Panting, Amara’s heart settled down, the realization hit her. Did she just run after an apparition into a temple filled with hostile men with guns? Yes, clearly losing her mind. Looking up, she watched Vihaan try to push the door open, cursing in Hindi as he was unsuccessful.

“Why did you run into the building?” Vihaan’s voice sounded angry, making Amara frown in confusion.

“What do you mean why? The boy was clearly showing us the way.”

“What boy?”

“What do you mean, what boy?” Amara snorted, her smile faded though when Vihaan stared at her unbending to her question. “The boy chanting the mantra. You heard it.”

“I heard it, but I saw no boy.”

“He looked about fifteen years old, beautiful, wearing traditional dhoti, and old bracelets in gold,” Amara words slowly faded. “He glowed.”

“A glowing boy?” Vihaan groaned. “And you thought it was a great idea that we followed a glowing boy into the temple with armed men?”

“I don’t know, I just reacted.”

Staring at eachother, Vihaan’s eyes flickered turning around to look down the hallway. 4

“What kind of mantra was that anyway?”

Rolling his eyes, Vihaan muttered, “Have you ever set your foot in a temple in your life?”

“My mom dragged me to some temples to chant some mantras, I often feel asleep after a few times,” Amara admitted, “She stopped dragging me there and just allowed Amos to babysit me while she prayed.”

“That sounds about right,” Vihaan muttered. “The mantra is one to Vishnu, it is a purification mantra to remove fear and evil which might explain why you just suddenly ran into the temple like you had none.”

“Don’t be silly, mantras are just songs.”

“Says the girl-“

“Woman!”

“-who decided that running after a glowing boy was a brilliant idea.”

The two of them stared at each other, before Amara turned around, refusing to discuss it more and run into the temple. Vihaan cursing behind her.

Dashing into a large golden hallway, filled with stairs and plateaus floating above an abyss, Amara came to a stop. Losing her balance, she started to wave her arms around, letting out a high pitched screamed as she almost fell over the edge when a strong set of arms pulled her in.

Turning around to thank Vihaan, Amara’s words was caught in her throat when two grey eyes met hers. Those certainly didn’t belong to Vihaan who currently had raised his arms as the other man had aimed their guns at him.

“So two little mice are sneaking around,” the man said, his voice low and raspy.

“Says the rat running around touching things that are not his,” Amara replied, letting out a scream when the man let her go, making her fall back only to hold onto her arm while she tried to grab onto him. Her eyes staring down into the abyss.

“Let her go you asshole,” hissed Vihaan who got a slap across the face from the man closest to him.

“Are you sure?” the grey eyed man said, cocking and eyebrow at Vihaan who paled at the insinuation.

“Vihaan, stop giving him ideas,” Amara shouted out angrily, grunting as the grey eyed man pulled her into his chest. She hit him, only to grimace when her hand throbbed after the impact. If she would have known his chest was that firm, she would have stomped him on the foot instead.

The man didn’t even seem to notice her predicament, watching Vihaan who stared back grimly. Pulling out his gun, the grey eyed man pointed it at Amara, ”How many of you are there?”

“Too many to count,” Vihaan lied completely without shame.

“Too bad then that they all must have been locked outside when the door shut,” the grey eyed man grimaced when Amara bit down on the hand holding onto her but didn’t budge.

“And you assumed that we can’t open the door,” Vihaan snorted, not showing anything on his poker face.

“No, you can’t. You don’t have what it takes to get inside,” the grey eyed man said, finally getting enough of Amara’s antics, throwing her to the closest man. “Keep the woman in check.”

Turning to two of the men, “Check the entrance. Kill anyone who get’s through that door.”

“I thought you said we didn’t have what it takes to get it open,” Amara mocked, getting a hand over the mouth as a response only to bite down hard.

“You don’t but I am uncertain that if it have been opened once, it allows other to enter,” the grey eyed man said, watching the two men running down the hallway.

“What are we suppose to do about these two?” grunted the man who held onto Amara in Bengali.

The grey eyes seemed uncertain for a while, pondering no doubt to leave them behind. “We take them with us. Maybe we will have some use of them.”

Amara wanted to argue but Vihaan glared at her, clearly thinking it was better to be quiet than end up with a bullet in the head. Grumbling, Amara held back her insults as she was dragged along the rough looking men.

“Who even are you?” asked Amara as they walked on.

“None of your business,” the grey eyed man replied.

“If you don’t give me a name, I will just go with Badir.”

That earned her a dark chuckle,” If the idiot catches you, then what does that make you.”

“Just give me a name!”

“Silas, now shut up,” the grey eyed man said, walking on ahead.

Amara leaned into Vihaan who stood straight, seemingly still holding on to his bravado. “Silas is a British name.”

“Really?” Vihaan’s voice dripped in sarcasm, his eyes flashing in anger.

“This is not my fault,” Amara defended herself, as she saw the accusation on his face.

“Remember when we were six years old?”

“Yes.”

“And you decided to climb the railings on the steamboat?”

“…Yes.”

“Only to fall over?”

“Are you getting somewhere with this?”

“Do you remember your excuse at the time?”

“I thought I saw a gharial and wanted a closer look.”

“And you fell over because of it.”

“You are missing the point!”

“And that was.”

“There was actually a gharial in the river and I got a closer look at it.”

“…”

*****

“Are we there yet?” asked Amara, earning her a glare from Vihaan. Her legs aching from going up the thousand’s stairs swirling around the room. Silas made a fist, like he wanted to hit her, not moving until he relaxed again and they moved on.

“We found your friend; he had seen better days.”

Silas swirled around, frowning at Amara. “You found Rahul.”

“So that is his name, what happened to him?”

“He betrayed me, so I shot him.”

“And then took a few bites of him?” Amara said, her eyes going wide when Silas swirled around, eyes cold and face stiff. She felt an unsettling fear wash over her, like a hink of ice cold water being thrown at her. “I was just joking.”

“What is she talking about?” asked one of the men in Bengali.

“It must have been an animal,” Silas replied grimly.

“We shouldn’t have left the poor bastard to the animals. We should at least have taken his ashes with us to his family, or throw them onto the river,” another muttered.

“We can do that when we get back but-“ Silas went quiet, his eyes narrowing as he watched a dark entrance a couple stairs above them. Light suddenly flickered in and out, a scraping sound coming from it. Silas pulled his gun, aiming it carefully.

“What is it?” one of the men asked nervously.

“I smell flesh burning,” Silas said, slowly backing away. Amara sniffed the air, not smelling anything other than dust. She glanced over the men’s shoulder as she heard gasps, staring at the entrance.

“Oh gods,” Vihaan said, pushing the man behind him to the side. He got lose and grabbed onto Amara who was still trying to get a glimpse on what was going on. As Vihaan pulled her along, the raiders ignoring them as they started to shoot wildly, Amara looked back. Her eyes going wide as a disformed creature crawled out. For arms waived, over a molten body still bearing the slightly feminine form. A giant gape showed rows of shark teethes as a harrowing scream came from the burning woman. Her snake eyes bleeding, and claws scraping the air.

“I smell the blood of the divine. Vishnu, have you come to finish me off or is it your boy lover who has come back to mock me?” Her voice was distorted, like she spoke with several voices, as she screamed out in Sanskrit. Her eyes searching for them, smelling the air as the gigantic creature slowly crawled out.

Then her eyes stuck on Amara and Vihaan. The air thickened with her breaths, Amara’s heart stopped in pure terror as the creature let out a piercing scream, launching herself at them with claws drawn and fangs out.