Flouting Our Destiny

Chapter 7

Draupadi's eyes divulged his presence, she quietly wiped away the unnecessary tears which haphazardly raced down her face,

"Arjun, your parents are so sweet" she spoke, coating a layer of sugar over her face.

"Why were you crying?" He sounded unaffected by the flow of conversation she wanted to go with,
He sat adjacent to her, his fingers traced the path of a lone tear falling from her eye,
"those are precious to me" His voice hit her cheek as he kissed the salty drop,
"Now will you explain?" His concern deepened as she hinted something towards him,

"...there are nightmares which I see, Arjun,
and I saw you in one of the most painful ones" his fingers tightened the physical link with her fingers,
"I don't know what's happening to me? I am not a baby that I will cry over petty issues"

The power of love, they say is supremely strong, his words, his touch, his caring heart and his entire self helped her find out a way to exit the emotional turmoil.

"It seems that we are connected by external energies" his words lightened her heart, and both of them grinned,
She kept her head over his shoulder, they were sitting on the terrace and everyone was busy downstairs, nobody would come to disturb them,
at least that's what the lady thought.

"We are going on a trip" Lakshana's excited persona unsettled the cosy environment bubbling around the two lovers,

Draupadi who was engaged in a deep, yet flirtatious conversation with Arjun, stood up, aghast, seeing Lakshana run up to them as if some emergency had incurred.

The soon to be bride revealed about the plan of a day trip to the nearby biosphere reserve for a leisurely stroll inside the forest with a tourist guide.

Arjun's sweetheart gaped at the two cousins who showed enthusiasm to each other,

Was that even exciting? She thought, roaming around without any protection amongst animals was not sounding good.

Her brain's work proved futile as the other woman revealed all the details, they will be allowed in the outer zones, not in the core zone which is inhabited by most of the fauna, and this was all possible due to Vidyut's friend Rohan, whose dad is in the armed forces.

__________________________________

Arjun couldn't stop but distance himself from the group to get aesthetic photographs of nature and the forest dwellers.
They were amongst the heavenly nature, unpolluted and pure, an untouched part of a famous forest reserve, after being allowed to enter.

He was busy in clicking pictures of the lady of his fantasies since the past few days but now his mind was attracted to the natural beauty, the long, slender, thick and dark barks of trees, the different shades of green which dyed the leaves.

The rising sun played the flute, which mesmerised the world, he heard the birds sing along to pay their respects to the royal sun, his heartfelt growing with bliss seeing the sun rising between two canopies which looked as if bowing to each other.

"Perfect," he whispered to himself, viewing the photograph he clicked with his DSLR,
"Draupadi would really appreciate this picture" giggling at his own words, a feeling of aggrieved mutiny rose inside him after seeing a pair of birds flying together, his heart craved for her presence with him.
But unfortunately for him, she was to join the group later due to the lazy health conditions of Sarakshi.

The astonishing sight of a deer running with a fawn made him dazzle, the orangish shade of the animals complemented the green of the trees, everything was so peaceful and so serene.

"Krishna...Krishna...Krishna" Arjun perceived a manly form coming from the front.
The man looked like someone whose death was nearing, his beard flowed up to his chest, big whiskered moustache,
the looker stood dumbfound seeing the old man chant Krishna.
As the queerest man neared the before busy photographer, the latter moved two steps back,

Arjun overlooked the big scar on the man's forehead to see the wrinkles on his face. The man was very much older and paler than the usual members of his age group.

"Ar...Arjun?" The sound waves were less audible but very heavy.

The camera was now on the ground, thrown by him in shock,

"Krishna!" The man chanted madly, merrily floating his arms in the air.

Covering up for his unmanliness, the bewildered expressions on the face of Draupadi's lover changed into more formed and serious ones,
"who are you?"

"Ashwatthama," The odd man said, with a jolly smile.

The electric sparks generating inside Arjun's brain strived to solve the puzzle but ended up being a short-circuited channel through which only unfathomable fumes could come out.

"Ashwa...Ashwatthama?" Arjun's visions came to live.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Arjun was still heavily panting after running away, running away from the immortal Ashwatthama and from his own past.

His life seemed to get a direction, the reverse one.

The man? The one who brutally killed his life's most precious achievement, their son.

Draupadi's heart shivered, as she handed over the two months infant to him, he saw her going away for four more years only to reunite in the fifth one,
"Your mother is bound, baby, but we both are here for each other" he cuddled with his tiny child.

A scream from deep within forced its way out of his mouth, he screamed in pain, in agony, in grief.
His eyes widened by the ruffling recollection, his blood turned cold, the shooting ache of his was as if multiple people were piercing daggers inside his body at the same time,
like a lifeless body, his external self bloated to overcome the internal torture.

He was Krishna and she was Krishnaa,
He was Paarth and she was Panchali,
He was Arjun and she was Draupadi.

"Why are there seven rounds around the fire, why not eight?"Arjun's childhood made its own space amongst the past life scenes,
"Because, there are seven births and the pair who love each other get bonded to each other for all the seven lifetimes," his mother had kissed his forehead and told him.

Soulmate, yes, that's what she was for him, but a soul tied to four more bodies.

His pain was an ocean of buried truths, with lurking predators in the form of the people from his past and him, a tiny fish, trying to find its mate.
The soreness of his inners formed ripples to cover every inch of him, the hotness within his body was like that of melting iron pressurising the blood in his veins, his light brown eyes were turning red due to the fire burning within, the fire which could easily destroy him completely.

Arjun's everlasting aura was all dull and restricted, he was hopeless and helpless.

"What is all this?" The crystals in his eyes jumped in the uneasy heat.

The flashes, the déjà vus, the nightmares, everything which troubled him now made sense.
He dropped down on the ground like a defeated person,
the Mahanayaka Arjun was defeated,
defeated by his own saga.