Message from the Chief

"Let's go and find that idiot." Hanu said this and started to walk deeper into the forest.

"Wait," Ram said, and he started to walk towards the Maha Pret body, or whatever remained of it.

Then he used the fire elemental prana and burned the Maha pret's body, and once it was burned to ashes, he nodded towards Hanu and started to enter the forest again.

After a few minutes.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You know what I mean. What was the point of lighting the fire on the Maha Pret? Did you think it didn't die and would come back?"

"No, I didn't think that."

"Then?"

"Do I have to answer this?"

"I want to know what the reason was for it."

Ram looked at Hanu, and after seeing his expressions, he knew that Hanu had taken it the wrong way, and if he didn't clear this doubt, it would only create further confusion.

Ram took a deep breath and said

"From where I come, it is said that once one dies, his or her body has to be given proper rest by cremation. I can't follow the proper ritual for the process, but I could at least burn them to ashes and let their ashes be one with the world."

"But it was our enemy. That Maha Pret has killed numerous people and animals and destroyed many regions."

Ram looked deeper into Hanu's eyes and said

"He was the enemy when he was alive, but once he died, he was just a body that needed rest."

Hanu heard it and didn't say anything, though he felt conflicted with this ideology. His instincts told him not to go any further on this topic with Ram.

"If you guys are done, can you help me?"

Ram and Hanu both heard this and turned towards the nearest tree, where they saw an idiot hanging upside down.

"I thought you ran further. "Why are you so near the battle ground?"

Hanu said while looking towards Prakhar.

"Who said anything about running? I never ran."

"We clearly saw you run."

"No, I just came here and climbed the tree to get the proper advantage of scanning the ground and enemies, but I saw you were fine without me, so I didn't interfere."

Ram heard Prakhar and felt his ears were bleeding because of all the crap he was listening to.

"So, Mr. Scanner, why are you still hanging on the tree?" comedown yourself." Ram replied with sarcasm.

"I was actually getting down when my leg got trapped here, and so I am stuck. Please help me." Prakhar replied, while his expression of guilt was very visible.

"Sure."

Ram took out a dagger from his ring and threw it near the branch where Prakhar was stuck.

Thakk…

The dagger got stuck near Prakhar's reach.

"I am sorry; my hands slipped and I lost the target." Ram replied in the same tone as Prakhar and sat on the ground with Hanu. While Prakhar reached for the dagger and, after some time, freed himself and came towards them.

"Prakhar, before we go any further, can you tell me how you will be useful on this trip with us?"

Prakhar looked at Ram and, with a straight face, said

"I know every location and region besides our village."

"So you are a navigator."

"Yes."

"Prakhar, there is something that is bothering me." Hanu interjected and continued:

"Why are Prets and Maha Pret in this forest region?"

"Yes, this is odd."

Prakhar replied while thinking.

"Actually, this is also one of the reasons I climbed the tree; I wanted to see if there were more Prets nearby or if there was something more unusual here."

"So what did you find?" Hanu asked

"As far as I can see, there is nothing unusual except the death zone."

"Okay, anything unusual about the death zone then?"

"Yes, I can feel too much chaos and death prana inside it."

"Isn't that supposed to be normal there?"

"The intensity of death and chaotic prana is greater than usual."

"We need to report this to the chief." said Hanu, and then he from his ring took out a small crystal and placed it between his eye brows and closed his eyes. After some seconds, the crystal started to fill with a white smokey substance, and Hanu threw the crystal towards the sky while saying, "The village chief."

What had just happened was actually some kind of communication system in the Rudra world. He had also gotten one from the mysterious merchant for free. This crystal was a kind of audio-visual hard drive that stored what one had seen and heard, and after throwing the crystal away from them, it would automatically enter the void and reach the person whose name and visual were thought of while throwing the crystal. What Ram had gotten from the mysterious merchant was a locked audio-visual crystal, with which he could only contact the mysterious merchant and no one else.

After some seconds, out of the empty space in front of Hanu, a crystal came. Hanu caught it in his hand, touched the crystal to his head, and soon nodded.

"So I have got the reply from the village chief." Hanu said this and nodded towards Prakhar.

Prakhar, while understanding something, came and injected the prana inside the crystal, and then they both turned towards Ram. Ram, as if understanding what to do, came to them and injected his prana inside the crystal.

Soon all three were standing inside the chief's office. Ram observed himself closely and saw that he was illusory, and then he saw that his body, along with that of Hanu and Prakhar, was still where it was in the forest.

"I have dispatched security people to survey the surroundings for Prets and Maha Prets."

"All three of you only focus on your mission."

"Do not enter the Death Zone."

Then the illusion world broke, and all three opened their eyes, looked at each other, and nodded.

"Excuse me, before we continue Can someone tell me what the Death Zone is?"

Ram said this while looking at the shocked expression of Prakhar and the understanding look of Hanu.