Netra’s PoV

When I woke up, I was in a hut. A hut just like in earth made up of mud walls and some leaves making the roof. I looked at my tummy and felt my baby. I was satisfied with the kick of my baby as soon as he realized my hands. With a smile warming up my heart, I looked at the scratches on my hands and legs. They were already healing and I felt no pain. Thanks to the high frequency rejuvenating cells in my body. 

I walked out hearing the people clamoring. It was a beautiful place with earth like trees and plants. The only difference is it lacks the green color, must be because of the lack of sun. There were many cactuses like in the desert and those cactuses are huge. The night sky is clear without any clouds and the stars and the moon are clearly visible. All the trees and plants have little insects that glow like fireflies. There were small birds that flew from tree to tree. And then there was Aira! As white as snow with the appearance of part wolf and part polar bear. A Dire Wolf to be precise.

“How are you feeling, Netra?” Giza asked me as soon as he saw me. He was sitting among the people around the campfire. This very scene reminded me of HIM! My Dyan! 

“I am fine. What is this place?”

“We are at the center of the tornado, Netra. This tornado has been a compound wall for our little village for many centuries now.”

“Does my dad know that there are people here?”

“Thuriga told us about your dad and many other impossible theories. But no, no one from the other side has ever come here except for you two.”

“Then who dug that tunnel? The other side people has been coming here for a long time now for minerals and other things. You guys are not aware of them, that's all. But that doesn't mean they don't know about your existence. My dad has advanced technology and there is no way he did not find out about you.”

“Maybe! But there is absolutely nothing that could cross over this tornado and reach us. Of course, except for Aira.”

“Maybe!” I had to agree with him. But my dad knew about us on earth. He knew about people on many other planets. He could manipulate everyone from far, very far like in another dimension. Yet he could not find a way to meet these people? That is very unlikely of him. Maybe he doesn't want anything to do with these people! 

“Our leader wanted to see you, Netra. She asked me to bring you as soon as you wake up.”

“Oh! Sure, I would like to meet her also.” I walked with him to a hut that was on the inner side of the concentric circles the huts were built. 

“This is the center of the tornado’s eye. This hut is for the tribe leader. Come in.” He walked me in and I followed. 

“Come in, Princess!” A wrinkle ball like lady called me in. Her eyelids were completely shut with wrinkled skin and she had to use an eye glass like thing to push her flappy skin up to her eyebrows to see me. 

“Um… How are you? My name is Netra.” I spoke to her awkwardly. Everyone was making me uncomfortable calling me a princess.

“I know! I have been waiting for you for a long time now, dear. Come in, sit.” She motioned to me. Besides her old look, her talks were not shivery or broken. I walked in and sat beside her on her rock bed. 

“Giza, I will call you later.” She told Giza who was still standing. He went out with a little nod to me. I felt a little weird but a lot comfortable in this place. This old lady was not threatening or authoritative but I felt a family vibe from her.

“Netra, I am your grandma!” She said that totally caught me off guard.

“What!?” I almost stood up but she held my hand and sat me near her. How is that even possible? Well, many things don't add up in my life. When my dad can live for millennials, his mother certainly could live more than him without any problem. I decided to let her talk to know what I am doing here. Now, I believe everything happens for a reason.  

“Yes, dear. Maayon and Maya are my kids. Maayon, your father is my first born. Your Aunt Maya is my second born.”

Maya, the moon goddess!

“But what are you doing here? What is your name? Why are you not with your family?”

“My name is ‘Isfe’. So I guess you have not yet spoken to your dad about anything. You know nothing, am I right?”

“I know that I am part Lycan and part witch. I have some special abilities. That is all I know. I fell in a portal to save my mate and my people.” I told her trying to understand that she is my grandma, the mother of the moon goddess and my father. 

“Your people? They are not your people, Netra. Maybe they are your mate’s people. I have to tell you everything from the start so that you will understand more about us and more about you.”

“I am all ears.”

“It was many many years ago, Netra, there was a core-collapse supernova. A big star some light years away from our planet exploded, releasing a huge amount of fluid in space. The fluid traveled across the galaxies and fell on multiple planets. It fell on ours too. I saw it fall from the sky at night. It was glowing like a star and was bright blue in color. I told your grandpa ‘Pingalan’ about it. The next day we got to know that nobody was aware of it. So we decided to look for it in secret.”

“Did you find it? What is it?” I got more curious. She is talking about a supernova that expelled a liquid? 

“We did. Or more like I did! I named it ‘Amirtham’. It was super hot and hard like a rock. It was scattered across the forest and ocean. Since it was too hot, it ruptured the ground and went in.” she paused. 

So there is really a thing called Amirtham! A potion people found by churning the sea that gives immortality! Only that the sea is not on the earth but in the space called galaxy. It is fascinating to connect the truth with the tales we heard in our literature. 

“It was I who touched it without fear for the first time. As soon as I touched it, it made an immense change in my mind and the view I saw of this whole place. Your grandpa followed me after making sure that I was ok. It gave us wisdom about space, about many galaxies, about many planets and life forms. So far, we have just thought of the stars to be a jewel in the sky. But when we knew more about it, we were just fascinated. It looked like a silver metal, solid like a rock but when touched, it turned into its original liquid form. We realized that our body heat was melting it.” so it was like mercury! 

“We have a story in our literature that says about how ‘devas’ and ‘asuras’ churned the sea and got amirtham.”

“Haha, it is the personification of the good and bad in the galaxy that made the star explode. My knowledge grew exponentially and we started making gizmos to make our jobs easy. We tried to build a space pod to venture out of our planet to meet other life forms as our thirst for knowledge did not quench with the astral projection the liquid allowed us to learn. We needed to go out to all those places in our physical form. My search never ended. But it was all just me. Pingalan was indifferent as soon as he touched it. While all my thoughts were about exploring our wide universe, Pingalan’s thoughts made him evil. He wanted to control people. He enhanced his powers and became invincible. We were witches and warlocks at first. We were born with a certain knowledge of sound. When the mantras are chanted with precision, the sounds will yield results that we desire. With the newly found knowledge, Pingalan made new spells that would cause pain on others. He started threatening our people to submission and that made him the first dictator. I didn't like his change and hid the Amirtham from him without his knowledge. He genuinely thought that the liquid made its way through the ground. He divided our people into six covens, sending them to six different places on our planet in search of Amirtham.”

“Did they find it?” For some reason, I equated my evil grandad to my dad. 

“Nope! I have already used up a lot of it in my gizmos as a source of power or fuel and hid the left over. The remaining was dissolved in the ocean making the fishes and other creatures in the ocean different. But his dictatorship was not liked by our people. I heard that the coven leaders were plotting behind our family to take all of us down. I was not ready to sacrifice Maayon and the baby in my tummy for the mistakes of your grandpa. so I gathered some loyal friends and made a rebel group. I planned for Pingalan’s demise and they executed him.” My hands instantly went to my stomach caressing my baby. It is true that I would do anything to save my child but would I dare to kill Dyan? Not in dreams!

“You killed your own husband?” I felt like my mouth was dry and I badly needed water to maintain my composure. I wonder what it would take for a woman to go to that extent! “Why didn't you try to change him? He was your husband after all!” 

“He was completely changed, Netra. He was a different man altogether. The liquid intensifies your inner thoughts. If you are good inside, it will make you better and best. If you are bad then it makes you worse and worst. Killing him was the only way to save my kids.”

“So what happened to the rebels?”

“I asked the rebels to take the leftover liquid from Pingalan and give it to the leaders of the covens. I wanted to treat everyone as equals. I then took the rebels and their families under my wing. We have become one family. I nurtured them along with your father and aunt Maya. Without knowing the after effects, the coven leaders mixed the liquid in their water source and drank it. As I have already seen the changes it made in the ocean animals, I was very sure not to inject it into our bodies. Only later, we figured that the liquid halted our aging and made them infertile.”

“Wait, if you didn't drink it or gave it to your family to drink, how is my dad still young?”

“I found another way. I painted the liquid on a glass and placed it in all the rooms in my house. Whenever we see our reflection on the glass, the liquid works as an anti-aging device. I had a small vial in my necklace that always touched me.”

“Oh! But how did you get old now?”

“Wait, I will get to that part. Now, I was left to take charge of the leadership for our people. I tried to find a cure for the mishap. I started venturing out in space, in search of other life forms who might have a cure.”

“Did you find it? Is that when you came to earth?”

“I came to earth but that time, there was nothing but snow storms and tsunamis. No life forms. Every failed mission agitated my people. They thought I was just bluffing them. Their anger and their newly found knowledge with the liquid took the worst out of them and they tried to execute me and my family.” She sighed.

Stupid people. That was all I could think of at this moment. Poor her! When all she wanted was to find a cure for her people, her people thought to kill her? How is it fair? Threatening her family is another big blunder. What did they ever do to them?

“What did you do then?” 

“I made everyone believe that I was gone for good. I thought my vanishing will subdue their anger and it did. But sadly, it was short lived.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Maya made a catastrophe in my absence. That was when I remembered the significance of her birth. She was born on a very special day just like you Netra. She was just like you! Her tears opened up the volcano terrorizing the mountain coven. Tsunamis, landslides, earthquakes, tornadoes! She let loose havoc on the planet. People were terrified of her. I came running back to her.”

“Where were you? From where did you run back to her?”

“I was on a planet near ours. The people there were called ‘Savants’. They all had different special abilities. They had prior knowledge of other life forms and they took me in with love. It was them who sent me back to my Maya. They said she is a special child and was going to become a mother of several life forms soon.”

“Oh!” I remembered the story of Lycans, how she gave her blood to make Lycans. Technically, she is the mother of Lycans. God knows how many new life forms she has created. 

“But when I came to see her without anyone else’s knowledge, she tried to hug me but her amplified powers were strong enough to make me go limp.” 

This incident reminded me of Ellavan uncle. His strong emotions drained the life out of his father. But that was imposed on him by my dad. The blood on the hands of Ellavan uncle belongs to my dad. 

“She realized her powers and that was when her attitude changed. Just like her father, she became arrogant and her pride hooded her sight. I had to flee to save my life as she was getting out of hand. Whenever I tried to sort her, she grew impatient with me.”

“What happened to Maya? What happened to my dad then? Why did my dad come to earth? Why did he troubled so many people’s lives there? Why did he kill my mate’s mom? Why did he trick my mom? Why did he give birth to me? Why? Why? Just why?” 

“Calm down, dear. Your dad felt inferior as compared to his sister. He wanted the same powers as his sister. The only way he could do it was by possessing her body. But he could not do it because she was very powerful. So he waited for many millennials for the right time to conceive his own power bank. That was you!” She stopped and looked at me. 

My anger knew no bounds. So, my dad made me so that he could use me to gain power over his sister. Am I just a power bank? He came to earth to choose the right woman to conceive me and he has brought me here for that same purpose using my mom as a ploy. I remembered every word my mom had written in her journal. He has always been very skeptical of time. Even now, he sent all his people to make me go weak so that he could possess me to gain all the powers. He wants to be the superior god! Should I even call him a god? Aren't gods supposed to be selfless and giving?

“So he had done all the chaos on earth just to give birth to me and take me with him without anyone’s knowledge?” I asked her, more to myself. I remembered how the birdie warned me to stay away from Dyan. If I had stayed away from Dyan, I would have no one now. I instantly placed my hands on my stomach. So maybe that birdie was my dad after all. With the way he manipulated Pari with his ring, he has been talking to me through the ring all the time and I mistook that the birdie was talking. 

“Yes!”

“I will not fall into his hands. I will wait for Dyan! He will protect me and my baby.”

“Babies, dear. You have a baby boy and a baby girl in your womb. Your mate could do nothing against your father. If anything, he would just get in danger. You have everything it takes to defeat your father, Netra. You just need proper training to channel your power. You still have 14 more days for your delivery. We will start your training after you give birth to my great-grandchildren. The only thing that your dad did well is that he has grown my family to the next generation.”

“But why are you helping me to defeat your own son?” I asked her while sinking in that I am going to have twin babies. Something is not settling right with her story.

“I am doing this to keep the galaxy balanced, dear. A person with greed should not possess high powers. Your aunt is already there, making an imbalance in this multiverse. I cannot allow my son to be on the list too. Since I gave birth to them, I take it my responsibility to put them in their places. First we have to stop your dad from getting to you. As long as you are here in this place, your dad cannot see you, because this tornado is my cloaking spell. We have to defeat your dad and then go to your aunt to defeat her. Though your dad made you with so many calculations, you are born for a divine purpose. You are here to restore balance!”

I stayed quiet. I have equal powers as the moon goddess or my aunt Maya. I must face my dad and my aunt in a war to defeat them to restore balance. So the balance of the universe is at question here? Why? What is happening to the universe?