A new World

The rather shy stone tightly wrapped itself in the blanket. The blanket was also made of cotton. It was painted with colors that seemed to be fading. The stone didn't know that the people surrounding it looked like they saw a wonder. Dhvani tsked at their 'never seen the world' looks.

She also found the behavior of the stone cute. Buy she was vaccinated by Tarsh and his horde of spirits. She managed to keep her cute heart at bay. Looking at the stone which slowly pulled the blanket down to peep at them, she screamed cute in her heart.

The stone feeling the eyes on it immediately retracted and covered itself tightly in the blanket.

"Little cutie, come out. I'll take you shopping," Garv started coaxing.

The stone did not even budge.

"I'll take you to eat delicious things," he continued unphased.

There was some movement and seeing he got some response, he dived in.

"There are many tasty things like chocolates, sweets, and my personal favorites, crispy snacks."

The stone slowly opened the blanket roll and came out. It had already transformed into a humanoid shape. The stone which had now given birth to a spirit is now the Golden spirit. It wore silvery golden clothes. Dhvani couldn't differentiate the color because it kept changing. She thought that maybe it was because the stone itself was incomplete.

She also had another part of it or rather Tarsh had it. He had taken the stone too because the spirit animals loved it very much.

The stone spirit shyly looked at all of them and then Dhvani got to see his face. His face was fair when he had silver clothes and dark when he had golden clothes on. She couldn't understand this but she didn't have to understand. The stone spirit had large black eyes and his eyelashes were unusually long. He wouldn't need makeup to look good. He wore a bracelet that was pitch black in color. She couldn't differentiate the pattern on it. The stone spirit looked at all of them very quickly, then hid in blankets again. She finally saw a spirit that seemed to change constantly. But she thought that the stone spirit should be younger than the Gray spirit.

"Baby, come out. We can go to play. You can see other little spirits like you there?"

Where did Garv know that the spirit would want its species as friends?

The spirit came out and looked expectantly as if asking where the new friend was.

Caught in his own woven lie, Garv looked speechless for the first time. Dhvani knew there would be no progress if she let these guys talk. She quickly asked the stone spirit who was sleeping in her space as a courtesy of Tarsh to go out.

"Go coax the golden spirit."

The stone spirit looked at her for a long time before understanding dawned on her face.

She shook her head and expressed strong resistance.

"If you make friends with that spirit, you can leave here. Don't you want to see the outside world?"

What was with her and coaxing everyone? Dhvani felt that she was really a witch who was abducting people.

Maybe her fear wasn't as important as the thought of going outside. And the stone spirit complied. This spirit should get a name. She felt that spirits liked to take their own name. She would have to ask the spirit later.

Dhvani let the spirit go out and considering that spirits were fast, no one saw her appearing out of thin air.

But the golden spirit wasn't the same as the humans. He quickly tracked the trajectory of the stone spirit and waited at the predicted landing position. She had never seen such a smart spirit, Dhvani was in awe. This could be a math genius.

The Golden Spirit managed to catch the Gray spirit and honestly, it was funny to watch the contrast between them. Even if the reward was good, the gray spirit looked at the golden spirit resentfully.

The golden spirit was very curious about this newfound friend and s he smiled at the gray spirit cautiously. Maybe this smile healed the injury of the gray spirit and she immediately beamed back at him. Or you could also say that stone spirits were very innocent and forgetful. No matter what the reason was, everyone was happy to see it happen. If the golden spirit was coaxed by his own kind, maybe they would get out of here.

"Why are you hiding here?" Ajay asked in what he supposed was a gentle and quiet voice.

"I like it here."

The Golden spirit stayed by the side of the Gray spirit and looked bold. He was soothed by the fact that he wasn't alone with this group of strangers and his fear and shyness seemed to lessen.

Well, then you are right to hide here, Dhvani thought.

"Where did you live when you weren't here?"

The Golden spirit looked at him incredulously.

"I was in the stone," he looked very surprised that someone really asked him this question. Maybe all spirits knew the answer but as humans, they were behind the times.

"Do you want to go out?"

The golden spirit shook his head.

"Why?" The Gray spirit asked the question on everyone's mind.

"I don't want Guha to die."

Who was Guha?

"Sorry, but who is Guha?" Akash voiced the question.

"He is my friend. I lived with him when I was born."

"Is he the one you are providing energy by making this world?"

The Golden Spirit turned towards Ajay and answered, "Yes."

The Golden Spirit then narrated his story. Because he was incomplete, his spirit was formed prematurely. And he was very weak that he couldn't move. That's why he couldn't talk to the Gray spirit and thus formed their misunderstanding. But the cave where he was thrown was a place of magical energy. The magical energy was so vast that it could be a world. Someone had discovered it and they formed a barrier so it wouldn't leak and cause wars. That someone took care of the cave ad the Cave spirit like him. That young man was a student living in the nearby village. The cave spirit just liked the young man because of his kindness. But their normal and calm life was disturbed in a brutal way.

The spirit stopped for a while to cry and then stopped. Then continued the retelling.

A wave of bandits attacked the village for the whereabouts of the cave and no one survived. The young man dragged his injured body and used his life energy to seal the cave. He had known all along about the cave spirit and didn't want it to become a slave. When the cave spirit saw him dying, he was shaking with grief. The cave spirit used the entire magic energy in the cave to surround the village and include it in its magical world. This move was very dangerous for a young cave spirit. The Golden Stone was very sad seeing his benefactor wiping himself out. He used his magic to reverse time and went back in a day. But he was a young spirit himself. So he could only keep the world working for a day.

The cave spirit knew what the Golden Spirit had done for him. He asked the Golden Spirit to leave and he would protect this world. But because it was against the rules, he was tortured beyond limits. He had to provide energy to the world and absorb his energy himself. He was slowly eating himself day by day. Even death wouldn't be able to stop him from keeping the village alive. So he was reduced to a shadow of himself. And the Golden Spirit didn't want to leave him to die. The golden spirit wanted to wait till he was an adult as he could make the world work on its own when his magic reached to peak.

This narration made everyone wet their eyes. The Gray spirit was sniffling at first but now, she was crying loudly. Even the group felt the injustice of fate to this simple village and the cave spirit. Maybe humans would turn their back on such situations, but the spirits did not.

Dhvani and Tarsh did not have any reservations and they cried. Tarsh was the Spirit Emperor so he could feel everything very minutely.

"Sister, I want to help them," he told her.

"I also want to help them but do we have that power?"

"I just have to give half my power to the cave spirit. He can keep the world living as its patron saint. And I have to ask the Golden Spirit to establish the connection between us."

"Are you sure? You don't do something you can't. The cave spirit should not be worried in this state."

Tarsh nodded.

Dhvani stood Ajay in a secretive manner.

["Host, you have the energy of Spirit Emperor, Tarsh, on you. You can transfer it to Golden Spirit and ask him to send it to the Cave spirit. They could be saved then."]

Ajay nodded almost immediately. But to hide this transaction from others, he took a red fruit from his satchel which he had as a part of their costume. The Golden Spirit was confused at first, but when he touched the fruit, he seemed to understand what to do. The fruit was charmed by Tarsh and she exchanged it and handed it to Ajay. He knew some kind of magic trick and used it to blindfold everyone as if he was taking it out of the satchel.

The fruit held half of Tarsh's current magic. His power was very powerful considering his age and the feat the magic did. If Tarsh grew up and become the real emperor after his coming of age, his powers should be able to manage many realms.

The Golden spirit knew the whereabouts of the cave spirit. The cave spirit was sent blessings from his emperor when he thought that all gods have left him and these kind-hearted people.

As the power gradually dissipated from the fruit, the cave spirit gradually became stronger. After absorbing it to the fullest, the cave spirit appeared in front of everyone.

He was the tallest among everyone present here. But his hair was white and he looked old. Really old. The cave spirit bowed to everyone and thanked them in earnest.

"Thank you, Lord, for saving us."

The world seemed to change in an instant, and the bleakness faded away. Time flowed and the surroundings became lively. The breeze played with the branches of trees and flowers swaying in its rhythm. Everything became normal. This world separated itself from their world and became a new one. Maybe one day, it would become a higher world like theirs. But it wouldn't be left out or destroyed.

Before anyone could answer anything, they were out. The guys were knocked out and only the spirits and Ajay were conscious. The cave spirit appeared before them.

"Please thank the Emperor for me. I hope the emperor can take care of these little ones. I am eternally bound to be you, your Highness."

He gave Ajay a bow and Dhvani understood that he was expressing his thanks to Tarsh who was watching everything with her. Tarsh came out of the space and the two spirits were shocked to see him.

"You did a good job. I will always protect you. Protect and maintain the way in your world well. We will meet again."

Dhvani felt for the first time that even if Tarsh acted like a child, he wasn't a child exactly. Spirits were different from humans. Tarsh was a good emperor and he had told that he made a way for many spirits who were wronged and blessed them. Maybe all he was doing was what they had just witnessed. Even if he wasn't a real kid, he was a little brother to her. He could act like a kid and experience what a family would feel like. His family was them and the entire spirit world.

The cave spirit hugged the Golden spirit and patted the Gray spirit and vanished.

The guys who woke up did not remember what happened to them in the painting world. They did not feel that they were forgetting something and Ajay didn't remind them. It was good if they forgot all of that. He didn't have any words to explain it to them anyways. And Tarsh added two more spirits to his world.