" 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
" And 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, artistically and beautifully, 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 itself seemed alive. It was looking really beautiful on Shambhu's white skin as it seemed to be itched from his blood and muscle itself.
Seeing him lost in thoughts his mother asked again " So how and when did you get it?"
"I don't know how I got this tattoo." Shambhu replied.
" 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. I just did not and do not want my son to get married without even telling me" his mother let him go for the time being.
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 " you two can rest in the car you came. 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 will 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. So I need a new name after being accepted by you and being yours. "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.
" So you did remember your name, huh."
" I did but I wanted a name given by you since I have to live with you now"
" Okay I believe you. But we need to have a question 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 behaviour. But I will answer you. It's my dharma now." 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?"
" 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 another summoner wanted to sacrifice me to summon an evil and more powerful entity from lower dimensions".
" But why sacrifice you , he could have just asked what he wanted from you? " Shambhu questioned.
"A deity can test his summoner for the wish he wants t be fulfilled. If the summoner is found weak or unworthy he can be killed. To escape this condition summoner needs a sacrifice of equal value. That's why they wanted to sacrifice me to summon something bigger and get their wish fulfilled." RAKTAA explained. " And if I really was sacrificed , the being summoned then might have caused a complete devastation of 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."
" So why didn't you just kill him" Sambhu asked again.
" I couldn't. I couldn't test him as I had already accepted his request and as his deity I could not attack him otherwise I would have been banished to lower dimensions as it is against Dharma". 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" Raktaa answered. " And he got killed as a result".
" 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 are you 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. As a deity I did not fulfill one's wish and so had to sacrifice my deityhood. Or may be I was destined to have a caring husband." Raktaa answered and teased him 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 " Raktaa, let's come back to the original question. Why did you give me this tattoo and why are you calling me your husband?"
" Don't act fool. You talked with me in the Language of Gods and asked me to become your left part which is a nice way of asking me to be your wife. And I accepted it in that situation." Raktaa countered him. " And a wife's place is near one's heart so I chose that."
" I wanted you to be my left part because I am a righty person." Shambhu gave an excuse.
" And now I will make your left part strong too, making you complete. And that's a wife's Dharma(duty)." Raktaa again countered. " 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.
"Hey, don't be sad. I know what I asked and I won't go back on my word." Shambhu consoled her before she got too sad .
" Then why are you interrogating me ?" Raktaa asked .
But before Shambhu could answer someone called him.