"A handkerchief? Are you kidding me?"

Shivam and the Seamstress were still standing beside the lake. The Seamstress had explained to Shivam that he would require a special object to be able to create a "hollow" -- a "break" in the Fabric that blanketed all worlds from each other. She had said that while she would help him cross over to Heart, the world to which Aparajita, now an "Imoogi", must have fled, she would not be able to help him once he crossed over. Nor would she be able to go to this parallel world with him. Her duties called her, she had to go back to the Society of Seamstresses.

After explaining all this, she had handed Shivam a handkerchief, saying that it would open the Hollow in the Fabric.

"How can a handkerchief open a Hollow or anything?" Shivam asked, incredulously.

"Any kind of cloth woven by a Seamstress has the potential of opening a Hollow. The bigger the cloth, the bigger the Hollow becomes. You have to hold the handkerchief in your hands, and utter an incantation after me," the Seamstress said.

"Okay...and no one will be able to see this Hollow thing apart from us?" Shivam asked.

"Take a look around you, Shivam. Do you see anyone around us? Were anyone around when Aparajita transformed? Some things are preordained, young man. No human being should witness a girl changing into a dragon. And they are not permitted to watch a hollow appear, either. But of course, you have to be very quick. This place is special now, enchanted. You have to cross over before the spell cast by the Imoogi fades away."

"Give me the incantation, then. Let's do this." Shivam felt his heart hammering inside his ribcage.

In her deep, musical voice, the Seamstress began uttering the incantation. The long, narrow slices of greenish black cloak began dancing about her as she did so. The red glow of the moon seemed to intensify. Flashes of lightning ran across the sky, although Shivam couldn't see much clouds. This just kept getting crazier--why did it have to happen to him? Why not someone else?

"Et incarnatus est de terra et igne,

unde imber et odorem fumi

Mando portarum pareat

Vadite et nihil frangentur, " the Seamstress said, slowly, so that Shivam could also utter it.

As soon as Shivam finished uttering the incantation, thinking that he must have uttered it wrong, it was so fucking arcane, something changed in the environment around them. The air right in front of Shivam rippled, as if a lot of smoke had appeared there from somewhere. And then, in the blink of an eye, two bright, golden circles etched themselves in mid-air, one inside the other. Strange runes ran around their circumference. Soon more circles appeared and began revolving rhythmically around and about the first ones. The innermost circle was glowing with magnificent, myriad colours, and soon it began sucking in air.

"Hurry!" The Seamstress shouted. "Before it closes! Walk through it!"

Shivam turned to her. "One more thing," he said.

"We don't have time! If the Hollow closes, it won't appear again for another seventy two hours! Walk through it!" The Seamstress seemed to be panicking, and it unnerved Shivam all the more.

"Why are you helping me? What is it to you whether I find Aparajita or not?" Shivam asked. The fallen leaves from the nearby trees were pulled into the innermost circle with formidable force. They seemed to burn through it, and disappear.

"Because all this was meant to be! You with your powers were born here for a reason! Now cross over, cross over!" The Seamstress screeched, as a crow flew past her and into the Hollow made up of bright golden magic circles.

"Powers? But I don't..." Shivam began.

"Yes you do have powers! You have always been able to hear the thoughts of animals! That's because you're a Raiser, Shivam, a Raiser! You can tame dragons if you really try."

So she knew his secret. He indeed seemed capable of hearing the thoughts of animals. In fact, he had heard the crow screaming for help as it was drawn into the Hollow. But until today, he had always assumed that it was just a trick of his mind, that he was just sensitive to animals. Still, all kinds of pets he came across immediately developed a liking for him, and he could always tell their owners if their pets needed anything...

Time was running out. Shivam walked to the brightly flashing circles, and tentatively placed his palm on the myriad colours shimmering within the innermost one.

He was pulled into a vortex with unimaginable, magnanimous force.

His life had just began.