They all ran towards the chains and carefully examined them.

  “How did they break?” asked the lord of Tamisra

  “Well, they were not breakable as a whole as it was already enchanted with a powerful spell”, said lord of Avici

  “Then how did he escape?”

  “We should tell the Yamadutas about him so that they will be able to find him before he is able to escape.” Said the lord of Kalasutra

  “No, we can’t do that”, said the lord of Tamisra

  “Why can’t we?”

  “Because if they found him, then they will take him directly to Lord Yama’s court, and after that, we will not be able to do anything, and Ivaan will tell the truth.”

  “So, what should we do?”

  “We will find him by ourselves”, said the lord, “even if we are not able to find him, he will possibly escape from hell, which will also be good for us, as Yamadutas will have difficulty finding him, which will protect us, as the truth will remain beneath the shadows forever.”

  “But for how long?”

  “We all know lord Yama”, said the lord, “we all know finding lord of Krimisha is an utmost priority, so Ivaan will not be found soon enough to cause any problem for us.”

  “So, you mean to say we will let him go and we’ll not do anything?”

  “Yes, that is exactly what I’m proposing”

  “And one day, when he’ll be found, he will say the truth, then what will you propose to us?”

  “In that much time, we can make amends for the things we have done, and we’ll put a stop to the accusations in the future,”

  “So, you mean to say we will correct what we have done by making more lies?” said the lord of Kalasutra, “I don’t know what I feel about this, have you all forgotten that we are lords of hell and we punish those who do wrong and look what we are doing.” He said while glancing at all of the lords.

  “We are doing exactly what needs to be done in this situation,” said the lord of Tamisra

  “Oh no, no”, said the lord of Kalasutra, “we are doing what you think should be done.”

  “So, you tell me what should be done”, said the lord of Tamisra, “are we supposed to tell lord Yama that Ivaan has escaped, then Lord Yama will catch Ivaan and make him say the truth about all of us, is that what you think we are supposed to do!”

  “Yes, that is what should be done”, said the lord of Kalasutra, “we serve Lord Yama, so we should be loyal and truthful to him, not to the lord who serves under him” The lord of Kalasutra stared at the lord of Tamisra.

  “Fair enough”, said the lord of Tamisra, “if you all want to dig your graves by yourself, then there’s nothing I can do about it. The only worse thing about this is, I will be punished because of your foolishness, yours.”

  “You are very much mistaken, lord”, he said, “we all will be punished because of the involvement in the deed which is done against the will of Lord Yama and against the law of Hell itself.”

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  All the lords of hell nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, if this is what you want to do”, said the lord of Tamisra, “then go on.”

  “We would have been going to do that, anyway”, said the lord of Kalasutra while coming closer to him, “because remember you are not one who commands us, it is only lord Yama, and it will be better for you if you understand it in time, otherwise…”

  Ivaan found the place where all the souls were captured by the lords,

  “The portal should be here”, said Ivaan and glanced all around the place, and saw the portal, but he also spotted many Yamaduta lined across it.

  Should I go through it or should I wait? The time decided by lord Yama for my punishment is already over, as Lord of Krimisha told me before escaping from hell, which means there will be no problem in my reincarnation on earth. I’m only afraid about what lord of Krimisha would have done to earth since his absence from hell, only this mere idea terrifies me so much.

  Ivaan paused for a moment and started walking towards the portal,

  “Hey, you!” shouted one of the Yamaduta standing behind him. Ivaan squeezed his eyes, should have waited for a few more minutes.

  Ivaan turned around and looked at him.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “I’m Ivaan, and my punishment is done in hell of Krimisha, and I’ve been ordered to reincarnate on earth, so I was going towards the portal”, he said

  Yamaduta paused for a second and said, “You can go.”

  Ivaan walked and disappeared through the portal. The lords were searching all over the place when they reached near that portal.

  “We should ask from Yamadutas, maybe they would have seen him”, said the lord of Avici and went to the same Yamaduta who asked Ivaan about his identity, “Have you seen a person with the name and the face,” he described the face

  “Yes, he has just passed through this portal, a few moments ago”, said the Yamaduta

  “How can you let him pass through?” the lord of Kalasutra screamed, “This soul escaped from us and because of carelessness, he escaped hell so easily”, and the lord of Tamisra, started laughing loudly.

  “I didn’t know that lord”, said the Yamaduta, “he was confident and usually the souls which has completed the punishment are told this path, so I thought he was just another common soul, I didn’t know that he held value.”

  “You don’t need to explain it to me”, said the lord of Kalasutra, “keep it for Lord Yama, he will deal with you now.”

  “You all are fools”, said the lord of Tamisra, “I told you that it is useless to find him, and you all didn’t listen to me. If you did, we should have been doing our duties in hell.”

  “You better not talk about duties”, said the lord of Kalasutra by glaring at him, “do you want us to tell Lord Yama about what you have done?”

  “What did I you? You all are saying like you weren’t involved in all of this.” He spoke

  “And you think he will believe in you after listening to us saying that you are a liar.” Said the lord of Avici

  He turned his face in disbelief, “Why are you all plotting against me? I’m not your enemy, and I’m also one of the lords of hell.”

  “Yes, you are, but we are not going against Lord Yama”, said the lord of Kalasutra, “there’s a difference of loyalty.”

  “Loyalty”, he laughed, “where was this loyalty before when you all were trying to fulfil your own selfish desires?” he glanced at all the lords.

  “Yes, we did things out of selfishness”, said the lord of Kalasutra, “but we didn’t try to undermine the authority of Lord Yama, like you did, trying to portray yourself as lord Yama.”

  “And what you are doing, by taking the lead everywhere”, he said, “how are you any different from me?”

  “Looks like you didn’t notice”, said the lord of Kalasutra with a smirk, “I’m taking the lead to support Lord Yama while you're doing against him, don’t take us for fools.”

  “So, you all just want me to shut up”, he shouted, “because I’m saying the truth.”

  “Talking opposite or resisting something doesn’t always make it correct,” said the lord of Avici

  “Why are you saying all the things?” he said, “or no one else has a voice here.”

  “What do you want us to say?” said one lord from the crowd, “Pointing at everyone doesn’t going to make you right. Maybe we lack certain things, but it doesn’t make you right.”

  “Why are you all sanding up against me?” he said, “I’m not lord of Krimisha, I just told all of you to lie just a little to save all of us.”

  “You are no different from the lord of Krimisha”, said the lord of Kalasutra, “you spoke against Lord Yama's laws as he did.”

  “And that makes me him”, he said with a laugh.

  “No, just a reflection of him and If you don’t want Lord Yama to see this reflection, do exactly what I said” said the lord of Kalasutra, “shut…up”.

  He became silent and stood beside the crowd of Lords of hell.

  “Let’s go and tell Lord Yama about it”, said the lord of Kalasutra, and they all went to lord Yama’s court.

  .......................................................................TO BE CONTINUED