A TALE FROM THE PAGES OF PAST

THE SHIFT

YURANI ALEKHYA

I sat rigid and cold as Amrita started to explain the whole thing. Some doubts are solved, some aren't but many more are sure raising instead. From first glance I can tell that Rachana or Rachal is a perfect bitch and replica of Chanchala. I made a mental note to keep a eye on her and eliminate her if the situations favor me but I doubt that will happen. In the entire potrait I recognise only three other faces. Jai, Ayudhik and Hidden Ace. Not a suprise though. She is hell of a more assassin than me. Like us she also have the natural charm to terrify other people with her merry presence if they were able to detect her before she kills them. I smiled internally happy at my discussion to send her to Bharamagiri. But what stunded me to see Xavier's face.

A fair judgement on instincts. Nearly nine months are passed away from my absence from Devgiri and Hidden Ace must be already completed atleast phase one of our five phased plan. I kept my calm as I felt intense glares boring in my head. Xavier, Chase and Luke are becoming more and more desperate for a emotion or reaction from me but I know it is better to be stone faced than showing the hints of my emotions. It will definitely not end well for both of the parties didn't stayed interested only in the matters that concern with us. By the time she completed about how they found the potrait I am half burning in anger and something else I never felt before. It is like a rage but more intense and blinding. I just can't stomach what she is telling us.

The need to get up and dunk myself in a icy cold water is unnerving. The room is too dense for my liking. The change would be very much welcomed than present where I am receiving hate glares from half of the people here for unknown reasons. By the time the woman I thought to be or is Marquis wife Saranya or Rachana or Rachal or whatever she is called now I won't be suprised if I found out that she killed great grandmother. She gave the aura of overbearing ambitions and the greed of power. I am also greedy of throne of Devgiri but I will say I more tend to love the authority. The ability that no one will dare to disrespect me more than the thrist for power but Rachana from what she said is straight up power hungry and shrewd.

She won't stop from stabbing someone to reach her goals I won't as well but problem is that she will neither lay her body between danger for her own people nor will leave her luxuries for them. In the light from sun and brightness from fireplace I also observed that Xavier do look familiar but he don't have the classic aura of coldness around me like rest of the Devgiri royality instead he carry a boyish charm around him. Encouraging people to believe and talk with him.

Even if she went missing twenty five years ago he should be around twenty one to twenty two at most but instead he looked nearly twenty four-twenty five. He is definitely not her son. At the ball he looked obvious to be her son but now I had seen them both closer side by side I can see neither his face shape nor his stature matches with his father and her. Whereas for Charlotte I can tell the earlier smiles and laughs are just a facid. If I had not dealed with manipulators in my both lives I won't have decoded her fake face. She looked to be exact replication of Chase but she took after Rachana in her behaviour. Atleast from what I can conclude by this small encounters.

I felt a uncanning need to grab her throat and slam her into the wall when she started blabbering nonsense about what ever Amrita is telling. Our whole lives are spent over this rivilary and this stupid jade pieces which can refracted light when the sunlight falls in them to form strange marks and it is just a fragment of imagination for hell. I bite my tongue and gripped one of the legs of the table so I won't try to fly out to kill her. But when she said something which made me seething in anger. I felt a different entity take over me as I nearly blured over to her. Gripping her small neck in one hand I banged her on the wall. Growling in malice. "Complete that and I will gladly take care of one of the scums on the earth." I hissed our in a voice only she can hear.

I felt a familiar touch of Jai dragging me away from her. I gladly let him knowing that killing her will land us in more trouble than we should get into. But some idiot did the mistake to catch my forearm. It is like something snapped inside me. I caught that person and flunged him to the wall with such a fierce force that the wall's plaster cracked under his pressure or my force. Xavier looked at me with terror. I felt as if I am strucked between a strange phase of my mind where my subconsciousness resided. I can feel a faint torment of pain pangs running through my back. Before I can take a grip on what is happening I found myself out of the place in the frozen forest behind the manor. But like before the cold is not affecting me at all. It just felt like cold water bath.

I glared at Jai who is running at a speed such that the scenery around is almost a blur. I felt another pain pang run through me. I found myself gritting my teeths to escape from screaming out allowed. Too much screamings for one day. I thought as he carefully put me on snow covered ground. I went to ask him what is going on but then I felt my spine snap at once along with most of my joints. The pain was too much to bear before replacing with a quite soothing hum of sounds. I opened and blinked my eyes. The world around me appeared to be more clearer and brighter as of I am standing in light of late dusk. The range of view widened as well. I went to rub my eyes only to find two golden paws infront of me. I gasped at sight of them.

I found something golden flash at corner of my eye. I immediate turned to chase it suprisingly on four limbs.... I heard Jai laugh at me I turned towards him growling... Wait. Humans don't growl. I looked at Jai confusion covering my entire mind. He sat infront of me on the same cold snow which now felt just like a cold embrace of wind. "Transition is activated during the stage of utter crisis and always said to be of third stages. First stage is the intensive pain you felt. It teaches us about our past and how much we suffered. It gives us heightened physical abilities. The second one is back in the place where you didn't killed Charlotte even you can. It teaches us self control over our own emotions. It grant us the mental abilities." I blinked looking at him trying to absorb what he is saying.

"Not everyone passes all the test. Only the best among the bests don't give up. And when passes them." He said as his body fallen down on the snow effortlessly shifting in form of a golden feline. The feline's colour is of golden with the mane black at tip. I have to crane my neck to look into his eyes but unlike a normal feline they are of black colour not the orange one of red feline. "This is worth it." His voice echoed in my mind as I mentally gasped. What on the name of seven hells is this ? I cursed in mind as his immediate reply came. "Language dear Rani Sa."  He said as his eye twitching as if he is winking in this new form.

"You can read my mind ????" I shouted out aloud in my mind as he sat infront of me like a regal wild lion. "You are relaying your thoughts our very loudly. Just imagine a solid sheild around your consciousness and I won't be able to hear your thoughts." I did as he said and later cursed him in all the languages I ever know but when he didn't even bat his eye I know I succeeded. I grinned at him only to find the odd features of my face. "How do I shift back ?" I asked as his echoed in my mind. "Think of your human body." I seemlessly transformed back into my human skin suprisingly my sword and daggers are still strapped to me. "Jai ..." My voice trailed off as I lost consciousness.

MAHARAJ JAIVARDHAN

I chuckled at the sight of Alekhya fainting infront of me. I tried to wake her up only to find her out like a light. I chuckled and collected her in my arms. I am contained that her body choosed to sleep instead of going into a murderous spree. It might be usefull in our kingdoms but useless here. She had grown too much infront of my own eyes. It felt as if it's only yesterday I went to sleep and saw the torture she gone through. "Are you guys okay ?" I mind linked to Raj. "We are." Came his small reply through the same link. Another advantage of this shift is we can talk with everyone like us using our minds.

The cold and hot doesn't faze us, our healing rate is increased and normal petty poisons doesn't affect us. In addition with one amplified physical ability. Mine is speed and Alekhya's is strength. But suprisingly Rudra and Raj didn't inherit any stronger physical strength. Which made me wonder about the potrait. One of the person is Ayudhik but the two other persons are Rudrayamini of Kamboj and the prince of Bhramagiri. Their is no information about his whereabouts while Rajkumari Rudrayamini is said to be the highly unfavoured and the only person in entire Kamboj Dynasty to have the title of a bastard princess dispite her mother was a princess of Kaling who married to the king with proper rituals. I don't know how their destinies interven with ours.