"Tyrell! Tyrell!"

His eyes were steady, his mind ordering his body to fall in line. His opal stone was kept right beside him but he wasn't allowed to use it. He has never felt so worthless before, he hated being powerless. His heart was racing and all he wanted was help from any of his friends. But no one would, no one was there even to listen to him.

It was nearly mid-night, his usual time to talk with Celina, the time when academy remained dead silent and everyone went asleep not to disturb his lone time with her. But from the past one month he wished he wasn't left alone at all. Satisfaction of security was distant, almost negligible. He needed his friends. He needed someone's presence, just to hold his hand to give him the comfort. It was dreadful to think that his own room was turned into hell.

"Tyrell!"

"I can hear you." He finally replied finding tough to keep his voice from quivering.

"When are you coming?" she asked, being all enthusiastic, "Did you ask Doctor? What did he say? When are we announcing it to everyone?"

"I did not ask him."

She gasped. "Why not?"

There was a long pause and his struggle for words was painfully apparent. "I changed my mind."

"What? But why? I thought we finally found a solution."

He swallowed, hating himself to say these to her. "Why should I always do what you want? Why it has to be your call?"

"What?" she whispered, alarmed.

"You ditched academy without even talking to me. You decided never to come back, I was fine with it. Now you are asking me to leave academy to run your business? Why should I do that?"

"Because it was your idea."

"Sure, blame it on me."

"What is wrong with you?" she shrieked. "You told me you were okay with it. You said everything was happening for the best, that it was time to start taking over our responsibilities. We were going to talk to Pruthvi and Leena and Hay... "

"You want me to work for you? Is that what you want?"

"Where is this even coming from? Did I ever say anything that would have meant that? I always said what is mine is yours too. Tyrell, everything is ours."

"How is Ashwant?"

"What?"

"Ashwant Veer. Heard you are seeing him these days."

There was a strained silence yet again, for once Tyrell thought if she has disconnected already.

"How can you even say that?" she whimpered, "I didn't even step out of the bar, how can I....I don't know why am I even explaining it to you."

"He already lives in Dakshinpur. Don't you think he is the better choice?"

"What do you mean?" she howled, "Tyrell, what is that suppose to mean?"

She was calling his name repeatedly, completely terrified, but he had to push her away out of his mind, before he broke down weeping. He was sure he was going to be dead, buried and forgotten by her soon if he kept hurting her that way, only to be alive for someone else he gave a damn about. He looked up with utmost hatred in his eyes, at the person sitting before him as he clapped in appreciation of Tyrell's performance, his beaded chains dangled with his movement.

"Atta boy!" he said leaning forward, "Now she shall live."

"Kill me!" Tyrell whispered, gritting his teeth, tears streaming down his cheeks, "Kill me now! Atleast I will be free of this torture."

"Torture? I am doing this for your best. We don't need women in our lives. Women are born to betray men like us. Trust me my boy, we are better this way. I am telling you this as a good father."

"You control me. You hurt me. You erase my memories each and every day and it is making me forget whom I am. And you call yourself a good father? Are you even a father?"

"Yes I am and you should be grateful to me for doing this to you. One day you will be. And if my methods are hurting you so much, why don't be all lifeless?"

He stared with his deadened eyes, "What?"

"Tyrell, I asked you in a mature manner to accept me as your father but you refused. I threatened to kill your girlfriend, and you are still adamant to be headstrong. You are way too mama's boy and it is making me sick. I am not going to stop barging into your room and you can't tell on me to anyone. But having said that, you are still my blood, and I can't see you getting hurt. So I am here with a better solution."

"Please tell me you are killing me."

"No. You have to live, but without a soul."

"What does that even mean?" he asked with a whine in his voice, irritation clearly showing in his face.

"It means to not to get hurt anymore. There is so much in your life that is useless to your soul. So if you accept my proposal, you can be all you want and I can still have a son I want."

Tyrell looked away. He certainly didn't understand what this person meant, but whatever it was, it definitely meant to not to get hurt. He was so vexed of this torture that he wanted to not to feel this indignation anymore. Celina wasn't going to be a part of his life anymore, not after those mean things he had said to her. Physical distance was already there, now he was pushing her away emotionally. He closed his eyes and took a long deep breath, steeling himself to think of his future without her in it and it certainly seemed meaningless.

"I will do whatever you want, but only in one condition." he said, opening his eyes, his throat paining as if someone had slit it already. "If I accept your proposal, you have to leave me alone."

Jyran smiled. He probably wouldn't have thought that this would happen so quickly. "I promise. You will live a long lonely life."

"Do it." Tyrell said immediately, without even acknowledging that the meaning of his condition has been cleverly changed.

"You give me the permission?" he asked, greedily.

"I give you the stupid permission. Do whatever you want AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Before even a new day could start, there were whispers and high pitched voices rising from the kitchen of the hut. Tyrell rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his palms, to flicker them open in an unlit living room. No sunlight yet. He tried to close his eyes again, this time wishing for a peaceful sleep, with a lonely feeling of detachment to enjoy the empty void of his emotions he was gifted with. Perhaps there were still lingering memories he thought he needed to get rid of as soon as possible.

But the whispers from the kitchen weren't helping him to fall back into slumber.

He shifted his sleeping position on the chair, where he had fallen asleep a few hours ago. Turning his head, he half-opened his eyes only to see a familiar person having a serious conversation with Jyran Kerenza. He smirked on seeing him after a long time, shook his head to keep his eyes open and stood up to have himself noticed.

The man averted his eyes from Jyran to Tyrell. Myriads of expressions passed through his big, scruffy bearded face, finally settling down with a smile.

"Tyrell," Anmol said, "How are you?"

"Not that you care of," he said, yawning, "But I am great."

His insides were torn between betrayal and frustration. Other than Ashwant, as of Tyrell remembered, it was Anmol with whom he had spent most of his childhood with. Now watching him as Doctor's one of the most wanted persons, a stinging heat passed down his neck.

It was because of him Doctor had to spend eight years of his life in jail. He was the one who had led Shourya and others enter into the academy through the pond to abduct his best friend Pruthvi. Had his soul was awakened right now, he would have attacked him and took him to Doctor right away. But if had that power within him, wasn't Jyran Kerenza the one to be punished first?

"You didn't still tell me what's going on there?" Jyran said, "Is everything heading according to the plan?"

"Yes and no," said Anmol, "Good news. Clan of Pradhan's successfully helped me steal the stone. Here it is."

Tyrell furrowed his brows taking a step forward on watching Anmol loosening his collar and pulling out a silver chain out of his neck. In the process of handing it over to Jyran, Tyrell glared at the sharp pointed green stone, that twinkled at the tip. Jyran looked aside at Tyrell, feral smile beginning to play on his lips.

"What's the bad news?" he asked.

Anmol hunched his shoulders and glowered, the kind of expression that Tyrell missed having to himself.

"Turns out the leader of Pradhan's," he said, "has been screwing with us all these years."

"What do you mean?" Jyran asked, his smile dying instantly.

"Shourya has been hiding Nazira Khan in Rawat's palace for the past four years, that means right from Queen Premila's death. And he pretended looking for her all these months."

"How do you know this?" Jyran asked, his eyes widening, apparently in shock.

"How else would I know? I found him in the palace itself. Only if Pruthvi Krishna wasn't there to interrupt me, I would have taken her straight to Shashi by now. But you know what, Shashi is wasting his time looking for her. Shourya tells me she is nothing like Zarina. She is just a normal girl. Nothing is supernatural about her."

So they finally found his sister, thought Tyrell. For the first time Hayden has gone for the job without him and looked like his and Pruthvi's team was good enough to handle things without him.

"I always had my doubts on Shourya," Jyran said, "Every task assigned to him has always turned into Doctor's favors. Anmol, mark my words, we cannot come to any decision about Zarina's great granddaughter yet. What else is happening?"

"Jyran, we cannot waste time anymore. One of the member of Clan of Pradhan's informed me that Hayden Mackay is near Matsyasvi Waterfall, somewhere around there."

"Near Matsyasvi waterfall? Does this mean he knows about the Shaatrumani and The Silver rock?"

"Yes. Ashwant Veer must have spilled all beans. Hurry, if we are lucky we can still find him there. It's the best chance for us to get him."

"NO!"

The sudden reaction from the third person standing in the hut seemed over the top. Tyrell, who was silent for a long time, frowned at first at his own reaction, as his Adam's apple bobbed convulsively .

"What?" Jyran asked, dangerously.

"He is my friend," said Tyrell, words rushing out of his mouth. He felt an invisible force within him possessing from deep inside and before he could know what was happening, he began coughing, bending over sharply, holding his knees, as if someone has punched him.

"What is he talking about?" asked Anmol, perplexed, "Jyran, you said you did it. We already have the stone with us..."

"Wait a second," said Jyran lifting his hand, to stop Anmol's nag and then asked Tyrell, "What do you mean he is your friend? We talked about this, didn't we?"

"Who are you? Why am I here?" Tyrell asked, his eyes streaming.

And then there were a rush of intense feelings filling in his body, just like water filling in an empty bottle. His body was heavy and he wasn't able to carry it. It was giving him a pain of unpleasant warmth, swooping in his stomach, nauseating him, causing him to gag and continuous barking cough was there. His mind in turn forcing him to revert back to what he was turned into. Unable to bare the fight within him, he fell on his knees, coughing and gurgled as he struggled to breath.

Jyran hurriedly walked towards him, held him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer. As soon as their eyes met, he snapped his hands forcing Tyrell to take the form of a son he wanted out of him.

"What did I do?" Tyrell asked, finding his own voice sore.

He couldn't feel a thing that had happened to him in the past minute. Blood seemed to rush down, emptiness came in like an ambush.

Jyran was looking closely at his son, whites in his eye reddening.

"What just happened?" Anmol asked standing beside Jyran.

"His soul awakened," he replied, having his eyes fixed on his son.

"What!" gasped Anmol, "That can happen even without your involvement?"

It took more than a few seconds for Jyran to come to a conclusion about it. "Never imagined it was this difficult to make one's soul sleep for ever, especially a pure soul such as of my boy's."

"Now what do we do? If this happens again..."

"Don't worry," he said, "I can fix this. I should have done this a long time ago."

Tyrell was hearing each and every word they were uttering. He tried to comprehend what Jyran meant by fixing. But it seemed his body needed more time to settle down before he can think of anything. He looked up at Jyran whose eyes were fixed on him, refusing to look away. When the son's eyes met father's, the latter moved an inch closer and instructed, "Son, I impel you to come to me. I impel you to find your real father even if your soul doesn't want you to. I did not just do everything only to lose you to someone else. You have to find me, no matter what. Understand?"

Tyrell was still looking irresistibly. There was a sharp glint in each of Jyran's eyes, having the power to force his mind to register everything that was asked. A dense fog surfaced within his brain that suddenly made him stop to ruminate about anything. He felt as if there was no other choice but to accept the demand. Finally, even before his will could approve, he nodded.

Jyran let him go. He turned to Anmol and said, "It's done. Let's go and find Fire of Vengeance, now."

"Before we go," said Anmol, "Use the boy's blood. He is in a trance like state right now. He wouldn't mind if we have a drop or two."

Jyran exhaled. "You are right."

His face once again glowered with greed holding the chain with the powerful shining stone stung with it.

"Do it," said Anmol, "And don't forget, Zarina specifically mentioned it to us. The power of blood lasts for two hours and twenty seven minutes only and then the next second the curse revives. Remember, we planned to do it only within an hour and no diversions."

Jyran nodded. Smirking, he took Tyrell's wrist, gripping it firmly in his hand and pulled him to the kitchen. Finding a sharp knife, without even think twice as Tyrell expected him to, he slashed skin of his son's palm. Pain was deep within Tyrell's hand, stinging and burning. He hissed, shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth in a vain hope for the pain to subdue . He felt his blood gushing in a constant flow and on opening his eyes slowly, he watched a streak dripping down on the stone and flowing ahead to stain the floor.

Momentarily, his eyes widened while the stone reacted to his blood. It shimmered and glittered with a million gold, silver and tinsel sparkles. His blood was indeed working, that he wasn't able to believe yet, and it was working to set a path to kill his friend.

It took a while for it to stop glittering and when it did, Anmol, who was standing with them in the kitchen, broke the silence. "It's ready. Open the gates, quick."

Jyran at once put the chain back around his neck and pulled out the canister out of his robes, poured the powder in his hand and blew it. "Gates of Chandrika-open at Matsyasvi Waterfall."

-x-