Brahaspati and Tara sat quietly at another end of the room. The former Meluhan chief scientist’s face was soaked with tears. He respected Sati as an icon of the Meluhan way of life. He also knew that Shiva would never be the same again. Ever. Tara kept staring at Shiva as her heart went out to the unfortunate Neelkanth. He was a mere shadow of the confident and friendly man she had met at Pariha.

Kartik and Ganesh sat impassively next to each other on the icy floor, their backs resting against the wall. Their eyes were fixed on the tower, on their father’s paralysed figure on top, holding their mother’s mutilated body. The tears had almost blinded their eyes. The deluge of sorrow had stunned their hearts. They sat quietly, holding hands, desperately trying to make sense of what had happened.

Ganesh thought he saw some movement on top of the ice tower. He looked up to a bewildering sight. His mother seemed to have risen from her body and floated high up in the air. Ganesh moved his gaze back to his father to see another body of his mother, lying still in his father’s arms. Ganesh looked up again at his mother’s apparition, his mouth agape.

Sati flew in a great arc and landed softly in front of Ganesh. Her feet didn’t touch the ground, remaining suspended in the air, just like those of mythical goddesses. She wore a garland of fresh flowers, again like mythical goddesses. But mythical goddesses didn’t bleed. Sati, on the other hand, was bleeding profusely. Ganesh could see her mutilated body as she stood in front of him, her left eye gouged out with a deep cut across her face, leaking blood slowly. The burn scar on her face was flaming red, as though still burning. Her left hand had been sliced through brutally, blood spurting out of the wound in sudden jerks, timed with her heartbeat. There were two massive wounds in her abdomen from which blood was streaming out with the ferocity of a young mountain river. There were several small serrations all across her body, each of them seeping out even more blood. Sati’s right fist was clenched tight, her body shaking with fury. Her right eye was bloodshot, focused directly on Ganesh. Her blood-soaked hair was loose; fluttering, as if a great wind had been assaulting it.

It was a fearsome sight.

Maa...

Maa...

‘Avenge me!’ hissed Sati.

Maa...

‘Avenge me!’

Ganesh pulled his hand away from Kartik’s and clenched it tight. He gritted his teeth and whispered within the confines of his mind. I will, maa!

‘Remember how I died!’ snarled Sati.

I will! I will!

‘Promise me! You will remember how I died!’

I promise, maa! I will always remember!

Sati suddenly vanished. Ganesh reached out with his hand, weeping desperately. ‘Maa!’

At exactly the same time as Ganesh, Kartik too saw his mother’s apparition.