Elora Pt. 2: First Contact

Note

Mumbai, New Year's Eve, Present Day.

Manish glanced intermittently at the large flat screen television mounted on the wall he was facing. Some random talk show was playing on mute, but that obviously wasn’t the primary content on it at the moment. A significant portion of the bottom right corner was taken by a countdown, telling how much time was left until midnight. It was the end of the year, and like the previous couple of new year’s eves, Mnaish was in the Ancient Wok, his favorite chinese cuisine restaurant in town. He had found this place early on when he had just come to live in this city for work. The food was good, the rates made it value for money, and the decor suited him well, elegant, but not extravagant. For the previous couple years, he had spent the new year’s eve here, having dinner, looking at people, and just waiting till half-past eleven, when he left and walked to the seashore to look at the fireworks. But this evening was a little more special than just passing time until midnight. He was waiting for someone.

It had taken him a lot of time over the past month or so to build up the courage to ask Ishana out on a date, and to his surprise, she had agreed on the first time, maybe a little too eagerly as well. It had taken him a moment to recover since he wasn’t really expecting her to say yes. Ishana was his colleague at Paper Scouts, where they worked. It was a firm that provided background checks and verification services for new hires in other organizations. And though workplace romances were not actually frowned upon there, it was not a regular occurrence to say the least. And when he had suggested the Ancient Wok, she had agreed once more. Another pleasant surprise. That was three days earlier, in the office cafeteria, where he had casually asked her out in the middle of conversation, having had the table to themselves by some divine stroke of luck. Now, Manish smiled despite himself, going over the menu again, having nothing better to do until she arrived.

His phone chimed suddenly with a new message. Manish expected it to be her, even half expecting the worst that she called it off for some reason, but it was from a friend from his time in college, Soham, asking if he’d like to join them on a road and camping trip to the south sometime in the coming month. Manish thought about it. It had been a long time since he had traveled anywhere. And though he usually preferred traveling alone, this was an opportunity indeed, and a good one at that. He replied that he would be glad to join them. When for a few seconds no reply came, he locked the phone, placed it face-down on the table, and looked back at the main entrance.

He spotted Ishana just as she entered through the main gate about five minutes later. She had on dark brown pants, with a cream colored shirt and a casual but fashionable looking parka. The weather outside didn’t really warrant the need for a parka but maybe it was a thin one, Manish thought. It was hard to tell from the distance among the thick crowd gathered this evening, and of course, he couldn’t disagree that she looked really nice. He waved at her. She noticed him and walked over. He stood up from his chair and pulled a chair for her.

“How long have you been waiting?” She asked once she was comfortably seated, and Manish was back in his chair as well.

“Around fifteen minutes,” Mansih replied. Not really a lie, but not factually correct either. He had to wait outside for another fifteen minutes before being seated since all the tables were filled. He had cursed himself about a hundred times in that quarter of an hour for not having booked a table beforehand. He would have been really embarrassed if she had arrived then and they had to wait outside the restaurant together.

“Okay, that’s good. So, what’s up with you these days? I heard you were planning to quit.”

Manish was a little surprised that she picked that particular line of conversation for starters. He was looking at other career prospects indeed. His current job wasn’t a very adventurous position, looking at profiles of people and papers all day. However, he recovered quickly. It was a topic indeed, but Manish didn’t quite want to talk about it just then.

“Yeah, I was, but not actively right now. Maybe not for another six months or so as well. But after that, I don’t know. Linking papers together isn’t really very interesting, don’t you think?”

“You’re right. In fact, I was thinking the same thing.”

“Really? You want to leave too? Found anything interesting yet?”

“No, I meant about the work we do — it’s not really interesting. But I’m not looking for anything else right now. Paper Scouts give me a lot of free time, kind of. I’m preparing for something good. Then I’ll start looking around.”

The waiter arrived then, and Manish let her choose first. Manish ordered the same as her, with a different side dish. Once he left, they fell back to talking about random things in general. Manish was glad when she moved away from the topic of their work and to more casual stuff. For the next hour and half, they talked mostly about their lives. He liked the random and casual nature of this evening. Even though they were working in the same department and the same team for about three-quarters of a year now, he had never got the chance to know her personally.

Manish enjoyed making her laugh with the silly but adventurous things he had done in the past. She in turn told him about how much she loved violin, and then showed him a few of her recordings. Manish had always had a soft spot for violin. Being a fan of Sherlock and his strange ritualistic tendencies of spending days on end in a closed room with nothing but his chemistry set and a violin. The little clips she showed him of her that she recorded at home made him feel like he might just have a better connection with her, a spark, like they said. They continued to talk as the food arrived, and then disappeared from the plates slowly. People came and went, the countdown ticked down at its usual pace.

It was close to half past ten when Manish noticed the time again and asked her if she had to return home soon. “Not really, my parents are out as well, and I was thinking we could catch the fireworks.” She said, “that is, if you don’t have to be back early.”

Manish chuckled. “Oh I have no problem, I live alone, remember! I was thinking we could go to Marine drive.”

“You like the show from Marine drive?”

“Yes, it gives the best view. Especially if you’re on the far south end of it.”

“Oh my goodness, why have I never spotted you there before? I have been watching the show from there for like four years now.”

Manish smiled a little. “I only went there last year for the first time. The year before that, I spent the whole evening in my own place, not having any idea about the city and all.”

She nodded. “Makes sense. Shall we go now?”

“You don’t want dessert?”

“You’re kidding, right?” She looked with a wicked grin at him. Then seeing the confused look on his face, she broke into a little chuckle. “There’s a rolled ice cream vendor near the south side of the drive. We’ll get dessert there.”

“But will it not be crowded?”

“A little, but where’s the fun in getting everything easily?” She said, grinning. Manish tried not to read too much into that comment, but there certainly could be an innuendo there.

Manish paid the bill, and they left the restaurant. The outside air had certainly turned colder in the time they had spent inside. The four stone fireplaces had cozied up the ambiance. The air hit Manish on the face like a melting brick wall, Ishana seemed very comfortable in her parka. Forward thinking girl, Manish thought. He wrapped his own light jacket tighter, zipping it up. He took out his phone to look for cabs but Ishana stopped him. “We’ve got plenty of time, it’s literally less than two kilometers from here. And anyways, you’re not going to find a cab at this hour on new year’s eve. Let’s walk.” Manish smiled at her, put his phone back in his pocket and they started walking.

As they neared the drive, a deep thump of bass reached them. A van was converted into a portable DJ and there was a rather large throng of people dancing in front of the speakers. It was loud and the lights were glaring hard.

“This place used to be quiet.” Ishana complained.

“Yeah, I remember it was mostly empty last year too.”

“Yeah, me too, let’s go find the ice cream truck, it should be somewhere over there.” She pointed to the far end of the drive. They walked and soon found what they were looking for, although they had to wait behind a line of about thirty others. Manish wondered if they would run out of the good stuff before their turn came. As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. He ordered a caramel glaze and she took a blackberry punch.

“Isn’t this just delicious?” She asked, Manish nodded, thinking this might have been the best caramel he ever tasted. Although how much of the good taste was from the actual ice-cream and how much from his mood right now could be up for debate.

They sat on the embankments, looking out towards the city center. The action there was visible from this far pretty clearly. The lights, the slight haze of smoke from the fireworks and the strobe lights too. The only thing that Manish wasn’t enjoying — and neither was Ishana — was the constant thumping of the nearby van DJ. Ishana asked him what he usually did on the year’s end when he was at home. Manish told her that living in this city was the most fun he had ever had on a new year’s eve. It was true too. While it was true that Manish was an ambivert, where he himself had no control whether he would enjoy going out on any given day, living in a bustling city as Mumbai had definitely brought out the explorer in him. Before that, he was content just to sit at home on the thirty-first of DEcember, with a good movie. Or he would go out with his parents into the city for a fancy dinner or something, though the latter was much rarer.

While they talked, some stroke of luck made the roadside party people leave the spot and move a few blocks towards the city. The surroundings became much quieter, just the way Manish remembered from the previous year, and the way Ishana remembered it always. It was close to midnight, and the fireworks show would soon begin. The sixty second countdown, though muffled, was clear enough that they could time it, maybe a little off the mark owing to how far they were.

They were sitting about a foot apart from each other on the hard concrete embankment. Manish contemplated whether it was a good idea to scoot a little closer to her. When the first shell hit the dark sky though, he thought to himself, ‘what the hell, you only live once.’ He shifted a little, closing the gap between them, the remaining of his ice cream melting beside him on the other side. Ishana was quiet, looking intently at the glitters in the dark sky. She didn’t look at him, and he didn’t turn to her. But the moment was there, the ambiance just right, as if a spell had been cast. Little bangs followed the flashes from the sky. Another whim made Manish put his left arm around her shoulder and to his absolute delight, she put her head gently on his.

Twenty minutes later, they left the drive, and walked the two and a half kilometers to where she lived. Manish felt a little guilty for not having insisted more for a cab for their return trip. But she seemed pretty okay with the walk. Maybe that’s why she had on sneakers. They didn’t hold hands while they walked and they didn’t talk. The city was quiet too, as if waiting for them to speak. Manish wondered if she had wanted him to lead them onto more than just a hand on the shoulder, but he also believed that it was only a first date, and anything intimate was better left out for the next couple ones.

“I think this far is enough.” Ishana said, stopping suddenly on the footpath where the main street broke off into smaller ones leading to residential areas. “I told my parents that I’m going out with friends from work. Girl friends. If either of them is still awake and —”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it, that makes sense.” Manish said, chuckling a little, holding back his instinct to wave his hands. “Although, are you sure you’d reach fine? I see the lights aren’t working back there.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. The lights have been bunged for over a year now. Plus my house is like only two minutes walk down the right turn.”

“Alright then.” Manish said, “it was a really great evening. Thank you.”

Ishana smiled, her eyes seemed to sparkle even without many lights around. “See you in the office on Monday then!”

“Yeah, sure. See you. Good night!”

“Good night.” Ishana turned and walked down the dark narrow street. Manish kept an eye on her until she went around the turn. Then he turned back and walked to his apartment. It was close to half past one, but he could still hear music from clubs scattered densely around the city.

When he was close to the apartment, he remembered the text he had received earlier from Soham. He opened his phone, and saw that there were a few more messages in a group that he was added to recently. There were three members other than him, Soham, Tanay, and Darshan. The four of them had formed a tight knit friends circle back in college, but had mostly fallen out of touch over the recent years. It was good to see them back together, even though as a little WhatsApp group. There were mostly messages about how everyone was doing and questions about when everyone would be available at the same time for a week. Manish almost replied that finding a time was not an issue for him, but then he stopped. He imagined what it would be like if he and Ishana became a thing after all. He pushed the thought out of his mind immediately.

Dating her shouldn’t mean that I can’t find time for my friends whenever I want. He typed out in the chat box, ‘I can find a week whenever you guys are free, just tell me the final dates at least seven to ten days before. Need to put in my leaves and all.’ He pressed send, and put the phone back in the pocket. From his inner jacket pocket he took out the keys to his apartment, and went in. He was about to put his phone on airplane mode like he did every night, when a notification popped up in the middle of his lock screen.

It was a message from Ishana. ‘Thank you for the amazing evening. I just realized I didn’t wish you a Happy New Year, so Happy New Year!! Good night.’ Manish smiled. He replied the same to her and added a few confetti emojis at the end. He lay down on the bed and soon fell asleep, his mind and heart both happy.

It was a strange place. There was a lit fireplace, casting an amber flickering glow all around the room. The walls of the room seemed a little dilapidated, but Manish soon figured it was a wood cabin, like they usually have in northern countries where wood was readily available and was much more effective against cold. Thick logs kept the cold out, and the warmth in. There was a window, and outside it was dark. A little too dark to be normal, as if he were miles from civilization. Manish tried hard to grasp his surroundings, but most of it was hazy, muddled, as if he was drunk and trying to find his way around an unfamiliar house. Only the fireplace gave a clear sense of direction. On the opposite wall to the fireplace, there was a door, tightly shut. Manish couldn’t remember when or where he had seen this place. On the wall opposite to the window there was a bookshelf. Manish walked to it and pulled one of the books out, the volume surprisingly light compared to its size. He opened it but found that he couldn’t read anything. The language seemed cryptic, like nothing he had ever seen.

There was a knock on the door. Manish wondered who it could be. He also wondered where he was actually, but that seemed less significant at the moment. He walked to the door, which took him a much longer time than it should have. The door was like a mirage, drawing farther away the closer he went to it. He wondered if he really was drunk. When he reached there and held the handle, another knock sounded from the other side.

“Yes, I’m here. Hold on, I’m opening the door.” He said. He turned the handle and pulled with all his might. The door seemed to be jammed onto something, or literally frozen. He pulled again, and it creaked open a little. It was much thicker than he had expected. Manish realized his mistake too late. The door was open enough and the cold wind outside blew in with enough force to feel like a wall of needles on his face. He let go of the door handle immediately and covered his face with his hands. He didn’t notice the figure standing outside.

When he moved away from the door, the person outside took over and opened the door further. Manish was looking around for something to cover himself against the bitter chill. It must have been negative thirty degree celsius or lower. The person was in the cabin now and was hastily closing the door behind himself. Once the cabin was sealed off from the piercing cold outside, Manish turned around to see that it was a man approximately his height, wearing a thick sheepskin fur coat. He had crouched on the floor close to the fireplace and had taken off his thick gloves, pointing his palms to the fire.

Manish too had found a thick jacket on one of the hooks and had put it on. He went closer to the newly arrived man and spoke in a soft tone, “who are you?”

There was no response from him. Manish couldn’t see his face since his head was covered completely with the jacket’s hood, and its size meant even the edges of his face were out of his line of sight. He stepped closer to the wall to get a glimpse of the man’s face. He was shaking slightly, presumably from the cold and was also rubbing his palms together every few seconds. Manish decided to wait a couple minutes before talking to him again. He was still very confused, both from his surroundings and from this untimely strange arrival of this man.

A few minutes later, the man turned his head towards him. The direction of the light and the large jacket hood meant he still couldn’t see his face clearly, but he could grasp the basic features, the eyes, nose, and mouth surrounded by a thick beard. He spoke, his voice hoarse, but clear enough to understand everything.

“Hello Manish, I see you answered my invitation, after all. I thought you would not come to see me, and I would have to go back to sleep again.” The hello came out hillow. There was a strange kind of amusement in the man’s voice and the accent. Manish couldn’t really place it, but it had a sinister inflection to it.

For some reason that Manish couldn’t begin to fathom, he didn’t feel threatened. Although everything in his current circumstance pointed to him being in danger. A log cabin in an unknown place in the middle of the night, with a stranger at an arm’s reach, uttering words that made no sense whatsoever. Why am I not feeling terrified? He wondered. “Who — who are you? What are you talking about?”

“Well, that is expected. I guess I should have started with the introductions.” The man said from the darkness of the hood of his jacket. Was that a grin in his voice? He lifted one hand, and pulled the hood behind his head. Manish almost fell back in shock, but the chair caught him. The backrest dug into his back a little but the pain went completely unnoticed. If Manish was confused before, the face before him turned that confusion into abject terror.

Staring at him, covered in frosty beard, and bloodshot eyes, was a face he knew all his life. It was like looking into a mirror, provided he forgot to groom for a month. The man was him. As if reading his mind, the man spoke again. “Do not be scared, Manish. I know this is strange, and a little weird as well. I had no other way to talk to you other than this. As for your confusion, let me tell you that I am not you, this is just your mind creating an image of itself given a few certain conditions.”

“Am I — Am I dreaming?” Manish managed to croak out with some effort.

“Yes and no.” The man said, standing up. “I know I am not explaining it properly, but we don’t have much time right now. We will meet again soon. For now, do svidaniya.” ^{(translation)} The man standing before him raised a finger and made a motion of flicking a switch. The world went white.

Manish woke up startled and found himself covered in a thin layer of sweat, his t-shirt sticking to his body as if he were running in the rain. He sat up, and took a few deep breaths. It couldn’t actually be called a nightmare, what he had just seen, just the convoluted nuances of the dreaming mind, but he also couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something more. When his breathing had returned to normal, he looked around. The heavy curtains blocked the morning sun, but the clock on the bedside table told him it was already past eight. ‘Not a great start of the year,’ he thought, ‘having a weird dream like that.’ But then the memories from the previous night came back, his time spent with Ishana at the restaurant, the marine drive and the quiet walk. ‘Not such a bad start of the year, after all.’ His thoughts changed, and he smiled, the dream being put instantly to the backburner of his mind.

After taking care of his regular morning routine, he turned the network on his phone back on, and within a few seconds, about twenty messages filled the notification bar. Nothing from Ishana, but a few in the newly formed group, and some others from his family. Most of them had been sent in the early morning. After replying to everyone and calling a few who wanted him to, he opened the group chat. His friends had done most of the planning through the night, it seemed, without any further input from him. It suited him well enough, since there wasn’t really anything he could have added. Manish didn’t quite consider himself the traveler, but he was excited about a vacation with his old friends. The others had planned for a short week-long trip to Kerala, specifically to Wayanad. And like they had said earlier, it was to be right at the middle of the running month.

Manish knew the others wouldn’t have any problem booking tickets and everything for the trip, but he lived rather far, and there was a slight chance of everything being booked already. So while chewing on an apple, he looked through the available flights. Disheartened with the lack of availability and the prices on the available ones, he switched to checking trains. There he had better luck. Now all he had to do was put in his leaves at work, and he’d be all set. So he sent them another message saying that he was completely fine with their plan. Of course there was no reply from anyone. They might still be asleep. He also thought of sending Ishana another text, but then decided against it. Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow I’ll talk to her again in the office.

London, The Morning of New Year.

Arsoz was deep in thought when he heard a light tap on the door of his study. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “Come in.” He said. The door opened soundlessly, and Elora stepped in. “Hello Elora, what is it?”

“I found something, there’s another pulse connected to the gem. But this one is originating from the gem itself.”

“I’m hoping you’re talking about something other than the one you’ve already told all of us about.”

“Yes, this one’s different. I’m positive that this one originated from the gem itself. This one’s not someone actively thinking about the gem and seeking it.”

“So does it mean that the gem is reaching out to the chosen one?”

“Most probably. Though I can’t be one hundred percent sure.”

“Were you able to trace the binding?”

“No, I could only detect the origin, I don’t know to whom it was bound.”

“So at least we know where the awakening is going to be, since you know the origin.”

Elora hesitated. “Not exactly. The pulse was extremely weak, it’s like a puddle spilled over the entire globe. It’s really hard to tell the deepest point.”

“Alright then. Keep at it. We need to find the spot of the awakening or the chosen one. Either of them would reveal the other.” Arsoz said dismissively, then raised his finger, stopping her from turning away. “Elora, did you find anything else about the other person who was searching the stone?”

“I’m sorry Arsoz, there’s nothing. The first and second time were pretty solid. Whoever it is, they’re desperately looking for the stone, the binding is quite strong. But I’ve not sensed anything other than that.”

Arsoz nodded. He took another deep breath. “Take a seat, there’s something I want you to see.” Elora sat opposite him on the mat he was sitting on on the floor. They didn’t have tables in the mansion apart from in the dining hall. Most gatherings happened on carpets, or on meditation mats or in the expansive lawns outside. “You remember the note Damion brought back from his trip to Norway, right?” Elora nodded.

Arsoz took it out from a little pocket in the robe he was wearing, and handed it to Elora. “Tell me what you think.” Elora took the note from him and opened it. It was a small note, written with a shaky hand. At least the pen used was working fine, and it was easily readable.

“You are nothing but a façade, artisan. For all the good intentions you claim to have, there’s always two sides to you. Banish spirits all you want, do good for everyone all you want. Stay hidden in your wisdom all you want. The darkness within you will show up sooner than you think. Maybe this awakening will finally wake one of you in the right way, in the dark way.”

Elora read it multiple times, trying to grasp anything out of it that would make sense. She could clearly understand that it was talking about some kind of hidden evil. But she was unable to understand anything else. There were obvious questions in her mind. Who did it indicate by the term ‘artisan’? What kind of darkness or evil did it point to? And what did it have to do with the awakening? She looked at Arsoz, and found him looking at her intently, expectantly even.

“What does it mean? Who is this note talking about? Who is artisan?”

She asked. Arsoz just gave a gentle shrug. “Artisan is a very old term used for people like us, the practitioners of mystic arts.”

“Does it mean that there's evil hidden among the Returners? Among us?”

“I’m not sure it’s talking about us.” Arsoz said, stroking his beard lightly. “I believe it’s pointing towards some other sorcerer, someone who isn’t part of us. Someone we don’t yet know about. It could be the same person you said is trying to find the stone. But your guess is as good as mine, resulting in nothing but speculation.”

“But I thought this mansion is enchanted to discover people with mystic abilities right at their birth anywhere in the world.”

“It is. That is what is troubling me.” He looked away from her and outside the window. “Anyways, your work in the coming weeks and months is to find the chosen one, and the site of the awakening. Don’t bother with this. I’ll take care of it” He took the note out of her hands, and put it back in the pocket he had taken it out from.

Elora nodded and left.

Arsoz rubbed the face of the jade ring on his finger, then brought it gently to his lips. He whispered softly, “Forefathers, give me your impressions.” The curtains unfolded all around him, dimming the room into a comfortable but potent darkness. He felt a slight buzz at the base of his finger. A deep rumbling voice spoke in his head.

“There is no dark stain on her, like all the rest of your apprentices, but her skill makes her sensitive to strong sway. We know you need her to find the gem. But once it is found, you have to make sure she does not touch it or the chosen one.” The voice became silent. The curtains folded back again, letting in the bright late morning sun, brightening up everything at once.

Arsoz was left in a deeper thought. He had talked to everyone living in the mansion, hoping and despising at the same time to find a stain within one of them that would reveal them to be the dark sorcerer the note was talking about. But every time, the forefathers’ spirits repeated the same thing, albeit a little differently. All of them were clean. Just young minds with no impurities. But if Elora was right about the other thought line binding itself to the gem, there was definitely someone seeking it, and if it were strong enough that she could sense it among the billions of people on earth but the charm of his mansion couldn’t, it was concerning. Very concerning.

He went to the window and looked at the lawn. Natasha and Sofia were beside the little pond, apparently competing over who could create a taller column of water. He saw Kavya sitting by the oak, with her notebook by her side. He also spotted David speaking to Damion on a bench on the other side of the lawn, with Damion stealing little glances towards Kavya every once in a while. Elora would probably join them soon. And yet, the time for relaxing and having fun was coming to a close. The awakening was nearing, and if the Returners were not actively taking care of things, bad things had a tendency to happen all at once during this time.