I was walking in the free empty land recollecting my day before's moments I had greatly relished. And the conversation Nazira and I had before we retired to the hut was probably the best and the most effective since we entered this world.

"I am really glad I came with you," Nazira had said, "These realms, you giving me a voice I never had, this complete month with you...I would have missed everything if you never brought me here."

"You do realize we are still not out of danger, right? There is still a possibility where I might fail..."

"I don't want to think about it. Today, as of now, I am happy. That is all I care."

I changed my route and ambled along the rows amidst the huge sunflowers plants. Mithuna had mentioned my challenge might begin the very day. I was just trying to stay aloof since past few hours, only with an intention to get back to the job that still needed a conclusion. And the main reason, the predominantly difficult part of the job hasn't even begun yet.

Differentiating was getting difficult. I had no idea what time of the day or night it was. I felt as if I was going through a jet-lag. Everything -the air, the plantation and the stars around the moon, were stock-still. The moon always hung in the sky, radiating round the clock. I wished the day's challenge to end soon and so the coming up one. Because I was getting impatient to see the following Constellia. He might have refused to meet me in my universe, but now that I was here, by all means necessary, I craved for some answers, especially to know why he had chosen to backstab without even giving me a chance.

I snapped my fingers quite a few times just to see him scintillating in my hand.

I waited for several more minutes, sitting down on the land, staring at the vibrant full moon. Apart from getting restlessly eager to meet Singh, there were others I wanted to see. I deliberately shifted my mind to think of Pruthvi and Leena. I had to blame on my curious mentality, but I badly wanted to know what was going on with them. Did they had a chance to meet Tyrell? Was I going to see him as soon as Nazira and I returned? If that happened, then maybe I would tell him that he was right all along. That Nazira was indeed the girl he had been always suspecting of me falling for.

"Ahoy, Hayden Mackay!" I finally heard the man's voice and it was such a relief. "What are you doing all alone? Where's the girlfriend?"

He made an appearance right through one of the rows of the plantation, with the woman by his side stick to him thoroughly, as if they were one single person.

"Well, she is engaged in something else." I replied, "And hey, she not my girlfriend!

The couple glanced at each other and laughed humorously Probably they found my expression too comical.

"Do you think we haven't seen you yesterday?" The woman asked.

"Well," I said, and swallowed hard. Do I really want to have this conversation with them? "So is it time?" I asked changing the subject.

"Yes, it is," said the man, his voice turning hoarse, "Give me your stone.".

The woman stood like a model, with one hand around the man's waist and other over her hip. She suddenly looked etched and grave. That look of hers worried me a little. "My stone?" I asked, frowning.

"Yes. Come on, take it out." The man pressurized extending his hand towards me.

I was unsure of my own reaction, uncertainty welling up on me. But then the Constellia wouldn't be saying it unless it was a part of the challenge, would they? Unable to make up my mind, I simply went ahead and took it out- the Cornelian that twinkled mockingly at me. I immediately handed it to the man and he, to my shock, chucked it hard deep into the plantation.

"What the hell!" I gasped, not even exactly sure if I had seen it travel in the silvery light, "Why would you do that?"

"Now," said the woman, shaking her fingers as if asking me to walk away, "Go, look."

"Say what?"

"Hayden Mackay," said the man, sternly, placing his around the woman, "Go, fetch your stone. Come back to us only when you find it. By now you should have realized that we live in the realm where there is no existence of the sun. So I would say the challenge starts as soon as you turn around and ends only by the time you find the stone."

"Wait a second," I said, taking a step forward, raising my voice, "Why do I have to look for it? It's my stone. It might have already been sitting in my pocket."

"Are you sure?" The woman asked, pointedly looking down at my pocket.

Feeling slightly panicked with the way she sounded, I hurriedly dug my hand and checked both of pockets one by one. They were empty. Not finding it anywhere, a cold fury clenched my heart. I looked up at them who were standing with a firm steady expression on their faces.

"How?" I croaked, but my curiosity killing me to ask them more.

"This is the challenge, Hayden Mackay," said the man, "It is designed as it is."

"I sincerely hope you find the stone," said the woman, sympathetically, "After you come back, we shall have the last dance."

"Good luck!" said the man, and escorted his woman to the middle of the free land.

Suddenly I felt powerless. I let out a muffled groan and dropped down on my knees, with one hand on the ground and other on my stomach. I haven't been doing anything since past couple of hours, except occasional walking, yet I felt heavily exhausted.

For the past one year, since the Cornelian had chosen me as its master, there might have hardly been any reason for my stone to stay too far away from me. Now, I was getting acquainted with the repercussions of the opposite. As much as fortunate and favorable it was to possess the incredible stone, not having it at all turned out way worse. All I needed was the stone that might just have probably landed a few feet away. I was going to find it easily, but only if I had the required energy to walk over to get it.

The process seemed to last an eternity, but I finally managed to stand up on my shivering feet -gasping and moaning. With every step I took, a sharp pain seared across my stomach. I felt my leftover energy deteriorating, channeling slowly out of my body. I walked, although unsteadily but picked up a little speed. I entered one of the rows I tentatively had imagined my stone was hurled away at. Mithuna never indicated that I wasn't allowed to destroy their plantation. It was least of my interests to worry about it for the moment. I was in a desperate attempt to find my stone sooner than later, and gain my energy back. I felt obligated and took the support by holding the strong stems of the plants tight.

Similar to that of the realm of Meena, the rows here never ended, the plantation was humongous. To walk through half a way took me a couple of hours. Whilst dragging myself, I kept searching for anything red and sparkling between the thick stems at either side of the row. Taking long breaths and pushing myself to walk- until now, I handled myself well. I certainly had some hidden courage to do what I must and tried to utilize it keenly and skillfully.

My shadow creepily followed me. The deeper I went, the dimmer the light was. I looked back and realized I was way deep inside the row. Was there even a possibility for Mithuna to throw my stone this far? I quickly made a decision and limited my search only to the areas where the moonlight spilled over.

After finishing up to the desired distance of few of the rows, I took a break to do nothing but only to breathe. I was sweating profusely, salty water dribbled down my forehead and soaked my collar. Unable to bear the irritation, I removed my outer shirt and dropped it aside. It helped me a little, giving me a relief from the nauseating feeling that churned my stomach.

As the time passed, taking one single step was getting unimaginably strenuous. I had no idea how I was going to manage to walk around the plantation with a limited light and the draining energy. My eyes began to droop, dizziness assailing me. I had to shake my head every time my eyes closed. Even to blink, my lids felt heavy. Giving up now and resume it later was not an option. For the first time, I wished there was a sun setting on the horizon.

Vaguely looking around shrinking eyes, all I could do was to dust the powdery soil with my legs, just in case if my stone was buried but it only sucked my energy away. My mouth dried up and stomach began to snarl, I was so parched that I thought I could drink a whole ocean away.

I grunted and sitting completely down on the ground, I gently scrubbed my face to wipe away all the sweat. Stone was nowhere to be seen and without showing a great vitality, there was no way I could win this challenge. I grunted again, loudly, filled with anger, my insides suddenly stirred with a desire to see Nazira. Only if I had my stone with me...

Maybe I was executing it wrong. All the previous challenges, although too tough to figure them out, were affixed with a strategy in my favor. Why oh why do I always take the Constellia's words literally? Haven't I been through enough challenges to know that they never meant what they said? Chiding myself, I dropped down completely, my chest over the ground. Facing aside, I let my tears flow and that honestly relaxed me to great extent.

I was left with a diminutive amount of energy, and I used it only to deliberate. Closing my eyes, I let my mind race.

My stone wasn't with me. It was somewhere in this realm, waiting for me. But why? Why wasn't it coming back to me? What could be the only possibility for it to not to return? Had this anything to do with the Parallel universe? Did the stone never usually come back to its owner in here? However, that wasn't quite possible. With the few days of my experience living in this world, it has always come back to me whenever and wherever I had left it aside.

Think! Think!

There were situations in the past, as per my knowledge, where the stones were taken away from their owners. Tyrell never kept his stone with him during those days when he had faced Jyran in his bedroom. And then there was Doctor imprisoned for years. His stone was snatched away as well and where was it stored?-in a hexagonally shaped jar- do hell with whatever it's called.

An image of that particular jar raised in my mind. If my stone was stuck in it, then no one but either of Mithuna must have dropped my stone in it. Did they have that box with them? When I met them a few hours ago, right before my challenge had begun, I was pretty sure they were holding nothing except each other. Then, where in the world my stone must have gone? Maybe it was still somewhere in this realm or maybe....

I snapped my eyes open and stared into nothingness. I might have fallen asleep, just for a minute or two but it helped to dissolve my dizziness, making me feel slightly invigorated. My eyes were steady, enough for me to have a clear picture of the surroundings.

I put all my might to press my palms against the ground. Groaning heavily, I lifted myself up, my stomach hurting and my legs still tired to walk. I was genuinely famished, and for once I considered devouring all the plants surrounding me. Instead, I sought for their support, holding them firmly by their stem and walked up front towards the free land where Mithuna perhaps were still waiting for me.

The row I was walking through actually led me towards the hut. I kept pacing towards it noticing a tall and petite shadow of the person moving back and forth across the threshold. Nazira was roaming outside the hut, her eyes shining with tears and her face dripped in anxiousness.

"Aah!" I shouted as my legs suddenly shook and I stumbled down. Dust slightly lifted off the ground, creating a powdery cloud and thankfully gaining her attention.

She reacted immediately and ran towards me. Falling on her knees, she held my hand and helped me lift slightly up into a sitting position. "Where have you been?" she asked as I looked up at her.

I frowned. "Wha...what do you m...mean?"

"You have been out for more than a day!" she replied. Despite her resolve, she couldn't stop her tears coursing down her cheeks which she quickly wiped them away.

"I w...was?" And then I realized that I actually had fallen asleep not for a minute but for a whole day.

"Can you walk inside?" she asked. "I think you need to eat."

"N...no," I responded, slowly shaking my head. I swallowed hard as my mouth watered imagining those bagels in the basket. "My challenge isn't over yet. I..I don't know if I am allowed to do anything else."

"But..."

"Just do me a favor," I wheezed, squeezing her hand, not wanting to let it go, "Do you see Mithuna?"

She looked aside towards the free land and then nodded frantically.

"Help me walk towards them."

Without replying, she gripped her hand around my arm and pulled me up. My legs seemed to have gone paralyzed, the impact of falling on the hard ground made me come to that conclusion. If it wasn't for her, taking even a single step was out of my capacity. Slowly and steadily, together we walked straight ahead. I hated myself to lean over to her, my weight making her slightly uncomfortable. Without complaining, she continued giving me the support I needed.

Moon seemed to shine more, it radiance pricked my eyes, making me almost go blind. Mithuna were slow dancing in the middle of the free land, without the music. Nazira waved her hand in the air, forcibly stopping them from getting cozier.

"Hey, you are back," the woman exclaimed, moving aside and letting the man notice us, "So, did you find it?"

I nodded grimly, without looking up. I just couldn't.

"You did?" said the man with a voice of a surprise. He took a few steps forward with both of his hands in his pocket. "Where is it? Show it to us."

"I..it is with y...you," I said, taking long deep breaths, "T...take your hands out."

The man stayed quiet for a few seconds staring sharply at me. "How do you figure that out?"

"I don't know," I replied, honestly, "But I have a hunch that you didn't th...throw it away in the f...first place. You are a C...constellia, maybe all the stones are linked with each one of you, or there is anything else, I don't know. But there must be some reason for why my stone never came back to me. It isn't just because of the challenge, is it?"

The man smiled. He removed one of his hands from his pocket and extended forward, allowing me to see his fist opening.

There it was, my Cornelian, twinkling as always.

It zapped right towards me, as in a magnetic force had propelled it get attracted. As soon as it came into my contact, my skin beneath my pocket felt slightly burning, followed by aiding my legs bringing them back to life. My eyesight reverted to normal. The pain in my gut was still there, although I was atleast able stand on my own, without troubling her anymore. Even though I refrained myself from her assistance, she never let her hand on my arm go.

The brilliant lights emerged right next to the woman. She walked a bit closer to place her hand in between it.

"Way to go, Hayden Mackay," said the man, "You did it."

"I should have figured it out right after when you pretended to throw," I said, now finding my voice, "It was my poor condition that..."

"I know," he said, "The First faced the same problem. Only difference-he took several days to realize that the stone was with me the whole time. I am guessing you haven't known this before, but point to be noted- When a Constellia get a hold of any gemstone, it is upto them to either return or not to return to its master."

I gave a single nod and said, "Duly noted!"

-x-