LOVE: To Infinity And Beyond

The first signs of Bloodshed

The caress of the cold metal's sharp edge at the crook of his neck prohibited him from trying to dismiss the current scenario as a stupid nightmare. How ?! But of course, he had the answer. You should never bet against Magical people, especially the ones who self-proclaim themselves to be the Divine Supremos. 

In a flash Kaustav was standing right behind Krishnaa, in a defensive partner stance. Two swords clanged with his one. 

"I honestly don't have time to waste. At first, I had thought of just finishing you off. But, I don't think that's the game plan I am sticking by right now. Just keep shut and put. I'll help out my aide, and then take care of you. And remember, my peripheral vision isn't too bad." The cold touch of the metal moved away from his throat, but he could still feel the slight sting and the warm blood trickling down from the small cut; and over it all, he could almost touch and feel the sheer coldness and the deadly cutting edge to the warning he had received just now - he has never seen these magnificent blue eyes this hard, this lifelessly merciless. 

Krishnaa swiftly turned around and one of the two swords which were fixed on Kaustav's sword, clashed with hers. Shakuni was deliberating whether to make a move or not, but before he could properly even think of a coherent response to the scenario playing out in front of his eyes, all he could see was a bloody mess.

Krishnaa blocked two consecutive blows from her opponent's sword. Novice. She mentally smirked to herself; aren't special guards supposed to be a little bit more trained? As the man raised his sword to make the third blow, Krishnaa's eminently agile blow unweaponed him, slicing off a finger in the process. As the man clutched his injured hand, another agile move slit his throat. By that time, Kaustav had cleanly decapitated the other guard.

Krishnaa turned around towards Shakuni. "Well, as you can see Gandhar raaj, it was real quick. Actually, even quicker that we had expected. Now, since we already have one copy of the letter that you have received from Gandhar, infact, the actual copy; I shall be glad if you concede to be so kind as to hand over the other copy to us as well." The adrenaline from the fight had set her eyes ablaze, but this time the glinting flecks of bronze in her eyes weren't just adding to her 'beauty-factor', it was making her look rather more intimidating, even more than she already was. 

Arjuna was waiting in their chamber, pacing back and forth restlessly. Krishna hadn't stayed back, inspite of Arjuna asking him to do so. He had simply smiled and said that he was not the Gudakesha and he needed to catch up on his sleep till he was trapped inside this material body. When Arjuna shot him an incredulous look, he had laughed out loud and said that they'll need to sit together for maybe the rest of the night for some discussions, once Krishnaa was back from the 'mission'. He had additionally mock-pitied him that he couldn't regain his powers of being the Trikaaldarshi, till their main 'task' on the Earth is over. And, with a final jokingly sympathizing pat on his back, he had rushed off to his chamber. Arjuna huffed at the memory of hardly a few minutes back. He was already impatient. What was taking them this long? 

"Arya", his tensed reverie was broken by his beloved's urgent voice. He turned around to face her. Her clothes were as tidy as ever and no random person would ever be able to understand what she was coming back from. He strode up to her and wrapped her in a loving and urgent embrace. "You alright?", he whispered in her ear, his immense concern evident in his voice. "Of course! There were just two of them, and Gandhar raaj couldn't even move - he was so dead-scared!", Krishnaa replied, humor laced into her otherwise soothing and enthusiastic tone. "Oh! That's quite... impressive of Gandhar Raaj.", Arjuna replied, the gravity in his voice finally melting into a relieved chuckle. Krishnaa tightened the embrace by wrapping her arms back around him. 

"I can't believe that the person I have always loved trusted and respected so much could stoop so low! How blind I have been!", Duryodhana exclaimed with a severely frustrated sigh. The others in the chamber chose silence over any response, while Karna, choosing both silence and response, silently touched his friend's hand that was placed on the table. Duryodhana looked up at him. This was the man who has always stayed truly loyal to him - the man whom he had once planned on using as his most efficient weapon against the Pandavas. His eyes dewed. Still, he smiled. He was truly happy now. He didn't have the wild urge to trample down someone else and win in a hypothetical, non-existent and extremely unhealthy race. He was no more jealous of a set of Godly humans, or their magnanimous amount of prosperity, for that matter. He was holding his true friend's hand, he could love his cousins, he had an unbelievably beautiful and amazing sister, and the love of his life waiting for him at the guest quarters with his sweet little son and daughter. What more did he need? He even had the throne of Hastinapur destined to himself, and the blessings of all the elders and his doting parents for ascending unto it. He didn't even want anything more. His eyes scanned the eyes of his five cousins, especially the pair of bright hazels that he had always hated. But not anymore, he promised to himself.

"My Lord!", a man in a dark grey dhoti stood at the doorway of his chamber. The whole castle had just three floors - basement, ground floor and first floor. Above that was an open terrace surrounded by railings of coloured and intricately designed glass panes on iron grilles. The whole castle was made of sandstone, with extremely intricate carvings and often some ornations of tinted and painted glass. The chamber Kafeer sat in almost showcased the life of an ascetic - a warrior-ascetic. He sat on the bed at the centre - the single furniture in the otherwise barren chamber. In the far corner was a small lifted platform with extremely intricate designs and carvings, railed with bejewelled glass. In the centre lay a sword, a very special one. Kafeer looked up at the man, and raised his brows in question. His fair, but tanned face lit up with an extremely rare glow. "The ships will be setting out from there in another seven days." Yes! This was the information he was waiting for. He motioned the man to leave, with his hand. The man left after greeting slightly by raising a palm in front of his face and bowing slightly. As soon as he was alone again, Kafeer walked over to the sword and picked it up in his hands. This was what he worshipped, physically. He didn't have any other signs of her. He wished he had. His own lips twitched up in a sarcastic smile - what a classic case of wishful thinking ! This very sword had bore the first signs of bloodshed - dating back to almost a millennium ago. 

"You can't be serious! Those Gandharans! Wretches! How on Earth did they agree to trade those weapons away to the assassins here! None of them can operate those, other than Kafeer himself. They will either burn the whole world down or.....", he couldn't complete the sentence, as a vision hit him. A young lady. Hardly an adult. Her fair skin glowed with a golden glow of the full moon. Her honey brown eyes, full of such a fiery glow. She was running a russet-coloured horse, a sword in her hand. Her dark maroon attire highlighting her glowing colour. There was this certain touch of human-ness to her extraordinary beauty, and the sheer aura of power shone from within her. 
The vision ended, leaving him gobsmacked and tongue-tied. For the first time, he felt grateful for this strange ability of his to have glimpses of the certain future. It was as if his whole life was meant for this vision, and the certain future it indicated towards.

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There we go! Guess who is Mr. Semi-clairvoyant? Introducing this new and extremely important character. The next to next chapter will be dedicated to the character aesthetics of grown-up Pragya, Abhimanyu, this certain man and someone else too... For all those who were curious about what I have decided to do about the book I thought of writing about Pragya-- I have merged that with this one. The two stories are intertwined. So, I better not separate them..

~With much love <3

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