Travelling Worlds to Save Us (A Karna-Arjun story)

The world of darkness

Rows of spectators were assembled around the arena as the two archers faced up to each other. There was an intense undercurrent of murmuring all around, like something unexpected had been witnessed.

No one seemed to have noticed Karna and Arjun dropping in their midst, however.

"What is this, jyesht? An illusion?" Arjun barraged his brother with everything that came to his mind. "Are we illusions here? It looks like our graduation arena, doesn't it? How can Takshak simulate something so realistic? He seemed a bit--"

"He is not as idiotic as he looks," said Karna. 

"But why did he send us to an arena? Is this his idea of hell?"

"Arjun," said Karna with forced patience. "Do be quiet just for a bit, I do not have any idea either."

Though Arjun did not mind being asked to be quiet, Karna felt bad instantly. He glanced at his younger brother's bleeding, burnt arm. Anger at Lord Indra clenched inside him.

"Prepare yourselves, warriors," a magnified voice drew their attention to the podium, where a familiar voice had spoken--it was their Uncle Vidur.

"Jyesht, look!" Arjun cried. "There are Brother Yudhishthir, Bheem, Nakul and Sahadev--and there are Duryodhan and his brothers--are the warriors you and me? But we did not graduate on the same day--"

"Are you ready, Son of Pandu, Arjun, and the King of Anga, Karna?"

"King of Anga?" demanded Arjun.

The armoured warriors at the centre shot. Karna propelled Arjun around the ring to get a better view and realized it indeed was the two of them.

And moreover, the two of them in the illusion was fighting with a sort of vengeance that they never possibly could. Their arrows seemed aimed to injure, not disarm--

The crowd shrieked as their arrows met in mid-air, showering sparks and bursts of light. So far, they had not managed to breach each other's defense.

Of course they did not mean to breach each other's defense, Karna reasoned with himself. Surely he was reading too much into it.

Then he caught the look on his illusion's face as he pulled his bowstring back. 

His blood ran cold.

Karna looked down at the bleeding wound on the arm of his brother standing beside him, and felt his heart contract with anger at its inflictor, and then he looked up again and saw himself looking at his brother standing in the arena with such hatred that it was as if...as if he wanted to inflict...worse wounds...on his brother.

Arjun seemed to have noticed the same, because he shifted his bow to his injured hand in favour of grasping Karna's hand for frightened assurance.

In their life, if Karna had looked at Arjun like that, Arjun would have dropped his weapons and cried. But here, his expression was just as fierce.

In the arena, they appeared to fight not to disarm, not to wound, but to kill.

****************

The combat was brought to an abrupt, undecided end by the sun setting.

"Why should the sun protect your disciple, Dronacharya?" shouted Karna in the illusion. "Is it not enough that he has been protected by you and every senior in this arena?"

Vidur stood and spoke firmly. "It is not acceptable to fight after sunset, King of Anga."

"Which you would know if you actually were a Ksatriya," called Bheem with a derisive laugh.