(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

33.1. The Last Memory

Hayden

"I want to get wiser to the facts," I said, laying comfortably on my side in a crook and head propped on my hand. "What is this connection between Lady Drishtika and Shashi? How did a spirit and mage bond so well? There's a rumor that Shashi went to the Molten Vault as a normal human but returned as a mage. Is there any truth in that?"

The clamor of the noise from outside had erupted the need for peace, and the absolute pin-drop silence took possession of my being. Staying alone with Nazira in the room gave upon an unabated serenity that I wished never ended.

Time was of the essence but not when it interspersed with Nazira's magic. She had stopped time, the world forced to a standstill. This discussion with her at the last minute involved a bit of introspection coupled with scheduling. I was interested more in that, rather than knowing about her magic in-depth, magic that somehow did not work on me.

Nazira sat cross-legged on the bed, still looking weak and dull, her hair pulled side swept that covered the bruise on her neck and portion of her shoulder. She shrugged a little and frowned slightly as she thought about my questions. "If Shashi did go in there and return as a mage then it comes as no surprise to learn that. Because the spirit of Lady Drishtika has potential. The question is why she would do that. Why Shashi? And whether they had any understanding or engaged in any sort of a conversation, maybe? Hayden, I've been thinking. In King Harsh's scroll, it was written that when the mages threatened to plague the country with the Comalica Virus, the Rawat's King gave Shashi the job to find the Cup." She looked aside and bit her cheek before saying, "And I can't believe Shashi figured that the cup was in the vault for centuries. He went in there and they had the information passed somehow."

"And circumstances speak of the promise Lady Drishtika made, that is to turn the population into mages if he released her."

"Yes! But this information can be used to make more accurate predictions." She started to sound enthusiastic, the similar zesty way she approached me in the Parallel Universe to talk about the cultural values of the country. "Lady Drishtika might have promised not only to turn the normal humans into mages because that was her personal agenda. Instead, she must be the one to introduce Shashi to the way to possess Samagraha's power. And that's why she turned him into the mage so that she could escape from her captivity if he fetched her all the Third-eyes."

"Woah! Back up," I said, now lifting myself and seated fully alert. "What has she got anything to do with Samagraha's power."

"I could tell you a lot of stories about Lady Drishtika too. The way she wielded magic...just exceptional and that's an understatement. She turned humans into mages and kept them under her control in the name of giving them freedom. She was the Controller and the humans-turned-mages were called the Controlled. And if those mages invented magic that was beyond her, she instantly reined them and enslaved them."

"Using certain magic? Or politically?"

"Magic. Deep dark magic."

I rubbed my nape and said in a low awe-struck voice. "Then that must be the way Shashi is going to rely upon to control us. Damn, I wish I know what it could be."

"Only Lady Drishtika wielded that magic and now perhaps Shashi too."

I sighed, not allowing the fear of Shashi winning to surface. "And you're positive that Breaking Samagraha's stones are in the Molten Vault."

"I'm positive," she nodded. "I kind of sneaked into his mind and took the hint. Besides, that's the best place to perform Yajna. The strength of the magic doubles inside the vault because of the spirit's presence. Remember how Sharad's river water was made sacred when your parents had to go through Yajna? Shashi made the lava sacred which is being used in the creation of the seeds and therefore cultivating these creatures."