Under the moonlit shadows of the ancient country of Palnad, where mystery and intrigue coiled like snakes around men's hearts, a sinister conspiracy was afoot. Malini, the sorcerer, with poisoned lips and eyes veiled with secrets, plotted against Tathya, realising that it would be futile to trust Aadrika completely with the task of killing him. She turned to Naksh, the nobleman whose cunning ambitions mirrored her own and who had an eye for Aadrika. Clad in velvet robes that begged for stories of long-forgotten ancestry, Naksh strolled slowly through the maze-like corridors of his family home. His family had served the kingdom of Oshiyan for generations, they were all loyal to the king, all but him. His desires reflected the dazzling thrones of monarchs, and his eyes were as piercing as a falcon's. However, destiny had weaved a melange with intricate patterns of betrayal and lust.
Naksh now pacing about in his ancestral garden that nursed ancient plants and flowers that poured exotic scents like forgotten secrets and plants that poisons deadlier than that of snakes coursed through its veins, it looked beautiful but was deadly. Malini watched Naksh through her enchanted crystal egg and longed to capture the essence of some of these plants in her vials. Her head giddy at the thought of the elixirs that she could conjure and the deadly potions she could brew. She knew that Naksh had secretly nursed a discrete fondness for Aadrika, her little girl, who she brought up with much love and affection, a girl who was abandoned and now she turns away from her godmother, such an ungrateful child! She thought. Aadrika, whose beauty surpassed the ethereal grace of moonlit goddesses, she has to make use of her beauty now that she knew this. She wondered how the king had fallen for her despite his aristocratic size and velvet eloquence. Aadrika's heart was burdened by duty and love for King Tathya, whose rule over Oshiyan maintained the fragile equilibrium of the realm. Malini raked her hand through her thick black hair as she hatched a plan.
Malini, cunning as she was beautiful, recognized the vulnerability that lay within Naksh's unrequited yearning. With a snap of her fingers and chanting of ancient incantations, Malini morphed. Clad in the feathers of a midnight raven, Malini, the sorceress, called upon the age-old traditions that bestowed upon her the shape of a bird beneath the shroud of night's embrace. Grounded by whispers of arcane incantations, she soars through the ether on wings that glitter with the iridescence of a thousand starlit heavens. As Malini descended into the moonlit garden where Naksh was lying, a world filled with the jasmine scent and the soft sound of falling leaves, she gives up her enchanted form. She changes into her bewitching self, ethereal and bare, emerging from a mist that toyed with the edges of reality, clad only in petals that whirled around her frame like devoted courtiers.With promises woven in threads of shadow and spells whispered on winds that danced through enchanted groves, she lured him into her web of deception. "Together," she hissed, her voice a sultry serpent's charm, "we shall remove the obstacle that stands between your desires and the throne that awaits you."
Captured by her otherworldly charm, Naksh's eyes widened as much as the moonlit lake that reflected their secret encounter as he took in her magnificent beauty. He was spellbound by her seductive and coy stare as she showed him two shiny vials filled with liquid that glowed and tipped over with danger and promise. She whispered, "Take these, noble Naksh," her voice a song of forbidden knowledge and seductive ambition. "With these vials, the path to your desires shall be paved in silver and gold, and the throne of Oshiyan shall await your ascendancy as Tathya shall taste the bitterness of mortality."
"Who are you?"
"How do you know what I yearn for?"
"Naksh, I can forge destinies and make kings, I can do anything but kill the beloved king Tathya, not as long as he holds that sword, even powerful magic like mine won't sustain. I need your help and you shall have my support."
Naksh wavered, his ambition fueled by Malini's assurances but also caught between the embers of his yearning for Aadrika. But as the moon shone down on the shadows and the stars overhead murmured old vows, his determination grew stronger than steel forged in a volcano's core. He said, "Aadrika, my need for her is great. I cannot tolerate them liking each other, I want her for myself and yes I don't mind watching Tathya suffer. I will accept this. What do I need to do?" He questions in a tremulous murmur.
Thus, amidst the aromatic blossoms of jasmine flowering at night and the whispers of departed spirits, Naksh established his agreement with Malini. Concealed in the folds of his robe, vials of venom and enchantment turned into chalices of destiny, its contents a concoction of fate and deceit. Because beneath the shadow of Oshiyan's old throne, desire and ambition, entwined like snakes in the Garden of sin.
"This one is to help you morph into a bird and the other is poison to kill the king."
"Why can't you do this yourself?" Asked Naksh.
"I'm a socceress and my magic will be powerless in the presence of his sword and you can be seen in his chambers but not me. He needs to inhale this poison in his sleep and he shall do exactly like you say and you need to have him say that you will be crowned as the king and that he would retire to a pilgrimage to distant lands. Once he is out from the kingdom of Oshiyan then I shall have my revenge for there will be no gods protecting him or Devagurus advising him. He shall be mine to do as I please and you shall have the throne along with who ever you choose."
Malini knew that he would not spare Aadrika and would end up getting killed by her poison. She smiled thinking she has won.
Aadrika's heart felt heavy as she sensed the tides of destiny shifting, her heart tied to the monarch who held her dreams in the palm of his hand. She uttered prayers to the gods who weave the fabric of mortal lives beneath the veil of starry heavens. She pleaded, "Protect him, for I love him..." her voice a silken echo carried by owls that swarmed the night.
