"Explain the rules again," I said, in a most casual tone.

It was a beautiful morning, with rays oddly bright and rainbows sparkling more than it had the day before. Numerous peacocks and rabbits had grouped themselves settling all over the distinct islands. They seemed to have recognized the existence of Vrishabha way early this morning and so surprisingly stayed close to the proximity.

"I remember telling you everything yesterday," Vrishabha said, her voice stubborn and commanding.

"I want to be familiarized with them again, in detail. It's not against the rules, is it?" I said, my extremely laid back attitude surprised me.

"Alright," said Vrishabha, and then slightly sighed. "This game is called tug of war, where we pull each other using the rope. We stand on either side of the waterfall and the one who lands in the middle of the stream of water loses. Also..."

"Hold it," I interrupted, "One of us must land in the water, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" I asked, immediately, "Or do you want to add anything to it?"

"No, one must land in the water, that is it," she answered and gave a quick smile.

"Okay, please continue."

"The game begins only when you are ready."

"So just like yesterday, you'll pull me only when I say 'yes', correct?"

She gave a single nod.

"Thank you. That is all I wanted to know."

She passed me one of the ends of the rope and picked up speed to stand at the other side of the waterfall. I held it tight, against the thickness of the rope, it's fibers stung me deeply which I disregarded. Without thinking further ado, I twisted it around my wrist, making absolutely sure that it wasn't going to slip away out of my grip.

I felt ready. I have been waiting all night to finish this seemingly impossible task off, and now I had enough.

"Hayden Mackay, are you ready?"

I smiled watching her ask the question and in a more than required dramatic manner, I replied, "No!"

Vrishabha must have been stunned, watching me slackening my grip. She slightly dropped her shoulders down and stood attentively without taking her eyes off me.

Still holding the rope but not as firm as I was supposed to, I walked across the stream of water, towards the dry island at the edge of the cliff. I tapped my legs, twice. Too hard. Naah! I moved on.

"Hayden Mackay, are you ready?" Vrishabha asked, watching me reach back to my original place.

"No," I replied bluntly and resumed walking to another side of the cliff in search for some movable fine rocks.

"Are you ready?"

"No!"

"How about now?"

"No!"

"Are you..."

"No!"

Vrishabha was almost vexed. She dropped her hand down completely, without letting the rope go and probably had made up her mind to not question me again until she found me standing in my required place.

Last night when the idea had struck to me, I had been tramping all over this place locating a few broken branches, leaves and movable rocks. I haven't had the faintest idea if I was allowed to execute my plan in the night itself, and for it, I decided to wait until the rope was back into my hand. I was aware of exactly from where I had to collect all my current life saviors. But just to create an illusion that I was searching for them at this moment, or probably, an advantage of having a whole day to win the challenge was making me casually ramble here and there. Not to mention, driving Vrishabha to lose her focus was a part of the plan.

Slowly I began collecting the branches, and threw them right in front of the water stream. I rolled a few rocks with my legs and made them stop over the branches. One hand holding the rope and the other the branches and leaves, I continued dropping them off over the rocks, like a blanket to soften them up. It took me about an hour to create a hard, yet soft hurdle between the water and myself.

I walked back and positioned, holding the rope up. And now just waiting for her to ask the routine.

Even from the distance, I noticed a small smile flitting across her broad dark lips. She must have understood what I was trying to do. She raised her hand, to get back to her position and asked, "Are you ready?"

Taking a long breathe I replied. "Yes!"

She pulled me, way harder than she had the day before. I yet again felt catapulted, but I didn't let my focus to wander. Within a fraction of a second, my momentum came to rest, jerking me forward like a sudden break of a car. I widen my eyes, emphasizing more on the reality. I wasn't in the water. It was probably a feeling of euphoria on realizing how the half of my plan had worked. I smiled, finding myself landed hard exactly over the hurdle I created.

"Raging Ball Fist Formation!"

Taking a brief moment to concentrate vigorously, I commanded my stone. Nazira was in mind but I was intently gazing at the strong blazing ball, emerged out of my hand twisting itself to take a shape of a fist. Generating a mid-range roaring sound it travelled straight ahead towards her with a jet speed and punched hard in her belly. At once, she was lifted off the ground, rope skidded off from my grip and swiftly followed her momentum. With a heavy thud, she was dropped down on the running stream of the adjacent waterfall. The fireball diminished at once, and that had happened because I wanted it to.

"Whoa!" I cried, jumping down the rocks and setting my shirt straight, "I wonder why I ignored this command for so long."

Vrishabha, fallen exactly in the middle of the flowing stream, was trying to sit up on her knees, her maroon loincloth totally wet and a black patch clearly visible on her armor. Bright lights then came into sight beside her. It brought a smile on my face but its appearance failed to excite me as much. The previous day's disaster had taught me a lesson. Now that I was almost nearing the end of this handful of challenges, each and every day was turning too precious to remain unfocused and overly confident. Stringent watch out for the rest of the challenges was what my final crucial days in the Parallel Universe were demanding from me.

"Very ingenious, Hayden Mackay," said Vrishabha, as I trotted through the water to approach her. "After all, I am in the water."

"Well," I said, watching her stand up, "It took a while to figure it out. Thanks to a couple of people here. You, for reminding me the tricks my friend taught me. That command was the last we practiced together. And..."

I faltered. Her blank impression and her calmness clearly stating that she wasn't interested in my vote of thanks.

From the corner of my eye, I watched the peacocks and the rabbits scattering in various directions. They had been a good audience to the show that has finally come to an end.

"Alright, tell me, " I said her, curiously, "How is she?"

"She must be fine," Vrishabha said, moving a little closer to the Gate, "she is always fine."

"What do you mean?" I asked, furrowing my brow, "Haven't you seen her lately? I mean a month ago?"

"No," she replied, "It has been a while. She doesn't really need me. She is strong enough to handle circumstances herself. They all were."

Just like Tyrell...

"But, how did u meet her in the first place?" I asked, "How did she even come to know about you, a Constellia?"

"Through Doctor, of course," she shrugged, "We met about six months ago and probably trained together for a couple of times. I am sure Doctor is still training her, every other day. He's being really tough on her."

"What!" I exclaimed, flabbergasted, "That's..."

I sighed and gave up on getting surprised more than that. It was Doctor of all people, someone who hated to reveal more than required information. One noticeable fact that satisfied me for now was that Doctor actually had never left her alone in the menacing and unpredictable country.

"Thank you," I said, graciously, "It's time to leave. But if you see her again, tell her I...we miss her."

I turned around to walk away but then immediately stopped. Nazira was standing at the threshold, her hands folded and staring at my direction. Feeling immensely pleased, I picked up the speed running hurriedly towards her. She walked up front to meet me midway.

"That was great," she said, smilingly.

"Were you standing here for all this time?" I asked.

She nodded.

Her simple gesture cheered my heart. It was one of the best moments of my life. I was literally seeing myself as someone who had taken over the world.

"Well," I said, raising a single eyebrow, "It really needed one step, didn't it?"

----------------

I was pretty sure, my challenge back in the realm of Vrishabha had commenced and completed during the time of the day itself, with the sun somewhere on top of my head. Heck, it had happened just a couple of hours later the dawn. Maybe now we were transported to the other end of this universe, where the sun hasn't risen yet. In this realm of Mithuna, the smell of the midnight air was quite fragrant. The most shocking part was the night wasn't as dark as it was supposed to be. It was predominantly silvery, like the white disco lights glittering all over the realm.

"All hail, Vrindahina!" Nazira shouted, like never before, probably forgetting about me, a weirdo who can hear her voice, "This parallel universe never ceases to surprise me!"

Impulsively, I snapped a look. Her beaming, glowing face and twinkling wide eyes fixed slightly up at the sky. I turned around, following her sight and gasped aloud feeling my heart skip a beat -probably this was the wonder I might never see even in my universe.

It was the great luminous moon shining just above the land- big and vibrant as if an eye of a giant. Millions of stars surrounding it, blinking and flickering, the complete skyline was absolutely enchanting to watch.

My eyes suddenly pricked for staring up for a long time. It was like looking into a bright intimidating light. I glanced aside and noticed Nazira's eyes bored upon me, eagerly waiting to express herself about this beauty.

"Yes?" I asked, noticing her hesitation.

She stayed quiet. Smilingly, she tucked her hair behind her ear and turned away to avert her gaze. She walked aside slowly and that made me notice that this realm was another plantation but of sunflowers. Plants were grown slightly a few inches over my height. We were currently standing at a large free land, a few feet away from where our hut was lodged.

"Sunflowers without sun," she commented, holding one of the huge flowers and gently bending it down to touch its petals.

"No sun?" I asked, frowning upon how she had figured it out, "Are you sure?"

She shrugged. "Anything can happen in Paramarashtra."

We laughed looking at each other, that seemed like hours until she gradually suppressed her laughter, perking her lips.

"I want to know," I said, noticing a certain glint in her eyes, "You were always against these challenges. You were never happy when I won a challenge. But the way you encouraged me yesterday...why the sudden change?"

"I still don't understand these challenges," she said, "I don't know why you are going through these troubles to kill someone. But I have heard, no matter what, friends encourage each other."

Finally, she atleast admitted that there was something between us. My heart at once brimmed with an overflowing euphoria that I comprehended if this was the time I might just have to say it. These last few days in the Parallel Universe, maybe having her my side before we went back...

Horrible timing- I stifled a yawn, breaking my eye contact with her and realizing how exhausted I actually was.

"You should sleep," she said, "I know you were up all night."

"Yeah, I should," I said, rubbing my nape, disliking the idea of the postponement, "Let's go in."

"I am not coming," she said spontaneously, shaking her head and pointedly looking at the surrounding.

I sniggered and nodded at her as I walked away, my thoughts focussed on upcoming happier days.