Prologue
"Hmm. What is it?"
"Our families have been here for generations - even before independence .There are some things that they believed in and we still believe." Harish could not stop throwing his views around.
"Don't waste my time. Just blurt it out.
Part 1 - Guardian
"There are things you would never believe - our area story is not a new story. The story has been forwarded to generations. Things happening today coincide with them." His father placed his hands below on his thighs. There were three generations of the same family sitting in the room.
"What are you exactly referring to? I understand this is a very weird and complex issue." Tejaswi Verma sat inches closer to his dad. He is a strongly built person - who would have hit a lot of gym many years ago.
His father 's face was grim, "Look at the events - since March whoever has turned 25 has died under very mysterious circumstances. Unexpected rains ruined the crops and since March , nobody has been able to sell a single rupee." Tejaswi and other person replied a meek okay.
Tejaswi was the present MLA of the area. At a very young age , he entered the political circle. The power lied in his family , which had ruled the constituency for over 50 years. Verma name had become synonymous to power. The beard on him added an extra weight to his arguments ," But what should be done now? Why suddenly these things have started occurring?"
His grandfather though looked old but one could make out the authority and dominance in his tone ," There was this curse on our area that people turning 26 will die. The lands were once fertile but due to the curse all went barren. This was put together by a powerful witch. It is said that in 16th century around , there was a disease which killed almost 500 persons in the area - each family had lost someone. People out of desperation set ablaze to a witch's lover , who turned 26 that day. That witch had no role in the disease - she became sad, angry . Post that ,our area was engulfed by a big hurricane, which killed further 1000s. People places got uprooted, disbursed. There was mayhem and chaos. Even after the hurricane was over, the lands had turned infertile. The young people whenever turned 26 they died. People in desperation searched for the witch to ask for forgiveness. But the witch was nowhere to be seen. Years passed and a new couple came to our area. People behaved nicely with the couple and provided them utmost care even though people had very less to give. Amongst the couple , the wife was a powerful witch - she became sad when one of her friends' s son died at 26. She absorbed the power of the curse and unburdened our place of the curse. Since then, it was called Devi-Kho. People say that they can still see the Devi roaming somewhere - she always has been a guardian of the region."
Tejaswi interrupted ," But even if I consider that this would have been the sequence of events. What would have happened now ?"
With a pause , his grandfather answered ," Something would have happened to Devi - may be death or something and curse would have lifted."
His father Surya was as attentive as he could be ," Let us search for her. Someone must have seen her or at least we would come to know of the truth."
"There is one thing we have to remember - when a witch dies , other witches come searching for the choti of the witch - the choti remains intact until someone adopts it and makes it her own. Our region can be the fighting ground for them."
Tejaswi grandfather seemed uneasy with the cool breeze coming in through the open window behind Tejaswi. Tejaswi rose from his seat, closed the window lid. A crow flew away as Tejaswi came nearer to the window.
The crow further flew away and came in front of a window where a lady wearing a black frock was sitting. The crow came in closer and put words into the lady's ear. " Devi is dead."
To Be Continued . . .