Her breathing slows down. She is horrified. She wakes up and moves to the corner of the room, unable to collect her thoughts. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?" She yells!
The lady smirks, "I just told you I'm a forest spirit. I can come whenever I want."
"Am I dreaming?" says Ahmaya, pinching her hand.
"Girl, you are not. Relax. Please calm down. I'm not here to scare you."
Ahmaya calms down, sits, and thinks for a bit. She finds the lady extremely odd. She is uneasy. She is confused.
"You're a forest spirit. What exactly does it mean?"
The forest spirit approaches her face and demands, "First, tell me who you are."
"I already told you earlier about myself. Now it's your turn, Miss." Ahmaya says, quite angrily.
"You are absolutely not insane. I sense the honesty in your eyes."
Irritated, Ahmaya grinned, "Are you here to tell me that I am not insane?"
The forest spirit spreads her arms, closes her eyes, and inhales deeply. " I can sense your aura; I sensed it from the beginning. You are definitely one of us," she says as she opens her eyes.
"Say clearly, don't twist things around."
"You mentioned that I was in your dreams; I don't enter someone's dream unless it's extremely significant. However, I can't recall you. When and why did I show up in your dreams? But since I know you're telling the truth; I couldn't ignore you. Something exists that I am unaware of."
Ahmaya rolls her eyes and says, "I'm glad you believe me; I have no idea what you are; just help me get home."
The forest's spirit sits next to her and asks, "Where is your home?"
"See, I stay in this area of Mawphlang, in the year 2024. One day, I touched a tree trunk, felt a lot of aches in my chest, and then opened my eyes in 1935."
"You time-traveled?"
"Yes, perhaps I did. But I'm puzzled by how this all happened. Prior to this incident, you were often seen in my dreams, and similarly to today, you once entered my room and said, 'Help me'." Ahmaya continues.
The lady is in full shock and uncertainty, but first she must certify that she is one of them. "Can I hold your hand?"
Ahmaya lands her right hand and answers, "Sure."
The lady holds her hand and closes her eyes.
The lady opens her eyes, and says, "I knew."
"What?" Asks Ahmaya.
"You are an Aokma."
"I know I belong to the Aokma community. Why is everyone over here obsessing over communities?" Ahmaya says irritated.
"Are you aware of your power and role?"
"What power? What role?" Ahmaya asks confused.
"The role god assigned you." replies the forest spirit in uncertainty.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"I know the present Aokmas but.... you are from 2024 as you say, and I don't know anything about you except you are one of us."
Ahmaya is just staring at her very confused.
The forest spirit extends her hand, "Come with me. I'll explain everything."
Ahmaya looks at her hand. She feels unclear and nervous. She is unsure if she can trust her or not.
"Trust me, kid. Come with me," says the forest spirit, bringing her some consolation.
Ahmaya holds her, and the spirit stands on the room's window, prepared to fly, but Ahmaya interrupts her just as she starts.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
"Is there something wrong?"
"Why are my feet getting above the ground?" says Ahmaya anxiously.
With a grin, the forest spirit replies, "Close your eyes; in a mere second, we will reach."
Ahmaya trusts her shut her eyes.
.
"Let your eyes open."
Ahmaya opens her eyes and realises she is standing in the middle of a vast forest, encircled by massive trees and pitch darkness.
Ahmaya wonders, "Where are we?" with curiosity.
"We're in my jungle. This forest is my home. I am an Aokma, just like you, and God has commanded me to preserve and safeguard nature and trees." She pauses, moves a few steps forward, caresses a tree, and smiles, "These trees are my family; they listen to me and talk to me, and I protect them and this territory."
"Okay So, what is there about Aokma community I don't know?"
"A lot, there are a lot that you don't know"
"Tell me", says Ahmaya, her eyes full of questions.
"Aokma community exists to defend what God has created. We live beside the creations and defend them."
"So, I'm here to defend forests just like you?" questions Ahmaya.
"No, each Aokma is tasked to protect different creatures. You have to discover it."
"How does this all relate to me getting here?"
"I don't know that; all I know is that you are an Aokma. But, as you mentioned, you've seen me before, so it's obviously linked with me." Thinking she continues, "you said you were transported here, correct?"
"Yes, also it's not my face; I only realised tonight that it's not my face, it's not my body; the first day I was changing clothes, I noticed alterations to my body, but there were so many other things on my mind that I ignored them, but today I saw myself in the mirror, and it's not the face I had, it's not me." Ahmaya expresses fear and stress.
"That's possible; I was about to say that even if you time travelled here, it's impossible for your body to time travel; the body cannot travel time. But the soul can."
"My soul?" Ahmaya lifted an eyebrow.
"Yes, the soul." The forest spirit sighs heavily and replies, "Our bodies give us an idea of time. The world we live in our body keeps us connected to it, but the soul has no boundaries; the soul can travel anywhere at any time, but we can't since our soul is in the body, which is connected here; nevertheless, we can learn to leave our body and travel wherever we desire."
"So, my soul travelled, and now I'm here in this unfamiliar body, but how did I find up in this body? Please tell me more" Ahmaya has many questions.
"I'm not sure, but if you're travelling in the same world or time period, you can still maintain a physical connection to your body. You can go wherever you choose and return to your body whenever your body wants you to, but if you are travelling across various dimensions and intend to stay there, you will require a physical body. But you know nothing; you didn't learn all of this, right?"
Ahmaya moans slowly and appears troubled. "Yes, I didn't know anything; you're the one telling me everything."
"Your parents? Were they both Aokmas? Like your parents didn't tell you about their powers?"
"No, my father was not an Aokma, but my mother and maternal grandmother's family were, and they always told me that I, too, am an Aokma and belong to this community, just like my mother and her. My father always supported this statement and used to say it." with an expressive smile Ahmaya explains, "my parents were such normal parents, and I had no idea that the word Aokma had such a deeper meaning."
The lady places her hands on Ahmaya's shoulder to console her. "It's fine, I'll make sure your soul returns to where it belongs; you'll undoubtedly meet them then."
Ahmaya smiles again, with tears in her eyes. "Even if I return, I will be unable to meet my parents; my mother has disappeared, and my father is no longer alive."
"That's unusual" the forest spirit whispered with a rigid face.
"Listen, you didn't learn anything, and you don't even know your powers. This indicates that someone used their power to send you here, but that's very difficult, the person who did it has a lot of powers. You mentioned a tree, the scandal wood tree; perhaps someone used that tree as an intermediary to send you here." She goes on.
"Just send me back, exactly like someone sent me here."
"I'm sorry, but I can't, sis. I don't have the power."
"So, what do I do now?" Ahmaya responds in a harsh tone.
"Calm down; we need to find out why you're here."
"Yeah!" Ahmaya agrees.
"By the way, my name is not Forest Spirit, its Ayani…."
"Okay, fair enough."
"Yup."
Ayani is alarmed immediately and does not move her body, instead rolling her eyes to see if there is anyone behind them.
"Why are you here again?" asks Ayani from the person behind her.
Ahmaya does not see anyone, but she does hear a male voice chuckling after hearing Ayani.
"Who are you speaking to?" Ahmaya addresses Ayani, but she ignores her and begins conversing with the guy.
"Get out of my region."
Suddenly, a shadow emerges from behind, becoming apparent. Ahmaya is terrified to see a shadow transform into a body in front of her.
"Oh, is that the same girl as before who was with the young boy and crying in front of you? Who is she?" The male approaches Ahmaya and checks her out.
Ayani turns her neck towards the man. "She is human."
The man notices Ayani and wonders, "A human at your base? That is new."
"That is none of your business; as I already advised you, do not approach me or my area; I assume you and your master are unable to understand normal, intelligible language." she smirks "Oh yes, that's correct. That is why we came here, and you are down there." Ayani says this in an angry tone, pointing to the ground.
Ahmaya is concerned; she has no idea what they're discussing.
The man is now enraged; he flicks his hand, blows on his right palm, stiffens his neck, and releases so much air with his palm, accompanied by a scream, that Ayani falls extremely far and hits a tree.
Ayani wipes her clothing off and slowly moves her hands in a really lovely way, looking at the man by carrying out the green light emerging from her hands.
She attacks the man with light and traps him in the air. Ayani flies through the air, sees the guy on his level, and tells him to go and calm down his master. She claps, and the man falls to the ground and runs; in a few seconds, he is invisible, lost in the darkness of the forest.
"I am sorry for..." says Ayani to Ahmaya.
"So, what is it?" Ahmaya interrupts and asks, nervously.
"Let's go; I'll leave you off at your place of residence." Ayani holds her hand.
Ahmaya jerks her hand away from hers, "Don't touch me. You're dangerous."
"I'm not. I was defending us, my trees, and you."
"Who was he?"
"He was from Pataalok (the underworld/netherworld)."
"Is something like Pataalok real?" Ahmaya is amazed.
"Yes, they're nasty."
Ahmaya grabs Ayani's hand and exhales, "Drop me off at the hut."
Ayani smiles and drop her back.
.
Ahmaya had trouble sleeping the entire night since her brain was overloaded with information. She wants to ask Ayani a lot of more questions, but she is frightened.
Rupomoi brings Ahmaya food in the morning. While eating breakfast, Ahmaya is abruptly confronted by the man from the night before, he places his hand on her head and causes her to pass out.
Ahmaya's head is throbbing with pain; She tries to open her eyes but finds it challenging; nonetheless, as she opens her eyes after much effort, she finds her mother seated beside her.
"Ma!"