The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XXI: The Legend of the Nagas

Nagas: Ancient mythological beings of the underworld- half human and half serpent. Generally beneficial to humans but are often seen as protectors of ancient relics. They can change their forms from half human to a fully hooded serpent. The female Naga or Nagin is a treacherous being and can enchant men with her voluptuous beauty.



A mysterious scent touched his nose- the air seemed to be filling up with some sort of thick fog. Kali was alarmed, his eyes scanned his surroundings. The embers of the fire had died out but under the faint moonlight, he saw a mysterious figure standing not ten feet away from him. He looked again but the figure disappeared.

“Must be a trick of the light,” he said to himself but he had this feeling inside, that danger was close.

He looked to his right and saw the mysterious figure again- which almost looked like someone was standing near the trees, quietly watching him. He gripped his dagger, thinking that it was the same creature from before but again the figure disappeared as he looked closer. A sweet aroma filled the air, it smelled like Jasmine and as soon as the scent hit his nostrils, it mesmerized him. He calmed down and looked to his left- there it was again- but now it seemed that the figure was slowly approaching him. He wanted to lift his weapon but he couldn’t, his muscles were almost paralyzed. And so he stood there watching the mysterious figure approach him, gently and gracefully walking in a playful manner…

His mouth opened wide when things became clearer under the moonlight. It was a woman, a beautiful, semi-nude woman- she was no more than five feet tall with beautiful and shapely features and a glowing skin, her hair was tied in a long and thick ponytail that dragged on the ground behind her. She was wearing a white piece of cloth that crossed her neck and covered her torso and it was so transparent that it hardly covered anything. She kept walking towards him, closer and closer and Kali’s heart started to beat faster in anticipation. The air was filled with such a magnificent breeze that could arouse a dead man’s heart. She stopped one feet away from him and smiled softly. Her lips looked like raw strawberries and her eyes looked like blue emeralds.

“Who- who are you?” Kali stuttered.

“Oh! My brave warrior, I’ve been looking for you, come with me and we could be together forever,” she said seductively, gently touching his shoulder with her finger.

“You- you are not human- are you?” he asked with great difficulty as he tried to move his stiff body, something magical was keeping him frozen.

“Does it matter, oh brave one, look at me, I can give you all that you seek,” she whispered in his ears.

“Ugh- what do you want? Enchantress, witch? What are you?” he replied.

“I’m your destiny, the path you seek will lead you to nothing but loneliness and death, come with me- last chance,” she chuckled and walked around him in slow circles, her ponytail dragging behind on the dry leaves.

Kali knew that she was definitely not human and if he could not break out of her spell, his friends would die next. With an enormous amount of strength, he moved his hand with the dagger.

“Oh, so you refuse? Strange, not many men can stand my charm, have it your way then,” she hissed and a forked tongue came out of her mouth, she showed her fangs and at any moment she would strike him with a deadly poison.

Out of nowhere came a flying knife and hit her behind her neck and she immediately let out a terrible scream in pain. She turned around and saw the Princess standing at a distance with her sword at the ready. The Enchantress grabbed the knife and pulled it out from her back and threw it on the ground- she was enraged now. Her cry awoke the others and they stood up and saw the strange and beautiful woman standing at the distance. The knife hit had distracted her and the magic that bound Kali had worn off and he immediately collapsed on the ground exhausted and in terrible muscle pain. The other man had no idea what they were dealing with and all they could do was watch.

“You-how dare you strike me? Do you know who I am?” she hissed and her eyes changed from deep blue to that of a reptile, her wound had already healed itself.

The Princess responded by rushing to attack her, she knew exactly what that thing was but she could hardly believe her eyes. Without easting any more time, she leapt into the air and raised her sword at her. The Enchantress immediately changed her form- her soft skin started to grow scales like a serpent and she hissed in anger. The Princess tried to hit her with her sword but she moved fast and got out of the way. Then the Enchantress grabbed her neck from behind and lifted her up. The Princess elbowed her and released herself from her grip and lifted her sword to hit her. But before she could do anything, the serpent hit her on the face and knocked her down. Clearly she was stronger and faster than the Princess. But little did anyone know that the Princess was trained to fight all forms of war, human and supernatural, thanks to her spiritual masters. She picked herself up and wiped the blood from her lips while the serpent rejoiced in her premature victory. There was an ancient verse that the Princess was taught by her masters that could subdue any unnatural being for a while but it worked only for a few seconds which was all she needed. She recalled what her Guru had told her earlier- a female serpent can only be defeated by a woman for a man would eventually fall prey to her charms…

“Be gone evil serpent!” said the Princess and began reciting the holy verse over and over again.

The serpent hissed outrageously at her, the power of the magical words was overwhelming and slowly weakening her magic. Slowly but steadily the serpent’s true hideous form came through. Her body was transforming into that of a gigantic serpentine form. Her skin turned green and scaly and her ponytail turned into a tail- within a minute, she went from a gorgeous lady to a vicious and venomous serpent- six feet tall with large fangs and a forked tongue. Seeing this, the Princess took her sword and jumped at her, slicing her throat. Cold red blood spewed out from the creature as it collapsed in pain and slithered on the ground. She then proceeded to deliver the final blow, slashing her neck and completely severing her head from her body. It let out a terrible cry that sounded half human and half serpent and eventually stopped moving… Kali and the other men stood there, stupefied at her brevity and quick thinking. She panted and looked at the dead creature and put her sword back in.

Carey and the others ran towards her.

“Are you all right Princess? What- what was that? Oh good heavens, what was that?” he cried out in disbelief.

“That was a female Naga, Mr. Carey, I’ve only heard stories until now and I thought they were a myth but now, I don’t know,” she replied coldly.

“How- how did you learn how to defeat it?” asked Raza.

“From my Guru, I was taught about the ancient martial arts,” she replied.

“No-no, that’s impossible, nobody sees a Naga and lives to tell the tale, nobody can defeat it, only the high masters knew how to-“ he remarked.

“Impossible you say? Don’t you see this creature lying dead over here?” she replied proudly.

“Ram, please control your friend, he’s clearly out of his mind,” Carey said.

Ram Babu took Raza aside and calmed him down. But Raza knew something what no one else knew, even though he was a crook, he had a lot of knowledge about the world. He had heard about an ancient cult of warriors called the ‘High Masters’, who knew how to defeat supernatural beings. This cult was apparently hunted down by some King and persecuted but it is said that their knowledge was passed down through their bloodline. Is it possible that the Princess was the descendent of those ancient warriors? If that’s true then she couldn’t possibly be of Royal blood for the ancient warriors were monks who practiced a simple and austere life. What on earth was going on? Is there something that the Princess was hiding about her?

Kali walked up to the Princess and cursed himself for not being able to protect the Princess. She smiled and replied that there was not much he could do. He replied that now he was forever in her debt and that he owed her his life. She smiled and patted him on the shoulder, saying that she didn’t believe in such things. But Kali’s heart had now already surrendered itself to her- he was blinded by his love for her and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for her.