In another life

02

"You're not human, are you? Did you do this? Is this one of your schemes?" Kaaya asked him all at once, standing up as she saw him stand up too, uncovering her ears, and bringing her hands into the position, ready to fight him. But he instead grew annoyed due to the constant questions and bogus allegations.

He jumped over the little path dug between the field and the road to let water to flow in case of heavy rain and climbed the next heap of soil that separated one farmer's land from another. A bright light blinded her as she saw him open the door to a small glass booth that was definitely not there before. He came out all frustrated, and the booth vanished.

He made his way back to her. Just then, she realized that she had missed a great opportunity to escape. She mentally cursed at herself. He pointed his index finger at her when he failed to do what he intended to. "You are not human either, are you? Are you even from this world? Why do you have a protection spell on you?"

"Eehhh? Dude, what the hell are you blabbering?" She looked at him with confusion plastered all over her face. "How am I not a human when you pulled out all these stuffs that only happens in some fantasy novel? Not to mention your split eye thing." She said, defending herself despite not being clear about the situation.

He walked closer, looking down at her, who was totally intimidated by the big guy in front of her. She moved back and stumbled on her bicycle, only to find herself back on the floor. "I don't think you can understand what you have done." He said, keeping his hands on his hips and staring intently at the poor girl, who looked at her hands, hissing as the little stones had stabbed into her palm.

He tapped his feet, and suddenly, Kaaya felt a force that made her stand on her feet. Every time he used his powers, she grew more scared despite the feeling of excitement as she witnessed something that could only be possible in her imagination, which she was fond of.

"Kaaya, right?" He asked, and judging by her following statement and shocked face, he got the answer to his question. "Dude, aren't you a stalker? Yo, I'm telling you I'm not worth spending your time on. I am sure you have better jobs to do. Don't you?" She asked, trying to convince the guy to let her go.

He spoke with an annoyed expression: "You're not normal, dude; according to my knowledge, this world is not supposed to have any sort of magic. And you are here, conflicting the rules of this world and breaking rules... that's my job." He finished the sentence, huffing in annoyance like a child.

"Because of whatever stupid magic that you possess, now look, Pālayitṛ has locked me in your world!" He glared at her, trying to blame everything on the girl, who just looked at him dumbfounded.

She frowned, clenching her eyes, ready to stop him from blaming her for everything. "Heyy, listen, I've no idea what you are talking about! I don't have any magic! See!" She said as she concentrated on trying to move her bike, pointing her finger from one place to another. He looked at her, so done with whatever she is trying to prove.

"Now my turn, who are you and why are you stalking me and.... spying on him?" She asked, questioning why he was looking at Gaavy. He snickered at her question, and she had no idea which part of her question was funny to him. "Look, miss, I was not stalking you. I was spying on him because I wanted to know some stuffs him and his destined one, whom I haven't seen yet. I was a little curious about how they met, and as I ended up here, I might as well see how it all happened."

Destined one... She felt a lump form in her throat. She had already guessed that she wouldn't be the person he would end up with. She wondered why she wasn't denying the sudden realization. She should be yelling at this guy for blabbering about who her crush would end up with.

But strangely, she did nothing. Maybe deep inside, she already knew about it but was too scared to admit it. Spending all her time on someone for all these years, loving him to the extent that she would do anything he asked for, the twisting feeling in the stomach every time they made eye contact.

She didn't want all of her efforts to go in vain, but at the same time, she didn't want her love to sever their friendship. Nobody noticed that he had his sights set on another girl, especially her ex-best friend Hruthi; she saw him fall in love; she noticed. She had always wished to see him fall in love, but it was never her. She never stood a chance in front of all those girls in her class. Hruthi was not the one to be blamed, nor was Gaavy; it was her.

She sighed, swallowing the lump. The last thing she wanted to do was to cry in front of some random guy. "You haven't answered my first question yet." She spoke.

He crossed his arms, "I have no name. Pālayitṛ calls me Sudās " he snickered. "I just ended up here because I took the wrong turn and travelled back to this timeline. Did I perhaps increase your curiosity with the mere mention of time travel?" He tilts his head to the side, a smirk plastered on his face.

He was right. She was perhaps curious about his abilities and the one who's voice roared through the sky. What was their name, Palayar..? Pālayitṛ..? Keeping her curiosity aside, she eyed him from top to bottom in a suspicious manner, trying to hide her fear even though she was aware that his powers had no effect on her.

Anyone would be scared if they encountered something like that. "H-Heyy, I'm sorry if because of me you're struck here, but I promise you I would never say anything about this to anyone." She stuttered a little at the beginning because of her nervousness. "I'll keep quiet." She said, zipping her mouth with her hands before clasping them together as she pleaded with him to let her go.

He points his fingers at her. "From now on, pretend you can't see me. It's dangerous enough, someone knows, adding more would cause jeopardy." She nods before picking up her bicycle and continuing her ride back home, without sparing a glance to the guy that had his eyes on her every move.

The ride back home took awfully long, and the weather, along with the thunder, made her look back from time to time to make sure he was not following her. Even after reaching home, all she could think about was the bright light that appeared as soon as he touched her forehead, knocking them both to the ground.

Above all, the protection spell he claims she has. To be honest, everything he said made no sense to her. She couldn't be out of ordinary else she would have sensed. There is no explanation if she was one.

She went straight to her room on the rooftop, which kind of penetrated into the house with a slanted glass roof over her room. Opening the door, she went down the stairs to her room. She quickly jumps into her soft mattress while closing her eyes. After all that happened today, she was too tired to even change into her pajamas.

The Sudās, on the other hand, had the biggest frown on his face. He kept stomping back and forth in the park because Pālayitṛ took away the abilities he couldn't live without. His teleportation and ability time travel.

Pālayitṛ had made it perfectly clear to him to never show his powers to anyone in this world. As it would cause unbalance of power within the lokas if he showed his powers, he might end up causing an apocalypse, which Pālayitṛs would have to fix. So, they forbade him to show his abilities to anyone.

But then he was accidentally caught by a person who could see through his invisibility spell. She was unaffected by his powers because of the protection spell he felt when he attempted to erase her memories of him.

"Kaaya.... Kaaya...." He repeats her name. A smile crept onto his lips, "Interesting."

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Pālayitṛ - The protectors or guardians.