Sun Moon & Stars Volume III Curse Of The Third-Eye

|| ĀGAMANĪ ||

Monsoon was fast approaching.

For Prathi it was the most ominous period of the year. They being humble and peace-loving village dwellers didn't like the chaos that every monsoon brought with it. From the floods that ruined their fields to the untimely deaths of their young males in the hands of vishkanyas; for them monsoon was the season of mourning.

They were leading their lives scared, terrorized and in the constant fear of death. The onset of the monsoon just added to that air of melancholy.

There was also another person to blame, which most of them weren't exactly aware of.

The young woman from the Magri community, Simphari.

She was a simple village girl. Lanky built, a button-like nose, thin lips, small hooded eyes, of average height, long curly hair tied in a thick braid and wheatish skin; there was nothing extraordinary about her. Yet she had dared to perform Gorniyam – the ritual of Shakti.

The news of Simphari's child should not have travelled across boundaries. The fact that it wasn't a normal birth the news spread like wildfire.

She had given birth to a male child after seven miscarriages. Desperation had forced Simphari to perform the ritual. The boy was a mere fruit of that forbidden ritual. 

A dangerous forbidden ritual, which any sane woman would have thought twice before attempting and Simphari didn't even consider confiding in her husband and family before taking such a major step.

With a strong heart and unfaltering determination, she did it and now she was living every day with a constant worry of the consequences.

"You could have at least told me!" Prajvedh, her elder brother demanded.

Prajvedh didn't have any intention to visit his sister. But when he heard she had committed the same sin as their mother, and after watching Dhatrim perform Mortaham he had no choice but to warn her in person.

"Really? And where would I have found you?" she asked.

Her sudden sardonic question pierced a sharp dagger of grief into Prajvedh's heart. Although Simphari didn't look like a woman who could retort, her brother knew that she had a bold tongue.

After finding out the truth of his birth Prajvedh had broken all ties with his family. He abandoned every one of his blood relatives never to look back. 

Simphari was indeed right. 

He might have not come back had it not been about the newborn. Even then, it was Hormazd who had constantly urged him to return.

"Tell me, brother! Where would I have found you?" she glared at him. She hadn't seen him since he had fled home at eight but there were distinct features in his physique and height that made him resemble the men of their father's clan. So recognising him wasn't difficult. 

"Among cannibals and indulging in sinful liaisons with vishkanyas; I wouldn't be surprised if you swap my child with a tainted changeling!" she held her newborn boy to her chest and hurled vicious insults at Prajvedh.

"Go away and mingle with those who side with you," she shook in rage pointing at the exit door of her small hut, "I do not want you around my family!"

The people of Prathi were already going through the aftermath of terrifying incidents. She cannot burden the elders of the village with one more issue of her child's birth secret. There was gossip in the air but validation was yet to be asked of her, until then she would live in denial.

It was a known fact for the elders and those who studied the old scriptures that the child was not of normal birth. But giving them existing proof could mean bringing doom upon the innocent one.