It was a perfect day for an Autumn evening walk.

I was trying to admire the crisp copper pine leaves flowing gently in the air over the shallow side of the lake, and I could make out a shoal of golden fishes swimming beneath the clear water, but the picturesque surroundings around me didn't help with current state of my mind.

I was sitting down on the dusty shore all alone since past hour, my feet touching the cool water, my elbows over my knees pulled up. Thinking about him over and over again, only increased my fear of losing him forever, yet I couldn't manage to rip away the thought out of me.

I never imagined getting so close to someone in a span of just few months. But he made it possible , Tyrell Kissler made it possible.

"I am not coming back to the academy, Hayden. I have taken my decision."

"Where were you when I needed you the most, where were you ?"

My throat got constricted and I felt a thick bile coming up just thinking about it. I needed to distract myself and for it I shifted my attention away from the fishes to check up on the kids from the orphanage playing a few outdoor games. I smiled sadly looking at their innocence and joy at simple things in life. But the diversion was temporary. My mind pulled me back to the thing I haven't tried it since morning, and now I couldn't resist.

"Tyrell?" I whispered, concentrating a lot on my cornelian and on his cheerful face, "Please talk to me. Ty..."

A soft gentle hand pressing on my shoulder stopped me from saying no more. I pressed my eyes shut. I was caught once again for a millionth time since past five months. I immediately dropped my connection and turned back to face the nagging I was going to get from her.

"He is not going to respond," Leena Savant said, politely, "When are you going to accept it?"

"It isn't easy," I replied, "I was so pathetic that day... Leena, it's killing me."

"Hayden, don't start," she hedged, "We have been through this. How many times have I told you not to be alone, but you never listen to me."

Another person, besides me, Tyrell knowingly or unknowingly hurt the most was Leena. She was putting up an act of being happy but people close to her would only know that she wasn't. She was sitting next to me, trying to cheer me up, but there were times when I had seen her sneaking into Tyrell's room in a hope to see him there, even though she knew it was useless.

"Did you read King Harsh's scroll?" she asked.

I sighed in slight exasperation. Apart from repeatedly asking me to not to stay alone, she kept pestering me to read my so called grandfather's scroll. The two days after Tyrell's fiasco when we came back to the academy, the first thing I did was to dump the wooden scroll in some corner of my room, and I never looked at it again.

"You know my answer," I said, "Leena if you are interested, you are more than welcome to read it."

She creased her brow as if she wanted to say how wrong it is to barge into a dead old person's private affairs.

"Not with you around!" she said instead, making me snigger.

After finding out more about my grandfather, the way he had ruled his kingdom, I didn't mind showing my friends how sorry I was feeling to be born in the same family as him. Probably it wasn't Shashi, but rightfully it was because of the King of Rawat's meaningless decisions that killed our parents. Leena, since she realized that my impression on the king wasn't so positive, she took upon herself to change my opinion about him and her solution was to force me read his whole life history to know him better.

"Tell you what," she continued, "I have a really great news to share."

I looked up, hoping if it has anything to do with Tyrell. And it was.

"Doctor is back!"

My eyes instantly widened. I gasped and turned towards her with obvious interest. Doctor had been gone for some time now to make some arrangements to hide the Silver Rock, the piece of a star from which the extracted powder was used to open the Gates of Chandrika. He was in Uttarameer for all these months and it was Ira who have been managing the academy during his absence. I was told that Ira was doing her best to keep us safe with her powers, now that the Enemy stone, the Shaatrumani Stone was on loose.

Leena's announcement didn't just mean Doctor's return, but the possibility for us to go in search for Tyrell.

"He is back? Seriously? When? I want to go talk to him."

"Hold on Hayden," she said hurriedly, raising her hand, "He cannot talk right now."

I gaped at her. "What do you mean he cannot talk? He so needs to talk. He needs to open the Gates right now and...Leena, you know Tyrell is waiting for us. It's already too late."

"I know. But you need to give Doctor a break. He is an old man. What he needs right now is some rest," she said stressing each word, "In addition to that, may be it's time to forget about what's happening right now and have tomorrow for yourself."

"What do you mean?"

She started laughing at my confused expression "Hayden, tomorrow's is the ninth, don't tell me you forgot your own birthday?"

"Oh..." I croaked, dropping my shoulders.

It seemed like an eternity since I celebrated my birthday without worrying about someone or something. I remember the last time I had was when my parents were alive. On top of the pain of losing them and I was sad that the list of people I care the most was getting shorter by the day which dampened my mood further.

Celina and Tyrell definitely topped the list.

Leena leaned over a little towards me, looking through her raised lashes and said, "Tonight, we are planning to..."

"Grrrrrrrrr!"

The sudden hoarse growling sound startled us, and made us tumble in the opposite directions as we turned to look at the origin of the sound. A large mocha colored dog was walking towards us, slobbering a little, it's sharp teeth out and tail wagging. For a moment I sat frozen staring at it and my mouth went dry watching it as it came closer with the sound of pebbles crunching beneath its feet.

Leena was not doing any better than me, she stood up with her back straight and yelled, "Don't come any closer," while drawing a sharp breath, taking a step back, "There's lot of water here, I won't hesitate to use my stone."

The hound at once stopped walking and stood unmoved for a moment. I was still staring at it, when it made a sudden jerk and began changing its shape, firstly altering it's limbs to a pair of human hands and legs, next appeared the upper body and then the face started changing, its yellow eyes slowly turning to a dark brown. Standing infront of us in his formal grey cotton shirt, black trousers was now completely transformed person.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa...."

Apparently Leena and I weren't the only people watching the insane transformation. The kids playing there, quite a distance away, watched the show along with us. Screaming at top of their lungs, they ran towards the orphanage, at a lightning speed.

"Oops!" said the hound turned human, watching the kids run, laughter playing on his lips.

"Pruthvi Krishna!" scolded Leena, her voice quivering as a result of the anger she wanted to show, "See what you did?"

"I know," he said, dramatically, "looks like a couple of people needs to undergo memory loss treatment."

The only Samagraha among the three generations to possesses double kinetic power, Pruthvi Krishna, have turned very masculine with his ripped muscles and toned body. The sleeves of his shirt fit too tight and his chest broadened. He looked rather bulky for his height, resembling a lot to Shourya's . Thanks a million to him for giving my friend a second chance at life.

I smiled proudly at him, watching him rub his eyes from the bottom of his glasses. It took more than a month for him to get accustomed to this new power. There were times when he was terribly sick with severe body aches and constant sting in his eyes. Now, after a lot of regular practise, he was able to transform himself more easily, except the occasional sting in his eyes that he still needed to get pass.

"So you want to use your stone against me?" he asked Leena, giving a peck on her cheek, which calmed her down a bit.

"You promised you will not use your alternate kinetic power unless it's necessary..." began Leena

"And you were not supposed to blab about today's festivities to him." responded Pruthvi immediately before she can go on and on about it.

"You guys planned something for me?" I interrupted, standing up and dusting the back of my jeans "you really didn't have to."

"Come on," Pruthvi said, holding Leena's hand while walking towards me, "It's only three of us here now and it's the least we can do for each other. Nothing fancy though, don't raise your hopes up too much. But anticipate something nice that will bring you out of your lousy mood. That is all I care about."

Pruthvi was being all mellow and untroubled with the recent incidents, trying to hide his real feelings for losing his best friend . He and Tyrell had been friends for more than six long years. He at least deserved a final goodbye. If anyone should be depressed for Tyrell, it should be him, but he has this 'everything will be fine' attitude which helped me to cope up with mine.

Leena and Pruthvi finally convinced me to go back inside the academy. I twisted my tongue, bracing myself to get ready for my own personal transformation.

There was someone else in the academy I was trying to stay clear of, that someone who with only a mere glance has the power to burst my heart with indescribable feelings- Nazira Khan, the girl I was seeing in my mind and who eventually and unfortunately turned out to be Pruthvi's younger sister.

I somehow have managed to live under the same roof with her for the past five months. (Doctor had given her permission to take Celina's bedroom.) Every time we crossed paths, in the empty corridor, I was able to sense a tension brewing between us. There were times when she even caught me staring at her. Her growing friendship with Leena always scared me that she might one day say something about me acting weird whenever I came across her. Things might go very wrong very soon then if Leena end up sharing it with Pruthvi. And if this raised any differences between me and Pruthvi...I definitely wasn't in a position to afford losing another friend anymore.

I was still seeing her in my mind though. After meeting her in person, my image of hers kept changing each day. Sometimes she appeared smiling, or looking at me extremely pleased with those beautiful and tearful eyes of hers. And since Pruthvi and I had rescued her from her loneliness, she never appeared asking for my help anymore.

She has this disability to hear and speak, but the famous 'anything can happen in Paramarashtra' phrase came true once again as a fine miracle. Whenever she tried to move her lips or signal to communicate, I turned out to be the only person who can hear her speak. Yes! I can. Doctor may call it a dark magic, it could also be one of Zarina Khan's tricks but to me it was nothing less than the world's best gift.

Of course how can I forget to mention- Beauty in her eyes has a power to make me feel lost and I liked getting lost.

Walking back inside the lobby, I firstly watched Doctor and Ira Zutshi, seated in their chairs, deeply immersed in their conversation. As Pruthvi closed the elevator, the chiming sound of it distracted. Doctor turned his head up to look at us and smiled faintly. I returned his smile and then Leena words had an impact on me. I suddenly realized how much he has changed since the day first I had met him.

His salt and pepper tint of his hair seemed to have turned more whitish, slightly balding from the centre. His eyes seemed droopy and there are crow's feet underneath them. I was never really bothered about his age before. He must be around his late sixties I thought, possibly approaching seventy. But those sagging wrinkles and visible weakness were making his face look more older.

My curiosity overwhelmed me. I wanted to straight up run towards him and beg him to open the Gates. I was almost about to take a step but before I could do it, I caught Leena's eyes who wiggled her eyebrows, indirectly mentioning me to sit and eat.

I began fixing my plate when I noticed Pruthvi wiping his nose, his face expressing the discomfort.

"Here comes my sister," he whispered.

Leena gaped at him with surprise. "You can smell her now? Gross!"

"Yeah," he said, pulling up the napkin rather harshly, "God forbid, but one day I am gonna wake up and smell coffee...in Uganda!"

I burst out laughing. I wasn't proud of myself but I was finding it too hard to take his doggy problem rather seriously. I did pity him at first but I had to admit, it was getting hilarious. I was still trying to gather myself together when a talking parrot gilded, whistling and flapping it's wings upon our table.

"Eeeat, smelllll, eeeat!" Maruthi screeched landing on an empty chair beside Leena's.

I looked over Leena's bent head. Nazira Khan walked in, smiling fondly at us, her parrot glided again and sat on her shoulder.

She was taller than any of the girls I knew and slim as a stick. In her jeans and designer long top, her long silky hair tied behind loosely, her glowing pinkish off-white skin, her big brown upturned almond shaped eyes...Damn! So much for ignoring her.

Fighting my resolve to not to gaze at her, I pushed myself to keep my sight hooked on my plate and resumed eating hastily. I just wanted to finish my dinner as soon as possible, get out of there and start breathing.

"Dude, you are going to choke on your food some day," commented Pruthvi watching my nose duck inside my plate.

"Er, what?" I asked without lifting my head. I just couldn't afford to look at the one sitting in front of me, especially when her brother was around, now that his senses were working tremendously.

"Yeah Hayden," said Leena, with snide quality in her voice, "I am seeing you are eating in a hurry these days. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I said quickly, "It's just I want to have some time alone, no offence guys."

She smiled faintly. I made it sound like it was about Tyrell but honestly it wasn't.

"Today you are not staying alone," she said, "It's your birthday and you should be celebrating with us."

I nodded at Leena, appreciating her efforts to make my day special. I lost my resolve and my eyes automatically sorted for her. She was filling her plate with so some fried rice and yogurt, her other hand tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Dear God! She is so...

"So Nazira," Leena said, before I took a dip in my own drool, "We need to continue talking about Paramarashtrian culture."

Nazira's eyes widened with excitement and she nodded brightly. There was something in her expression, I noticed, that showed the topic interested her a little too much.

For a while in the beginning, Pruthvi and Leena needed me around to translate what she wanted to say. But as time passed on, they got used to her sign language. Them, needing me, kind of gave me an advantage to be with her. Slowly that opportunity faded away.

Nazira seemed not to be very big on small talk or talking anything about her past. Pruthvi and Leena had tried their best to ask her about how she had lived her life before those four years of those under Shourya's care. But she was always hesitant to mention anything about her living with Queen Premila. And when we tried to press the issue more, she just left the room or got extremely upset . I never cared about what might have had happened with my grandmother, but Nazira's reactions made me anxious to know it.

Since we were back at the academy, Nazira and I never talked directly with each other. I never saw her looking at me directly. Her look was always shy earthbound, like a flower. And that made her look more beautiful.

"What is there to talk about?" asked Pruthvi to Leena suddenly bring me back to the topic, "Just google Indian culture."

Nazira was quick to read his lips, her bright face instantly turned grim before she signalled, "We are not Indians, we are Paramarashtrians. We have our own culture."

I bit insides of my cheek to control my laughter, and so did Leena. It is very visible to us with the expression on her face how much she loved the country she was born in and in no way she was going to let anyone stereotype it, not even her brother.

Pruthvi knew he had offended his sister and tried to make it up with his next comment but failed again.

"Okay I know you guys are..."

"We!" Nazira snapped, her hands moved rather swiftly.

Leena made a sudden gulping sound. She turned aside, narrowly missing the water shower from her mouth to my face. Pruthvi can be insensitive sometimes but it wasn't going to work with his sister. He slowly turned towards me and pleaded, "Hayden please change the topic. Please!"

I sniggered and obeyed him. "Leena, did you try talking to Celina?"

"Nope," she said quickly, "she is not responding. I have been trying hard to connect with her but...."

Atmosphere between us suddenly turned distressing. Pruthvi and I exchanged a nervous glance before she could finish. He arched his eyebrows and quickly bend down to have a spoonful of rice, without making any statement regarding it.

His quietness stirred an extreme apprehension inside me. I licked my upper lip and rubbed back of my neck, trying not to have any negative thoughts. Celina was strong enough to look after herself. I was trying to tell myself that it was all about connection not working properly as it used to.

I heard a soft throat clearing voice in my head that pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up to have a proper glance at her but from the corner of my eye, I spotted Doctor walking out of the lobby.

"Where are you going?" Leena asked, making me realise I was already on my heels, "You haven't finished eating yet."

"Don't worry about it. Meet you guys later."

Ignoring their anxious expression, I dashed outside the lobby and sprinted through the corridor trying to catch up with the Doctor. I ran into raft of ducks, that were on shores of the pond, quacked on my disturbance, making me slow down a bit. I watched Doctor entering the training room and I wanted to reach him before he went inside his office and disappeared for the day.

"Doctor!" I called out loud, seeing him enter the door.

Gritting my teeth, I groaned out of irritation and if Celina was here with me she would have given me an earful of persistent chidings for unwillingly kicking a few ducks.

As soon as I stepped in, I forced myself to walk in a slower pace. Thankfully, Doctor was standing nearby the door of his cabin, holding a stick with both of his hands. He looked tired and sleepy. I was struck by how strained and exhausted he appeared and I began to look for the right words to begin.

"Yes, Hayden?" he asked, watching me walk towards him.

"I...I know you are tired but..."

"But you couldn't wait for the sun to rise!"

I huffed trying not to show my exasperation.

"Doctor it's been a really long time."

"I know," he said, his shoulders sagging down, "I guess you had enough break to prepare yourself.
So, it's time I assign you a new job."

I blinked rapidly to try and stay focussed. "To find Tyrell. Yes, of course."

"No, it has nothing to do with him."

I frowned in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"You are not the one to find Tyrell," he said, quite firmly, "You have better things to do."

I couldn't believe he said that. "Better things? What could be better than finding Tyrell, Doctor?"

He swallowed and sighed before he said, "Hayden trust me, you have something else to do and only you can do it. Tyrell became so important to you that you forgot your own responsibility."

"Tyrell is important!"

"Hayden, not today. Not tomorrow. But the day after, you along with Pruthvi and Leena meet me in my cabin, right after you finish your breakfast. It's important for the three of you to know."

"Day after tomorrow? I asked, nonplussed, "What kind of time frame is that?"

"Tomorrow is your twentieth birthday. I don't want to ruin it for you."

"Do hell with my birthday..."

"Don't say that," doctor said gravely, "You deserve the best of tomorrow. I can't guarantee if you might have another one to celebrate..."

I gaped, a shrill whine reverberating my ears. I barely heard what Doctor was saying. Was Doctor hinting that tomorrow was going to be my last birthday? Was he giving me a warning about my imminent death?

I stepped back, as if my world tilted its axis. Doctor has never told me anything like that before. Why now? What kind of job was he speaking of, this has nothing to do with Tyrell? What was it that was making my twentieth birthday the last I was ever going to celebrate?

"I mean to say," continued Doctor, "Situations are changing drastically. After what happened with Tyrell..."

"I get it," I interrupted, not wanting him to repeat what he had told me months ago, "they have the Enemy Stone and they have Tyrell. I get it."

Doctor smile apologetically. "Take it as an advice for an old man, alright? Go back to your room, forget everything and have one fine day with your friends. I don't think it is too much to do, is it?"

I swallowed against the thickness of my throat. My visions slightly blurring but I blinked the moisture away. Nodding hesitantly, I turned around to walk back to my room.

All the way back to my room there were lot of thoughts that came across my mind. Did Doctor really mean Tyrell was going to kill me and that I might not survive at all? Will Shashi Thribhuvan win at the end?

I didn't realize when and I had walked all through but I found myself standing across my room. I pushed the door open to find Pruthvi, Leena and Nazira making arrangements in my bedroom, with a few decorations and placing a cake and drinks on the table, arguing about some silly things.

"You are the queen of cry babies!" Pruthvi was shouting at Leena.

"No, I am not!" Leena revolted, "And for your information, I am a princess!"

I was hearing nothing of it. Instead, I walked inside having my eyes glued on her. My conscience ached and I certainly wanted to pull my eyes away, but today, right at the moment, I didn't care. Sitting on my bed, hands placed either side of her knees, the sound of her laughter, upon my friend's bickering, echoed deep inside my brain. Doctor was right, I just had to sod off the future and live in the present to the fullest. I needed to have this one fine day, and if it meant to have it with her, it was indeed going to be the most prominent day of my life.

-x-