Pain shot out of Amara’s head, a groan escaped her and her hand darted up to rub her temple, feeling her hair stand on end. That would surely make her mother happy, opening her eyes, she blinked. It took a while before she realizes that there wasn’t anything wrong with her eyesight, it was dark. Only a faint light flickered over the stone wall and her memory rushed back at her.

A groan caught her attention and she spotted Vihaan, sprawled on the ground by the oil lamp. “Vihaan?” her voice was coarse like she had eaten sand. Considering the amount laying on the floor, it was most likely not that far off from the truth.

Vihaan moved but didn’t answer.

“Are you okay, Vihaan?” Amara rose on unstable legs, leaning against the wall as she walked over. A sigh of relief escaped her when Vihaan did the same. His dark eyes darted to their surroundings, finally settling on the caved-in path behind them.

Amara thought he would panic, but he only walked over rolling some stones aside, perusing the walls before grimacing and turning towards her. “We are in deep. It will take some time to dig us out.”

“Are we in danger?”

“With some luck, we won’t suffocate. This is an old temple, it should have enough cracks for air to come in. At least I hope so.”

“Can we get out somewhere else?” asked Amara, grabbing onto the oil lamp and holding it up. She gazed into the dark hallway, not even the lamp could break the darkness. A cold wind brushed her face and she smiled. “Wind means air. There should be another way out.”

Frowning, Vihaan stared into the darkness. “It shouldn’t be. I inspected the mapped-out temple and there isn’t much except some rooms. All dead ends. Maybe the earthquake broke a wall open.”

“Well, you and I aren’t experts at digging so let’s go deeper inside. Maybe we can find something interesting.”

“Or something dangerous. Have you forgotten the gunshot?” Vihaan reminded her, his face filled with reluctance.

“Stay here then. I will look for a way out,” Amara said, not eager to venture in alone but she knew she wouldn’t have to. The moment Amara started to move; Vihaan followed her. Grumbling as he pressed to the front, grabbing onto the lamp and leading the way. His feet were careful where he stepped, not wanting to fall through a crack if there was one.

Seconds turned to minutes as they walked and the hallway opened up to a large room. Most of the room was caved in, all but one large opening. Amara started to walk over but Vihaan held her back. His face was pale as he watched the opening with a frown.

“What is it?”

“That wasn’t there before. There were only supposed to be two entrances here. One to the southeast and the other to the northwest. To the southwest had been a wall with a relief of Mayasura on it,” he pointed at the opening. “The wall is gone and is now a pathway.”

“Well, I won’t complain about blessings from the gods,” Amara said, walking down the pathway.

“Do you even believe in the gods?”

“Not really,”  Amara said cheerily, a gasp escaped her as she saw a light flicker at the end of the pathway. “Look Vihaan! Sunlight.”

Without care for Vihaan, she rushed over, shielding her eyes as she was blinded. Her teary eyes finally settled and they grew wide at the sight before them.

“Dear gods,” whispered Vihaan.

That was Amara’s feelings as well, as she watched what could not be possible. An ancient city, standing on three plateaus, The first one made from iron, the one in the middle made from silver, and the last one, pointing to the sky with a palace in the middle, was made from gold.

Water fell from the high cliffs surrounding the city, falling into a lake that seems to surround the city, and in the sky was a red sun, giving the world a blood-red tint.

“I don’t think we are in our world anymore,” said Amara with a shaky breath as she fell onto the ground, her legs not able to carry her anymore.

*****

Walking down the thousand steps to the city, Amara felt her heart speed up as she got closer to the peculiar construct. The architecture was not the square form of the Indus Valley civilization but looks like a mix of the Pallava and Vesara styles which should mean that this place was built somewhere around 2500-1500 years ago but the temple outside was older.

As they came up close, Amara scratched the iron walls of the building. It must have been created during later eras, the earlier civilizations hadn’t the technology to shape iron like this but… Why hadn’t the iron rusted?

“What is this place?” asked Vihaan, he had already pulled out a kit to gather some rocks for testing.

“I have a theory,” Amara said, looking around. “You said that the wall had a picture of Mayasura, right?”

“Yes, that was what I was told.”

“I remember reading about him. He was a great architect and the King of the Asuras. He built a city, Tripura, translated to three cities. The lowest, located on earth, was said to have walls of iron, the second had walls of silver and was located in the sky and the last had walls of gold and was located in heaven.”

“You think this might be Tripura? I thought you didn’t believe in the gods.”

“I don’t but most myths and legends must have an origin. Maybe the Asuras was a rivaling tribe of some kind.”

“And us being transported from a temple to a city that cannot be sighted from the outside?”

“…An illusion.”

“Impeccable logic as always.”

“Thank you,” Amara preened as they walked up to the second city, this one made of silver. Each plateau had rivers flowing between them and plants and gardens adorned every corner. Turning around the corner, Amara let out a gasp as two large eyes stared back into her.

She backed away, hands over her chest to calm her racing heart, and swallowed a few times, trying to calm herself. She stared at the statue, a terrifying thing. It was large, twice as large as her, two arms held the ground in a running motion while the other two arms held up two swords. The face seemed to be half-human, half boar and he had a mouth filled with fangs.

“What a terrifying sculpture. It looks so life-like,” Amara muttered.

“And it’s not the only one,” Vihaan said, pointing behind the sculpture. Eyes going wide, Amara stared at the scene. The entire city was littered with sculptures, all in similar shape, with four arms and terrifying faces. They were all caught in horrifying poses, some were screaming out in fear while others were screaming in rage towards the sky.

Amara remembers pictures that Amos had shown her of a European town called Pompeii where people had been burned alive in a volcanic eruption, their last moments being caught as they seemed to have turned to stone.

As they walked through the ghostly city, Amara noticed something on the ground. “Is that blood?”

She pointed at a small alleyway, walking closer and suddenly freezing. Her face going pale and backing away while Vihaan came out from behind her. His eyes going grim, muttered profanities while inspecting the scene. A body lied in the alleyway, blood splattered all over the place, and a gun beside what had once been a man.

“What has happened here?” Amara swallowed back a painful lump. “Is he an archeologist?”

Shaking his head, Vihaan said, ”No, this man is dressed like a mercenary. He was most likely hired to enter the place, probably to raid the place. The blood is recent so I would think this is the man who fired the shot we heard.”

“What did he shoot at?” whispered Amara, feeling fear creep up on her. Her eyes darted over the dark shadows of the city, trying to locate the murderer.

“That is a good question,” Vihaan held up the man’s body, showing the badly cut-up face and missing pieces on his body. Amara felt bile rise in her throat, covering her mouth to hinder herself from throwing up. “Whatever killed him had claws and something has eaten parts of him. See the missing bits of flesh, someone has bitten off those pieces.”

“An animal? Maybe a tiger.”

“Possibly, but the bites look a bit too small. It’s strange that the animal didn’t eat all of him though. It just took a few bites and left.”

Vihaan laid down the body, searching the man for information but found nothing. “I guess it would have been too easy if he just carried something to identify himself with such as a passport.”

“He looks native,” Amara replied. “At least from the looks of what’s left of him.”

“I have heard that we had some problem with the locals trying to raid the temple for valuables, but I doubt that they were as well armed and equipped as this man.”

“Are they among the rebels wanting independence?”

“Doubtful, those who want independence from the British Empire isn’t this organized. I heard that a man called Gandhi has organized a march, many being arrested after unrest broke out but otherwise nothing big has happened. Certainly nothing outside people grumbling. I doubt that this was an organized try to ensure that the British don’t defile our history,” Vihaan said, brushing off the blood on his clothes before grabbing onto the gun. He inspected it, and seem pleased, which told Amara that it most likely was loaded.

He also grabbed onto the man’s supplies such as his ammunition and got up, watching the ground with a frown.

“What is it?” Amara asked, stepping aside as he walked over to her.

“Notice the blood? It has a strange pattern,” he walked over to a pile of rubble, covered in blood. Picking up a piece that crumbled to dust as he touched it. “The blood landed onto this statue.”

“Statue?” Amara walked over, looking down at the fragile pieces. Too thin to be that of a statue. It looked more like plaster once covering a statue or something else than actual stone. Vihaan seemed to think the same and walked over to a statue, knocking on it with his tools.

“No, it is solid, not hollow.” Vihaan’s eyes frowned at the rumble and the blood. “Whatever got shot stood in front of the sculpture, maybe whatever it was flew into the sculpture and destroyed it by the force of the gunshot. Considering the few bites on the man. Maybe he was attacked first, reaching for his gun and shooting the animal in self-defense. The animal most likely fled when it was wounded and the man died of his wounds.”

“Then he was alone?” Amara said, looking around. If he wasn’t then someone would have tried to save him, wouldn’t they?

“Maybe, or he might have been too far gone for his companions to save so they left him out of fear of being discovered after that gunshot.”

Amara grimaced, “Which means that they could still be around.”

“Yes, and they are armed. We will need to be very weary of both human and animal alike if we still haven’t found a means of escape by nightfall.”