Akash stood at the edge of the cliff, his whole life, his family, his friends, and everyone he loved flashed before his eyes as he looked down. How did his life come down to this he thought? He had just come on a trip with his friends for a college reunion three days ago and now he is here standing on a thin line between life and death. “Shit! Shit! Shit! Why? Just why?”. “Is there no other way of solving this problem?” thought Akash. Tears welled up in his eyes, “I’m sorry everyone...I’m sorry” and then taking a deep breath, he jumped.

#

The morning rays of the sun hit his face as it rose above the horizon between the mountains. “It's so, beautiful”, he exclaimed as he saw the snow-capped mountains in the distance reflecting the sunlight at a distance. It was the month of December so there wasn’t much greenery to be seen around.

“How much longer is it going to take?” asked Anwesha. “Almost there,” Shayan who was driving replied as he turned the car to enter a narrow road uphill and then stopped in front of a house on the road.

“Wow, you’ve got a beautiful house” said Akash as he climbed down.

“Let’s get our luggage and go in. I’m too tired” said Shayan.

Akash caught the glimpse of a figure looking at peeking at them from behind the wall of the house next door. It looked like a girl. Akash waved at her, but as soon as he did it she disappeared.

“Who was that?” asked Anwesha.

“Dunno, she just disappeared as soon as I waved at her.”

“I think she got scared of you that's why she ran away.”

“Ha ha very funny, I am popular with girls now, no way she was scared of me. Anyway, let us go inside, Shayan is calling us”.

Just as Akash was about to cross the door and enter inside, he felt the uneasy feeling of a pair of eyes being buried at his back, he turned around to see…no one. He shrugged it off and entered inside. Five of them had come on this trip as they graduated just 5 months ago and had come on a short trip at a hill-station for their reunion.

It was 8 pm now after they all spent the day resting. A knock came from the front door. Akash went to open the door but as soon as he grabbed the door handle to open the door a chilling sensation traveled through him and went down his spine. He shuddered and hesitated to open the door as if something very terrible is standing beyond the door, something unexplainable. He slowly opened it and was met with an unfamiliar face, he felt as if he had seen her before. It was a girl of their age , wearing a blue dress, with long black hair. Her face was cute and a smile spread across it. Akash immediately fell in love with her.

“Hi! My name is Asraa, I live next door, the one you saw earlier in the morning, nice to meet you.”

#

“What the hell do we do now?” said Shayan in a worried tone. He was pacing in the room with the others sitting around a table in Shayan’s home, and in front of them laid out on the table was a box containing a letter, a bunch of old papers, and the reason for their trouble- a small rectangular object. It was the size of a palm, and quite heavy. It appeared to be made out of stone and had carvings on it. Beside these was a newspaper with a headline on the front page being about the death of a history professor. The professor committed suicide in his home.

“That bastard, he dies and now leaves us to deal with his shit.”

“Rishabh you shouldn’t say something like that for a dead person”, said Anwesha.

“Then what else are we supposed to do, are we even supposed to believe in this bullshit too? An evil God of insanity, cults, magical powers? This is all nonsense.”

“But we all had the same dream at the same time today, didn’t we? Just as described in the letter, how is that supposed to be possible?” said Prantika. “But you didn’t get them, right Akash?”

“No, I didn’t, not even a normal one,” said Akash. “Are you sure you all saw the same thing?”

“Yeah, I think so. It was very weird but I remember it very clearly, it was a giant eye stretching across the entire night sky.

Akash’s head hurt instantly as if it were to explode.

“We all here agree to have seen the same thing”, to which everybody nodded, “and it’s the same thing is written in the letter too”

“Ah! My head!” He grabbed his head and slumped on the couch.

“Are you fine Akash?”

“No my head is killing me, Aah! This headache couldn’t find a better time.”

Shayan let out a sigh “If this mail was sent by any random person, it could have been dismissed as a prank, but the professor dies and the next day this mail comes with a letter in which he predicts his death. He knew he would die so he had already prepared. This cannot be a prank, there are too many coincidences for it to be a prank. Shit! We shouldn’t have gone to his house.”

“How were we supposed to know about him, Asraa came and invited us to her home, how would we know that something was wrong and that he would make us touch this totem knowing that it is dangerous?” said Akash still holding on to his head. “That reminds me of Asraa, where is she? I haven't seen her all day, did you Akash?”

“No I haven’t, the last time I saw her was when we went to the professor’s house yesterday”.

“Why did such a good trip after so many days get messed up because of a crazy old man.”

“There’s no point in discussing something we are not sure about. Let's see if we get those nightmares again tonight and if Akash also gets them too,” said Rishabh.

Night came and also the fear that what they learned today might come true. As usual, the girls went in one room and the boys in another.

“I’m scared Anwesha, what if it's true and Sifinis really exists? We would all die.”

“Don’t worry Prantika everything will be all right, it has to be some superstition or some urban legend, we are being scared of for no reason.”

“But somebody died Anwesha”

“…….. to be honest Prantika I am scared too, but font worry we are in this together we will fix it. We should get some sleep.”

“I’m scared to sleep.”

“Me too Prantika, me too.”

Akash didn’t know what to think about all this, Sifinis? an inter-dimensional God, a crazy cult trying to free him, Sifinis trying to destroy earth? This is nothing less than a fantasy story, no way it can be true. Right? thought Akash. But the professor’s death and the letter saying all this? What about that? Argh my head is getting messed up. I should try getting some sleep and stop thinking about it. He looked at his friends who were already asleep, then shut his eyes.

Akash woke up suddenly. He felt a very heavy weight on his chest. He didst know how long he had been asleep but it was pitch black. “Shhhh! Don’t make any noise the others will wake up.”

The voice seemed familiar “Asraa? You? What the hell are you doing here? Get off me.”

“I didn’t sneak into your room to go away. After all, you love me, don’t you?”

“Wh…. wha…...what are you talking about?”

“Hmph! You cannot disagree anymore, that day when I came to this house I saw it in your eyes, the desire to get me.”

Asraa leaned towards Akash until their faces were just a few millimeters apart her chest pressed against his, their hips locked. Akash could feel her heartbeat on his chest, he felt her breath on his lips. She ran her fingers through his hair, Akash’s face became hot and then softly kissed him sending tremors across his entire body. Every muscle in his body tensed up, his head was dizzy. Another kiss and he melted; he gave in.

“A…Asraa I…I don’t like where this is going”

“But I like it”

“……”

“Say Akash, is there anyone you like?” said Asraa as she started undressing herself.

“Huh! Uh..ye..yes I do..do. But wh…why do you ask?”

“Why are you so nervous Akash? Why are you scared of your own lover? And I asked that question so that if there was any, I could fucking KILL them. You Are mine, only mine!! You understand??”

The heat of the moment and Asraa’s words rendered him incapable of speaking. The next thing he knew was that they both were stark naked. Their bare skin lying against each other. Asraa’s slender body was illuminated against the moonlight, she looked like an angel who descended straight from heaven.

She placed her hands on this bare chest with his hands on her hips and devoured him with her mouth. She thrust her hips and Akash groaned in ecstasy. His hands all over her body. He had lost all control of his body, he was now completely her puppet, but deep inside he knew the consequences, and what was happening was not right. He was her slave now and she was using him. His heart was pounding wildly in tandem to the movement of her hips.

“Ah life is so beautiful, isn’t it? I feel like I know everything in this universe”

They both were sweating heavily even though it was winter in the mountains, and then his eyes fell on her face. No more feeling of ecstasy  or pleasure, he was simply now terrified of what he saw. There wasn’t anything…her head was missing, only her body moving. Even though there was no head he could fell the stare he now knew so well burning in his soul. Akash screamed and summoning all his willpower he pushed her away. He reached out his hand and turned on the switch beside the bed. The lights turned on and in that, he saw her face again.

She was grinning with wide unblinking eyes. That stare sent a chill down his spine, he felt the same awful feeling he felt when she was staring at him from behind the wall on the first day. He shook Rishabh who was sleeping behind trying to wake him up,

“They are not going to wake up, not now at least” said Asraa and with that, she jumped through the window.

 Akash shouted after her “wait, what did you do with them?” Akash looked out of the window and his eyes widened, this window was situated directly above a cliff. Akash stepped back from the window, his thoughts all messed up. Then suddenly he hears a scream from behind. He turns around to see the others sitting up on the bed and breathing heavily.

“What happened? Are you all, right?” asked Akash in a worried tone.

Rishabh looked at him, beads of sweat on his forehead, “the nightmare…I... I saw it again, exactly as yesterday.” Akash looked the others they also agreed to have seen it too. The room fell silent, and the air in the room grew heavy. They all knew what it meant; their suspicion was right. Whatever the professor had written in the letter was true. A scream also came from the girl's room too.

Nobody said any word after that, they all turned off the lights and went to bed. Akash closed his eyes and not long after that, the awful feeling of being watched instantly came back, he was too scared to even move his eyes from the ceiling, but the more he ignored it the stronger the feeling became. He clenched his teeth and turned his eyes slowly towards the window through which Asraa had jumped. In the faint moonlight, he could only make out the wide grin on her face before everything turned black.

The next three days were heavy. As if impenetrable darkness had seeped into their lives, a suffocating feeling lingered in the house. Akash would look at their sunken, bleary eyes with dark circles around them, and feel pity for his friends. It happened so quickly, just three days ago they were having fun and now they neither slept nor even say a word to each other. They would stay all day and night in their rooms sitting on the bed and staring at

the wall with a blank expression. They were always on the edge, even the slightest noise was enough to make them jump and make them cry uncontrollably.

Akash turned towards Prantika who was sitting on a chair beside him,

“Prantika—”.

She almost fell off the chair “NO! please don’t take me please!”

“Hey it's okay, it’s me no one is going to take you anywhere. Please eat

something, you haven’t eaten since yesterday.” She turned her head towards him and opened her mouth to say something but all that came was complete silence.

Akash turned his head away from her, tears welled up in his eyes. He himself was not fine too, even though his state was not as pitiful as the others but seeing all this had taken a toll on his own sanity, especially when every night, Asraa would come and stare at him all night through the window. Whenever he closed his eyes, he would just see her grinning face.

That night was especially grim. His friends wouldn't even respond anymore, and stare all day at the ceiling. They hadn't even eaten all-day. Akash decided to call Shayan's relatives who also lived in same city first thing in the morning.

Night came, he lay down on his bed; exhausted both mentally and physically, waiting for Asraa to come outside the window and stare at him for the rest of the night. An hour passed by but she did not appear.

"Strange, she usually comes here around this time. Maybe it will be a little less torturous tonight."

He closed his eyes, a minute passed and he felt it. But this time not the usual pair of eyes but multiple as if everything around him came alive and was staring at him and laughing at his pain. He slowly opened his eyes preparing to meet the familiar face; there was no one at the window. He broke in to cold sweat as he slowly turned his head towards the room. There, at the doorway stood five dark figures. They looked like shadows, like a clump of liquid black mass, their eyes glowing like embers.

"Who... Who are you? Now what do you all want?"

No response came from them but they started moving towards him.

"Stay away.. please don't come here" Akash shouted.

"aaaakaashhh" a voice floated from the figures.

" give us your life" and reached out their hands towards him.

Akash wailed "No...no....please spare me please"

The figures surrounded him.

" Save us Akash, please save us. Take us away from here please"

Akash could barely recognize the voice.

"Rishabh? Shayan, Prantika, Anwesha you all too? What

happened to you guys?"

"Save us Akash please"

A hand extended and and grabbed his arm. Akash screamed in pain, it was burning coal. More hands came and grabbed him, slowly engulfing him into their dark embrace towards the inescapable darkness. Akash screamed until all went dark.

He was woken up by a loud banging on the door. Akash looked at the clock, it was 5 am,"what the hell was that? Was it a dream?" He looked at his arms - there were burnt marks all over his arms. He ignored it and went to open the door, and just as he approached the door, he again felt the same exact feeling he feels every night, but this time only for a short time. He hesitated to open the door, but thought “what could go wrong anymore” and opened the door. Akash’s heart sank, Asraa stood there but without the usual grin on her face, her clothes in tatters, injuries and bruises all over her body.

 “Please help me Akash” and then collapsed on the floor.

#

“Hey are okay?”

Asraa opened her eyes slowly as Akash called out to her. “Oh! Thank goodness you are all right. I was so scared.”

“What happened? where am I?”

“You appeared in front of my door in such a state then fall unconscious and you are asking me what happened?”

Asraa saw that her wounds had been dressed and she was covered in a blanket. She sat silently for a minute before speaking, “there’s no time to waste, they are going to release him tonight. You have to stop him otherwise he will destroy everything.”

“Who is going to release who? And besides, what happened to you? Why were you in this condition and how dare you come to me for help after you turned my life into a living hell?”

“It wasn’t me, it was her. The professor’s wife did all this while possessing my body. I managed to take control of my body and then came here to you which is why I was in that condition. The professor will free Sifinis, they will perform the ritual tonight, please you have to hurry,” said Asraa.

Akash’s confusion grew even more, “wait a minute, what do mean by professor? He is dead!”

“Yes, he is dead but he came back, I saw him with my eyes. You are wasting time by questioning me.”

“No, wait! Firstly you come here talking nonsense which is impossible and secondly after all you have done how can I trust you”, said Akash furiously.

“Fine don’t believe me then let your friends die and if you really doubt me why don’t you go and check whether he is still dead or not. Call the police and see what they have to say.”

“Okay I’ll do that and if it turns out to be lie you leave this house immediately and please get out of my life”.

 Akash then called at the police station and talked on the phone for over a minute and during the entire time his expression darkened over time. He turned towards Asraa, “they are saying that the professor's body went missing the next day from the morgue”. Akash slumped into the sofa, and buried his face in his hands, “what the hell, how is this even possible? We all saw him dead on the floor. What do I do now? How do I save my friends?”

“There is only one way…”

“What? What is it? How can I save them”?

“You need to die!”

Confusion spread across his face, “w..what are you saying? Are you out of your mind?”

“You think it’s a joke, you think I am joking? My life is in danger, your friends lives are in danger and you think I would joke about something like that?” she said.

“You mean to say I give up my life based on something a possessed crazy girl who is  trying to kill me says?” said Akash.

“Who says I am trying to kill you, Akash?” a familiar smile spread across her face. Akash instantly knew it was not Asraa but the monster inside her.

“What this girl is saying is indeed true, death is the only way. But don’t you think I am letting you do it,” and then grabbed his hand with inhuman strength as if they were a pair of iron rods. A fire lit up in her eyes, and Akash trembled at the sight. Those flames were staring into his soul, threatening to burn his very existence and his soul. And at the very next instant the flame disappeared, she let go of his hand and started breathing heavily.

“She came back, I couldn’t keep her away. Every minute her strength increases, I don’t know how much time I have left.” “You got the proof now that I am not joking or do you need more?”

“Is there no other way? Do I really have to die?”

“None that I know of. The professor had killed himself while have one of those totems on him.”

Akash let out a breath, “. I…I just don’t want to die just it to be vain” just as Akash stood up to leave his hand was grabbed from behind and it was the same grip he felt just a few minutes ago.

“Where do you think you are going Akash. Don’t you know how much I love you, I won’t let you die. Ha! ha! Ha!”

“Let go of me you bitch!”

“Oh, I see you want to be a fucking hero. Foolish mortal, no one shall stop the lord from coming, he is going to bring salvation to all of u—”

Akash punched with all his strength at her face which make her lose the grip on his hand. “Sorry, Asraa but it was necessary.” He dashed to the room where the totem was kept, grabbed it, and climbed through the window overlooking the cliff. He looked at his friends inside the room, “don’t worry I will save you all.”

“AAKAASH! don’t run away from me, you know I love you so much. There is no point in running, come back to me.”

Akash was now standing over the edge of a cliff with the totem in his hand. He had to make a decision now.

Tears streaked across his face as he was falling through the air. His entire life flashed before his eyes, then a sharp pain followed by a blinding white flash.

Akash lay on the ground. He stood up, he felt no pain. He looked around, it was exactly the same place, he was standing in front of the professor's house. Shayan’s house was beside it, and the lights were on the inside. And everything else he could remember was exactly the same. But still, something felt very wrong. He was in Darjeeling but it was not at all cold here. Instead, it was so hot that he was sweating profusely.

Akash then looked up at the sky- nothing but a blank void, an infinite abyss. It was pitch black as if all the stars and planets even the sun had run away leaving earth alone in the darkness of space.

“So you are finally here. You are looking Directly at Sifinis right now” a voice came from the front of the professor's house.

Akash looked at the professor sitting on the stairs at the entrance. He rushed and grabbed his shirt and pulled him up, “you bastard, you destroyed my life, my friends’ life and now you are planning to release this thing on earth and kill everyone?”

“Watch your tongue boy. How do you dare you insult our lord; can’t you see him? He’s so beautiful.”

“Shut up! Stop this insanity right now”

“Stop? Ha! Ha! I think you are a bit late to say that. The ritual is already complete, Sifinis is already waking up from his slumber. Nobody can stop him now!”

“What did you do? Why? why?”

The professor's expression changed into anger, “Why? Why do you ask? Me and my wife were the last member of the cult. We were happy. But then one day we got caught in the act of killing people, and the villagers beat my wife to death and almost killed me. I decided to take my revenge on the people who killed my wife. I kidnapped the daughter of the chief of the village and put the soul of my wife in her body. Since then, we both have been wandering around looking for a way to release our lord Sifinis and bestow justice on this rotten world. And then we came you and your friends.”

Akash had let go of the professor already, “you clearly are a sick man. Your sense of justice is meaningless and messed up.”

“Ha, you mere mortals wouldn’t understand the joy in serving lord Sifinis. One would want to go to any extent for his glory.”

“But why did you send Asraa after me especially?”

The professor's face twisted even more in rage, “You, you and your devotion towards your Gods. They protected you from the effects of the totem. Left with no other choice I had to send my dear wife to break your will and scar you, to turn you into a worthy sacrifice. She defiled herself to you for the greater good. But I will forgive you as it was not for me but him.”

“What about my friends, what did you do to them?”

“Ah! Your friends are still alive it seems. Lord Sifinis gave them a chance too to witness his glory.”

“Where are they?”

“Inside”

Akash rushed past the professor inside the house. Inside the house were his friends sitting around a table. And then they saw him.

“Akash? Is that really you? How did you come here?” said Shayan while everybody hugged him.

Akash burst into tears, he  was happy to see his friends completely normal as he has remembered them to be. But his happiness did not stay for long.

A thunderous sound of explosion as if millions of volcanoes erupted at once. The ground shook from the sound and split, the house started to crumble down and a scream came from outside the house, “NOOOOO! How could this happen?”

Akash and his friends rushed out of the falling house to see the world on fire. Mountains split, lava gushed out of the ground, everything they could set their eyes on was on fire.

“It’s all because of you, even after sending my wife Sifinis could not still consume your mind. He could not gain enough power to break the barrier. Now he is angry and is trying to force his way in. It’s all because of you, you destroyed everything, everything is doomed. He is not going to spare anyone!”

“Shut up its all your fault for trying to play with forces of nature you have no control over. Now everyone has to pay the price for your mistake,” replied Akash and the punched the professor in his gut knocking him out.

“You sick bastard, I hope you rot in hell” and kicked him again.

“Akash stop, it’s enough, anymore and he will die”.

“You are right Anwesha, his own God will probably kill him, his own misdeeds will lead him to his death.”

“Now what is more important is how do we get out of here; this place is like hell now. We need to escape otherwise we will be caught up in this too”, said Prantika.

Akash looked around…. nothing but fire, the whole world was burning around them. The flames roaring like a hungry beast ready to devour them at any moment were steadily creeping towards them. The smoke rose high and covered the sky as if wanting to engulf the Heavens itself in its dark embrace.

The final strand broke inside Akash. Hope turned into despair. Akash fell down to his knees as all the strength from his legs suddenly drained away.

Tears welled up in his eyes, “I do not know Prantika, I do not know. I anyhow came here to save you all, but I don’t know how to return. I probably can’t even return anymore,” said Akash as he remembered how he jumped from the cliff, “Heh, I am probably dead now” he thought to himself.

Anger replaced despair, “It’s all because of this stupid object,” and grabbed the totem “had this thing not entered our lives, it would not have like this, our lives would not be in danger, I…. I wouldn't had to die.” And then in a fit of rage threw the totem against the wall of the house, the totem exploded with a blinding flash and shattered into pieces.

“What the hell? Why did it explode like that? And besides what did you just say just now?” said Shayan as he grabbed Akash by his shoulder. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t have to die? You are right here aren’t you, you are right in front of us...…Huh...what’s happening?”

“S..Shayan wha..your hand..your hands are passing through me….why can’t I touch you? Why can’t I touch any of you all??? What the is happening?”

Akash threw his hands in the air trying to grab his friends or what was left of them as they all slowly vanished into nothingness………leaving him all alone.

‘Thud!’ a sound came from behind him, he turned around only to look into the lifeless eyes of his own bloodied body lying in front of him. There were no more emotions, no sadness, no anger. Akash knelt beside his body and waited there slowly until the flames engulfed him.

“We are back!” exclaimed Shayan, as he looked around him, everything was fine. A cold peaceful starry night in the mountains.

“B..but Akash? Why didn’t he also come back. We couldn’t touch him and then suddenly he disappeared and we are here.”

“Is he still trapped in there?”

“I don’t know but we need to do something, we need to help him”

“But how?”

“I don’t know but we have to find a way, at least this real world is now safe from the clutches of Sifin…….”

The sound of a huge explosion echoed through the mountains, the ground split, the mountains collapsed, and a sea of fire rose from the depth of hell, and this time the real world burned. Akash’s mind had finally broken and Sifinis finally free. Stars and planets fell from the sky revealing an endless void, and then Sifinis arrived. An eye of unimaginable size stretching from one end of the earth to another appeared and looked upon these mere mortals on this planet with hatred and disgust. There was no escape from this inevitable doom. Humans are truly helpless when faced with something they don’t understand.