THE SNAKE ISLAND-EXPLORE THE DEATH

Part 6: The Eye of the Serpent

The Nagapasham rested in Priya's hand, pulsing with an ancient, otherworldly light. For a moment, everything seemed still, as though time itself had frozen. The serpents around her hissed, their eyes glowing with a strange intensity. The island had become eerily quiet, and even the winds that had howled through the trees just moments before seemed to die down.

Priya felt the power of the relic coursing through her veins, like molten fire. It was overwhelming, a force that stretched beyond her comprehension. The mist around her thickened, swirling faster, as if reacting to the awakening of the Nagapasham. But with the power came a realization—this artifact wasn't meant to save; it was meant to destroy. It wasn't a relic of protection, but a cursed object born from the darkest rituals of the serpent priests.

She stumbled backward, the weight of this knowledge pressing down on her. The Nagapasham was not the key to breaking the curse; it was the curse itself.

Ravi emerged from the jungle, his face pale, his eyes wide with terror. "Priya, what are you doing? We have to leave now!"

But Priya couldn't move. The relic seemed to have bonded to her, its energy anchoring her to the island. The serpents slithered closer, encircling her and Ravi in a tightening, hissing ring. The mist was thick and suffocating now, as though it had a life of its own, and Priya knew there was no escape.

"I was wrong," Priya whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I thought I could break the curse, but I was wrong."

Ravi grabbed her hand, his grip tight. "No, we can still get out of here. We can—"

Before he could finish, the earth beneath them gave way. The shrine crumbled, the ground splitting apart as the chasm widened. The island trembled, groaning under the weight of its ancient curse. The massive serpent, coiled around the idol of Ananta, let out a deafening hiss as it reared up, its ruby eyes glowing brighter than ever.

Priya could feel the island pulling her down, as if it were demanding her blood in payment for the centuries of suffering. The power of the Nagapasham was too great, too dangerous, and she had unleashed it.

The ground collapsed beneath them, and Ravi's scream echoed through the jungle as they plunged into the dark chasm. The mist swallowed them whole, the island claiming them as its final victims. The serpents coiled tighter, their hisses fading into the distance as the world went dark.

The last thing Priya saw was the glowing eyes of the serpent idol, watching her as she fell into the abyss.

2020: Erode, Tamil Nadu

Ansh sat in his room, surrounded by textbooks and notes. His laptop screen glowed with the light of the online class he was barely paying attention to. He was a student of class 11, studying at a school in Erode, Tamil Nadu, but his mind was far from the trigonometry problems his teacher was explaining. His thoughts kept drifting back to the strange old diary he had found in his grandfather's attic two weeks ago.

The leather-bound book was ancient, its pages yellowed with age, the Tamil script barely legible. But what had caught Ansh's attention was the strange, cryptic drawings of serpents and idols, and the name scribbled inside the front cover: Priya Cholan.

He had spent every spare moment since then poring over the diary, trying to make sense of the strange story it told. It spoke of a mysterious island, a cursed artifact called the Nagapasham, and a girl named Priya who was connected to the Chola dynasty. The last few entries were the most disturbing, filled with frantic, half-finished sentences about a shrine, serpents, and an ancient curse that had been unleashed.

Ansh had always loved history and stories of ancient Tamil dynasties, but this was something different. The diary felt real, like a message from the past, a warning of something that had been forgotten. He hadn't told anyone about it—not even his closest friends, Lakhan, Divyans, and Roshni—but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this story than just myth.

One evening, after finishing his homework, Ansh pulled out the diary again. He flipped to the last entry, written in a shaky hand. It was incomplete, ending abruptly with the words: "The island... the curse... we can't escape..."

His phone buzzed on the desk, snapping him out of his thoughts. It was a message from Divyans in their group chat.

Divyans:
"Bro, wanna meet tomorrow? Lakhan found something cool in the old temple near his house. Roshni's in too. You down?"

Ansh smiled and typed back a quick reply:
Ansh:
"Yeah, I'm in. See you guys tomorrow."

As he put his phone down, he glanced at the diary again. There was something about it—something unsettling. The idea of a cursed island, an ancient relic tied to his heritage, and the mysterious disappearance of Priya and Ravi more than a century ago—it gnawed at him. What if the curse was real?

The next day, Ansh met his friends at Lakhan's house. They had planned to visit an old, crumbling temple on the outskirts of Erode, a place that was said to be abandoned for over a hundred years. Lakhan, always the thrill-seeker, had heard rumors of strange symbols carved into the temple walls—symbols that looked like serpents. When Ansh heard this, his heart skipped a beat. Could there be a connection to the Nagapasham?

As they made their way to the temple, Lakhan, Divyans, and Roshni chatted excitedly about their plans to explore the place, but Ansh was lost in thought. He had brought the diary with him, hidden in his backpack. He hadn't told his friends about it yet, but if they found anything in the temple that matched the drawings in the diary, he would have to share the story with them.

The temple was more eerie than Ansh had expected. The stone walls were covered in moss, and the entrance was partially collapsed. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and decay. Lakhan led the way, eager to show them the strange carvings he had found.

"Look," Lakhan said, pointing to a section of the wall that was partially hidden by vines.

Ansh's breath caught in his throat. The carvings were unmistakable—coiled serpents, just like the ones in Priya's diary. The same ancient symbols, the same eerie presence. This was no coincidence.

"What is this place?" Roshni asked, her voice hushed.

Ansh hesitated for a moment, then reached into his backpack and pulled out the diary. "I found this a couple of weeks ago. It belonged to someone named Priya Cholan... and it talks about an ancient curse."

Lakhan and Divyans exchanged glances, intrigued. "What kind of curse?" Divyans asked, leaning closer to see the book.

Ansh flipped to the middle of the diary, showing them the drawings of the Nagapasham and the serpent shrine. "It's all connected to a relic called the Nagapasham—a cursed object hidden on an island. The last entry in the diary says something happened... something terrible. And now I think it's all connected to this temple."

Roshni frowned, looking around nervously. "You think this curse is real?"

"I don't know," Ansh admitted, his voice low. "But I think whatever happened to Priya and her friend, Ravi... it wasn't just a story."

As they stood in the shadow of the ancient temple, the weight of the past seemed to press down on them. The air felt colder, and Ansh couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching them from the shadows.

For a long moment, no one spoke. Then, Lakhan broke the silence. "So, what do we do now?"

Ansh looked at his friends, his heart pounding. The past had come to life, and now it was up to them to uncover the truth. Whatever secrets the Nagapasham held, they had only just begun to unravel them.

"We explore," Ansh said, gripping the diary tighter. "We find out what really happened to Priya and Ravi. And we finish what they started."

With that, they stepped deeper into the temple, unaware of the dark forces that had been waiting for them to return. The curse of Snake Island was far from over.