Hayden Mackay, wake up. It's food o'clock.

The smell of the hot chocolate made my stomach roar to life. I sensed an uncomfortable pain in my gut, perhaps caused by a prolonged lack of food. However, I considered fighting my appetite. My eyelids were extremely heavy, just as though carrying the weight of the mountain I had just been on. I was physically exhausted and was hoping to find an instant cure in the world where I have drifted away with her and absolutely no challenges to intrude.

"Hayden Mackay?"

A voice echoed in my ears but I resisted to open my eyes. I moaned and creased my forehead. The same voice kept repeating my name until one of my eyes lazily rolled open.

A goat face was looking down at me, its sharp pointed nose almost touching mine.

"Aah!" I shrieked, finally regaining some consciousness and hurriedly slid back to get away from the thing my mind failed to recognize at once.

"It's me. Makara."

I blinked several times and tried to calm my nerves down. Pruthvi's Constellia, Makara was sitting down on his knees, leaned over with his elbows resting on the bed. Corner of his mouth twitched watching me being such a cowardly little runt.

"You scared me," I complained, having my hand on my slightly raising and falling chest.

"Sorry about that," he said, childishly holding his ears. "But I think you scared the girl more."

"What?" I asked. My eyes instantly wandered all around the room. How I landed on the bed, I had no idea. Wasn't I running like a ninja all over and around the mountain a few minutes ago?

"Yesterday, when you passed out...

"Yesterday!" I cried, jerking myself forward, "Damn! I have been sleeping forever."

"...the girl came running in search of you," Makara continued ignoring my comment, "She tried to tell me something, waving her hands too harshly. I understood nothing, except she was really worried about you. You do have a caring girlfriend."

I stiffened feeling the heat rising to my cheeks.

"She is not my girlfriend." I corrected him immediately, although I couldn't deny how warm and serene it felt hearing someone say it, "So wha...what happened? Are we repeating?"

"Of course!"

"Huh! What!" I gasped, my heart flipping.

"Not! You totally nailed it," continued Makara, smiling from ear to ear, "Even the First wasn't as powerful and clever. I hope Singh soon acknowledges that you are way different."

"That will never happen," I whispered.

"You never know," Makara shrugged, "Ooo I forgot. I think the girl wanted me to give you this as soon as you wake up."

He handed me a bagel and the glass of hot chocolate. I mulled over the facts for few minutes, sipping on my beverage in silence. Then it suddenly occurred to me that a Constellia had never crossed their realm before, let alone be inside the hut.

"Hey, where am I now?" I asked, "If I won, Gates should have opened, right?"

"Yes. Lucky that girl came rushing over. She found it really hard to pull you through to the hut, so I had to lend her a hand."

"Oh!" I said, "Isn't it the realm of Kumbh? What are you doing here?"

"Friend of my Master," he said, with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice indicating how ignorant I was, "we can travel through Realms. That is how we get out of the Arena. And as a matter of fact, I love to stay in the Realm of Vrishabha, year round. It's just the best."

Before disappearing into thin air, Makara didn't forget to mention about my challenge with Kumbh that was going to be held in about thirty-six hours. I tried to keep my face from scrunching hearing the obvious news. I sincerely hoped there wasn't such a huge time gap. I was feeling fit as a fiddle as if I haven't even been through an unconscious state at all. First I guessed it was because of sleeping for a whole day and drinking a lot of hot chocolate. But to be honest it was because of the sudden confidence I gained after winning the deadly challenge. Assessing the way I had managed to defeat Makara was immensely helping me gain a fresh and energetic spirit.

I walked out of the room feeling a little uncertain about the upcoming reaction. Sighing softly, I looked around the empty and quiet living room. The corners of the half painted paper resting on the floor were fluttering. Slow, chilly winds blew inside through the entrance door left open ajar. I wore my jacket and then opened the door to finally see her watching this yet another scenic beauty of the realm.

She was staring at the sea or was it an ocean, whatever, shore perhaps. Her feet gently caressing the white, silvery sand. My eyes shifted aside to look at the wet, huge piled up rocks near the shoreline, where the waves were crashing against them, its water sparkling with the rays of the sun setting far off the horizon.

The cool and salty breeze drew away all the tension right out of my bones. As I walked up front, I felt the sand crunching beneath my feet, reminding me of my time I spent on the beaches back in Clearwater. A flock of seagulls flew towards us. Nazira spun around on a whim in the moment they glided from top of our heads. She laughed heartily with a certain inexpressible joy I had never seen her before.

"Hi," I said when she finally noticed me standing behind her.

"I have never been to a beach before," she signalled, "Never knew it could be so peaceful and beautiful."

"You wanted an inspiration to paint, now you have one," I said, walking nearer to her.

"I think I want more than that," she signalled, her voice in my brain turning huskier. I stood right in front of her watching her flawless features.

I wasn't having the faintest idea that I was ready for it until she suddenly took my hand, her face glowing with the look I wanted to see on her since a long time. She locked her eyes with mine and whispered without signalling, "I just want to live here with you, forever."

A seagull squeaked, flying over the hut and brutally jerking me out of my reverie.

I cringed with embarrassment, and rubbed my nape quite harshly, chiding myself to believe that a girl like Nazira would ever say such a thing to me. Swallowing hard and strictly focussing on the reality, I swiftly walked towards her.

"Hi," I said, finding a strain in my own voice.

She watched me thoroughly, and signalled, "How are you feeling?"

Now that was something a girl like Nazira would say.

I shrugged. "I slept for a hell lot of time. So, er, never better."

Her face was expressionless, but her eyes stated how worried she has been.

"Makara told me, that you were looking out for me," I asked, "What happened?"

She hesitated for a bit. "You have never been through a challenge for more than an hour. Four, five hours passed by and you never came back. You even told me that that was the challenge that the Second failed to..."

"And you were right," I interrupted, "There was indeed a way to win. Yeah, figuring it out took a bit of a time, but....whatever, I won. That's what really matters. Seven more challenges, two more weeks and hopefully we will be done. Just bear with me until then, alright?"

She didn't reply and calmly turned aside but I thought I heard her voice in my mind. "Probably sacrificing runs in the family."

I frowned at her statement but kept my mind intact, not allowing it to wander around the facts and to decipher what she meant.

"Are...Are you cold?" she asked.

I took my time, although briefly to make sure if she had really signalled this time.

"No," I replied, smilingly.

"Do you mind to sit outside for a while?"

For a moment I looked at her, the way she has asked, I was touched by the warmth of her expression. The setting sun changed the hues to orange. Its rays streamed towards her, glistening her hair with the fiery brilliance that suddenly longed my fingers to touch it.

Accepting her proposal, together we walked nearer to the side of the shore filled with elevated piled up rocks and quickly selected a comfortable place to sit.

"I talked to Makara yesterday," she signalled. "He's been a good company."

That was something I wasn't expecting from her. It was surprising to know that she had actually talked to Makara, let alone spend time with him. But then I felt contented that she was finally understanding the concept of Constellia, that they were completely opposite of how they looked.

"You did?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, "How do you like him?"

She sniggered. "He is too funny. His actions are funnier, but he is nice."

"Yeah. Pruthvi is one lucky Samagraha to have him as his extension."

"How about yours?" She asked, "I've noticed you never talk about your Constellia."

I dropped my lashes and took my time deciding what to say to her. "He is just a normal lion. And...he is fine."

"Just a lion?" She asked, chuckling. "It's a lion!"

"Yeah, a highly protruded cat which is always moody and never stops meowing." Damn, that came out harsh.

"What!" She laughed. "Why would say that?"

"He is different," I replied, "Even though it was him who chose me, he still thinks I am unfit to be his master."

Her eyebrows drew together. "Why?"

I shrugged. "He had problems with his previous master, wasn't able to be in good terms with them. That is what I came to know. He has some serious trust issues."

"Makara told me that the challenges are going to get tougher, especially from now on. Is that true?"

I nodded, like didn't it surprise me. My skin suddenly pricked and that bugged me a little. The smashing of the waves, I noticed, were suddenly turning violent and so was the slow chilly breeze. I sighed with slight exasperation. I was done with the kind of temperature. I needed some change.

The sky seemed to be in a hurry to change from orange to deep purple, our shadows fallen on the rock were shrinking and the continuous squeaking of the seagulls, everything signalled the twilight. But it felt as if this cold and weary darkness was creeping up from within me.

"Then aren't you worried about your challenge with your Constellia?" She asked. "That is going to be the toughest of all, right?"

I smiled, her nagging voice in my head indicating her anxiousness. It was getting darker by every second and I quickly lit my fingers placing the flames in between us for an equal share. "You are the one who told me there is always a way to win," I replied.

Her expression hardened, with mouth agape and eyes slightly widened. "No, I didn't. I said the First won the previous challenge, so you can too. That is what I said."

I sniggered, watching her innocent glossy eyes, with solemn swimming in them. "What else did Makara tell you?" I asked, wanting to move on and to take my mind off the darkness.

She swallowed and pursed her lip bending her head down. She extended her hands to place before mine to take in more of the gentle heat. I did not take my eyes off her and noticed she was feeling a bit apprehensive to talk to me about whatever it was.

"He told me about Shaytan Rup." she then signalled.

I blinked dazedly, uncertain if I heard it right. "What?"

"No, forget it," she signalled hurriedly, "I know it doesn't concern me."

"No, talk to me," I said leaning forward, giving in to my piquing curiosity, "How did he come up with that? What did you ask and what did Makara tell you? Just tell me everything."

"I..I asked him why these challenges are so difficult, not that I really wanted to know, it was just to make a conversation with him. But the way he replied...it seemed as if, these challenges are nothing compared to what you'd be facing when you get to meet that person, Shaytan Rup."

I furrowed my brow in concentration. "What did he actually tell you?"

"That he can be really manipulative, and magically strong because the one who can travel to both the universes as per his will, could be capable to do anything, like anything. There are not going to be any rules, no second chance and mainly...no food and water."

Probably that is why, I thought, Constellia have given me enough gaps between the challenges.

"And?" I asked, still trying to hold my confidence that I had recently built up. My breathing was turning hot on hearing his name again and again.

"And the Constellia are really looking forward to seeing themselves free. They do not want to fear him anymore. It's been more than thousand years, they are looking forward to you to finish it once and for all."

She waited for me to say something, but I was busy making out facts which I did not take me much time to figure it out.

"Finishing once and for all," she repeated, "What does it mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I said, "I have to wipe him out."

"Sorry?"

"I have to kill him." I sighed softly saying it. It felt a little better to say it out loud and not to mention it did bolster my confidence.

And then I received an alert of its presence -my stone inside my pocket began to burn. I did not care to bother about the itch that it was giving me, neither I intended to take it out to help it cool down, for Nazira's expression was what my focus was stuck at.

"Wha...you are saying if it is not a big deal," she signalled, widening her eyes completely.

"If I fail to kill him, then it is actually a big deal," I replied.

"You are going through all these troubles so that you can kill?"

"Yes."

"Isn't there any other way?" she asked.

"Nazira," I hedged, getting a little irritated that she wasn't able to understand why we were really in this damn universe, "I care about the Constellia, their freedom. I care about our relationship with them. Anything else doesn't matter to me. If I am the only one to give them their freedom, so be it. And If I fail...you don't want Constellia to wait for another hell lot of years, do you?"

She knew everything now, yet she didn't stop there. She just went on and on about it. And lastly, she turned it into something that I was expecting the least to hear, especially when I sensed that I was going to lose my patience.

"Killing is wrong," she signalled.

"You are saying this because you have no idea what sort of crimes that person has committed. He needs to die."

"Whatever it is, killing is not the solution."

"It is the only solution."

"But what about his preachings?"

"Whom are you talking about?"

"According to King Harsh..."

"I AM NOT KING HARSH!"

Flames in my hands at once ignited and grew up to turn into an intense fiery blaze. Nazira gasped loudly at the top of her lungs and slid a few inches back. It was getting out of control. I quickly pulled my hand away and lit the fire off.

Silence fell between us and apart from my long deep breathe it was only the waves crashing sound audible. I pressed my eyes shut, took several seconds to calm myself down.

This sudden outburst, as I fathomed, was the result of my continuous unwilling acceptance of everyone comparing me with that dead person. My rage and frustration must have acted as fuel to my own fire. But now I had enough. I have been silently listening to everyone talking so highly of him. I might have still tolerated if it was anyone else sitting in front of me, instead of her. But it was her, and clearly, she trusted that person over me.

I heard quiet whimpers in my brain and that made me open my eyes. It was completely dark and freezing. I lit my hands yet again and tried my best to control my feelings. I even dared myself to think of my stone for I had no intentions of repeating my mistake. I looked at her, and as I guessed, her eyes were already filled with tears. She kept looking straight into my eyes with a sort of disbelief and hatred I could have only imagined.

"Look," I said, with a tone of a warning, "I am extremely sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. But let us get one thing straight. I do not like to be compared with King Harsh, not atleast by you. He is the reason I and my friends and that includes you too...we have been going through a lot. And I bet it is because of him, my grandmother died too. Right?"

Tears dripped down her eyes, but she kept looking at me unblinking.

"Right?" I asked again, grudgingly clenching my teeth and in a hope if she could at least say something about it.

"I am going to bed." She murmured. Her hands didn't move, she did not signal.  Pulling her blanket closer, she walked away hurriedly without looking back at me.

-----------

The following evening I was standing outside the hut, my hands folded and my eyes staring down blankly at the white sand. I was in a terrible pain caused by the hole flaring in my heart. The more I stayed inside the hut, the more I felt raw. As I expected, Nazira had locked herself in the room. She hadn't even come out to eat, and not to mention to give me an opportunity to explain the reason for my sudden outburst.

I blew it, I so blew it. I repeatedly kept saying that to myself. I made a blunder, messed up in a big way. It was as if we had already fallen apart even before we created that sort of a bond I was expecting to have.

Feeling a little lonely, I decided to divert myself, to take my mind off my yesterday's misbehaviour and to think of a bigger way to make it up to her. Before that, I wanted to explore the waves better, to re-live and re-experience those days I had spent in the beaches of my hometown. I took a few steps away from the hut and to my surprise, the door of the hut suddenly opened letting her come rushing out.

I swiftly turned around watching her running and then stopping dead in front of me. She was panting heavily, her forehead was drenched in sweat and looked rather terrified.

"Whe...where have you been?" she asked, demanded to be precise.

"Shouldn't I be asking that questions?" I replied, feeling the hole in my heart vanishing, "Where have you been?"

She ran her hand over her head and down till her hair reached. Still taking sharp breaths, she looked back at the door and then turned to me to carefully read my lips. "Are you sure it's only the two of us living in this universe?" She asked.

"No," I said, fighting the smile that began to work up its way into my eyes, "Technically there are twelve more non-humans called Constellia stuck with us in this universe."

She walked closer, her eyes widened and tearful. "I am serious. I felt someone roaming inside my room."

Now I smiled cheerfully watching her standing too close and talking to me casually as if nothing had happened the day before. "Bad dream?" I asked, trying not to take a dig at her.

"I..." she signalled, but not as fast as she always had been doing, "I hope so."

Our eyes were locked, and we stared at each other, passing on silent word of comfort that we still had each other in this job, no matter how different we and our ideas were. I had been looking for a bigger way and I knew exactly what it was going to be. I waited until she relaxed before I audaciously asked her to join me in the fun I was about to attain.

"Come," I said, beckoning her to walk with me.

"Wh..where?"

"As long as we are in this realm," I said, taking her hand, "we might as well take most of the benefits out of it."

At first, she frowned at me, her intent gaze was inquisitive. Thankfully she kept her hands down, saving me to watch her signal. Quietly, we walked towards the shore and into the freezing water, all the way-hand in hand. And for the next few hours, until the sun drowned, until we both were tired enough to call it a day, not even for a single moment I remembered that I was a Samagraha in the middle of the quest to seek vengeance.