True Rising: Mark of the Defenders

by Tanishq Sheikh

“I spent days and months pouring over the intricate writings inside. They carried warnings cautioning the reader not to access their knowledge on their own but to practise with a Guru or a spiritual teacher.

  “I ignored the warnings, carrying on my own little experimentations. I decided to by-pass some rituals because they involved visiting funeral homes at night. It wasn’t because I was afraid but because I didn’t have a valid excuse to go out at night.

  “Using my talents I tried various combinations of ‘tantras’ and ‘yantras’. ‘Tantras’ are a set of spiritual practices that direct the universal energies into the practitioner, thereby leading to liberation while ‘yantras’ are mystical diagrams made with ancient symbols.

  “I used them to practise on those around me. My husband, my friends and my neighbours. Each of my yantras had a different agenda. It was taxing to create them and drew a lot of my energy. For many months I could see no difference. Then one day I got a sign that my efforts were not in vain.

  “The intent of the yantra itself was rather silly. I had a neighbour that I didn’t get along with for various reasons. One night before the new moon, I marked her house with my experimental yantra. I used the blood of a bat to draw symbols and inscriptions at the bottom of her main doorframe. It was not more than half an inch in size and once dry, it was invisible. It was a chance I had taken for the bat wasn’t easy to come by. It had ventured onto my terrace and got stuck in the lattice work. I took it as a sign telling me I was ready.

  “My intent was simple. I wanted her gone. Over the next few months, pests infested her house, her husband suffered major losses in his business, his mother died and they moved back to their native town. Quite dramatic and I wasn’t sure it was my yantra that set about the misfortune. Maybe it did or maybe it didn’t but it emboldened me enough to turn to my next target.

  “Partho Sangram.

  “I held no malicious intentions toward him or his wife. I knew she meant the world to him and I couldn’t risk any misfortune taking him away from me. I knew I wanted him. I wanted him bewitched by my charms.

  “So I set to work creating the perfect customised Vashikaran yantra. It is a yantra that could bring someone under his or her control or influence. It has to be mastered using deep meditation and focus. It took me months but in time I gained the mental ability to influence Partho.

  “Partho seemed to be noticing me more than before. His eyes gleamed with unbidden yearning often resting on my lips that seem lusher than ever. But, I could see no fruition to my cunning intent. I knew I needed to do something more, something different, something that could defy the natural order of our mundane existence.

  “I turned to seek help from the spirits. I couldn’t do it alone so I decided to involve my friends. We were a group of four women from the neighbourhood who often hung out together in each other’s homes in the afternoons. Partho’s wife Uma, Garima, Ruchi and I were good friends than neighbours. We entertained ourselves using various means. Sometimes we baked, made pickles, papads, peeled and chopped vegetables for evening dinners or even embroidered.

  “I told them about a game called Spirit of the Coin that has the power to call a spirit who can answer all our questions. None of them had heard of the game but it sounded exciting. I revealed a thin parchment to them. Yellowed with age, ancient inscriptions adorned it. Not one makes sense to them. No one guesses I have recycled an old document and written those inscriptions with my blood.

  “I explained that the parchment was the Abhasa Bandha or loosely translated a reflection of the bondage of consciousness. I explained it worked like a Spirit of Coin board,

  “Uma was sceptical. She was more superstitious than the rest of us as she wasn’t a city girl. She didn’t want to get involved with the unknown. I yearned to tell her most superstitions were the result of yantras diluted over centuries and converted into absolute bunkum.

  “Garima seemed to share her scepticism. But just because her mother-in-law had asked her to leave such things alone, she wanted to try it. Uma was still reluctant. But we cajoled her into being part of the madness. We tried for four afternoons that were few and far between with zero success. It was getting boring. Then one afternoon I suggested we try it at night.

  “We decided to meet at my place on a night Prakash was on an outstation trip. The others were to lie to their families that we were having a night over at my place to plan for the upcoming Navratri festival. If the families were surprised they didn’t object although Garima’s mother-in-law insisted she return home no later than five a.m.. The old hag regularly woke up at four a.m. and went about ‘purifying’ her house on a daily basis. If I ever had to use a yantra against her it wouldn’t be as effective. Well, I wasn’t interested in her anyway.

  “The night was unusually warm besides being Amavasya, a moonless night. We met up after dinner and started our secret game. The room was lit with a single, thick candle and the parchment laid out with a coin in the center. We held hands and began chanting. We knew what to chant because I had written it on the parchment. I took lead by being the loudest.

  “!! Ek Rati, Ek Mohini Mum Vashyam Kuru Kuru Swaha !!

  “We kept chanting unable to stop. At first nothing happened, I was ready to give up when the temperature in the room began dropping. We started shivering but kept chanting. Something commanded our eyes to open. The coin was moving on the parchment. I almost lost my voice. It was really working! The coin jumped across the parchment going from one inscription to the other. My eyes followed its frenzied dance for only I knew what was written and the message being relayed. Uma, Garima and Ruchi screamed in horror before all was silent. I looked at them. They had fallen unconscious.

  “I remained awake, alert to what was happening around me. I had read the message.

  “Adham idham astit. I am here!

  “She appeared before me in her terrifying avatar. Her skin pale as the whitest marble, her hair silken silver and her eyes a deep violet. I sat petrified unable to move, unable to faint. Her presence was permeating me from all angles. It was igniting me with an insatiable need.

  “I burned from within, passion and lust coursing through my veins. She mocked me endlessly, playing havoc with my senses. She swirled around me entering every vestige of my body and mind.

  “I see what you desire, my pet, she whispered in my ear, I can give you what you want. I can make all your carnal pleasures come true. Tell me, do you want to feel pleasure like you have never felt before?

  “I closed my eyes, my chest heaving with short gasps of my wanton breath. “Yes.” I couldn’t deny her, she was too powerful.

  “She told me she would give me my wish but for a price.

  I couldn’t understand her through the fog around my senses. I only knew that I wanted to die feeling sweet pleasure. ‘I’ll give you whatever you want!’ My promise was hasty and without thought.

  “Her laugh was pure evil but her cold talons on my belly were stirring too much unbidden lust for me to feel terror. I will give what you seek and in return take what you give me. A just bargain.

  “I agreed, all but begging, little aware of what she meant.

  “She beckoned me to follow her. I went with her as though in a haze. The neighbourhood was silent with sleep and no one was about. I left my house and made my way to Partho Sangram. When he opened the door, he was confused but I wasn’t. I reached for him and he was immediately as affected as I was.

  “It was pure, carnal lust and nothing else. We rose and fell, tearing at each other like animals in heat unable to restrain ourselves.

  “Somewhere deep in my subconscious thought I was aware of the wrong but I didn’t care about the right. I had never felt this kind of pleasure before in a man’s arms. I gave him everything without caution. He in turn ravished my body crazed with the haze of lust. It was a night of passion I can never forget.”

  Nineteen

  When truth hurts.

  The house is silent. Sudha is sitting with her eyes squeezed
shut. She has revealed to me her darkest secret. I sit in stunned silence. I’m not sure I want to know more and make her state the obvious.

  “You will never let me forget!” Her accusation hits me like a physical slap. She’s glaring at me, waves of hatred permeating from her.

  I’m breathless with a sudden realisation. My mother doesn’t hate me for who I am, she hates me for how I was conceived! I watch her in disbelief and shock. I am not the one to blame for my existence. She is. She should hate herself not only me. She probably does.

  Her eyes drop to her lap where she’s kneading her knotted, aged hands. “The guilt that I felt after that night still feels like a knife that is constantly cutting through me.” Her confession is soft on the heels of her memories. Her voice wavers taking me by surprise. Was she actually remorseful?

  “When the haze of that monstrous spirit left my senses, I realised you were conceived that night and I hated you from that moment. It’s true I had wanted Partho Sangram but not like this. I had wanted him to love me. I had lost respect in his eyes. We avoided each other best as we could. When you were born, somewhere he realised that you were his. I had never told him but he knew. He loved you, showered you with gifts, wanted you around whenever possible.”

  She pauses, free tears dropping down her cheeks. I keep silent. The information has been overwhelming. I’m illegitimate, born out of night of lust and desire. Is my child going to suffer because of who I am? I have no answers to what I came to seek. I need to know everything.

  “Mum, what happened to the spirit? Did she leave?” It’s a quiet question that masks the horror I feel for I know that thing isn’t a spirit and I know it will never leave.

  My mother has aged a decade tonight but somehow she seems at peace. I can see her lost in her past. I want to reach out to her to ease her pain but I’m aware she still hates me enough to reject my offer of reconciliation. “After that I stopped all my practices. I packed it up and stored it away. I didn’t see the spirit again till the night of your birth.” A sob tears out of her which she stifles with the back of her hand. “She put me through a harrowing labour. She had come for one thing and she didn’t intend to leave without it.”

  My breath caught not wanting to hear the next part.

  “I had made her a promise to give her what she wanted. She wanted you.” Tears flow down her weathered face. Somewhere she has realised the grim reality of her actions. “I didn’t stand a chance against her.” Her eyes land on me, begging my forgiveness. “I fought for you, Prisha, I did, but she was too powerful. She was killing me. I had Saumya to think about. I knew she wasn’t going to hurt you. I agreed. I had to agree! Do you understand that?”

  My eyes brim with unshed tears. She sacrificed me to save herself, to save her other child. It’s odd that it doesn’t make me hate her more. It makes me pity her. It makes me aware I will be soon faced with similar choices. What will I do? My hand instinctively covers my belly.

  I curb the wild panic that is rising within me. Mum is once again hunched over her hands as though resigned to her fate.

  “Mum, she isn’t a spirit.” I give her the information as gently as possible. Through it all she is the woman who gave birth to me. “She’s an entity. She houses spirits within her. Souls who she has trapped by cheating them into making commitments to her. She’s more powerful and more determined than you can ever imagine.”

  My mother watches me in pained silence. She is finally aware she doomed not only me but herself as well.

  “She’s been with me, Mum, throughout my life. She’s been gathering strength from people like you and me.” I look down at my belly, my tears falling free. “Now she’s coming after my baby. I can’t have that, Mum. I will not give her my child. I need your help to destroy her.” When she drops her eyes, I know she is going to refuse what I ask of her. “You won’t help me? Don’t you care the slightest for me?”

  Her refusal to answer hurts me. I rise, a slow anger escalating deep inside me. “Where is that bloody parchment that you called her with?”

  She shakes her head absently. “You can’t destroy her. She won’t let you.” She goes on into nonsensical mumbles, increasing my haplessness. “Go away. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

  I want to yell at her, rave at her, shake her and try to get what I seek but she’s incoherent. The panic I have kept at bay resurfaces making me clench my fists. “I need that parchment, Mum.”

  Her eyes are full of sudden hatred and anger. “I don’t have it! I burned it long ago! There is no way on Earth she can be destroyed! Just go! I don’t want to ever see your face again!”

  We are both staring at each other, our chests heaving, our senses shocked. I sense the cold before she does. It creeps up my body before swirling around us like a fog.

  Raati’s laugh is full of her evil intentions. “Misery doesn’t become you, my pet. She’s right, I’m indestructible.” She swirls around me, her breath kissing the side of my neck. I can see Mum staring at us her eyes wide with terror. This is the first time she’s seen Raati in years. Raati leaves my side to swirl around Mum, teasing her into confusion. “Such a shame you didn’t let me give you more of what you deserved. But you do owe me for that one time.”

  “Raati!” I shout coming to my senses. I hate my mother but she’s still the woman who gave birth to me. “She gave me to you! She owes you nothing!”

  Raati returns to me with a swiftness that whips my hair around my face. She squeezes my neck with one hand while extending the other one towards Sudha. “She owes me her soul, my pet. Did she not tell you she called me and not the other way round?”

  I begin to choke in her grasp watching her squeeze out my mother’s life in slow motion. I struggle but she’s too strong. Tears spring in my eyes as I see Sudha clasp her chest falling helplessly to the floor. No!

  In the next instant I hear the door being kicked in and Raati loses her hold on us both as she’s flung across the room. I look up from where I have fallen next to Mum. Ajaz is standing at the doorway glowing with all the inscriptions across his body, looking dangerous. His arms are outstretched, his palms giving an invisible push to Raati. His rage is almost palpable.

  I sense the tug on my ring and bracelet as they glow in response to the ones he has. They jolt me with a bolt of renewed energy. I grab my fallen mother who lies lifeless. “Mum! Mum!”

  Raati hisses in anger at Ajaz, creeping up towards the ceiling. She’s the most terrifying vision I have ever seen. I can sense she fears Ajaz and the powers he harbours. “You can’t keep me away forever, my pets. I’ll be back, I’ll be back to take what’s mine!” Her last words are a deafening screech before she disappears.

  ~ ~ ~

  I sit nestled in the crook of Ajaz’s arm in the waiting room of a hospital. My mother is barely alive. Doctors are considering it a stroke. I know better. I saw her life being drained. Now she’s in a vegetative state from which she might never wake up. Guilt gnaws at me. Is it my fault Raati sought her out?

  “It’s not,” Ajaz’s voice is quiet against my hair as he presses a kiss into it. I snuggle further into his warmth. He makes me feel safe, protected from the world. I raise my head to smile into his beautiful eyes. I’m still amazed at the way he reads my mind.

  “What the hell did you do to her?” Saumya’s sharp voice snaps at me breaking the tender moment. She looks furious, her hatred for me obvious. I had placed a call to her after admitting our mother and she has come all the way from Bombay as fast as she could.

  “I didn’t do anything to her,” I defend myself, masking my guilt.

  Saumya sneers at me. “She was fine till yesterday morning when I spoke to her. You turn up and she’s lands up here? How can you explain that?”

  “I don’t have to explain anything to you,” I mumble. I’m not ready for a confrontation with Saumya. I’m emotionally and physically drained.

  “You do, Prisha!” she persists. “You can’t just show up as if things don’t matter! You lost
your husband and you go around having an affair right after he dies? How dare you assume you’re welcome back? Tell me why are you here?”

  I look at Ajaz who gives a slight nod of his head. “I got married again to the man I love. I wanted to share the news with her.”

  Saumya looks at me stunned. Her eyes settle on Ajaz as if seeing him for the first time. She hurriedly looks away when he raises a brow at her. I almost gasp. Does Saumya have a thing for him? She gives me one last glare before walking away. “I’m going in to see her. Be gone before I come back out.”

  I leave my mother behind without a last goodbye. Intuition tells me she will not survive the night. Raati has already taken most of her life out of her.

  ~ ~ ~

  I watch the gigantic furnace gobble up my mother’s body. Saumya loves an electric funeral as opposed to the traditional one. I have heard, she chose the same for our father or the man I had thought was my father. Hindu tradition doesn’t allow our presence as women at a crematorium. It is the right of the first born son to complete the funeral rites of the parents. Well, tough. We don’t have a son in our family so Saumya has taken it upon herself to defy all traditions and complete the rituals herself. Leena hasn’t made it from London for this. Lucky girl.