Daughters of Kalika

৫. the strongest

Sins cannot be washed away.

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Radha lay in a pool of blood with a wreath of thorny roses on her head, like a beautiful sacrifice made to the devil.

A crowd of villagers had assembled around the dead body. Some cried at the sinister sight, some speculated the reason behind the heinous, gruesome act. Maya meandered through the crowd to finally reach the spot where the body was dumped– at the back of the temple. With sanctified shrines and soothing green all around, this mark of death toppled off the purity of the place.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

That was Maya's first thought.

Maybe Lucifer himself has arrived.

Maya felt a bolt of nausea course through her body. She covered her mouth and took steps back. A dirty malodour had conquered the area and spread over the premises. She took a deep breath. Her muscles tensed as she peered at the body of Radha.

She was naked, as naked as all are at birth. Someone had covered her private parts with a tattered piece of cloth. A slit on her throat was visible. Maybe that had taken her last breath away.

Maya could not break the gaze. The eldritch sight of her bulging open eyes, of her parted lips through which slithered a thin stream of blood held Maya in its witchy grip.

She was as naked as Radha in her dream. The realisation made her flinch.

"Maya!"

A known voice called out to her.

A sweating Aadi Babu pushed through the crowd to reach her. "What are you doing here?"

"I got the news–"

"Go back! Just go back!" He waved his hand in the air in agitation. "You are not supposed to interfere in this."

"Be honest– is this the darkness you were talking about?"

"Shh," Aadi Babu hushed her. "Do not speak about omens. Do not. Don't call it."

The man trembled from head to toe. He refused to look at Radha and took Maya by the hand, pulling her away from the place.

"Wait! You cannot do this to me!"

"I had asked you to be away from the darkness."

"But this is murder!" Maya yanked away her arm with brutal force and stood her ground. "I will not leave."

A guttural noise escaped her throat. Aadi Babu lowered his gaze when he saw her wrath. With a gentler, meeker voice, he requested her, "Please, do not involve yourself in this mess. I don't want harm to befall on you."

"Look, he is back!"

Aadi Babu and Maya turned to the source of the voice. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. People began passing their opinions without any sensitivity.

"He is to be blamed for all this. From the time he has become the priest only deaths are happening."

"I agree with you. He is a nuisance. Mother doesn't like this priest. We must remove him immediately!"

"But no one is as qualified in the scriptures as he is. And I shall disagree with you all. I believe Maa is taking our test, taking his test."

"I have heard that he used to help Radha and her daughter. Look at him now, I pity this man. First he lost his love, then the woman he thought to be his sister."