Akshvi Ishva

07. The New Perspective

Both Parnika and Nitiksha had slept for the night. But somewhere someone had a rough sleepless night.

He sighed, looking at the moon that shone brightly like it was a full moon day. He saw the moon with the ethereal brilliance, yet the beauty of the moon couldn't grasp his attention for more than a second.

After all he had seen much more beauty in his long lifespan, a mere few hundred years, all in solidarity. "What is happening?" He thought.

His dark skin shone in the dark, he went to his small box of belongings and pulled out a pouch. From the pouch, he pulled out a gold ornament. He stared at the lustrous piece, which once graced the head of the Empress of Aryavart, the fire born princess.

"Why did you come back Panchali?" He questioned, looking at her chudamani, "You would have been better if you didn't come back here." He said with a sad smile on his face.

Arjun sighed before carefully placing the chudamani in the pouch and placing it with his belongings.

He walked out the hut he made. Building huts came easy to him, after all one would not always have a roof over head and Arjun had simply mastered the knowledge of making a house anywhere with anything in no time. Perks of staying alive for centuries.

He felt the moment Draupadi was born again, it took him a few minutes before he knew that she was born Ahichhatra, as the only princess. He also knew that his mother was the one who would raise her.

And even though he was patient and calm, he couldn't help but worry about Draupadi since her mother had died during the childbirth. It was also Arjun who had saved Nitiksha when Swarnsheel's other wives had plotted and tried to kill Nitiksha in womb.

Arjun had always kept an eye for Draupadi since the day she was born, always there to save her from the smallest of danger.

Once a rival King tried to kidnap Swarnsheel's daughter to weaken the King, and set out at night towards Ahichhatra, Arjun with his ability to appear wherever he wanted to, had walked straight into the King's camp and gave him a chance to leave and run.

And when the said King had laughed at his face, wondering how an ascetic like Arjun would do a thing. The laughter had been wiped off a second when Arjun merely stomped his foot bringing the King's entire camp down into ruins.

"I have let someone hurt her once. But I do not make the same mistake twice." Was the only thing the King heard before everything went black.

Arjun never went to see Nitiksha, he didn't know she looked or what her voice sounded like, yet he was there everywhere, protecting her from everything she didn't even know existed.

Arjun's love for Draupadi was like the purest waters of Ganga, everyone aspired for it yet only a few deserved it.

After seeing the world for eight centuries, and watching the onset of Kalyug, Arjun felt guilty that Draupadi was reborn in this world of sin because of him. She was too pure, too good for this world.

"Arjun." Dhanajaya turned around and saw his friend, technically his only best friend, walking towards him. "Ashwatthama," Arjun's voice sounded annoyed, which made his best friend laugh.

"You don't seem happy to see me." Ashwatthama asked with a smirk on his lips, already knowing the answer."

Arjun sighed, "Will my answer change you- constantly disturbing me?" Ashwatthama nodded in a no. "Don't act like you don't like my presence, you little menace." Perhaps a few Kalyugi words had stuck to Ashwatthama as gently flicked his fingers on Arjun's head.

"People grow mature when they age, you, my dear friend, on the other hand have simply become more infantile." Arjun replied, continuing their playful banter.

When the people Arjun and Ashwatthama knew started to reach the age of autumn, they grieved, but soon within a few years, their sons, grandsons, great grandsons, everyone was going.

It was hard to see people leaving, the people who were related by blood and bond; The only possible solution was to stay from them, those whom the two would outlive.

Few decades after the Kurukshetra war, both Arjun and Ashwatthama left, away from all those whom they knew, away hiding their identities and masking their presence.

When Kalyug reigned, people questioned the existence of the great war, not believing that the great kuru warriors were not just a tale but rather a painful chapter of history of bharatkhand.

Often it came down as fables because no one had seen the two people who were supposedly alive, a few stories saying that they might have been spotted in someplace.

But;
In the end, the ignorance of people was good for Arjun and Ashwatthama who never lied, when they spoke their real names people thought they were merely named after a few famous people.
It was peaceful for the two.

"Well, you get to be all mature. You are going to leave this mortal world soon." Ashwatthama chuckled at Arjun's stoic expression, "I, on the other hand have several more millennials alone,"

It was true that Arjun's time on earth was a thousand years, which was coming to an end soon;
His friend on the other hand was cursed to breathe till the end of Kalyug, many more years to come.

"This is why I want you to grow up now." Arjun replied, "I don't want you getting into the clutches of some Kalyugi who might take advantage of your virtuous behaviour."

Ashwatthama laughed, in an inhumane voice, so loud that Arjun stared at him in disbelief. "Arjun, I may be a virtuous man, but I am not naive nor stupid to fall for the tricks of some people."

Arjun nodded, "I am just worried, you trust people easily." It was merely a whisper, but Ashwatthama heard it, "That is why once you and Panchali leave, I will go to Mahendragiri, to my Pita's Guru."

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How was the chapter?

Tell me, you weren't expecting this, were you *grins*

BTW: I loved writing Arjun and Ashwatthama's scene- It was literally UwU

I am melting *melts*