Author's notes: I'd like to remind everybody that all quotes in Hindi are all taken from sources as they are written from both the site IMDB and from the novel of the movie written by James Khan. Any inconsistences that you may find is therefore not my doing.
Mola Ram had become confident of a bright future for the Thuggee. Thanks to the goddess Kali and her troopers, the cult had become stronger than they had ever been for the past century after the British had nearly destroyed them. Not only had one of their greatest enemies in the form of the brotherhood of Shiva been vanquished, but their number had been incorporated to the Thuggee, thanks to the special blood the god had provided. He watched his new followers with pleasure. The disgusting white garbs of the former brotherhood had all been re-dyed into a more fitting color. The tunics were now all blood-red and the turbans dark, almost black. The greatest victorious example to watch was Roach the giant, the new chief guard of the Thuggee. The once most feared enemy to the cult was now their most powerful ally.
It was a relief to be rid of the weak fools Kamala Khan had first recruited. Those would never have been able to bring glory to the cult. Now their numbers had strengthened, and the new followers were skilled swordsmen – a valuable addition which undoubtedly would prove useful in the future. The few of the original worshippers that had survived had all been given the blood of Kali now, with two exceptions: Chattar Lal had not been given the blood, and that was because he didn't need it. His loyalty and devotion to the Thuggee had already been proven.
Kamala Khan had not been given the blood either. He was sentenced to walk around with a clear head so that he could see with his own eyes how the cult had progressed, no thanks to him. Kamala had been labeled as a traitor: not for betrayal, but because he had been declared guilty of holding the cult back. Khan had been stripped of his title and all privileges – he was now the lowest ranked of everybody in the temple. His punishment was to watch how the cult went on without him as a leader.
Mola Ram hardly spared his former co-founder a single thought, their past friendship meaning nothing to him. The only thing that mattered was the continued growth of the cult, to increase its strength. He was convinced that the god Kali had more plans in mind to do just that, but Ram felt it necessary to repay her for what she was doing, to offer her their gratification. The next full moon was coming up – a tribute needed to be paid and a sacrifice had to be made! But would the altar be finished in time for a ceremony?
Curiosity and impatience always compelled Mola Ram to return to the altar and watch the process of the refurbishment. A giant wheel had been added to the left far side of the center of the platform, half buried underneath the floor. Countless meters of chains were coiled around the double set of grooves in the hub, which leapt through furrows hidden under the stone-plates all the way to the statue of Kali. The magnificent sculpture had been returned to its place – whatever those Jaffa engineers had done to it, it appeared that it had come out of it relatively untainted. He took pleasure in the new ornaments that had been added to the statue. Around the waist, the statue had been given a loincloth, all made of severed human arms, painted with a special coat of vax so that they would be kept preserved and not putrefy. The statue had also gotten a veil, a necklace made of human skulls stripped of all flesh draped over her chest. These were the remains of those that had recently fallen in combat in the cave. The god Kali had a real taste for karma. Now in death, the first worshippers ended up serving Kali anyway, in a different way then what they originally had in mind.
Speaking of Kali, the demon goddess dropped in again through the rings as she had been back up in her ship. She didn't come down alone. There was a metallic contraption behind her – a rectangular flat iron frame. It looked like a cage to Mola Ram.
"You serve me well by being here, Mola Ram," Kali said in her distorted voice. "It saves me the time of not having to summon and wait for you."
"I live to serve you, O mighty Kali," the high priest replied, bowing.
Kali motioned over two of the Jaffa engineers working on the altar. "There's the rack," she said, pointing behind her. "You know what to do with it!"
"You have something special in mind for that iron cage, O mighty Kali?" Ram asked curiously.
"Not iron," Kali said. "Naqahdah! The raw unrefined type I had stashed on my ship. No ordinary metal of your world would survive the purpose I had it made for. Now walk with me!"
Mola Ram threw a last look at the cage before following the demon. 'Naqahdah'? He had never heard the word before, and he knew that he would never remember it. To him it would always be an iron rack. The Goa'uld designations were all gibberish to him, he had already forgotten the name of those electrical blasters the Jaffa had used. There was only one name he still remembered.
"The Nish'ta has worked true wonder, O mighty Kali," Ram said. "None has shown any kind of rejection – they are all completely obedient to you despite that they have formerly served another."
"I expected nothing else," Kali said without looking at the priest. "Still, there's something very important about it that I have not yet told you: the Nish'ta has one major flaw…
"An electrical shock will render the Nish'ta ineffective, freeing them from the spell. While you don't have any electrical equipment here, I have seen the effects being reversed by fire as well, as the trauma of being burned can in some cases become similar to an electrical shock which is generated by the body's own electrical field. And once they've become free, they will forever be immune to the Nish'ta! So be wary of the fires you got going in these caves – and never ever let your enemies learn of this weakness!"
"Never, my lord. The secret will be mine alone."
"See that it will. Not even my Jaffa know this. It is best never spoken of again." The demon and the servant walked on in silence until they reached the central cavern. Around them the converted worshippers worked, having turned the cave into a mine. They have begun digging for the two Sankara stones that were hidden somewhere in the collapsed catacombs. If they could find those and add them to the two they already had, then their power would increase exponentially. Kali wasn't interested in the progress of the dig however – she had come for something else.
There was a small holding cell against one of the walls of the cave. It currently held one occupant. Kali and Mola Ram stopped before it and peered in through the bars.
"Have you come to gloat in my defeat?" the guru Levar Zane asked bitterly.
"Have you contemplated on how it was that you were defeated?" Kali shot back. "Have you taken heed to my words that Shiva is dead and that you have spent your life dedicated to a false god? Felt any repentances lately?"
"The only repentance I feel is that I didn't allow Roach to try to kill you from the start!"
"Do you think it would have made any difference? You saw my power! How else do you think you were defeated?"
"What do you want from me?" the guru demanded.
"Acknowledge me!" Kali hissed. "Renounce Shiva and admit my superiority as the true and more powerful god!" This was the megalomaniac part of the Goa'uld talking. They thrived on devotion and the need to be worshipped. The more souls a Goa'uld could gather to serve them, the more powerful they would become. It would be a tremendous victory for Kali if she could convince a servant of another deity to recognize her superiority. "Acknowledge me or die!"
Levar Zane laughed. "You're asking me to renounce my 'false' god to serve another false one?"
The priest and the demon were both irritated by those words, but it was Mola Ram who spoke his thoughts. "Watch your tongue, vermin, or I'll have it cut out from you!"
"Your threats mean nothing to me, priest."
"You have chosen death, then," Kali concluded. "I'll be honest with you: your execution will be far from pleasant, but it will have a purpose. It will be the message that I possess the omnipotent power of a true god and only by serving me will my followers live! I will be the most powerful god of all!"
"You're mad," the guru scoffed. "Your arrogance will be your downfall as the false god you are!"
Kali sent a pulse of a force-blast from one of her left armbands through the bars which knocked the prisoner backwards, slamming him into the opposite side of the cell. "You still persist in thinking that I am not a true god?" she snarled.
Despite his pain, the guru smiled. "I do not think: I know! I have looked upon your soul, Kali – there isn't one, but two entities within that creature whose kind I have never seen before. The true owner of the body is suppressed by a being who is a breed of pure evil… the same kind of evil I sense from the Jaffa, strangely enough from their guts. But not from the most of them.
"I don't know what kind of a being you are, Kali, but I do know that although your 'power' is unnatural, it is still not supernatural! You're nothing but slavers, and that will never last forever! The time will come when your own slaves will turn against you, and you will fall! Heed my words now, Kali – the time of the false gods will come to an end! It is inevitable!"
"You know nothing, Levar Zane!" Kali growled. "But know this: upon the next full moon which is the night after tomorrow, you will die! You will be sacrificed in my name, and your own students will all witness your execution, completing their conversion. That will mark the final end of the Tok'ra Shiva, and that will be the beginning of the reign of Kali the Destroyer! Me!" And with that, Kali walked away from the cell with Mola Ram in tow.
Kali was furious. She hadn't showed it, but Levar Zane's words had shaken her up. How had he figured out the true nature of the Goa'ulds? In reality, Kali was nothing more than a snakelike symbiote parasite whom had taken the body of an Unas as a host. Like the guru had said, there was nothing supernatural about it, they had just made the process into a godliness to quench any possible threat to them. The Goa'uld had invoked that religion into the Jaffa and then made them dependent on carrying Goa'uld larvae to act as their immune system to make them obedient. Without the Jaffa to serve as incubators for the Goa'uld, their power would in time diminish and die.
Kali and Mola Ram were once again back at the priest's chambers. Kali's Lo'taur was not present as she was currently up in the Ha'tak vessel in orbit above India. It added to Kali's angered state of mind that her personal slave was not there to offer the demon the special anger-depraving drink she needed right now – she would have to fetch it herself, to her annoyance. Like all Goa'ulds, she was too used of being served.
Kali found the copper pitcher on the niche and poured the whole content down her throat, gulping loudly as she swallowed. The drink did what it was meant to do, soothing her primordial anger, and allowing her to think straight again. The very idea of a possible Jaffa uprising and revolt against their masters – it was such a ludicrous thought that it was almost laughable! The Jaffa would only doom themselves in the process if they renounced the Goa'uld… that was unthinkable! Kali should never have let herself be manipulated by the guru like that. Well, no harm done. And the guru would die for his insolence.
Kali threw the pitcher away and turned to the high priest. "Tell me, Mola Ram, do you believe in my power?"
"Yours is the superior, my liege," Ram replied without doubt.
"And do you believe in my rule? That I should dominate the world as your queen?"
"As our goddess, O mighty Kali. No one else is worthy of that position."
"And are you willing to assist me in seizing that position?"
"I will do anything that you ask of me, my liege."
"Are you even willing to undergo some changes for me, Mola Ram?"
"What kind of changes do you seek of me, O mighty Kali?"
"Of everyone I have encountered in this temple upon my return, you are the one who has proven to my most loyal subject… for that I have considered of bestowing you a power…"
Mola Ram felt exhilaration rise up within him.
"That power will fortify your position as the high priest of the Thuggee… you will be feared and powerful. I can make you immune to all maladies and grant you immortality. In return I request your eternal allegiance to me. You will serve me forever and never deviate from the path of giving me absolute rule. You will kill for me and spread my name through pain and suffering. Are you willing to do this, Mola Ram?"
The high priest dropped down on hi knees. "I swore you my absolute loyalty when I saw a sacrifice in your name for the first time in my youth. By my blood, I swear it to you a second time! Grant me the power, O mighty Kali Ma! Make me yours! Kali Ma, shakthi deh!" [Mother Kali, give me power!]
Kali walked back to the niche, where the chest containing the two Sankara stones still rested. She opened the lid and picked the glowing sacred rocks up.
"Hold out your hands, Mola Ram." The priest complied. The demon placed the rocks in each of his outstretched hands, and she then folded her own around his, squeezing the rocks into his palms, making it impossible for him to drop them.
"These lantian stones draws power from subspace, accumulating them within," Kali said. Mola Ram didn't understand what she was saying, but he took her word for it. Kali then began to chant: "Shive ke vishwas kate ho."
Ram looked as his god in confusion of the chant. It sounded like she was reciting a warning of a kind.
"It's not the meaning of the words that is of importance," Kali said, reading the other's face. "It's the sounds! The vibrational tones from the larynx acts like an auditory combination lock, a code word telling the stones to unchain the energy they hold within, discharging the power! The energy just need somewhere to go, or the stones will start to burn…"
Mola Ram was starting to grow uncomfortable. What is it he had just agreed to do? "Shive ke vishwas kate ho," Kali started to chant again. Meanwhile she was using her own Naqahdah enhanced ability to direct the power that was about to be released to the way she intended it to go. "Shive ke vishwas kate ho. Shive ke vishwas kate ho!"
Mola Ram then howled in pain as he felt a burning power course through his arms where it spread throughout his whole body. Instinctively he tried to let go of the stones, but Kali held them firmly in place in his palms. Mola Ram felt like his whole body was on fire as the energy coursed through him, attaching itself into his cells, charging them with power. But as sudden as it had started, the pain diminished as the stones were drained of its energies, and Kali let go. Ram fell to the floor, panting.
Kali observed the stones: they didn't glow as brightly now as the energy had dispersed, but soon they will have replenished themselves. She put them back in the chest, closing the lid.
The priest attempted to get back up. He shivered and tried to focus on his hands. He had expected them to be ruined, burned by the energies, but they were still relatively unharmed. His palms were only slightly reddish, an engram left from the stones that would soon disappear.
"Well, Mola Ram, feel any different?" Kali asked.
To Ram's surprise, he did. As the shivering went away, he was left with a sense of feeling more alive. It was like the energy of the Sankara stones had rejuvenated him – not in appearance, but in vitality. The strangest feeling he was sensing was in his fingertips, a weird tingling sensation as if his fingers were charged with a raw power.
"You are now connected to the stones," Kali told him. "As long as you stay in vicinity of them, they will keep your new power at its peak. And once we find the other three stones, your power will increase with them and finally become permanent."
"Am I now…immortal?"
"Perhaps… if you can prove to me that you are worthy of the power."
"How can I?" Ram asked eagerly.
"You'll get your chance to do so… tomorrow night."
The subterranean cathedral became alive with activity the night the moon stood full in the sky. The new worshippers, all induced in the black sleep of Kali poured in from the connecting tunnels and began to fill up the temple of death. Ritual music resonated through the cavern, mixing with the droning winds which ventilated out the noxious fumes that came from the bottom of the crevice that divided the altar from the rest of the cave. The worshippers chanted along with the music, answering to its hypnotic tunes: "Jai ma Kali, jai ma Kali…"
There was only one who didn't chant along with the rest of them. Kamala Khan was not in the mood, nor would he ever be. He was betrayed, insulted, and disgraced. Demoted and stripped of all privileges that came with being a leader of the cult, he had been expelled from the altar and was to stand among the other minions of the Thuggee. He felt no connection to the people around him. These were not the people he had recruited. Worse, they were former enemies to the cult as they used to be member of the brotherhood of Shiva. In Khan's eyes, they were still the opposers, outcasts who were not to be trusted. But his words and opinions carried no weight anymore.
Mola Ram appeared on the altar from behind the statue, once again carrying the buffalo-horned head-dress on his scalp. To Kamala's displeasure, he spied the upstart Chattar Lal among the priests on the other side of the crevice. It only added to the insult that he was allowed to be present on the altar and Khan was not.
Mola Ram began to speak to the worshippers, initiating the ritual with the story of the Thuggee religion – the story Kamala used to tell them. When the priest was finished, he walked away from the spot that made the center of the altar, and then the rings concealed in the ceiling dropped down. Kali the Destroyer had arrived, together with three of her Jaffa who served as her guard. She spread her six arms and greeted the worshippers. They all dropped on their knees in unison, paying their respects to their god. Khan reluctantly did so as well, only so that he wouldn't attract attention to himself. He looked at her in anger, thinking dark thoughts. That vile creature had stolen his cult, and he was looking for a way to take it back for the purpose he had intended for it! He only needed to wait for the right moment.
The two Jaffa guards, Trao'l and Be'lem took position on both sides of the statue of Kali so they had a good overlook of the place. The First Prime Kru'ul stood beside the big wheel together with some of the lower priests.
Now the Thuggee chief guard, Roach the giant came in, dragging along his former mentor Levar Zane. He was bare-chested, save for the veil that was draped over his neck. The guru fought in vain to try to get out of the giant's hold, but to no avail.
"My children," kali addressed the spectators. "This is a new dawn for all of us. You are all here to witness the execution of the usurper Levar Zane whom has led you into the path of following a false god! Now as you are on the path of righteousness, you will with his death discard the remnants of the false teachings and take on the mantle of the true power, given to you by your true god; Kali!"
"Jai ma Kali! Jai ma Kali!" they all said.
Kali turned to the guru. "Do you still doubt my power?"
"You foul creature!" Levar Zane screamed. "What have you done to my people?"
"See for yourself," Kali suggested. "Don't you see how happy they are now as I have shown them the true nature of the gods. Their lives finally have a meaning."
"You've bewitched them!" the guru growled. "You've turned them into mindless puppets!"
"Nothing so crude, I assure you. I've only given them a new purpose. Why don't you take a moment to say goodbye to them now? There are some you really should get reacquainted with before your final journey. See up on that ledge?" Kali pointed up to an upper level above a catwalk where the wind-tunnels blew fresh air inside. Some flapping leathery carpets obscured the openings. The guru was startled as he realized that those were flayed human skins on display.
"Those are the two spies we discovered here, those that managed to fool the idiot Kamala Khan to admit them. They have lost a little weight, but perhaps you still recognize them?" Kali smiled wickedly at the guru. "And let's not forget those that lost their lives in the battle when you invaded this temple. Their skulls now have a place of honor upon my magnificent frame, don't you think?" Levar Zane was dismayed as he saw the skulls of some of his former students hanging as a necklace on the gruesome statue.
"Well, enough sentiments," Kali finally said. "I think instead that you will find the new addition to the place to be of a particular interest."
From the tireless outstretched arms of the statue, the Naqahdah basket was lowered down to ground level. Kru'ul, whom was there to instruct the priests how this was to be done in accordance to Kali, rotated the cage to stand up and he opened the front of the frame, readying it to admit the prisoner. Roach brought the guru forward and together they shackled the former leader of the brotherhood inside the rack, leaving him spread-eagled within the wafer-thin cage. The worshippers began to chant again. The sadist Kru'ul seemed to be enjoying this, but the other two Jaffa looked nervous. There was something foul going on here and they didn't like it.
Mola Ram knew that this was his que. He walked up to the shackled man, full of anticipation. He was so looking forward to this, to kill this man. He could feel the energies of the Sankara stones course through him, fueling his desires. It was like a need demanding to be satisfied. He drew his ceremonial knife, holding it in front of the victim. The guru was defiant, he wasn't going to give them the pleasure of his fear. A slit of his throat would give a moments pain, but it was one he could handle. His soul was prepared.
"Hold your hand, Mola Ram," Kali then said. "You don't need that! You have the power in your hands now - use it!"
Mola Ram re-sheathed his knife, thinking of what his god had said. The tingling in his fingers was strong, as if those told him that he had other means to do this now. He held up his hand in front of the victim, listening to his instincts. His hand shook, almost moving by itself down towards the guru's chest. He could almost see how the man's heart beat under his chest. Ram felt an overwhelming need to touch it, to feel his fear. Ram placed his hand above the spot… and pressed.
The power of the Sankara stones was that they could tap into the flow of the atoms and alter their functions on a molecular level. The lantian scientists main purpose was that they would use this to enhance and accelerate cellular divisions to alter the structures those atoms belonged to. The lantian guardian Sankara had offered those stones to Shiva to use them to combat evil, but the Tok'ra hadn't dared to use them as he feared that they would be misused. He had been correct in the assessment.
The power of the stones was now within Mola Ram, and while he would never be able to alter an atomic structure to create new elements, he could certainly affect them – he simply pushed them aside! That was why he was now able with ease to shove his hand through skin, sinew and bones and reach into the guru's body. The agony was excruciating beyond comprehension as his nerve systems was severed in the process, combined with the feeling of the impossible intruding violation of his innermost spirit. It was as horrible as it was beyond all physical laws.
Mola Ram was deaf to the guru's screams – it wouldn't have bothered him anyway. His attention was simply focused on what he was doing, inching his hand deep inside the squirming body, reaching for the beating organ he longed to touch. He could feel his own endorphin levels rising, giving him a rush. Finally Mola Ram pulled his hand back out, together with the trophy he'd sought to claim. Both priest and victim were staring in astonishment at the piece of man-flesh that was in his grip. Madness overwhelmed them both: one of sheer terror, the other of exhilaration which turned into a maddening joy of what he had just achieved. Even though Levar Zane was frightened out of his wits now, he couldn't understand how he could still be alive as his living heart had been removed. It was because Mola Ram had left a residue of the energy within him which still connected him to the heart through subspace. And it was now the same subspace power that returned the atoms that had been pushed aside to its original positions – the hole in the chest where Mola Ram's hand had passed closed, healing him. It was a physiological science that was beyond comprehension for all present personnel - to them it was nothing else but magic. Mola Ram turned away from the guru, facing the crowd and lifted the still beating heart in the air to show them the power he possessed.
"AB, USKI JAN MERI MUTTI ME HAI!" [Now, his life is in my fist!] he called out. The crowd cheered. The demon god Kali looked as ravening mad as Mola Ram, grinning insanely to what she was seeing. The to Jaffa Trao'l and Be'lem didn't share in the joy. They watched in horror of what was happening. It was a good thing the first prime Kru'ul was busy with his own preparations so that he didn't see the pale faces of the two Jaffa. Kru'ul now closed the frame of the torture rack, sealing the guru in. He then motioned to the priest at the wheel to rise the cage a bit into the air. For a moment Levar Zane lay facing the roof, then Kru'ul reversed the cage's orientation by rotating it on the chains attached, leaving the victim suspended face-down. The floor underneath him parted, releasing a cloud of hot gas, revealing it to be a portal to the crevice which was a reservoir for the molten flowing lava. The guru wailed in horror, understanding what was going to happen. Kru'ul walked over to the wheel at the side of the altar. He wanted to personally send the man on his journey. There was a large lever beside the wheel which served as the brake. Kru'ul released it, allowing gravity to take hold - and the cage began to descend through the portal, lowering the unfortunate guru down to an extremely hot, boiling death.
The music and the chanting had gone up to a fast pacing tempo, and all the worshippers beat their hands in the air to the rhythm. They didn't care that it was their former mentor that was being sacrificed. The exhilaration of the ritual was making their own blood rushing through their veins, and that only increased the power of the Nish'ta. The black nightmare had taken over them completely.
Mola Ram was lost in his rush as well. As the victim and the heart was still connected through subspace, the priest could feel the rising terror of the dying man in the beating organ, his own blood-levels rising with it. The heart's temperature was rising, indicating that it reacted the same way as it would still within the body. His eyes bulged and gleamed in the madness, and he could no longer hold it back. Mola Ram began to laugh manically.
Kali the Destroyer was also having the time of her life. This was what she had sought from the beginning when she planned to offer her fleet to Sokar in exchange for becoming master of the hell-moon Netu. Eternal damnation through pain and suffering: that was what Kali wanted, and right now she drank it in through the pain that was inflicted on the condemned man – pain and fear that was radiated through the beating heart in the hand of the high priest. And during that time, the worshippers were chanting her praise, filling her Goa'uld desire for power and devotion. The heart was beginning to smoke.
This was no way for any man to die! A slit of the throat he could've handled, but not this! Not this slow, extensive, horrible death by being cooked alive in a hellish oven! Levar Zane was frightened beyond terror as he saw the fiery lava continuously rise to meet him. The noxious fumes had already seared his lungs, making it hard to scream. The intense light was burning the retinas in his eyes, and the extreme heat was scalding his skin, burning it, frying it. He begged to Shiva for an immediate death, to end this torture.
Pockets of gas within the molten ore floated up and exploded as it was released, making the lava cascade up in the air like a geyser. One such geyser shot up close to the approaching cage and set the flesh within it on fire. That was what made the guru to mercifully pass out, the psyche liberating him from the pain and sparing him from the final agony as the metal basket broke through the surface of the lava and submerged together with its contents.
At the altar above, the beating heart in Mola Ram's hand had burst into flames which quickly turned into a miniature pyre, consuming the flesh completely. Mola Ram could feel the fire lick his fingers, but they didn't affect him the way it usually would've. The power of the Sankara Stones coursing though his veins prevented him to be damaged. Ram's exhilaration was now at its absolute peak as he continued to laugh like a madman while the organ burned to ashes until there was nothing left. The crowd cheered, all except for Kamala Khan who watched transfixed with horror. His state of mind was shared with the two Jaffa on the altar.
The priest turned the wheel, pulling the cage back up. It came up through the portal in the floor glowing like a red-hot iron. Of Levar Zane there was no sign. The guru had been completely incinerated.
The show was over, and everybody was recovering from their adrenaline rush. Kali walked over the center of the altar, to where the rings would accommodate her. Before she activated them, she turned to the priest.
"You know, Mola Ram… I'm actually starting to think that you are my son!" And then the rings transported her away.
The crowd began to disperse, emptying the cave. Mola Ram was left standing, savoring the words of praise Kali Ma had given him. But he too felt the need to vacate the area. He felt a sticky sensation of the insides of his robes that he needed to attend to. As a priest of the Thuggee, Mola Ram had no sexual desires, but this sacrifice had affected him the same way a climax of such an act would do.