The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter 97: The Struggle

Kali opened his eyes slowly and saw the Princess sitting by his side wrapped in a blanket. She smiled at him and he immediately tried to get up to pay his respects to her. But the Princess grabbed his arm and asked him to rest.

“I’m so happy to see you Kali but you must rest now, you’re still weak,” she said softly.

“It took me so long to find you, Your highness, I’m here to serve you, not rest,” he replied.

“But how on earth did you know where to find me?” she asked.

“By God’s grace, I followed a star, it guided me,” he replied.

“I don’t understand!” she said.

“I fought till the very end that day,” he recalled, “I killed every single one of them even after I was wounded, the chief fled and after I defeated most of them, the rest ran away and left for dead,” Kali tried to sit up straight and coughed a little.

“I would have died that day, I could feel the life draining out of me but something strange happened, it started to rain heavily and I saw a stranger walk towards me, he knelt down beside my bleeding body and chanted strange words- I blacked out and after that I found myself in a dimly lit cave somewhere- the stranger was a holy man with long black beard and long hair. He told me that it was not my time to die yet. I looked at my wounds, he had bandaged them and I was healing- feeling better” Kali narrated and coughed again.

“For two days I lay there in the dark empty cave, while the holy man nursed me to health, I was in a continuous state of unconsciousness but soon I would wake up to find that my wounds have almost healed and I had enough strength to walk- moments later, the holy man said that he had done his job and that I should continue on my journey and find your highness and the foreigner for they are on a mission of great importance,”

“When I asked him how I should go about finding you, he said to look up in the sky and observe a star that stays fixed on a particular spot in the sky and can be seen even during the day. He said that the star would lead me to you and I shall find you exactly under the spot where the star rests in the sky- and so I have followed it for three weeks- I tread mountains, crossed the harshest terrain, survived on wild fruits, hitch hiked with strangers to get here,”

“When I reached these icy mountains of Himalayas, I found the first clue, the abandoned train and as I tread deeper into the valley, I thought I would die again due to the cold, until I saw these strange apes walking in the shadows, I followed them and they led me directly to you, your highness!” Kali struggled to complete his story but as he did, the Princess had tears in his eyes, she felt immense gratitude towards him.

“I don’t know what else to say to you, except thank you- you- have been truly loyal towards me,” the Princess choked a little.

“But it is my sacred duty,” he replied as she wiped her tears.

“If I may ask- where is that strange foreigner, and- why do you look so- distraught?” he asked.

“It’s a long story, he’s not here and I- well I was hurt by the witch- I too am healing,” she replied.

“Ugh! The witch, wait till I find her, even if I swore I’d never hurt a woman in my life, I’d make an exception for that unholy wench! She has hurt enough!” he replied boldly.

“Rest now, we will talk when you feel better,” she replied with a smile and walked away.

It was a state of perpetual discomfort and anxiety for her. She sat on a rock and watched the white snow outside as she felt the curse weakening her gradually. She kept thinking about Carey and wondered whether if he had found Shamballa. Many lives depended on him finding and securing the mysterious lost kingdom- maybe the fate of the entire world! If Shamballa fell into the wrong hands, they would exploit its powers and wreak havoc on this world…

Sometime later, in Shamballa-

As Carey was being hauled away towards the home of the Anangsi, his mind was battling the evil that had seeped into his body. He had strange dreams and nightmares and his deepest, darkest fears started to come to life. He kept having a recurring dream that he had lost the Princess forever. It was an endless cycle of nightmares where one would stop and the other would start and each of them had the same ending- the Princess dying or leaving him for another man. The evil inside his body was trying to discourage him, playing with his fears, manipulating them, making him lose all hope, so that he would die before his body was cured… it was indeed a difficult time for the warrior monk and if he could not fight back, if he would somehow lose this inner battle, he would die before he would ever wake up… and all would be lost- eventually…

But the worst was yet to come yet, Ashanti was exploring the divine land of Shamballa and the more she explored, the more she was filled with joy. The entire place was so pure and full of sacred energy, even the trees and the animals were somehow connected to each other in some strange harmonious and synchronous energy. She smacked her lips as she imagined the power she would gain from the ultimate source of this energy. It would make her the earth’s mightiest sorceress. As she wandered around she observed the faint scent of humans nearby. She turned around and sniffed the air- yes, it was definitely humans but they were different- it was time for a snack!