SYAMANTAKA: THE LOST GEM

CHAPTER-08

"Yes, Son. What do you see?" The shaman was sitting beside Kiran. The guide watched the process while Nalini walked near the river. He was tired of explaining to her how important this was for him. If the CEO of Green and Grow paid such a heavy amount, it had to be important.

Kiran did not reply. "Aren't you supposed to know what happens?", The guide asks. The shaman stares at him with anger. The guide understood and kept quiet. Kiran had his mouth sealed and was in his world.

Initially, all Kiran could see was darkness. Then, he saw hints of emerald powder coming together. It all turned into an image that resembled the head of a snake hissing at him. He felt like he was sliding into a dark passage following the snake slithering at light speed. After he fell off the passageway like a round slide, he floated around in a bluish atmosphere of clouds in a giant ball around him. There were a thousand mirrors suspended in those clouds. He went close to one mirror but as he touched it felt moist like water. As he entered the mirror, he saw his old house. It was a small flat on the ground floor of their apartment. Her father was sitting and playing with him on the floor. Suddenly, someone broke the door. His father pushed Kiran below the sofa. His dad ran to get a look. One teenager shot Kiran's dad in the chest. The teenager ran from the sight immediately. Kiran was watching all of this in the third person. He looked at the face of the teenager. He had no regret while small Kiran was hiding below the sofa.

Then, the whole memory was wiped away. A husky voice spoke up in the empty darkness. "Son, what you seek for is not success. It is revenge. However, successful you become you will never be able to get yourself out of this memory. Remember, Revenge is what you ask for."

"NO, you are wrong. If my father was killed, He must have done something bad that he deserved it.", Kiran shouted.

"You don't know your father, Son. You don't." The voice said. Everything became quiet. Then, he felt like he was being pulled backwards into some passageway with different colours running across him. Suddenly, he woke up in an instant. He turned to find the guide and shaman hugging each other as they got frightened. 

"Do you have more of the potion?", Kiran asked both of them. 

******

Meanwhile, Nalini was walking around the jungle trying to get back to the boat. She didn't want to stay in the Amazon rainforest any longer. She felt the shaman was not trustworthy from the beginning. She was looking down from her shoulder at the bag hanging. It was the shaman's bag. She stole it slyly when the shaman was chanting his prayers. It had the Ayahuasca portion but there was some other weird stuff too. She saw a round golden case cylinder. She wondered what it was but thought to forget it.

"Ma'am, Can you help?" someone behind called.

A wide-faced man with a bulky body wearing a forest ranger's uniform was standing in front of her. He had a chestnut skin colour which did not seem to be someone from the Amazon origin. "What do you want?" Nalini asked.

"I was wondering where was the Ingho-Peru tribe. I had to look for something there. My name is Luther." Luther mentioned. His eyes turned towards the bag and he saw something shine. 

"What do you want from them?" Nalini asked pushing the bag behind to take off his attention from the bag.

"Nothing for you to worry about. Just show me the way."

"Well, I get a 5 per cent share of what you get. What do you say? Luther. Deal?"

"Deal." He replied. Nalini gave him a stare and walked ahead to show him the way. When she went ahead, The man was about to swing his knife. Nalini ducked her head anticipating the attack and tripped her off his legs with a kick. She snatched the knife from the ground and sat over his abdomen. She leapt over like a tigress to stab him. In the nick of time, a bullet shot her head. She fell over him with the knife missing centimetres away from his face. Nalini's dead body was lying over Luther. Luther turned his nose rubbing her neck.

"Her lavender cologne smells amazing. Killing should have been my second thought." He said as he pushed her away to the side.

He took the golden casing cylinder from the bag. He hit one end of the cylinder and the lid popped up like the cork of a wine bottle. He took out the old papyrus inside it. As the papyrus unrolled, a huge smirk lit up on his face.

"Now I know what's crazy about this gem."