Ornithessa

By A. Ghimire

' What if the place where I want to go, where I have always wanted to be, is not the place where I am supposed to be? And how do I find it?'

- 'Won't know unless I go.'

This is the story

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.Ghimire
• Release date: Feb 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781739302382

Book preview

Ornithessa

Ornithessa

For those who believe in miracles.

First published in this edition 2023

A. Ghimire’s website Address is.

www.aaratighimire.com

Copyright © 2023 A.Ghimire

A.Ghimire asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

ISBN- 9781739302382

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording

or otherwise,

without prior written permission of the Author.

For coincidences and the strangers who crossed path are now a part in this story.

Many thanks to Adam and Aarshi for introducing us to your world.

Long before, in the era of Jehovah, no life on the land was devoid of magical powers. Witches, wizards, and land dwellers lived in harmony, and thus, happiness echoed in the air. The land dwellers relied solely on goodness of their heart to live peacefully. They couldn't cast spells or make potions as the witches and wizards did, but their power lay in the prayers. When needed help, the spirits may well be invited to the land by singing the song of soul. Despite the absence of magic, they relished the joyous days in merriment and in times of trouble, they sang for help with spirits.

As time went by, witches and wizards grew envious of the power spirits effortlessly bestowed upon the land dwellers. While witches and wizards struggled tirelessly every day to master their spells, they began to fear that spirits might bring land dwellers a power superior to theirs. So, they began crafting spells, rituals, and potions to sway spirits in their favour.

Witches and wizards formed alliances to combine their forces, but the spirits refused to join. Spirits feared the boundless desire for the unfathomable power that witches and wizards were after. The alliances began to captivate souls, collecting powers to act against spirits and land dwellers. Of all, one wizard stood the strongest, Mirel.

Mirel spent years crafting powerful spells and rebelled against the creator. He held the power to attack anyone he desired with his spell and enslave them forever. Despite being the most powerful wizard, he desired to be the One who controls everything. Mirel believed that his spells' strength was equal to the power of God, so, he set out to challenge everyone by defying the natural cycles of birth, life, and death on the land. He had dominion over everyone and everything except for spirits. Years passed, yet the hunger for power only grew. Because he desired mastery over spirits to enslave them, harvesting the power of Ornithessa was key for him.

On the first full moon of spring, Ornithessa would bloom every year and was believed to be God's favourite flower. It was said that the plant only grows where God so desires. Whereas some believed that the root was invisible even to the eyes of God. No one really knew where it grew. Any spell cast could be broken, and any soul captured could be set free by the magic of the bloom. The magic that blessed wizards and witches with their power of the spell that no one can break.

One day, Ares and Obres, two of the powerful wizards came to know about Mirel and his search for Ornithessa. They held the power which no other wizards did and could see the insides of others, including the darkness in their soul. They saw the destruction Mirel would have brought to the land ahead of time if he harnessed the magic from Ornithessa.

Unbeknownst to all, the seven masters were chosen by Ares and Obres to guard the blossoms of Ornithessa. Because the bloom brought wizards and witches the power of their spell never being broken by anyone, they chose land dwellers without magical powers or knowledge of spells (except one) to guard the bloom and gifted unique powers to all.

They chose Arte as the master of dreams; Alexis as the master of spirits; Delorossi as the master of potions; Atlas as the master of souls; Thaumas as the master healer; Tyagetti as the master of spells and Baison as the master of time portal. Nobody else, except these nine, knew the existence of the masters and their roles. Ares and Obres gifted these land dwellers with the power to harvest the magic of Ornithessa by combining their gifts even without needing the spells. Most importantly, even within the masters, no one can ever extract the magic from Ornithessa alone, all seven must combine their unique forces.

As Mirel and his alliances increasingly misused the spells they created. They cast evil spells to capture many land dwellers to those who they thought could lead them to Ornithessa. Their spells captured souls, land dwellers and spawned evil forces that caused havoc on the land. Despair was invited and everyone began to suffer.

Enraged land dwellers started hunting for the witches and wizards, and many got killed on both sides. With time, the spirits feared visiting the land and dwellers suffered without their assistance. Despite being powerful, witches and wizards were significantly fewer in number than the land dwellers so, they went outnumbered. They had no choice but to flee to distant lands and save themselves. On the other hand, witches and wizards who opposed Mirel suffered the most, forcing them to run into far lands as well to hide their power and live as normal land dwellers.

The chosen masters without mastery over spells and experience were too young to fight against Mirel and his alliance. To keep the bloom safe from Mirel, the masters had no choice but to combine their magical powers and hide the bloom in the heart of Antares. Before the era of Antares, no one would ever reach in its heart. Till then, the plant would appear as a lifeless plant that never blossoms. Not even the masters themselves will ever witness the Ornithessa bloom before the time. By then, thousands of years would have passed by, Mirel and his darkness would have disappeared, they thought, and kept serving their role as the protector in silence.

After tens of thousands of years, Ornithessa began to blossom again marking the beginning of the era of Antares. However, by the present time, Ornithessa had become a flower heard by none, and the stories about land dwellers vs. witches and wizards became a myth no one believed any longer. Magical abilities and spirits have ceased to exist, and neither have spirits made their presence evident to land dwellers ever again. The only thing that lasted all these years was the fear of witches, wizards among the land dwellers and hatred for witchcraft.

CHAPTER 1

In the land of Gods, Goddesses, and spirits, Neyali, it all began when Aarshi was only three years old. One night, in her dream, she saw a huge field of yellow mustard flowers against a bright blue sky on the other side of the canal. There was a small wooden bridge close by and a few children playing on the grass. She can't recall how she ended up there, in the mud pit. But she hasn’t forgotten the dream when she saw a hand reach out to her and heard a strange boy say, Don't worry, I'll pull you out. Surprised, she hesitated as she gave him a glance.

Just hold my hand, he said again.

The boy struggled for a while but eventually, managed to pull her out from the mud pool. She was soiled from her waist down, shaky on her feet, and looked at his face. A beautiful boy in a dark red wool sweater, and blue trousers. She looked at his clean brown shoes that turned dirty when he stepped into the mud and wondered who he was. Aarshi said nothing other than to stare at him silently. He looked at her with his eyes wide-open and smiled to ask her, Do you want to be my friend?

Aarshi had never seen the boy before, nor did she know herself where she was. She stood speechless in front of him and struggled to find any words to say; so, she didn’t say anything to him, not even thank you. Neither did he ask her twice; Do you want to be my friend? that’s all he said, just once.

After a brief moment of silence, the boy finally took his steps back and walked away from her. She kept staring at his back trying to remember if she has seen him somewhere before. The boy took a few steps and then turned back to glance at her. Just when she was about to assume that the boy had left, he raised his arms, smiled, and waved her goodbye.

That morning, she woke up with a strange feeling in her heart and recalled everything that happened in her dream. The crisp blue sky, the mustard-yellow fields, and the boy who saved her. Aarshi remembered everything but the only thing she couldn't remember was the boy’s face. She immediately ran to her mother in the kitchen and said, Mommy, mommy, I had a dream last night.

Really? What did you see, love? said her mother. The joys of her dream echoed in her home that morning. The kitchen shined with a fresh aroma of bread and the mint tea for breakfast with her stories. Aarshi told her mother the dream thoroughly, occasionally pausing to make sure that she had not missed anything.

Growing up, she often had strange dreams of people asking her to find Ornithessa, You must find it, they'd all say. The first few times she had such a dream, she used to run to her mother and ask about the flower and her mother always said the same, I have never heard of a flower like that Aarshi. By the time she turned 12, all she knew about Ornithessa was that it travelled beneath the rocks of mountains in the Himalayas.

'Is Ornithessa even a real flower? Does it actually exist? Why do I get dreams to look for Ornithessa?' She frequently asked herself but never found an answer.

Freedom of choice to shape one's world brings in countless doors of consequence and inescapable games of doubt and faith. After years of having dreams where strangers asked her to find Ornithessa, a part of her believed that the flower existed in real life. Her doubts about its existence were heavy, but she chose to keep the door of faith open. 'What if it is a real plant?' she wondered.

One day when Aarshi was playing with her friends in the front yard, she noticed her mother hanging more clothes to dry than usual. She rushed over to her and asked, Why did you wash so many clothes, mommy? Are we going somewhere?

A few days later, her mother had planned to visit her older sister's home in Gunchi. Neyali was the town centre where many families lived and were safe whereas Gunchi was a remote village in the wild. Gunchi lay somewhere in the heart of a thick forest, surrounded by hills, mountains, and tales of foxes, wild cats, and even ghosts. Mommy, I want to go with you, she said but her request was quickly turned down by her mother saying that Gunchi was hours of walk away even after getting off the horse carriage.

I doubt if you can walk on those hills, her mother said.

Aarshi had never stepped outside Neyali, since her parents brought her when she was very young to remember. Whenever she tried to convince her parents to go outside, they would refuse.

But mommy, I just want to see outside. I want to go with you, she said.

But it can be dangerous; you have heard the stories about Gunchi from your aunt when she visits us, haven’t you love? said her mother again.

Aarshi would spend most of the nights by the fire with her aunt whenever she came to stay over in Neyali. Her aunt used to tell stories of Gunchi where people were afraid to leave their homes once the sun goes down. Some even claimed that they have seen silhouettes dancing in the fire and flames in the middle of the night in the forest and heard them scream.

During new moons, they said that the shadows dance in the woodlands on midnight, at 12 o'clock in Gunchi. Locals believed that's when spirits awaken and connect with living beings. A popular local myth of Gunchi that 12 o'clock means ' the ghost hour.'

Aarshi's mother had forbidden her from leaving the house or eating anything at that exact 12, even