Disclaimer : The facts here are fictions as well.

" Deva! Deva!!!!!! " 

Devasena springed up to find, she was lying unconscious on the sofa, and Avanthika bent over her with a glass of water she mostly was sprinkling on her face.

Devasena stood up straight, and stared terrified at Avanthika. Avanthika, utterly surprised and exhausted, came forward to hug a stiff Devasena. She kept murmuring, " What's wrong Devasena? Why are you behaving so strange these days? "

Slowly, the hug soothed Devasena, she relaxed and the very next moment her arms passed around Avanthika. She couldn't doubt the girl who always took care of her like a mother. She suddenly hated herself for behaving so drastic.

Avanthika said she was in the washroom when she heard a scream. She rushed out only to find Devasena lying unconscious on the sofa, blabbering something illegible.

All Devasena remembered was she losing consciousness after a loud noise, mostly having a feeling of death. She could however understand it to be a momentary illusion as an aftermath of a story having their namesakes.

However, Devasena knew she had seen a ring. And that was too clear to be an illusion, and yet nowhere to be seen, to be true.

Devasena however didn't at all tell Avanti about her visit to the historian, because she didn't want to be judged again by her. She rather asked for sedatives. Avanthika took them almost regularly.

When Devasena woke up it was five in the morning. Avanthika lay fast asleep, she mostly had stayed up late for her thesis. Devasena however couldn't waste more time. She had to rush....to the man in question.

" I leave for London tonight. Work calls. "

Amarendra lit a cigarette with Devasena's permission. And she still was not able to convey what she knew. Moreover, now this drastic announcement.

She stared as if thunderstruck, while he stared somewhere else.

" You leave tonight? " , utter surprise mixed with distress marked her voice. To this Amarendra looked into her eyes.

"Devasena, I know I should stay.. I know I should help you. But....is there a use? I can tell you everything. I know anyone can...like historians maybe? Like books maybe? But....that's not how it works you know. Unless you.... "
Amarendra stopped. Devasena grabbed the sofa cover. She felt a turmoil inside and that hurt.
" .... Unless you believe things by heart, unless you hear things happen, see everything I had seen..... "

Devasena blurted out... " how do you know I'm the Devasena you're looking for? Just because I have her face and by chance her name? " , Devasena knew very well it was much more than having just a face or a name. But...how could he know how she felt?

Amarendra fell silent. Devasena continued. " Amarendra was Devasena's husband. I know! But that doesn't just connect any Amarendra and Devasena!!! "

Amarendra sat still for a long time, creating mountains of impatience within Devasena.

Then he stood up. " that's why I leave. We shouldn't live in the past. Should we? You never did. And I move on. You're free to leave. "

Her impatience now flowed down her cheeks as rivers. He kept staring . She stood up and walked close to him , her breathing fastened once again. Her jaws firm, she uttered, " since I met you, I'm living in something I don't have an answer to. If that is my past, you are responsible for pulling me back. Now... You.... Cannot...leave me drowning. "

Their faces were so close to each other now that they could hear their breaths. And neither of them blinked.
Amarendra slowly broke the eyelock and stepped back.

" I have been living in the past since I was born. And no one pulled me. I jumped into it. Myself. "
Amarendra walked upto a staircase and sat on its first step.

" ...I had no one to help me out. I knew nothing of the visions I had. I was brought up in a country that gave me no glimpse of what I had in my subconscious. And I was so small then. As I grew, I couldn't confide to just anyone about it. Only my sister, but she too didn't believe. People thought I imagine a lot. And that's all about everything. Then I grew up completely, and all my visions had joined by then to make up an entire story. Story of a man who was never crowned....  "

Devasena slowly sat down. She felt tired.

" I started looking for the man.... Internet was of no help. I stormed through libraries, even joined classes of world histories. The anxiousness kept eating me away as it grew day after day. No one to walk upto and say, 'I'm not normal, my soul has stories I don't know.' I felt so lonely at times....  And those were the times I just pacified myself, that the man's woman too must have been undergoing the same, somewhere ..... "

If only she did....for so long.
Amarendra looked at Devasena who now stared at the floor. She felt him getting up and walk towards her. She looked up.

" Let's go. "

" Where? "

" Maahishmathi. "

The journey from Bhopal to Ujjain was uneventful. Amarendra had booked two seats at a Volvo, that shuttled up and down the places. Throughout the journey beside Amarendra, Devasena felt a strange calm. It was seven in the morning when they started, and she didn't care to inform anyone. Not because she didn't care about anyone, it seemed she cared the most about.....her past? Or the man? She didn't know.

Amarendra time and again offered her foods, drinks. She accepted some and declined others. She noticed, he was a gentleman in its truest sense, and he took good care of the woman to his responsibility. Not that Devasena needed men...but she felt beautiful. Once more. He drove back the curtains to the window when the scorching sunrays almost burnt Devasena. And Devasena knew he was an introvert, though he could just help anyone and everyone if need be.
And she remembered Lamba's words every moment.... " he was loved by his commoners because of his compassionate nature... "

And he was murdered...

Devasena hid drops of tears that escaped her eyes time and again, while Amarendra spoke nothing of the past, but only a bit of his present...in London.

" How did you find me? " , Devasena asked, suddenly. And Amarendra smiled but fell completely silent. They didn't talk for the rest of the time. Disappointed, Devasena slowly dosed off, unknowingly on the shoulder of Her Man.

They stood a distance apart from the huge gates of a huger ruins.

Maahishmathi didn't even have its name anymore, it was just a part of Ujjain that had no other name. People only had a name for the ruins . " Raakh mahal " or Ash palace. The fire played its part.

No one had permission to get into the ruins, except archaeologists or workers maybe, after written applications to central government. Because it was dangerous.

Devasena watched the almost demolished palace, her heart paced like never before. She felt her chest wall would explode. Amarendra on the other hand, slowly walked away to the banks of Narmada, that flowed just beside the ruins.

Devasena followed suit.
She couldn't stand there alone. She as if could still feel the warmth of the flames that took innumerable lives centuries back.

" You too couldn't get in? "

" I'm a doctor. Not an archaeologist. " , Amarendra adjusted his shades.

" Then..... "

" I know every corner of the palace Devasena. I've seen everything that  doesn't exist anymore... "

Devasena now hated this feel. No matter what, no matter how close they got, a strange line popped up between. A timeline. She felt he existed in a different century. And  was only interested in the Devasena of that century. She held no value because she didn't remember her past.

An immense sorrow pulped up her throat. Though she didn't know what significance his taking interest in her held for her, she felt hurt, she felt broken, she felt helpless.
She clenched her fist and stared at Narmada, trying to calm herself.

" Come. "

Amarendra held out his hand towards her. And she looked at him, her brows together. She didn't hold his hand, but gestured that she was ready to follow him.

The curio shop owner, Mr Lakhani said that his eyesight was weakening, but not his memory. He was very eager in talking about the Maahishmathi kingdom as he knew. Amarendra wasn't much interested in his stories, he rather asked him to show stuffs of Maahishmathi if any, to Devasena.

Devasena though was very interested in stories.
" unfortunately, almost every little thing I had of Maahishmathi, I sold to a friendly curio shop owner in Bhopal. Because the stuffs were minimal, and not many people took interest. Three paintings and some little stuffs never caught any attention until he came just a year back, and took everything away. And he paid in good too. " , Mr Lakhani chuckled.

Devasena looked at Amarendra, almost done. However she found nothing that distressed him. He rather shoved through things in the shop in general.

Suddenly he asked, " didn't anything related to Maahishmathi get in here within the last few days? "

To this, Mr Lakhani thought for a while. Then as if remembering spontaneously he said, " yeah.... Just yesterday a person came and almost forcibly sold to me a sculpture. No doubt it's beautiful, but my shop stores antiques. Not craftswork. "

" What sculpture? "
Amarendra came forward.

The man shoved through a shelf. Upon not finding, he called for someone else, a boy around twenties who came from the insides and brought out from a corner, a sculpture that was only about fifteen centimeters tall, but was brilliantly done. The sculpture was of an armoured man, with a typical headpiece, that was less of a crown and more of a shield. The man's face was not very distinctly made though, but it made Devasena look at Amarendra once, thoroughly examining his face. Amarendra too examined the sculpture.
Devasena looked back at the armour. And immediately her eyes caught a symbol embossed in the middle of the armour.

Where had she seen that symbol? 

She felt the turmoil again. To suppress it he quickly asked Mr Lakhani. " What symbol is this? "

" it is the symbol of the Maahishmathi clan. The sculpture is of the greatest descendent of the clan, Amarendra Baahubali, who met an unfortunate end. "

Amarendra looked at Devasena. Devasena looked at Amarendra. And she couldn't describe how she felt now, when his lips slowly curved in a smile. Never in her life had she had such a feel.

Suddenly out of the blue, the boy in his twenties, who for a long time was trying to recall the face of the woman before him, shouted.... " ohhh my god!!!!  You look exactly like Raaajmata Devasena! "