The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter LXXV: Eternal Damnation

Some unholy force was pulling down on Carey. His legs sunk into the seemingly solid ground which had now turned into sand. He could see those bloody hands pulling on his legs and despite his best efforts, he couldn’t free himself from their evil clutches. He kept screaming at Ram but oddly enough the old man was fast asleep. He was now waist deep into the hole in the ground, desperately trying to claw his way out while the dark apparition stood silently, watching him being dragged six feet under. He knew that if he didn’t get out soon then this would mean sure death. Fortunately, his fighting instincts began to rise, he could feel the adrenaline swiftly rising and suddenly, his eyes lit up. A sudden surge of power emanated from his eyes and it lit the entire area. He was able to crawl out from the hell-hole with little effort and slowly stood up and faced the apparition before him. The apparition that called himself Kali immediately showed his demonic face and howled at him. Carey was not intimidated at all, instead he was surging with so much power that the air around him turned into a mini hurricane. Ram had awaken by now and had crept himself into a corner and watched the amazing event as it unfolded.

Strangely enough, Carey hadn’t felt so much power earlier. He would realize this later that the closer he got to the actual location of Shamballa, the more intense his powers became. He was starting to feel a tingling sensation in his arms and saw this sparkling wave of electricity running from the edge of his shoulders to the tip of his fingers. He looked at the apparition and rushed towards it. He swung at it with his full force and his fist ran right through it like it was made up of nothing but air. The apparition disappeared and slowly things began to turn back to normal. Ram Babu immediately ran towards Carey who was now observing his powers slowly turning down.

“Are you all right Sahib?” Ram Babu asked with great concern.

“I’m fine, thank you, just a few scratches on my feet, hm, but I guess I’ll be all right,” replied Carey staring at his feet.

“What was that? Demon? Did the witch send it to kill us?” asked Ram.

“Well I don’t think the witch would dare attack us again, no, old friend, this is something much sinister, they were spirits!” Carey replied.

Ram’s mouth opened wide as he heard those words- ghosts and spirits scared the life out of him.

“But spirits, here?” he asked.

“Good point, I think I know who those spirits belonged to, ah, it will be dawn soon, light the fire and let me tell you a story while we wait for the sunrise,” said Carey.

He would then tell him how the ancient kingdom of Shamballa was attacked by the enemies and how it fell. Most of the enemy soldiers who died in the battle field weren’t even cremated or given a proper burial. Their corpses would be trapped in ice and some would rot and eaten by vultures. But their spirits were forever trapped and doomed to roam this place for eternity. Those were the spirits that attacked him and tried to mess with his mind so that he would die a miserable death. But thanks to his powers, they couldn’t do much harm…

A small breeze blew and flickered the flames of the fire as Carey went deep into his thoughts. He deduced that if the spirits of the dead soldier were here then the battlefield i.e. the kingdom of Shamballa wouldn’t be much further. That would explain the extreme change of environment- he was definitely on the right path.

“So this is what the Yetis warned us about then,” said Ram.

“Apparently so, yes, they knew that spirits haunted this place and they also knew that I’d be able to fend them off. But from here on, we need to be careful and quick on our feet, somehow it seems to me that the path ahead is full of surprises,” said Carey.

His mind went back to the map that he had seen earlier and he began to visualize the route in his head. He hadn’t slept well in days and yet he wasn’t tired. He kept thinking of the Princess’ condition and he felt deeply responsible. But he couldn’t forget what the apparition told him earlier, the one that pretended to be Kali. How did it know so much about him? If it was messing with his head then it is possible that it only showed him what he believed. But then again, if Kali were alive, things would have been completely different.

Somewhere deep in a hole in some cave, the Dutchman sat shivering in cold with his body covered in the thickest fur. But his clothes weren’t enough to beat the temperatures in that nightmarish valley. He had undermined the cold and his only hope was a bottle of brandy that he had fortunately brought along with him. He was waiting for sunrise so that he could be back on Carey’s track. After all that he had observed, he knew Carey was close to his goal. This expedition was more than he hoped for instead of a simple hunt and kill. But he had seen what Carey could do and the creatures that roam around the mountains. He thought of raising his p*****t once he was through with this mission…

And further down the valley, Ashanti sat frozen in ice, meditating. She wanted more power to defeat Carey and she had to find a different approach to finish him off. As an offering to the dark gods, she cut off some goat’s head and prayed earnestly. This time she would rather die than fail…

The entire valley was dead silent as the winds died down, this was the calm before the storm…