The Last Rudra

Diya's house was beside the smithy. The two-story clay house was a sight to behold. Ishit left dazzled by the beautiful designs painted on the walls.

Ishit had never imagined a village could be so beautiful. The wide streets paved with stones were as clean as the kitchen...What piqued his interest were intricate designs drawn on the earth before each door. He didn't dare to ask Diya what they were for, fearing she might think him a fool who didn't even know about basic things.

Diya introduced him to everyone, at least the people whom they met on their way. Such as the potter's son, Kumar, the burly boy, had given him an appraising look as if he was looking at an earthen pot and said he could ask his father if he had some work for Ishit. Diya thanked him and forced Ishit to thank the smug boy. 

The same thing was repeated with the cobbler, Munna, the lanky man with a long goatee, who eyed him from head to toe twice. He said he was sorry Ishit lacked the quality to be a good cobbler. 

Diya's face fell as if it was not Ishit, but she got rejected. She consoled Ishit not to lose heart and have faith in Nima (Ishit guessed Nima should be a goddess).

"You know my mother says everyone is born with a purpose. For example, my parents' purpose is to grow grains and feed us and other villagers who are not good at farming. The same goes for the cobbler, the potter, and everyone else. So you just have to find yours, there is no need to be a runaway for this." Diya said in a preaching tone. Ishit rolled his eyes. 

Diya put down the grass bundle under the banyan tree that stood before the house with a wooden door. 

She turned to Ishit, tucking her messy hair behind her ears. 

"Come, and wash yourself first. Or else Maa will not let you in her kitchen." Diya said, eyeing him from head to toe. "What are these red stains on your tunic? Have you got hurt?" she said, noticing Ishit's blood-stained tunic. 

"Oh! These are nothing. I dropped some tomato juice on it." Ishit lied, avoiding her eyes. Diya stared at his face, not buying the classical excuse. 

"Whatever, follow me." She said as she walked away. 

"But I don't have any extra clothes on me," Ishit said as he trailed behind her. 

"I can see. I will ask Mom if she can give you daddy's spares." Diya said, "And remember not to step on the mandala. Mom says it brings bad luck."

Ishit looked at the intricate design drawn just before the house door with different colors of flour as he followed the girl inside. The door opened into a big yard with a well in a corner and beautiful flowers around it. 

"Maa, I'm home," Diya announced her presence. She turned to Ishit and whispered, "Do you remember what I said? Don't mention you're a runway."

"I'm not .." Ishit cut off by the girl. 

"Shush! She is coming." 

There were five rooms around the yard. A woman in her thirties came out of one of the left rooms. 

"Why are you so late today? ..." The woman's face was a mature version of Diya's. She halted, noticing Ishit. A look of dislike appeared on her oval face. 

"Maa, he is Ishit. He is from Okiya." As if noticing her mother disapproving of Ishit, Diya hurriedly said.

And thus, Ishit was told his own identity by Diya. 

He was from Okiya, an orphan whose parents were lost in the sea one year ago. He was now wandering homeless in search of a job. 

Ishit was speechless. But anyway, the story worked. Ishit saw the woman's face softened. And He was allowed to stay with the family until he found a job for himself. 

Of course, a bath was a must if he wanted to have lunch with the family. The woman's name was Uma, which means splendour. Uma lent Ishit her husband's clothes. Arvindo was Uma's husband, a muscular man with sharp eyes. His copper skin was proof of him being a farmer who spent most of his time on the farms. 

Like Uma, after listening to Ishit's tragic story, he sympathized with him and told Ishit that he didn't need to worry about the job too much. He could always use one extra pair of hands in his farms. 

And thus, Ishit found a home in Lamia. As for work, Kallu, the blacksmith, needed a boy with good muscles, and Ishit was perfect for the job. So, by the evening, Ishit was a smith apprentice. 

Of course, Ishit had no plan to settle there in the small village. He just needed some time to practice his battle skills. The last confrontation with Millian on the beach made him realize how risky it was for him to roam in the world alone. 

So, during the day, he started to learn smithy, and in the dead night, he began to practice his battle skills. 

****

Time slipped past swiftly; soon, a month went by. 

Ishit could now incarnate a banyan tree in a single fireball. His wind blade could cut a boulder-like cake. His speed also increased significantly. But he still couldn't condense a good sword. However, his shields were now on another level. It was all thanks to Dhima, the priest of Nima's temple. 

After discovering that Ishit could read and write, the seventy-year-old man asked him to learn his ways. 

Ishit was too interested in the mandalas and the priest's healing arts to refuse as an offer. Dhrita taught him the art of drawing mandalas, subtle magic to gather karmic luck and positive energy to your house. However, the mandalas opened a new window for Ishit to modify his shields. The complicated geometrical structures were uncannily similar to spirit diagrams,

  As for the art of healing, Ishit realized it was completely different from how Nimohis healed a patient in Minaak.

According to Dhrita, the art required knowledge of two things--

The first was a tongue called devil's tongue, the strange combination of obscure syllables.

And the second thing was the skill to find the soulmate trees of the patient.

According to Dhrita, one's bad karmas were the reason why one fell ill. Every illness had a karmic connection with the patient; without a karmic tie, it would not come to him. 

So there were two ways to cure a person, either he severed all his karmic chords living a life of penance or transferred his karmas to someone else.

Of course, not everyone could live a disciplined life. So the first option was only for sages and hermits. We commoners could only use the second option. But the transfer of karmic required a pitra- bond, a divine connection shared by a father and a son.

  So a son could take his father's sickness and suffer in his stead; Similarly,, a father could suffer in his son's stead. 

  This method was also not feasible. Not many sons would trade their youth for their father's well-being.

For this reason,, we required soulmate trees and soulmate animals.

  Every human being had a deep hidden nature unique to him. Sometimes it came to the surface. For instance, a person who felt wide awake at night but sleepy and drained during the day had an affinity with nocturnal animals. 

The job of a healer was to find out these affinities of a person, and then he could pick an animal or a tree with similar nature. 

But there were some animals and trees that could take your karmas without any affinity. 

Like cows in animals and Tulasi (holy basils) in trees. 

After finding a soulmate tree or an animal, a healer had to communicate with the devil responsible for the illness and forced him to leave the patient's body and enter into the soulmate tree or animal.

However, in the case of cows and holy basils,, it wasn't needed. You just had to serve the cow daily. She would take care of your bad karmas. 

Of course, Ishit found it hard to believe. However, the proof was before him. He had seen the priest curing the patient every day. So he put his prejudice aside and decided to learn the mysterious art.

  It took him two weeks to master the devil's tongue. Quite a slow pace for a spirit wielder, but it had surprised Dhrita, for whom Ishit was an ordinary boy with no magic blood in his veins. (the primary condition to wield magic in Glassia Ishit later found out)

Ishit mastered the entire art of healing in 21 days, earning the priest's praises.

  Diya seemed to be on the seventh cloud when Ishit cured his first patient, the cobbler's wife, successfully. 

  During his one-month stay with family, Ishit came to know why they were so eager to have him in, especially Diya, the chatterbox of Lamia.

There was one more member in the family, Diya's elder brother, Amito.

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