KalRatra (काळरात्र) A Night With Horrors

The mist and Blood

Vishwaprit was sitting quietly in the SUV car, looking outside. It had been few hours since they left their town. The city was 600 kms away. They had to travel all night, so that they could reach in the morning.

Bhishu had arranged a house to stay for them. It was his friend's house, so they didn't have to worry about carrying their weapons and leaving house at unusual times. Bhishu was worried about his boss. He looked at Vishwaprit with great concern and felt disappointed about the situation.

Setupati was trying to sleep, but he couldn't as he was feeling anxious. The intensity of his anxiety was getting higher with the time, as they were getting closer to the enemy. He tried not to think about all of this to calm his mind, but his mind was full with thoughts about enemy. He was going burst out in pain and agony, but instead his mind got distracted by Vishwaprit's voice. He was asking him a question. He looked at Vishwaprit with tired eyes.

Vishwaprit was saying,
"The more I think about the enemy, more I'm confused. As per notebooks we found at your father's farm house and the journals we found in my father's belongings, the picture is clear. Back then, when the enemy first entered into our world, and destroyed half of our kingdom along with several other countries, our ancestors found a way to stop all of it. But not in a good way. What trick did they exactly used? The details are not clear. Can you explain?"

Setupati heard him well but waited for a moment before answering. He wasn't sure what he was about to say. Then he started to speak,
"If you want to destroy an insanely powerful enemy, you need an insanely powerful opponent, which is humanely impossible. So, they chose another way. They played with blood magic, which was forbidden to use for obvious reasons. And there is a reason why it is forbidden. It brings more chaos. The dark lord, whom these blood magicians worship, he grants you your desires, but by the cost of your soul. And it is unpredictable what trick the dark lord can pull, once you lose your soul to him."

"So my great great grandfather bid his soul to the dark lord. And the dark lord stopped the enemy, banished him, locked him away?" Vishwaprit asked.

"I wish, it was this simple!" Setupati's words were filled with disappoinment.

"Why? What do you mean?" Vishwaprit couldn't understand Setupati.

"You don't understand the logic. You have to offer higher bid to the dark lord, in order to ask him to fight such a powerful enemy. So a single soul of your great great grandfather wouldn't have done much." Setu said.

"So, you're saying...?" Vishwaprit was still not getting it.

"So I'm saying, they sold the fuck**g entire clan. Yours, mine & don't know how many others. Our blood is cursed. Our ancestors sold the entire future generation as a bid to the dark lord. And the lord accepted their request to protect them from the enemy. And that's why my brother, our families are so fu*kd up. Don't you get surprised? Why both of us have lost our parents miserably. We don't have any siblings left. We're barely living this life, happiness is nowhere to be seen. And we both are quite rich if you think about money. Then why are our lives so miserable? Because our ancestors sold our lives. The dark lord enjoys through our pain and hardships." Frustrated Setupati fell helplessly on the car seat.

"They didn't have any other choice. We wouldn't have been alive if our ancestors hadn't dealt with it by then." Vishwaprit tried to show him the brighter side.
"But how did the enemy escaped? How did he crossed the barrier again if the dark lord had banished him?"

"That's an interesting question, Vishwa. I believe, the dark lord has lost his grip from the situation and left our world open for him to rip apart." Setu was getting more frustrated.

"How can such a powerful lord lose to an enemy he had banished already? And where is the dark lord now? Is he alive? I mean, can he even die?" Vishwaprit asked the questions which were struggling his mind.