"It isn't about Tyrell, right?" asked a teary-eyed and quite shaken Leena.

"Let's not come to any conclusions yet," Pruthvi replied, desperately wanting to eliminate the hint of the threat he was receiving.

"But..."

Leena indirectly confirmed something that Pruthvi refrained to acknowledge, his tensed nerves forbidding him to. She kept saying that Shourya was still interested in his warning rather than lending them a helping hand to locate their friend.

Pruthvi read the label again and again. Gain the power, Gain the respect? He wasn't intending to confess the understanding of what it meant but it was rather unambiguous. Temple of Chandrika was constructed by the First Emerald User, the very emerald that he was chosen to be the master of?

Pruthvi felt a bile rising up in his throat. He was having one of his hands wrapped around Leena and the other ducked inside his pocket caressing the genuine, legitimate, powerful green stone. It was suddenly getting warm, like of those times of the day reminding him to get fully nourished and of course, that very time when he first had talked about his predecessor with his Constellia.

"Alright, stop! You win!" Pruthvi shouted, when the brief pain turned intense, his eyes bulging out, "Damn, you are tough!"

"Yes, my master!" Makara immediately pulled his hand back and sat straight in the chair as if tied with an invisible rope.

Pruthvi moaned dramatically, waving his wrist up and down to relax his constricted muscles in his arm. He slid back to lean against the wall behind his bed, pressing his palm and elbow to release the pain. He highly suspected a sprain or at least a torn muscle fibre in his right arm. It has been a while since anyone had defeated him in this game, especially since he was chosen to be the Samagraha. Things were changed now to drastic level. The one and only non-human being, physically stronger than him, actually existed. And it was the one right now accompanying him in this late hours of the night.

Arm wrestling with Makara- bad idea!

Pruthvi wasn't  feeling sleepy that night. His current condition surprised him as well. Everyone knew that Pruthvi can never, never be sleep deprived. But today it was otherwise, probably it was the result of being in a worried agitation towards the weird behaviour showcasing by his friend sleeping next door. And to just to keep his mind off the tension Tyrell Kissler was causing, he had called upon his recently discovered extension. Didn't Doctor say that they should try and get to know each other, make comfortable with each other's company? According to him, that was all he was trying to do.

"What in the world do you eat, dude?" He asked, "You must be the only person in the world capable of breaking a Nokia thirty-three ten with bare hands."

Makara said, showing a pinch of concern in his voice, "Are you okay, my master?"

"I am great," he said sarcastically, twisting his elbow, "Just worried about the little internal bleeding, thank you very much."

"You are welcome, my master," he replied, sincerely, "But you shouldn't feel the pain for a long time. My previous masters never did."

"Your previous masters must be immune to pain," Pruthvi commented rudely.

He suddenly felt a slight tinge of burning sensation. His skin beneath his pocket of his night pants itched. He scratched it away, getting irritated with the additional discomfort. He wasn't hungry, why in the world was his stone burning now?

"By the way," he said, trying to make a conversation till he fell asleep, "How were they?"

"Whom are you referring to, my master?" asked Makara, scratching his chin awkwardly.

Pruthvi didn't know if it was really important to ask, but he still went ahead. "Your previous masters," he replied, "Were they as strong?"

"Yes, they were! Totally!" said Makara excitedly, "Even though they didn't appear to be physically strong, the way they used the stone was impeccable. They used to create different kinds of Formations. My first master invented a few as well and we both learnt it together. The Plain Elevator Formation is one of them and the Earthly Bind and..."

"Alright," Pruthvi said, "Looks like he invented all of them."

"Technically he proposed a few Formation ideas."

"Sorry?" Pruthvi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"My master," Makara said, "When Lady Chandrika gave the names for the Formations commands and linked them with our powers, there were only a few related to the Geokinesis compared to other kinetic powers. It was the First who came up with the different earth manipulations and I helped him develop them. Sure it took a little time, but we still succeeded to make it come real. We were hailed to be a great team."

"Little time in the sense?" asked Pruthvi, quite uninterested.

"Twenty years for each formation."

"Wow!" scoffed Pruthvi, "You know how many operating systems can be invented during that span?"

"Sorry?"

"Nothing," he said, scratching his skin once again, "So tell me more, about them."

Pruthvi, unable to bear the heat anymore, took his stone out and placed it on his computer table. He took a long sigh of relief and only waited for the pain in the elbow to subdue.

"Well," continued Makara watching the stone and then back at his master, "I can tell you that they were interested in learning and inventing different kinds of formations, and the powers that we, the Constellia were allowed to perform. He was just like his mother Lady Chandrika, who went too far in developing certain kinds of magic that actually landed her in a lot of troubles."

"Pruthvi, are you listening to me?"

"Huh! What?" he snapped back to reality and found himself staring at the ugliest man he must have ever seen. But he held that thought, clearing his throat. He hated himself to pass on such a judgement too quickly.

"I said what if this has anything to do with Shourya's warning?" She said.

"I don't know," he replied, and then swallowed a bile knowing that she could be right. He wasn't, in any way, ready to deal with Shashi or to know why his double kinetic power had grabbed fullest of his attention. It was totally unnecessary at this point in time. "Let's just look around if Tyrell is here and get the hell out of here," he added, his interest to search for his friend beginning to die.

"Wait, what?" Leena asked aghast, pulling his back by this elbow when he turned aside, "Are you saying you want to go back? Don't you want to know why Shourya sent us here?"

"Shourya is insane, alright?" He said, anger piling up and the stone burning in his pocket wasn't the only reason for it, "And I am sick of his games. Either he needs to tell us directly why Shashi is suddenly bothered about me or needs to keep his mouth shut."

"He is just trying to help us!" Leena defended.

"I don't need his help...STOP MOVING!"

Pruthvi's sudden outburst made Leena jump on her toes and she kept her quiet for a minute. He hasn't been realizing, but the carpet in his bag, that had dropped down from his shoulder to his elbow a while ago, was shivering feverishly.

Leena's continuous blab, his burning stone in his pocket and the trembling motion of the carpet had made him snarl down at the poor thing, indicating that his patience was exhausted. The carpet was noticeably trying to get out of the bag, shaking it wholly with it. Pruthvi frowned and zipped open his bag. Hardik instantly flew out and spread itself up in the air. It glided swiftly -to and fro- above their heads, and finally rushed down towards Pruthvi. It hid behind him, closed back in a role within a snap and dropped down behind his legs, everything happening within a blink of an eye.

"What the hell..." Pruthvi started to complain but Leena cleared his dubiousness.

"There is someone here," she murmured, looking back at the forest, her widened and watery eyes darting from one Vrindahina tree to another.

As they were still watching, a few leaves of trees suddenly rustled making a scraping sound.

Leena gasped and Pruthvi stepped forward to hold her wrist pulling her a little closer. Probably it was just a squirrel or a rabbit hustling around the trees. Or was it Tyrell playing games with them? However, the situation momentarily turned this suspect into an innocent assumption. Trees rustled more violently, their branches collapsing with one another. Pruthvi and Leena's focus was stuck on the movement that they weren't paying attention to a wisp of coloured smoke rising up in the air and quickly wafted towards them like a missile.

"My god! It smells horrible," Leena cried, cupping her hands around her mouth and nose.

To Pruthvi it wasn't just horrible, but an instant stomach churning, vomit inducing brain-numbing stench. He gagged loudly and fell down on his knees, bending low to cover his nose. His heightened senses picked up the sudden shift in the air and it was certain kind of a sickly smell that made him feel as if someone had shoved a pathetic combination of a rotten piece of tuna fish and an expired egg into his nostrils.

Leena, all worried for her boyfriend, dropped down beside him and tried to figure out how to keep this smell away from him. She checked her bag and took out a piece of cloth, a handkerchief and tied around his face covering his nose thoroughly. She also took out her small emergency perfume bottle and sprayed all over him. Pruthvi felt thankful for her quick thoughtfulness. Having his eyes shrunken, he found her staring at the trees. Hair-raising squeaking and chirping sound, as that of a scared flock of migrating birds, amalgamated with the rustling sounds of the trees added anxiety to their fearing bones.

Pruthvi, coping up with the smell, tried to divert his mind thinking of his stone and by checking on Leena's stern expression he knew she was ready for it too.

The sound grew louder, it was threatening and fierce. Pruthvi and Leena impulsively got closer, their backs against each other. They kept on checking for the source of the sound, turning their head at all the trees they could possibly look at. And even after waiting for several minutes nothing was showing up.

And Pruthvi had enough.

"Earthquake Formation!" he shouted. He hunkered down on his single knee and punched the rocky ground. Leena jumped back to save herself from falling in his attack. The whole hill rumbled, the leaves on the trees rustled monstrously, getting detached from its branches and plummeting down on the ground like a confetti. Other than that, as Pruthvi suspected, there wasn't any more effect on the trees.

The chirping noise stopped just for a few seconds. Pruthvi stood up noticing the silence, which was much creepier than the sound itself. He loosened the cloth around his nose to check on the smell. It was still there and not wanting to risk it, he tightened it back. There was something out there, he thought, hiding behind the thick trunks of the holy tree, and waiting for the right time to attack.

The silence ended in the form of the leaves of the Vrindahina jiggling once again, as if someone shaking the branches desperately to scare the two of them away. Then whatever was making the sounds hiding behind the thickness of the trees came forward, showing itself, one by one and then together in groups. Leena's jaw dropped and so did Pruthvi's heart. After all, it was a something they had never seen before.

Flying over their heads, their eyes crimson, extremely elongated a grown man's hand length wings, spiky ears and sharp double fangs, were giant sized bats. The peculiar creatures glided towards them, making the same squeaking sounds. Their wings were flapping up and down, and releasing the coloured smoke into the air making Pruthvi's eyes stream.

"Oh my god!" He gasped in shock watching the innumerous creatures, whereas Leena screamed.

"Plain Elevator Formation!" Pruthvi shouted, stomping the ground, and the huge stony walls shot up towards the sky. It was just a mere attempt to stop the bats which turned completely useless. They easily smashed the hinders and continued gliding towards them.

One of them was almost near to the couple, its fangs sharp and pointed. There was something dripping down out of it, ink coloured liquid making it look extremely gross.

Leena lifted her hand up to cover her face, but the bat seemingly interested only in Pruthvi tore his sleeves of one of his arms. His heart skipped a beat, fear gripping all through him. Impulsively, he swished his hand to get the bat away from tearing his shirt more, and surprising the creature hurled away from him, squawking.

Pruthvi was downhearted. These creatures were always being in the air and unless there was Hayden or Tyrell or Celina's help, he felt incompetent to get rid of them by himself. But of course, there was some else with him, with whom he recently found out of making a right team.

"Leena!" he shouted, looking at the remaining of the bats zooming towards, "Do your thing!"

"What, now? Here?" she shrieked, irresolutely.

"Yes, do it. We have no other choice."

"Are you sure?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"Yes!" he cried, freaking out at his own physical ability when he separated a wing of the bat from its body. "Quick!"

Nodding her head in agreement, Leena ran far away from him, only to stop at a clean, dry place free of pebbles, twigs and whatsoever. She rubbed her hands together probable taking time to concentrate on her stone. Seeking the opportunity, she crouched down, placed her hands firmly on the ground and commanded her stone.

"Embedded Water Geyser Formation!"

Just for a few seconds, nothing happened. Pruthvi continued hitting the bats, also threw a few rocks, saving himself from the possible stings. He continued doing it until he felt the ground shaking beneath him, pressure building up from somewhere deep within the earth. More and more bats raced towards him, the only pray they were highly interested in. Thinking he couldn't wait for it happen by itself, Pruthvi himself bent down and began creating a few cracks.

The ground shook violently and cracked open creating a vent like opening. And then there was a sudden explosion, a column of water at once gushed out from beneath the ground shooting up high towards the sky. All the bats gliding up and down froze at a spot, while rest of them flew away to keep themselves away from the water. That was kind of the formation Leena had been practising since past few weeks and Pruthvi could never be more proud of her.

Leena, with a fierce look on her face, stood up and changed her formation. She found herself a pool of water and as Tyrell had once commented -she wrestled with it.

"Tidal Wave Formation!"

Erupted water changed its course on her command. It took up a wavelike shape and chased down the bats all at once. Leena generated more water out from beneath the hilly areas, changed it into a powerful spinning current that gripped the bats and pulled them down to the ground.

High pitched squeaks and the horrid smell was too much for Pruthvi to endure. Now that most of the bats were landing to his comfortable position, he simply finished it by caging them away.

"Earthly Bind!"

Keeping in mind that these bats were capable of destroying his stone walls, he stressed unprecedentedly on his stone. Continuous large cages exploding out of the ground, trapping each of them several times in a fine number of cages. Bats unrestrainedly broke many of the cages around them. Pruthvi had to use his stone explosion simultaneously and began hitting the bats on their heads till they finally gave up on escaping.

"This isn't happening!" Leena exclaimed, expressing displeasure, even before Pruthvi thought that this was over.