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Distraught, Dansh jumped off his horse, walked a few steps toward Rahul, and began to explain.
“It happened when you killed Dali, and we fell into the chasm that appeared after the earthquake.”
Dansh told the story to Rahul. He expressed how he felt when he found out Dali had died. He told him how he met Sekiada and then how they brought Dali back and became immortal.
“When Dali woke up again, and after a few days when she gained enough powers, she turned me immortal, separating my soul from my body, and securing it in a skull I had picked up from the mountain of dead bodies. And so, now, I can die only if someone breaks that skull in which my soul is secured.”
Dansh sighed, though he seemed to be looking at Rahul as if looking for a way to outsmart him and get his skull back.
Rahul stayed quiet, glancing at the skull and then shifting his look back to Dansh. He waited for him to continue the story.
“The villagers were scared of me,” said Dansh. “Thus, after ruining the villagers’ lives, forcing them to live on the sand of the desert, destroying their huts, except one, I knew I could trust the skull in that hut. I believed no one would ever dare to enter.”
“Hmmm!” Rahul thought over what he had just heard. “I first suspected there was some connection between you and a skull when you got scared seeing them in my hands in the cave. And then, suddenly, finding you happy as soon as you inspected them.” Rahul glanced at the one in his hand. “Anyway. What about Sekiada and Dali? Have they also separated their souls? How could they die?”
Dansh’s lips twitched as he tried to speak, but he stopped. He grinned.
“What’re you smiling at?” asked Rahul. “Don’t dare lie to me. Remember, I still have your death in my hand,” he said, raising the skull.
“I’m grinning because though you may be able to kill me, I wonder how will you kill Sekiada and Dali? They’re much more powerful than you,” he said, trying to threaten him, his voice thick with arrogance.
“Leave that on us,” said Rahul. “We will fight.” He looked around to find the support.
And as Banjeet and a few villagers comprehended the meaning of his observation, they shouted in agreement. “Yes. We can kill them!”
All the while, Elisa remained silent, standing beside Rahul, listening to Dansh.
Dansh scrutinized the villagers. Then he said, “I’m so damn impressed with you, boy. You have filled the villagers with such great courage that they are ready to fight me, the Dansh, of whom they once never imagined to even raise their voices against.”
Dansh cleared his throat.
“Anyway,” he said. “Let me feed you what you want,” he said, smiling through a corner of his mouth. “Dali can be killed by a sacred weapon. If you wish, you even find a tantrik or someone to catch her in an object or help her get salvation. You can even burn her in fire.”
Rahul and Elisa exchanged a look as both found themselves right about Dali’s end.
“About Sekiada!” said Dansh.
Rahul and Sekiada shifted their look back to him.
“Dali wanted to help Sekiada too, but he refused, saying Lord Brahma himself gave him a boon of immortality. He couldn’t die. It seemed as if Sekiada knew the circle of life as an immortal evil, but my lady was worried as he wasn’t completely immortal. A woman could kill him. And so, he told my lady to secure his soul in his wife. The chained wife who’s been raped thousands of times by the evils and has been suffering for many years, simply because she insulted Sekiada. This is what my lady did.”
Hearing what Dansh just had said about Sekiada’s wife, Rahul felt a blankness for a moment, as if his senses had stopped working. This poor woman.
Elisa jerked in terror, wondering how someone could treat a woman that badly. Her eyes were wet at the thought. “Thanks for briefing us on your and your partners’ immortality,” said Rahul. “I hope it’s correct because if not, instead of killing them first, I’ll break this skull to end your life for feeding me the lie.”
“My every word is truth, as absolute as the evils’ return.”
Dansh and Rahul looked at each other for a moment, and silence fell.
After a while, Dansh spoke up again. “Only because of your promise of letting me survive, I shall lead you to the Underworld to help you kill Sekiada.”
Elisa suspected Dansh was planning something sinister for them.
Banjeet also looked at Rahul, a part of him hoping that he would refuse or demand that Dansh bring Sekiada’s wife here, instead.
“Why should we believe you?” asked Rahul finally. “Why should we trust that you want to help us end Sekiada’s life? After all—”
“When you have promised to keep me alive, I can help you kill him.”
“I still don’t trust you, but don’t you forget, your death is in my hand.” Then Rahul nodded, saying, “Bring me to her.”
Dansh was happy because he had finally done what he wanted to do. He would lead Rahul and Elisa to the Underworld to give them the slow, brutal death they deserved. Now Rahul had agreed, Elisa would also come with him.
Rahul now believed that he had found out the source of the immortals’ life, and finally, the knowledge of how to end them: the skull in his hand to kill Dansh; fire or a sacred weapon to kill Dali, and for Sekiada, his wife, which seemed quite sorrowful, yet there was no other option. Though going to the Underworld was dangerous, Rahul had no choice. He must end the immortals.
