Chapter 17 – Hut near the mountain
The Red horse flew at such a great speed that they were above the clouds in no time. There were so many beautiful dimensions which were unknown to mankind; though they were not clearly visible to the naked human eye, the souls were able to sense something ethereal and the worlds parallel to the earth which were lively and full of activity.
Acura said “These worlds are all ethereal worlds, similar to the Ghozal dimension but these have certain consciousness levels to be achieved by a soul so as to gain entry into these worlds. The Ghozal dimension allows all sorts of souls to enter because it is just above the earth though in a separate dimension. God has sealed all these portals so that certain strict laws are not crossed or broken due to certain negative energies otherwise there would be utter chaos in the entire Universe.”
The four of them enjoyed their journey and finally reached a very small island which had a beautiful snow covered mountain with so much snow and ice that it looked like as if they had reached the Arctic Circle. Though the sun was blazing, the four of them found the weather to be very pleasant. The sun was generous towards the snow and ice too; snow was intact not having even the slightest inclination to melt the ice.
Acura said “Do not look surprised, this is all by the grace of my father Sonste. He has a controller in the Ghozal dimension through which he can tune the intensity of the heat and radiation of the Sun.”
Idaha asked “What are we to do now, we have landed on another island, and as usual the entire island is new to us. Where are we going to retrieve the ‘Panacea’?”
Pelmec and Vilom too agreed with what Idaha had said.
Acura was as cool as ice as usual.
He said pointing towards Pelmec and Vilom “You both travel to the eastern side of this island; at the corner of the eastern most side of the island you will find an only hut. Inside the hut you will find an old lady. Do as she says and you can retrieve the box which contains the ‘Panacea’. Idaha and I will look out for another box which is supposed to contain something precious that would help us on our way back to Chonohaush. Is that clear?”
Before the four of them were about to disperse, Acura threw a compass like instrument which Idaha had used a few months back so as to summon souls from Ghozal dimension and possess the bodies of fellow citizens so as to help them fight the big Asuras. Pelmec was more than happy to receive a device similar to the one that his brother had used.
Vilom and Pelmec started their journey towards the eastern side of the island, but now there was a problem. They had understood everything that Acura had explained but he had not mentioned the place where the four of them would meet after successfully retrieving the box from the old lady in the hut. Anyway, he knew that Acura was no ordinary human being and he would find out a way of making sure that the four of them would meet at the appropriate place so as to continue their journey of saving the island from the ‘Death Drink’.
Vilom and Pelmec used all the resources at their disposal so as to reach the hut where the infamous ‘Old Lady’ was staying so as to retrieve the ‘Panacea’. Vilom and Pelmec started their journey near the mountain, but they were finding it difficult as usual because of the density of the forest. It was very dark inside and they were using a few incantations taught by Acura so as to get little bit of light so that they would not be eaten alive by the predators of the forest. They were able to see so many fantastic trees and carnivorous plants which looked very docile though. There were few bees which were as large as a human head. The two of them were unable to believe that all these things were harmless though the danger was pretty on the face.
Vilom said “If that bee stings me then I would get a one way ticket to Ghozal, probably without my physical body,” and gave a smile.
Pelmec started laughing loudly at the thought of Vilom dying because of a bee, Vilom got a bit angry at the thought of Pelmec mocking at his thoughts but still found a way of getting over his mood in a humorous way. There were literally no buildings as they knew that the mount Ekimmu was completely uninhabitable by humans except for a few with superhuman powers which were rare to find in this day and age.
At the end of the island, that is what the both of them thought, because at the corner they were able to see a very old dilapidated hut. Both of them gathered enough courage so as to enter the hut because they didn’t know what to expect from her after their misadventures just a few days ago in the Ghozal dimension. They had a doubt whether she would be a very old witch or a wild human being because Acura had asked them to do whatever she would ask from them so as to retrieve the ‘Panacea’.
They went near the hut and tried to knock but then felt bad at their own stupidity; the hut had no door but was simply just a very small area where one human would fit in. They searched for the old lady but could find no one inside. When they were about to get out of the hut and search for her elsewhere a deep voice spoke from behind and both of them froze. They turned to look at the voice and were able to find a lady with a pleasing appearance. Both of them were very happy to find a good looking ‘Old’ lady in front of them.
She spoke “Hello my sons, my name is Arjana, how may I help you?”
Pelmec said “We were sent by Acura so as to retrieve the ‘Panacea’ from you, so it would be kind of you to give it to us so that we can get back on track and help Acura in resurrecting the soldiers who had died in the war trying to assist Lord Gabhiro in the greatest battle on ‘Earth’ that had taken place many centuries ago.”
The old lady started whispering to herself in a low voice. Pelmec and Vilom were able to make out that she was saying something which sounded like ‘Death Drink’.
Arjana said “I am sure that I can help you both with it but there is a problem, the ‘Panacea’ is stored in one of the ponds and it is underneath placed safely at a depth which is very difficult for the naked human eyes to spot. But there is a solution for this.”
“What is it,” asked both of them in chorus?
Arjana said “You will need to find an area in the forest where a carnivorous plant lives, all the other plants are docile but there is a huge ‘touch me not’ plant which when ‘touched’ will open its mouth wide and you will need to feed it two drops of blood from each of your bodies. If you do that, then it will convert itself into a creeper and will leave way where you can find a box, bring the box to me and I will explain the next course of action.”
Both of them thanked her and sprinted towards the area of the forest where they were supposed to find the plant. But they were now facing a dilemma, they did not know how or where to find the touch-me-not and they did not know whether they would be able to spot the correct and the exact plant so as to feed it with their blood. An idea struck Vilom at that time, he remembered having heard and read from the area near the temple where he used to stay, that by sprinkling salt then they could recognize carnivorous plants because they have an allergy towards salt.
They did not know where to find salt, so they decided to roam the entire island on foot so that they could reach a sea-shore where they could get some salt for their experiment. Both of them started roaming expecting to find creatures, beasts for them to encounter but nothing of that sort happened. They were able to find a beach at last, where they were able to see white deposits, abundance of salt they thought and rushed towards it but when they were about to reach the spot where they were going to get salt for their mission of retrieving the box for Arjana, something very hard struck Vilom on his head and he fell unconscious.
Pelmec turned and found a beautiful lady standing in front of them. The injury was not that bad for Vilom and he too got up and started staring at her with his mouth wide open.
Vilom asked “Why did you hit me that hard, we meant no harm?”
The lady introduced herself as ‘Jeneele’ and said “I stay alone with my grandma here and this is the only island which is deserted when compared to other groups of islands. On seeing strangers I was startled and for my protecti
on I had to do what I did.”
Pelmec said “So you are Arjana’s granddaughter?”
Jeneele said “Yes.”
Vilom said “We were sent by your grandma to retrieve a box which lies under a carnivorous plant in the forest, but little did we know about the exact location, so we decided to use some sea salt so as to make the carnivorous plants reveal themselves to us and then we wanted to do what Arjana had asked us to do. But before that we met our match through you.”
Jeneele gave a broad smile on hearing this.
She said “This is not the way of treating the carnivorous plants; I will show you a simple way of doing it. Come with me.”
Vilom and Pelmec started following her. Vilom was admiring her beauty. She had knee length long hair which was almost sweeping the forest when she was walking. Vilom had decided in his mind that come what may he would marry her.
Jeneele took them to a spot and gave a weird sound through some sort of instrument that was dangling near her neck. At that moment the ‘touch me not’ plant got up and stood at around 7 feet. Pelmec and Vilom were shocked at what they were seeing. It was like as if a sleeping giant had been woken up.
The plant spoke “Give me what I need only then will I leave way.”
Vilom and Pelmec had to feed the plant with 2 drops of blood and they did the needful. The touch me not plant started crawling like a baby and there was a marble door covering the area where the plant was initially standing. Jeneele opened the marble door and asked them to follow her. Vilom and Pelmec though startled by her beauty had their apprehensions because they did not remember Arjana tell anything about her granddaughter and all of a sudden they were being helped by a lady who was asking them to follow her to weird places.
The three of them got down a flight of stairs and what they could see was a fantastic subway.
Jeneele said “At the end of this tunnel there is an octopus guarding the box which Arjana has asked for. But there is a hitch the octopus is a very old one and it is ready to do anything for strangers but only on one condition, it will ask you a puzzle and if you succeed then it will give you the box, I myself have tried many times but have failed, but the good thing is it is harmless, a sort of a joker he is.”
Pelmec and Vilom followed her till the end of the tunnel and they were able to spot a very old octopus which had grey hair just like humans. It almost looked like a cross between a human being and an octopus.
Jeneele went to the place where the old octopus was resting.
She said “Good day Mr.Octus, I, I have brought two gests here who are on the lookout for the box. They need your help this time as they have come here on the lookout for the box on Arjana’s instructions.”
Octus said “Good day to you too beautiful lady. Whether these handsome men have been sent by God or your grandmother, they will have to undergo the test that I will throw at them. If they solve the puzzle then they will enjoy the fruits of their labor, is that clear?”
Vilom and Pelmec had confidence. They knew that Acura would have taught them the necessary knowledge for their success, if not then he would not have sent them here.
Octus got up from his resting place. He grew big in size and started churning something near the belly. In sometime he churned out seven gemstones, one better than the other of various colors ranging from Violet to Red.
Octus asked “If either of you can explain the importance of these stones then I would gift each one of you these stones and would give you men the box too.”
Pelmec and Vilom thought for a while, a little bit of anxiety and nervousness had hit them. It was like as if some examiner was asking them oral questions for a test. Pelmec and Vilom did not give up they thought for a while and remembered something that had happened on Ghozal.
Both of them said in chorus “These represent the spiritual energy centers of the body. All human beings have seven energy centers and these energy centers range from Violet to Red.”
Octus became teary eyed.
He said “I knew Acura would never send fools to me. You guys have won my heart. Please select 6 stones and divide them amongst you and I will give the remaining one to Jeneele.”
Pelmec asked him “How do you know Acura?”
Octus said “Acura is no ordinary mortal; he has been on Earth for thousands of years training the Demi-Gods so as to fight evil and has been serving Lord Gabhiro for a very long time. Sons, do not forget that we are at the final end of the epoch, Lord Gabhiro always ends the epoch by creating a war between good and evil and starts the cycle of creation again. We are in the evil age right now, ‘Death Drink’ might get opened anytime by Kalihan, so get all your facts right about the war and make sure you destroy the ‘Hell Warriors’ who would accompany Kalihan when they start losing the battle to the demi-gods.”
Pelmec asked “Then does this mean that Kalihan knows everything about the divine plan?”
Octus said “Yes absolutely. Kalihan is the worst amongst the Asuras. He is a deemed soul who would finally end up in eternal hell. He along with his followers, the Daityas and Asuras would be sent to eternal hell at the end of every epoch. Death Drink is just an excuse created by God so as to send these deemed souls to hell.”
Vilom asked “Then Acura knows everything. Why should he take help from us?”
Octus said “All these things are lessons for the souls. How will the true nature and the potential of a soul come out if it is not subjected to tests?”
Pelmec, Vilom and Jeneele were awestruck at the knowledge of the octopus.
Pelmec and Vilom had completely forgotten about choosing the gemstones which they wanted.
Vilom chose the Red, Orange and the Green gemstones.
Pelmec chose Violet, Indigo and the Blue gemstones.
Jeneele had to be happy with the Yellow gemstone.
Octus gave a huge laugh and said “Jeneele has got what she deserved and wanted.”
Jeneele was surprised.
She asked “What is the importance of this Yellow Stone?”
Octus said “The Yellow represents the spiritual energy center present in the navel. It promotes confidence, courage, and optimism. So you have got the right one.”
Jeneele was happy that she had got such a good stone. She had a doubt.
She asked “But how do we use these stones and make sure that they would be effective.”
Octus said “I will give you the box which Arjana has asked for. You guys take it back to the hut and give it to her. She will open the box and give a liquid known as the ‘Panacea’ to these men here. But the Panacea has to start boiling if it should be of any use. So place these seven gemstones on it and it will start thriving with divine energy. Only after this will Acura be able to use it to bring back the dead soldiers back to life along with a few ones who are waiting to get their bodies back on earth so as to complete their remaining unfinished Karmas and go back to Godhead.”
Pelmec remembered the beautiful face of Angel Guido. But before he could get lost in his dream world Octus asked them to be careful with the stones as they had tremendous energy and controlling them would be difficult if it would get into the wrong hands.
Octus said “After the Panacea is activated Jeneele you will be following these two men on their journey and ask Arjana to come and see me in case she needs any help as she would not have you at her disposal.”
Jeneele was shocked. She did not want to leave her grandmother and go with them. But there was no choice, only God knew what the plan was.
Octus started speaking for the last time before the three of them started on their return journey towards the hut and give the box to Arjana.
He said “I was a fortune teller when this mountain Ekimmu was a part of the continental mass, there was a flourishing civilization here and I made a lot of money. Once I had the good fortune of showing of my skills to Acura and he had blessed me to become immortal and stay on earth and help people whenever I could. This is one of the reasons I have been staying on this isla
nd though this entire island is deserted. But now my immortality is gone, I was immortal because of the seven gemstones which were attached to my etheric body. I had promised to part with these gemstones whenever it was required for the welfare of the world and I am pleased that I could be of help.”
Before the three of them could react, Octus vanished into thin air and was nowhere to be seen. Jeneele was in tears. Though she had a tough exterior she had a very soft heart.
After the shock the three of them started their journey towards the hut. Pelmec and Vilom had a doubt regarding the gemstones. They knew that these mystic objects had more to it than just activating the Panacea which even Acura could activate just by his mere touch.
The three of them reached the hut and handed over the box to Arjana. She was more than happy to receive the box. She opened the box using some old key which was present in her cupboard. Inside the box was a bottle of palm size which had clear sky blue colored liquid.
Arjana looked at the three of them and they placed the seven gemstones on the bottle in an order from Violet to Red. Within no time the liquid started boiling and changed its color from sky blue to dark foamy blue.
Arjana said “This foam has mystic powers to activate DNA of dead humans, provided a man who has mastered mysticism should be able to remind the souls who may at that moment during activation be present in any dimension to bring them down to earth and give them the same body so as to bring the subconscious memories in sync with the cellular memory. Only then will the soldiers who are now preserved in the ‘Salt Sea’ will be able to help Acura on his mission along with you to defeat Kalihan and his brothers.”
Pelmec was admiring the liquid; he knew it had the power to bring back Guido into human form. He always knew that he had known her from a long time but could not make out how she was related to him. There was lot of subconscious attraction towards Guido.
Arjana asked Pelmec and Vilom to follow Jeneele and asked Jeneele to take them to the place where Acura was with Idaha.
Jeneele hugged her grandmother tightly and wished her grandmother goodbye.
Arjana too bid her goodbye and blessed Vilom and Pelmec.
The three of them started on their journey towards the place where they had initially landed using the red horse. They had to find out the exact location of Acura so Pelmec dug for the compass which Acura had given him when they had set foot on the island.
Pelmec started playing with the instrument and found that there was a small screen attached to it. He started rolling the compass and scenes started rolling out on the small screen. Pelmec was shocked to see that a minor war was going on with Acura and Idaha at the lead. There was a mythological creature helping them in fighting a few creatures that looked like the Asuras with whom he had fought before.
Pelmec said “We need to travel immediately to the place where Acura and Idaha are. They need our help.”
Jeneele looked at the screen and said “I know that place. It is near the northern tip of this island. I can take you guys there but for that we need some means of transportation. What do we do?”
Pelmec and Vilom did not know the way of reaching that spot as they were complete strangers on the island.
There was pleasant breeze blowing and Jeneele’s long silky hair was causing her trouble and she tied it into a bun. Vilom was awestruck as usual by her beauty. A surge of hormones led to a great idea by Vilom.
He said “We can do one thing; we can pray to Sonste and ask him to send one of the horses here for our use.”
Pelmec thought that it was a good idea, but Jeneele did not know who Sonste was. Both of them started praying and chanted the incantations taught by Acura. Within no time a bright ethereal being stood in front of them.
Sonste said “How may I help you sons?”
Pelmec narrated whatever he had seen on the small screen of the compass and Sonste gave a reassuring smile. He meditated for some time and the Violet horse stood in front of them.
Sonste said “handle him with care, do not forget he has the special ability to blow fire but he can do it only once every 30 minutes. After that he has to be fed with some acacia leaves so as to satisfy his hunger and make sure that he gets back the lost energy.”
Sonste disappeared after helping them. The three of them got on top of the horse and the horse opened beautiful silver colored wings and off they went to the northern part of the island.