Sun Moon & Stars Volume II Call Of The Skull Men

|| MUKTA ||

Sullivan Doyle had never been part of a séance neither had the slightest idea that his assistant apart from being a brilliant scholar was a master of this bizarre art. He trembled in fear as Shailaja called spirits after spirits of his deceased family members. He witnessed her turning into a different entity, with her skin glowing bright and hairs upturned, as she communicated with the dead.

When he had read about tantric practices popular in the Indian subcontinent he didn't imagine it to be so scary and terrifying. The next thing he did was board the flight to Dublin and leave Calcutta forever.

Shailaja had hoped he would be safe but when she heard the news of Doyle's murder five months later, it was a clear message that there might be an entry route to Kaanthali's secret world but there was no escape.

Eighteen years later she still blamed herself for Doyle's murder. The press and investigation bureaus may report it as a mysterious accident; she knew it was the work of a skull-man. Hence she didn't want to delay and started gathering all information to complete the Book of Ina.

She had challenged her destiny and thought she had changed the entire fate of her clan. But she was so wrong. The recent birth of her daughter proved it. The line of Ina shall continue.

In an old box, hidden inside her cupboard, the third parchment, which she had kept secured along with the other two, still remained; untouched and ignored. She had not translated it in the fear of discovering the worst. What if there was no end to it?

After Doyle's death, the fear had made her insane. If she had not met that innocent boy, Shomak was his name, who must have now grown up, at Madhumita Sanyal's home she might have accepted her fate. But for the sake of the next generations she had decided to fight back.

Her hands now ached. Her fingers refused to follow her. She had been successful in resisting the call but now with the birth of her daughter who was mercilessly snatched away, there was no need to remain in the fear of being chased.

Shailaja understood the bitter truth that she wasn't important to the Kaanthalis anymore. They had her son and they now had her daughter as well. And before they could come and kill her, she had to translate the third parchment and send it to Madhumita Sanyal. Only she can now help the clans of Ina, Kami and Jayu and save all the others who found themselves under the threatening gaze of the Kaanthalis.

She cried as her fingers ached to even make little strokes on paper to translate the parchment.

As I stay hidden in a corner of my chamber writing about the third and final stage of Kaanthali's hunt, those kapaliks are torturing my people to know more about the Trikon Sangam (Triangle of Power). If they think they can make my people speak, they are so wrong. Magris are one of the strongest tribes of Hind. We do not succumb to terror. We might become loyal but never a slave. They forgot we only worship the sun.

I could hear a Jayu's (Aśvin devotee) scream; she will die but shall never tell them how to brew the perfect liquid for the ritual. They think as a talented physician I can do it but how do I explain I have knowledge but a healer, a Jayu, has powers. The way she shall pick the ingredients and mix them to form the liquid, I can never do that. 

There I hear a scream again! But now, this is not a scream of an element, this was their potential follower. Their first two stages were successful and now as they stand at the final stage, it is the time for results.

When a Kaanthali stands at the beginning of this third stage of the hunt, he shall choose a follower to be his servant for the rest of his life. This follower if identified at a young age but not sired can be sired at adulthood. Kaanthalis have a certain inclination towards children in whom the Arishadvarga or Shararipus (sins/vices) exists in a greater proportion or will be able to dominate the mind once under the control of a Kaanthali.