Hardik was swishing and hurling itself in the air over our heads. Five of us turning with its rotating direction, were clearly able feel one another's heart racing. Cool breeze tried to lift the tension that has been surrounding us but as quickly as I sensed the change in the odor, my nerves tingled and a sea of anxiety took all over my system.
Tyrell and Celina gazed at me, their eyes filled with terror. They seemed to be guessing the same as I was. Their hands were still tightly clasped, only now they stood closer, trying to sooth each other down. Pruthvi on the other hand was doing his best to get hold of Hardik. It swished down finally, falling fearfully into his hands. He rolled it up, then placing it into his fine grip.
Leena, who was standing next to me, glanced over my shoulder. Widening her eyes, she gasped out a shrill scream, cupping her mouth with both her hands.
Her scream paralyzed me for a second. Unable to withhold my curiosity, I turned around. Temperature dropped more than ten degrees as I spotted Shashi Thribhuvan, with five the same men swooped towards us, his long open jacket trailing the snow behind with him. His face was crueler in the sunlight. He skimmed at five of us thoroughly before his eyes rested upon me, growing wider and sharper as if he wasn't able to believe I had escaped from terrors of the giant monster he let free.
Upon his shoulder, as I quickly recognized, was a girl in costly ethnic attire having her head lolled in unconsciousness. As I was watching, he threw her on the ground, creating a loud thud. She was Leena's look alike, Princess Lithika, her face totally green and she looked rather petite.
The men walking along with his were holding a body each. They threw them down simultaneously in the same fashion as Shashi. My eyes firstly sort for an older man, King Aghasthya, his silky white shirt, now drenched with blood, his black trousers torn at every possible areas. His hands were tied back with a rope and so were his eyes, closed with a filthy rag.
"Ashwanth!" cried Celina.
Beside King Aghasthya, lying was a compact, thirty plus year old man, his skin completely green, seemed to be more lifeless. Tyrell still grabbing Celina by her wrist pulled her back from running towards her sick friend. Four other men, we hadn't seen before, were suffering with the same disease. My mind drifted towards Shourya. He was the one who had taken all the sick people away. He said it was for others safety. Was he lying? Did he just lend all of them to Shashi?
"So you escaped Agnidaanav," Shashi sneered gritting his teeth and looking daggers at me. "Although you might have experienced how death feels."
"What did you do to King Aghasthya?" I demanded feeling terrified watching him walk closer.
"You should bother about your friends, at this moment Hayden," he said as he looked over at Leena.
Glancing sideways at her, I found her not bothering about Shashi but her eyes totally stuck on her look alike. I wanted to scream and tell her they were sisters, that she has a living family, but this wasn't the time for any kind of family bonding. I can never forget the promise I gave it to Celina's uncle. Saving the people from the disease was my top priority right now.
"I am so pleased to see all the Formation Samagraha here," said Shashi and then his eyes shifted towards Pruthvi, "Son of a coward, find your sister yet?"
I heard a small gasp coming out of Pruthvi's mouth. He was standing right next to me, holding Hardik in his hands. I was clearly able to feel vibe radiating out of his body. He was getting angrier on Shashi mentioning his father as such.
"Did you?" he said, his words came out as a mock.
"Excuse me!" Shashi said in an angry tone.
I took a step forward, did my best to take his focus off my friend and rather placing it on me. "You have the Maiden's cup. Give it to me."
As I expected, Shashi snorted and then burst out laughing villainously. "You dream a lot, don't you? How can you even think I'll just give it you?"
He ducked his hand behind his back and pulled out the golden green colored cup. It shined brilliantly under the sun's rays than it did in the cave. It looked so vibrant that not even an part of it was revealing that it was carrying hundreds of years old legacy.
"Do you have any idea what might happen if I turn it into pieces?"
I swallowed a bile forming in my throat. If he breaks it, if I lose the cup now, I might never save the people, I might never save Princess Lithika. I just cannot let that happen.
"You need my blood," I said, my voice quivering, "take my damn blood and give the cup to me."
"No!" Celina cried looking at me with her watery eyes. "Hayden, don't do anything stupid."
"Celina, we need that cup," I retorted, slightly irritated by her interference.
"No," she shouted, "There must be another way."
Shashi kicked King Aghasthya in his stomach, attempting to wake him up. I made a strong fist in frustration, unable to make him stop.
"Wake up Aghasthya," he said waving his hand again. "It's show time."
Leena walked a couple of steps forward impulsively. Pruthvi and Tyrell were in a position ready to command their stones. As Leena moved forward, she grabbed Shashi's attention. He muttered with a strange tone in a language we didn't understand. As soon as his mouth stopped moving, all of us excluding Leena, were lifted in the air, pushed away in either direction. For a minute I imagined it was Donovan Singer performing levitation on us. But it wasn't him, it couldn't be him. It was Shashi himself, performing his dark magic he was so hailed off.
I and Tyrell, on one side, dashed ourselves onto the huge pile of snow. Celina and Pruthvi to the opposite, hit against a huge hard rock. Celina shrieked with pain rolling over on the snow, grabbing her shoulder. She began breathing heavily but she spotted Pruthvi who was lying very silent. On watching closely, his head was bleeding, blood dripping down his temple.
"Please!" moaned Aghasthya, "Stop it. They are just kids."
Aghasthya pulled himself up, now positioning himself on his knees right next to Shashi's legs. His salt and pepper hair was fraying, his chest rising and falling tremendously. Leena looked back at Pruthvi and then to King Aghasthya. She was shivering and seemed unable to decide to whom she should care about the most right now.
Tyrell ran towards Celina who was attempting to revive Pruthvi. He tore a piece of cloth from his fur jacket and rolled it against his bleeding head. I, on the other side, kept all of my focus on the cup that Shashi was still holding. All this shall stop only if Leena's tear can do some magic. But first I had to snatch the cup from him, which seemed highly impossible. But I couldn't give up. My mind raced, waiting for a better chance.
"Don't hurt them," Aghasthya cried, "Please don't!"
Shashi sneered. Bending slightly towards his late step-brother's friend, he said, "Didn't my mother cry for mercy too?"
Aghasthya inhaled sharply, his face turning pale, his minimal aroma dying every minute, "So this is about Tarakini? You brought my grand children together only to avenge Tarakini?"
"And so you can see them dead," Shashi finished approving Aghasthya blame, looking straight into his eyes, "You made me see my mother die, now I give you this opportunity to see your closed ones die right in front of you."
"You monster!" shouted Aghasthya, his veins on his neck bulging, "You killed my son and..."
"You made one of your granddaughters a Princess and left another alone as an orphan. If I am a monster, then what are you?"
Tears dropped down Leena's cheeks, her mouth slightly open. Her head swinging back and forth from Aghasthya to Lithika and to Pruthvi who was still lying silent with his eyes closed.
"Don't do this, Shashi," pleaded Aghasthya, his voice turning low, "In the name of your brother..."
Shashi muttered beneath his breath. The next instant, Leena screamed holding her stomach and she fell on her knees groaning.
I blinked on Leena's scream. My eyes were still on the cup that Shashi was holding. Only way to loosen his grip against it was to provoke him. He was hurting too many people. I couldn't let that happen. I have been silent for so long, and this was leading to nowhere.
"You killed our parents," I shouted unable to see Leena in pain anymore, "What else can probably want more from us?"
"Don't interrupt!" he shouted, his eyes widened on hearing my voice, "We have so much to deal later, Fire of Vengeance."
"You started the virus," I said trying to buy some time before I concentrate on my stone and start using it. "You sent your men to inform me the cure."
"You mean Theodore Hanslay?" he asked, turning towards me, "He was the most foolish person I have ever known."
I knitted my brow instantly. I was actually pointing out Shourya but now it seemed Shashi wasn't aware about Shourya informing me about the cup at all. Now that he had brought Theodore Hanslay, I shuddered with the thought that Shashi might have been following our tracks to impel him to tell us the truth.
"I should have taken my revenge a long time ago," Shashi said holding the cup tight, "But I waited for the right time. I wanted to avenge my mother in a way she was killed. When I came to know Leena Savant is actually Viraj's other daughter, I couldn't resist, I couldn't wait. I wanted Aghasthya to see his own family dead as I did. So I planned to bring Leena Savant here and look at her, she is already ready to die."
Leena started crying loudly. I looked sympathetically at her swollen ankle drenched with blood. But she wasn't crying out of her physical pain at all. She finally came to know she has a family being very much alive all these years and yet she lived like an orphan. Who else rather than her friends could understand how she was feeling? We all were on same page, grieving for our parents and dying to find someone who we could call a family. I pressed my eyes shut in frustration, blinking back my own tears. I wanted to run for her aid but I controlled myself. I just had to get the cup out of Shashi.
I wished Celina and Tyrell came up to help me. I wondered where they had suddenly disappeared to. I couldn't go back to search for them now. I wished I had the power to connect to them without anyone's knowledge. I sighed a forceful one, unable to control the pain my throat was causing
In addition, my stomach began to ache. The fierce formation I had used to dump the creature had squeezed away most of my energy. My knee began to wobble. I chided myself and pulled up all the strength to stay strong.
"How many people will you kill?" I asked in a flat tone, "How much more blood will you drain?"
"Oh! you have no idea."
"You started the virus and you know Leena is the only one who can cure..."
"You made that easy for me Hayden. I made sure Lithika get attacked with virus so that Aghasthya had no other option but to bring Leena back to Dakshinpur and beg me for the cup. But you jumped in first. You should be blaming your own curiosity. You brought your Formation Samagraha friends with you, making my plan work."
He then turned to see Aghasthya.
"My mother will bless me once I kill you and your grandchildren!" he said. He raised his hand and held Aghasthya by his collar.
"No, wait!" Leena shouted, struggling to stand up, "You need me. Take me with you and please leave everyone else."
"No!" I shouted, "To anyone to go with you Shashi, you need to go through me first."
Shashi scoffed before he said, "Impressive, very impressive. Your grandfather always said the same. You have to go through me first. I remember how feisty he was. Yes, his blood does run inside you."
"You don't have to do this," said Aghasthya as if he didn't want to raise the name of his best friend like this, "Tarakini deserved to die for everything she had done."
"Then your son deserved to die too," he said, "Why don't you tell Leena Savant the truth Aghasthya? Why don't you tell her that you banished your own son and you broke his family willingly. If my mother deserved death then you deserve the worst."
Leena looked up at King Aghasthya aghast. Her eyes were blotchy and she was turning red with what Shashi had just told out.
"Leena Savant, die!" said Shashi and lifted his hand.
"No!" Aghasthya cried.
"Flame explosive formation!" I commanded my stone. My stomach growled and it hurt like hell.
The girl I was looking forward to see did not appear in my mind. I tried to create a huge fire explosion between Shashi and Leena but I did nothing more than lifting a few particles of snow.
Shashi turned to me angrily and muttered aloud that made me roll away taking a double flip far away from them.
"You are such a pain, Hayden Mackay," Shashi cried, "Let me make you silent for ever."
He strode past Aghasthya and Leena, walking down towards me furiously. Leena, finding a chance, quickly ran towards Aghasthya and helped him stand up, trying her best to remove the cloth out of eyes but her strength wasn't enough even to do that.
My eyes streamed and my eye sight went soar with the pain my stomach was causing. I watched Aghasthya whispering into Leena's ear probably asking her to perform her passed down ability to save his other grand daughter. Shashi was almost right in front of me, cup dangling between his fingers. I managed to sit on one of my knees, but Shashi held me by my shirt and pulled me up to face him. Stink coming out of him gripped my trembling breathe.
"You may possess the strongest stone but yet you are so weak, Hayden Mackay," he said, grudgingly, "You are a wrong person to possess it."
I did not have so much strength in me to fight back but I know there one such command I can still use against him.
"I think not," I murmured, concentrating on my stone. I caught him by his hand and commanded my stone, "Flame formation."
"Aaargh!"
Shashi cried out with a gurgling voice when his hand burnt against mine. I spotted him dropping the cup from his other hand and me, both at the same time. Before I fell back on my knees, I pushed myself with all my might, making the cup safely land in my hands.
I did not wait anymore, the chance I was waiting for was right at the moment.
"Leena," I shouted tossing the cup to her, "Do it! Now!"
"Nooo..." Shashi shouted as the cup went rolling from my hand. Leena ran and caught the cup before Shashi could do anything. She looked down at the cup, as a single tear itself dropped down her eyes onto the cup.
For a moment nothing happened. But then the cup began to vibrate right in the middle of Leena's palms, releasing a strong pungent green colored smoke into the air. Leena shivered and instantly dropped the cup on to the snow. It was too hard for me to keep watching at it as the smoke strained my eyes. The smoke that has been released was turning into a dense cloud, covering the sun above us, making everything slightly darker.
After the smoke ceased in about few minutes, I opened my eyes to see what had happened. Leena and Aghasthya also were having their eyes closed. I turned around to check on one person. My eyes enlarged on finding the greenness on Princess Lithika's face slowly dissolving.
"You are going to pay for this," Shashi said wrathfully as he charged towards me. I was scared watching his deadly expression. I didn't even had a pinch of strength to use my stone but I got luckier this time.
"Earthly Bind!"
"Lightning formation!"
"Arial cutter formation!"
My other three friends Tyrell, Pruthvi and Celina riding on Hardik came back to my aid performing their own combined formation. Their powers were combined performing one by one simultaneously.
Pruthvi successfully formed a cage around Shashi, and Celina's and Tyrell's commands reached him but he successfully deflated them.
"Hayden!"
A familiar voice rang in my ears, making my hair at the back raise. I was too hurt to get up and respond. Only thing I was able to see was a bright light oval shaped opening behind the manly figure.
"Doctor!" Shashi, inside the cage, whispered watching the man, his expression turning ghastly. He looked back at me, with so much animosity anyone could ever have on anyone. Our eyes were locked for a while, staring dagger upon each other. I was still watching him as Shashi's body began to change its shape. I was almost about to puke when he began to melt himself, turning into a slimy liquid and dripping down to get mixed with the snow.
Before he could melt, before he got disappeared, I wasn't so sure but I heard him saying a few words that rang in my ears loud and clear. "Next time we meet, it will be your end, fire of Vengeance!"
"Hayden, are you okay?"
Tyrell was first to get down of the carpet and came running towards me.
Shashi's words were still running in my ears that for a second my mind was blocked. Celina was saying something to me. I could hear nothing, only watch her lips moving.
"Hayden!" Tyrell called me again, shaking my shoulders and I blinked.
"I am fine," I said before he went berserk.
"What the hell happened to Shashi?" Pruthvi cried as he broke his own cage. I ignored him but I noticed his head was still bleeding against the piece of cloth Tyrell had wrapped.
"Doctor," Celina said totally alarmed, "What are you doing here?"
I finally brought back my senses and turned around to find Doctor marching towards the sick people, his stick helping him walk faster. His face was stern, his eyes wide opened but filled with concern.
Glancing sideways I looked at my friends. Celina unable to resist, she ran towards Ashwanth whose color of the skin was slowly coming back to normal. Leena was facing her grandfather and twin sister Lithika who stirred and moaned.
"Lithika!" cried Aghasthya helping his grand daughter who just came into consciousness, "Lithika, my child!"
Lithika slowly opened her eyes, holding her head and weakly smiled as she hugged her grandfather.
"We did it!" Tyrell said enthusiastically.
"Where have you guys been?" I asked watching Pruthvi wiping blood out of his eyes.
"Shashi's men," he said, "They changed into hounds and attacked us."
My mouth dropped. I had totally forgotten about the five men who accompanied Shashi. Now I understood where my friends were involved in.
"We killed them," said Tyrell, suddenly, "I don't know how you killed one of them but it wasn't easy buddy."
"You killed them?" I asked, shocked, "You do realize they were humans right? You did the same mistake I did."
Tyrell made a face and mocked me, "Yeah as if there is a CCTV camera located in this hilly area."
I shook my head. Thanks to him for reminding me that I was a most wanted criminal back in Florida.
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Ashwanth came back to senses and immediately the other men too. But unlike Lithika they weren't completely active. They were still feeling dizzy and we helped each of them position in a comfortable manner.
Doctor was checking on them one by one and finally settled beside his adopted son, talking to him silently.
Lithika had her head on her grandfather's shoulder. (Tyrell helped removing his cloth out of his eyes.) Leena sighed watching them and walked over to stand beside Pruthvi to check on his wound. I understood there was a strained tension going on between the newly formed family but none of them wanted to bring anything up just yet.
"We have to take them back," I said watching the weak people, "They need to rest in a better place."
"And the rest of the villagers have to be saved yet," said Leena, standing akimbo.
"Save your tears, Leena," said Tyrell, smirking, "You have lot of work to do."
"We can use Hardik," suggested Celina who was sitting down behind Ashwanth, "it can help us easily take them back."
"Only six can sit on it," reminded Pruthvi. "It will die lifting all of us together."
"Kids, save your breath," Doctor said suddenly. I didn't know he was hearing us. "I can still create Gates of Chandrika. Your flying carpet can help only the sick person."
I frowned. How does he know about the carpet?
"Doctor, how did you know we are here?" Celina asked again.
"There will be only one person who is going to ask question, and that will be me." He retorted angrily.
Tyrell sniggered as Celina felt embarrassed.
"You need to explain a lot, all five of you," he continued pointing his finger at us, "But first let get out of here."
I sensed a strong stare directed at me and as I guessed Doctor's eyes were on me. I couldn't look back at him for a longer time slightly feeling irritated.
Why is it always me he watches so angrily?!
Doctor turned around removing the casket filled with powder from his pocket. He blew it into the air right in the middle of the group and brilliant lights emerged.
"Go on, every one of you," he said, "I will meet you soon."
"Don't you want to come with us?" asked King Agasthya, helping Lithika stand up.
"I have some unfinished business to do," he answered, "You go on."
-x-