"Doctor was in Uttarameer to fetch the Pride," he said hurriedly, droplets of tears coursing down his cheeks, his whole body shivering as if a bullet was stuck in his gut. "I...I was invited to his meeting held between him and the High King months ago. I know everything about his plans. He wanted everything done at a time, in a single go. You, to kill Shaytan Rup. Celina Hansley to help him obtain the Pride and Pruthvi Krishna to find Rahu Kerenza. He wanted everything done simultaneously and legally."

"What is the Pride?" I asked, tilting my head, curiosity in my stomach rising to a whole new level, "The Pride of Haima-Endira, isn't it?"

Singh gave a quick pause and growled in an unusual way- a deep sound from the bottom of his neck. He lashed his tail and that made Bhupathi startle with fear before he blurted things out.

"It's the majestic bland dagger, a wish-fulfillment weapon, known as the Khatanjar. It was Doctor who thought that it would be better to rename it as the Pride of Haima-Endira, or simply the Pride which he and the High King used as a code word. So even if the word spreads around, nobody gets to discern what he was up to. But eventually, somehow you came to know about it."

"Did you blab the word around?"

"No. I did not."

I narrowed my eyes, my mind racing. If it was meant to be a top-secret mission, then how did Tyrell know about it? Could it be Celina who shared the information with him?

"Tell me more," I asked, "Why was Doctor looking for it?"

Bhupathi wiped his falling tears with the back of his palm. "It...it's the legendary Paramarashtrian weapon, intricately made of wood of Vrindahina. According to Doctor, it's the only weapon that has the power to break Almourah's magic."

My brain stuttered for a moment. "So it exists!" I exclaimed louder than I'd intended, "There is something in this country superior to Almourah."

"It's a bland magical dagger," he said and seemed to revise the use of it. "The weapon made of wood is just capable of breaking the items made of the same wood obtained from the Holy tree."

"Something like Shashi's tomb?" I asked, which I shouldn't have.

"What?"

"Nothing," I muttered, "Why do you change your words though? Didn't you just mention that it can break Almourah's magic? Why would you say it works only the things made of wood?"

Bhupathi shivered and sprayed his words out. "Nothing. Nothing can kill Almourah."

Irritation set my teeth on edge, his reverence for a psycho taking a toll on me. "Nobody was talking about killing Almourah or...wait a second."

Bhupathi bit his tongue, his eyes scanning the strong built muscles of the lion. He rocked back and forth, it seemed as though he was stuffed with extensive information regarding the uses of this legendary dagger. And that suddenly gave me a notion of altering the proposal I wanted to put forth in Panchayat. But just to make sure...

"You are lying, aren't you? Just making things up to confuse me." I slowly held his wrist and gripped it tight. My palm embered with a somber flame. It seared through his skin, giving the pain of his lifetime. "Tell me the truth! Tell me!".

He yelled with his eyes streaming. "It is the truth! But according to Doctor, Khatanjar is the only means existing in the country to put Almourah to death by breaking his magic first."

I reduced the heat intensity, his revelation sinking in. "He is after all not immortal, is he?"

"None of the three originators are. But it's just Doctor's assumption. It is a common knowledge among normal humans of Paramarashtra that there is absolutely nothing can kill off the originators."

"You revere Almourah."

"That doesn't mean I'd be aware of his life history inside out. He is a thousand years old geezer and besides worshiping his ideology of crushing the entire race of woman, I ain't have any interest in him."

I let go of his hand, mentally pitying his twisted integrity. He hissed wriggling his wrist. The scorch mark showed a printed outline of my fingers. He gently blew on it to pacify his pain. "Goddamned you!" He muttered, beneath his breath.

"What can the Khatanjar do to a person suffering from Almourah's magic?" I asked, feeling euphoric of getting one step closer to cure my friend.

"Almourah has a style. To lay his magic on a person, a white shiny hole is first generated under the right rib cage, which keeps the magic intact with the rest of the body. If the heart pumps blood, then the hole, which acts as a secondary heart, pumps magic. For the magic to break, that particular hole needs to get in contact with the Khatanjar."

"Almourah, Tyrell, and Shashi," I said, "They carry this hole in their bodies, don't they?"

The moment he answered my question with a nod, I understood that Doctor did stand by his words of being two steps ahead in the game. He was planning to put an end to the source of the dark magic itself, where chaotic situations similar to Tyrell Kissler turning into Rahu Kerenza wouldn't arise no more.

My heart cramped up realizing how Doctor's ambitions disintegrated with him on his funeral pyre.

"Didn't you say it's a wish-fulfillment weapon?" I asked, feeling the moisture in my eyes, "What does it mean?"

He signed and used his sleeve to mop his sweaty brow, his nervousness abating. "The weapon is convoluted. It should be used at least twice on the person suffering from Almourah's dark magic to absolutely finish the act of killing. Run it once through the hole and the dark magic user turns into a complete human devoid of magic. But the immortality in them still prevails. For which the second attack with the dagger is necessary. It is called the wish-fulfillment weapon because the dagger lends a wish to the person once came in contact- to die or not to die."

"So if I try to stab the person for the second time, and if the person chose not to die..."

"The dagger just leaves a slight indentation, that's all. No person wishes to die that way and therefore it leaves the dagger with absolutely no quality to kill."

"What a masterpiece!" I said, sincerely.

"Doctor said it was designed by this woman called Hima, Haima..."

"Haimavati Roksana," I whispered.

"Yes. Doctor boasted about that witch a little too much. About her admiration towards nonsensical amusements, games, and creatures that can exist only in one's imagination. Everything with Almourah started because of her and Matsyasvi."

There was a tinge of annoyance hearing the name of this woman again, a feeling of wanting to meet her, to pick an argument with her, to see what kind of beauty and magic she possessed that made her a big-time royalty with a knack of effortlessly dominating the entire country. Singh let out a grunt, and that brought my senses back. I noticed he had stopped ambling but stood relaxed against the entrance of the prison listening to the conversation.

I got back to Bhupathi. "This woman was the one to save Almourah from dying," I said, without meaning to say it out loud. "Why would she invent such a thing that could kill him?"

He creased his brow. "I have no idea about it."

I shook my head and clicked my tongue in disapproval of accepting that lame answer from him. "Pruthvi, feel free to rip out Archit's leg."

"No!" Bhupathi gasped and I smiled at my own pretentious act. "Please, believe me. I don't know what could be the reason for the person who poured life into Almourah also wanted to kill him off. I swear I don't know."

"Fine," I shrugged, "Tell me what else do you know about this woman?"

"Doctor mentioned about her passion for creating nonsensical creatures like a two eagle-headed creature called Agnidaanav," Bhupathi answered at once, "Almourah gifted it to Shashi for his excellence at dark magic."

"You are loaded with information," I said, recollecting the tough fight Pruthvi, Leena and I had had to defeat that monster. "Tell me, where is this Khatanjar?"

"Uttarameer."

"Where exactly in Uttarameer? In whose possession is it?"

"TriArambh. Three of them are guarding a part of it. The dagger must be attached together in order to activate its usage on a person."

I frowned. "Why was it disintegrated in the first palace?"

Bhupathi set his jaw tight. "Doctor believed that it was broken to provide equal power to TriArambh. So that they don't kill each other off. Otherwise, the sibling rivalry could have already been ended, Almourah would have killed Matsyasvi and Pizaca a long time ago and gained the stranglehold over Uttarameer."

I leaned forward, his reply making me curious more and more. "What do you know about Almourah's animosity towards his own sister Matsyasvi?"

His pupils, behind those tears, dilated. He pulled his legs up and fidgeted to appease his fear and getting bothered by the lack of further knowledge. "You ask me questions as if I were born a thousand years ago."

"Tell me everything you know," I said, trying to be easy. "About the sibling rivalry. And leave it to me to connect all the dots."

He wiped the rivulets of sweat running down his cheeks. His double chin tightened. "Matsyasvi is a soulless, ageless, deathless siren seductress. It is in her blood to attract men, the sailors, and warlocks that pass by her reservoir. She lures them with her charm and then drowns them into her web of darkness. Like mother, like daughter. She aims for the soul that facilitates her to assume a complete form of a human and she let her clan inherit this trait. That's who Matsyasvi, in reality, is. Whose clan your grandfather wanted to make official and give human rights."

"Don't include him in this conversation," I warned and then let out a scoff. "You blame Matsyasvi? Well, what can I expect from the man who believes Almourah is the hero!"

Bhupathi threw me a sharp look. "Almourah didn't start this. Matsyasvi did. She captured all the men, the warlocks who stood by Almourah in his perpetual war with the Samagraha. She is the reason this country isn't limited just to normal humans."

"Thought you weren't born a thousand years ago, yet you're so convinced with this piece of gossip."

Bhupathi dropped his gaze down. "That's all I got. Get the hell out of here."

I was still sitting there, thinking and analyzing the information I had received today. Bhupathi did seem getting deprived of knowledge, and I would have stayed longer had the time permitted. There were a lot of questions raging in my mind.

Why was it necessary to divide the precious dagger among the siblings? If it was the only means to destroy Almourah, why do they even have it in their possession? Who gave it to them? Their mother, Endira El Sayed? Was it the typical blind love for her children that made her give them an equal share of power not to destroy one another?

My knees gave a nasty crack as I rose up. A slight pinch of a desperate migraine spilling in my head. Conjoining all the possible facts had never been so difficult.

The dagger invented by Haimavati Roksana in order to kill Almourah? Wasn't she the one to give him the second life and aroused him from his deathbed?

Something was so off.

Keeping the thousand-year-old myth pertaining to this woman aside, I thought of what must be done today. And it was apparent. To attain that dagger that served the wishes of the victim was the only way I'd be able to cure Tyrell. But what if he chose to...I shook my head disregarding the thought. Tyrell is a Samagraha and a Samagraha can have no choice. Although the plan brewing in my head was tempting, and it was to see through Doctor's ambition until the very end. 

I inwardly smiled. Every end should have a beginning, and I knew where to begin from. I need to seize the parts of the dagger from the three of the originators first.

Of course, Almourah wasn't simply going to hand it over to me. A tough fight, a significant confrontation shall worth it. The question was, do I stand any chance against this pioneer of dark magic? Clearly Doctor and Celina weren't able to, so would I be?

A detail, amongst the tangled maze of information, had always been bugging me- Almourah was the only one with two hearts among the siblings. Haimavati gave him the second heart, just for the sake of her beloved Endira. The dagger she had created carried the power to break Almourah's magic. Matsyasvi and Pizaca's clan could die like normal humans, but Almourah's were entirely immortal as he was. That second heart was the only dissimilarity, the uniqueness I was able to see amongst the three originators. What were the odds that the second heart was holding the life of the rest of the clan?

"Knife. Heart. Blood." The beast we caught that day had already revealed it, had it not?

A surge of adrenaline ran through my spine. A spark ignited. It was the savage thought of an uphill battle that fuelled my necessary sense of commitment to protecting this country. I was no indifferent anyhow-brutality and ferocity got to be my forte. However, I couldn't forget my stand in this country. The citizens' trust upon a Samagraha shall not be broken. All I needed was to shove a few forgotten political rules in the Panchayat, the rules that had been kept in discrete from us. Because this got to be legal, just like Doctor wanted it to be. Dhanunjay had educated me enough to make it legal, even if it caused collective apoplexy within Panchayat. And my dear friends, oh I forgot about them. I've got to deal with them first to make them agree for it.

I turned around and took slow steps to get away, my mind still lingering on the thought that changed the entire plan. "Singh, thanks for your help. You can leave now."

Singh gently grunted and disappeared out of sight, creating slight black smoke.

"What about my son?" Bhupathi suddenly asked, forcing me to stop. His voice seemed to have gotten back to show his arrogance.

Feeling disoriented and confused to decide whether or not to carry out this new course of action, I hardly gave any attention to him. "Pruthvi will have him on his watch. In a place where he'll be safe from women. Don't worry about it."

"And perhaps they can talk about his ravishing sister."

I stopped midway yet again and took a long breath trying to ignore his provocative remark. "Have a great life ahead," I said. My mind was clearly moved on. It was better to forget about him and leave him to rot.

"I despise you more than you think, Hayden Mackay," he said. I wished he kept his mouth shut and let me go. "Besides being Harsh's grandson, you've come here and deeply offend me. You illicitly entered this facility and threatened me with your little pawn? My son wouldn't like it at all."

His voice irked me. Just walk away. I urged myself placing slow steps toward the exit.

"You and your friend belong to Rawat. And you don't have the nerve to kill," he said, "Threaten my son however you want but he will atleast live."

Walk away. Fast. You clearly have a higher ambition now. Do not get provoked with this vain person's remarks.

"He'll complain against you in the Panchayat. And being the prince of Madhyakshetra, the High King will give the preference to him more than you."

"Shut up!" I whispered, getting highly irritated. "For heaven's sake."

"High King will torture you, Hayden Mackay. He is already angry at you for what you did to me."

"What the hell do you want?" I burst out, jolting backward. I should really walk away. Just walk away. Two more steps and I'll be out.

"If you don't want my son to get back to you, you better do as I say."

"Excuse me? Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Send her to him would you?" Bhupathi seethed. "That girl is something. I shouldn't have really left her alone to fate had I knew she would grow into such an attractive girl. Tall and shapely. My son can have fun playing with her..."

And that's it. I've had enough. Scarlet flames breathed to life all over my arms. With the commitment manifesting in my mind, my composure broke down into a wild storm. But to my utter surprise, a roguish cloud of smoke bellowed inside the cell. Singh had suddenly returned. And my extension's fury turned out to be a blood-curdling inferno. Before I could take another step, Singh roared violently. The floor shook. A severe jolt plunged within my veins as a thick fury of fire resembling volcanic lava poured down of his mouth, heat spreading within the prison. The glass window shattered, smoke barged whistling outside, furniture reduced to ashes. It was an instant explosion that had caused zero effect on me. Although I knew the reason, I was still caught off guard.

"What in the world!" I wheezed, staring at the spot where Bhupathi had been sitting a second ago. He was gone. There was nothing, except ashes and dried pieces of bone fragments.

A chorus of screams erupted from the other side of this correctional facility. And I hoped they were only the knights.

"Singh," I said, watching his heavy body rise and fall. "What have you done?!"

"Better I than you," he said staring at the bones. He wouldn't meet my eye.

I was angry. Sort of. It was an uncanny and euphoric feeling at the same time. The one, who had tortured her, and my grandmother for many abysmal years, finally met with a terrible fate. With an infinite reluctance, I had to accept- his chapter deserved to end this way. Although knowing everyone's temperament, about how this country worked, his death was going to be claimed as a sensational brutal murder and a political scandal laid by me. I was prepared to break thousand rules. Not a thousand and one rules.

"This is my personal family matter," I shouted, "I didn't want you involved that much. This was a terrible mistake I'll be held responsible for."

He jerked his head towards me, his mane waving in the heated air and his eyes murderous. He walked upfront and I had to take agonizing steps back. "Look here kid, whoever that man was, he uttered a few hurtful things about Milady. She is a precious little girl for both of us. You keep thinking about her and I keep hearing your thoughts. She is important to you and anything important to you automatically is important to me. Like it or not, this is how it's going to be. I've started to trust you now. I would never accept, nor tolerate anything of you that'll remind me of my previous masters. I've come to know you better than you think. You are trying to become something you aren't. And I will not let you to. Take it as a warning or a threat. I don't care. I just don't want you to be them. Are we absolutely clear?"

I leaned my back against the wall and he stood at hairbreadth distance. So close that I was scared to see nothing but into his shiny eyes which were cold with contempt. There was a pause. Silence. Wind eerily blowing inside from the destroyed window. And then my cheeks pained, resisting the urge to crack up. "Milady? Since when?"

Singh's grunted loudly, turning back around and walking away from me. Even a Constellia can have a slip of a tongue sometimes. "You never heard me saying that."

"Sorry. But the damage is done." I pursed my lips. It was getting harder and harder to keep myself from laughing. "Never knew you could be so formal with women, Singh."

His muscles twitched. He seemed to be fighting back the need to retort, but eventually chose to silently disappear.

Consciously, I was aware. The moment Bhupathi bit the dust, I'd foreseen my future. And it was ugly. Rubbing my nape, I ran my eyes over the ruined prison. Those bones lying underneath the devastate window gave me a fit of agitation.

The most horrific part was the realization washing over me that this could be how Pruthvi must have felt when he had killed Zarina. But watching this crime scene, I could be in trouble more than he was ever meant to be.

Apart from breaking too many laws already, I'd be found guilty of killing a king and for destroying the luxurious correctional facility. Everyone from the High Clan, including King Aghasthya, would go ballistic on me, that is if I were to fail taking control of the situation in the Panchayat.

Geez, I'd thrown myself in a disastrous, trainwreck of a situation.

All hail Vrindahina!