Chapter Two
I did not know where I was. But I could still feel the pain in the back of my head. The last thing I could ruminate was a shrill scream by Atul.
The darkness was more frightening because of my miserable situation. I could not move my hands as they were tied firmly behind my back. My legs were fettered and lips were immovable due to use of adhesive tapes on them.
I was certain about our danger. Now I remembered the last few seconds before losing consciousness. I was hit by a heavy object and so was Atul.
Who hit us? I had all my doubts on those people, including that old man. They might have been following us when we tried to locate the path they used. And, they might have hit us when they had the right opportunity.
I was worried about Atul. I tried hard to look for him though nothing caught my attention in that ocean of darkness. I was never as scared as this time in my whole life.
Besides, I was thinking about our fate waiting anxiously for us. Would I ever be able to go to my house? Or was it the last day of my life?
Where was Atul? I was thinking about ‘Jignesh da’, whom Atul had mentioned earlier. Was he also captured by this gang and killed thereafter? Were they actually using the temple as a hub of some dirty conspiracy?
The questions were endless. I tried to be positive about everything that was happening, but I could not.
Atul might also be thinking about the same things, if he retrieved his consciousness like me.
I didn’t know how much time passed by. But I could feel that the darkness was losing its presence partially. There were very dim rays of light emerging out of an unknown source. But at least I got my vision back as my eyes had accustomed themselves with darkness before.
Atul was beside me, in the same condition. There was a person who was having a keen watch over us. He was not among those four people.
‘Good morning’, he gave a mysterious smile, ‘But your friend is still sleeping.’
I could not reply to his greeting. I just gazed on the ground hopelessly. After a few moments, the man opened the tapes clinging to my lips.
‘You are in a big trouble’, he looked concerned about us. ‘Who are you?’, I asked. He did not answer but went outside. Now I looked at the place. We were sitting near the wall in a small room. It was a bit of moist, and I could see the niche on the other side of the wall. It was empty.
Suddenly the man entered into the room. He had a jug filled with water in his hand. He put the jug aside and removed the tapes from Atul’s lips. Then he spread water all over his face. Atul could be resurrected after several attempts.
He took some time before being habituated with the environment. He was closely looking at that man’s face as if he was trying to recognize him. Then he suddenly cried out, ‘Jignesh da! What are you doing here? And where the hell are we?’
So, he was Atul’s ‘Jignesh da’!
Jignesh did not answer. He untied the ropes that were used to tie our hands and started unchaining the shackles adhering heavily to our fatigued legs.
‘It’s a long story, Atul’, he finally opened his mouth, ‘But you people should not have been here in the first place. Come on, hurry up’, he carried on his attempt to free us.
‘This way, fast!’, he was walking fast followed by us. We came out of the room. Then I could see a man lying senseless near the door. It was Jatin, the tall man who was among those mysterious four persons.
‘Don’t stop’, Jignesh scolded me, ‘Move faster. We don’t have enough time before they come here.’ We kept on walking. It seemed like a large maze with so many different routes going to various directions.
Though it was mainly dark, the rays of sun pierced through the holes in the ceiling at different places.
‘Where are we heading to? Who are they?’, Atul asked.
‘Just keep on walking’, Jignesh told.
It was looking like a never ending labyrinth. Now I was more confused. Where was Jignesh taking us to? Could we even trust him?
‘We are near’, Jignesh said and placed his palm on a part of the wall.
The wall started to move sideways and reveal what was hidden inside.
‘Quick’, Jignesh entered into that chamber that was behind the wall moments ago. We followed him. He put his palm at a certain position on the other side of the wall. Within a few seconds, the virtual door disappeared.
‘Now we can walk a bit slow, we are out of danger finally’, Jignesh told us.
‘By the way, what is this place, Jignesh da?’, Atul asked, ‘And who are those men? And what are you doing here?’
‘Slowly, my bro, one by one’, Jignesh continued, ‘As I said, it is actually a very long story.’
We were really walking slowly. There were some lamps that illuminated our way with dim greenish light. The place was much larger than I had perceived earlier.
‘Atul, this is the place where you wanted to be always, the place that motivated us to carry on our adventure’, Jignesh said, ‘Behold the secret dungeon, at its grandeur!’
‘So, the path we were using was that tunnel! And, everything actually exists! It was not mere a story’, Atul was overjoyed.
‘Now tell your story, Jignesh da’, I was also curious about what happened.
‘By the way, I have not asked your name. Who are you?’, Jignesh asked.
‘He is Aryan. Aryan, it’s Jignesh da. Now please continue’, Atul said to Jignesh.
‘Ok, actually I got lost in my last adventure. I was very afraid. I was travelling in different parts of the tunnel, which actually was a labyrinth. You know Atul, I really don’t know how much time I was there scared, hungry and thirsty. And when I was dying, I saw my master, coming to me.’
‘Wait, what did you say? Your master? Who is your master, Jignesh da?’
‘Keep calm, Atul. You will have all your answers when we will be in our destination’, Jignesh continued, ‘Ah! What was I saying….he saved my life. But in return, I had to be his assistant. I agreed. He gave me immense knowledge and I helped him by saving his time in building the machine.’
‘I can’t get hold of anything, literally’, Atul said, ‘And what is your relation with those men?’
‘They are smugglers, Atul. And very dangerous robbers also. They keep their looted treasure in the temple. As the place is deserted, they know that no one will come here. They abducted you to get a heavy ransom. Then, eventually, they would kill you both after getting the money. They still don’t know about me, or my master. Nobody knows about our works.’
‘What works?’, I asked.
‘Scientific research. My master knows that nobody will understand the value of his research. It is our plus point that we can carry on the research works without any interruption from outside. Let’s meet him. He is waiting for you.’
‘Does he know about us?’, Atul asked.
‘I told him. I had to get his permission to save you. You will see him soon.’
The place was getting brighter in presence of more lamps. Obviously it was an underground area. But we did not have any breathing problem. Rather, it was full of fresh air. It was just unbelievable.
‘Be careful with your adventures, Atul. I won’t be able to save you every time’, Jignesh said, ‘Now behold my master.’
Suddenly the place started shimmering as if there were thousands of bright LED lights. In that ocean of light, there stood a man, in his glittery royal dress which mesmerized our eyes.
He was a handsome man, probably in his thirties with a very wise look.
‘Who are you?’, Atul asked. He was also as captivated as me. His eyes were gleaming in curiosity, ‘Are you the ‘tantrik’ ghost who lives here for 400 years?’
The man did not utter a word. But his thoughts clearly reached me. I did not know how he was communicating with me or if others were also able to hear his inner voice.
‘I am not from this world. My home is far away. They tried to kill me when they knew about my machine in progress. Then I had to escape. I am grateful to earth for giving me shelter’, I heard his inner voice saying.
It was really difficult for us to keep an eye on him in presence of severe brightness. I was also feeling scared, as well as zealous.
‘But how can you live so long and still look so young?’, I asked.
‘The humans in my planet can live for thousands of years. I am not old. You, the people of earth, are older than us in the sense that we evolved from a kind much like you. You are our past, our ghosts’, he continued, ‘But you are so stupid. When I used my different projections in various directions to befool you, you all believed them to be real and started spreading rumours. But I got my much needed peace to continue my research.’
‘As you know everything now, you have to pay a hefty price. You will have to be my assistants’, he added.
Atul and I became scared. ‘That’s not possible’, I said.
‘I will give you supreme knowledge, more than a human can ever gain.’
‘I don’t need it. I just want to return to my house.’
‘We have not still known everything’, Atul said, ‘What did you do with the pets and kids whom you stole?’
‘It is not stealing. I needed them for my invention. I tried to send the pets into a parallel universe using my machine. But my experiment failed. I used the human kids as my assistants. They never had any scarcity of food or water, due to our advanced technology. Besides, they gained knowledge, which is the supreme purpose of human existence. And I can say that Jignesh is my best assistant ever. I am proud of him. Now the machine is ready, I believe.’
I said, ‘Please let us go. We will always keep it a secret.’
‘No’, it sounded like an earthquake. It was a loud cry with a sense of authority. I had to put my both hands on my ears but still it was hurting a lot. Then I could hear, ‘You will be the first human volunteers for my machine. As you know, there are infinite numbers of parallel universes which are created by permutations & combinations of different events. In your new universe, the temple would not exist; though all other things would remain unaltered.’
Atul tried to run away. But suddenly walls started to appear from the ground, that entrapped him in a cubic shape, with no escape route.
‘Please let me go, I don’t want to be part of some crazy experiment’, Atul cried.
I looked at Jignesh. He was also looking worried. But he stood still.
‘Then be my assistant’, the voice asked firmly.
‘Ok, I give up. I will be whatever you want me to be’, Atul said.
The voice further continued, ‘And remember Atul, you can never escape. Also, you will not even try when you have the supreme knowledge.’
‘And Aryan, what do you want to do?’, the voice asked me.
‘I just want to go back to my house’, I said.
‘All right. Start hibernation process’, the voice commanded.
‘Initiating hibernation process….10, 9, 8….’, it was a metallic voice that got carried on until it said ‘zero’. In between, I could hear Atul’s new master’s voice, ‘Be prepared to have a tryst with a different Atul, who is not my assistant in the parallel universe without the Kali temple. Now have a sound sleep.’
‘No, please don’t do it, please….’, were my last words.