Blood dripped from his face, and he was half unconscious, with blood and saliva flowing from his mouth. He was hanging upside down, with both hands tied to iron bars. The man was a 27-year-old youth with no clothes on his body. Around his neck was a small silver garland, which was also covered in blood.
A Bucket of water was thrown on his face from a distance, and the water splashed like blood on his face. He didn't scream in pain, but instead, a small smile bloomed on his face as he groaned and regained consciousness.
A senior police officer threw the bucket of water on him and caught his head hanging upside down. "Tell me why you went to the restricted area. Where are the other three people who came with you? Two of them were young women. What did you do with them? Why did you go there? Tell me," roared the police officer.
Beaten, smiled faintly and said, “Sir, no matter how much you beat me, this is my answer. Those three people came with me. They made a deal with me to take the magic sword. Greed consumed them. I think they're all probably trapped by the Mud Devil. You can go and see if you want, but they can't get out without my help.”
The police officer punched him in the stomach again and said, “In 2021, you mud devil, why are you acting like this? If you are asked like this, you will not say." He says, "I want to give you a different punishment," and comes out of there in a hurry. The superior officer said to the constable outside, "Oh, this man is teasing me. Tell our men to beat him until he tells the truth."
Constable: “Sir, what he is saying is true. There is some supernatural power in that place, sir. A similar case happened 25 years back. Three white men went missing. I wrote that case then." The bald inspector who was walking stopped for a while looked at the constable and asked “Natarajan, Is it true what you said?"
Constable: "Yes, sir. Five inspectors have come and gone in this police station so far, but it is the same station for me till the end. The first victim I know was a white woman 25 years ago. Then two or three cases like this come every year. But all the dead and missing are foreigners. The Minister of State did not see all this. All of them disappeared. Here is the same mountain that this boy is talking about. None of those who went there can come back, sir, because that place is full of mystery."
Inspector: Nataraja, I can't believe this.
Natarajan: Believe me, sir. I am telling the truth. We went to the forest the day after that white man disappeared 25 years ago. I, Inspector Munusamy, and two constables had gone to that hill forest to investigate. It was a high place in the Western Ghats, a very thick forest, sir. No wonder, sir, that forest was like heaven. Colorful flowers, deer, and fish all danced. The soundless waterfall, that place was so beautiful, sir. There was also danger there, sir.
After a while, we couldn't walk in the forest. There was some confusion, and we started laughing at ourselves. We kept laughing at each other. We came back as fast as we went into the forest. It was not us who came back. It was as if some force had lifted us all together. Each of us was damaged like a tree caught in a big storm. There was a mountain temple in the forest where we lay. A pioneer of the Todar tribe living in the forest said that it was built during the time of the Kongu kings. He gave us water to drink. With his help, we went and met the Todar people living in Tenmalai. They were reluctant to help us at first.
Then the Todar team leader took us to Suppanna's house. A 104-year-old woman in that group rolled the rice balls closed her eyes and called someone. That's when it was known, sir that the old woman was a powerful person because she said a great mantra. I still remember that mantra, sir.
"Om Kreem Hraam Madehi Suram Suram, Bhagavad Kali Chamundi Suram Suram, Ankali Omkari Sidhu Chidambari Jagamma Trisuli Suram Suram," was the only sound of laughter.
Nataraj laughs like a maniac; the frightened inspector shakes him and screams in terror, "Yo Nataraj, Nataraj, Nataraj." Nataraj returns to his normal self a little.
"No, sir, this is how the old lady sang. A little more, sir, listen to the whole..."
(CONTINUE)
Very intersting novel. I imagine your article sentence. It's realy memerizng.
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