Fire crackled, burning higher, eating away at the spoonful of clarified butter that was poured into it by the Brahman priest, who wore a white thread circling from his right shoulder and going around the left side of his stomach and under his left arm, and then back where it started.
Melodious chants filled the temple, sung in a language only the Brahman and one other in this room understood, yet everyone else still found them pleasant.
These were the wedding chants sung in pure Sanskrit by the Brahman, carrying out the Hawan.
An act deeply rooted in both Paneria's traditions and the Hindu traditions, the fire acts as the medium of the divine, where they make offerings through it.
When the next spoonful of butter was poured into the fire, two hands reached forward, one was that of a man and the other of a woman.
The woman's hand was covered in the markings of heena, supporting the man's hand holding it from the underside.
They offered a mixture of powdered offerings into the fire.
Aman looked to his left and smiled, looking at Luna, his soon to be wife.
They were surrounded by the rest of the family members and guests, who sat on the temple floor, observing silently.
For those who were unable to sit down, like the elderly, chairs were arranged so they could sit back and watch the marriage progress.
On one side were all the guests from the groom's side, and on the other were the guests from the bride's side.
Among the guests from the groom's side were Raghav and Aurelia.
He had cleaned up from the battle and was now in a plain white shirt with the sleeves folded just below the elbow and black pants. His hair fell on his forehead, refusing to go anywhere due to still being wet.
Since the time he came to Paneria, they had grown longer than usual and were starting to fall past his eyebrows.
Aurelia, on the other hand, was dressed in a simple blue and white dress with her hair tied in a ponytail.
Her skin was practically glowing in the temple as if this temple was dedicated to her and she was the Goddess.
The young couple sat side by side, watching the marriage unfold.
Somewhere through the vows and hawan. Raghav's eyes drifted from the marriage to the figure behind the priest.
Behind the Brahman priest was The One.
A lone figure of black marble, adorned with a golden crown with a peacock feather inserted in the crown. Upon his body rested several necklaces of gold and a garland of white flowers.
The beautiful black eyes were the most real thing in existence. If one were to gaze into them, they would find themselves lost in his beauty.
Draped over his shoulder was a long rectangular cloth of yellow silk.
One end hung from the middle right arm. If you followed it, you would see that it was wrapped around the forearm two times and then went over the right shoulder, going over the upper back and coming down onto the middle left arm, where the other end hung.
Four of the six arms held something in their palm.
A golden discus with sharp, pointed blades on the edges and a hollow circle at the centre, which allowed the discus to rest in the index finger of the highest right hand.
Pink lotus flower in the lower right hand.
White conch shell held in the highest left hand.
Golden mace held in the lower left hand, with the mace resting near his feet.
The two middle arms were stretched outward, towards whoever may come to meet him.
To hold them, to embrace his loved ones.
Right now, another pair of black eyes were locked with The One's.
Raghav smiled as his eyes teared up slightly, joining his hands and bowing his head to The One.
'Siya var Ramchandra ki jai.'
He chanted in his mind, as for him, The One was in a totally different form than what the others could see, something meant only for him.
Raghav was brought out of his trance by Aurelia as she pulled on his shirt. Raghav followed her and stood up as the marriage proceeded to the next step, the Phere.
First, their parents tied their clothes together with a strong knot.
Then they began to circle the divine in a clockwise manner, with Aman walking in the front, looking down at his feet, followed by Luna, who had a veil covering her head and face.
But it was clear that she was smiling underneath.
To complete the ritual, the guests began to shower flower petals on the couple.
Raghav and Aurelia joined the rest of the guests.
Their hands would graze each other when they reached for the petals that Raghav was holding in his left hand.
As the first Phera was complete, they sat back down, this time with Aman to the left and Luna to the right, as they needed not to cross each other before it was time.
Another chant began as Aurelia leaned closer to Raghav, whispering in his ear. "Have you given any thought to marriage?"
Lowering his head to be directly beside her, Raghav smiled as he answered. "I have, I was thinking I will get married when we get back to Rine."
"Oh. That would be pleasant."
Aurelia did not speak further than this, and Raghav did not push her.
Simply, they returned to the event before them.
Soon, the seven Phere were completed, and Aman tied the marital jewellery around Luna's neck before he lifted the veil and took a pinch of Sindoor, also known as red vermillion powder and placed it in a line starting from Luna's hairline, going a little up in her hair.
Lastly, the two of them both held a garland of various flowers and adorned each other.
Thus, the union of the couple had been fulfilled, and the groom and the bride stepped to take blessings from everyone.
Usually, the first feet a newly married couple would touch would be of the elders in their family, but in rare cases, when a person of great spirituality is present, the couple goes to them.
Today, there was someone like that present, so they were guided through the guests by the priest, directly towards Raghav and Aurelia.
Aman looked at Raghav with a smile as Luna looked at Aurelia. The two stood before them and bowed down, touching their feet.
Raghav bent down, lifting Aman. "May you live a long and prosperous life, may your marriage be filled with happiness, may you find devotion in The One, and may you become a devotee through whom people learn what devotion means."
He pulled Aman closer in and embraced him, as he whispered something in his ear.
No ordinary being could grant what Raghav did, but Raghav was not ordinary, not in the slightest, and Aurelia, who stood beside him, shared that with him.
Aurelia lifted Luna and tilted her head slightly to the left, doting over the newlywed bride. "May you remain happily married forever, may your children be beautiful of mind and body, and may they be devotees of The One and spread love and knowledge to the world."
Following this, Luna was wrapped in an embrace by Aurelia.
The newly married couple were on the verge of crying as they joined their hands and bowed to the couple in front of them.
Then they were taken to the others for their blessing, and the marriage ceremony came to an end.
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Raghav and Aurelia were walking through the park as the birds chirped around them, sitting on their shoulders as if singing songs for the two of them.
They paid attention to the birds and patted them all one at a time.
A song praising lord Ram began playing from Raghav's pants as he pulled his phone out to look at it, the birds learning down to look with him.
Immediately, Raghav answered the call, and through came An's voice. "I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"No, not at all. We were just walking in the park, the marriage ceremony ended a few minutes ago. Shall we come back to the inn?"
"You should head over to the City Hall. The three of us are on our way there."
Raising his head, Raghav sighed. "I take that the restoration process went smoothly?"
"Indeed, after the battle, while you and Aurelia went back to the inn to prepare for the wedding, Eldrain and I, with some verbal support from Shin, managed to restore the cavity."
"What of the weapons? Did you manage to find Dharm and Shin's Katana?"
"We did, we have them with us."
"Excellent, we will be there in ten minutes."
With that, the call was cut, and Raghav glanced over to Aurelia. "Time to get back to work."
Aurelia chuckled, stealing glances at Raghav's eyes before holding his hand in hers.
Ten minutes later, just as he had spoken, Raghav opened the door and entered the Count's office alongside Aurelia.
"How was the wedding?"
Shin would ask almost immediately.
Raghav picked up the sheathed Dharm from the table, tying it around his hip. "It was good. So what are we doing here?"
He asked, sitting between Eldrain and Shin, while Aurelia sat on the other sofa beside An.
Jacob had turned his chair to face the sofa alongside Commander Opus.
"We were discussing what to tell the public about what happened on the bridge. Lord Eldrain and Lady An have taken care of the cavity under Old Plied. We do not think that the public needs to know about it, so we are keeping that information classified."
"I see, what is there to discuss? If you want my opinion, then I say tell the public the truth."
Galreid leaned forward in his chair, resting a hand on the table. "Even regarding Mark?"
"No, the truth regarding what happened, not the logistics behind it."
Upon clarifying his thoughts, he looked at the box in front of him.
"I've placed the phone and earbuds back in there."
Raghav turned to Jacob, just in time to see him sigh. "It was surreal seeing something from Earth being recreated using magic. But I made my peace with leaving Earth behind and accepting Paneria as my home."
"Very well, then I wish you the best of fortune for the days to come, Captain Jacob."
The two men stood up, walking over to each other and shaking hands.
"I hope your journey goes smoothly and swiftly, and your quest gets fulfilled in no time."
"Raghav!"
Galreid called out as he approached the two of them.
"Will you be joining us for the public addression?"
Raghav tilted his head as he gave Galreid a gentle smile before shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, we are going to leave the city before sunset." "Oh.... I understand.... You must be hoping to get back on your journey as quickly as possible."
Raghav would only nod as Galreid sighed, holding Raghav's shoulder before nodding with his eyes closed.
"You can leave this city to us; we will handle the cleanup without any problems."
"That is precisely why we can leave knowing that the city is in capable hands."
Finishing his words, Raghav looked from Galreid to Jacob and lastly at Commander Opus, who stood near the table with frowning eyebrows.
"But what if Mark has a backup plan, ready to strike the moment you are a safe distance away?"
Commander Opus questioned as Raghav shook his head. "He won't do that. From what I have observed, he tries once and moves on to his next plan if it fails. We know this because he did nothing after Prime Minister Vaughn was uncovered, and since the attack on Marne was thwarted by Shin and Kanah, he has not taken any major steps there."
Walking past everyone, Raghav reached the window and looked at the road below. "I stand to believe that he had a hand in bringing us to this city. He knew how powerful Eldrain and I were; he was taking our strength as a sacrifice on par with the thirty one million people and millions of monsters."
An grabbed her chin as her eyes flickered. "You decided to come here to get the elements you found in the ring. He must have known the ring would end up in your hands and you would come here searching for the elements. Knowing him, he most likely had something to do with the commission regarding the wildlife as well, to create the conflict between the administration and the underworld."
Hmmm
Raghav hummed in response as he turned away from the window and walked towards the table, picking up the briefcase.
He looked back at Galreid and Jacob one last time. "You do not need to worry about him anymore; he must be long gone by now."
With that, Raghav walked towards the door, followed by his party.
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When the Sun began to set upon the city of Plied.
The Band of Heroes had checked out of the inn and walked to the warehouse, where Shin loaded all the bags inside the metal carriage, and Eldrain, alongside Raghav, who had his signature jacket on, secured the horses to the carriages.
Once all was set, Aurelia, An and Vrisht all entered the metal carriage, leaving the men to sit in the front.
Raghav and Shin sat at the front of the metal carriage, while Eldrain sat alone at the front of the food carriage as they rode out onto the road.
"How were they?"
Shin looked at Raghav with squinted eyes before he realised what Raghav meant. "Oh! Yeah, the guns are incredible, they feel light and they have no kickback to them."
"I am glad you liked it, which reminds me, I did tell you that once you were ready to have the guns, you would also be ready to know what our quest truly is."
To say that Shin was excited would be an understatement, as he would turn his entire body towards Raghav.
Who did not share the enthusiasm to the same degree as Shin, but he did reach inside his jacket and pulled out a book, handing it over to Shin.
"Read this, you will understand everything."
Phft
Shin snorted as he took the book, giving Raghav a smug look. "You know I used to read entire web novels in a single night. I will get back to you in five minutes."
Finishing those words, he opened the book and looked down at the first page.
He frowned at the title as he read it out loud. "Die reise meines lebens."
His eyes then drifted towards the name of the author below. "Written by Istreid, who in truth is Hans Walter."
HAHAHA
Shin pumped his fist up in the air as he stood up, laughing at the top of his lungs. "I knew it!"
Not to disturb people more than he already had, he sat down looking at Raghav. "I knew he was from Earth as well, the things he made in this world, the sewage system, light bulbs, water supply system, stove system, poker, cards, all of it thanks to a..."
He read a little into the journal as he slapped the page with the back of his hand when he found the detail he was looking for.
"A middle aged man who died in West Germany during the great depression and was isekai'd into this world, being reborn as Istreid. But he died in 1929 on earth and was born 1247 years ago. He must have been from a different Earth than ours, just like Jacob."
"What does Isekai'd mean?"
Eldrain asked as he had moved his carriage beside theirs to join the conversation.
A grin appeared on Shin's face as he turned around to look at Eldrain. "So basically, on Earth, we have made up stories, most are set on Earth, and some are set on other made up worlds, which are called fantasy media. Isekai are basically a type of stories where a normal person would somehow get transported to a made up world with magic, dragons, yada yada yada. World like Paneria, for example."
Taking a quick breath, Shin would continue before Eldrain could ask any questions.
"There are different ways to get isekai'd, five to be precise, the first one is accidentally crossing a tear in space and time or falling through an interdimensional rift. Like how I got here."
Then, pointing at Raghav, he continued. "The second way is getting summoned, usually by a king and his court, like Raghav. The third is reincarnation, like how Hans Walter was reincarnated in this world as Istreid. The fourth way also begins with you dying, but in this one, a deity or ancient being would summon you and give you a task like defeating the demon king before reviving your body and sending it to another world."
Shin paused for another moment to bite his lips as he thought about the last method.
"The last method is a new one, it's called transmigration. Basically, on a random Tuesday, your soul would get transported to another world and placed in someone else's body. So it's kind of like reincarnation, but instead of starting as a baby, you hijack someone else's life."
Eldrain leaned his head back with a slightly open mouth as he took in the words Shin told him. "So transmigration happens only on Tuesday?"
He asked, not getting the metaphor, as Shin shook his head. "No, basically on a random Tuesday is a metaphor to say on any random day, like it does not have to be a special day like an eclipse."
Gasp
Shin turned to Raghav as he smiled. "I have heard that there would be an eclipse at the end of August. It would be so cool."
"I am sure it would be cool, but are you sure you could finish this book in..."
Raghav paused as he looked at his wristwatch. "Two minutes and twenty nine seconds. Now twenty eight."
Gritting his teeth with a scrunched expression, Shin returned to reading the book and sped through it.
Only needing a few seconds to scan entire pages.
Once he was done, he looked at Raghav's clock and smiled as he had two seconds to spare. "So, now I understand why you call it a dead man's quest. By the way, can I see the compass?"
"Yes, you can. Eldrain, could you pass me the compass?"
"Here."
Eldrain pulled out the compass from his storage pouch and tossed it towards Raghav.
Once the compass was in hand, Raghav held it out for Shin, who admired it while the other two turned their attention to the road.
Upon observing all the details carved into the body, he pressed the button, opening the compass.
"According to it, we should head south."
Both Eldrain and Raghav turned their heads towards the compass.
Because for the first time since their journey began.
Did it point in a direction other than west.
"When was the last time you checked it?"
Raghav questioned, to which Eldrain responded. "Just before we met Shin in the plains at the base of the Gustan mountains."
"No wait, it's turning again!"
Just as Shin had said, the needle began nudging towards the east as Eldrain and Raghav both looked up from the compass and at each other.
"There's a relic in this city."
The two spoke in union before turning forward. "Take a left, we are not leaving the city just yet. Follow the direction Shin gives you."
Eldrain commanded Gati, Anu and Mili as they obeyed his command and went to the road on the left, disembarking from the road that led to the southern city gates.
A singular raindrop fell on the compass and shattered as Raghav quickly grabbed the book and placed it inside the carriage through a latch just behind the seat.
As the rain picked up pace, they were quickly drenched in the heavy rain. The civilians who were on foot ran around, standing under trees and ledges to take cover from the rain.
Shin blinked repeatedly as the needle suddenly pointed south again. "Right!"
Taking a hard right, the carriages drifted on the wet road before straightening out.
A few seconds later, the needle pointed west. "Right!"
Another hard turn followed closely by yet another change of direction from the needle as it pointed north.
"Right!"
"Stop on the side of the road after taking the turn."
Raghav commanded directly after Shin as the horses came to a skidding stop on the side of the road, one behind the other.
"What are the three of you doing?"
An yelled out from inside the carriage as Raghav opened the latch. "We found a relic."
He then closed the latch as the door to the carriage opened, and out stepped An and Aurelia.
"Where is it?"
She questioned getting drenched within moments, only for Eldrain to point to his left at the marketplace while walking towards them. "We took three right turns, which means it has to be in there somewhere."
Everyone looked over at the marketplace as Shin and Raghav got down from the front of the carriage.
"Shin, you lead the way with the compass. We will be right behind you."
Accepting the role given to him by Raghav, Shin walked forward, followed by the rest of the party, as they crossed the road and entered the marketplace.
The marketplace was in the shape of a rectangle, surrounded by a road on all four sides.
Meaning that there were four streets leading to the centre of the marketplace. Each of these streets was directly in the middle of each of the boundaries.
All the streets were packed with stalls and stands, with a statue of the city founder in the middle.
The buildings were all bunched together in the corner with alleyways in between.
Walking through the heavily crowded street, where most people took refuge from the rain, because of the tent that had been erected on the four street covering the open space of the market. Except above the statue, where a circular opening was left.
This, in turn, allowed the statue to be surrounded by a cylindrical wall of flowing water.
However, the party was focused on something else as Shin stopped, turning to his left towards a tavern.
The five of them stood there watching the building for a moment as Raghav spoke up. "Eldrain and I will go around on either side of the building, and the three of you head inside."
Giving the orders, Raghav and Eldrain moved to the right and left alley of the tavern, respectively.
While Shin entered the tavern with Aurelia and An by his side.
To call it an alley would be wrong; what Raghav had entered was more akin to a smaller street, just wide enough for three people to walk shoulder to shoulder.
However, it was currently empty because there was no tent over this mini street, meaning Raghav was in the rain once more.
He walked forward, reaching closer to the end of the building until.
Sniff Sniff
Came the sound of a soft voice taking a sniff, stopping Raghav in his steps.
He would take delicate steps forward and look around the corner and found a woman, wearing a black cloak with its hood down.
She was sitting on the ground, with her back to the wall of the tavern, her head resting on her knees, and her arms wrapped around her legs.
Her long black hair covered her face, and she tried her best to muffle her voice but failed, continuing to cry in the rain.
Raghav looked at her with narrow eyes, which hid behind his wet hair.
Slowly, his hand moved to push the hair back as he opened his mouth. "Are you okay?"
End of Volume
Volume-2: Plied Kand