Saving Satyavan ✓

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Eɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ

"How in the world does anybody get inside?" Suman questioned, skipping over to the cave. He ran his hand over the large, smooth bounder in front of the entrance. "It's completely blocked off!"

"This is the realm of the gods that we are in," Savitri said tiredly. "They're not going to make everything easy. After all, humans are technically not supposed to be here."

"So, then how do they get through?"

"Magic, probably?" She yawned. "I don't know. I'm not a god."

Suman laughed. "Somebody's tired," he teased. He studied the darkening sky. "Perhaps we should turn in for the night? Try to go inside tomorrow?"

"We've come this far and you want to try tomorrow?" Savitri gave a small cackle. "Oh, Suman, don't make me laugh this late. I'll become hysterical."

"But...you just did..." Suman shook his head and ran after Savitri, who was rounding the cave.

It looked ordinary on the outside, but after seeing Takshaka's kingdom's cave, Savitri doubted that there were only stone walls on the inside. Hanuman had said that the first cave they came across would be the entrance to Naraka (which made Savitri wonder where the entrance to heaven was), so she trusted his instructions.

The stone seemed to have been eroded, from either water or from time, she wasn't sure. There were some notes and inscriptions carved into the large landscape that the stone provided. Some of them were too crooked or eroded for Savitri to understand, but others had names of people or the villages or kingdoms that they were from. Some had love or death letters. Just how many people had made it to Naraka?

On the other side of the wall were different paintings. Some were handprints, some were stick figures, and some were beautiful, intricate drawings depicting various scenes of a person's life. One was a woman kneading dough. Another was a boy practicing fighting. Some had groups of men charging into battle. A lot of them, though, were of a person lying down on beds or mats or even the ground. Looming over them was Dharmaraj, with the tip of his mace pointed at the chest of his victim. They never showed the soul leaving the body. Savitri guessed that nobody knew what they looked like.

"Somebody had a lot of free time," Suman noted. He was a few feet away from Savitri, studying the tally marks on the walls. "Do you think they were lost here?"

"It's not an island. Anybody could have found their way off." Savitri joined him.

"Yes, but Kailash is very big."

"And only has one or two paths. Whoever drew the tallies either died or found their way back down."

"Maybe," Suman agreed. "But can you imagine being trapped on a mountain?" His cheeks lost their color suddenly. "All alone, defenseless, and with nobody to help you?"

"You would go mad," Savitri said. "But, lucky for me, I have you to keep me sane, or maybe it's the other way around." She grinned.

Suman pouted. "That's very mean." He huffed and stomped towards their discarded weapons. "I'm going to try to start making the fire. Do you mind getting some wood?"

"Sure." Savitri removed her hand from the wall and returned to the forest once more, finally getting the chance to explore the luscious scenery. It wasn't much different from the forest on the ground except for the snow and lack of food. She was able to find plenty of firewood but hardly any food.

Suman had gotten a small fire starting when she found him again. The flames lapped hungrily at the small twigs she offered to it and seemed to be smiling. Savitri brushed that off as a trick of the mind - she was too tired to be seeing things straight.