Soul Mastery

Laksh and Danish were resting under a tree, with their backs on its trunk. They could see the efforts they had made were futile and that there was no hope in just wandering about, so they had given up. Laksh looked at Danish who was lying with his eyes closed. He was still curious about the Hundred Chambers of Deception. This was the first time he had heard that name. Priesthood rarely had any information about witches and witchcraft, so everything about it was new to him.

"So, is there a way out of this spell?"

Danish got up to face Laksh who had a sliver of hope remaining in his eyes. Because if there was a way then they could finally deal with Drona. Danish sighed as he felt awful for taking away his last ray of hope. After all, it was called the Hundred Chambers of Deception for a reason.

"There is no way out, it can only be broken from outside. Or we will have to stay here till he gets old and dies on his own since he's also trapped here like us. I highly doubt he'll undo the spell himself, because whatever scared him is still out there somewhere."

Laksh's face dropped in disappointment as he laid back down quietly. Danish looked up to see the sky that looked the same as before, but it was just a part they could see now. Nothing seemed different but it was worlds apart. Were they really going to die like this?

Sounds of rustling leaves interrupted their thoughts and made them get up on full alert. They stood back to back as they carefully examined their surroundings. It was impossible to have missed a beast in three days. Could the ice have melted from the Spirit Gajakesari?

The thought made Danish shudder. With a beast of that massive size in such a small part of the forest, they had no chance of survival. Should they fight or just give into an easier death? Before they could follow that thought further, a familiar figure appeared in front of them. Her beautiful brown eyes glanced coldly back at them. There was a snow white ball in her arms. A long slender neck popped out and gawked at the two of them as if examining them before going back to sleep. Laksh broke into a smile as he excitedly ran towards Visha. He was worried to death about her, after the battle. She was the one who had found out about the crisis the priesthood was in, not only that she had stayed behind to help even after the way they had treated her teammates. The debt he owed her was far too great.

"Where did you get that?" Danish asked as he pointed towards Mr Feathers.

"Nice to see you too." Visha said sarcastically and pulled out a pouch full of berries she had kept before leaving the lake. Danish and Laksh refused to take it as Danish pulled out a similar pouch full of berries as well. Since this place was originally close to the lake, it had similar trees as well. They didn't have to worry about any food source at all, and the water vapor collected on the frozen Spirit Gajakesari was enough to quench both of them.

"How did you get here? Was the spell somehow dismantled?" Danish asked.

Visha shook her head and pointed to Mr Feathers, "This guy here can travel through different dimensions. That's how we got here."

"We?" Laksh asked as he looked around in confusion. There was no one other than her.

Before Visha could explain anything Nati stopped her. "Don't bother. They can't see me."

Visha furrowed her brows as she looked at her. Why would Nati stay invisible to her friends?

"Since I'll be leaving you soon anyway, there's no point in making my presence known. If no one knows about me then I can be your little 'surprise'. Got it." Nati explained and then went ahead and stood behind Danish and Laksh. She looked at them from head to toe examining them. Then she clicked her tongue and turned away in disappointment. Too weak. Nati thought. They were pests really!

"I meant me and Mr Feathers." Visha explained awkwardly as she glanced at Nati who turned to her with a smile after hearing that. "Good job!" she said.

"That's great!" Danish exclaimed. "Now we can reach others and finally get out of all this." Laksh finally had the hope he was looking for. He had almost given up after he heard Danish talk about this Hundred Chambers of Deception.

"Some bad news though, this man has something really big up his sleeves. These beasts' souls have been replaced by some cheap contracted human souls." Visha said. She hadn't read much about this, so it was better to put it out. She was hoping Danish would know something so she turned to him to see his reaction to this information. Thankfully, Danish did have a reaction.

"Contracted souls? So that means, this Drona guy practices Soul Mastery magic!"

"Soul Mastery?" both Visha and Laksh asked in a monotone.