When Aastha met Veer, she knew they had a connection.
However, the connection would be from two centuries ago, she never could have imagined.
A love story that remained unfulfilled, broken by evil, and destroyed to ashes - whose reference hide...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
***
"This isn't a good idea... we can still go back," Veer said as the group arrived at Rudragarh.
Aastha shook her head and sighed. "We are here! Let's go, guys!" she chirped, much to Kiara's surprise. Kiara hadn't expected Aastha to be this excited. If anything, she had expected her to be terrified and want to back away.
Climbing out of the bus, Aastha looked at what lay before her. Huge gates led to the first entrance of Rudragarh, spanning over the vast ruins of old villages and an uphill area now overgrown with weeds and trees. Higher up was the old fort, in ruins.
Beyond that, there were multiple barricades towards the north, though not impossible to cross. The forest to the north was mostly untouched, expanding further into hilly terrains known for landslides, venomous snakes, and other dangerous animals. To the left was the humongous forest of Rudragarh, which eventually connected to a stream of water and beyond that, to Banjaargarh. To the right was a cliff, and below it was the valley that led to the Aravalli hills.
"No, Veer. We have to go," Aastha said, looking ahead as the group began to explore.
"Aastha..." Veer called, catching her hand. "I am worried."
Turning around and smiling, she said, "Do not worry, Veer. Nothing will happen to us."
"How are you so sure?" he asked, exasperated.
"Simple logic, Veer. Do the unexpected," she said with a wink, then continued ahead with Harika and Kiara in tow. Karan circled back towards Veer and stood in front of him with a sigh. "This is unsafe, right?"
"Very much." Veer rubbed his temples.
"But Aastha is determined..." Karan said, looking at Aastha, who was smiling along with Harika and Kiara.
"Yes, and that's worrying me even more," Veer admitted.
"Why so?"
"She is nervous, sure. But something is different. She has this strange confidence that I have never seen in her. She occasionally shows this fearless attitude that makes me question where my guts are hiding," Veer said as they began to walk up.
"That's a bad thing?" Karan raised his eyebrows.
"No, it's great. I love this side of her, but I hope this attitude doesn't invite trouble. That's all."
"Veer, don't worry. We are all with you," Karan said. "But for safety..." He began to look around, and Veer nodded at him. "I have cleared Rudragarh for our visit. Whoever is around are security people that I have called in."
Karan looked at Veer, impressed. "You got all this done in an hour?"
Veer shrugged. "If I was fighting a human being, maybe I would be enough. But it's against evil. We humans don't really stand a chance. I don't know why Aastha is being ignorant and careless about this."
