Bani fell back on the floor and closed her eyes resigned...She felt empty...
Bani sighed...
She was weakened...
She was human right now...
And she had to fight against a powerful naagcheel that had the powers of an Aadi naagin right now...
None of this seemed like a favourable combination...
But that didn't mean she would give up...
Powers or not she was the Aadi naagin...
She had her responsibilities, commitments and obligations...
Her powers may be gone but that didn't mean she was helpless...
Bani remembered what bholenath had said to her sometime ago...
"You protected my naagmani with your life in Satyug and returned it back to me without letting anything or anyone taint it...I'm giving it back to you my Aadi naagin..."
"You would need it in your fight against that naagcheel...You were born to annihilate her...Though it hurts me a lot to see one of my ardent devotees become so blinded by her pride...But i can't let her go either as it would mean world destruction...And aadi naagin, Only you can destroy her for good..."
A major factor of her fear of using naagmani was that its powers were so immense that it would corrupt minds...even ones that starts with noble intentions...
Bani closed her eyes and prayed to her Bholenath and also Naagraj Vasuki to stop her from being corrupted and carried away by the immense powers of naagmani...
"Aadi Naagin..."
She heard the voice speak in her mind...
"Know that I'm always there with you..."
The voice added...
Bani closed her eyes and invoked the powers of naagmani...
Suddenly she felt the powers of thousands of naag naagins flow through her veins...
The moment she decided that she would use the naagmani the future changed...
"Help me bholenath..."
She prayed as she walked towards where the new invincible Markat version 2.0 was at that moment fighting Veer...
Bani couldn't help but stare at how powerful, dangerous and intimidating he looked while he was fighting...
And at that moment she realized why bholenaath had chosen him her saathi...because Veer was her equal...
He was powerful enough to not be intimidated by her or become greedy of her powers...
She failed to accept that in Satyug but in Kalyug she was thankful for what happened...
Feeling her stare at him Veer grabbed Markat by her arms and threw her to the rocks sidelining her completely and then turned towards Bani...
He raised his eyebrows questioningly asking Bani if she had decided about using naagmani to which she nodded...
Markat turned towards her...
"Bani sharma..."
She called her mockingly...
"Sasuma..."
Bani called her walking towards the woman in slow motion...
Veer joined her and stood by her side ready to take charge in case anything went wrong...
"Wow...look at you...bright eyed and bushy tailed...Ready to fight me...that is so cute...I'm merciful today...so isiliye...I'll make your death swift and easy today..."
Markat cooed...
"Vaise I would have ran away if I were you...without your powers you wouldn't last much against me..."
She added...
"You drained my powers all right...but I'll defeat you anyway..."
Bani said confidently..
"How...?how can you defeat me...you are just a mamooli human...I drained your powers..."
Chandrakala Singhania said to her smiling smugly...
Smirking Bani crossed her arms...and closed her eyes....
Markat stared open mouthed as Bani transformed in front of her...
She wasn't her usual red naagin anymore...
She was a humongous 5 headed black and silver serpent and with naagmani adorned on her hood...
Blinded by her greed Markat flew towards Bani to grab the naagmani...
Bani closed her slitted eyes and when she opened them again the naagmani gleamed brighter than ever blinding Markat...
Markat fell down on the ground placing her hands protectively over her eyes...
"How...?"
Markat asked...
"Like I said...you managed to take my powers...but what you forgot is that I derive my power from serving bholenath for ages and from the naag naagins that I serve...I derive my power from those people who i have protected with my powers...and you would never be able to take that away from me..."
Bani said...
"Sweetheart...Let's get this done shall we..."
Veer said to his wife with a wink as he transformed and stood beside her...
"Can I say I absolutely love this partnership....I think we should do this often..."
He said to Bani getting ready to fight...
"You want us to do this often...?we have been fighting with her for days now...I would rather have a few moments of peace and quiet you know...or maybe a long leave...you know...now that I think about it...my life used to be PRETTY normal until one fine day you walked into my life...and tabse sab kuch itna dramatic horaha hein...I'm floored..."
Bani complained glaring at Veer...
"Haww...who are you and what have you done to my ladaku viman..."
Veer asked her dramatically making Bani smile lightly...
"You can't defeat me Aadhi naagin...I'll kill you and rip off that naagmani from your hood...it belongs to me..."
Markat roared and flew toward Bani...
Together Veer and Bani lunged towards markat attacking her from both sides...
Veer in his cheel roop went for the creature's wings while Bani in her naagin roop choked it hard...
In the fierce fight that ensued Bani and Veer managed to break one of her wings...blood oozed out of Markat's body...
"You..."
Markat roared enraged...
Screaming with rage she summoned an enchanted inferno of immense size and heat that were capable of destroying nearly anything in its path and trapped Veer and Bani on the bridge in between it...
The power of the inferno was so immense that no matter how hard he tried Veer only managed to part it ...
"Bani...Now..."
Veer called out as soon as he managed to create a path for Bani to attack safely without getting hurt...
Bani slapped Markat with great force with the tail of her serpent body making the woman to fall off the bridge in the pit underneath...
She joined Veer who was standing in the middle of the fire controlling it and invoked her powers and brought down the water from the Ananth Jarna on it which calmed the fire and eventually it flickered out while both of them got drenched in water...
Fully drenched Bani made her way towards the Ananth Jharna letting its drops fall on her one by one....
She smiled wistfully enjoying the liberated feeling she got that came with connecting with the one thing that hadn't changed in her life...
Jay's betrayal had hit her a lot badly than she had let on in front of that worm...
More than the betrayal in Kalyug it was his words that he had hated her since Satyug that made her more angry...
To think he had kept this hatred in his heart while he was played his part of being her loving joda, made her want to kill him bring him back alive once again and kill him again..very painfully...Too bad Veer killed him already..
Bani thought sighing...
And then there was Veer...now that she thought about it maybe Akesh had done her a favour by killing the worm off in Satyug...Varna she would have lost her heart and soul to a worm...
Both in Kalyug and Satyug she owed her life to Veer and Akesh.. imagine that...
Bani thought looking at Veer...
"Damn it...Cheel and Naagin kabab hojate abb..."
Veer muttered to Bani ...
"Seriously...?you can joke...even now...?"
Bani asked him rolling her eyes...
"It's a talent...vaise you should try it as well..."
Veer said to her jokingly...
"On second thought I have a better way to get those knots of yours loosened up gharwali..."
He added winking at her...
"Keep dreaming gharwala..."
Bani muttered...
"Now...now Aadi naagin...is that how you should treat your loving pathidev...?"
Veer asked her smirking...
Bani turned towards him angrily her with her slit like pupils...
"Cute...do you really think that I would be scared by that adorable little stunt..."
Veer said patting her cheeks...
"No I don't...but kya karu I loovee annoying you...
Bani said to him...
"Kya baath hein...you used love and my naam in the same sentence...I'm impressed...I'm telling you aag dono taraf barabar lage hein..."
Veer said leaning towards her making Bani roll her eyes...
Seriously this was the first time she had so much light hearted conversation in between a life threatening scenario like this...
She thought to herself as she heard the fluttering of wings...
"Gosh I kinda forgot that we had issues to take care of..."
Veer said rolling his eyes turning to face his mother...
"Markat hoon mein...you two namunas can't destroy me..."
She roared at Veer and Bani as she flew up from the pit she had fallen into...
"Are you sure about that...?"
Bani asked her smirking...
"I wouldn't mess with her if I were you...bohot he khatarnak hein..."
Veer said to Markat while gesturing towards Bani as if he was divulging a secret...
Shaking with fury Markat rose to the air spreading her wings...
"You will never defeat me...."
She said to them mockingly as she tried to escape....
"Ready...?"
Bani asked Veer...
"I'm born ready Sweetheart..."
Veer said holding Bani in her waist and flying up...
"Not so fast Sasuma..."
Bani said transforming into her half human half naagin roop and pulling Markat back...
Bani closed her eyes, invoked her naagin powers and the soul reaper appeared in her hand...
"Remember this...?"
Bani asked Markat with a smirk...
"Did you think that you would be able to finish me off just like that Aadi naagin...?with the weapon I gave you..."
She asked Bani smirking...
"I don't have a soul you foolish girl...that sword won't have any effect on me..."
She said to Bani...
"I know..."
Bani said with a smirk...
"Vaise this isn't your weapon per say..."
She said showing her the flaming soul reaper which had naagmani embedded in its hilt...
"I modified it a bit to serve my purpose..."
She added...
Trapping Markat with the coils of her serpent body Bani stabbed her hard with the flaming soul reaper...
Blood oozed out of Markat's body from the wound and she fell down on the floor transforming back into her human form...
Naagmani had completely drained the powers Markat was granted by bholenath and those which she had stolen over time including hers...
"Veeru..."
Chandrakala Singhania called Veer...
"Ma..."
Veer took a step towards his mother and held her hands...
"I'm sorry..."
She said placing a bar of chocolate in his hands...
Slowly Chandrakala Singhania disintegrated and vanished into thin air...
"It's over isn't it..."
He asked Bani standing up..
Bani nodded her heart crying out for Veer seeing the pain...
"You ok...?"
She asked him...
"We cheels don't deal with death the same way everybody normally does...we celebrate it..."
Veer said sighing his grip tightening on the chocolate in his hand...
Bani placed her hand on his shoulder...
"But it's ok to grieve..."
She said to him patting his arms...
"She was the one who got Teer bhaiyya killed...she tried to kill you and me countless number of times...I should hate her for all that she did to us...but still I...."
Veer trailed off...
Bani held him while he grieved the death of his brother and his mother....
Bani however was fighting off the internal conflict in her mind the whole time...
Her mind was getting clouded...
The naagmani's power was getting to her...
The call to use it for herself was getting too strong...
She could see the future...
Where she turned even worse than Markat...
Reeking havoc on the universe...
She was doing things that she had earlier thought she wasn't capable of...
Bani started sweating...
"Jai Bholenath...jai bholenath..."
She chanted over and over in her mind to clear her mind...
"Sweetheart...are you ok..."
Veer asked Bani seeing her shiver...
She looked up at Veer with haunted eyes...
And then fainted...
"Bani..."
Veer shouted holding her in his arms...
*****************
Veer didn't know what was happening and realized that the only people who could help him with this situation was the pandithain and Guruji whom Bani spoke of...
He saw the two of them walk down the stairs as soon as he flew down at the entrance...
Veer held her in his arms bridal style as he walked up the stairs of the naag mandir...
Having seen the naagin roop Bani took he had a feeling that it must have caused overexertion to her...It was unlike what he had ever seen in his life...it was straight out of those legendary stories comprising of Naagraj Vasuki, Adi Shesha and Thaksak Naag...
"Cheelom ka Rajkumar what happened...?"
Pandithain asked him...
"Bani...she fainted...I'm thinking that she was too overwhelmed by the powers of the naagmani..."
Veer said to her...
"Aadi naagin shouldn't have used naagmani's powers...there is a reason why..."
Guruji started to say but was stopped by Veer who glared at him...
"Please spare me from the lecturing...My wife didn't use the naagmani for herself...she used it to saved your sorry backside from getting kicked...and if she wasn't brave enough to use it you all would have been on your way to pathal today...and instead of appreciatingwhat she did you are judging her...?"
Veer snapped at Guruji...
"Cheelom ka Rajkumar....You are just like your Satyug ka cheel...edkam badtameez...with no regards for anybody..."
Guruji said to him narrowing his eyes...
"Except our Aadi naagin..."
Pandithain said turning towards Guruji with a smile and gestured towards Bani's ring on Veer's hands...
"That's right...I have no regards for anybody...except my Bani..."
He said glaring at the Guruji completely missing the look Pandithain gave Guruji...
As soon as Veer was about to reach where the barrier was, he turned to pandithain...
"Pandithain...voh...I don't think..."
He started but was interrupted by Pandithain...
"Don't worry about the barrier...it won't affect you anymore...after all you are our Aadi naagin's joda...If she has accepted you as her jeevan saathi...then nothing can stop you from entering the mandir..."
She said to him...
"Ah...about that...I don't think she..."
Veer started to say but then trailed off seeing the knowing look on Pandithain's face....
Bani had started to trust him only recently...And he knew she accepted their marriage....but from what he knew acceptance as jeevan saathi was a big step for a naagin...it was like trusting the person with their body and soul...for all eternity...
"Cheelom ka Rajkumar...go on...who knows...maybe you will be pleasently surprised by the outcome..."
She said to her smiling warmly...
Was she playing some kind of prank on him...?
Veer thought looking at the pandithain...but she didn't seem to be the type...
Veer took that step expecting to hit a wall or worse to be thrown away...
But to his surprise he walked through as coolly as the stuck up guruji and pandithain did...
"How...?"
He asked turning towards Pandithain...
"How...?you are asking how...?cheelom ka Rajkumar...I'll leave the revelation to Aadi naagin...but know that the ring you are wearing...it is not what you are thinking it to be..."
She said to him...
"Don't worry Cheelom ka Rajkumar....aadi naagin will be up soon..."
Pandithain said patting his shoulders...
And then she and Guruji walked ahead to arrange everything for the pooja...
Bani stirred in his arms...
Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Veer...
"Veeranshu..."
She called him...
"Thank goodness....You are awake...When you fainted all of a sudden I was so worried..."
He said to Bani...
"I'm fine Veer...I just have to return the naagmani back to bholenath...."
Bani said to Veer...
"Vaise...You can put me down now..."
She said to him...
"Yeah, like I'm going to put you down when you are so weak...forget about it..."
He said to her...
"Aadi Naagin..."
Bani looked up to see Pandithain and Guruji standing on the top of the stairs to welcome them...
Guruji raised his eyebrows at Veer still annoyed about the earlier conversation they had...
"Aadi naagin...How do you feel...?"
Pandithain asked Bani...
"Overwhelmed...the powers of the naagmani are too much for me to control..."
She said to him...
"Aadi naagin...let's start the pooja and return the naagmani back to Bholenath..."
Guruji said to her to which she nodded and turned to leave after him...
"Wanna come...?"
She asked him...
"And do boring pooja stuff...nope...I'll pass..."
Veer said to her which made her chuckle...
"I will be back after the pooja.."
Bani said to him with a smile...
"You will be fine right...?"
Veer asked her worried...
"Yes...I'll be..."
She said with a smile as she left after Guruji...
As she left Veer turned towards Pandithain to see that she had tears in her eyes...
"Pandithain...are you ok...?"
He asked her...
"Thank you so much for taking revenge on Aadi naag...he...he killed my husband in cold blood..."
She said tearfully...
"I'm sorry to hear that your husband was killed by that dabbewala...I mean Jay Mathur...He was really a backstabbing snake..."
He said to her softly...
Pandithain nodded...
"That day when you got poisoned with naagfani...Aadi naag came to know that Aadi naagin was coming here to get the anti-venom to save you....so he came here and tried to exchange the anti-venom so that you wouldn't be saved..."
She said to him wiping of her tears...
"My husband...He was the pandit of this temple...When he came to do pooja...He...He saw Aadi naag tampering with the anti-venom and...He bit him...My husband was killed on the spot... "
She said to him crying...
"Every time Aadi naagin came here...I wanted to tell her the truth...but my husband and Guruji both had asked me not to inform Aadi naagin about anything and that she wanted to find things herself...so...all I could do was wait for her to..."
She said tears rolling down her eyes...
The pain she had been holding in her heart for the past few weeks finally getting an outlet to flow...
Her husband's murderer had finally been punished...
Veer gave her his kerchief....
"Vaise...you don't have to call him Aadi naag...the snake that he is....he doesn't deserve the respect you give him...I know you won't swear...but trust me he deserves the worst gaaliyan..."
Veer said to her which made her smile at him...
"I'm so thankful to you Cheelom ka Rajkumar for punishing that Aadi...him..."
She said to Veer to which he nodded...
"Vaise...I'm surprised that dabbe...I mean Jay Mathur...still wasnt able to tamper with the anti-venom...because from what I remember, bani got the real anti-venom and managed to save me that day..."
He said to pandithain...
"He tampered with the anti-venom alright...He threw it in water...and Anti-venom for Naagfani becomes useless when it comes in contact with water..."
"Then how did Bani manage to save me..?"
Veer muttered confused to which Pandithain smiled...
"If you are going to tell me that i have to ask sweetheart...I mean Bani about it...then you know na...she wouldn't tell anybody anything that she doesn't want them to know..."
Veer said to her...
"I don't know how it will sound to you...as a cheel...but...for us...there is no poison in this world that can't be countered by Aadi Naagin's venom...she gave you her poison...she gave you a part of herself to save your life that day..."
Pandithain said to him...
"There is more to our Aadi naagin than it meets the eye...she may seem very arrogant and rude but that comes with being the Aadi naagin...par dil ke sache hein voh...And there is no trace of chal or kapad in her...whatever she feels she says it to their face..."
She added...
"I know..."
Veer said...
Pandithain patted on his head smiling softly...
"Vaise...you should call me Veer...this Cheelom ka Rajkumar is such a long name to call...even my cheel gang doesn't call me that..."
He said to her to which she smiled...
As they were talking Bani walked out after the pooja...
"How are you feeling now...?"
Veer asked her...
"Much better...."
She said to him...
It had taken her every ounce of power she had to relinquish the naagmani and its powers....There were times when she thought she would lose the battle with her conscience...
But then she saw the possibilities before her...
One was the vision of the destruction she was going to bring upon the universe getting greedy of the power bestowed upon her...
And in other vision she could see herself with Veer watching their son and daughter take their first flight while she held their baby girl in her arms...
She had concentrated strongly on their future and relinquished the naagmani...
"Aise dekhoge tho I would have no control over my actions Sweetheart..."
Veer whispered to her holding her hand and pulling her close to him..
Bani smirked hearing that and together they walked out of the temple...
"Aaj ke hardwork ke baad ek kiss tho zaroor bantha hein...you know as bonus..."
He added...
Hawaaon mein bahenge
ghataaon mein rahenge
tu barkha meri
main tera baadal piya
"Keep dreaming cheelu..."
She said to him and as they stepped out they saw that the naag naagins had assembled outside the temple to greet them...
"O..M..G"
Veer muttered imitating mehek dehek seeing the crowd that had assembled...
"Why does it feel like I'm on display...where people are observing everything I do, overanalyzing my every single move and judging me harshly for it..."
Veer whispered to Bani as they left the mandir....
"Because you are on the red carpet now..."
Bani joked as they walked down the stairs of the Naag mandir with her naag naagins bowing to her standing on either sides...
Veer watched as she greeted them with love and compassion...
And he could see why she would sacrifice herself in a heartbeat for them...she saw them as her family...
She introduced him to them as they came to greet them...
"Vaise don't tell me the mighty Veeranshu Singhania, Cheelom ka Rajkumar is scared of a few naag naagins..."
Bani whispered to him smirking...
"Ha...You wish...I revel in attention, Sweetheart..."
Veer said shrugging...
"But seriously...this is extreme torture Sweetheart...I'm not cut out for this persona...I would rather play the devil here and make them all flee due to fear...besides...you are saying that these are a few naag naagins..?your whole kingdom has turned up here..."
He muttered shuddering...
"Hold that thought, I can see a few naagins eyeing me too...oh look one of them winked...and boy is she cute..."
Veer said smirking...
"Keep talking and you will get your kiss sooner than you think...only thing is you will be kissing the ground..."
Bani retorted gesturing towards the bottom of the stairs making Veer chuckle...
"So are you a kali naagin now or are you back to your old red naagin roop..."
Veer asked her as they walked out to the jungle...
There was a trace of sadness in his voice as he knew that there was a possibility that she might have lost her red naagin roop as his mother drained her powers...
"Kyu...which one did you like the most...?"
She asked him seriously...
"You are asking it like you want me to make a choice between idli sambar and schezwan chicken noodles..."
He said to her making her chuckle....
"Sadly in this case I think it is going to be schezwan chicken noodles... "
She said to him dramatically...
"Kali naagin ho tum abb...?"
He said slightly disappointed...
He kinda missed her glorious red naagin roop...
"You have known me as a naagin for less than a week now and you are missing my naagin roop...?"
Bani asked him with a smile...
"I know it is weird...but I have come to like your naagin roop too...that red naagin roop was so you...I mean I could look into the eyes of your serpent and see you in it...but that kali naagin...so NOT you...but still if you are going to be kali naagin from now on...I can still live with that..."
He confessed which made Bani chuckle...
jo tere na huye to
kisi ke na rahenge
deewani tu meri
main tera paagal piya
hazaaron mein kisi ko taqdeer aisi
mili hai ik ranjha aur heer jaisi
She crossed her arms across her chest and closed her eyes...
And she transformed...
na jaane ye zamaana
kyun chaahe re mitaana
kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya
kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya
piyaa, piyaa, piya re...
piyaa re, piya re...
piyaa re, piya re, piya re, piya re...
"You are still my favorite red naagin...yey...I could hug you now..."
Veer said to her in a happy tone...
"I mean....only if you want...if you don't...then I won't hug you either..."
He added...
hazaaron mein kisi ko taqdeer aisi
mili hai ik ranjha aur heer jaisi
Bani transformed back into her human form and hugged him sideways...
"Thank you..."
She said to him emotionally...
"You are welcome..."
Veer said to her smiling....
na jaane ye zamaana
kyun chaahe re mitana
kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya
kalank nahi ishq hai kaajal piya
main tera, main tera, main tera, main tera
main tera, main tera, main tera, main tera
main gehra tamas tu sunehra savera
main tera o, main tera
musaafir main bhatka tu mera basera
main tera o..main tera
"Vaise....Pandithain was talking about this ring being special..."
Veer asked her as they walked forward while playing with her ring on his finger...
"You took it from me without asking..."
Bani said to him with a straight face...
"Yeah...and the powerful Aadi naagin couldn't have kicked my backside and got back her ring...pshh tosh..."
Veer said to her smirking...
The naag ring on your saathi's finger symbolized the eternal bond that would bind them...
It is a reminder of their relationship was meant to last till eternity...
When Veer, the person she had hated with the whole of her being , had taken her ring she had to bite her teeth to stop herself from attacking him...but now that she thought about it...it felt right...
Veer raised his eyebrows at her to which she shook her head...
"I promise you that I'll tell you what it symbolizes when time comes.."
She said to him...
"So how does our future look now...?"
He asked Bani as they were flying home....
"It looks beautiful..."
She said to him...
tu jugnu chamakta
main jungle ghanera
main tera aa...
o piya main tera, main tera, main tera
ho... main tera
ho... main tera, main tera, main tera
************
Hope you enjoyed it guys...
Do tell me how you felt about it...
PS: Almost every story of mine is based on a song...
The song that I took for this is Mein Tera from Kalank...
Thank you so much puse_fetse for letting me know...❤🥰
Stay safe...