up blood from his father’s nose and ears. Another man, also appearing to be of the Sinless, now stepped into the house. He had a dark beard and a strange complex shape as a bindi on his forehead.
The man looked at Avinash and said, “Your father’s gone”.
Avinash nodded. He didn’t cry.
“Have you eaten anything?” the bearded man asked.
His voice was almost kind.
The boy shook his head. “We ran out of food day before yesterday,” he replied.
“Dad went out today to find food no matter what,” he said.
It was getting really difficult to find food with each passing day.
The bearded man looked at the other man and nodded. The other man removed a rolled-up package of food from under his robes and handed it over to Avinash.
“This will last for two days,” the bearded man said.
Avinash muttered thanks.
The bearded man looked at him and said, “Do you know who I am?”
“You are one of the Sinless,” Avinash replied.
The man smiled.
“Yes … and they call me the Purohit,” he said.
“You are the one who gives all the speeches then,” Avinash said.
The man smiled again and nodded.
“And if you have been listening to those speeches, you know we are good people. We only serve our Lord. Do you have any relatives or friends who are still alive?” he asked.
Avinash shook his head, “All gone.”
“And do you know why they are all gone?”
“They have sinned and are now facing the punishment.”
“And you have not been punished yet. What do you think of that?”
“I am waiting.”
The bearded man laughed.
“They all have died because they haven’t served our Lord and cleansed away their sin. You have a chance though. Would you like to join us, kid?” he asked.
Avinash stood silent. It was not like he had any other place to go.
“Or you could finish the food we gave you and then wait to die, either from starvation or from your sins. What do you say? Want to repeat the same mistakes as your father or be a soldier of the Sinless?” he asked.
Avinash looked at him for a long time. He knew what he was going to do. He returned the food packet back to the other man.
“I’ll eat with the rest of the Sinless,” he said.
The bearded man smiled deeply.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Avinash.”
“The Sinless don’t keep their old names. Their old names die along with their sins,” the man said.
“From today onwards, I am naming you Vikranth,” the bearded man paused. “Maybe you will make a great soldier one day. Come now, for Kalki Commands.”
“What do you want me to do?” the boy asked.
“Only one thing,” the Purohit replied. “Never fall in love.”
Vikranth lay awake, naked on the white mattress on the floor.
“What’s the matter?” said Urushi, who was lying beside him.
“You look worried,” she said in her husky, raspy voice that made many men weak at their knees.
She was a tall woman with high cheekbones that made her face look exotic. Her shocking black hair lay loose and spread across Vikranth’s blue chest where she rested her head
, making it look as if the night sky was melting into the morning sky.
Vikranth looked into her deep black eyes, ran his finger along her stunningly sharp nose and said, “Nothing. I was thinking if we would ever be able to stop this?”
“This?” she asked puzzled, cuddling closer to him to feel warm.
“This. Us meeting in secret. An Ashvin and an Avadhani in love,” he chuckled. “It would blow everyone’s minds.”
“Not just any Ashvin. A Dalapathy,” she said. “And not just any Avadhani. The only female Avadhani.”
She smiled, her full, pink lips stretching into a beautiful arc, but then her smile abruptly ended.
“Do you want this to stop?” she asked.
“Of course not! What I meant was the secrecy,” Vikranth replied. “I wish we didn’t have to hide so much.”
“You know, yesterday I had a nightmare,” she said. “That we got caught. And they were executing me for that.”
“I would never let that happen, Urushi, and you know that,” Vikranth said, his hand running through her hair.
“What do you think is the bigger sin by the way? An Ashvin falling in love or an Avadhani falling in love?” he asked.
“You Ashvins take a vow, not to have any affection towards anything other than war and conquest, don’t you?” she said. “But we Avadhanis are priests. So, it goes without saying for us, don’t you think? And also, me being the only female Avadhani with all the complications of the rebellion behind me, I think it would be even more shocking,” she said.
“It’s only a matter of time now,” Vikranth said. “I ride along with the Ashvins for the caves tonight. Once I capture and bring back those cave–dwellers, my influence with the Purohit should improve. I’ll try to convince him to ban the celibacy laws and if he isn’t convinced, then it will be time for a coup,” he whispered.
Urushi’s face betrayed her concern. “This is the Purohit we are talking about. You think he would take a coup lightly?”
“The Ashvins will stand by my side. Of that I am sure,” Vikranth said. “I respect the Purohit and believe that he is our saviour. But some things need to change, Urushi. We cannot be barbarians! I am sure he would understand,” he declared.
“Whatever may happen, when I come back with the Forgiven, things are not going to be the same anymore.”
The Librarian’s hand clasped tightly around his saviour’s as he was pulled out of the pit. His other hand dug into the cave floor as an anchor, as he climbed up out of the hole and collapsed on the muddy floor, catching his breath. Once his breath steadied, he looked up.
“Who are you?” he asked his saviour.
The Librarian recognized him as one of the men who put him back into the pit earlier that day when the General ordered them to.
“Sravan!” the man replied.
He was a short man in his late forties, with thick black hair and a big spotted nose that stood out from his round face. His eyes were droopy and dark.
“Thank you,” the Librarian said. “I thought none of those barbarians were ever going to let me out. But why did you save me? I have no gold or oil with me, if that’s what you are looking for,” he said.
Sravan shook his head.
“No, you have the only thing that is more precious than gold or oil in the End Age,” he smiled.
“Information,” he said. “I think I believe you. I have heard stories from roamers about other people like you, others who could see things. Can I trust you?” he asked. “Are the Sinless really coming?”
The Librarian smiled. “Tell me, Sravan. Where are you originally from? Before you ended up in this doomed place,” he asked.
“Chennai.”
“I have never been to Chennai, Sravan. But let me tell you what I saw in my mind three years back,” the Librarian said. “I saw bodies hanging by their necks, on ropes tied to streetlights, burning away as the purge took the city. I saw these hanging young men and women turn to ash as their rotting bodies were eaten up by the fire. I saw half burnt bodies fall to the ground from the streetlights as the ropes around their necks burnt away quicker than their brittle bodies. Does any of this ring any bells, Sravan?”
Sravan stayed silent for a while before saying, “My son,” he paused. “My son was one of those who was hanged in public by the Sinless. He was executed for giving food to a friend –an Aghos they called him –one who didn’t accept Kalki as the supreme God. It was heresy they said. Blasphemy. An act against God. Betraying the Lord. So, they stormed into my house one day, grabbed him by his collar, dragged him across the streets and hanged him on a streetlight at the end of our street. Two days later the purge hit. Everyone ran. I…I didn’t even get a chance to get his body down,” he choked.
The Librarian placed his hand on Sravan’s shoulder. “We’ve all lost our families, Sravan,” he said. “There wasn’t anything you could have done.”
“But there is, now!” Sravan replied. “If the Sinless really are coming, I can’t wait here and see everyone get slaughtered and burnt. I have seen what those monsters are capable of. Every fibre of my being wants to kill them all for what they have done to my son, but we are not yet ready. If they attack us, we have no chance of winning. We have to wait until we grow in numbers, grow stronger,” he said. “We need to evacuate but there is no way the General is going to believe in you. I will gather a few people who will trust you. We all get out of here. Tonight.”
The Librarian shook his head.
“We all will get away. But not yet,” he said. “You gather the men and collect adequate supplies and weapons. Meanwhile…” he lifted up his hand to reveal a bloodied red stump where there earlier would have been his index finger.
“It’s payback time!”
A STRANGER IN THE DARK
Vikranth’s horse galloped faster on the concrete road as his fur cloak fluttered in the cold night wind. On either side of him rode Eeshan and Triven, the low commanders of the Ashvins.
The entire troop of Ashvins –108 men and their horses followed their Dalapathy, cutting through the night like a blue dagger through shadows. They were dressed in bulletproof vests and combat gear that the rangers of Sinless have hoarded through the years. Gas masks covered all their noses making them all look all alike, like clones of each other.
National Highway 7 had been a smooth ride so far. They had covered a lot of ground in the last three hours.
“Shall we rest for the night?” Eeshan asked Vikranth, trying hard to keep up with his horse.
Vikranth shook his head.
“Not yet, Eeshan. I want us to ride through the night as far as possible,” he said, as the gas mask muffled his voice.
“The wastelands are not a great place to set up camp in the night. Especially in an open area like this along the highway. Too many things in the dark – waiting to kill a stationary and sleeping prey.”
Eeshan started to say something but his words stopped in his throat as he saw what lay ahead of them. Vikranth raised his hand as a signal for the Ashvins to slow down and stop.
In front of them, in the middle of the road, stood a man. His tall silhouette shimmered amidst the dense fog in the pale moonlight.
Vikranth slowed down and carefully proceeded ahead on his horse. He stopped around twenty feet away from the stranger. The man’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark like that of a wild animal. It was difficult to see in the dark but he seemed to be dressed in a long hooded robe of some kind. Vikranth clutched the reins tighter than ever with his left hand while his right hand slowly dropped to his hip where his revolver hung.
The silence between them was as cold as the wind but then the stranger’s voice rang in the night. “No need to draw any weapons. I pose no threat.”
The stranger’s voice was low and deep.
“Who am I talking to?” Vikranth asked.
“Just a messenger,” came the reply. “A mere well–wisher. Someone who wants humanity to survive, that’s all. Heed my warning and turn back now,” he
said. “Go back to your towers and everything will be all right.”
“Are you one of those scavenger scum?” Vikranth asked.
“I don’t take sides, rider,” the man replied calmly.
“We are on command by his holiness, The Purohit,” Vikranth said. “And anyone who would like to stop us should remember that they are committing an act of heresy which is punishable by death.”
“I don’t care for you or your tyrant’s games,” the man’s voice mocked. “Turn back now and maybe the corruption can be stopped. You are committing a grave mistake. A vile force beyond your comprehension is on the rise and this mission not happening is the only chance at stopping that force.”
“You are a single man in the night, facing more than a hundred Ashvins. I think you ought to be more convincing if you need your head to stay on top of your neck. What is this force that you are talking about?” Vikranth asked.
“Doesn’t matter, rider. Take your horsemen and run back to your towers, will you? And maybe then the End Age will finally end,” the man said, and turned back and started walking away from them into the foggy night.
Vikranth pulled out his gun, shouted “Stop!” and dashed ahead on his horse.
Eeshan and Triven followed.
The low commanders caught up with their Dalapathy in a few seconds as he looked around in the fog for the stranger, but all that the three of them could see was smoke and darkness. The Messenger had long disappeared into the dark night.
They dispersed and rode in three different directions for a couple of minutes but returned empty handed.
“What do we do now?” Triven asked.
Vikranth turned to the Ashvins.
“We are the Ashvins,” he said fiercely. “And I think all of you here will agree that it takes a lot more than a ghost’s whispers in the night to stop us. The scavengers’ judgement awaits them.”
He shot his revolver into the night sky.
“We ride!”
The Librarian sneaked slowly in the darkness of Belum caves, trying to be as silent as possible. Everyone was thankfully asleep. He reached the sleeping area which had better ventilation and temperature regulation when compared to the rest of the chambers.
Sinners- The Dawn Of Kalki Page 8