The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter LXXX: Final Frontier

As Carey gasped at the overwhelming beauty of the strange landscape, he completely forgot about his mission. Ram Babu chuckled like a kid and explored the strangely beautiful surroundings. An uneasy feeling creeped up Carey's heart as he recalled the Princess' condition- there was no time to stop and smell the roses. He has to find the Immortals and get the cure. So far he has seen nothing that even remotely resembles a human being- there's got to be somebody around here.

"Sahib, I am sure that this place is heaven- are we dead Sahib?" asked Ram Babu naively.

Carey refused to answer and treaded down the lofty hill. The green grass was velvety smooth- he could lie on his back and slide down the hill. Ram Babu followed him hesitantly.

"It's amazing," Carey thought, "a world lost in time, pure, unadulterated, one in a different reality altogether... I must find the Immortals and get help,"

But almost an hour went by and Carey could not find another human being in that strange world. All he saw was more of the terrain, beautiful and serene. He was getting frustrated by now. There was no time to explore and he had no further clues to crack - where were those legendary people? Where was his connection to his past life? It was as if he had hit a dead end-

And suddenly, he saw something move in the corner and he turned to take a look. To his surprise, he heard a rustling sound but there was nobody else. Ram Babu was gone, there was no trace of him. Before he could guess anything, he saw something dark swipe right over his head. Curiously, the atmosphere became silent around him, the birds stopped chirping and the cool breeze stopped brushing against his skin. An eerie feeling crept up his spine - something dark was stalking him and it had taken Ram Babu away.

Panicking in sheer terror, he called out his name. He could not lose another friend. He looked around, searching for him and then he began to think-

"This isn't supposed to happen, why would they Immortals kidnap Ram Babu? And what is the strange darkness that I sense? No- this is something else!"

Suddenly he heard a loud thump behind him, like something crash landing from above. He turned around and to his utter surprise he saw the witch standing behind him, dressed in sheer clothing with black tattoos all over her body. Her dread locked hair flowing down to her feet and her wily eyes gawking at him. She grinned through her black lips and uttered a sinister growl.

"What on earth? I defeated her! How did she get here? Damn it- she looks menacing!" he began to think.

"Well, well, so this is the place you were after, I am glad you led me here, this place reeks of pure manna! Imagine what I could do with all this pure positive energy!" she said walking bare feet towards him like a cat stalking its prey.

"What do you want from me?" Carey yelled.

"I want you dead, isn't it obvious?" she replied.

Carey wasted no time and rushed towards her thinking he could defeat her again. But as he reached to strike, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down and saw a sharp blade piercing his belly. He felt his strength draining away and kneeled down in agony.

"How's this possible?" he thought "Where are my powers?"

She kicked him in his chest and he fell down on his back, with blood oozing out of him.

"Ha! Done already? What? No powers?" she taunted him and laughed.

Carey felt his life getting sucked out of him- slowly but surely. He raised his head in agony and glanced at his stomach. There was a small dagger sticking out of it and a lot of blood pouring out. He tried moving but the pain was paralyzing. How can such a small weapon hurt me so much? Why am I unable to move?

His vision started to get blurry and soon he blacked out. The witch- Ashanti smirked and looked at Carey’s body victoriously. It was such an easy win- she almost wanted to wake him up so that she could beat him down once again. After her intense rituals and meditation, her powers have grown tenfold and she was beaming with the dark- side’s energy. But she had a price to pay- nothing was for free- the more she took from the dark side, the more she had to give back. These hellish powers demanded that she paid with blood- human blood. The darkness wanted fresh human blood every day- which meant that she needed to keep killing, if she wanted to keep her powers…

This place- this strange and peaceful place could be home to many people- all she had to do was look. The foreigner is dead- he’s not moving- not breathing anymore, time to go hunting, for more blood…

Meanwhile, Carey’s soul had already left his body and was on its journey to the afterlife. He could feel a welcoming white light embracing him from all sides. He soon began to realize that his earthly body was lying on the ground in a pool of blood- lifeless. He began floating and hovering over his dead body, he could feel something was pulling him away. A sense of calmness and belonging surrounded him and he was at peace. But soon, he realized, what was happening to him- he was dead and his soul was being taken away to heaven or hell! He began to resist the process and tried hard to get back to his body- this was not his time to die, not when he was so close to his goal- he had to save the Princess’ life, he had to meet the people of Shamballa- there was so much to do! But no matter how bad he tried to get back to the ground, a stronger force was pulling him away towards the sky!!