39. All Hail Paramarashtra

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The creature screeched resoundingly as if to wake the country from a glum state and knock them all over with a tornado of Shashi's wrath. It shot off in an aggressive arc towards the dark sky, brandishing its wings and, with its master sat on its back, making his commands heard. The gust of wind rumbled terrifyingly on its launch, tearing through bushes and the dried trees beyond.

In short, to make Nazira deprived of the part of her magic that needed oration of spells and to be able to use Pruthvi's Formation in full swing was Shashi's plan. He meant to separate me and Nazira and himself from Rawat's palace. I had no time to contemplate the choices and strategies - if Shashi slipped away from my grasp, that meant losing Pruthvi also, which was unacceptable and unperceivable. I went with the flow, disregarding Tyrell's call and marshaling my power of concentration on my stone, no matter how small it was at the moment.

Hardik swopped upfront from behind the clump of bushes and drove towards me. I pushed myself, leaping into the air, and landed on my flying friend, allowing it to read my nerves and mine only. It soared up at once, whizzing like never before and staying aligned in the same direction Shashi took.

The freezing breeze hit my wounds, giving me cold shivers.

With me getting away, Nazira would lose only half of her magic; I wondered if Shashi was aware of that. She could still perform the Fabrication. It got to be her, I thought, when the darkened sky lit up ablaze with the brilliance of light, granting me the sense to locate Shashi riding the creature as clear as noonday The ground below where the Rawat's village had been destroyed and reduced to the wretched conditions of the slums, was altered into a field of crops, trees, and snow, enough for me and Pruthvi to get a feel of cushioning the impact if any.

Shashi kept going high in the air unhampered by Pruthvi's fear of heights. Anxiety eclipsed my thoughts. He had to be luring me further away from my friends, letting the sense of vulnerability embrace me. He reached the clouds, and the momentum of the creature began to change, from slowing down to hovering slightly below the puffy cloud. The creature then menacingly turned around, flapping its wings back and forth, Shashi ceaselessly watching me approach with an unfamiliar sneer.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, he flung his hands out and let out a mind-staggering scream. The sound of an explosion from somewhere below jarred my nerves. It was all crops and snow from up here, but the sound led my imagination to run wild - the streets in the middle of the village were shattered into broken, jagged piles of rubble. Followed by the sound of the mangled huts breaking into further thousand pieces, shattering and collapsing to the ground like a pack of cards. It was perhaps Pruthvi's most devastating Formation ever, and Shashi was ostentatiously displaying the terrifying deranged version of Pruthvi to me.

The mild headache began to pulse behind my eyes. Before I could command my stone, I thought for a moment about a plan to stop Shashi without hurting my friend. Was it even possible? Or did Shashi want me to hurt Pruthvi? It was the first time that Pruthvi and I were going to have a match till death, pity that it had to be this way. Distressed, I ran his hand through his unruly hair, absently smearing blood all over my forehead. My stone did not feel too snug in my pocket. Instead, it was searing hot, almost burning me. I didn't know what else to do. I was going to hurt Pruthvi despite all my efforts. The panic bubbled in his chest, ready to consume me.

Another devastating blow came from the ground below, startling me out of my stupor. I had to stop him anyhow, and with no other choice, I commanded my stone. Nazira appeared.

Fire engulfed Pruthvi from all sides, making the creature screech crazily, throwing its both faces upwards and taking sudden nose dive. Hardik descended as well, folding itself from all sides around me to help me keep my balance. I did not let my fire go and poured down torrents of flames until Shashi receded.

(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the PancharatnaOù les histoires vivent. Découvrez maintenant