Doomed from the Beginning

15. Banshee

Yakshi enchanted a heavy spell which took quite the time before the wall of the cave looked like it was carving out an opening. It was indeed true- Kahuna was actually linked to the Diamond kingdom. On the other side of the cave opening, lay a dense forest. Yakshi informed them that it was the path to the capital of the diamond kingdom and only the queen knows where the red diamond is.

All of them proceeded through the forest with Yakshi guiding them. There was still time for sunrise, so there were high chances they might get lost in the unfamiliar woods. However, Yakshi couldn’t accompany them more than that. As they walked through the woods, Mohi kept looking down, fidgeting with his scabbard every now and then. Sansara didn’t want to look desperate but all he could think of was Vinasaka’s story and it wasn’t long before he nervously peeked at the figure walking quietly beside him. Before he could ask something, he noticed that the look on his face wasn’t like his usual self anymore. It was more unpredictable than he had ever seen.

And for some reason, he looked nervous...for the first time.

Sansara, for once, knew it would probably be out of place for him to ask what was wrong, so he rather decided to lift up the mood of the group which was currently ...really ~~~~ awkward!

“Vinasaka...,” Sansara leaned towards him with bright eyes, “umm... can I call you Imay?”

Vinasaka stopped. Right there. The others had no idea what had happened, so they were all staring at these two cluelessly. Sansara, on the other hand, was done for. Instead of making the situation better, he successfully made it even worse and probably scary for himself.

Shit I should have known! It was Mir who gave that name after all.

“...You can,” Vinasaka said after a long time.

Sansara didn’t answer. He only looked at him with an ‘nearly escaped death’ look on his face before Vinasaka continued, “It’s just nobody else ever called me that before.”

“PHEWWW,” The look on Sansara’s face relaxed as he said, “You got me for a sec there.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Mohi asked as a representative of the rest since the others would rather not.

“Nothing, let’s go,” Vinasaka started walking again and the sudden stiffening of his expression again caught Sansara to wonder what was wrong with the guy beside him and he had to actually run to catch up to him again.

“Come to think of it...I feel like I have heard the name ‘Mir’ before...I mean before your story?” Sansara spoke as if he was talking to himself but Vinasaka could hear him clearly.

Maybe he was being way too expectant when the words of Sansara startled him but his expectations were erased and quite short lived as Sansara continued, “Ahh, right! The first time we met a few days ago,.... you thought I was Mir, didn’t you?”

“Why do you want to call me Imay?” Vinasaka asked without replying to his company. Dodging that was easy as Sansara soon began to think for an answer and said, “Actually I agree with Mir. This name doesn’t suit you and now since I know that it was rather imposed on you, I am guessing you don’t like it too!”

“What was I even thinking?” Vinasaka knew that he still had a long way to go.

They almost reached the capital. It was this little town that they had to cross to get to the capital and it was time for Yakshi to bid them goodbye.

“I know I don’t need to warn you probably but you know you have to hold your guard against the queen. Be careful!” With that, he left behind three angels, a water demon and a demon king on the journey to obtain one of the 8 rare earth elements.

As they walked into the town, it was early morning. The streets were already full, with such a lot of noise, people everywhere, all of them screaming and howling mostly at the market.

“Isn’t this the town of Ratnam, I heard this is the border town of the capital,” Sila said and Sansara beamed at how those two juniors were always up to date with news.

“Yes,” Vinasaka said, “This is where the red diamond emerged as one of the rare earth elements ages ago and thus the name.”

“If I am not wrong, currently there are 5 rare earth elements which have surfaced yet, out of which the heart kingdom possesses two and all other kingdoms possess one,” Sila added.

“Isn't the Heart kingdom Imay’s birth place?”

“You know quite a lot for being just a junior angel,” Vinasaka said which he took as a compliment and proudly lifted his head and answered, “I am in charge of the library of the angels abode after all!”

“Then I should visit the library once I get back!” Sansara thought but who knew that there was still a lot of time, a lot of hurdles before they would be able to actually go back, or will they be able to after all!

No matter how you look at it, it was still weird as to how lovely the capital was that early in the morning.

“I think we should advance towards the queen’s palace already,” Mohi suggested.

“Wait...,” Vinasaka said quite seriously, “There’s something wrong here.”

Naturally, none of them doubted the demon king’s intuition and the two juniors along with water demon Suiyo could only gulp at the news.

“Are we being watched?” Sansara asked but Vinasaka only nodded in denial.

“It’s something else,” before the others could clarify their doubts, Vinasaka walked lazily to a shop nearby. A loud music was already playing in every shop. Seeing the new person, the seller said, in a quite a loud voice, “Are you new here? Haven’t seen you around before?”

Vinasaka went on inquiring a bit longer but looked like none of them were ready to talk. It wasn’t their fault actually. Vinasaka was a man of built, tall and quite scary with that expressionless face too even if he was undeniably good looking and a treat to the eyes. Sansara sighed and walked nearer when he bumped into a small child who seemed to have been running towards him continuously looking back as if he was chased. Sansara caught the little boy and kneeled to look at him. He looked like he had fallen down before. His face was a mess, all the dust covering his tears and a bruise appearing on the forehead. He slightly rubbed the bruise and the little boy flinched closing his eyes shut but then opened it, surprised by the fact that it didn’t hurt anymore. However, he was received by a smiling Sansara in front of him.

“Mage...you are a mage,” the boy beamed as he himself touched the bruise but it no longer hurt.

Sansara smiled at him and replied, “Is anyone chasing you? Why were you running?”

Before the little boy could reply, the seller suddenly held Vinasaka’s hands and shifted his gaze back and forth from Sansara to Vinasaka, “Are you all really mages? Are you here to help us?”

“Help....?”

“Did the queen send you? All hail her majesty!” Soon the people surrounded the group and began whispering. Co incidentally, their whispers were too loud to be called normal, so they could hear everything.

“But wasn’t the queen ignoring us all this while?”

“I hope they are not here to harm us as well.”

“Oh my, you are right. I hope we are not believing them too soon.”

Meanwhile the kid from before suddenly spoke up, “Mage, brother mage, please help me. She will kill me.”

“She? Kill you?” Vinasaka asked.

“Who is she that you are speaking of?” Sansara calmly asked as to not scare the kid away.

“Banshee!”

As soon as he took the name, the ‘whispers’ of the crowd grew louder significantly and some of them asked him to be quiet, some to not take the name, some asked to chant mantras.

Vinasaka finally understood why he had been feeling uneasy, “The presence is no joke. It looks like the place has been haunted for a while now.

They have all probably heard of Banshee and its legends of how her wailing brings death to a family member but none of them had ever seen him.

“How long has this been going on?” Vinasaka asked the seller from before.

“About a few months. Please extend your help, great mages!” he replied.

Sansara asked Mohi, “What is the queen doing at this time?”

Mohi seemed to be already thinking about something, so when Sansara asked him the question, he replied, “No idea, we’ll have to find it out.”

“Brother mage, brother mage,” the kid tugged at the sleeves of Sansara to grab his attention, “Will I die?”

Has it been that bad...otherwise to be able to hear Banshee at this time of the day....!

After a few more questions, it was discovered that the Banshee had been moving around the town with its usual wailing and no wonder deaths have risen inevitably since that day. But not everyone can hear it at once. Once the people who can hear it have to die, “Which means,” Sansara said, “Banshee has an aim? But why this poor little kid?”

“No wonder the town’s been so lively so early,” Sila asserted but Roy added, “But it’s all empty from inside. They are all scared of dying.”

 “Who isn’t?” Vinasaka thought for the time being and then said, “Now our only option is to ask the queen!”

A woman from the crowd suddenly said, “I have heard that the queen had heard her wailing too, and since that day, nobody has seen her.”

“What do you mean?” Mohi shouted too abruptly.

“I mean, we have been complaining about Banshee non-stop to her majesty, but she only came here once when she heard the wailing...and...everyone who had heard the wailing till date....I mean I know she is strong....,” The seller explained himself.

“We should better hurry and find it ourselves,” As Mohi was about to leave with the rest, the little kid at the back suddenly shrieked and when they all turned back with the crowd, there he lay, out cold on the street. Roy put his fingers to check his breath and simply nodded, dejected, …...announcing the death of the little one.