HAUNTING (2)

After the sunset all the spiritualists gathered at the entrance along with Abhitha and Anugraha.

"Make sure you don't leave my side. never let your guard down. Your sword is ineffective against non human entities so don't act rashly, understood?" Abhitha was repeating this since an hour.

"You've already told me this like thousand times now"

"Which means they're to be taken seriously "

"I am taking them seriously "

"Let's leave! your highness, please refrain from leaving our side. Your sword won't work on it so don't be rash" Taksh spoke this time.

"How many times do I've to listen to this" he groaned.

".....but this is the first time I'm saying this" Taksh mumbled to himself.

--------

They walked for an hour before reaching the forest outside Mudita. It was already pitch dark so the spiritualists burned some fire charms which followed them on its own like some ghost. After walking some more, they saw a shadow of a person lying against a tree, all of them rushed towards it.

"What is that man doing in this dark?" Anugraha asked but as they reached the man they were all stunned. It was skinned corpse, it looked hideous making everyone's face twist in disgust.

Everyone walked past it so Anugraha had to ask.

"Shouldn't we be collecting this corpse? It must be one of the missing people"

"We will, after exorcising whatever is causing this" Abhitha

"..."

Taksh suddenly stopped in the tracks and looked around.

"What happened, Senior?" One of the Parahita disciple spoke.

"I think we're walking in circles, when we came to Mudita we used the same road yet now suddenly it seems way too long"

"Umm Senior, I saw that singular bat three times now" This disciple seemed timid and lacked confidence.

Everyone moved their gaze towards the bat that was hanging on a tree branch. It looked like any other ordinary bat but something seemed off about it.

"Were you going to tell after we all lost our minds?" Taksh

"Sorry senior "

Taksh took out an arrow and aimed it at the bat. Abhitha moved infront of Anugraha and pulled out her sword, showing the red glare. He released the arrow and it hit the bat but all that happened was the bat fell down, dead.

"That's it?" Anugraha.

Taksh walked towards the bat and it was indeed dead. Everyone was confused.

"Let's move forward for now" Taksha suggested and they agreed.

They walked some more but this time they actually made it to somewhere instead of walking in circles. They saw a Manor, it was vibrant and seemed like nobles lived there.

"Huh? As far as I remember their is no such manor outside of the city" Anugraha spoke

"Illusion, it's creating illusions to trap us" Abhitha added

"Seems like it, let's go inside the manor and check if it's there" Taksh

As soon as they stepped inside, an eerie wind came from inside as if pulling them in.

"Don't leave my side" Abhitha warned again.

"I won't"

As they entered there were two hallways at opposite sides. They took each step with great caution. Suddenly Anugraha heard some faint noises.

"Anugraha, come to me. I'll keep you safe"

He couldn't even make out if it was of a man or a woman.

"Anugraha"

"Anugraha"

"Anugraha"

It called out continuously. Anugraha felt his senses becoming blur. He felt that he should go towards whoever was calling him, without realising he walked towards the hallway. A thick black miasma surrounded him, soon an arm which seemed more like a wing reached out from the dark. Taksh saw Anugraha and without wasting any second, he imbued his arrow with spiritual energy and shoot it at the arm, piecing the thin wing. Anugraha finally came back to his senses,

"What just happened?"

Before he could even process anything, a beast which resembled a bat emerged from the dark miasma. It had four eyes and mouth full of sharp long canines, it was hideous to look at. It seemed angry, with a speed of light it charged at Anugraha. Before he could process anything, Abhitha was infront of him blocking the attack with her sword.

"Go to senior Taksh, now!"

Anugraha ran towards Taksh and the Parahita disciples. After blocking few attacks, Abhitha was thrown into the wall.

"Abhitha!" Anugraha immediately went towards her.

Meanwhile, Taksh took the control along with the disciples. Countless arrows imbued with spiritual energy were being shot at the beast. It started screeching in agony but instead of backing away, it striked two disciples making them crash on the nearby wall.

"Senior what do we do!?" One disciple asked

Taksh didn't know either.

"Senior, it's neck. It has been protecting it's neck since the start" the timid disciple spoke.

Without wasting any time, Taksh aimed his arrow at it's neck but before he could shoot the beast reached him first and knocked him on the floor.

"Senior!!" All the disciples shouted in unison.

The timid disciple, with shaking hands took out an arrow, imbued it with spiritual energy and shot it with all his might. It pierced straight through the Beast's neck. It screeched so loudly, everyone covered their ears. Soon it fell lifeless on the ground. The manor around them disappeared and they were suddenly standing in the middle of the forest.

All the Parahita disciples went to Taksh.

"Senior, are you okay?

"I'm fine and good work, Jay" He ruffled the boy's hair.

"Thanks senior "

---

"Abhitha, thanks for saving me"

Anugraha.

"It's my duty" Anugraha nodded in answer.

Abhitha had a few injuries. Anugraha helped her up and they started walking towards the city after collecting the corpse. The Parahita spiritualist walked infront of Abhitha and Anugraha. Anugraha was helping Abhitha walk as she had one leg injury.

"I shouldn't have insisted on coming, now you're hurt because of me"

"It's fine, it would've happened even if you weren't there"

"...."

Anugraha for the first time felt he was useless. All he could do was watch the spiritualists helplessly, while they were putting their life on line. He felt guilty and his pride was hurt.

"What happened?" Abhitha noticed Anugraha was down since they defeated the beast.

"Nothing" he forced a smile

"Are you sure?" To which he gave an assured nod.

------

As soon as they stepped inside the palace, Siyaansh came rushing towards them. He looked at them up and down, noticing only Abhitha was hurt.

"What in the world happened?"

"Abhitha, we will inform his majesty that the exorcisim was successful" Taksh informed her to which Abhitha nodded and Taksh went inside the court.

"Are you telling me or not?"

"It's nothing, these things happen during exorcisim. You don't have to be concerned, Siyaansh" Abhitha

Anugraha didn't say anything which was unusual of him. Siyaansh was quick to catch that he wasn't in the best mood.

"If you say so"

-------

"Come inside" Anugraha called her inside his room.

"I should go back to my room, your highness"

"That wasn't a question" he grabbed her arm and pulled her in, took her to the bedchamer and sat her down on the bed.

"Are you insane? What if someone see's us!?" She complained.

"The prince of Yamaya having an affair with his guard, a entertaining rumour indeed." He took out a small box out of a drawer, sat on the floor and took her leg in his hand.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"What do you think?" He opened the box and it had herbs.

"Oh"

"What were you thinking, huh?" He applied the herbs on her wound. His hands were so delicate and gentle, it almost didn't hurt.

"Nothing" a light red hue appeared on her caramel cheeks.

"Sure, nothing at all" he teased.

"..."

"You worked hard today, take a leave tomorrow. I won't leave the palace" He finished treating the leg and now was the time for the cut on the face, he sat up on the bed beside her.

"I can't do that"

"Why not?" His voice was low and warm. He took the herbs, leaned a little and gently applied it on the wound. Their faces were so close, she couldn't even look at him. Her eyes were looking everywhere but him. He watched her from the corner of his eyes. Seeing how she couldn't even look at him and how her cheeks turned red, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What?" She asked annoyed by the sudden laugh.

"Nothing haha. Just take a leave tomorrow, don't be stubborn. I won't leave the palace, I promise "

She thought for a second and decided to agree, since she was injured too.

"Fine, but keep your promise"

"Ofcourse, don't worry....all done!" He kept everything back in the box and continued.

"Abhitha" His demeanor shifted to a serious one.

"Yeah?" she was confused by the sudden shift in atmosphere

"How do you do this?" He asked vaguely

"Do what?"

"How do you get this spiritual powers"

"Meditation, training, and things like that. Why do you ask?"

"Will I be able to learn it, if I start now?" Abhitha checked if he was joking again but found no bit of doubt on his face.

"To practice spirituality, you already need to have enough spiritual energy only then can one manifest them into physical reality and even if you do posses enough spiritual energy the time needed to achieve the power is really really long, it took me two months just to concentrate my spiritual energy into my third eyes chakra and this is just the first step" she explained everything sincerely.

"I'm ready to do whatever it takes, I just need your guidance and help. Will you help me, Abhitha? I'm asking for a favour" his eyes were full of determination so Abhitha couldn't refuse.

"If that's the case, then fine I'll help you but let me warn you. It's not something you'll learn while fooling around, you've to give it your all. You won't have much free time and you've to give up on few things"

"Accepted" he didn't even take a second to think.

"Let's start from day after tomorrow then"