"You sent him away?!" She yelled, "Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm an idiot, alright!" I retorted, with a harsh tone that the disabled person like herself got startled. I rubbed my nape feeling sorry for making her feel offended. She deserved a fair explanation and I intended to give a quick one. "It was tiring. Neither of us was brave enough to admit that we had enough of each other. He did try to remain patient with me for all these months but there was a limit. It was too depressing. I couldn't let him stay."

The rush of the waterfall was drastically loud amidst the silence between us, both of us locked in our own thoughts. She had her brows creased and turned aside staring blankly at the group of rabbits crossing the adjacent island. "This is not good," she whispered. "Not good at all."

I waved my hand in front of her face. "Keep looking at me. Okay? This time, I'm not here to beat around the bush." She turned back towards me and gazed intently at my lips. "Nazira, I don't know what you're doing, but you're here, somehow- for me- to help me get through this job. All these months you've lent a few supportive words and encouragement, it was nice. But it isn't all you're capable of."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. Enough of this 'figure out the weakness' nonsense. It's wasting my time. Just tell me what it is."

"This is your dream. You tell me."

"Cut the crap, Nazira," I yelled, "It's hard enough without you saying stuff like that. Stop making the worst of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Dream, is it? Then why does everything feel so real? Why does your presence feel so real?"

"That is what I am saying. Whatever you feel is not real. It is just a beautiful, colorful fantasy of yours that cannot and shouldn't come true. Trust me!"

The sincerity in her voice let me take her for granted. "Fine. Just like how you mentioned earlier. A figment of imagination, it is. So be it. But I've got no time to talk about us and our future of the country anymore. I'm in a really bad situation. Give me one tip that can help me defeat him. Please. Nazira, help me."

She slightly shook her head, her chin trembled. "I've been asking you to study his way of fighting back. Every second of it is important. I told you dark magic users are always weaker than a Samagraha when it comes to a fight. Three months, you've literally lived with him. None has seen him from so close except you. So you tell me. Give me one tip, that'll help me help you defeat him."

Irritation rose. "I told you everything. Every darn thing. And I have no idea what you else you want from me."

"Hayden, take a breathe and listen to me," she said, "Every dark magic user has a flaw. They are never perfect. To have a flaw is a policy. The user must and should accept the flaw and then seek for a source to conceal it. They cannot get rid of it for good, they conceal it. Like...your nails grow and you cannot stop. Because to grow is its nature. Or Shashi Thribhuvan. He needs to preserve his original body in order to make his soul capable to transfer from one body to another. Are you getting what I'm saying?"

"I understand that. You've told me that quite a few times. But believe me, I did tell you every snippet of information but unfortunately, none of them matched your requirements. What is it that you're really looking for?"

She stared hard at me, anger making her eyes, bigger than usual. She looked dangerously like the way I'd been seeing her in my mind lately- stern and demanding and everything unlike the Nazira I initially met and fallen for. "By the end of next month," she said, "you have to finish the job. The ritual is on August fifth. You remember the ritual I told you about? It is the day the clan gathers to increase their number. You cannot miss that date."

I creased my brow, feeling the heat radiating between us. Seeing the switch of her personality was unnerving, but not new or surprising. "Don't complicate it. Fixing a date and all. I'm already too stressed out. I wanted to meet you so that you'd help me..."

"I can't help you with anything if you don't help me first. Because I don't know myself. Hayden, it is time for your return. You have no idea what your friends are going through. It's simply a mayhem down in Dakshinpur. Your friends need you, more than you need them. Your dynasty needs you. And Yuvan, did you forget about him? You have to go back to them before everything falls apart."

"I'm trying. That is what I'm here for. Away from our friends. Leaving you hanging..."

"Try harder. Think harder. Just because no one gave you a schedule written on a sheet, doesn't mean you can prolong the job for months and months."

I sighed in resignation. "What do you really want from me, just say it?"

"Think like Hayden Mackay. Not like a Cornelian user."

I paused, slighting stunned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You won against Shaytan Rup because you passed all those challenges with your intelligence and presence of mind. Depending on that stone was always secondary. I've seen you. And I understood why Singh chose you. You've always been yourself, right from the beginning without letting the First's traits overpower you. That's the reason why I'm drawn to you."

The temperature dropped as she finally admitted the one thing that neither of us had ever dared to mention in words. Our gaze locked. Embarrassment was clear in hers and passion raising in mine. The desire in my pounding heart, it had something to do with the wanting of my body. But I reined in my emotion with an immense effort. No matter how difficult it was I had to step away from her.

It's a dream, my conscience reminded me, and she is your figment of the imagination.

"Thanks for the talk," I said, "But maybe I should go."

She walked a few paces away and stood at the edge of the island. "You were the one who told me this. There's no point in fighting without a strategy. So what's the point in facing him if you haven't got one. And what would you do in that cave if have to stay all by yourself? So, I insist you reconsider your way of dealing with him."

She sat down at the cliff, picked up a few pebbles and started to throw them into the waterfall one by one. She seemed rather adamant, more than what I had been before I came rushing to meet her.

I walked here and there, thinking. Certainly, I didn't want this dream to be over. It would only mean our separation. But wasting my time here, when there wasn't anything to say to each other didn't seem worthwhile. Wasn't it better to go and make an attempt to pilfer the Blade?

I rubbed my nape, cheesed off.

Time passed and I was still here, roaming in this realm under the never setting sun. Perhaps this was the longest I'd ever had a dream. Nazira, let me go. I mentally pleaded. Confusion jarred me. I felt floating in a limbo. The prolonged silence was testing the patience of a saint, which I wasn't.

Unable to bear this silence, I approached her myself, sat next to her and gently wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Won't talk to me, huh?" I asked, when she hesitantly looked up, "Fine, let's try something different. I'll give up every bit of information, besides his way of killing me. The answer you're looking for might be in these details?"

When she showed interest and nodded, I began with full concentration. And it took a couple of hours to give her every single, blow-by-blow detail. Starting with the variance in the weather. The adverse effects of living in his territory - drowsiness and the types of miserable thoughts, or dark vibes that I get in my mind. The rhythmical cutting sound of the wood. How many times and with what tentative speed and accuracy Almourah drove the dagger to whittle the trunk of the tree. The unpleasant smell that came from his vicinity. What kind of rotten food and decomposing meat of an animal it reminded me of. Almourah's grisly bodily structure. The pale skin, the visible veins. That long beard and shabby cloth draped around his waist. His facial features. The shape of his canine teeth, and movement of his lips while uttering words full of threats. The flick of his eyes before his every move...

"Wait, wait!" Nazira hedged me, after what seemed like an eternity, "What did you say about his eyes?"

"He makes eye contact with me." I took a pause. Frowned, having a sudden sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Then attacks and kills me."

Nazira gasped as if locating a tiny glimmer of light at the dead-end of a tunnel.

"He doesn't only look into my eyes," I said, my mind awhirl, "He waits until I fix a stare with him, and then attacks."

"Oh my god!" She shrieked. "And you're telling me this now?"

"I...never realized."

"Hayden, listen," she said, seeking my full attention, "and answer my question. Why do you suppose we look into someone's eyes while having a conversation?"

I was in the middle of recollecting every instance prior to my death, almost being positive that this speculation was something important. And the question she asked was out of nowhere and it faltered my senses. "I don't know. May be looking somewhere else is heavily prohibited, especially when the other person is a girl."

She managed a quick smile. "Leena told me you can be such a perv sometimes. Anyway," she leaned a little closer before getting back to the discussion. "I'm not sure, but seeing how the darkest of all dark magics he invented is always related to it...Hayden, I think he is reading your soul, using your eyes as a portal."

I remained quiet, trying to acknowledge the fact and gain a deeper understanding.

"There's something he is trying to attain by peering into your soul," she continued, "For a dark magic user such as Almourah, if the soul is pure then it gets easier to read since it isn't clouded with darkness like their own. In the words of the Paramrashtrian study of magic, when two normal people have no qualms to look into each other's eyes, it means a bond is created. No matter what it is affixed to, love or hate or such which, but a bond is a bond. And when the dark magic is involved, it is necessary to break the bond first. For instance, consider impelling. Either the task must be accomplished to break the magic, or any of the two people, forced into this bond, must die."

"So every time I die, the bond's breaking, isn't it?"

"And he is creating the bond again in order to kill you. That could be his weakness. He can only show his mettle on the people with soul- purer the soul, the easier it gets to kill."

"Holy piece of a...!" I exclaimed and continued to curse without uttering out loud.

"I read that!" Nazira scolded, grimacing, "Almourah did love his mother just not that way!"

"Sorry " I mumbled, a presumption in favour of this new development striking my mind, "Despite, being so powerful and living in the same province, he never went after Matsyasvi and Pizaca directly because they are soulless. Dammit! How could I possibly fail to notice that."

Nazira leaned back and remained silent, allowing me to have a few moments for myself and be absolutely clear of this possibility.

I might have never noticed in particular, it had never seemed important. But that flick of an eye, now I knew, indicated probing. The bond between us was based on the anger towards the First, in turn, simply the Samagraha possessing the Cornelian. And in regards to creating the bond...it was the stone and eye contact playing a major role.

Snap!

Roar!

Snap!

Roar!

Think like yourself, not like a Cornelian user. What would I have done if I were normal? For several minutes, I thought critically about it, snapping my fingers and mustering only a blank stare at this point. I formulated several ideas, branching out in different directions to fix on one strategy. Finally, I let myself loosen up, fixing one idea. 

It was only going to make the job more difficult, it might need plenty of practice, but atleast it would make difficult for both me and Almourah.

The summer breeze in the realm of Vrishabha wafted, ruffling my air. I looked back at her and found her grinning encouragingly at me. Warmth fluttered in my heart. The confidence that I had lost was now restored, and it wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for her.

She deserved a hug and a huge thank you, but instead, I held her hand and placed her soft fist in between both of my palms. There was a lot we needed to talk, to clear the facts and the misunderstandings. But for the moment - "It's time for me to wake up."

-x-

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for taking a moment to try to figure out the weakness. It was fun seeing a variety of views.