The Last Rudra

Onish continued to absorb the pranic energy from the pearl as they traveled, following the winding paths through the dense forest. He noticed that the forest was filled with strange flora and fauna: fiery red wasps flying around, leaving ash and spark in their wake; trees laden with golden fruits; Vines creeping to tangle passers, and the whispering trees.

The fowler seemed to be well aware of all sorts of oddities. He occasionally stopped to listen to whispers from the trees or to check the surrounding. He would run as soon as he saw the fiery red wasp and slowly creeping vines. 

The journey might have been more exciting or at least not so tiring If the fowler had not kept blabbering on and on.

The fowler was a walking chatterbox. If Onish hadn't seen the parrot soul dissolving into the void, he would have thought it had possessed the fowler. As no sane human being would talk so much.

The young fowler ( Onish realized later that the fowler was not older than 14 or 15 years) told him about his harvest umpteen times. The boy took oaths to win some falconry guild's trial at least a hundred times.

"Niro, I'm telling you that with six spirit birds and 10 semi-spirit birds I would surely get first place in the trial. Maybe I didn't tell you; my daddy had won first place in his trial. However, he had enticed a dozen spirit birds, shocking the entire falconry guild. I really envy him." The boy's voice broke the precious silence again.

Onish's ears were aching after listening to the legends of Ronan, the greatest falconer of all time ( according to the boy). Ronan was the young fowler's dad, who mysteriously disappeared three years ago, leaving the lad and his mother (who was also a falconer like her husband) alone.

The lad worshipped his father and wanted to follow his steps. That was why he was there in the Nimara woods alone, enticing the spirits- birds.

Spirits birds were not common birds as Onish had thought. They were other oddities of this world and the sole reason why Onish hadn't tried to escape.

An hour or so ago...

After regaining his strength a little and feeling his mind was going numb with the lad's prattling, Onish was planning to fly off when all of a sudden he felt the mortal danger. Panicked, he flew off without even looking for the cause.

A bird, the size of a sparrow, swooped down on him, chirping loudly. Its sharp talons pulled out Onish's colorful feathers. Obviously, Onish's reaction was a bit slow. For one thing, he hadn't expected the attack, and for another, he hadn't gotten his full strength back.

The bird was shining blue. It gave ear-splitting chirps that set the Onish mind buzzing. A tinge of pain stabbed his already damaged soul. Onish tried to flee for his dear life, but the bird was faster than the wind; it was before him within a blink. Before Onish could change his direction, it attacked him again, chirping more loudly.

Onish felt his conscious blurring. His control over the parrot's body was weak, to begin with, and then this strange attack at his consciousness. He saw his body dropping to the ground like a broken leaf, his wings flapping feebly. The bird seemed to have no intention to let him go.

It swooped down on him again. Onish closed his eyes as he waited for the attacker to come. He had abandoned the hope to escape. He knew this body was soon going to be torn down by the furious bird. He had no idea why the bird had chosen him of all the birds in the woods to be its lunch. He hadn't expected the fowler to be so useless, too. What kind of fowler were you if you couldn't even scare off a small bird?

He thought he had to find a new body now. He started the preparation to leave the body. However, the attack he had anticipated didn't come. Instead, he felt warm hands around his slowly dying body. He hurriedly stopped retracting his awareness from the body and blinked open his eyes. The first thing that came into his view was the worried face of the lad.

His eyes were red with tears ( or maybe with rage) after finding his parrot alive. The boy turned towards the bird, which was struggling to free itself from the net. The ordinary-looking net was now glowing with faint bluish light and tightening around the screeching bird. Onish noticed that the bird's talons were not ordinary. They were shining like steel blades.

The boy didn't do anything to the bird; instead, his eyes swept his surroundings and shouted,

"Come out, Viruch. I know you're here. There is no point in hiding."

No one answered him. Onish, too, peered into the surroundings but found no one except some silvery bees stealing the nectar from blossoms. The lad waited for a moment, then he called out again.

"If you don't come out now, I will kill your Blue Pearl. So if you don't want this damn bird, keep on hiding."

"You wouldn't dare." A haughty voice answered his threat, and a boy with dark green blues and a square face stepped out from behind a thick tree. He also had a net over his broad shoulder and a silvery pouch tied to his waist.

"Viruch, don't test my patience. I'm warning you If your bird attacks Niro once more I will kill it even if I have to forfeit the trial." The boy thundered, glaring at Viruch.

"There is no need to be so furious, Guha. I just wanted to appraise your pretty guardian bird.; But it has disappointed me. I really wonder why you've chosen it over a yama hawk." said Viruch, unfazed by the lad's threat. His deep blue eyes were on Onish all the time.

"I don't know why It should be your damn concern. Let me advise you and your bootlicker dad; you should stop trying to get any news of my dad from me. He can never surpass my dad." Guha's words touched the nerve of Viruch, for his smile faded away. However, he didn't lose his calm.

"Guha, you should watch your tongue. As I said I was just curious about your guardian bird why you must drag my dad into this. Besides, I think you have punished Blue Pearl enough. Just let her go. I promise I won't tease your Niro anymore." Viruch said with a solemn face.

Guha was stunned to see Viruch calm. He was well aware of how treacherous this pair of father and son was. His mother had warned him against them before he left for the trail. She also hinted a few times that Viruch's father might have something to do with his dad's disappearance.

However, Guha didn't believe that his father, who had more than thousands of spirit birds at his command, could be defeated by Kruma ( Viruch father). Kruma couldn't even control five hundred spirit birds.

Guha gave a suspicious look to Viruch, and with a flicker of his hand, he summoned back his net. The bird chirped pitifully as it flew towards its master.

Viruch reached out his hand for it with a smile.

Guha gently stroked his parrot as he picked his net from the ground and walked away. He was sure there was something wrong with Viruch's calmness. He had jibed at him several times before, and his reaction was never so calm.

From Guha's shoulder, Onish looked back at Viruch. He was staring at him with a triumphant smile on his face.

Onish had felt a familiar aura from him, but he couldn't pinpoint it. Moreover, he didn't have time to muse over it. His plan to escape had been thwarted again by that damn Blue Pearl. Now he had to wait for a few more hours.

To Onishs' relief, the boy didn't say a word to Onish except for giving him the green medicine.

As they approached the edge of the woods, they met several other contenders -boys and girls. They all had three things-a black net over their shoulders, a silvery pouch tied to their waist, and a guardian bird perched on their shoulders.

Some of them nodded to Onish, and some ignored him as they all joined him on the dirt track leading out of the woods.

Onish noticed many of them had their faces scratched. Some of the spirit birds seemed injured too.

The sky had turned red when Guha stepped out of the woods with many other participants. He didn't speak to anyone save giving a few warm smiles occasionally.

Onish saw a sky soaring tower with myriads of windows was standing before them. Hundreds of birds were flying around it.

He was amazed seeing so many spirits birds together- birds with all sorts of coolers, sizes, and powers. Birds with black scales and fiery eyes were breathing out fire in the air. Birds with white crystals like scales were freezing their surrounding with their icy breath. Some were appearing disappearing out of thin air.

Onish forgot to breathe as he stared at the beautiful creatures, his beak agape with wonder and sock.

Had Guha noticed his parrot's odd expression, he might have guessed something. However, he was too busy to care for his bumpkin parrot. His eyes, like others, were feasting on the fantastic spirit birds.

It didn't even realize that they had reached the giant gate.

A middle-aged man clad in a blue cloak was standing on the raised platform, looking amused with the contestants' reactions. A small beautiful bird was sitting on his shoulder. As the man cleared his throat, the bird fluttered its colourful feathers lightly. The voice resounded in the air hushing up the excited crowd. They all looked at the man, then at the tiny bird. And a murmur ran through the crowd. Onish heard someone whispering. "A Sonus bird which can amplify and hush up sound."

The man gave a sweeping glance to the quieting crowd, and a gentle smile bloomed over his thin face. Seeing the crowd awaiting him to speak, he said

"Though most of you know me already, yet let me introduce myself . I'm Kausha, a two star falconer of the Falconry Guild of Minaak. I've been appointed to watch over this year's trail. I know you're all tired as a born-out shoe. So, I won't delay you much from your rest and dinner. Please submit your spatial bag to our apprentices one by one, and we will announce the result. Yes, there is no need to hand over Ogun's net. You keep it as a gift from our guild."

The so-called apprentices were young girls and boys, all clad in green cloaks, standing behind the long tables lined up against the platform. Large golden jars were placed on the tables.

The crowd organized themselves into neat rows as they walked over to the tables and handed their silvery pouch one by one.

The apprentices had circular mirrors in their hands. When someone handed over them his spatial bag, they would tell him to look into the mirror. It would go blue like an ocean for a few moments before fleshing out all the sorts of spirits birds he had encountered in the woods.

The apprentices would then drop the silvery pouch into one of the jars.

Guha waited for his turn. He was seventh in his row.. Onish could sense the nervousness from him.