Saransh was born into a rich and religious family. His parents taught him about meditation from an early
age.He was home schooled for language , religious scriptures , science , maths and society. At the age of 25 , he got accepted to Chinmay ashram and left his home. He travelled there halfway by bus , halfway by foot. On the way , he came across a river that he was supposed to cross , but it didn't have a bridge. He spotted a boat tethered at a corner with a man sleeping in it. The man called himself Dobri and helped Saransh cross the river. Unbeknownst to Saransh and Dobri , they had been under the spell of a mermaid while they crossed the river. Mridula , the mermaid had been desperate and searching for male soul to avoid death. She chose to devour Saransh over Dobri comparing the quality of their souls. In the urgency of her hunger and impending death , she rushed in on her intuition of a special soul , forgetting something important. When she breeded him , Saransh didn't die as she felt his seed inside her. Panicked , she realized that Saransh's soul was divine
and now her death was unavoidable. Weakened , she stayed at the bottom of the river where currents were
calmer. A baby was growing inside her and she felt sicker by the day. She used to observe Dobri and his wife who lived by the riverside. She realized that leaving the baby at his boat and accepting her death would be the right thing to do.
As the year came to an end , a baby girl was born into the river. She too , like her mother , could breathe underwater but otherwise had a human body. She smiled at the beauty of the child and with the last ounces of
her strength , swam up and rested her child on the empty boat by the riverside.
Dobri surmised whose child she might be and brought the matter to the village court. With no one claiming the kid , Dobri and his wife were requested to raise her. They accepted it gladly but left the village to show their disapproval to such a shameful incident. Dobri shifted to live in a village near the Ashram and accepted an offer as a shephard.
They named their child Latika. Finding out about her interest and excellence at academics , the Ashram accepted her as a student. As she grew up more meritorious than others ; Saransh , a highly revered teacher by that time , was appointed to give her personal lessons. She still had several months untill granduation when Saransh finished his learning and sought to leave the Ashram for his own solo journey. With repeated requests to the Ashram and proving her qualifications , Saransh was forwarded a suggestion to take her in as his student. Saransh complied and asked her to complete her studies as scheduled. Saransh spent those few months with Dobri , helping him out at his work , getting to know about them and Latika's history.
After staying together for several years , Latika left Saransh to begin her own journey. Saransh's health had
deteriorated unexpectedly ever since they left the Ashram. Latika , worried about his health , had asked to stay
with him as long as she could , but complied when Saransh said it wouldn't please him. Saransh met an early
death only several days after they departed. Latika , suppressing her worries for her teacher , sought for self
discovery. The search brought her to the village by the river. She visited the Village Chief , who greeted her
warmly and shared happiness at finding out Dobri's daughter had grown into a fine scholar. Upon inquiring
about the day she was found , he told her about the chaos that had erupted in the village due to her. The
Village preists had declared her a cause of misfortune and the court had asked her to be removed as soon as
possible. But Dobri refused to let her go and left the village with his wife and her.
Latika was devastated. She recalled the day her father told the truth about her being adopted , it was the day she had to depart with her teacher. Instead of feeling troubled , she felt more proud of her father at his honesty and forthcoming nature. Her teacher also shared a similar opinion. But what could she make of the present circumstance ? If he had simply told her the complete truth that day , she would have scoffed at the villagers being so silly. But by not telling her this , what did he implyand intend ? She wanted to ask her father the reason he did that. She went to meet her parents at the other village. When she got there , she found out
her father had died and her mother was living alone. Numbed by emotions , she sat infront of her mother and
asked her all the questions she had saved for her father. Her mother replied that he did all that because he
didn't want to see her in a situation she is right now. The "truth" she believed in was hurting her more than her
father's lie. Eyes brimming with tears , Latika got up and headed to the river. It was colder than usual.
Forgetting what she was doing , she jumped inside. She sank and sank thrashing her limbs in frantic while
holding onto her breath. As she hit the bottom and found her efforts to lift herself up were invain , she let go
and calmed down. She let go of her breath dreading how she would choke with water but
instead , she drew in a long fresh breath that quieted her writhing lungs.
An angelic song reverberated across the Realm of the Mermaids - "the queen has awaken , its a declaration of
war , battle out your righteousness and hope it's your last.
