Swarg Agaman //Awakening In The Next World//

३. Aurora

Light. Forest. Hut. Gold.
Yudhisthir opened his eyes breathing heavily. After they have passed the doorway to Amravati he couldn't remember anything. As if it passed like a dream. After regaining his senses he felt that he was sitting on something. Something he knew very well.
Throne. Hastinapur's throne.
He touched the lion carved on the golden handles. He rested his head on the throne thinking about everything that happened so that the throne can be his. Then suddenly he realized.
This is not Rajyasabha. It is our old home.
The throne was not sitting in Hastinapur. It was in their old forest house where he and his brothers were born, where Pandu died.
This doesn't feel out of place though. Maybe my mind wanted to see this,my heaven.
What is beyond that door?
Thinking he went to the door at the corner of the room and opened it.
As soon as he stepped out Yudhisthir was mesmerized.
White marble buildings that shone like silver constructed the palace of Amravati. As Yudhisthir stepped out of the door, his throne and room were gone. He stood at the hallway. His hermit clothes also changed to cream dhoti and blue angavastram with a pair of modest jewellery. His coarse beard was also gone.
The throne was an illusion. And Indra did give me a shave.

The beauty of Amravati grasped Dharmaraj in its paws. There were white emerald buildings that reached the sky, as long as the eye could see. He started moving forward and reached the royal garden. At his right, the walls were carved depicting The Deva-Asur sangram. The next wall carvings were dedicated to Tridev- Brahma Vishnu Mahesh.
He touched their names written on the marvel wall. The soothing temperature of the wall brought peace in his mind as if the Tridev were blessing him.
But the ornament of the palace was Nandana- the royal garden of Indralok.
At his left, pavements were constructed as a way to Nandana. The pavements also connected the buildings at the other side of the garden. The flower beds that were embedded were home to exotic flora. The garden can be said Heaven in itself. Gentle breeze swayed the plants and the leaves of the tree as the environment smelled sweet like eternal spring.
As Yudhisthir filled his mind with the amazement, his ears responded otherwise. He turned and saw an extremely handsome man,with eyes closed, his fingers moved swiftly, across the strings of the Rudra Veena,just like a bee humming upon a rose.
A Gandharva probably. Playing a love song. Gandharvs were expert artisans of swarg skilled in music,dance and warfare. The musician sat on a platform located beneath an Ashoka tree. Yudhisthir picked up an unusual violet flower and inhaled its fragrance.The music and the flower intoxicated him and transferred him into a realm of love.
Yudhisthir was not a man who was easily attracted to love songs and flower. But the charm of Nandana left no man behind. The divine music painted a picture of Devika,his second wife in his mind, who was also a skilled veena player.
He then realized a pair of blue eyes looking towards him, boringly. At the other side of the payment a maiden was braiding her friend's hair sitting by the fountain. She then again shifted to her friend's shringaar.
Yudhisthir then looked at other young men and women frolicking at the Nandana. Teasing each other,dancing, laughing,loving. Each one of them was of unparalleled beauty. Yudhi, after many years felt self-conscious.
"I look like wild grass infront of them." He murmured rubbing his prominent nose. "Better to leave."
He quickened his pace returning to the hall. Just as he was about to
turn sideways he bumped with a man probably in his late-thirties.
Though the man was of pale complexion,his skin resembled pure gold. The man looked at Yudhisthir's copper eyes, confused.
Yudhisthir couldn't believe his eyes.
He said a word that he longed to say, but never thought he could. Tears rolled down his cheek as his lips said, voice choking, "P-Pi-Pitashri."

Falling. Hellfire. Arjun. Palace.
Draupadi opened her eyes, her heart pounding. Sweat trinkled down her forehead. The atrocious hell left burns in her flawless brown skin. But as soon as her mind came back to its senses and her eyes absorbed her surroundings, a smile curved on her rose lips.
My syamvar sabha. The first time I met Kumar Arjun.
A copper vessel with water lay infront of her and the wooden fish affixed at the ceiling circled. But then she felt something unusual.
I am sitting at Hastinapur's THRONE!
Samrat Yudhisthir's throne.
She started to gently rub the red velvet of the cushions as she felt Dharmaraj's presence.
Her mind shifted to 35 years ago when Yudhisthir and Draupadi sat at the throne of Aryavarta.
Maybe this is my heaven. My mind wanted to see both of them together.
What is beyond that door?
Thinking she went to the door and opened it.

"You are here?" Yudhisthir said in his serene voice.
"It has to be---oh---how can I forget those copper eyes. My putra, Yudhisthir." Pandu said with eyes dripping of paternal love. Yudhisthir ran to his father and embraced him. Tight. As if this time, he was not ready to let go. Pandu implanted a kiss on his first-born's forehead. And the father-son again fell in each other's arms. Yudhisthir started a frest bout of crying in his father's chest.

"My boy. My little boy. I am here Yudhi. I am not going anywhere this time." Pandu said as he caressed his son's head.
It was strange seeing a 90 year old son crying in the arms of his father who was half his son's age.
A part of Yudhisthir was alive again as he found his childhood again in his father's arm. But another part brought out a memory which he had locked deep in his mind. The day he pretended to forget but that 75 year old memory still haunted him. The day that made him the Yudhisthir he is now. The day Pandu died.

An aurora to glisten in his eyes.

Hello my lovely readers! Thanks for all the love you have showed me. This chapter has started to gradually introduce characters. Do tell me how you liked the Illusions and there will be more as all characters will enter swarg. This is solely my interpretation that when the soul enters its destination, for one last time it wants to see the pleasures of previous life. Please leave a like and comment. Your appreciation matters the most.❤️