27. Into the Unknown

The extreme brightness of light shadowed on the lashes of eyes which were tightly sealed due to exhaustion. The exhausted eyelids opened slowly with a blurred image.
The eyelids twitched many times to adjust the blurred vision until it gets a clear vision. The pupils of the eyes were dilated to receive such an image in front of it and the brain didn’t send any signal of the response of familiarity in the situation.
Akshara’s mind seized her thoughts and after evaluation, it gave her the result that the place was unknown to her mind. So she concludes that she was travelling life-after-death journey.
“Am I dead, what is this place? Hell? No, maybe it’s Heaven. But how did I suppose to be here?”
“You…finally…awake,” a voice near her ear shouted at her.
Akshara turned her head towards the voice and wondered where she is and why does the voice was joyed to see her awake.
The voice went to inform about Akshara’s awake to someone and soon a couple of females rushed to examine Akshara with their keen eyes and they laid their hands over her to check her physical condition.
Akshara mystified and shouted at them, “Oh, Oh no, wait…what the hell are you trying to do?”
One of the females had a weird hat around her head unlike others who seemed to be chief continued to gaze. Akshara asked her, “…What are you doing to me…”
The second female handcuffed the hands Akshara and placed her hands over her head. Akshara was even more shocked by their actions, “…Who the hell are you…? Why are doing this to me?” But no one responded to Akshara.
The third female entered through the door, she had a small glass bottle of portion and forced Akshara to open her mouth and pour the portion into her mouth.
Akshara struggled to drink that portion, “What is that… no don’t…leave me alone” and spitted some portion out of her mouth as that tasted bitter, “So bitter!” The three females did not leave their hold on Akshara until the glass bottles to empty into her throat.
The second person, who was standing over her head, made a cut on Akshara's finger and collected it in the glass bowl and added some other liquids to examine the effect.
Akshara could barely see what was happening above her head and what they were trying to do was mysterious but still, she protested in all the ways she could. The liquid poured into the glass bowl turned its colour from red to gold.
The third female said after examining the effect of liquid, “Virgin… but the liquid turned to gold.”
Apart from the shouting of Akshara, the trio of females discussed something about the test results of turning gold. Akshara’s ear keenly noted some of their whispers, “If it’s gold, there is only one possibility.”
The second female told, “She is chosen but a virgin. What do we do now, Chief Anura?”
Akshara was shocked to hear that word and got angry, “Excuse me, who the hell are you to test my virginity, who permit you to test my purity, answer me, you fatty toad.”
The second female slapped Akshara on her face, “Dare to call our chief in such name, apologise her.”
Akshara nodded her head negatively and the second female raised her hand to give Akshara another slap for not obeying her but she was stopped by the chief female.
The chief lady took the other two chief females to the corner of the room and had a serious discussion. Akshara turned her head right to left to visualize where she was, while the three were indulged in discussion frequently taking a look at Akshara.
The instant gasps and inhales filled the room and Akshara felt to herself, “I think I am not alone after hearing the echoes of inhaling. Where I am…what am I doing here? Why do they want to test my purity? I am chosen for what? I think they are going to eat me alive. Look at those three pairs of eyes. They look different in their appearance. Maybe I look different to them?”
The chief female asked everyone to go out and make Akshara sit and release her handcuff. Akshara calmed for a while and then opened her mouth to have the conversation with the chief, before she could ask the chief lady requested her, “I apologise you…young lady...for not having your word in checking your purity. Hope you forgive me.”
Akshara was shocked to hear an apology from her and the attitude of Akshara begins to change towards that lady, “You…I…sorry for calling you that…”
The chief female saw the puzzled Akshara and moved to the corner of the room and took some dress from the box and handed it over to her and asked Akshara to change her dress as her dress was ruined in the attempt of potion drink.
Akshara looked everywhere around the room and found she is not alone in that room, she found five more beds in her room and thus she had five roommates and there was no separate place for changing dress.
Akshara had the place near the window and she turned against the wall to change her dress and thought to herself that at the very least she got the wall to turn to for resting her head.
The chief female with hat persuaded, “I know you are puzzled to see us… this place. You will be having thousands of questions when you open your eyes. All the questions will be answered quickly. But, it’s quite normal for you to react in such away. Though it’s normal, you have to be careful in handling your words.”
Akshara quickly responded to the chief lady, “Madam…I am so sorry for calling you that…but I was bewildered by your actions. Is that necessary?”
The chief explained to her, “Of course. It is very essential in ranking…”
Akshara asked the chief with widened eyes, “Ranking…what ranking”
The chief replied, “No rush…you will know it eventually” saying those words, the chief lady went outside the room, “I am Anura, just use my name to find me if you need help”
Akshara replied to herself, “Anura…the name suits her physic well. She indeed looks like a fatty toad. Maybe that is the reason behind her name Anura. But, why did that lady slap me… its paining,” rubbed her cheeks.
A voice burst open the room with a loud shout, “Hey you…bitch…its mine…remove it…” a girl entered the room pointed to the dress she was wearing.
Akshara replied to her, “I don’t know it’s yours, that fatty toad gave me this to change… I got nothing to do with your dress. Also, don’t call me that… it’s disgusting”
The girl replied in anger, “I will continue to call you a bitch until you remove it from your sinful body, witch. Bitch, bitch, bitch!”
Akshara removed the dress immediately from her diligent body and took her dress from the corner of the room which she had worn previously. She could smell the bitterness of the potion and shrunk her face of the bitter smell on her.
The girl went to the corner of the room and throws the dress at the garbage and looked at Akshara with an evil smile.
The other girl entered the room and had a fight with that girl for her actions, “Why are you doing this to her. She got nothing to wear. You have plenty. What if you share a single cloth with her?”
The attitude girl replied, “If you want her to be covered, give yours. Anyway, she has a diligent body, perfect to use make any men fall for her.”
“Indeed, I am going to do the same, but you are so mean Alaso” Ruko added.
“Shame on you, Ruko”, the attitude girl named Alaso cursed the other girl.
Ruko, the kind girl gave her dress to Akshara, “Wear this until you have an outfit.”
Akshara replied with thanks, “Thank you so much, but I have not got any clothes with me. I don’t know how I reach here.”
Alaso mockingly said, “’ I don’t know how I reach here….’ Can you believe it Ruko; does she jump from the sky to reach here? This bitch could be a witch. We should kick her out from here.”
Akshara raged in anger to hear that, “I told you not to call me that…I am not both… Call me by my name.”
Alaso and Ruko both asked together, “Well, what is your name?”
Akshara quickly responded to them, “my name is… my name is… name is…” Akshara was shocked to realise that she had forgotten her name, “…What is my name?”
The whole world seems too zoned out; she looked everywhere and tried hard to remember her name. Nothing happened. It was a sudden throw in her mind that she could not even remember her name.
“How it is possible. Why don’t I remember my name? What I’m called. Actually what the hell happened to me? Why am I here? What am I doing here? But wait, where I belonged to. Where did I come from? Oh god, what type of pattern have you drawn in my destiny? I am ruined, I am lost.”
Akshara held her hands in her head sat on her bed involuntarily. The other three roommates entered and laughed upon hearing Akshara's forgetfulness about her name. Everyone gathered around her and some laughed, some pity at her while Akshara’s eyes were moistened with pearls of tears.
Ruko asked Akshara, “You don’t remember your name, seriously?” Akshara nodded negatively with her eyes full of tears.
Akshara could hear the gossips from the people inside the room she stays in.
“It’s quite normal about forgetting after she reaches here. But something doesn’t fit the logic?”
“What are you blabbering, spit out.”
“When we have tested our purity, our types of blood was red. But hers is different, it turned out gold yet she is a virgin. How is that possible?”
“If the initial blood colour changes, it is considered as an impurity. She might learn some dark magic to hold her virginity.”
“Keep your volume low, she is chosen.”
“So, what is to me if she is chosen? It doesn’t bring any harmony to me. if she is chosen, why does she still stay in our room? Let’s kick her out.”
“No, we can’t kick her out as we wish unless we got orders from Chief of Frozen crescent.”
Ruko shouted at the gossiping girls, “Mute your mouth. Aren’t you all aware that we are prohibited to talk about the decisions of Chief?”
Akshara still buried her head in between her knees after hearing their gossips, Ruko patted on the shoulders of Akshara to comfort her. Akshara raised her head and cried bitterly, “Where is this place? How did I come here? I don’t know me.”
Ruko hugged her gently to ease her troubled mind, “Don’t worry. I am here to help you.”
The chirping sound interrupted their conversation by two doves that were under her bed hiding. Akshara took them and they seemed to feel protective with her.
Akshara took those birds in her hand and gently caressed them, “What effect of gold?” she asked Ruko.
One of the three asked, “It’s a lengthy story…no rush…is this your birds…”
Akshara replied, “I don’t remember…”
Alaso replied with irritation, “Indeed yours, they are with you since you came here.”
Akshara felt happy to hear that, “Really…these birds are with me…”
The birds chirped responded to Akshara and one of the five came forward and introduced herself as Nails and informed Akshara that the girl had possessed the talent of interpreting with animals and birds.
Akshara partly believed her and asked about what the birds were telling.
The birds chirped.
Nail translated to Akshara, “They are introducing themselves”
Akshara replied enthusiastically, “Oh, is it…How crazy you are”
Nail replied after listening to birds, “They are called Sun and Shine. They say they were named by you.”
Akshara was shocked to hear, “Is that so…Did I name them? They are nicely named. Nail, can you ask…did they know who I am?”
Nail asked Sun and Shine in the bird language and indeed the little birds did reply with their chirping, “They are telling your name as…”