Blade of Vish |

29.Beyond The Outskirts

"Where am I?"

This was the very question I asked myself as my eyes slowly opened, revealing nothing but darkness. Everything around me was black as if engulfed in the night, except a ray of light coming from a small hole nearby. 

I-I remember the garden, I remember Vaani. She and I had a pretty bad argument. I remember running away, I remember the sound but then-

I couldn't remember. 

My head ached like hell, as if an elephant was playing baseball and my fellow brain was the pitch. Back of my head hurted too. With the help of the wall behind my back, which I assume was the only thing supporting my body, what I could sense was a buldge. Is the back of my head swollen? I thought practically to myself because I literally had no memory of facing a head trauma. 

I found it hard to concentrate. Every muscle on my body cried the same: for God's sake, rest a little. I had lost quite a little pounds and I was sure about it as my pants were literally skidding off. 

Where was I? Same question, still no answer. 

Sniff! Sniff! I tried to smell the horrify atmosphere around me. The smell air around me smelled of smoke, somebody might have been burning wood lately. The air consisted to a little smell of what was it? Alcohol? Maybe. Just don't ask me how I know the smell of alcohol. What all I can relate to is common cold. Hope you understand. 

But there was something strange, disregarding the fact that I was in a strange place, god knows where on Earth, or maybe not on Earth. Mind games! Uh! 

Is that blood? I asked to myself as I recognized the smell. Iron like, little metallic smell- I surely classified it as blood. Is that my blood? I asked to myself as I smelled my clothes, they smelled of blood. Maybe I the injury on my head was bleeding. Hopefully, I think it dried up. 

Moving my hands gave nothing. I couldn't. Something was stopping me. Motion of the legs too resulted in vain. My fingers made rapid movement as so to identify what was stopping my hands. 

Thick and small curves with metallic texture. Was I- was I chained up? Yes I was. Both the hands and the legs. 

Somebody chained me, but why? I mean I am harmless, ain't I? And even if somebody has captured me, the question was, what will he or she gain? I neither have loads of money in my pocket, nor do I have supercool powers like the Saptasiddhis. I wa here alone, chained up, trying to figure things out even if I don't even know what the shit is going on! 

I was far better in the ETKing than here. I mean, I had been treated hard by the princess and prince, I have been beaten up, hurted, and all. But that never, never ever felt intentional. Everything that happened, considering how I was treated, there was a tiny guilt in the eyes of both Vaani and Dhruv, as if they never wanted to treat me that way. Take my training sessions, or my nameless torture in the name sake of training, all these things boostened me up, they somehow made me capable of thinking clearly. After all, I killed a demon easily in the market. And I was not even hurt, thanks to the same training. But that turned my attention to the later, my first ever date, sorta, and then Vaani running into us from nowhere, then the care she had for me in her eyes, then-

You ate your parents up! 

Her words still echoed in my mind. 

Mom and Dad. Would they be okay? I didn't even know if i could ask that to myself as didn't even know if they're alive or dead. 

No! I assured my brain. They aren't dead! They're just away from me that's it. But was this enough? After all, I was just hoping for the best.