25. Reunion.

Aditi POV:

I heard him.... It has to be him.... Yash! We both have grown up inseparable. There no way in any universe that I won't be able to recognize his voice. I quickly jumped out of the palanquin to meet him. I wanted to see him... I missed him. I wanted to feel my family again. He was my first family after my brother. I reached out to him in a hug when I saw him clearly. 

"Yash! Do you recognize me? I am Aditi! Please! Take me from here, I want to go home!"

Princess Vishtha from the palanquin started to warn me to keep distance from this 'Servant'

"Pranali, We are not allowed to talk to the servants, let alone touch them!", she howled from inside the Palanquin. 

"He is not a Servant! He is my Family!", I yelled back. No one can ever disrespect my family in front of me. I won't ever approve of that." Vishtha hurried outside the palanquin to see why I got so defensive for a palanquin-holder. 

"Pranali, what happened? Why are you angry? Is this lowly servant your family?"

I was getting angry over her excessive use of lowly and poor. Only i know how much of a rich heart Yash has. When I looked at him again, he quietly whispered into my ear," You must leave now. We will meet later."

I didn't know if I was going to live another moment in this world. I didn't want to leave him. Not after I found him. Princess Vishtha was really kind to me till now... however, I couldn't handle Yash's disrespect. I patiently said, "I am sorry, Princess. You must leave immediately or else you will get late for the ceremony."

"I am sorry too Pranali. I am really sorry for unknowingly disrespecting your family. If I knew he was your family, I wouldn't call him 'lowly'. Forgive me Pranali. I shall take my leave..... Meet me at the ceremony! I will be waiting!"

Saying that she sat back again in her Palanquin and departed for her ceremony. I hugged him back. My Yash. I couldn't believe my childhood best friend was here with me. I just felt less.... lonely, maybe.

"Adu! Why did you stay back? You should've followed the Princess!"

"I meet you back after such a long time. I am confused and the first thing you say to me is to leave you. What is happening in here? How did we end up here?"

He held my hand tightly. 

"Listen carefully Adu! This is a matter of life and death. After you fainted at the party, we thought you would die! Hence, we all made a deal with Zenora. A deal to kill off Zenor's mistake of granting an almost immortal wish to the King!"

"I can't understand! What do you mean by 'Us'? Who else is trapped in here other than us? "

I couldn't shake off the feeling that they all risked their lives for me.

"It's a long story. Listen Adu! No one should know about your identity. You must kill the immortal king, before he can find you, no matter what."

"I can't even smash a bug, and you want me to kill an 'immortal beast'? He is 'immortal' for a reason, Yash! Just tell me, Yash! Is there any way to get out of this dream, this nightmare?"

He held me tightly. I felt his fingers strike deep into my shoulders. It hurt. 

"No Aditi! There's no way out. You need to do this because only you can do it. For SuryaGarh! For Aishwarya, For Arjun, For me!"

"What did you just say? Are Aish and Arjun in here too?"

He couldn't meet my eyes, no more.

"Yes. But that's a story for another time."

"What do you even mean, another time? There is no time! Why did you guys do this? Risked your lives? For what?"

"This is the only better alternative to stay together. We wanted to save you, even if it meant risking our lives!"

I could really imagine Yash into doing such reckless things, also Arjun if it were for me, but Aishwarya, why did she agree?

"Where are they both?"

"I don't know. I am trying to find them but no avail. I only know you must kill the immortal beast Zenora warned you of."

"Who even agreed to Zenora's conditions of killing the immortal and risking all of our lives?"

"Arjun. However, we all mutually agreed. Now Aditi, promise me. You'll fulfill our purpose."

I wanted to make him understand how bad of a choice they all made by risking their lives to prolong my worthless life. However, the ship had sunk already. I have to save them no matter what it takes. It all comes to me. I have to become braver, stronger and powerful. 

"What if I die? Doesn't it all become worthless?"

"No! Thats the point, you can't die! We won't let you! We are always keeping you safe. You just have to focus on killing that bastard!"

"WHO IS THAT BASTARD?"

He came closer to me and said it in a whisper.

"It's the current king!"

King Dhrupad? He was the kindest character made by me after Prince Yashomitra! How could he turn so evil?

 "Now, you must go back to the ceremony. Princess must be waiting for you"

"But......."

"I am leaving. I cannot talk to you right now, Adu. Just don't think you are alone in here. We all are in this together!"

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The mirror was cracked, a jagged spiderweb of silver veins slicing across Rudranath's reflection. He stood in the dim light of the flickering oil lamp, bare-chested, his breath steady despite the storm that raged outside—and within him.

Rain battered the tin roof above. Thunder rolled, long and deep like a growl from the throat of the gods. The blade in his hand gleamed, small and wicked, a hunting knife he'd carried since the mountains.

He stared into his own eyes. They stared back, cold and hollow, as if something had left them long ago and never returned.

"This face," he murmured, his voice rough as gravel, "it belonged to a man who begged... who ran... who lost."

He ran his fingers across his cheek, then pressed the tip of the knife to his skin. A cold bite. A breath held.

"Never again."

With a slow, deliberate pull, he dragged the blade from the edge of his cheekbone down to the line of his jaw. Blood welled instantly, hot and thick. The pain bloomed like fire, but Rudranath did not flinch. He wanted the pain. Needed it. A mark. A reminder. Not of what had been done to him—but what he had become.

The blood streamed down his neck, soaking into the collar of his shirt. He dropped the knife onto the floor with a dull clink, then leaned forward, staring at his new reflection.

This face belonged to someone else now.

Not a man who begged.

A man who had someone to protect now. 

Maya sharpened her sword with a stone and hid it under her boots. They would never be discovered unless, someone tried to harm her Master. She was as loyal as the moon to the earth. 

She couldn't understand why her master was so eager to attend this Princess's Groom selection ceremony. 

"Master, why should we go there? Is that Bastard onto something?"

"My pet Eagle just confirmed, he is going to be there too..."

"I am sure Master; he won't be able to recognize you now. It's been close to 700 years since his crowing ceremony."

Arjun knew his enemies well. Dhrupad would never forget him. Not that he wanted to be forgotten. This time he had come to end it all. 

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Inside Second Royal Palace where the Ceremony is arranged.

The palace loomed above them, draped in moonlight and silence. Its white spires pierced the night sky like sharpened spears, guards pacing like shadows across the high balconies. From a distance, it looked serene. Up close, it was a sleeping beast—ancient, heavily guarded, and unforgiving to trespassers.

Arjun pressed his back to the cold stone of the outer wall, listening.

Two guards. Shifting pattern. One coughs every seventeen seconds.

He counted them again, lips barely moving.

Maya stood behind him, breathing slow and shallow, eyes flicking across the darkness. Her fingers grazed the hilt of her concealed blade—not out of fear, but readiness. Always ready.

Arjun leaned close. "Now," he whispered.

In a blink, they moved. Silent. One shadow, then another. Over the wall. Into the garden. Beneath the rose arches where no footsteps echoed.

A narrow servants' passage near the aviary. The lock was rusted, the hinges frozen with age. Arjun knelt and worked the mechanism with a thin pick, his fingers moving like a rhythm he had never forgotten.

Click.

The door opened like it was holding its breath.

Inside, it was darker. The palace walls swallowed light whole. They crept through winding stone corridors where paintings watched them like silent witnesses. Every footstep was measured. Every breath deliberate.

Suddenly—voices.

The guards passed, footsteps slow... talking about the Queen's insomnia. One of them laughed.

Then silence again.

Maya exhaled. Arjun gave a quick nod. Still safe.

They reached the central staircase. Polished marble, glittering chandeliers above. It would take only one misstep, one glint of steel in moonlight, for the entire palace to awaken like a struck hornet's nest.

"This way," Arjun said, voice low, guiding her toward a hidden passage behind the third statue. A trick hallway—his trick—one that once led him out of the palace with bleeding palms and fury in his heart.

Now he walked it again, as a reborn Villain. 

As he entered through the Palace, the guards stopped him. "Please show me your token, Prince... Which kingdom, again? I am so sorry I do not know you."

"Kingdom of Shadows. I am a Shadow wielder." He lied. For a purpose. He in-fact hated the shadow wielder's clan. They were responsible for most of his misery. The Shadow welders were never tested. They only meant harm. 

"Ohh, So you are Prince Abhiraj of Shadow clan? I thought you couldn't make it."

The guard let him inside. He was shocked to see what was lying before his eyes.....

"