"I mean, what do you mean?" Shambhu corrected himself.
"What do you mean by what do you mean?" Shambhu heard both his mother and a feminine voice in his head speaking the same sentence.
The voice in his head continued, "You did meet me, didn't you?" Hearing this, Shambhu countered with sarcasm, "It seems you still can speak. I did meet you, but how would she know about that?" This conversation was not even a second long in the real world, and his mother continued at the same time, "How do I know? Because I can see. You have got a tattoo of a beautiful lady on your chest. Even though it doesn't have a clear face, I can still see it's a girl."
Hearing this, Shambhu looked towards his chest. There, indeed, was a tattoo of a woman carved on the left side of his chest, near his heart. It didn't have a clear face, just a face shape, but it had a complete outline of a woman's body. The woman in the tattoo had an hourglass figure. She was neither thin nor fat. She was wearing a blood-red saree, which was draped around her lower body in a beautifully artistic way, then it moved from her right hip to her left shoulder, covering her entire upper body. The end flap of the saree seemed to be waving in the wind. The tattoo looked really beautiful on Shambhu's white skin, as it seemed to be a part of his body made with his own blood and muscle, and it seemed as if it was alive.
Seeing him lost in thought, his mother asked again, "So how and when did you get it?"
"I don't know how I got this tattoo," Shambhu replied with an uncertain look on his face.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Shambhu was bamboozled by hearing two voices again. "I will talk to you later. Please don't confuse me now," he said to the voice in his own head. "Okay," was the reply he got in a sweet voice.
"Mother, I think I got this tattoo when that sphere appeared. I am not completely sure how though," Shambhu said to his mother with an apologetic face. "I have just donated blood, can I rest for a while?"
"It's okay, son. You should rest. But be careful if it's something dangerous," Savita said with a concerned look. "And tell me if you like someone. I will talk to her if you can't," she added, not missing the rare opportunity to tease him.
Shambhu turned to go to Ananta's room to rest when Gajpati broke his silence, "Shambhu, I will come to meet you after checking up on my son." Then he turned to Shambhu's parents, "And you two can rest in the car you came in. I will need you as witnesses."
Shambhu went where his brother was resting and sat beside his bed against the wall. He then started talking to the entity he had met.
"You didn't tell me you would give me a tattoo if I accepted you," he asked.
"You didn't ask me, that's why. But for your knowledge, a symbol is left where you place a foreign power in your body," she answered his query.
"Then why on my chest?"
"Because... ummm... No. You first need to give me a name."
"A name, now, by me? Don't you have a name already?"
"A name is given to a vessel. I had to sacrifice mine. And now I am with you, so I want a name given by you," she insisted.
"Okay, let me think then." Shambhu really started thinking.
"You wear a blood-red cloth, and you had a blood-red aura, so how about I call you RAKTAA (one who is blood-red)?" Shambhu proposed.
"Thank you for giving me the same name as I had," she said with a giggle.
"Happy now?" Shambhu asked, which was answered by giggles.
Shambhu said, "But we need to have a question-and-answer session. First question, who are you? Where are you from? And why are you here?" Shambhu asked immediately.
"Asking three questions and calling it one. Typical husband behavior. But I will answer you," she said dramatically, but Shambhu ignored the husband part and listened patiently. "I am a warrior from the upper dimension, and I am here because of the summoning you witnessed," she answered.
"Just that? Can you elaborate and explain more clearly?" Shambhu asked for an explanation.
"As I said, I am a warrior from a different dimension. I ascended to being a deity last year, and I was commissioned in the army as the best prodigy of this year. But I was summoned just after it. Somebody summoned me to sacrifice me."
"What!" Shambhu exclaimed. "Summoned to sacrifice you? What does that mean?"
"Brother, is there a problem?" While talking to Raktaa in his mind, Shambhu had a confused, questioning look on his face hearing this revelation, and Ananta had noticed it. "No, no. I am fine. Just thinking about something," Shambhu immediately composed himself.
"Okay, if you say so," Ananta said, unconvinced.
"Huh," Shambhu took a deep breath. "Now answer the question, lady."
"Well, a summoner can ask his wished summon to complete a work of the summoner's choice. And my summoner wished for me to stay at the summoning site for one day," RAKTAA started explaining. "But he was in partnership with another summoner who wanted to sacrifice me to summon another powerful entity from the lower dimension."
"But why sacrifice you? He could have just asked what he wanted from you?" Shambhu questioned.
"To get your wish fulfilled by an entity, you must be powerful enough. Plus, your Karma must back up your demands. Otherwise, the summoned entity can kill you while testing your power and worthiness," RAKTAA explained. "But you can sacrifice something of equal value to your wish to prove your worth and not be worthy at the same time, which is generally impossible. And they wanted to sacrifice me to summon a being capable of destroying Prayag."
"But you could always go back, couldn't you?" asked Shambhu with curiosity.
"No. One must get the result of his Karma. And my summoner's Karma was enough for his request, so I was bound by his request to him until the day ended or he died," Raktaa explained.
"So why didn't you just kill him?" Shambhu asked again.
"I couldn't. His demand was not big enough to kill him in a test, and he didn't personally attack me. So, attacking him would have been against Dharma (Adharma)," Raktaa said.
"I see. Using Dharma as a shield to do Adharma (whatever is not dharma)," Shambhu said in an annoyed tone.
"But then how did you escape?" he asked.
"I had to sacrifice my deityhood to break my connection with him and the higher dimension. This made me free from his request to open my escape," Raktaa answered. "And he got killed in the aftermath of summoning alongside the other summoner."
"He got what he deserved," Shambhu said with anger clearly visible in his voice.
"Aww, you are getting angry on my behalf. Such a sweet man," Raktaa teased him. "Stop teasing me and tell me why you are so talkative and happy if you lost your powers," Shambhu brought the conversation back to the things he wanted to know.
"I did lose my power, but it could have been worse. I, as a soul, would have been either consumed by that evil entity or banished to the lower dimension," Raktaa said with optimism. "One gets the result of his Karma no matter what. I sacrificed my deityhood, which made me unworthy of the knowledge and power I had gained, making me weak. But I am still alive and can get powerful again. Or maybe I was destined to have a caring husband," Raktaa answered and teased him in one breath.
"Yeah, you're right, one must do what he can and not concern himself about something he can't control," Shambhu nodded but then heard the last part of her answer and asked again, "But let's come back to our relationship. Why are you calling me husband, and why did you give me a tattoo on my chest? That too of a woman?"
"You asked me to be your left part in the Language of Gods not once but twice. Now don't tell me you didn't know what it meant," Raktaa countered him. "And since I accepted to be your wife, I should be close to your heart at least. But see, I have not breached the right part of your body."
"But why would a mature warrior like you want to be my wife?" Shambhu gave an excuse. He, obviously, was testing her patience and mindset at the moment.
"Because you saved my life, and I accepted to be your wife. And hey, I am just 15, not some mature warrior," Raktaa said as if she had been wronged. "But I am sorry if I am a burden to you. If you wish, I won't call you husband or ask you to accept me as your wife," Raktaa complied in a sad voice.
"Don't be sad. I knew what VAMAANGI meant; I just didn't think you would accept it. Don't worry, I won't go back on my word. If I wouldn't have been ready to accept you as my wife, I wouldn't have asked in the first place. My Dharma doesn't allow it," Shambhu consoled her before she got too sad.
" But can you tell me why you asked me to be your wife ?" Raktaa asked.
But before Shambhu could answer, someone called him.