The Cursed Shell

39

What Dhawan could see was only blackness. Everything was black. Not a single object was visible. He was not able hear or speak anything. He lay still, with only hopes to stand up again, which he had to.

He didn't know what Josh was going to do or what he wanted. What he knew was that Josh killed the eight scholars including his father and Dhawan's friend, Todd Lamb. And it was Dhawan's mission to stop the killer anyhow, and what Dhawan does is that he never gives up. Although he had already lost the case, all the scholars were dead, he wanted to kill Josh. Josh had done a series of crime. And what Dhawan knew was that he was going to do something else very soon.

All these thoughts were dumped inside the head of the body which was lying on the floor like a corpse. And it wouldn't take much time for the body to become a corpse if the flow of blood doesn't stop.

'They must have heard me,' Josh thought, 'They are aware of what is going to happen. I am not attacking from their back like the Devas always did. I know my holy activity won't work on all the Gods. Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Laxmi, Saraswati, Parvati, Ganesha, Kartikeya and the other Gods who were immortal since always and did not drink the Amrit will live, but my step will leave a big impact on the remaining Gods too. They will know what I can do, and they will all fear me. I am the only person on Earth who has the ability to do this, as I am the only one who is not afraid to face the Gods.'

Josh opened his phone which was connected to the CCTV cameras to check how Dhawan was doing. He first checked the camera outside the room where he had left Dhawan. He couldn't see any image. The camera wasn't working, and it meant that it was broken by someone.

'He did it,' Josh smiled as he thought, 'I knew he would escape. I wanted him to escape. And he is succeeding in his test. He is able to escape from the weapons. I knew he is perfect for the holy activity of mine.'

He kept checking from one camera to another. Most of the cameras he checked didn't show any image. Finally he was stuck and hit with a great shock when he saw one of the cameras showing the floor with blood spread on it like huge brush-strokes.

'Dhawan is the only person moving on the corridors,' Josh thought, worried, 'he should not die. I need him alive for my ritual.'

Josh scrolled through different defence and CCTV settings of the undersea tower in his phone. He clicked on a button with 'DISABLE DEFENSIVE WEAPONS' written on it. Then he held a first-aid box from a corner of the room and ran out to the corridor.

Dhawan couldn't sense anything anymore. To him, it seemed like he was freed from his body.

The very next thing he felt was his thumb touching some kind of liquid. He finally felt something. He crossed his eye-brows and opened his eyes and the blackness faded slowly. The next thing he saw was the blood on floor touching his thumb.

Josh was rushing with his phone in one hand and the first-aid box in the other. He kept checking the cameras within every few seconds. He was comfortable in running while his body was covered with a heavy white cloak and nothing else under it.

He was finally at the place where he could see blood on the floor.

"He has lost a lot of his blood", Josh whispered to himself.

He followed the trail of blood brushed on the floor. He walked for a long distance, but the trail didn't come to its end.

Josh finally looked at his phone and scrolled through different live footages by the CCTV cameras. He finally stopped scrolling when one of the footages suddenly turned black after it was hit by something. "It's Dhawan," Josh smiled, "he is alive."

Then Josh crossed his eye-brows when he realised where Dhawan was. Dhawan was just a few metres away from the room where the holy object was kept. And Josh, obviously, didn't want Dhawan to come near the Devaant. It doesn't matter how much perfect Dhawan was for this ritual, he still had to be kept away from the shell for the shell's safety as Dhawan knew what it was.

Dhawan pulled the spear out of the wall and continued walking with its support. He was feeling weak. He had lost a lot of his blood. But he was trained to lose blood for his missions. He could even die for his mission's completion.

Suddenly he heard a gunshot. He looked all around his body. No. He wasn't shot. He turned back towards the direction of the sound of the gunshot. The bullet was shot from the nearest weapon in the corridor which was a few metres away from him.

'There is someone else too,' Dhawan thought, as the weapon would shoot only if its camera sees someone. 'Must be Josh.'

Dhawan started walking towards the sound, away from the room which contained the Devaant.

Josh smiled. The weapons were under his control. He could choose any weapon in the tower to shoot at any time.

'Thank you, Blake,' Josh thought, 'for all this weaponry system. Your mind is again helping me like always. You're a true friend. I want to thank you from the core of my heart, if your soul is able to know what I'm thinking.'

As soon as Dhawan disabled another camera, Josh shot a bullet from a weapon away from Dhawan, which led him to walk further and more distant from the holy room of Josh. Josh continued this process until Dhawan was far away from the room containing the shell.

It was like letting a prey run for the bait.

'Don't worry, Dhawan,' Josh thought, 'you will reach me. But it's not the time. According to the manuscript, the shell should be blown in a full-moon night. Just wait for some time and let the sun drown with letting the darkness flow over it, covering the sky. Then you will see thousands of shining pearls on the black blanket and between them will be the completely visible sphere which we call the moon. This darkness will never stop rising. Those who possess immortality because of the Amrit will come to an end, and the remaining Gods will start fearing me.'

Josh walked back to his holy room and looked at the cursed shell.

'The demons were betrayed since ages,' Josh thought, 'Virochan, Jalandhara, Andhaka, Hiranyakashyapa, and all the other Asuras who were betrayed, will receive justice.'

"O, the betrayed demons," Josh said with his eyes closed, "I assume that you all are hearing me, and are waiting for the justice to be given. I assure you that the rule of Gods will die today, and our brotherhood will rise. Our rule will come. We, the Asuras will be the new rulers. The Earth, the Heaven, the Hell, will be under our rule."

"Under our rule", Josh repeated the last three words and smiled.