Samsaara : Devadoot

Honour Among Thieves, Or not?

I transited to my humble abode at Mumbai, raring to get started with research. The poem/limerick that the fiery being recited was new to me, but the symbol that he conjured in fire seemed familiar. I must have fixated on that image for hours when finally, I remembered where it was that I had seen it. It was in the days of my boyhood, when my parents took me to the museum in South Mumbai, I had seen the same thing: carved in stone, appearing fairly crude due to the trials of time and wear. I wanted to know if it bore any significance to the people of Alkapuri, but Mary didn't seem to know anything about it.

To confirm if my memory still served me right, I made another trip to the museum. The museum was crowded since it was a weekend. They had changed the layout of the exhibits over the years. Being someone who loved learning, I spent the entire day exploring the place. Towards the end of my exploration I spotted what I had gone there for. The mystical stone lay before me, the Saurapeeth.

It was about two feet wide, a foot and a half tall from the base to the tip. According to historians it was used for tracking celestial bodies. But I had a doubt it was a lot more than that. Once I confirmed its location, I surveyed the vicinity as well. Now there was much work for me to do.

I took the next few days out for a clay moulding and sculpting workshop. It was important for me to do this. You will understand why later. Once I was ready, I practiced moulding at home. Slowly and steadily, I worked up to more detailed and larger objects. Later I needed to do some tests about my core's powers.

To confirm my hunch about how my core worked, I did a few experiments at home. Fortunately for me, I had left the recyclable waste untouched when I left, as there were only a few sheets of paper (those that I had replicated). As I suspected, those sheets were not there anymore. Before I left Mammalapuram, I noticed that the giant stone I had copied disappeared along with the body of the attacker. Everyone assumed that his comrades took the stone along with the body. But I had my doubts, just like these sheets of paper. The stone had a limited time to exist. I suppose this was all thanks to law of conservation of matter and energy.

To test my theory, I replicated objects of different sizes and shapes and kept watch. The larger the object that I copy: the faster it disappeared. Small objects lasted longer. Perhaps larger objects contained more mass. So they were more unstable, I assumed. My already pathetic power of having a 3d printer was all the more pathetic. The only 'log in the cog' to the result of my tests was that the replica core created during the fight did not disappear. I let that be the exception to the rule. Otherwise, my deduction was sound.

The next morning, I bought some art supplies at the nearest hobby store. I took all of the modelling clay that I could find. The owner was surprised I needed so much. Next I bought some thick flexible plastic craft sheets. Then I bought every shade of black and over fifty shades of grey. On my way back, I stopped at a hardware store and bought a few bags of Plaster of Paris.

I dropped these at home and went to the nearest junkyard and bought a 15kg block of iron. Once I had collected everything I wanted, I got to work. Fortunately, I had the luxury of time and teleportation thanks to my core.

I cut the flexible plastic sheet into a large square and two rectangular sheets, and moulded the sculpting clay on it. Now, I used my Ethereal gate and went into the museum. Time stopped. Once I stepped out of the Ethereal gate, I opened another one to go back home. This time I did not go inside the Ethereal gate. Carefully I placed the square sheet with the clay on top of the Saurapeeth and pressed it in, then wrapped the two rectangular sheets around the sides to cover it up fully.

I pushed it in carefully to press all the details into the clay. Once I was satisfied with my work, I peeled the sheets with the clay. Fortunately the clay had come off pretty clean. Then I took a few close-up pictures and stepped back into my room. With the Ethereal gate closed, time resumed its movement. Now, I had tons of work.

It was time to get the ball rolling! I put the three pieces of mould together and joined it. Then when I was satisfied with the shape of the mould I poured the PoP half way into the mould. Once it dried I placed the iron block inside it for weight and poured the rest of the PoP inside and filled it. After the casting dried I peeled the clay off and used a sharp knife tip to give it the correct definition and fix the places where the casting did not come accurately using pictures to match it.

Finally, I mixed the colours that I bought and in a few attempts I managed to replicate a stone-ish colour. With this, I had an accurate replica of the Saurapeeth sitting. That was enough work for the day. So I cleaned up the mess and slept on my old mattress for the last time.

The next morning, I woke up fresh, something that I hadn't done for a while. I had a heavy breakfast, then went and bought a new mattress for myself. The old one was long overdue for a change. Once the people from the shop delivered it. I put the new one on the bed and folded the old one and placed it in the corner on my room.

Finally, I opened an Ethereal gate and took my Plaster of Paris replica with me. Just as the Ethereal gate was closing and time was getting back to order, I opened another Ethereal gate with my second core under the real Saurapeeth, it fell through the gate. A muffled 'thud' sound came from the other side of the Gate.

Speed was imperative now. As this gate closed again, I opened another and made time stop. I placed the fake saurapeeth replica that I made on the pedestal and with a triumphant smile I stepped into the Ethereal gate waiting for me. If the replicas that I made with my core did not disappear, I would not have had to create one with my newly developed crafting skills. But even though my core had a lousy ability, at least I was resourceful enough to get another solution. I came back into my room to find the heavy stone fallen on the old mattress.

Now I went to examine the Saurapeeth closely. As I extended my hand towards it: the centre of the statue gave way and a little opening appeared on top of it. Clearly it was made to fit a core inside it.

As I pushed my core inside that opening I felt a click. The sound of some mechanism moving inside the Saurapeeth caught my attention. The concentric circles spun half a turn in opposite directions and stopped. Then nothing happened. I waited eagerly, expecting something big. But nothing, absolutely nothing happened. Disappointed I pulled my core out.

The space around the statue began spinning. A small vortex opened up above it. I could feel its strong force pulling me towards it but I was too large to go inside it. Before I realised, I saw my hands stretching and tapering. All the matter around the vortex was speghettifying and getting sucked into the spinning contorted space. I was pulled into it with a bright flash, subsequently my eyes were greeted with pitch dark. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust from the intense brightness to this sombre darkness.