Unmasked~The Prince Of Lanka

♦~Chapter 1~♦

"Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?"

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LANKA

Meghnad was an unusually quiet child. He was supposed to be great one day and follow the footsteps of the great Raavan. Could such a quiet child handle that much responsibility? Only time could answer but still everyone tried their best to get Meghnad to interact as much as possible. Sometimes he did, and sometimes he didn't. He was moody, as many called him. Some said he was shy and timid. But Meghnad was not what most people assumed him to be. He just didn't like wasting his energy speaking to people or about things that didn't matter. He did what he wanted and no one could instruct him or tell him what to do expect the people he actually respected.

At 14 years of age he always seemed too mature and looked at you like he could break your neck if you messed with him. Even after all that, he had the kindest and softest heart you could come across. The heart that shattered so easily but loved you so unconditionally that you could feel yourself drown. The heart of a child. After all these years he had learned to shield his heart well from the outer world because no one likes a man, or even a boy for that matter, to be fragile and soft. Raavan was not and neither should his son be. He covered up well because he looked heartless most of the time, except when he was with his people. His family. The ones who loved him and sometimes that circle included Raavan too.

With them he could be who he was because to them, he need not prove anything. He could absolutely be himself with them and they never judged him. He felt his love reciprocated by them. He could not spend much time with them due to the endless classes Raavan had pre-assigned for him but when he did spend time with them he could easily count it as his best memories. On one such day he walked into the library while Kumbhkarn and Vibhishan were discussing something. One could have easily misinterpreted it as a fight but Meghnad knew better. Still he asked them just to be sure. He plopped himself on Kumbhkarn's lap.

"Are you both fighting?" he asked as he had heard them disagree with each other.

"Well, everyone is not your father", Vibhishan replied and as he said that Kumbhkarn glared at him for talking like that about a father to his child. Meghnad noticed the exchange. Vibhishan and Raavan usually fought over what all kinds of decisions in the court and rarely reached an agreement. On the other hand, Kumbhkarn was much calmer and easy to reason with so both of them spent hours talking about all kinds of things.

"It's alright; I know what he's like. I was asking about what you were doing", Meghnad kept a hand on Kumbhkarn's shoulder, not offended by the comment at all. Kumbhkarn smiled at him. "We were just debating about the relevance of morals in one's life. Do you want to enlighten us with your views?"

Meghnad pondered over a question for a moment and then said, "I think that people have their own notions of right and wrong and most people pursue morals as long as it benefits them but they abandon their morals and their sense of right and wrong as soon as it starts getting harder and comes in the way of their desires. Only a very rare bunch of people can actually stay true to their word and to themselves. Like if you crush a cockroach, you're a hero. If you crush a butterfly, you're a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria. People differentiate morals between family and foes. When things come to themselves, they want to be excused. Morals don't even make sense to me anymore" He shrugged nonchalantly.

Both his uncles were stunned to silence and could not speak for a few minutes. Meghnad wondered if he had said something wrong which upset them. But he had just spoken what he always thought; he was starting to think maybe he had thought wrong all along. He was definitely wrong, he decided.

"Whoa. Where did you learn that from?" Vibhishan asked with delight in his voice. This was one smart kid and he liked it.

"I didn't learn it", Meghnad paused unsure of how to explain it further; "It just came to my mind. Is it wrong?"

"What? NO! That was an amazing observation, son. What are you? Fourteen?" Meghnad nodded.

"You're obviously one of a kind. At least Raavan Dada did one thing right" Vibhishan said the second part under his breath. Both his uncles smiled at him and Meghnad was happy he had pleased them. He was about to ask for his reward but his mother's voice called him and he leapt out of Kumbhkarn's lap and ran to her.

****

Mandodari was in her room feeding Akshay while Meghnad and Atikay ate by themselves. Meghnad, Atikay and Akshay got on well. Better than she expected. Even at such a young age Meghnad and Atikay looked out for Akshay. It warmed her heart seeing them this way. Akshay was eight and Atikay was twelve. They were close knit group and she loved that they got along so well.

I hope they are always together because they will need their strengths together if they want to stand up against their father but if they look up to him then....

Mandodari was always bothered about how her sons would turn out because falling in their father's footsteps was not something she had planned for them. But she trusted her upbringing enough. They would be able to differentiate between rights and wrong, she was confidant of this. At least she hoped for it. Because their father might be great and glorious but his inner monsters were out of his own control. He might be easily able to induce fear in people with being who he was, but that was not a trait one should aspire to have. Out of all three of her sons, Meghnad was the one who closely resembled Raavan the most. The same dark wavy hair. The same shape of his face, the same sharp nose. The only thing that he had inherited from her was his eyes. His eyes were hers. But she earnestly hoped that his heart was hers, too and his external features were the only thing he had inherited from his father.