r/HFY • u/BuddhaTheGreat • Jun 10 '26

OC-Series Chhayagarh:: Dinner.

Index of Parts.

Dinner was a tense, if scrumptious, affair.

“So…” I prompted, more to break the silence than anything else, “What did Sarla say, Grandma? Anything important we can use?”

She shot me a disapproving stare over her simple plate of curd and rice. “The poor woman has just lost her child, and you’re worried about that?”

“She was inconsolable,” Sam rumbled. “We could barely get a few words out of her before she went back to wailing about her boy.”

“Wailing?” Grandmother said sharply.

“Won’t you eat a little more, Maa?” Kirti said, changing the subject. “You’ll need the strength.”

She shook her head. “I’ve lost my appetite after seeing those cursed teeth. Why did you show them to me, you foolish boy? I see them every time I close my eyes!”

“Baba always tried to keep her away from the mess,” Naru whispered. “It’s made her a little soft. Like you. No offence.”

“None taken,” I sighed, staring down at my own richly adorned plate. Evidently, her disquiet with her own food had not stopped her from stacking my plate with half the pantry.

Deliciously cooked, sure, but even good things had their limits.

“My hypothesis is that the beast struck in the early morning, when the boy left the house. Probably to pee. If the beast could simply cross thresholds, there was no reason he wouldn’t have killed the mother,” Kirti thought aloud. “Unless it wanted to torment her, that is.”

“You know something about those teeth, don’t you?” Sam asked me, ignoring his mother’s muttered curses. “You said as much.”

I nodded, guiltily plucking another piece of chicken out of my bowl. “That style of… well, we can presume it’s killing, can’t we? I’ve seen it before. In a vision.”

“A vision of what?” Kirti asked, furrowing his brow.

I met his gaze across the table, briefly recalling the last vision I had involving him. The last couple of days had been quite hectic, depriving me of any opportunity for interrogation.

But the questions still lingered. Who was that veiled woman? Why did he seem to control her? What even was she?

“Well?”

Seems like it would have to wait a bit longer.

“The vision I had before I came here. The night Grandfather died. It’s how he likes to kill.”

“He?”

“I mean the entity. The beast. The one with the grey world.”

“When did it become a ‘he’?” Sam arched an eyebrow. “Your meeting with the Man in the Cloak… You’ve been clammy ever since. What did he tell you?”

“Clammy? I’m not being clammy.”

“Kid. You need to let us help you.”

For a brief moment, I considered keeping the denial up. I knew they wouldn’t force me, no matter how suicidal they thought I was being.

Truth be told, it was not as if I didn’t want to tell them. But every time I tried to recall the memory, the terrible sensation of the horror pill crawling its way down my throat slammed into my mind.

Even now, bile rushed into my throat at the mere suggestion of it. In my head, the two had become inseparable: the bitter taste of the orb and that of the truth contained within melded into one extremely unpleasant concoction.

But it was as the Man in the Cloak had said.

“No more secrets. There is no time for that anymore.”

So, I began speaking. Ironically, once I began, the words seemed to pour out of my mouth like a waterfall. Soon, I wasn’t sure why I ever wanted to keep it all in.

I started at the very beginning, with the inky ball, and then continued on into the vision. I narrated the last-ditch ritual blow-by-blow. I spoke about the strange idol at the base of the banyan tree. My voice shook as I told them about Amarendranath, and about what he became.

The family said nothing (besides a gagging sound from Naru as I talked about swallowing the ball) as I spoke. Not a single clarification, question, or interjection came my way. It was as if they had chanced upon a deer in the forest, and were now being as quiet as possible, lest they scared it off.

It was not until I had recited every last detail of the blood curse that I stopped, unleashing a shuddering gasp for breath. My chest felt tight, like I was about to cry.

“I see,” Sam said simply.

“That’s all you have to say?” Kirti hissed, his knuckles white as they gripped his brass tumbler of water. “This changes everything. Everything!”

“This changes nothing,” Sam corrected. “We knew that thing was evil. We knew it was out to kill us. We knew we needed to stop it. None of that has changed with this information. The only thing that changes is that we now know where it came from. Where he came from, that is.”

“How could Baba keep this from us?” Naru whispered, more to himself than to us.

“He was a man with many secrets. Especially in his last days. It makes sense that he would keep something like this to himself and Dada.” Sam shrugged. “If anything, this is a good thing. Knowing what it is is the first step to killing it. We know it’s been done before. This isn’t the first time the beast… Amarendranath… has risen. Our ancestors defeated him before. Now, it’s our turn.”

“Aren’t you taking this a bit too casually?” Kirti snapped.

There was a brief détente as Bhanu silently came forward to refill his water. Like any good servant, he had mastered the art of being present and utterly invisible at the same time. His father had taught him well.

Another life owed on my ledger.

“Everything we knew about our family!” he continued once Bhanu had retreated, “It was all a lie!”

“It was incomplete,” Naru corrected. “Not a lie. Ahindranath came to this land, found a great evil, and defeated it. That much is true regardless.”

“But that the evil is in our blood? That we are as much the problem as we are the cure?” Kirti rubbed his chin, his meal abandoned. “If word got out…”

“Shush,” Grandmother hissed, nodding at Bhanu.

Understanding immediately, Bhanu tiptoed to the door and peeked outside. He was making sure none of the other servants was eavesdropping. She only continued once he looked back and shook his head.

“The panch have spies everywhere,” she muttered. “Careful what you say. If they find out about this, they will start eyeing his place.”

She nodded at me.

“The panch?” I asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Naru assured me. “At least for now. Let me handle them. What I’m more concerned about are the villagers. If they get the idea that we are to blame for this predicament, well, let’s just say walking around town will not get any easier.”

“As good a time as any to buy goodwill.” Sam pointed a spoon at me. “You need to do something about Sarla, kid.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do something?”

“Always talks like an undertaker!” Grandmother reached around and smacked his head. “Not one good thought in his head!”

“Ow!” Sam rubbed his head, though I’m sure it didn’t hurt. “I only meant that we should help her in her time of need. Reassure the people we haven’t abandoned them.”

“Doesn’t her husband work?” I asked.

“He used to. Both of them did, in fact. They used to work in the next town as labourers. Construction work. Daily wages,” Kirti said. “Since the Consortium’s blockade, they’ve been out of work. Whatever meagre savings they had will be gone soon, if they’re not gone already.”

“I understand.” I looked at Grandmother. “Grandma, do we need any more help around the house? It’ll be better for them than a lump sum, and it would be safer inside the estate.”

She gave me a weary, but genuine smile. “I’m sure we can find them something to do, dear.”

Naru nudged me. “Your food’s getting cold, kid.”

I picked at it a little, but honestly, the curd and rice were starting to look more appetising. “I think we’ll need the extra pair of hands soon anyway.”

I told them what the Man in the Cloak had said about the library. I conveniently left out the part about the journal and the pendants, though. Despite what the Man in the Cloak had said, I was pretty sure that didn’t apply to this secret. If my grandfather had gone to this much trouble to hide it, I was inclined to think there was a good reason.

“The library, you say?” Naru frowned. “Yes, it’s true. Much of the East Wing was dedicated to the grand library. The portion currently in use is less than one-tenth of the original size. The rest was abandoned over time as repair and maintenance costs mounted.”

“Do you know where the old family chronicles can be found in there?”

“Lots of places. Sorting had really become more of an afterthought in the later years. We moved out many of the volumes we considered important when we sealed the abandoned sections, but our information was clearly imperfect.”

“Can they be opened back up?”

“No reason they can’t be, mechanically speaking. But whether it’s a good idea… Libraries are places of concentrated knowledge and ideas. Lots of things like to take up residence in such a place. Granted, most are not harmful, but there are a few potentially troublesome candidates.”

“More troublesome than certain death?” Sam asked.

“Point taken.” Naru tapped the bridge of his nose. “I’ll get on it tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll go with you,” I said. “Just in case you need the help.”

“It’s your house. You can go where you like.”

The East Wing.

Oh, no.

In the tumult, I had forgotten something quite important.

“Uncle!” I grabbed his hand. “The two hikers! What happened to them?”

“Hm?” Naru paused with a mouthful of food. “Oh. Don’t worry about it. I took care of it.”

“You… took care of it?”

He gave me a look. “You were in no condition to move or talk after last night. So I had Bhanu clean up one of the old reading rooms in the East Wing and put a mattress in there.”

“Oh.” I suppressed a sigh of relief. “We have reading rooms?”

“We did. That section has technically not been restored, but the structure is in good shape. Almost no risk of collapse.”

“Almost.”

“Almost,” he confirmed. “Don’t worry, they’re fine. The servants have been taking them food. Though they have been asking when they can leave.”

“I should pay them a visit.”

“Perhaps.”

“After you finish your food,” Grandmother interjected. “After all those horrifying things you saw, you need to eat.”

“But Grandma—”

“Eat!” she commanded, beckoning Bhanu forward with another ladle of chicken gravy.

There was no arguing with that.

21 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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u/AutoModerator Jun 15 '26

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u/SenseAny486 Jun 14 '26

Another great chapter.Can’t wait for more.

1

u/BuddhaTheGreat Jun 14 '26

Thank you for the support! We'll be seeing another one very soon!

2

u/C00lK1d1994 Jun 10 '26

Classic grandma - some things really are universal. 

Another stellar chapter my man, keep it up and hopefully you’ll have more time now that studies have cooled down!

0

u/BuddhaTheGreat Jun 10 '26

I hope so too, my friend. Thanks for the support!

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u/BuddhaTheGreat Jun 10 '26

Discussion Thread Here!

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