The days seem to repeat themselves as Vihaan and Amara did the same thing over and over again. They woke up, ate, went exploring, came back, ate and went to sleep only to wake up and do it again. The place was filled with dark, stone hallways to grand golden temple rooms, but nothing gave any new information. All it seemed to do was lead them around as their slowly expanding map seemed to cave into itself like it was a maze.

“This place did not look this big from the outside, what is going on?” Amara grumbled as they entered a grand room filled with large columns filled with reliefs of Asuras and Devas fighting. In the center was a giant bronze sculpture of a four-armed man, carrying a man, with a large mustache, clothes of a king and the grin of a devil.  Unlike many of the other Asura’s though, this one looked mostly human but Amara recognized him as Andhaka’s uncle and previous king, Hiranyakashipu. The father of Prahlada who was killed by Vishnu to save Prahlada from his tyranny.

“Another Asura,” Vihaan muttered, looking around as he pulled out his gun.

“Why are you pulling out that thing?” Amara asked, her voice sounding degrading but her heart beat like a runaway horse.  Vihaan nodded to something on the floor. A extinguished campfire. Amara walked slowly over, her eyes peering behind the large collumns of enemies before she reached down to feel the coal. “It is cold, the camp is-“

She silenced when she reached over to snatch up a piece of paper. It was crumbled, clearly ripped out of a notebook. “Vihaan!”

Vihaan hushed her, but walked over to watch what she was reading. “Anything interesting?”

“It’s Amos!”

“How can you-“

“I recognized his penmanship,” Amara eagerly pulled out her own notebook, pulling out a page written by Amos and compared the two. It was his, without a doubt. Those stern strokes with a dramatic swirl at the end. That was him. “He must be here, Vihaan!”

“Why would he be here?” Vihaan asked, his word hinting on his disbelief but his eyes was already searching for the professor.

“There would be no way he would leave me buried in a tomb. Not after…” taking a deep breath as memories flooded back to her. “Not after my father being buried.”

Vihaan’s eyes flickered for a moment as hesitation overtook him before his eyes hardened, “This place is huge, let’s split up. Try not to call out since we aren’t sure that professor Graycrest is okay. He might be captive and we don’t want to signal the mercenaries to our location.”

“Or something worse,” Amara muttered but Vihaan didn’t seem to hear her as he walked of to the right, while Amara walked to the left. The room seemed to be endless as Amara couldn’t see the end of it. Sculpture of horrid creatures, Amara assumed was Asuras, adorned the pillars. Many of them broken after years of eroding.

A sound echoed in the hallway and Amara hesitated for a second, before raising her voice. “Amos?”

She winced when her voice echoed along the walls, not having meant to shout. “Vihaan?” Her voice was now shaking as every fiber in her body told her that this was no place to be alone. The darkness seemed to enclose her and without hesitation, she turned to run only to stare into two grey eyes and a gun barrel against her face.

“The lost lamb is back,” Silas said coldly. His eyes already scouring the area for her companion.

“The mercernaries are her, Viha-“ Raising her voice to shout as loudly as she could, the empty space carrying it far, but a hand muffled her mouth and anger flashed in Silas’s eyes.

“Are you mad, woman? You will bring down demons upon us,” he hissed between clenched teeth. Now being close enough to see that he was covered in scotch marks. He didn’t seem harmed, but his clothes was dirty with ash, and he had a scratch mark on his face. Amara also noticed that he seemed to be alone.

Pulling herself free, much to her surprise as it seemed that Silas had hardly any strength left, she glared at him with a frown. “Where are you goons?”

“I’m sure you can find pieces of them all over the place,” Silas grunted. “Or did you forget the burning creature. After you escaped, it decided to go after us in retaliation for me aiding you.”

“Aiding us?”

“What do you call the twenty bullets I littered the damn creature with?”

“A waste of resources,” Amara said, cocking and eyebrow at him. Silas snorted, turning around to walk away. Amara was just about to stop him when she heard the safety of a gun go off. Vihaan stood there with his gun pressed against Silas forehead.

“And there is the other rat. Good to see you so well,” Silas said, no fear even flickered on his face. He almost looked bored by them both despite the obvious threat. A flicker of uncertainty crossed Amara as a thought came to her. If they actually were a threat to him.

“I cannot say the same, Mr. Silas,” Vihaan replied coldly.

Silas rolled his eyes. “That would be Mr. Morgan. Silas is my first name.”

“I don’t care.”

“You shouldn’t raise a gun if you aren’t willing to shoot.”

Vihaan pressed the gun harder upon Silas forehead, his face pale but eyes steady. “Who said that I aren’t?”

Before Amara could even utter a sentence, loud bang echoed in the room followed by a groan. Vihaan rubbed his back as he tried to stand up, while Silas checked the gun he had easily taken away from Vihaan.

“I said so.”

“Are you two done comparing cocks?” Amara hissed. Silas cocked and eyebrow at her while Vihaan groaned as she helped him up.

“Can you at least pretend that you are a lady.”

“I am, I have two tits to prove it.”

Vihaan rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples while Silas eyes darted to her chest area like he wanted to ensure that what she said was true. “Seriously, did you need to check?”

“Actually, I did. They aren’t that large,” Silas replied, making Amara want to hit him, but she concluded that it would be unwise considering that he know was the proud owner of two guns while they were unarmed.

Or at least they weren’t, until Silas handed back the gun to Vihaan who looked somewhere between shocked and suspicious.

“Don’t aim it at me again,” Silas warned, not seemingly caring about their obvious suspicion.

“Why are you giving it back to me?” asked Vihaan, grabbing the gun quickly like he was afraid Silas would change his mind.

“Because you are going to need it.”

“For what?”

Silas nodded to something in the dark. Amara smelled it before she could see it, but when she her eyes caught up, her face grew pale. A scotched and dismembered body lied on the floor, its head removed from the body and one arm was missing. “For whatever did that.”

“That creature?” Vihaan said, looking away from the body. His face was filled with sweat like he was ill but his eyes were steady.

“Yes, it has relentlessly hunted my men,” Silas said grimly. “The last time we attacked, someone saved me, but my men… Well, I have been finding pieces of them along the way.”

“Someone saved you?” Amara asked eagerly. “A young beautiful boy, dressed in a white dhoti and has a red bindi on his forehead?”

Silas frowned,” A beautiful boy? I guess some would call him so, but he was a man with four arms, long black hair, obsidian skin, a third eye in the color of ember, and his two normal eyes seemed to be blind. They where black pits.”

“Isn’t that the splitting image of the statue of the Asura king? Andhaka,” Vihaan said, but Amara didn’t really listened. Then there was two higher beings running around? Who had the boy been who helped her?

“He never gave me his name. He just pulled me to safety and then attacked the creature. He called her something though. Holika,” Silas explained, his eyes darting between them like he was afraid to miss anything they had to see.

“I never heard of that name,” Vihaan admitted, turning to Amara who was biting her thumb.

“In the Vedic scriptures, Holika is the sister of the Asura king Hiranyakashipu.”

“I thought you said this Andhaka was the Asura king.”

Rolling her eyes, Amara snorted,” They are both Asura kings. Andhaka is his nephew. According to the scriptures Holika was ordered by Hiranyakashipu to burn his son Prahlada. One of many cruel things he did. She tried to trick him, telling him that she owned a mantle that could withstand fire. She would sit with him on a bonfire, him in her lap, but intended to only cover herself when the fire was blazing. But in the last second, a wind send by Vishnu removed the mantle from Holika to cover Prahlada instead, burning her to death while Prahlada came out unharmed.”

“So how is she running around here now?” Silas asked, looking between them but they shrugged.

“How is any of this possible? It is only a story, it might have been altered along the way,” Vihaan said.

“Wonderful. A lady who has been burning for thousands of years, that would surely not be a problem,” Silas muttered.

Not caring about his sarcasm, Amara walked closer, getting his attention. “We found evidence of another person here. His name is Professor Amos Graycrest. He most likely has come to save us. Have you seen him?”

Silas facial expression didn’t change but a slight hint of recognition flashed in his eyes at the mention of the name Amos Graycrest. Enough for Amara to wonder how he knew it. “No, I haven’t seen anyone but I fear that if he has wandered around here by himself, his survival chances are few.”

“I don’t trust any of this,” Vihaan muttered, peering out into the dark. “This all feels peculiar. Out of place.”

“Really? The city inside a temple with burning Asuras are peculiar,” Amara replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“That is not what I meant. I found it strange that a lot of people have been walking in and out of the temple but none has been transported to a magical city.”

“Are you sure? A lot of people have gone missing since they started the dig,” Amara reminded him.

“Yes, but most have been found and though some of them had died it was because of things like being crushed under stones or suffocation. The few who got out alive don’t tell tales of a Tripura. So, why did we get transported here, but we have seen no sign of anyone else who has.”

“Amos has,” Amara pointed out, still not willing to admit to what he was hinting at.

Shaking his head, Vihaan replied,” We can’t be sure of that. It might be a trick of the mind. This place is clearly not normal. From what we can tell, this place has a very specific requirement for someone to enter. Unless we can find out what that is, then I fear we cannot be sure that Amos truly is here.”

Amara looked over at Silas who had silently stood there watching them as they bantered. Now, his eyes met hers and she could see the reluctant to answer the question she was going to ask. “You entered consciously. How did you do it?”

“I got instructions from my employer,” Silas replied briskly, clearly avoiding to give a straight answer.

“What instructions?”

“Go and wait by the entrance, until the sun peeks over the horizon. Then go inside the temple.”

“The entrance?” Vihaan repeated.

“Yes, the entrance was suppose to be a gateway.”

“That is all good and well, but other must have been by the entrance during sunrise and they were fine,” Amara said. Silas grimacing, showing his teeth in annoyance.

“Only a few people would be able to enter that way. I… Come from a special bloodline.”

“You are half British?” Amara guessed, surprised when Silas smiled grimly. No joy crossed his face.

“Obviously, but it isn’t my British side of the family that made me meet the requirements for this place.”

“What’s in your Indian heritage that allows you to enter?” Vihaan asked.

“I don’t know, I was abandoned when I was born. Never knew my parents so I was as surprised as you to find out that my family was anything other than hoodlums.” Bitterness filled his voice as he almost spat out the last word.

“Your employer didn’t tell you what’s so special about your bloodline?”

Silas replied with silence to Vihaan’s question and Amara could only assume that the answer was no. 

“Then does we also have the required bloodline?” Amara said.

“No,” Silas was so certain that there were no room for further questions

“Then why could we-“

Vihaan interrupted Amara’s question. “You weren’t the only one to enter. So did your men. Did they meet the requirements as well?”

“No. I opened a path and they followed.”

“Then we came afterwards,” Vihaan said, nodding as he finally understood.

“Then there is a portal open for anyone to come in after us,” Amara said eagerly as it meant that Amos could have followed.

“Maybe, but the entrance caved in so it is possible that the portal did as well.” With a one sentence, Vihaan had smashed Amara’s hope. She wanted to cry in fatigue, but held back them as she really didn’t want to show weakness in front of them. Not even in front of Vihaan. The last time she cried was when they sprinkled her father’s ashes into the river and she intend to let it stay that way.