An hour back...

"Raj... No..." Reyna is sipping her evening drink from a wine glass when Serein's faint and fearful voice hits her ears.

She whooshes inside a room from the living room only to find a scared Serein mumbling "Raj" faintly, clutching the white bedsheet. Her trembling voice echoes in the silent room. Seeing her in this condition, Reyna gets closer to Serein and embraces her. She pats Serein's back in a rhythm to calm her down.

"Raj... I think... he is in danger." Serein whispers as she loosens the bedsheet from her clutches.

With creased forehead, Reyna breaks the embrace.

"You felt something?" Reyna asks.

"Yeah. You didn't?" Apprehension evident in Serein's eyes as she asks.

"No. This..." Reyna pauses looking outside at the bright sunlit sky.

"This is bad. It has never happened before that one of us is in danger and only one of the rest has felt. We all have always felt danger signs together, which means..."

"Something has broken among us." Reyna finishes Serein's deduction.

"Or maybe... someone." Serein says as their eyes meet with a realization.

"Oh no! Wait. I'll bring it in sec." Saying it, Reyna rushes out of the room and comes back before the second hand of the wall clock ticks to the next second.

Reyna brings forward a small glass bottle with wooden cork fitting its mouth and gives it to Serein. A shadowy dark gas-like substance is floating in the bottle. Gripping the bottle, Serein looks up at Reyna who sighs and says, "It was kept for our neighbour. I was thinking of visiting his dream tonight. I gave half of this nightmare to him last time I went."

"But, we have to sacrifice our food for tonight. Let's go. We can't wait any longer." Serein says while picking the crystal ball from the bedside table and gets off the bed.

Both Reyna and Serein leave the room and come to the living room. At one corner of the living room a black wooden door can be seen. They move towards the door. An old iron lock is attached with an iron chain entangled with the lock of the door. Reyna brings out a key from the pocket of her black jumpsuit. The key also has rust as the signs of old age. She puts it inside the hole and twists it two times which makes the lock open, loosening the iron chains with a clank.

Reyna pushes the door open. An air of dust engulfs the duo. They both walk inside, nonchalant of the dust. The dark room has rays of light peeping in from the one middle gap in between the two curtains of the window. Numerous dust particles are dancing in that ray of light. The light is falling straight on a wooden coffee table with one single candle sitting at the middle.

Serein keeps the crystal ball beside the candle while Reyna lights the red unburned candle. A warm light embraces the dark room as the burning flame dances despite having no sign of wind in the room. The candle flickers for a few minutes, when finally a molten wax drops on the crystal ball.

"Remember, we have only one chance. Ask questions cleverly." Reyna says as Serein nods her head.

Soon the ball starts glowing like a full moon. In that shining light Reyna and Serein nods their head, like a signal to proceed. Serein brings out the bottle and keeps it beside the glowing ball. She brings out a pen knife and makes a cut enough to bleed on her small finger of the left hand. The moment blood oozes out, Reyna opens the cork of the bottle and Serein drops the first drop of blood into the bottle. As soon as the blood and the shadowy substance touches each other, a loud thunder strikes throughout the sky.

The candle flickers once when a blackish red liquid forms inside the bottle. Serein opens the cork and pours the liquid on the crystal ball. In the very next moment, the whitish light of the ball changes into red with a black aura engulfing the whole ball.

Darkness shines
Blood cries
Ask only once for tonight

An unknown female voice echoes in the room.

"Darkness shines; Blood cries; I am asking how is Raj for tonight." Serein says and roots her eyes at the ball along with Serein.

A silence hangs in the air of the room when the same unknown voice speaks up;

Sun is Sun
Moon is Moon
They both have met each other
And the truth is shown

The moment the voice finishes her words, another thunderous lightening roars in the sky.
"Sun is Sun, Moon is Moon..." Serein says

"They both have met each other, and the truth is shown... Truth is shown... Moon and sun met... Oh shit! No! Moon and Sun met each other, means they have appeared at the same time. No! No. We need to rush Rein. Raj..."

"Is in danger. Our truth is out. They have taken their step." Serein finishes as the realisation of what may have happened dawns upon them.

They both jump up at their places. Reyna picks the now plain crystal ball and they both wind out of the room. The burning candle behind, flickers out the moment they leave the room, with no trace of burn on the peeping wick of the candle.

☆☆☆

Present moment...

Crazy wind is carrying fallen leaves in the air. An electrifying blue flashes throughout the sky illuminating the darkness of the growling clouds. Restless chirping of birds mingles with the howling cry of the wind.

"Leave me! Raj!" Pari's chocked voice screams out loud.

She has placed her palms on Raj's chest. She is trying to push him with all her force. But Raj is in no state to budge. He holds Pari's wrists in tight grips and breaks the last resistance that Pari has been trying to use.

"No Raj. Please. It's me, Pari. Please!" Losing all his humanistic consciousness, Raj bends towards Pari's neck bringing his white fangs out.

Pari's whole body shivers seeing the sight. She wriggles under his tight hold and looks sideways where Maya is standing.

"Ma... Maya, please help me. Please." A tear trickles from the corner of her eyes and vanishes in her lock of hairs.

She notices another figure beside Maya and tries to see the person by craning her neck. To her surprise she finds Shweta who is chewing her nails, standing beside Maya.

"Shwe... Shweta. No! Raj. Please come back to your senses. It's me, your best friend." Pari tries to slide sideways but in vain.

"Shweta, please help me. Why are you... No. Someone save me, please." Her dam of tears has broken wetting her sweaty face.

Shweta moves with the thought of helping Pari but before she can reach Maya turns her into a white bird. The bird flutters her wings cutting the air with urgency and rushes back to Maya while screeching loudly.

"This is their test. We can't interfere. Stay here with me." Maya says as the bird sits back on Maya's shoulder with a sigh.

Raj's white fangs graze Pari's neck's skin sending shivers down her spine.

"Raj, you're scaring me. Why are you doing this with me? Raj!" A tear laden voice cracks followed by an electrifying thunder in the sky as Raj digs his fangs trickling and trailing some blood out.

With the sudden scream and thunder, Raj halts and jolts back along with his fangs. Blood slides down from Pari's neck while Raj stumbles back with a horrified look on his eyes as his red eyes change back to black ones.

"They passed." Maya says with a contended smile on her face and vanishes into the thin air along with Shweta in her bird form.

Words in this chapter: 1308
Total words:  11575