The Light House, Part-5

Sylvia reached back to her hometown from Benaras. She looked tired not because of travelling but because of the burden she was carrying on her shoulders of finding out the treasure in the forest. She took bath and met her grandpa and had coffee with him. Grandpa kept on looking at her trying to read her mind as she was not telling him about what had happened in Benaras. Usually, she used to discuss everything with him and never hid anything. But this time she was quiet. Grandpa also didn’t ask her anything as he was giving her space to think. After finishing coffee she went to her room and started making a map of the location as told by the hermit. She hid the map and both the lockets at a safe place and slept for nearly three hours. Around 1 o clock Nanny knocked on her door and called her out for lunch. She got up and asked Nanny to serve lunch to grandpa and to inform him that she was tired and hence was unable to take lunch with him but surely she would take supper at night with him. Nanny nodded and served her lunch in her room and delivered the message to grandpa. Grandpa was in deep thought of the behaviour of Sylvia and wanted to know the secret she was unable to reveal. He was eager to meet her at dinner time. On the other hand, Sylvia was busy thinking about how to tell grandpa about her journey to find the treasure. Hours passed and dinner time arrived. Sylvia hurriedly went to the dining room where grandpa was already waiting for her but was pretending calm and composed as usual. Sylvia knew him well. She had a general talk and finished her dinner. After dinner grandpa went to his bedroom thinking about the secret. Sylvia asked Nanny and other servants to go to bed after dinner. After half an hour she saw that the dim light of grandpa’s room was on. She understood and went quietly to his room. She bolted the room from inside and closed all the windows. She sat at the edge of grandpa’s bed. She held his hand and started telling him all that she had gone through. She wanted to seek his advice and blessings to start her journey. At first, grandpa simply refused and asked her to forget that episode and treasure it as it was quite risky for her to go alone. He had already lost his daughters and never wanted to lose Sylvia. But on her insisting, he got ready to allow her to follow her journey. 

There was a monsoon period for two months, so grandpa advised her to go in the month of September as the weather would be fine then. After spending two days with grandpa, she left for her in-law’s house and led a normal life. No one could know that what was Sylvia’s plan in the future. During all this time, Sylvia kept on making her plans to conduct the journey. She knew very well that this time it won't be easy for her to give shape to her plan as it was an unknown place with scary surroundings. Above all, she had to go along with all the precautions. At last, the monsoon was over and the weather became pleasant. She requested her husband and in-laws to allow her to visit her grandpa and it was cordially permitted. She packed her stuff and arrived at Grandpa’s house. Everything looked normal but actually, it was not. With the help of grandpa, she was able to arrange a sharp dagger for her safety and packed everything necessary for her journey along with a map. She wore both the lockets as guided by the hermit. On the 3rd day early morning, she took the blessings of grandpa, instructed Nani to take care of grandpa and not to tell anyone about her journey. She left her house early morning so that no villager could see her going out. She reached the station and after getting the ticket she boarded the train to reach the destination. After 5 hours journey, she got down and took a cab to reach the tribal area, the last destination. After leaving the cab she took a deep breath and rested under a tree to remember the chants, the hermit told her to say at the entrance of the place she looked at the map and drank water she looked around and tried to capture the place in her mind. She took out a piece of red ribbon and tied it at one of the branches as a sign of entrance to the Jungle. Then she ventured into the forest. She found it to be confusing as she could not make it from where to go. She prayed to God to guide her. She walked for three to four hours but did not find anything like an old structure or place but she did not lose hope and kept on walking in the same direction. The best thing she did was that she kept on tying the Red Ribbon at the interval distance to remember the route. Now it was getting a little darker and the sun was hiding in the West. She took out the torch and tied the dagger with her belt. She tried to look around to see the place she felt that she was in the deep jungle from where she could not see any tribal area but only the thick dark forest. She lighted the torch and carried the wood stick in her hand. After walking around 4 km she saw a well-like structure. She reached there and looked into the well. It was dry and dry twigs had fallen in it. She sat on its step to take a rest and to find a place to rest. Suddenly she remembered the hermit’s words about the sign near the well. She immediately got up and tried to search for it. She followed the typical stone structure kept nearby leading towards the Jungle further. On one of the stones, it had an engraved sign of a coiled snake showing its face in the right direction. She got the first signal and moved towards the right side. She walked around half a km. and found a round stone having a sign of a tale towards the left side. She understood that on the left side there must be the den of tigers. She took out the dagger and kept on moving quietly towards the right direction only. It was completely dark. At times, she used to get goosebumps on hearing wild animals’ sounds. She waited to hear the sound to avoid the wild animals. After a gap, she started moving as she needed a place to spend the night without being hurt. Soon she saw ruins of a small room-like structure covered with high elephant grass. She went near and found that it was not a room but a covered structure on a high platform. It had a broken roof. Dry twigs were all over. She feared snakes and scorpions. She cleaned a small place for her to sit and waited for the dawn. She took out some snacks and ate them. She was alert all the time but took small naps in between. It was 4 am when the sound of a bird awoke her. She looked around but still, it was a bit dark because of the thick forest but her eyes were used to seeing in the dark now. 

 

She took out her bottle and washed her face and started looking for more symbols. As she was about to move, she saw a wild bore coming from that side. She hid behind a big tree surrounded by bushes. As it passed from there, she came out and felt relieved. Soon she was able to see a strange type of rock with a sign. It had a sign of a circle having sign of coiled snake within it. She could not understand but kept on walking in the same direction. After walking half a kilometre, she saw a round piece of red sandstone having the same coiled snake sign on it. The sun was rising and its pinkish-orange rays made her see everything clearly. She heard the sound of water falling nearby. She thought of vising that place. She reached near the waterfall. The clear sparkling water made her calm. She washed and got refreshed to move on. She came back to the same place near the round stone. She looked at the stone closely and found a small gap of approx. two centimetres from one side. She tried to pick it up but could not as it was too heavy for her.

She chanted the mantras as advised by the Hermit thinking it to be the entrance. She kept on doing this for five minutes and as expected the round stone started moving and to her surprise, she saw stairs going downwards. Now Sylvia got scared and got double-minded that whether she should enter in or just leave the idea. Negative thoughts filled her mind that as she was alone and if something would happen to her then there won’t be any hope to go back home. She gathered all her strength and decided to go down as she had come so far for this only. She kept on chanting and started going down. She lighted the torch as it was dark over there. She heard the sounds of insects and big rats. It was smelling very bad. As she reached down, she landed on a flat floor made up of red sandstone. She lighted the candle for more light to see things clearly. It was a two-room structure and very beautifully engraved. At one corner she saw a throne-like wooden carved char and a foot stand. She realized that she had reached the right place. When she was looking at the walls having different signs, she heard the hissing of a big cobra snake in an attacking mood. She panicked and got freeze due to fear. She chanted with one hand on the lockets she was wearing. After a minute or so the snake vanished from there and a human voice said, “I was waiting for you for more than a century. At last, you had come. Now I can rest in peace.” Sylvia followed the area from where the sound was coming. She approached the second room. Suddenly, a big flash of light lit the room. She saw huge vessels full of diamonds, gold coins, jewellery of silver, and gold. And there stood an old man wearing a king-like dress and ornaments. She was shocked to see that man. The old man looked gentle. He further said, “As I am the poor and helpless person who could save this treasure for years just for the poor subjects of my state from my cruel brothers. The snake that you saw just now is none but my loyal noble who never left me alone. You just don’t be afraid as we are not going to hurt you. It is just to protect the treasures from the intruders.” As he finished telling that, he called his noble and the cobra snake turned into a nobleman. Sylvia thought as if she was dreaming or watching a movie. But it was all true. The old man further said that now its time for them to rest in peace. He instructed the noble to put all the treasure in a big box and to take it near the main road at the end of the jungle. He told Sylvia that he was her great-grandpa who was waiting for her to take away all the treasure to help the poor. He said that he would protect her from the tribals so that she could arrange for a cab to reach the station to catch the train way back home. He gave his blessings and advised her to become the mother of a boy to protect the treasure. When he took his hand out of pocket to gift her a big beautiful diamond ring, Sylvia saw a tattoo of a sun on his arm. At that moment the old man gave a cunning smile to her. Sylvia noticed that and thanked both of them. All of them came out of that place and started moving towards the main road from a different route. That route was clear and easy to approach the road at the end of the jungle. Both of them bid goodbye and vanished at the speed of light. It was 10 o clock then. She waited at the road for any vehicle to come. She saw a cart coming. She requested the person to drop her near the market area from where she could arrange for a cab. He helped her to put the heavy wooden box on the cart. He looked at Sylvia with surprise but didn’t say anything. He dropped her near the market. She paid him and got the cab to reach the station. She boarded the train from there and arrived back home at night. 

 

The grandpa was too happy to see her alive and tears started rolling down his cheeks. Sylvia hugged him tightly to console the old soul. In the meantime, Nanny came with a tray of tea and snacks for her and went back hurriedly towards the kitchen to instruct the cook to make a special dinner for her. After having tea, Sylvia narrated the whole episode of events to grandpa and handed the treasure box to hide. She told grandpa that after spending a day with him, she would go back home so that no one could suspect her.

 

Now Sylvia’s mission was over. She lived happily thereafter and enjoyed every moment of her married life. Next year she became the proud mother of a baby boy. Everyone was happy. Celebrations were held. Sylvia was enjoying her motherhood. The birthmark on the child’s arm attracted everyone but Sylvia was aware of it as she had seen the same sign-on great grandpa’s arm. Now, she understood the whole matter as to why he advised her to become a mother. Time passed and the boy was ten years old then. Sylvia named him Surya because of his birthmark of the sun. the next year her grandpa left for his heavenly abode. She was left alone but now she was busy with her son. Every day she used to tell him a story to make him a spiritually strong and kind person and to overpower the obstacles created by supernatural beings.