Tyrells' eyes shot open. Feeling groggy, his torso slightly burning, he groaned, lifting himself up to sit  on the comfortable soft bed. Unknown about his current location, he looked around, feeling his eyelids heavy. Everything in there was highly sophisticated-the bed and bedspread, the closets with designers mirrors, the rooftops with a chandelier and the marble flooring. He was in the guest bedroom, the same one they had always been offered to stay in Sharad's palace .

He sighed heavily, trying to recollect for how long he has been sleeping. Do hell with sleep, how in the world did he reach Dakshinpur?

He creased his brow, sensing his heart racing on recollecting everything that was beyond.

A tremor of dread slid through him on thinking about the man named Jyran Kerenza, who claimed to be his real father. How he had tried to manipulate him by slandering his mother. And on not believing him, how he had threatened to kill Celina, taking her as a leverage to forcibly make him accept his demands.

But whatever had happened, he was grateful that everything had happened to him and no one else suffered in place of him. But something else had happened that he suddenly remembered and no one except him was responsible for it.

He dared to kill a fellow Samagraha.

He choked on remembering that black day in his whole life. Guilt hit him like an icy knife, chopping down each and every muscle of his body. He longed for the time to go back and give a second chance for him to take a different path, a sensible path. But what was done was done and there was no way to make things right.

This feeling of remorse would be for a lifetime, like an indelible stain imprinted in his heart. Hard lump grew in size within his throat and nausea filled his gut. He closed his eyes, covered his mouth and let out his quiet sob, uncontrollable tears welling up in his eyes, draining down his cheeks.

He cried for much longer time, till he could man up and accept the reality. He blinked, letting his last tears, filled with guilt to drop down, washing him up thoroughly. Then he sensed something else that was still lingering in parallel with his awaken soul, and now that Tyrell has accepted the truth, it came back to haunt him all over again-his altered mind.

Didn't Doctor know that awakening his soul wasn't enough? That his mind was still dangerous, and his body was slaved to it?

Then the battle between his soul and mind began.

How can I even think of killing someone?

It wasn't your fault.

You made me do it.

It was right thing to do.

A soft moaning sound drew his attention. Wiping his tears completely, he looked around to find Leena sleeping on the couch placed at one side of the room, her head resting on the armrest and legs on the floor. He forced his eyes to look away from her. He couldn't afford to even look at her. After all his unforgivable acts, he doubted if he truly deserved her friendship.

You are right, you don't need her.

She is my friend.

She was your friend.

Leena shifted in her sleep. She twitched her eyebrows and was about to wake up. Tyrell wasn't ready to face her yet, he wasn't ready to face anyone. He needed some time alone to figure out where he stood, and to interpret the battle occurring deep down inside him. He quickly pushed the blanket away, stepped down the bed and walked out of the room, or in other sense, he was running away from her.

Keeping his eyes on the floor and his hands inside his pocket, caressing his stone with his fingers, he walked along the few passageways. He wished the great hall to be empty, to let him easily slip away from the palace silently.

But it wasn't .

Forcing his mind to stop making decision for him, he took a few step forward when he heard two well known voices discussing on what was to be done with Anmol.

"Life time imprisonment," said King Aghasthya, hoarsely, "that is what he deserves. But Doctor, we shouldn't forget. They can open Gates now. Is there anyway we can let that not happen again?"

Doctor opened his mouth, but eyes averted to stick on Tyrell when he made himself visible.

They stared at each other for moment and only got distracted when King Aghasthya followed Doctor's sight and turned around.

"How are you feeling, son?" he asked, and there was something in voice that told him that he was just asking because he had to.

Apologize, please apologize for what you did to Ruchin Daniels.

Instead, he said. "Betrayed."

Doctor now broke their connection and held his stick firm between both his palms. King Aghasthya looked at Doctor and said, "I'll leave you two alone."

Taking a few steps ahead, he patted Tyrell's shoulder and left the two of them to have much needed talk, alone in the great hall.

Doctor cleared his throat, finding it hard to talk to him but eventually he said, "You had a few  broken ribs, but I mended them. You really heal faster. You should be fine now. Just slight strain and..."

"Can you mend broken hearts too?" Tyrell asked, tears forming in his eyes.

I shouldn't be blaming him. I wasn't interested to know about my parents in the first place. Just stop talking and walk away.

Doctor softly sighed. "Look, Tyrell..."

"You knew about me," he said, his mouth was uncontrollable, anger raging inside him, against his wishes, "You knew everything. You knew about my parents. But you didn't bother to tell me. Am I after all nothing to you?"

Stop saying that, he is your real parent.

"Do you really believe that?" Doctor asked, getting surprised watching Tyrell so much in anger.

"How come you never thought of telling me the truth," he said, walking a little bit closer "Hayden came to know about his, and Leena and Pruthvi, everyone-it was only I who never knew anything, heck I didn't even know which one of my parents was from Paramarashtra. I didn't ask you, I know that, but how come you never realized that I should know the truth."

"I know," Doctor said, "I know I kept this secret from you. Because I didn't care about whose blood is running inside you."

Tyrell fumed. "So, it settles. My father wasn't my father at all. Deep down somewhere I wished you could tell me that whatever Jyran said was a lie..."

"Listen to me," said Doctor, trying to calm him down, "Ivan Kissler is your father. He raised you, he loved you. Why does it matters so much to you that it isn't his blood you share?"

"Why does it matter, you ask?" Tyrell said, baffled. "Doc, my mom betrayed me, she gave me someone else's name. She kept this biggest secret from me."

"You were only ten, Tyrell," Doctor cut him, "You were way too young to know anything about it."

"So you mean I never deserved to know the truth?"

"I didn't say that..."

"THEN WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?"

They stood in silence for the moment. Tyrell breathing went extensively hotter, he grimaced when his stomach prickled with pain. He knew it and he knew it very well that his case was a sensitive one, and Doctor, being all protective, couldn't have found an easy way to tell him. But he wasn't able to stop his mind, that was making him say everything that he didn't want to.

"I mean, you need to calm down and think with your heart, for once being all yourself," said Doctor as calmly as possible, "Jyran has influenced you so much and I doubt if he is still watching you."

"Just do me a favor and tell me what happened," said Tyrell, sternly, "How did Jyran meet my mother?"

"I'll tell you," said Doctor, "But you need to listen and believe in everything I say."

Of course I will.

"Will see about that."

Doctor took a deep breath and began his side of the story-

"Twenty five years ago, to be precise, in the year 1983 series of events happened one after the other. Shashi's mysterious escape from Harsh's imprisonment, Zarina suspecting  the third generation Samagraha, and the sudden drastic change in the weather. Paramarashtra was never this wintery..."

"I need to know about my mother," interrupted Tyrell.

"I am getting there," said Doctor, indirectly insisting him to be patient, "weather in Paramarashtra has always been pleasant. But ever since Shashi escaped, it's been snowing and no one knew what has brought this change. We don't even know if Shashi is responsible for it. But King Harsh and other kings of Paramarashtra didn't had time to figure it out. All they cared was about were the farm lands and basic necessities for the people.

All the kings tried their best to resolve this problem but when nothing worked out, they were left with an only option to take help of witches and the warlocks, use their powers  and minimize the suffering of the villagers. Although efficient in their magic, they couldn't help alter the weather. After a lot of deliberations, King Harsh came forward with an idea to take help of one such warlock who was hailed for his knack of performing dark magic for moral purposes. That warlock is none other than, Jyran Kerenza."

"King Harsh knew that man?"

"He knew each and everyone."

"Because Jyran is a dark magic user."

"Pruthvi's father was nothing special but he still knew him That is how a real king is supposed to be, to know and..."

"Fine, continue."

Doctor sighed, as he struggled to stay calm. "Jyran originates from Dakshinpur, under Sharad Dynasty. He was...is extremely proficient in dark magic. He accomplished in mastering such intense magic that no one else could imagined, and so he was given a special name- Supreme Warlock.

His acts and certain inventions were unpredictable, they were both benefiting and harming the villagers. Sensing his capability, King Harsh and Aghasthya collectively decided to banish him from Dakshinpur, they officially prohibited him and his powers to have any impact on people, no matter sometimes how fruitful they were.

But Tyrell, even though Jyran performed dark magic, he was a good man, with common sense. He understood King's plea and he respected their decision. I have no idea what happened to him later but we didn't see or hear about him for a while, until King Harsh decided to bring him back to the village. Jyran obeyed to help, but surprisingly he demanded too much money in the form of remuneration in return, that even on combining Rawat's and Sharad's wealth, it wasn't enough. Other kings refused to help since Jyran had a bad reputation for his unpredictable acts.  And on top of it Jyran was adamant about the money, which was unlikely of him.

King Harsh decided to take help of other country, we had good relationship with. He called and set up a meeting with the delegates from United States, asking them to visit Paramarashtra and do their needful. Tyrell, your mother, Victoria Strimer, was one of the them."

Tyrell knitted his eyebrows. "Mom isn't rich. How could she have helped? We used to live in a ranch. We hardly had any money to eat."

"You are probably not aware about it," continued Doctor, with a slight strain in his voice, "but your mother was the only daughter of one of the wealthiest man, who had business dealings with many countries, including Paramarashtra."

Tyrell wore a stunned expression. "What!"

"She accompanied other delegate to visit Paramarashtra. She was so impressed with this country, it's people and it's culture that she readily accepted to give any amount of money asked off her. She personally decided to stay in Dakshinpur for few years to support people. And in one course of time she came to know about the involvement of a man named Jyran Kerenza."

"And she fell in love with him, just like that?" Tyrell asked, "With a man who performed dark magic?"

"Not yet," said Doctor nervously, "It was the king's mistake to not to reveal about magic being involved. Paramarashtra, especially Dakshinpur was already infamous for it and they couldn't afford to lose the only possible help."

"I didn't get you," said Tyrell, "If she didn't know about magic being involved how did she come to know about Jyran?"

Doctor eyes twinkled as he said, "The money from your mother was taken in the name of helping people with basic utilities. That's all. She never knew that the money was actually for to give a dark magic user."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Jyran couldn't believe King Harsh paid him with such high amount. He came to know about a rich woman from USA lending him with.  I think that is how he met your mother, made a fine relationship with her."

Tyrell swallowed. "So you are actually concluding your presidential speech by saying I am their son and that I was born out of their fine relationship?"

"Yes!"

Tyrell sighed dramatically and averted his teary eyes. Battle was always there, evilness in him asking to be strong and the real him unable to listen to his mind. Even after Doctor repeatedly mentioning that Jyran was his biological father, there was an invisible spark flickering inside his painful heart hoping that this might not be the truth.

He sniffed and wiped his tears. He scratched his head and said, "Did my father...I mean my namesake father, Ivan Kissler knew about it?"

He was only ten when he lost both his parents but even though he had always denied, all the fond memories he spent with his father were clung to him like his shadow. He remembered the wooden tree house that he built just for him, where they played each and every day. He still remembered all those gifts his father presented him with. Even though they struggled financially his father made sure they led a peaceful life.

Jyran Kerenza is your real father, his mind reminded, don't forget that.

"I have no idea about it Tyrell," said Doctor. "I never met Ivan Kissler."

"Why did she leave Dakshinpur?" He asked, "Why did they split up?"

"Victoria eventually came to know about Jyran's truth. I can't tell you how, but she did. They were living together for years by then. She couldn't take his betrayal. She decided to leave him and Dakshinpur forever. But unfortunately, it was late. Victoria was already expecting you."

"And Jyran didn't know anything about it?"

"I suppose not."

"How do you know all these?" He asked  and that was that little spark flickered forcing him to ask.

"We know how wrong Zarina was in suspecting the next generation Samagraha. She suspected the original Samagraha's parents and your mother was in the list. Everything happened simultaneously, your mother knowing about Jyran's identity and King Harsh forcing Zarina to give the list of future Samagraha. Harsh met your mother later to inform her that she shouldn't be living in Paramarashtra anymore. Victoria never cared about it, about being special and all. She only wanted to leave this country for good. On being asked, she revealed she was expecting a child."

"Right," said Tyrell with a slight mock in his voice, "My mom wasn't born in Paramarashtra. How can Zarina predict her as a future Samagraha?"

"I can't give an answer to that. It was complicated to understand for us too. Probably because she was living here for years"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it doesn't because she is not a Samagraha...you are."

"So what does Jyran need me now for?" Now that was the most important question to be asked.

"Jyran was genuinely so much in love with your mother. He couldn't bare his separation from her. He started blaming King Harsh for it, he even threatened to perform certain magic on his family and Jyran even went for it. But Harsh even after capturing Jyran, he didn't punish him. He just left him to live on his own, away from the people."

"For last time," said Tyrell, "What does he want from me?"

"He needs a family and he wants you only to himself. That is what I understood after finding out what he tried to do to you. He doesn't want to lose you like he lost his only love." Doctor walked closer and held him by his shoulders, "Trust me Tyrell, it doesn't matter. You are the most cheerful kid I have ever seen and known. I want you to be like that, I want you to be normal."

"My life stopped being normal right after the day you showed up on my threshold and brought me to the academy, Doctor."

"And that was the day I met my first born," said Doctor, his eyes gleaming, "You have to believe me when I say that."

Tyrell's mind reeled in a most malicious way. Doctor might have loved him like his own son, but Tyrell couldn't rule out the fact that he hid this biggest secret of his life. Doctor getting stuck in prison for eight years didn't make it easier to understand why he had to hide it. Didn't Hayden, Celina, Leena and Pruthvi knew about their parents already? And comparing it with him, they had spent, had they not, even lesser time with Doctor than him?

"I am sorry Doctor," said Tyrell, in a low voice, but gritting his teeth, "Unfortunately, I can't."

He yanked Doctor's hand out of his shoulder and turned around to walk back into the guest room. But he momentarily he stopped on his tracks on seeing Leena stand in the great hall with them, probably listening everything.

"Leena," said Doctor, slightly surprised, "For how long have you been standing there?"

She dragged her eyes from Tyrell to look at Doctor. "Hayden contacted me. He said everything is over and seemed a little tensed. Doctor, can you please open Gates for them?"

-x-