The arrow of death

Chapter-13

The two of us walked out of the classroom together. Disha had asked Aasha to leave the two of us alone and that 'we had a lot to discuss'. Honestly, I'd have preferred Aasha to come along but whatever I guess. I had quite a few questions that needed answers and I feared that I might go crazy if I was in the dark for much longer.

She started by telling me about the place that we were currently in. It was supposedly a safe space created by her ancestors and the ownership of the land had been passed down through the generations. Traditionally, it would be the sons who would lay a claim on the land but since Disha's father had borne none, naturally and in keeping with tradition the land went to her. Ever since taking over the land, she had felt that a huge responsibility had been placed on her shoulders and so, to completely devote her time to this place, she decided to take an oath of celibacy.

"Wow, that's some dedication," I said.

She tilted her head back a little and let out a chuckle.

It was not a very large piece of land. It was a clearing in the middle of what looked like a thick forest. There were about 10 small huts and a few young kids running about. There didn't seem to be any electricity or utilities out here since my phone was still dead. There seemed to be no visible fences or walls to keep wild animals out. I questioned this, but Disha said that the forest would provide all the protection we needed, so there was no need to build any. She also mentioned that since all the people currently residing in this place practice veganism, the animals also don't mind their company and have gotten used to the presence of humans in the vicinity. Hence the animals rarely attacked.

"So, Karan," she said as she stopped walking. "I need you to keep an open mind now. Everything I'll tell you from now on is the truth" She gave me a firm stare and asked, "Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am ", I blurted out.

"Then first I should start with an apology for stalking you for the past few months."

Confused I asked, "What do you mean?"

As soon as these words came out of my mouth, the realization hit me. Looking closely at her build I was shocked.

"Did you figure it out?" she asked in an apologetic tone.

"You... you mean to tell me that, that the ghost that I had been seeing all this time was you?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry if I freaked you out."

I took a step back in confusion. I had no idea if she was joking or if she was serious. But how would she have known about the ghost otherwise? I hadn't told anyone about this other than my father, not even my best friend.

"But how" I asked.

"Because magic," she said. "Magic is real. So are the ghosts, gods, and all the myths you've heard about."

"But that doesn't make any sense," I said even though I knew it did. Everything that had been happening over the past few months couldn't been explained otherwise. But even though I had seen some stuff, my mind still was finding it difficult to comprehend all this information that it was being fed at the moment.

"What else" I asked. "What else should I know?"

She started to explain everything to me. A few millennia ago, a great war had taken place between some of the greatest warriors the earth had ever seen. The gods themselves had picked sides in the war, giving weapons to their respective sons or warriors they wanted to win. This led to the ensuing war razing the battlefield and the surrounding area to the point that it was uninhabitable. The after-effects of the battle linger to this day. After the war, the balance of the world was tipped. This prompted the supreme god Vishnu to step in. Lord Vishnu is the god of preservation, his duty consists of maintaining the balance of good and evil. Hence he decided that the best thing to do would be for the gods to step out of the mortal plane. He decreed that divine intervention causes too many unforeseen futures and so the mortals should fend for themselves. He destroyed all the 'Astras' that were used in the war and also all the books regarding the knowledge of magic and warfare. He believed that all evil had been purged and there would be no need to go to war in the future. Then the lord retired to sleep and has been in a slumber ever since.

The lord's decision was not met with much negativity but some people were skeptical. Some people including Disha's ancestors felt like it would be foolish to do away with all kinds of magic and warfare. He believed that there was no end to evil and that one should always be prepared. He secretly opened an ashram in the middle of the very forest we were standing in. He started training several people to preserve the knowledge of the past. And it did help.

After the departure of the gods, the demons, the evil spirits, etc started getting more active. Plagues appeared out of nowhere, people were dying in large numbers. But my ancestors fought off the demons and all the rakshasas and ensured the safety of our people. It was a thankless task as no one knew who to thank and so they turned to the gods.

As a few generations went by, the number of people joining the ashram drastically decreased. The magic and the astras that people had started to grow weaker in the gods' absence. At this point, the only people running the ashram were people from Disha's family and some of them had started to move away from their roots accepting the more modern world unable to bear the weight of the responsibility that came along with the task of obtaining power.

Now there was only Disha doing her best to maintain the place.

"Nowadays even though it does exist, the ability to use magic has been growing more and more difficult." She said. "Even in this ashram, the only one who is reliable in combat magic and weapons is Aasha and I'm the only one who can do a few communication spells. And that too is mostly only possible through the dreams of people."

"So when you appeared in front of me as a ghost,"

"It was a dream of course." She said.

All this made too much sense. Of course, my father couldn't hear me when I was trying to call out to me. I was asleep whenever I saw her. Even that day in my class.

"So that day was a dream too right?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, a worried look on her face.

"The day when Aasha brought me here. My classroom exploded in flames. That was a dream too right?"

She looked a little sad as she tried to make eye contact with me.

"That... was not a dream, Karan."

"What do you mean? My classroom couldn't have exploded right?" I said. My throat felt dry. I could see her tensing up looking at me, wondering whether to tell me the truth.

"You said there was no one other than Aasha who could do combat magic. And she wouldn't just burn the class and all the kids there would she?"

"There is still a lot you need to know." She said. "Aasha is the only one on our side that can use combat magic."

"Who else is there?" I asked.

"This is precisely the reason I tried contacting you the moment you landed in India," she said with a worried look on her face.

"Are you familiar with the name Ashwathama?"

Authors note: Ik this chapter seems like an info dump but I've been taking way too long to put out new chapters. I want to finish this story within my lifetime at least so I'll be trying to be more frequent with the uploads now that I have more or less the structure of the story figured out. And again thank you for reading.