The Hidden Lies

A year has passed since then. Netri's magic practice took a backseat. But, she never gave up hope and tried to improvise to learn by practicing it secretly. Since her husband is away she has more time to herself as there were dozens of servants to look after the housework. Netri was left all alone in her chambers where she started to practice her magic arts again but with great caution. She mostly practiced them at night when the mansion sleeps. She almost forgot about her dream with the love and attention her husband was bestowing on her. Gradually, she started to remember how she set off a psychic blast just before getting married and started to realize the power inside her, and under inevitable circumstances of life, the only wise thing she can do was to accept her fate while trying to fulfill her dream. She never paid particular attention to what connotation this might have on her status of being a married Mistress of a household even forgetting it for the time being. By this time Netri became very proficient in magic knowledge but her practice showed no results yet. One afternoon like this the sky turned into a shade of deep slate and within an hour the storm came lashing down. The day turned almost into a night. The maids, therefore, came to light up the candles in her chamber. They knocked on the door before they came in and Netri quickly hid her scriptures.

"Just bolt the windows and close the door before you all leave. I want to rest for a while. And make sure no one disturbs me for some time"

Netri ordered them, pretending to have a headache. The maids bowed, did as told, and left. She bolted the door from inside and resumed her studies. She kept trying her magic skills again and again by uttering the spells in vain. She started to grow impatient and then she lost it and in a fit of frustration as she slammed her fist on the table. Suddenly, the candle lights started to flicker wildly. Netri started to feel a surge within her body. A surge that felt like something gushing through the veins till the core of her bones, her very soul seemed to start a stir up in the process. Coincidently, she flicked her hand and the candles which were on her table went out abruptly.

Netri jumped with shock and her face quickly turned into a satisfied smile of triumph. She couldn't believe her eyes what just happened. She just made the fire extinguish. She hurriedly went and started consulting her scriptures about controlling fire and found out that one can control the Pancha Mahabhoota (the five elements) of agni (fire), prithvi (earth), jal (water), vayu (wind), and atman (soul/mind) with their mind and temperament. Rigorous training is required to sync one's mind to channel their energy flow to control the elements. The basic matter of magic learning involves harnessing nature's power through these five elements. Netri managed to smuggle a lot of scriptures on magic and her determination in learning the ways grew stronger with what just happened.

Another six months passed and with her seventeenth birthday approaching suddenly one day, a week before she heard faint horse hooves approaching the mansion. Netri hurriedly put away her scriptures and ran out of her chambers with her dress and veil clumsily put on and her hair left open like a black waterfall that whipped sideways as she ran. She didn't care about that. The only thing that was on her mind was that finally, her wait was over. She stopped suddenly behind a pillar with and mix of happiness, shyness, and overwhelming love.

Her husband was greeted by the head maid and a few servants who unloaded his belongings from the carriage.

"Welcome back Saab." The maid bowed.

The merchant's eyes however searched for someone else. His eyes roamed around for a while fixing on the person half-hiding behind the pillar at a distance. He almost ran in that direction and caught Netri's arm who was about to run away blushing from her approaching husband. They looked at each other with their gazes locked which reflected how much they missed each other. This made Netri swept with an overwhelming shyness and she hastily let her hands off and ran away.

"Netri, wait…" he said pursuing behind her.

He followed her to her chambers to find her standing facing the large window looking over the garden. He silently came and hugged her from behind and a sweeping emotion flowed over their hearts. Suddenly he made her turn to cup her face and planted a deep kiss. All the time they missed each other was being exchanged through the kiss and it was deepening with the surging feeling of being away from each other making them want to become one. They stayed in the embrace with their lips un-parted for a long time and after they let go the merchant looked at his wife's face only to realize how much she has grown up and how much her beauty has blossomed.

"Did you miss me that much?" asked Netri with specks of happy tears at the corners of her eyes.

"More than anything," he replied with a kiss on her forehead.

"You should go fresh up first and in the meantime let me prepare a delicious dinner for you", Netri chirped happily.

With that, she left quickly heading towards the kitchen for the dinner preparation. The expression on the merchant's face drastically changed. The face which had a loving and contemptuous expression suddenly became scared and concerned. He remembered the outhouse and its sinister secret. A secret that he was mindlessly and coldly safeguarding for his first wife the one he thought was the love of his life. But with Netri's arrival, everything changed. He suddenly felt claustrophobic and heartbroken by the thought of what will happen after seven days. Most importantly he grew impatiently concerned that he was about to betray the person who loves him and whom he loved back. But there is no way out.

Flashbacks of horrific scenes played in his mind. The black slit eyes, the animal-like deep yet row rumbling along with muffled screams of girls whose mouths and hands were tied stripped naked. The scenes replayed in his mind one by the other. All nine of them, getting horrifically raped by the demon while draining them out of their life force as the demon climaxed every time. The merchant remembered the first time he encountered it during his business visit to the Tianxia Empire. His first wife went into a difficult labor which ultimately drove her into a vegetative state and the child was stillborn. The merchant was distraught and suddenly he met this handsome young man at a tavern who to his shock knew everything about him and his desperation.

"How is your wife doing? Is she dead yet?", the man chuckled with a taunting voice.

"What kind of nonsense are you spewing right now? And where did you know all these from?" The merchant asked with fits of anger grabbing his collar.

The handsome man wickedly smiled and said that he has the solution to his wife's illness and if the merchant is willing he is ready to tell him the truth about how he came to know about him. And with that, he flashed his slit eyes shocking the merchant in disbelief.

"Since you are so scared with just my eyes, shall I show you my true form too? Then you can perhaps decide what to do about your beloved wife." the man said giving a menacing look.

With that, his appearance changed into a hairy being with fangs and eyes glowing bloodshot.

"A yaomo? You are a yaomo?" the merchant almost fell down staggering backward.

"So you know about the demons of Tianxia. Then you must be aware of what we need to survive ahh?" the yaomo chuckled going back to the handsome look.

"We need the life force of young women to survive. But you know just surviving is not my thing anymore. Immortality is what I desire. Sadly the situation has become a little tricky here with the mysterious cosmic force weighing on the empire. I can feel the evilness of it though. I have a strong feeling that whatever is coming forth will not distinguish between humans or animals or us. And moreover, it's difficult for me to hide preying here on with the cultivators and mofarens (Tianxian auras) being extra alert these days."

The handsome man then offered him the ultimate proposal which sent a chill down the merchant's spine.

"Ten girls. You give me ten girls, seventeen years of age. I need the life force of ten girls to attain immortality and in exchange, I will cure your wife and even bestow you with children. What do you say? Deal?" he asked.

As difficult and sin the proposal was, the merchant thought of his love and the fact that this might be the only chance to bring her back.

"How would I know that you will keep the end of the bargain? What if you abandon me after getting what you want? Why should I trust you?" asked the merchant.

"Well, there is a way to handle such trust issues." The yaomo smirked.

"A blood deal should do", saying this yaomo cut his hand, and the merchant mixed their blood while vowing to restore his wife's health in exchange for ten seventeen-year-old girls. Failing to keep their respective end of the bargain will cause the deal breaker to die within three days with the soul crushed and lost in oblivion permanently.

The merchant's desperation was so intense that in spite of the fact that still there is a lot of room for suspicion whether this was all true or it was just the yoamo's trick. Either way, he was trapped so he reluctantly agreed. He took the yaomo back to his mansion where he secretly kept him in the outhouse along with his sick wife. The head maid and the family physician were the only ones who were aware of the whole secret but kept their mouth shut in exchange for hefty monetary payments as rewards from the merchant. Not just that they were both taken to visit the yaomo who threatened to kill their family if the word gets out. Since then he married nine girls but never consummated the marriage with anyone until now.

"You are still standing here?"

The merchant snapped out of his thoughts with the touch of a hand on his shoulders. He turned round to see his wife smiling brightly.

"Ahhh was just looking outside. It's been years and I missed home." The merchant said.

"There is plenty of time to spend now. So please go and freshen up for the dinner it's been already prepared." Netri lovingly pushed him to go.

The next five days passed and the final day is approaching making his heart heavy with sadness and reluctance. He never in his wildest dreams thought that such a day would come when he would madly fall for another girl so much so that the thing he felt and did for his first wife started to feel meaningless. On the other, he was scared of losing Netri if the truth about the real motive of the marriage came out. No matter how much the truth holds that he genuinely loves and cares for her, Netri will be betrayed in the end. But as the days were approaching somehow he was growing determined that he will not let Netri face what the other nine girls have. He decided to tell her the truth. But it wasn't easy.

After dinner, they sat on the serenely lighted rooftop just like the day before the merchant left. Soon the cool breeze started getting colder and stronger and the stars which lit up like thousand fireflies in the sky started getting slowly enveloped under the thick approaching storm cloud. Suddenly lighting flashed across the sky like a white snake's tongue flowing with a low rumbling thundering sound. Netri and her husband soon came down as a storm was about to lash down and as they reached Netri's chambers the wind caught up at a ferocious speed. The maids had already bolted the windows and lit the candles. They left as soon as both of them arrived. The merchant was about to leave for his own chambers when an ear-splitting thunder crashed. Startled by the sound Netri grabbed onto her husband in a tight embrace and so did her husband.

Suddenly the coldness of the weather inside the room changed. The seeping warmth of feelings between the two grew hotter making them not feel the cold due to the lashing storm and rain outside. It is not that they are in an embrace like this for the first time but something is different this time, something which has gone beyond their control, and both of them can feel the surging desire within themselves. Within a second it all came crashing down like a burst-out dam.

Almost an hour has passed. They both lay together without clothes on the bed sticky with sweat while the storm still raged on fast asleep. The husband woke up in the dead of the night to find Netri sleeping peacefully on his side. He glanced over her with a sight filled with love and after stroking her beautiful hair he covered her with the quilt before quietly dressing up and leaving for his chambers. He carefully looked outside before leaving to see if anybody was around but with the storm passing no one was out during that hour. After he reached his chambers the sense of satisfaction and love which has returned to him suddenly got shaken up by the truth of his life, the truth which lies in the eastern outhouse. Restless he decided to visit the outhouse which will be difficult once Netri woke up.

The outhouse is comparatively much smaller and shabbily maintained with dirt and cobwebs all around and a damp smell. The floor is cracked in places where weeds have grown. A staircase went up from the center of the entrance hall. The first floor of the house has four rooms facing opposite each other largest room is the far end of the corridor. The merchant went up to the room and pushed the door open. The room was spanking clean with a large bed and furniture that had all sorts of luxury one can have. From expensive wine to fragrant perfume, candle stands, the curtains were made of fine cloth. An incense burner burnt at a corner making the room fragrant. The handsome man at the window greeted the merchant with a wicked smirk on his face.

"It's been a while. I was beginning to think you almost forgot about the situation here. You changed a lot after that new bride of yours came here. I have seen her quite a few times now and I must say she is something." The expression with which the yaomo said the words reflected a strange mixture of lust and admiration which made the merchant surprisingly jealous.

"I just came to check that's all."

"That's all? The yaomo widened his eyes.

"You mean you didn't come to visit your sickly wife? I mean your first wife", the yoamo said rolling his eyes in a tone of sarcasm.

"Well, I don't care about what you do or want. Five days, that's all I have to wait but I must confess I am growing impatient not because this is going to be my ultimate prey but because that woman is something I have never sensed before. She seems different from the other stupid girls you brought. And I am getting to think she might actually increase my powers as an immortal."

The power that manifested on Netri a few days ago with the candle seemed to have a rippling effect which the yaomo sensed mildly but to his curiosity, he never quite understood exactly it came from. Then again when he saw Netri in the garden the next day he felt a sixth sense in him that she was somehow special.

The merchant left the room and stopped in the room on his right side. He hesitated a while before entering. This room was clean and well-kept except that it was rather simple without any luxury in it. A sickly woman lay on it, her skin pale, lips dried, eyes closed and sunken, looking like the life force has already left her. A sense of guilt bubbled up inside the merchant. The series of incidents that happened and the new feelings for his new wife made the merchant guilty of forgetting the woman for whom he started all these. But he is now in deep trouble. Not only he was deeply in love with Netri but also felt a sense of responsibility and guilt toward his first wife as well. He stood in front of her for some time and then left.

The next four days passed in a blink of an eye. During this time the merchant was distraught by everything he did. With the passing second, the looming inevitable wreaked havoc on his mind. Whenever such a thing happened he used to indulge himself in the carnal pleasure with Netri to temporarily get out of it. The carnal acts between them as such grew wilder and rougher in an attempt to suppress the condensing feeling of fear, guilt, and love all at the same getting trapped in them unable to find a way out. Netri sensed that her husband is distraught about something and which she noticed was growing worse day by day. But every time she wanted to talk about it her husband denied siting it as a business-related problem. Even when it was her birthday three days back while engaging in deep intimacy after the banquet she could feel that every move her husband made seemed like he was trying to prevent her from leaving somewhere. The kisses, bites, and thrusts all became more fierce and heavy every time they slept together.

Netri did not inquire much as she was more indulged in the new romance between her and her husband. After all, after all these years the marriage seemed to be complete and Netri looked forward to a blissful life.

However, the fateful day arrived which is going to change the course of the future forever. Netri woke up with a heavy head and blurry eyes amidst a strong musty smell. Slowly when her vision cleared she found herself in an unusual place that looked nothing like the mansion. After collecting herself and sitting straight up on an old rocky bed she started to remember. Last night she was in her chamber with her husband and after they made that intense love both fell asleep and she woke up today in this strange place. She stepped down from the bed and went to the windows the sun was setting.

"How long did I sleep exactly?" Netri thought.

She felt something uneasy and unusual settling on her mind and ran towards the door to leave the place only to find it closed from the outside.

"What is going on? Why I am trapped here? Who did this? Did my husband do this to me? But why?"

Questions flooded her mind while she desperately banged on the door screaming to let her out. Suddenly she heard someone approach followed by the sound of unbolting from outside. Shock flashed on her face to see her husband standing with an expression of desperation and regret.

Darkness descended outside with the sun completely set. Her husband caught her arm in a strong grip and dragged her along the corridor into the room of the yaomo who was unusually handsome with a sinister supernatural aura around him. His eyes glowed pale yellow with the pupils turning into slits like that of a snake as he cast his eyes on Netri. The first wife was brought into his room too and laid on the small table at the center of the room facing the bed which has been decorated with flowers. The room was lit full of candles and an incense burner burned to fill the room with a floral aroma.

"I am sorry. I have to do this. I loved you but I don't want to lose my life too." The merchant said with apologies in his eyes. Netri was petrified with shock and confusion. She asked with tears of fear in her eyes.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?"

"It's not your fault but I have to sacrifice you for my well-being and life."

Finally, the yaomo spoke, "Oh I see you are unaware of the whole story. And obviously, if he told you then you would have come here. Let me enlighten you."

The yaomo told Netri the truth and after hearing it a deep sense of shame, betrayal, and anger crept up in her heart and all of those emotions came out as tears as she looked at her husband with a disgusted look. She was so lost in the betrayal that she didn't realize that her hands have been tied with one magical hand gesture by the yaomo. The merchant was told by the yaomo to go take a seat beside his first wife while he proceeded to take his last prey.

With another magical spell, Netri was lifted and thrown on the bed, her tied hands tied again with the bedpost. Slowly all her clothes started to strip off while the yaomo already shed his clothes. His human was form still at it, with handsome features with tight arms, shoulder and abdominal muscles, and an unknown evil aura that was supposed to create the illusion of attraction in women. But surprisingly Netri had an opposite reaction to the handsome nakedness. Her eyes filled with horror and disgust. Not what the yaomo had expected. He exclaimed with bewilderment.

"Normally, women gave in themselves to me by now, but you. You are really something I have never seen in my entire being. Looks like you are hard to get and trust me I have a feeling that you are the key to my immortality."

The yoamo gave an evil lustful smile while he proceeded in violating Netri, while her husband turned a blind eye, tears in his eyes. He ultimately chose his life over Netri's.

Netri's screaming grew louder but the whole place was enchanted with a spell that prevented any sound to go out. As the yaomo proceeded to suck her life force out an overwhelming power surged from Netri's body. All the sense of being violated without her consent, betrayal from the person she thought was the love of her life, and self-hate for getting too lost in emotions and almost giving up on her dreams for him manifested itself in a violent surge of psychic power. Her eyes turned fiery. A suddenly invisible tsunami of force appeared and created a blast so powerful that the yaomo was thrown up in the air twisting his body in every direction and crushing it slowly.

Netri's appearance had undergone a complete change. She stood up with her eyes glowing like fire. With her hands, she flicked and the yaomo was thrown away again towards her husband. Netri looked like a calm yet deadly being that does not have a tinge of that innocence and sereneness in her. She proceeded with small steps towards them. Seeing such a scene unfold the merchant went down on his knees with folded hands.

"Please forgive me. I made mistake. I was too scared to lose my life. I loved you nevertheless. You are the love of my life."

When he said that Netri was so overcome with disgust at his shamelessness she glanced towards the woman lying unconscious.

"Then who is she?" but she was too scornful to ask this, knowing that both she and the woman and all the nine others before her, were nothing but mere means for the merchant to fulfill his craziness and obsession involving his honor and survival. Nothing else actually mattered to him. And Netri gave him her all, both emotionally and physically. The feeling made her eyes flow with tears and she gave out a heartbreaking scream letting all her emotion out which took the shape of surging psychic power that made the fire in candles all around condense into a blast of the fiery ball, creating an explosion burning away the yaomo, her husband and the woman who was possibly suffering an insufferable pain. The impact of her powers was so much that it spread in form of a deadly flare-up all over the place destroying away the entire mansion and the considerable area around it.

Netri fell unconscious and with that everything became quiet and dark. She lay on the rubbles and before completely slipping down into unconsciousness with her scrambled hazy vision, she saw a floating fluid-like something descending in front of her with three glowing lights on it.