Aru Shah and the Soul Trident

Spill the Tea...or Lava

"Everything alright back there?" Aiden called from across the armory.

"Fine! Everything's just fine!" Mini squeaked. Aru saw her sister steal a glance at Rudy, who seemed immersed in the various bows on the shelves.

Brynne patted Mini's shoulder in appreciation. "Dang, Mini. I sure didn't expect it from you, but you go girl!"

Mini blushed, then turned to Aru. She smirked in a way that Aru didn't like.

"What about you, Aru?" she asked, clearly trying to divert her unwanted attention to Aru. "I'm sure something happened between you and Aiden. Tell us!"

Brynne smiled like an eager puppy. "Yeah, you and Ammamma have been acting pretty weird around each other. Don't think that we don't notice!"

Aru shifted her eyes to a very interesting dagger on the wall.

"We should...um... look for new weapons, Mini. Pretty sure it's already been five minutes." She shuffled her feet, trying to avoid the subject.

Brynne sneered lightly. "Don't think we're gonna let you off this easily, Shah. Come on, spill."

"No, Aru's right," Mini interjected, although she looked unhappy. "We really should start choosing our weapons if we don't want to turn into Potato sludge."

Aru breathed a huge sigh of relief, and immediately started to look at the several javelins lined up against the shelves.

"So, Brynne," she started to say, a question forming in her head. "How did you know to choose that particular mace? Did it speak to you like Agni said it would?"

Brynne thought for a moment and gave her head a half-shake. "Hmm, kinda. It didn't really speak to me, like in words, but when I touched it, it sorta pushed these images in my head. It's hard to explain," she confessed. "But you'll know if it's the right weapon for you or not. You just get this feeling."

Aru nodded thoughtfully as she walked down the aisle, when something caught her eye. She doubled back and stared at the glaive that had grabbed her attention. It was beautiful. The shaft was fashioned out of pure black, polished wood. Tiny flame and lightning bolt designs swirled around the weapon. The blade part was sharp and pointy, and was a shiny, golden color with designs etched all over it.

A/N: For those of you who don't know what a glaive is, it's basically a spear but with a bigger and longer blade.

Aru brushed her fingers over the glaive and gasped softly. A flurry of images was pushed to her mind. The first one showed the glaive when it was newly made by a blacksmith. The second one showed a man in armor giving the glaive to another man with a bow strapped across his back. Aru wasn't sure how she knew, but realized that the man with the bow was her past self-- Arjuna. Aru felt weird when she saw him. She had obviously seen paintings and statues of the original Pandavas, but seeing them so...alive made her feel all tingly inside. As if her soul was responding to the vision.

Aru watched on as the vision went on to the third image, which showed Arjuna giving the glaive to Agni. The god of fire uncharacteristically had a solemn expression as he took the weapon from the third Pandava. When Agni disappeared, Arjuna had a defeated expression on his face, as if he really did not want to give away the glaive.

The last image showed the weapon sitting on the shelf, collecting dust every now and then, unused and forgotten. It's showing me its story, Aru realized. She suddenly felt bad for the it (although, she didn't know how she could feel sorry for an inanimate object). It was as if it had been abandoned.

"Aru! We have to leave! Like, right now! Snap out of it!"

Mini's frantic voice jolted Aru out of her vision. Disorientated, she blinked and saw why Mini was so worried. The lava had begun to steam and hiss as it dropped to the floor. This time, it didn't just vanish in thin air. Instead, it started to make its way across the floor.