Bombay Shaman: Nightmares at Dadar

PART IX - Selfish demon

Kumaran zoomed through dimensions. He felt like he had been thrown at rocket speed across the most dense wind currents.

When things were normal enough to perceive, he noticed the smoky tendrils everywhere around him. He was in a dark room, standing on a bloody and dirty floor. There was a thin and broad window on the top of the mossy wall behind him, the only source of dull, shadowy light. In front of him was a wooden table, a broken, blood-stained mirror on its top side.

An eyeless, shriveled up body lay on the mirror, its arms and legs fractured beyond limits. The details of it were too disturbing to take in.

Above it, breathing heavy and violent breaths was the demon, its arms and legs on the backside clinging to the wall, while the ones on the front hung loose. It was glaring at him, things had become personal to it.

The whole place was burdened with the overwhelming weight of guilt and spite.

"Why don't youuuu justtt leaveee meeee?!" It screamed.

"Where are we? What is this place?" Kumaran asked.

"This is the place where I cried for help for nightssss," It hissed, "in pain... to the ungrateful fellow men out there... I saved themm... and when I wanted helpp... nobody heardd meeeee..."

"Saved 'em?" Kumaran frowned.

It nodded. "But the biased justice is a lie. It only protects the rich."

"Whoever did this to ya, they are responsible. These innocent people have nothin to do with this." Kumaran said, gesturing denial with the wave of his arm.

"These so called "innocents" are as responsible as those heartless monsters who did this!" It snapped. "If only I was as selfish as the, I would've been with my poor mother! They suck you dry! And in return what do you get?! Nothing but silence! Ignorance! Indifference!"

Kumaran's frown deepened, but he could feel the demon's pain. He could understand how the demon was only a good man corrupted by the decayed society, by the weightless law.

"And you're trying to stop me?! You?! You're a demon yourself!! Faking yourself as a human! For what you're doing all this?! Respect?! All this save fellow men shit doesn't earn you any respect or some privilege! It sentences you to this helll!! This is what you earn!"

"I understand ya, and whatever ya are sayin, it's true. I have nothin to disagree." Kumaran sighed. "But doin right is a choice, a choice ya made, a noble one for which I commend ya. They aren't as good as the human ya once were, and that's their choice, a cowardly one, a selfish one. I know, it's unfair, it's infuriating. But what's wrong is that ya choose now to torture these people – even children! – who aren't even responsible for this tragedy. Ya have to stop."

The demon squinted. "Like hell I will! They will undergo the same torment as me! I will have my revenge!"

"I don't wanna fight ya, so don't make me hurt ya." He held the amulet in between his palms. "I will defend these people, and that's my choice. Not 'cause I need their praise or respect or any of that. It's 'cause I like it, I find my pride in it; I'm selfish."

"Join them in hell!!" It got ready to pounce at him.

Kumaran closed his eyes and chanted, unafraid under the blessings of the divine.

The demon ferociously sprang towards him.

The amulet shined like a blinding star, turning into a chakra of divine, bright light, purely white.

With a stiff swing of his arm, Kumaran threw it at the demon.

The demon fell in two pieces in front of his feet.

"Boy," it hissed, looking up at him. "What's your name...?"

"Kumaran."

Tears fell out its empty eye sockets. "Thank you... for setting me free... from this spite... this hatred... this unforgivingness..." half of its demonic face started to become human again.

"You're welcome." He clenched his fists, trying to contain his sadness.

"Can you... tell my... mother... to take her medicines... in time...?" The tears came out even more.

"I will."

"And tell her... I ... love... her..."

Kumaran nodded. "Ya didn't kill any innocent, but ya did hurt 'em. They will recover, though. I – I will pray for your salvation."

"Thank you... shaman..."

The two pieces of the body burst into dust of light. The evil about the place lifted. It was over.

Kumaran kept his word and conveyed the demon's last words to its mother when she had to come early in the morning, when the police were taking out the body of the boy, Neeraj Singh, from the basement of an abandoned little shop. Mrs. Singh cried gravely when she saw the condition of her dead son she had been without for the past few months.

Amidst the deafening sirens, Edha's voice snapped Kumaran out of his thoughts.

"Thanks to Goddess Durga, all the victims have come out of coma. They're recovering slowly." She said.

"Yeah," He took a suffocated breath of relief. "It's the grace of the divine."

She patted him. "You succeeded in saving everyone. Another story in your history of resilience."

He didn't feel like smiling or taking pride, he was far from satisfied. "I may have stopped this lost soul, but the real demons who did this, they're still out there, unpunished, regretless, and carrying on with their monstrosity."

"But it's not in your power to stop them."

"Not without becoming an outlaw for taking law in my own hands, no." He shook his head. "The ones who can are just busy being partial and selfish. I'm aware."

"But you do what you can do to make the world a better place. We are not Gods, after all. We have our limits."

"Hmm," He looked at the city around him, at the people, and he felt the striking indifference in the majority. "I wonder who the real villain is. Is it the man who sought vengeance? Is it the law that never kept its promise? Or is it the hypocritical society that remains forever ungrateful and somehow corrupts even the best amongst us?"

AUTHOR NOTES

Turns out the demon wasn't always bad... It just got corrupted by the indifferent, rich-favoring society. Kumaran did manage to save the victims, but he could only pray that the demon (once known as Neeraj Singh) got salvation and was forgiven by the Gods and Goddesses. The demon was right though... about the world. It has always been like that indeed. As to how it will be? Well... The jury is out on that... But he would be doing what he does, after all, it was never for them, it was for himself; he is the selfish demon. Good and bad is a choice, and if you're going to choose good, do yourself a favor and choose it for yourself.

And that was the end of first case of Bombay Shaman. Thanks for reading it this far, and I really hope you all enjoyed it, if you did, please do vote and comment. Open to genuine feedback; that would help me rectify my errors.

More cases of Bombay Shaman coming soon! Until then, stay safe, take care, and hey... be careful of demons. See ya later my dear readers!