Gyanwati smirks, knowing that some outer force has invaded her area.
Ayani enters Patallok, and the world changes around her—dark, negative, and misleading right away. The air hums with a silence too loud to ignore; shadows curl like smoke along the ground. She is unable to find anyone she knows, including Ahmaya and Gyanwati, or any familiar energy.
She moves forward deliberately. The road veers suddenly, splitting and bending like a live maze. She turns once more, then once more, and once more yet every turn brings her back to where she began. Maybe she is not moving at all, and everything is an illusion.
Ayani reaches for a guiding light while attempting to summon her powers. But here the air seems to reject her, chokes her will. Her usually sharp senses waver and fade. She lets her fists close in annoyance. There is no aura to follow. There are no doors to open. She is alone.
The walls seem to pulse, narrowing and stretching like they breathe. Her chest opens to cold, unwelcome fear. She yells "Ahmaya" her voice breaks with desperation.
Hoping motion will lead her somewhere, anywhere, she begins to run. Time in this environment has no rhythm. She can notice nothing but just her quickening breath.
Her confusion consumes her. Then fear and actual anxiety.
It seems she has fallen for the trick of Gyanwati.
Ahmaya is unconscious but aware in darkness. A voice interrupts the emptiness: soft, shaking and known. It is her mother's voice.
"Ahmaya... Ahmaya...!"
Her eyelids flap. She battles to wake, and then suddenly, she is there, surrounded by a blinding white light. One without walls and without shadows. Everything endlessly white.
Once more, her mother's voice screams, nearer this time. "Ahmaya... Ahmaya."
No...Her brain knocks.
This has to be another illusion. Gyanwati is once more pulling riddles.
Her hands go to her ears, closing them. "No. No." She says, trying to persuade herself, "This is just another illusion."
Then, a hand gently rested on her shoulder. Pleasant and Familiar.
She gasps and raises her head.
Right before her is her mother.
Her worried eyes follow Ahmaya's. Her hand tightens around Ahmaya's, shaking with need.
She says strongly "This isn't an illusion. You need to get out of here, now."
Ahmaya blinks, startled, tears starting to surface.
"You have to awaken your energy," her mother says, voice trembling. "You cannot stay here any longer."
She lays her palm right over Ahmaya's heart on her chest. Her eyes blaze with great clarity, her voice softens.
"Call God From right within. Surrender yourself. Let go of all your identities; just remember you are his, you are his child...Call Him, now."
Ahmaya stirs, open eyelids fluttering. Her body is weak, her vision is foggy, her breathing is uneven. Her thoughts are confused. Blinking, she struggles to remain conscious.
Gyanwati is still doing her mantras, sitting with her eyes closed.
Ahmaya turns her head slightly while still lying flat, almost totally exhausted. Her lips quivering and her heart racing, she starts to whisper.
"God... help me... help me...," Her voice trembles and is hardly audible. "I am no one…... But your child... kindly...help." She has desperation in her voice.
Suddenly, Gyanwati's eyes flash open; wide and wild, pupils dilated in shock. She sits up straight, her body stiff as if she has sensed something she fears. She starts chanting louder, faster, the hymns rising in volume like a storm gathering strength.
And then, Ahmaya senses it.
A warm stir deep within her chest began to gently extend to her hands. A quiet strength starts to grow.
She weakly lifts her hand.
She gets shocked.
Her palms are radiating a golden light, light blossoming from within her skin. Like a forgotten truth recalled, the energy builds.
Gyanwati stands quickly and, with a stressful and terrified look on her face, sees Ahmaya, continuing her hymns.
The golden light keeps getting brighter and higher.
And this time... Ahmaya does not feel alone.
Ayani was wandering hopelessly, but she suddenly felt something, a supreme energy, a divine force. She can feel the negativity surrounding her dissipate. She believes there is something that is undermining Gyanwati's power.
Ahmaya gets up.
She feels strong and brilliant. Her golden aura sharpens, flickering softly like fire wrapped in heaven. Her eyes blaze with purpose, and her skin glows with inner light. Every last bit of weakness disappears. She starts to move deliberately, powerfully, towards Gyanwati.
Men of Gyanwati rush forward, pouring something on the boundaries of the circle, to stop Ahmaya from coming out of it.
But the brilliant light surrounding Ahmaya vibrates more forcefully, driving back the invading shadows like the sun pushing back night.
Ahmaya says, "Stop this," her voice cool but firm. "Stop your men."
Gyanwati does not reply. Her face is chilly and difficult to read.
Ahmaya states, eyes fixed on hers. "Let me leave."
At last Gyanwati speaks, her voice ripping like the edge of a blade. "Like I would let you go that easily."
She lifts her hands, and suddenly emerald green energy swirls around her fingers, alive and deadly, bursting to life. Her energy, like a bear, surges through the air at her command.
Ahmaya closes her eyes. She starts to rage.
She raises her arms and in a flash of divine excellence two golden swords ascend from her hands, echoing like thunder across the chamber. They hum with celestial force, light dripping from the blades in waves.
Ahmaya swings one sword forward, standing still in the middle of the circle. Golden energy floods outward, meeting the force of Gyanwati's green magic as it approaches.
The chamber bursts in light and wrath.
With her hands cutting through the air with accuracy, Gyanwati hurls her energy like knives; Ahmaya blocks each strike, her golden swords dancing like flames in a storm. With the weight of their collision, the ground under them trembles.
Again, and once more, green and gold collide.
Not ready to give up.
Not ready to break.