The Valley || ONC2023

Chapter 14

Before reaching the mysterious location, the white car did many more things it was technically incapable of. Alas, Bhairavi was too engrossed in coming up to speed with all the information she had in front of her to notice. 

Throwing a discreet glimpse at the only conscious human occupant who was otherwise occupied, the mysterious driver stopped his efforts at keeping up appearances. He pressed buttons that shouldn't have existed on a dashboard at least a foot wider and longer than a tiny car like the Maruti 800 could accommodate. Upgrades.

He could always take shelter under that umbrella, right? 

As more and more vehicles started following them, it got increasingly difficult not to throw caution to the wind and carry the car, along with its occupants, to their destination on his back. Alas, the driver had been forbidden to take matters into his hand, literally, by the higher-ups. 

As they neared the place, Dheera felt a tingling sensation light the very core of his being. 

Jai Shree Ram! 

It had been ages since the mighty demigod had visited the place. In fact, this would be his first visit since bidding farewell to his Lord thousands of years ago. 

The world had strayed from the path laid down by his master, and now, he was all alone. The only souls keeping him bound to the mortal plane were people like Anjani and Bhairavi, who called his Lord Shree Ram's name with such purity that he had to answer their summons in his Lord's stead. 

Jai Shree Ram!

The monkey king was blessed with immortality and a free pass to enter and leave all three realms as he pleased. However, it had been long since he had stepped foot in Narka, or what the westerners called it: Hell. Why would he? Hell was empty, and all the devils were here. 

Dheera dared a peek at Bhairavi; the woman was silent, but the turmoil in her eyes and rage in her heart, if harvested, had the power to nuke kingdoms, or so the immortal being thought. 

Day in and day out, from his high perch on Anjaneya Hill in Kishkindha, present-day Humpi, the demigod had watched his Lord's temples being ruined one after the other. Though the hands that had reduced the marvelous structures to dust belonged to The Rainas, Dheera knew who the real culprit was. Unlike him, who was bound by unnecessarily strict laws, his dark counterparts, the Asuras, had been dealt a free hand. 

Not fair. Was it? 

The matter had become concerning when Roshni Raina, his devotee, lost her life. Brain cancer!? Ha! It was murder.' The monkey king snarled on the inside. She was merely trying to uncover the truth behind the deaths of the three unfortunate women who had been looking for a good time with  The Dream Weavers but had fallen into their trap. They had lost their lives as a result. When Roshni had gotten unexpectedly close, the evil woman, Sonia, had inserted her with a tumor-creating concoction on her routine check-up at the family-owned hospital. 

The trap was near perfect; the immortal one had to give it to the Asuras for placing their bets on the vilest emotions the humans of this Yuga possessed in abundance: Greed. Corrupting the minds of the high and mighty with a promise of much more, they had brought them over to their side. 

The Rainas were the tip of the iceberg. Luckily for the demigod, two pure souls had refused the deal, not in words, but through their actions.

Roshin, on her deathbed, had summoned him, begging him to watch over her son, Raghav. But there was only so much he could do without human aid. 

Luckily, the said aids, yes, he had received two: Anjani and Bhairavi, had a stronger urge to seek the truth. Moreover, them calling the name of his Lord had put him in a position where he could take a few liberties, which he couldn't otherwise.