𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 || ArDi ||

45. The Emperor.

~ PIYU BOLE ~
" Ek nadi thi jo kabhi sagar se milna saki,
Rastoon ke parvato ko paar vo kar na saki. "

Arjun's eyes looked around the familiar room in Hastinapur. He never thought that he would step in this kingdom without his Krishnaa.

Krishnaa.

That word filled him with uncertainty and peace. His care for her could not let him live. He could never muster the courage to return to their chamber ever since she left. He tried to make himself as busy as possible to keep his thoughts from wavering. However, those certain blue eyes always found a way to appear in his thoughts.

Where was she?

In what condition was she?

Did she find a way through those dense forests?

D-Did she find out about his upcoming marriage?

His heart as if was trapped in a jar, gasping for air. It could not move, nor could it run for the shade of horror. It was locked from inside out. It was screaming and crying for its other half. His inner conflict had tightened its grip, slowing suffocating and strangling the life out of him. Sometimes he wished, fate had just killed him, instead of living him barely hanging on, struggling for each breath.

Arjun sucked in a hollow breath. After thinking of all these things, one question always haunted him- If she ever returned back, would she accept him?

A hope of her return lingered at the back of his mind. The night when he held her for the last time, was the one he would never forget. He could feel the feathery touch of her skin, and the scent that managed to elope his senses. His mind played tricks on him, hallucinating of the times he spent with her.

Her last words repeated in his head like a broken tape record. "Wait for me till the new moon."

With that, she abandoned him the castle that was nothing more than four walls. And along with her, she took away a major junk of his heart, leaving behind his tattered soul and memories that haunted him.

The horrified look on the faces of citizens of Indraprastha was the one he could never forget. She was the Prime Minister of the throne but the queen of hearts of many. The city of maya and mystics was veiled in grief, and what bothered them more, was that their beloved Indraprastharaj was drowning in grief.

The existence of the Queen was rooted deep into the land of Indraprastha, and it felt her absence had ebbed out the essence of the same.

The Queen was not only tossed from the chess board, but it also left the King weak and vulnerable.

"Phalgun," Kunti rasped as she she pulled her son in her arms. Arjun gladly accepted her embrace and returned it with equal grace, "Mata."

Kunti's hand gently stroked her son's face. He might have aged a couple of years in the last few days. Those 'lively' eyes held no life anymore and dark circles surrounded his eyes. "What have you done to yourself, my son?"

Arjun melted in his mother's arms. It was so long that he hand last seen her. "I did not do anything, mata. Fate did."

"Brace yourself, Prince, there is more to come your way."

Arjun bit back a scoff at his mother's formal tone as he left his mother's warm shelter, "Nothing matters anymore. The things that did, are gone." He visibly swallowed the tears that threatened to rise back.

No! Crying is for the weak! He wasn't weak!

But then again, was he his former self? Or a mere shell of somebody that he used to be?