The forest was drenched in darkness. The road cut through the forest and was a narrow stretch of cracked earth. The night felt unnaturally eerie and the wind moved the leaves in low murmurs. The night sky was shrouded in nigrescence with a nearly invisible new moon.
Two cars cut through the darkness and the purr of the engines triggered any nearby creature. The cars were driven by the young heirs of Bombay's richest and most powerful family.
The first Benz had Rajesh behind the wheel, driving flawlessly and being guided by his brother Bhavya. In the back seats, Lalita and Ganga talked endlessly about how the party night went.
Ganga groaned softly. "My head still hurts from that party, Lali." Lalita laughed under her breath.
"That is because you mixed rum, vodka, and whatever nonsense Yogesh gave you."
"I did not mix anything," Ganga argued. "Preet kept handing me glasses."
"Accha? And who danced on the table when the music changed?"
Ganga immediately covered her face. "Stop. I am already embarrassed."
Bhavya leaned forward slightly and peered through the windshield onto the road ahead. "Bhai, I think we should take the right turn," he said. "I can see the top of the palace from here."
Rajesh glanced at him briefly, one eyebrow lifting with doubt. "You sure?"
Bhavya hesitated for a second before giving a small nod. "Umm… yeah. I think so."
The second car followed closely behind. Inside sat Shaswat at the wheel, with Madhu in the passenger seat while Yogesh, Preet, and Alkesh occupied the back seats. For several minutes, silence lingered heavily inside the car until Madhu finally spoke, her voice breaking through the quiet.
"So you're saying there's a palace somewhere down this road?"
Preet chimed up from the back seat. "Yes, bhabhi," he said. "The palace is broken down now, almost in ruins, but people say it's one of the most peaceful places to spend a night with friends."
Shaswat smiled and added, "He's right, dear. There's something strangely calm about that place." He paused for a moment before continuing, "You know, there's an old lore connected to that palace."
Madhu raised an eyebrow at him. "Lore?"
Before Shaswat could answer, Yogesh quickly cut in from the back. "The palace supposedly belonged to some king who lived centuries ago," he said casually. "Probably somewhere around the year 700. And, he was said to be a king who could control creatures of the night... and even the rakt pischach."
Alkesh shifted uneasily in his seat as he stared out the window at the uncanny forest. The towering trees and endless shadows made his stomach tighten. "Bhai, this place feels strange," he muttered quietly. "I'm seriously getting scared."
Shaswat glanced at him before letting out a soft chuckle. "Relax, man," he said calmly. "We're just exploring."
After a few more minutes of driving, the road widened slightly. Then the cars stuttered to a halt. Before them stood the ruins. At first glance it looked like the skeleton of a palace that time had slowly devoured.
What may have once been a sprawling palace, now stay in rotting disarray. Ivy-choked walls sagged, their sandstone cracked and blackened, vines twisting like veins through fissures. Humanoid figures slumped into the earth, their stone eyes hollow. Broken domes gaped skyward, exposing rusted iron lattices overgrown with thorny creepers, and the ground was littered with rubble, shattered marble pedestals and piles of decayed wood from grand doors. It was impossibly old.
"This looks so pleasingly good," Madhu said as she stepped out the car.
Slowly, the group stepped deeper into the ruins. Their footsteps echoed, while the flickering torchlight brushed over faded murals and broken sculptures. Rajesh walked ahead of everyone, guiding the group further into the ruins.
Lalita wandered into a long hallway that looked like an old royal corridor. "Guys, look here!" she called out.
The others immediately turned at the sound of her voice and hurried toward her. The wind drifting through the corridor felt strangely calm, yet the silence was unsettling. At the end of the hallway, where Lalita stood frozen in place, a massive wall-sized painting towered before her.
The painting of a king adorned with layers of pearls around his neck, so many that they almost covered his chest. His skin looked unnaturally pale, almost lifeless. Lalita moved towards it like she was pulled towards a magnet. Her fingers brushed the painting, and she froze. The eyes... were the most disturbing part. They were red. Not painted red. Glowing red. In his grasp gleamed a massive golden vase, its surface etched with intricate lotuses, translucent glass panels revealing a viscous red liquid inside, like blood congealed to syrup.
"Yaar, look at this king," Preet breathed, tracing the pearls. "So pale, like he's from another world. And those eyes—staring right through you." Shaswat leaned in, torch steadying on his face. "Wah, check the vase. Filled with what? Red Wine?
Ganga giggled nervously. "Creepy as hell. Bet he was some raja cursed by a tantrik. Those red eyes scream rakt pischach."
Madhu reached out, her palm pressing the painting's edge. She thought to herself, "So, this was the king Yogesh was talking about." She rubbed the edge again. Suddenly, a low rumble shook the ground.
CREAAAKKKKKK!!
The wall groaned, stone grinding on stone, and a hidden passage opened beneath their feet and a section of the floor moved aside. A staircase revealed itself, descending deep into darkness. Screeches erupted from the distant forest, something monstrous.
"Shit—what was that?" Yogesh yelped, stumbling back.
"We should leave!" Bhavya grabbed Preet's arm.
But Rajesh moved forward and stepped on the first stair. "Let's explore," and was already stepping toward. "Come on. This is so amazing."
"This is mad, bhai, turn back! We should leave!" Ganga pleaded.
"Too late now. Just a basement, c'mon Ganga," he called back.
The staircase spiraled deep underground. Deeper they went, walls closing in, the screeches fading upstairs. The passage spat them into a vast chamber, cobwebs veiling a pedestal. The selfsame golden vase sat, pristine amid the filth, red liquid swirling lazily within. Webs clung like funeral shrouds, thick as ropes.
Rajesh noticed it, "Isn't that the same vase that king held?" Everyone turned to look at it and agreed with Rajesh. He stepped forward slowly. "Looks valuable."
Lalita frowned, "It's the same thing that the king in the painting held in his hands. But why—"
Before she could even finish speaking, Rajesh grabbed the vessel. At that very moment, a deafening roar thundered through the palace. The walls trembled fiercely, dust shaking loose from the stone. And then, something stirred within the shadows.
A figure coalesced from the darkness.
A woman, face shrouded in gloom, skin corpse-pale, her body a grotesque tapestry of embedded jewels—rubies piercing flesh, emeralds jutting from ribs like shrapnel.
Then suddenly, she lunged, claws raking, eyes blazing inferno-red as she raked her long nails across Madhu, making her wail in agony. And, Lalita had to quickly shoved the creature away.
Yogesh screamed, "WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT-"
The woman threw herself at Bhavya, who was closest. Rajesh swung the vase cracking her shoulder; bone snapped instantly. Shaswat charged and jabbed the torch to her side, sizzling flesh filling the air with charred meat stench. The woman slashed Preet's arm, blood dripping out, soaking his shirt. Ganga's screams were filling the chamber.
Suddenly, Bhavya and Preet rushed forward. In one swift motion, they grabbed the woman and forced her to the ground. She thrashed wildly beneath them and her shrieks rising into sharp, piercing cries.
Madhu and Lalita, backs to the wall and spotted a boulder-sized stone slab. They both looked at each other. Lalita shouted, "MOVE EVERYONE!!!"
Madhu and Lalita lifted the heavy slab together and hurled it toward the woman on the floor. As they did, Preet and Bhavya quickly leapt aside to avoid the impact.
The slab smashed down on the woman, crushing her skull instantly—cartilage and bone crunching, brains erupting in red slurry flecked with glittering jewels, gore splattering their faces, warm and sticky. Her body twitched, jewels clinking as it slumped, headless ruin pooling blood that reeked of copper and rot.
Ganga retched, tears streaming. "Oh God—we killed her! We were here to be at peace and enjoy!!!! WHAT EVEN WAS THAT THING!?" Madhu gagged, wiping gore from her eyes, but there was no time as more screams echoed.
They all bolted up the stairs in blind panic. Lalita and Rajesh hauled up as he held the vessel, then Ganga sobbing, Shaswat shoving Bhavya, Madhu scrambling, Preet clutching his bleeding arm, Yogesh cursing, Alkesh dead last.
Suddenly.
A noise tore as a claw snagged Alkesh's ankle.
He screamed, twisting. The eight above whipped around. It was a different one, one with grey skin. The creature stared up at them with glowing eyes.
Alkesh clawed at the stone steps. "PLEASE!!!!!! HELP ME!!!!" He screamed as the creature kept pulling him down while the others watched in horror.
"Help! Pull me up—didi, please!" Alkesh wailed, nails scraping stone.
Ganga lunged back. "Alkesh! No—grab my hand!" But Preet yanked her arm. "Leave him—we can't go down!" Preet sobbed.
Ganga thrashed. "No, he's our brother—stop!"
Rajesh slapped right across her face, "WE NEED TO LEAVE!!!"
They ran, stumbling up the steps and diving into the cars. Behind them, Alkesh's howls tore through the night. The sound chased them as the cars sped away into the city. But they did not look back.
The passage stairs slammed shut on its own as the ruins trembled once more. The air filled with demonic shrieks.
From below came the sounds of violence. Flesh tore with a wet rip. Bones cracked like dry twigs, snap, crunch, pop, echoing through the darkness. The human cries of Alkesh rose higher and higher, raw and guttural, until his throat seemed to tear apart on the final note.
"AAAAAIIIEEEEEEHHHHHHHH!!"
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Guide:
accha - really
bhabhi - sister-in-law
didi - sister
bhai - bro
yaar - buddy
tantrik - here; practitioner
raja - king
rakt pischach - blood vampire