The Last Rudra

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Seeing Onish's puzzled face, the boy hurriedly said, "How silly of me! Nimohi had mentioned you are suffering from amnesia. You cannot recognise anyone." the boy shook his head, his smile faded.

"Let me introduce myself first then. I'm Drona , son of Ayan, and your cousin." the boy said.

"What cousin? Ishit, he is your elder brother, and will take care of you when I'm not around. And Drona, son of Ayan. Listen well, Ayan entrusted you to me as my son, and so you're. Don't let me hear you again telling Ishit that you're his cousin." Oman, who was busy with his guests, cut in.

"I was wrong, Uncle." Drona replied.

"No, problem. You won't go unpunished, though. Lad" Oman said, smiling.

" I won't complain." Drona said with a solemn face.

"Ha, Ha, good lad. Then go and show around your younger brother as you know his empty brain needs quite a filling."

And thus Oman entrusted Onish to Drona before Onish could voice out his opinion. Onish thought it was better than to sit beside his lord father, who was too busy to tell him anything. And Onish needed the answer. He knew next to nothing about his current world, where even birds could have uncanny siddhis, not to speak of humans, and strange treasures. It had been almost a week since he got here, but he didn't even know what this world was called. Was this world one of the lokas mentioned in Puranas, ( historical records documented by sanatani sages)? Like Patala Loka, Ghandarv Loka, Yaksha, Loka etc. Onish wondered as he left the clamoring hall with Drona, in a hope that today at least he would get some basic knowledge of this strange world.

As they walked down the corridor lit by moonstones, Drona asked him what he wanted to know, as to this the transmigrator chose himself. How did he fall ill? He still didn't know what happened to Ishit's soul. Though Onish knew Drona was not the right person to ask such a question, he still asked. Yogi had his reasons for doing so.

Drona sighed and said though he didn't know much of his illness, he did hear that Ishit was born with it. Nimohi, who was overseeing his birth, had told Lady Padma and Uncle Oman that their child wouldn't see his 10th spring. As for the cause Drona was not sure. He suggested Onish ask Nimohi if he really wanted to know. As for why he was still alive, it was all thanks to a mysterious Nimai. What he did was a mystery even to the Apothecary Guild.

And to Onish's question who was Nimai, Drona said that even he didn't know much about them except they were people who never settled at any one place in their whole life. There were some rumours about them like they had been cursed never to settle or they had been looking for something or someone in the vast world. However, how much truth there was in these rumours only Nimoi could tell. But nobody could make a Nimoi debulge his secrets. They were odd folks with some uncanny powers, so nobody bothered them except on New Eves when they set up their makeshift shop in the market to sell strange artifacts and herbs gathered from all over the world. It was said some Nimois could talk to white-wives. However, you would rarely see such a Nimoi roaming nearby a town or village. They all dwelt in crematory ground.

Drona halted all of a sudden and pushed bewildered Onish behind himself, his eyes searching for something in the long corridor. His eyes glowed faintly with golden light. Onish also looked around, but the corridor was empty.

"pratyakSH Bhu" Drona whispered as a golden blade condensed in his right hand. the air around the corner tensed up as if compressed by some invisible force. Onish felt a tug around his soul but it vanished quickly.

They waited for a while silently, Drona staring in the air. But nothing stirred and showed up. From his two encounters with mantras, and knowledge of Sanskrit, Onish had some guesses. Like the meaning of the mantras was ''come before eyes / appear in person',. However, he was not sure how they worked. Yogi noticed the strange energy surging in the blade and Drona standing before him. It must have something to do with this energy.

As Drona's body relaxed, the blade dissolved into thin air, before Onish's curious eyes. Air turned normal.

"Sorry, Ishit. I sensed something strange . So I had to push you aside. But it seems I'm just being paranoid. Thinking of this, if someone really was sneaking here, Old Amora would have warned lord Uncle." , said Drona as he turned to Onish.

"Never mind, by the way, who is this Old Amora, what happened to your body all of sudden, and how you sensed something amiss while I sensed nothing….." Onish was looking for such an opportunity, so he showered the poor boy with questions. After walking around with the boy, he had some understanding about his character. Drona clearly thought of Ishit as a child, and felt responsible to help out the amnesiac lad.

"Ho..ho,, slow brother. I can understand your brain needs filling, but there is no need to rush." Drona laughed, tousling Onish's hair.

" I was afraid I would forget them, so I asked them together. Now, don't forget to answer any of my questions. I really want to know how you summoned that amazing blade out of thin air." Onish said, trying hard to imitate a child.

Drona laughed aloud and promised Ishit, who seemed ready to throw a tantrum, that he would answer every one of them. But before he began he needed to talk to Old Amora.

Onish was more than agree . Onish he had to go somewhere, but Drona just whispered something. Onish couldn't make out the strange syllable, it was not Sanskrit.

"What Now? Can't you see I'm busy with all the people present in the castle right now, Lad? " Startled, Onish turned around. The face with a long scar had materialized in the stone wall behind them. The hawk-like eyes swept over Onish, and a smile surfaced on the fierce face.

"So, You too are here. " Amora said, looking pleased.

"I'm sorry to disturb you but it was important. While we were walking along this corridor I sensed someone sneaking around, but when I checked I found nothing. " Drona said with a serious face.

"What? So you called me because you found nothing. Lad, do you need spanking? I'm telling you even if you have become a Yoddha, it will not help you." Amora glowered at Drona,

"I know Old Amora, you don't need to remind me again and again. I called you , because I'm sure there was someone loitering around here, and he knew how to hide from the spirit." Drona said, looking grim.

"Oh, then there is trouble. However, nothing that I can't handle. Anything else, Lad" Amora asked, looking unconcerned.

"No, Old Amora." Drona said.

"Ok, then have fun, while you are here." After giving Onish a smile, the face dissolved into stone. Leaving behind amazed Onish, and relieved Drona.

"So, He was amora. What is he? I mean he is not a human like us. " Onish asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Amora is not a human. He is a house-anima." said Drona.

"And what is..." Drona cut off Onish

" Have patience, little brother. I'm telling you, but let's sit somewhere or if your legs hurt because of all this walking, Lady Padma will scold me."

Onish didn't reject the idea as his feet really began to hurt so Drona led him to a chamber whose wall was covered with murals depicting battles, and portraits of previous lords.

The chamber was empty except for a few chairs, and a table placed in the middle.

"I used to spend time here with my lord father, tracing our ancestry family tree back to dateless days, yet we never reached its roots." Drona said, pointing out murals of a small plant with only three leaves. Onish looked at him thinking whether Drona was joking. How could someone spend days not tracing the plant's root.

"Don't go on its size, it is not an ordinary mural. It was said our great great grandfather had the opportunity to have a mitra as his guest, and this mural was Mitra's gift to him for his hospitality." seeing Onish's doubting look, Drona said with pride. And before his little brother could raise a question he hurriedly added.

"And don't ask me who Mitra is, I already have enough on my plate. "

Onish laughed, as he sat down on the chair. Drona began,

To understand a house-anima, one had to understand the spirit first. According to the spiritualists, the spirit was another kind of energy except it had sentience. However, this claim was recently revoked by a man, three years ago. According to him, the spirit was the sixth element unknown to mankind. He also claimed that there must be other elements. Unfortunately, after three months of his world-shaking claim, the man disappeared, never to be seen again.

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