𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐚 - 𝑁𝑜 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙

Island 2 : Celeste In The City Of Atlantis And Somewhere Else

She was buried in water. Her breath was gone. She was frightened. The surroundings darkened and there was terror in her heart at the overpowering force of the water. It was quiet. The water was still, and the surface looked white and clean. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but water- water that had a dirty yellow greenish tinge to it. She grew panicky. She was suffocating.

She flailed at the surface of the water, swallowed and chocked. She tried to bring her legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed and rigid. She screamed but only the water heard it. With final determination, she struck at the water as she went down expending her strength as one in a nightmare fights with an irresistible force. She had lost all her breath. Had lungs ached, her head throbbed. She was getting dizzy. Slowly she submitted herself to slumber in hopes of not waking up again.

But, how mistaken was she. The world was full of mysteries. Despite outstanding achievements in the field of science, we, human beings remain clueless about many things around us.

Rather than the land she lived in, what seemed stranger was always the ocean, which was home to many myths, legends and mysteries. While scientists had successfully explained many of these mysteries, quite a few remained unexplained. Lost cities, hidden treasures, and mystic ships were part of the alluring marine world. Of all these, the lost city of Atlantis always topped the list. Never in her wildest dreams she would've thought she would witness it. But, here she was.

The rain dragon had managed to sink her beloved ship! She fell to the depths of the ocean floor, thinking she'll drown, but the citizen of Atlantis rescued her just in time. She never asked to, but they did. And now, they wanted her to return the favor. They think she was the chosen one destined to rescue their City from the Morgen (mermaids who have turned to dark magic), who have been kidnapping their people to eat their hearts. Just wow.

They took her to a portal which would direct her to some mountain. She's to find some help there and return.

"I'd flee. Just let me leave once," was the very first thing she thought. But fate had some other plans.

The portal started, and, she was transported to some mountain with gorgeous and serene surrounding. Celeste looked around and started searching for some path that'd help her escape. Suddenly, she heard noises.

"ya enaṃ vetti hantāraṃ yaścainaṃ manyate hatam।
ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṃ hanti na hanyate॥"

Of course, she couldn't understand what the voices meant so unknowingly she exclaimed 'what?' Some human like creatures turned towards her from the bush. They weren't entirely humans but, they didn't seem harmful. Suddenly, they started talking to her in her native language. They exclaimed how a rakshasa have troubled them greatly and how they were different.

They were Yaksha and Yakshi. In the mythology of India, they were a class of spirits, who were the custodians of treasures that were hidden in the earth and in the roots of the trees. They were powerful magicians and shape-shifters. Principal among the yakshas was Kubera, who ruled in the mythical Himalayan kingdom called Alaka. He was their king.

In Hindu mythology, these nature-spirits were semi gods living under the earth in the Himalayas. They asked for her help and she agreed.

There wasn't much to do. She had to uncover a plot put together by the legendary rakshasa and end up in the middle of a battle for territory between them and yaksha. Simple.

How she did it was actually simple, given the irony. The rakshasa revealed himself as soon as she came inside his territory. The powers she could've triggered him to come out and the yaksha didn't waste any time in chasing him down. The battle continued to days. At the end, Yaksha were victorious.

When the time came for her to leave, she asked what he meant when she first met them.

"He who thinks that the soul kills, and he who thinks of it as killed, are both ignorant. The soul kills not, nor is it killed." The leader explained. They wanted to cleanse their thoughts before facing the rakshasa.

The Yaksha gifted her a device which would take her anywhere she'd like for a brief time. It'd be a one time thing. Saying her heartiest thanks, she departed from the place where she came from. Remembering their last words...

"Yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanañjaya।
siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṃ yoga ucyate (To work alone you have the right, and not to the fruits. Do not be impelled by the fruits of work.
Nor have attachment to inaction.)" The first one had said asking her indirectly to fulfill her role in Atlantis.

He further explained that 'Works can only be accomplished by hard work ;not just by dreaming,
deers do not enter the mouth of a sleeping lion (he has to work for it)'. Those who are the slaves of 'desire' are slaves of the entire world. But the world itself is the slave of those to whom 'desire' is a slave.

"vihāya kāmānyaḥ sarvānpumāṃścarati niḥspṛhaḥ।
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sa śāntimadhigacchati (From anger there comes delusion; from delusion, the loss of memory; from the loss of memory,
the destruction of discrimination; and with the destruction of discrimination, he is lost.)" Second one had said asking her to be patient with everything.

"Holding pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as alike, gird yourself up for the battle.
Thus, you shall not incur any sin. Death is certain for the born, and re-birth is certain for the dead; therefore you should not feel grief for what is inevitable." The first one again said as an assurance.

"Unborn, eternal, abiding and primeval, it is not slain when the body is slain." The Yaksha leader said. With the thought, she departed.
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Number of words : 999
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