Chapter 37: The Enchantment

Ambai took a deep breath and wiped her wet cheeks. "What's the use thinking about this now?" she whispered.

She placed all the books back on the shelf and sighed.

She walked over to the door with the lamp. Only then she realized that she did not know how to open the door. "Eh, maybe there would be some switch," she whispered and searched around. But there was none.

"Some strange engravings?" she whispered as she started sweating. The room was quite dark, even with the little lamp. And it was congested. She wiped her sweaty forehead.

"There must be a way out," Ambai mumbled. She patted down the wall; there was nothing special on it. She tapped the door again. Still, there was nothing.

"Maybe I can push it open," she whispered in panic. She put all her weight on her hand and started pushing. The huge wooden door did not budge.

Ambai had seen her enter the room, but she had not seen how he exited from inside. "What the hell have I done? Have a trapped myself in here," she said biting her lips.

Her mood was already low and the situation made it even worse. She banged her head onto the wooden door and shouted, "Anyone outside? Dad? I am trapped here."

She screamed, shouted, she even kicked the door. But it was useless. It did not even budge an inch. so she waited. But even after what seemed like two hours, no one came o her rescue.

Her voice echoed around in the small room. "Don't tell me this place is sound proofed. Oh god," she held onto her aching head and slouched onto the door.

She gazed up at the dark ceiling. "Baby deity, are you watching my misery? Help me out a little na," she whispered.

Just then a loud bang was heard inside the room.

Ambai shot up and held onto eth wall. "Deity is that you?" she slowly strutted to inside the secret room.

The black book of magic was on eth ground. But all the other books were perfectly arranged on the shelf.

Ambai solely walked over to the boom and picked it up. "So you want me to read?" she whispered.

There was no answer to her question.

She plopped next to the shelf and opened it. it was the book full of enchantments and spells. All of them were handwritten. The writing was quite messy but readable. "This reminds me of my writing," she whispered with a fond smile.

Ambai always had the messiest handwriting. Especially the 'r's. She usually messed it up so bad that it looked like a 'n'.

She shook her head and continued reading its contents page by page. She was searching for something very specific.

"Are there any spell to break a door?" she flipped thought the book and came across a huge enchantment.

It was a spell on how to destroy. It looked quite easy with a small enchantment of circled and mystical swirls.

Ambai thought about using it, yet she let go of this stupid notion. Her father had kept this room a secret for a long time and it had many precious things stored here. She didn't want to damage any of them.

"There should be something else that can take me out of this room, hmm," she said, flipping through the pages. Soon she came across an interesting spell.

It read, "Transport array,"

This piqued her interest. She read through its contents. It was a basic skill to transport to the place of desire.

"If I can harness this spell I can transport outside the door," She shouted.

Her heart started beating fast. 'Finally, I have a way to get out of this room. I have been holding my pee for so long,' she mentally cried.

She got onto her knees and took a deep breath. "Let's read how to draw,"

The book instructed to draw the enchantment with a calm heart.

"Okay, I can do this. But what do I draw with," she searched throughout the shelf and found a small pen and ink stone.

The inkstone was dry, and she did not have any water with her. "Sorry dad, I will get you a new inkstone."

She spat on it and rubbed it with her fingers. "Voila, ink is ready, brush is here, and all I have to do is calm my heart,"

She sat in the middle, with her legs folded under. She took a deep breath and thought about her most calming memory. A small viscous silver membrane enveloped her in a warm glow.

She opened her eyes and let out a deep breath. "Let's draw," she said with a wide smirk.

Firstly, she had to tackle the issue on how to draw a perfect circle. She tore the bottom of her shirt in a long strip. She rolled it into a string and tied it to the brush.

Ambai held the other end of the string at a point and drew with the brush. It worked pretty much like a Compass protractor.

A perfect circle was drawn.

"Now, it's just the small details." She said wiping her sweaty forehead.

With the small brush, she drew all the intricate patterns. She stared from the corners to the centre. It made it easier for her to keep it symmetrical.

Ambai in her past life was not good at many things. But her grandma made her draw Rangoli* every morning in front of their house with rice powder. This helped develop her drawing skills.

One morning she had a conversation about it.

"Ambai, this Rangoli* will not only bring good luck, it will give you good karmic value," her grandma said.

"What? How is that possible? It's just a drawing," Ambai said sceptically.

Her grandma tapped her softly on the forehead. "See what you used to draw it with. Its rice flour. And see there," she pointed to the nearby ant colony. "Every morning, you are feeding millions of hungry ants; it will give you good karma dear. You need it more than you think," she whispered with a sigh.

Thinking back, it seemed like all of her grandma's words were actually training for her to face her imminent future.

'She should have known that I would choose to make that wish, that's might be why she begged me to move on,' she thought with a smirk. "But grandma, even if I have to suffer like this I would never give up on you. I will definitely pass this hurdle as well,"

She finally finished the final swirl in the centre. The entire enchantment lit up in a mild silver colour.

"Woww,.... it works!" she whispered in awe.

Note-

Rangoli- A classical art of india. A small pattern is drawn in front of the house to bring good vibes. Its mostly drawn using rice flour, quartz, or salt. If you are interested Google Rangoli. Trust me they are beautiful.