Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) (2 page)

Was that why she wouldn’t say anything earlier? Because he hadn’t asked her a question?

“So you have to answer any questions I ask, huh?” he smirked.

“I am a friend and advisor, not a slave. You may ask any question that you like, but I have the choice to answer it … or not.” she said pointedly.

“Oh, sorry.” Rain grinned sheepishly. “So tell me, where do you get the answers to my questions?”

“From the pool of knowledge. Every Geeya is connected to the pool of knowledge, where we dip for answers to questions.”

“The pool of knowledge … situated where, exactly?”

“In the second realm of Quniverse. It is not a place you know of or will ever be acquainted with. It is where all Geeya meet when they go to seek answers their sequestors have sought.”

“So, it’s more like your little Geeya gossip café, eh?”

She raised an amused eyebrow. “Hardly. We never discuss our sequestors or their ongoing journeys.”

“But you can tell me about another sequestor’s Quest, right? I mean, suppose I want to keep tabs on how my brother is doing and I ask you?”

“No. We are forbidden from accessing knowledge about a sequestor whose Quest is still active. Once your brother’s Quest is completed, I can access information about him and relay the same to you. This applies to all sequestors whose Quest’s are active.”

“That’s such a bummer! I thought I’d have major advantage over my potential enemies in here because of you. But now you tell me that you can’t access information about another’s Quest. I mean, how am I supposed to spy …er, I mean … keep abreast with what’s happening with all the hot females I trained with at Mt. Chimpu?”

“I refer only to those sequestors who have an active Quest. Those that have completed theirs, I am free to access information about …”

“But who do I know with a completed Quest that I would be even remotely interested in…” Rain trailed off in the middle of his grumbling as a thought occurred to him. He looked straight at his Geeya, excitement flashing in his eyes. “Can you access information about my parents? About their Quests?”

He held his breath.

“Yes, I can.”

He released it. “Now
that
is cool.” he smiled, punching the air. “We have to do that sometime, you and I … show me what all you can about my parents’ Quests, okay? But for now, I want to see just how much you know. Do you know the exact population of China?”

She smiled and nodded. “And of Africa and India and any other country or planet you may know of.”

Rain swung his head to her in surprise. “Wait a minute … did you just say ‘planet’?”

“Yes.”

“You mean, there’s life beyond Earth?”

“Oh, yes. Yours is not the only living planet.”

“And my Quest might take me there? To some other planet?”

“It might, or it might not. The possibility is there.”

Rain let out a low whistle. “Man, that’s freaky. Where am I now?”

“This is the forest of Al-Bearta.”

“Where is that?”

“An island in the Arabian sea that is uninhabited and undiscovered, as yet, by mankind.”

Accepting her answer with a nod, he decided to test her claim of knowledge by asking her a few trivia questions in rapid succession. All of them were questions that he knew the answers to and all of them were answered correctly by her. When he had exhausted his supply of questions, they carried on in companionable silence through the forest.

Two hours later, he put his backpack down and sat on a rock to have something to eat. Fortunately, he had stuffed his belt with lots ready-to-eat snacks. Delving deep into his belt pocket he removed a cream roll which he began to munch on while his Geeya floated around him.

Rain watched her carefree movements with unconcealed interest.

“You don’t … eat or anything like that, do you?” he asked her.

She stopped floating randomly and glided to a stop in front of him.

“A Geeya is not bound by the limitations faced by a human body. I may look human, but that’s about it when it comes to similarities between you and me.” she explained.

He reached forward tentatively to touch her shoulder. It dispersed in curls of smoke and then reformed again. Fascinated, he tried to touch her again. Again, the same thing happened.

“What are you made of, exactly?”

“Geeya are made of smoke. Have you noticed how smoke can sometimes be so translucent that it barely conceals anything, but at other times so thick, that you cannot see anything through it, and almost feel it? Those are the properties we have imbibed.” she explained.

Rain understood what she meant. She was wispy and translucent too.

“Why can’t I touch you?” he asked, “You don’t seem to have any problems touching me.”

She deftly eluded another attempt by him to touch her.

“You can touch me only if I want to be touched. There are other things too that I can do and you cannot. Like, I can also show you visions.” she said, touching his Geeya mark. Instantly, a montage of beautiful images flashed across his mind, blotting out the vision from his eyes. It was over almost as soon as it had begun, which was a good thing because when she pulled her hand away he swayed a little, almost having lost his balance due to the temporary loss of sight.

“Wow! That was seriously cool! How’d you do that?” Rain exclaimed.

“I was made to do these things and so I can do them. Just like the heart of a human was made to beat and feel emotions at the same time, so it can do both.”

“Yeah, well …You should touch me more often!” he joked.

She smiled her serene smile in reply. But then again, she was never really without a smile on her face. Her mind-bogglingly beautiful face.

“Do all Geeya look like you?”

“No. before coming into existence we are given the freedom to choose the form that we want. Once we have made a choice we have to remain in that form permanently. It is only in the human species that the female is more beautiful than the male. Being great admirers of beauty, we choose carefully, making sure that we adopt a form that will be a pleasure for us always.”

“Who did you choose to be?” he asked, trying to touch the tendrils of hair surrounding her face. She quickly flitted away, out of his reach.

“Azalea. She was a Greek queen who lived two thousand years ago.”

“Are all Geeya females?”

“Yes. We are all females and all of us take the human form. Taking the form of an animal would be beneath us.”

“So you have adopted the form of a woman who lived two thousand years ago? Man! They had some good stuff back then.”

“It’s not like you would know the difference...”

“I guess.” he admitted with a dry laugh, reaching inside his belt for another roll.

“Are you done eating?” she asked after a while.

“Yes.” he replied, getting up and lifting his backpack, “Shall we continue onwards?”

She nodded and fell into step beside him, gliding along peacefully.

“Tell me again, where am I, exactly? I mean, why here, in the forest of … Al- whatever? Is it because everyone first lands here to begin their Quest?” asked Rain.

“You are at the origin- the beginning of your Quest in Quniverse.” She replied, laying emphasis on the word ‘your’.

“So Quniverse is basically a forest?”

“Quniverse is a forest, a desert, a mountain, an ocean, the past, the present …. It is everything it needs to be. There are no limitations.”

“Cool … so, when are you going to tell me what my Quest is?” he asked her, ducking in order to avoid a low branch.

“Whenever you want to know.”

“Okaaay … tell me now, then. What is my Quest?”

“You have to collect eleven wisdoms. That is your Quest.”

“Eleven wisdoms …” he repeated. Not having the slightest clue as to what that meant or how he was going to achieve what he was supposed to. “Can you tell me what those wisdoms are?” he asked cautiously.

“No. A Geeya is forbidden from solving her sequestor’s Quest. I can only inform you of what your Quest is, not solve it for you.”

“Do you know which wisdoms I have to collect, though?”

“No.”

“What if I guessed them?” he challenged.

“You could try.”

“Where there is a will there is a way … Look before you leap …” recited Rain.

Nothing happened.

“How will I know which eleven wisdoms I am supposed to collect?” Rain asked with a frown. “There are hundreds of wisdoms in the world.” he protested.

There was a loud crack as he stepped on a snail, squishing its shell under his foot.

“Yuck!” he exclaimed, quickly stepping away from the gooey mess.

“Master Shengdu’s gift will help you there.” said his Geeya.

She looked down at the chain on his neck with its eleven claws and he followed her gaze.

“How?” he asked, lifting the chain and fingering it lightly.

“When the time has arrived for you to collect a wisdom, it will begin to glow. Once you have collected the correct wisdom one of the claws will disintegrate. In this way, it will help you to not only collect the right wisdom, but also to keep track of how many you have collected. So do not worry yourself.”

“What happens once I’ve collected the eleven wisdoms?”

“Once you have completed the eleven mini-Quests, you will have to wait for the chain to snap. Wherever the chain snaps, there you will find your last and final Quest. Your Master Quest.”

“Hmm …”said Rain, falling into thoughtful silence.

He spoke after a while.

“Nobody but a sequestor’s Geeya knows what his Quest is. Then how does Master Shengdu know what to gift us? I mean, we didn’t all receive the same gift. All of us got something different. And I’m sure the gifts are all very Quest-specific. Like, I got a chain with exactly eleven claws. How does Master Shengdu know what gift to give, and to which sequestor?”

“Master Shengdu has no idea what your Quest is. Before the Naming Ceremony, he pulls the gifts out of the Well of Origins each year. Once the gifts are out, Master Shengdu uses the knowledge he has to find out which gift belongs to which sequestor and then hands them out accordingly.”

“How does Master Shengdu know all this?” asked Rain, feeling baffled by Master Shengdu’s extraordinary abilities.

“Master Shengdu was a sequestor, too.” replied his Geeya.

“Really?!” exclaimed Rain.

“Yes. Everyone at Mt. Chimpu was a sequestor. Dr. Hope, Charity … Master Shengdu’s Core Name is Knowledge. That is how knows so much.”

“What about the name ‘Shengdu?’”

“That is just an adopted name.”

“Wonder why he never told us that …”

“Probably because he wanted to avoid being buried under the obvious deluge of questions that would follow the announcement?” she mused aloud, smiling at him. Rain smiled back, forgetting what he wanted to ask next because of the sheer glamour of it. Then a thought struck him. “Hey … no wonder everyone there used to wear those large gold bands on their right hand. They were hiding their Geeya marks, right?”

His Geeya nodded. Rain shook his head in bafflement. “All this intrigue, just to avoid being questioned by curious youngsters. Are we that annoying?” he looked at his Geeya, waiting for an answer. It never came, and that was answer enough for Rain, who frowned and decided to keep silent thereafter.

As night fell, Rain decided to call it a day and sat down to have dinner. He ate a few more snack items that he had carried and then lit a fire even though it was not cold, because he wanted to keep wild animals at bay. He removed his sleeping bag and settled into it for the night. Sleep was slow in coming because of the change in environment and the momentous events of the day. His very first night in Quniverse. He was really here. This was it, the real deal. Rain let out a breath, his chest churning with both, worry and excitement. Realizing that he would have to calm himself down if he ever dreamed of sleeping, Rain turned to his side so he could gaze into the flickering flames, wondering what Diego, or rather Star, was doing now. Would he ever get used to calling his brother anything else but ‘D’? Probably not.

His Geeya flitted about, hiding behind the broad barks of trees, appearing and disappearing occasionally. He looked at her moving about gracefully and wondered whether she was tired.

“Do you … er … need to go rest?” he asked her, pointing towards the Geeya mark, indicating that he would dismiss her if she required it.

“A Geeya never tires. So, no, I do not need to retire and would prefer to stay here in the forest with you, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay.” nodded Rain.

Mind? Why would he mind? She could be wherever she wanted with him. In the forest, in his sleeping bag …

He turned around with such pleasant thoughts in his mind and resumed gazing into the fire, which was down to its last embers by the time he finally managed to drift off.

*****

CHAPTER 2

Rain awoke the next morning to find his Geeya sitting on a rock, staring at him.

“Good morning.” she sang in her balmy voice. “Why don’t you eat breakfast? Then we’ll continue on our way.”

Rain stretched and yawned and then proceeded to exactly as she had suggested. Before long, they were on their way again. Rain, who was feeling chatty this morning, decided to engage his Geeya in another session of questions and answers.

“Yesterday, you said that a Geeya is there to provide answers to her sequestor, right?”

She nodded. “And advice, whenever needed and possible.”

“Possible? Why is that? Are there some questions you cannot answer, or do not know the answer to? Besides information about another sequestor’s Quest, of course.”

“True … a Geeya cannot access information about a sequestor whose Quest is still active…” she trailed off, floating ahead of him.

“What all
do
you know?”

“Everything that has taken place in the past… right up to the present.”

“That’s a lot of information for one Geeya to hold. Or is it that you have unlimited memory?”

“I do not hold the knowledge. It is in the pool of knowledge. I simply dip inside for the answers.”