Chapter 6: The Memory

Princess Ruya dragged Zaria from one mountain to other. She was extremely fast. In Fact, she was so fast that Zaria started feeling dizzy. But, in spite of that, he forced himself to stay awake. The wind brushed past his face at incredible speed that his face started to feel numb but he kept his eyes open.

He wanted to savour each moment of this. He kept staring at her back as she dragged him along.

He lost track of time.

Soon, he was lost in thought.

He started thinking about the time when they were little. At that time, she used to be a cry baby. He was the one who protected her back then when she was bullied by their fellow students. He was the one who started calling her 'Princess’ because she used to throw tantrums just like a real Princess. Others even made fun of her by calling her Princess Crybaby.

But then, certain rumours about him and Third Head Priest started circulating and others started keeping their distance from him. Even Princess Ruya's father, a high elder in the Sanctuary, told her strictly to stay away from him.

People didn't say anything explicitly at first, as they were afraid of the Third Head Priest. But soon, others of his age started messing with him when no one was around. He often went back home with bruises at several places. In the beginning, he resisted those assaults with his full strength and often others were much more badly hurt than him. Because of this, he never really complained about it, even if those back at home asked about it. He just gave some sort of excuse and simply brushed it off. But the situation changed soon.

On one particular day, he got into a fight with a group of students. They broke one of his legs but the leader of the group got one of his ear bitten off by little Zaria. When he went home limply, he said that he slipped while playing and thus broke his leg even though he was in extreme pain. The Third Head Priest was away from home on official work and only her wife stayed. Coincidentally, she was also the Tenth Head Priest. Her name was Janki.

Apparently, their marriage was decided by their families when they were kids. Even after years of marriage, they never had any kids. But one day several years ago, the Third Head Priest brought a newborn child with him on his way back from work in another region. He told Janki that he picked the child from a town where a natural disaster had hit. She didn't doubt her husband and cared for the child dearly too. But once the rumours spread, she too started having doubts. She tried to inquire about the matter from her husband but he never gave her any more details than what he had told when he first brought the child to their home. As time went on, she started to have different feelings towards the child but she tried her best to suppress those feelings.

So, when Zaria came with a broken leg, she didn't really care much about it. But, on the following day, the student who had his ear bitten off by Zaria brought along his parents. It just so happened that he was one of the sons of Second Head Priest. Unfortunately, the Third Head Priest was not at home and the Second Head Priest took advantage of the fact and came heavily on Janki.

Even though they belonged to the same power group, there was intense internal competition and hidden power struggles.

The Second Head Priest was always at odds with the Third Head Priest as he was just above him in position and felt somewhat threatened. So, he would naturally not let such an opportunity go when the one involved was his own child. He demanded an explanation from her and started insulting the Third Head Priest and also brought up Zaria's ‘dubious’ background. Janki knew what the Second Head Priest's intentions were. She knew he wanted to humiliate her husband so as to spill dirt on his character. She knew it all! But still, as if being possessed by the devil, she gave vent to all of her own frustrations on Zaria.

She ordered Zaria to go to the banishing cliff and stand there on one leg for seven days and nights without food and water to reflect upon his mistakes, without listening to his explanation whatsoever. Even the Second Head Priest was taken aback by her cruelty. His son, who had one ear to show now, felt a chill down his spine when he thought about it as he knew best about the leg injury he himself had inflicted upon Zaria, add to that the bone chilling cold of banishing cliff. He found his scalp go numb from the mere thought of such a punishment, though he was delighted inside nonetheless.

Zaria had always held Janki in the highest regard. To him, she was the only person that would come to his mind when he closed his eyes and thought about mother. Even though he knew from the start that he was only a foster child. He could never think of doing anything that would hurt his foster parents let alone going against their wishes.

He worshipped them!

And so without a second’s delay, he knelt on the ground with his head touching the ground beneath Janki's feet and setoff limply towards the banishing cliff without any hesitation.

When she saw his struggling figure go away as he forced himself forward on one leg, dragging the other, she felt her chest tighten. She found it painful to even breathe and her throat started to hurt. But she didn't say anything, just watched him fade away in the distance.

This news had already spread to every corner of the Sanctuary by the next morning. Rather, it would be best to say that the Second Head Priest made sure that everyone had heard it by the next day. Although, most of them were indifferent about it. Only Princess Ruya tried to sneak out and check upon Zaria several times but was caught by her father every time, who then put her under house arrest. Even though she had distanced herself from Zaria, it was not because she had listened to her father. Rather she did it for Zaria’s sake as she knew she would only bring more trouble to him. But when she heard what had happened to him this time, she almost cried herself to death. For the first time in her life she cursed herself for being so useless!

Three days went by without much happening. However, on the fourth day, terrible rains started which didn't let up for the next three days. At this point, even some elders started worrying as Zaria was still on the banishing cliff. The cold there was already bone chilling but during the terrible rains one could only imagine what it would feel like to a kid who was not even a decade old. It was not that they were worried for Zaria per se. But they knew that if something happened to the boy, the Third Head Priest would certainly flip over the entire Sanctuary upside down, given his temper, and at that point only the Head Priest himself would be able to placate his anger. And if the Head Priest was forced to get involved in this mess, a whole other storm would follow as he would investigate the matter down to the very last person. And so, those people who were involved directly or those who had their younger generation involved in it felt a little panicked. They went as far as to send request letters to the Tenth Head Priest to rescind her command and call back the boy. However, to their surprise, she had gone in isolated training on the very day she had sent Zaria away for his punishment. She probably didn’t even know about the terrible rainstorm.

Soon the seventh day arrived. The rain had let up by then. Almost every person present in the Sanctuary anxiously waited for something but nothing happened. The night passed by quietly.

On the eighth day, people were unable to hold themselves still any longer. By the time evening arrived, there was still no sign of Zaria. Some of the elders gathered in front of the Tenth Head Priest's isolated chambers. Surprisingly, even the Second Head Priest had come. As he was at a senior position than her, only he had the right to call her out of her training.

When she came out and heard about the events, she went in a daze for a long while. She could not really think straight. When she had given him his punishment she realised very well that it was cruel but somehow she convinced herself that he would not be able to withstand it all the way and would most probably give up after a day or two, after which he would come back home. She thought that she would feel some sort of pleasure in his inability to fulfil her command. This was when she realised her emotions were in disarray and so she went under isolation to settle her emotions.

But, when she was called out, she realised that she was wrong. She finally remembered all those years when she watched him grow up. She had a sudden realisation!

When had that child ever disobeyed her?

Never!

Her body shook violently as if her soul had left her body. Her face turned white and lost all colour. She rushed towards the cliff without thinking anything else. Those gathered around, including the Second Head Priest followed closely behind.

They soon arrived on the cliff. What they saw there made their hearts freeze. They felt there bodies shiver slightly unbeknownst to them.

There was a single boy, with his back towards the crowd. He was standing there in snow on one leg, motionlessly, with the other leg hanging loosely. He was covered entirely with frozen raindrops. He looked like an ice sculpture. His hair had turned white as they reflected the light from the setting sun.

Janki stood still in her place as she stared at his back blankly. Her heart was pounding like it would burst out at any moment. She gathered some courage and slowly circled him around. She was petrified by what she saw.

Zaria stood there frozen with the same smile on his face that he always had.

It's just that, his eyes had lost all focus and there was no sign of breathing!