•|| Arjun ~ Rise To Power ||• (III)

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝟷𝟸

Outskirts of Paanchaal

Arjun's POV

I kept staring at the child, as he began to mingle with the crowd and within a blink of an eye he was gone; but his words didn't.

As much as my heart was feeling heavy since all the while, his words; or rather his elder brother's words ruminated into my senses. It was the truth which my heart knew but I was refusing to accept all the while. It felt as if the mess and the darkness which was floating in front of my eyes didn't evade, but there was certainly an anchor installed that helped me find a grip.

The pyres were almost in the verge of being extinguished, the gloominess in the atmosphere lingered, the soldiers returning to their camps silently. Breathing in deeply, I was about to depart when my brothers came along, all from different directions after helping in the cremation. 

There were faint smiles on our faces, our silence being enough to convey the heaviness that we possessed. We slowly stood with each other, as I wrapped an arm around Nakul, and he in turn held Sahadev and so on, until we formed a circle of five grasping each other's shoulders and conforming into a hug. 

"Now I feel, I feel the gravity of life..." Nakul softly whispered, gazing down, "It feels now, that we are so fortunate." 

Jyesth's lips tugged into a smile, "True that. The things which we don't see with our eyes, we seemingly fail to appreciate that." He shook his head subtly, the smoke from the left over pyres reaching up towards the sky and accumulating with the clouds. 

"It's that we just run for so much things in our life, our dreams, materials..." He continued with a gulp, pushing his hands back, "And ultimately, a day comes when we just--we just depart from this world." 

"Everything is important, it's just that when the end comes...." 

"Everything feels secondary then," I completed his words, tugging my lips into a humorless smile.

The camp had turned darker as everyone was returning after a hefty day, preparing for the next. The fact that they develop the spirit of being with us and warring everyday, knowing very well that, that day could be their last; but still, still they are able to carry themselves and war with vigor. 

Ready to sacrifice.

"Are you planning to skip sleep?" I gazed up at Sahadev who had an amused smile on his lips as he strode towards my camp; my lips broke into an instant grin as I patted on the space beside me. He chuckled a bit and sat settled himself beside me, his glance shifting to the flickering flames lit up in front of me. 

"You are saying this to me being yourself awake?" I quipped, earning a stare from him. 

"Not feeling the urge to sleep." The latter responded, resting his head upon my shoulder, with his eyes wide open. My lips shifted up subtly, laying my head upon his, "Why?" 

"Just like that." 

"You know what, I met a boy today, not more than nine to ten years. Just at the cremation ground, a moments ago..." I lowered my lashes, my fingers inadvertently crawling over my brother's tresses as I gently tousled with them, "Very strange, he had come all the way from his village alone to watch his father's pyre." 

"Hmmm?" Sahadev's brows relocated up as he scrunched his forehead, "No one else accompanied him?"

"No, he has an elder brother though." I sighed, reminiscing the way his eyes shone amidst the gloominess as he spoke about his brother, "But he didn't come with him...." 

"That boy told me, the reason as well. He said that what was the use of lamenting over which didn't even belong to us?" I inhaled a deep breath, wrapping an arm around my knees, "He said the body had no relation to anyone except the nature, and when it is returning to where it came from, why should we...why should we feel heavy for it...."

Sahadev amusedly gaped at me, letting out a soft sigh that ending up a chortle, "He didn't say anything wrong....did he?" 

"Exactly, now that I am thinking about it," I breathed in, a soft smile etching on my lips as the boy's face began to flash in my mind, "I wish I could meet him again, and also his brother."

"You didn't ask what does his brother do? He seems like a sage to me, to be honest." Sahadev lifted his head, feeling equally intrigued.

"I felt exactly the same, but he said that he is a cowherd." 

"Really?" His brows relocated up in surprise, "Well, we can't judge anyone like that, but it's so..." 

"Yeah, I know right!" I blinked at him, watching him collect and twig and twirl it in his fingers, "But the fact is that, he spoke whatever we know but couldn't accept it wholeheartedly." 

"We know, we have read about it and even had lectures from our teachers but there was always that jitteriness regarding this-" I cracked my knuckles, pressing my lips together, "And he accepted the fact like it was nothing!"

"Saying all this directly can't be the case for everyone you know.....and that too so casually! How can he be so resilient?"

"There is something in him...."

Sahadev glanced at me, smiling, "You seem to be too overwhelmed by him even without meeting him."

"I wish he came." I confessed honestly, exhaling deeply. 

★★★★★★★

A/N

👀👀abhi to saari jindagi unke sath hi bitaani Arjun.

Signing off for today!

Kiritija Nushkie