Chapter 9 : Heaven's summon.

In a street corner , where bags of trash were left or thrown there in a pile placed one upon another , A boy was beaten up severely with a badly bruised and swollen face , lying  on the trash bags moaning in pain.

"UAAKKKKK"

Today was his birthday , his sixth birthday , But is he expecting to celebrate his birth?No... he didn't want to consider that because he hated this day , He hated and cursed himself for the past six years , Just like he was doing today, to being born on this day because even though..... today was his birthday but it was also the day his mother died , The boy was Ritesh but now that he had reborn and have different life than his past , The celebration of his birth that he never considered , today it was celebrated throughout the Kishkindha kingdom and so many people was came just to say "Happy birthday"

*******

Lost in his past life's memories Bali was looking at the faces of the guests without batting an eye.

"Hey ... aren't you going to eat that ?!"

Hearing sudden voice of Apoorva,  Snapped out Bali from what he was thinking , He spun his head  all around as if he came to an unknown place , Apoorva observed her kid that was making an anxious expression and along with that , he also looked quite oblivious of his surrounding , she extended her hand in front of Bali and snapped her fingers.

*PATAK*

"What are you thinking ?! ... What happened?"

Bali looked at Apoorva's face for a while, then he raised his eyebrows and made an expression as if he remembered everything.

"Um mm.... nothing.... I'm just... I'm just happy that I am able to enjoy this ceremony with so many people."

"Ha ha ... Isn't this great ... ..." Apoorva came close to Bali and whispered in a very low voice ," I know that you are  bored of always being stuck inside the castle , That's why you went outside , But you should have asked me first I too.... don't want you to stuck here forever , But its all for you and your brothers protection , You know that its very dangerous on your own to roam outside ,

Apoorva raised her body backward and while sighing she added,

 "From tomorrow on ,You two will be going to school and staying outside for the next twelve years , so I don't think I should lecture you about your going outside from now on... Right!! ... I'm sorry."

Bali while holding Apoorva's hand smiled .

"It's okay mom , We are alright and also we made new friends today."

"Oh ! ... I forget , Where my manners are... What are the names of your friends"

Sugreev , Who was sitting on the right side of Apoorva and also he was hearing his brother and his mothers conversation , Pointed his fingers at Prakriti who was sitting beside him and eating the served food nonstop .

"She is Prakriti , And she's awesome. She fights like the people you told us about in the stories ."

Prakriti stopped eating for a second and with her mouth full of hot rice , Waved her hand at Apoorva.

"Hii"

And She's Shakshi and he's Keshav"

"Hey ... you didn't tell her about us in detail like you did with Prakriti."

Both Sakshi and Keshav screamed at Sugreev in the same tone , 

But with a disappointed look on his face Sugreev talk in a low tone ,

"Well .. you hadn't done anything amazing in front of me except talking tall about yourself."

"Come to school you will know that how amazing we are .... hehe"

Keshav in a high voice almost tried to grab Sugreev but stopped by Prakriti midway .

Sugreev making a smug face ignored Keshav's desperate attempt to be acknowledged by him.

"really we'll see"

Apoorva giggled after looking at the childish behaviour of these kids. Then making a concerned face she said ,

"Okay ... okay .. calm down all of you .. first finish your food then we will talk further."

******

After awhile,

Everybody scattered around the hall to talk to each other , Apoorva was standing near all the kids and Vriksha on the other side standing with Chetanya talking with the guests , Then suddenly making a disappointed face Vriksha sighed heavily and after that he talked in a loud voice.

"I'M Pretty Disappointed.... , In This Ceremony All The Commanders And Ministers Were Supposed To Be Present Here , Attending This Feast And Birthdays Of My Sons , But Look Here..... We Only Have Three Commanders Out Of Nine And Only Three Ministers Out Of Six Here."

Bali looked at his father Vriksha for awhile than he started to thinking 

'Commanders , They are one of the most powerful warriors of Kishkindha kingdom and each commander is given a fort situated on the borders of Kishkindha to protect the kingdom from foreign invasions , I didn't know they were also here.'

Bali spun his head all around to look for the commanders that he had heard about from not only his father and mother , but also from the history books that he had found in the library of the castle.

Seeing Bali's curious face, Apoorva understood what he was thinking , She placed his hand on Bali's back and pushed him a little ahead, she said.

"Come with me , I will introduce you to the honourable guests of today's ceremony."

All of the kids nodded their heads in affirmative and started walking behind Apoorva , Passing by some guests after walking for a while they all found themselves standing in front of Chetanya.

Bali and Sugreev looked at Apoorva at the same time with an unimpressed look on their faces.

"Mother , You said you will be introducing us to the guests but we know Chetanya."

" Well I know that but still there's a lot you don't know about him , so you should know about him more , he's your father's  one of the closest  friend and also our kingdom's Foreign minister , Did you know that before?."

Bali knew about the ministers of the kingdom because Vriksha took him in the royal court couple of times before , Where they just discuss about kingdom's internal and also the external affairs all the time , So upon seeing Chetanya he made a bored expression because he was more interested in meeting with the Commanders which he never seen before.

After seeing that kind of reaction from Bali , Chetanya felt dejected.

"Come'on I am not that bad .... I could also become a commander ... but I choose to stay by Vriksha's side.... you know , How many mistakes he makes ....even though he is a king."

Patting on Chetanya's back Vriksha laughed loudly.

"Ow , Chetanya ... Don't feel so bad. Bali just wants to meet new people , He must be bored to see you everyday .... Hahahaha"

With almost a crying face Chetanya looked at Vriksha.

"Vriksha ... You too."

Bali thought he offended Chetanya a bit too much , So Mumbled some random words.

"No it's not like that I just..."

*TAK ... TAK ... TTAK*(SFX of approaching doorsteps).

"So what's it's like tell me."

a lady's voice interrupted Bali midway , Bali looked behind , there was a lady standing behind him , with long black hairs and wiggling her long black tail , Wearing red colored Sari (traditional wear for Indian woman) , Although she was wearing a sari but under this Sari instead of a blouse , she was wearing an golden armor , With her deep black eyes she looked at Bali and making a playful expression , She asked him again.

"Tell me prince , what are you going to say? Don't tell me that .... you mean , we ministers do not matter too much compared to the commanders?."

While panicking Bali shook his both hands in negative.

"Tikshana ... No it just that I had heard so much about the commanders .. I want to just see them myself ,"

A small drop of sweat appeared near Bali's ear , He made an expression as if he was too Conscious of Tikshana's presence there.

  ' Tikshana , I didn't expect her to be present here , She's the defence minister of our kingdom and also the one who takes me to the library without noticed by mother ."

Sugreev jumped between their conversations.

"Tikshana ... how are you ... And where were you all this time."

"Haha .. Prince Sugreev thanks for asking , I was just busy in the last couple of months so I was out of the capital."

Cutting all of their talk a mysterious Vanar Adipuru who had white hairs just like pure white snow ,  Appeared in front of Bali and Sugreev handing them a basket full of mangoes , He had a bulky figure but not so intimidating , rather his presence created a light and relaxed atmosphere , 

"Happy birthday prince ... A small gift for you two."

Confused by the strange gift and the strange Vanar , Bali asked Apoorva curiously.

"Mother, who is he?"

"Oh ! he is..."

"Oh ! Kesari ... How long its been"

Before Apoorva said any further Vriksha ran toward this mysterious Adipuru and hugged him , Apoorva giggled.

"here.. is your answer ... He is Kesari ... The commander of the southern border."

The kids looked at Kesari with a surprised expression.

"Ohhh!!..."

slowly hitting her elbow on Kesari's arm , Tikshana in a playful manner said ,

"Looks like you started to grow mangoes after the incident with ' Maruti '."

With a very serious and hard face Kesari replied that,

"No , It's not about that , but that region is fertile for mangoes."

Tikshana stood still confused for a second but then burst out laughing .

"Hahahaha ... I'm just joking , You're serious as always ..... How's Anjani ... And Is Maruti returning yet or not."

"Anjani , Oh she's okay .... But As for Maruti , I don't think he will return."

Tikshana looked at Kesari with serious face and said ,

"Ohhh ! .... Last time when I saw him almost eight years ago , he was still wandering around in the northern part of the Kailasa mountains."

Sugreev wondered for a while then he asked Apoorva.

"Maruti ... Who is he ?"

"Well he is Kesari's only son , I'm sure when you meet him , you'll enjoy his company."

On the other hand, after meeting Kesari, Bali was more excited to see what the other commanders were like.

"Where are the other ministers and commanders ?"

Scratching her chin with her fingers , Apoorva looked all around after a while her eyes stood still.

"Oh I forget about that... look there near the gate with green hairs , he's commander of the eastern border Aditya and on here near the statue of lord Brahma in left with the green hairs he is minister  Maatanga and sitting there on the chair with brown hairs the old Vanar is the north-east border's commander Vigr and he is also your grandfather's close friend ...".       Apoorva took her mouth close to Sugreev and Bali and whispered  ." Call him grandfather when you meet him ... okay!!"

Bali and Sugreev nodded in affirmative ,but then Sugreev asked a strange question.

"Mother .. why all of their body hair colours are so strange."

Placing her index finger on Sugreev's lips with an awkward expression she explained ,

"No , You should not say that , it's offensive ..... And for your answer , Well not all of Vanar Adipuru have distinct colour there are just few of them with distinct colour , just like Kesari or Maatanga , otherwise most of Vanar Adipuru have Brown or transparent brown colour , just like you , Bali ,Your father and your friend Keshav here , But the thing is that it is believed that the district colored Vanar Adipuru's have always something special about them."

When all of the people were meeting each other and enjoying this ceremony , Then suddenly Vriksha heard a slow noise that only could be heard by him because the noise was deliberately made for him so he could notice.

*Shankkk*

The noise came from one of the windows in the hall , Vriksha slowly separated himself from all the people around him and silently sneaked out to the window .

When he reached near the window , he saw a thin black haired Adipuru who was hanging to the window.

"What's the news .. Prabhakar."

"Sir , In the capital Darsana of the Kosala kingdom , Five Adipuru was brutally murdered by the prince Vardhman and one Adipuru named Virat , who was guarding the Adipuru's was captured by the king Satyavan ."

Vriksha's face turned pale , he gritted his teeth then blew air through his nose , all of a sudden he slammed his tail on the ground very hard .

*DHUDDDDD*

that slam of tail made a loud noise enough that it silenced the muttering and gossiping of the guests and it forced them to turn their full attention to Vriksha, who was facing to the window so they could only see his back and that only made them more nervous ,Sweat drops appeared on everybody's heads and Standing there frozen , they did nothing except gulping saliva down their throat . After a while ,Vriksha turned around and looked at the bewildered faces , He let out a deep sigh , Then in a loud tone as he was ordering he said .

"ALL OF THE MINISTERS AND COMMANDERS COME TO THE COURT AND GATHER FOR A MEETING.....   NOW !!"

"What is the king saying?"

"What .... happened all of a sudden "

"I don't no "

"Is the ceremony getting cancelled midway"

From all around only questions began to be heard one after the other , Vriksha walked toward Apoorva with heavy steps , When he reached her , Apoorva asked him hastily.

"What happened ... Are we under attack ?"

Vriksha whispered in her ears.

"No .. Not that ... But.....  A very ominous  incident took place in the Kosala kingdom... " 

"An incident ... In a human kingdom?!"

*PEEEUUUUU*

As Apoorva talking , a loud voice of a bird reverberated across the hall , Everybody's eyes fell on an peacock like bird who entered in the hall destroying the grills of the square shaped upper windows that was almost touching the roofs of the hall , The bird was sure looked alike to a peacock bird but this bird was huge , compared to a normal peacock, and the biggest difference was that , this bird's colour was pink and on his tail instead of feathers like a peacock there was petals of a lotus flower , The strange yet beautiful birds started to fly round and round across the hall.

"Everybody don't panic , I know what it is ."

Vriksha said in awe , Everybody tilted their heads toward him , to listen to what he had to say .

"It's a summon or rather to say a heaven's Summon , The apsaras ( divine nymphs) are called by gods through this summon."

"For Apsaras , That means....."

Everyone understood for whom this miraculous bird came , Vriksha looked at Apoorva with nervous eyes. Apoorva, seeing her husband's worried face , placed her hand on Vriksha's shoulder and smiled.

"It's okay ... You don't have to worry about that , 

Apoorva turned her gaze toward the bird and while making a serious expression she said ," A summon of this type hasn't been seen in the last couple of millennia , But to think that a heaven's summon will appear here , It's not normal , Who could have sent this summon ."

The bird who was still circling above everyone's head , started to dematerialize , it's as if  every part of the bird's body began to disintegrate , When the whole shape of the bird disappeared then only lotus petals like pieces started to float in the air . 

With very widened eyes Bali looked up agape.

"What is this magical phenomenon .... Why today is everything happening around me is seemed as the world is ending."

After floating in the air for a while the petals pieces starting to swirling like a small typhoon and as the small typhoon swirl more and more ,A dark blue colored light glowed from it , When the light glowed suddenly the people standing on the ground felt a sudden force , that was pulling them to this small typhoon , but the force was so little that everybody just flinched for a little bit and then became normal but the effect on Apoorva was different , At the time when the dark blue light glowed ,She started to slowly flying toward that small typhoon , when she reached very close to it , It seemed as she was submerging in the light , She looked back at Bali and Sugreev and her husband Vriksha with a bright smile and give an expression of assurance that was telling ' I'll be okay ,' ,

Sugreev and Bali cried out loud 

"NOOOOOO ..... MOM!!"

 When she completely submerged in the light,

 the dark blue light and the swirling petals scattered and disappeared into nothing.

*ZAAAPPP*

*SWISHHHH*

<Chapter 9> Ends.