Hello Readers,
How are you? I hope you are doing good.
I am fine by the way. Today is Day Fourteen of NaNoWriMo and so far, I have written 32,644 words. And the goal was to write 50,000 words. I am so close. I think I will finish it in a week.
Here’s breakdown of what I’ve written on Day Thirteen and Day Fourteen on Chapter Twelve:
13-11-2020: 1883 words
15 mins: 608 words
15 mins: 654 words
15 mins: 621 words
14-11-2020: 2498 words
15 mins: 641 words
15 mins: 597 words
15 mins: 584 words
15 mins: 676 words
Without further ado, here’s the content that I’ve written.
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Chapter Twelve: The Strange Sword
Surya let out a long sigh. He was depressed. He stared at the bars of the dungeon hoping that Neeraj would walk at any moment, releasing him. But Neeraj hadn’t came even he stared at it for an hour.
It’s depressing.
He thought Neeraj would trust him after he had informed to him about Bharghav’s secret. But he didn’t.
When he arrived at Neeraj’s base camp, Neeraj didn’t trusted him. He came to know that Neeraj was in a relationship with Bharghav. But from Syri, he found out that Bharghav was a shape shifter, has the ability o change his gender according to his will.
He also heard from Neeraj that he was exiled by his father, for loving Bharghav. Surya could understand why Neeraj’s father had done so. After all, Neeraj was going to be the king of Krishnarajyam when his father steps down. And a king, no matter how powerful he was, was bound to take a queen to produce an heir, to continue their line.
But Neeraj was in a relationship with Bharghav. And there was no way for them to have kids. At least until now.
He hoped that Bhargahv changing the gender could produce children. He didn’t know much about changing gender, as he didn’t know much about such magic.
They thought that Bhargahv had died. But now he found out form Syri that Bharghav’s kind were hard to kill. That he was alive.
He thought Neeraj would be happy to help him rescue Bharghav and his sister, Princess Shravani in the process and also defeat Madhav. But instead of trusting him, he grew suspicious and threw him into a dungeon.
Now that Surya thought about it, he realized how Neeraj might’ve thought about him.
Everything that Surya had said sounded way too convenient for him. He might be thinking that Surya was manipulating him.
Surya sighed.
What could he do now?
He was not powerful enough to escape by himself. The guards outside the cell were thick muscled, their body packed with sand all over them, the result of them using their physical magic constantly.
They would take him down in moments if he tried to do so.
His next option was to wait for Neeraj to calm himself down and trust him. But he was afraid that Ira and Madhav would proceed forward in their plans, taking action on eradicating Neeraj’s base camp.
He need to trust Neeraj. He couldn’t do anything else, unless Syri helped him. She still locked him out of the Living Realm. She wouldn’t help him unless his life was in danger.
Shaking his head, he decided to trust Neeraj.
He sat down with his back to the dungeon wall, staring at the bars, waiting for Neeraj.
Surya was brooding for an hour when he heard footsteps. He eagerly stared at the entrance when he saw Neeraj and his mage arrived at the cell.
Neeraj nodded towards the bars and the guard stepped to open the cell door.
He stepped inside, looking at Surya up and down, then turned towards his mage. “Ari, are you sure that we could trust him?” he asked his mage, the girl in red jacket named Ari.
Surya frowned. Ari. He thought something was strange about that name.
“Yes,” she said. “But you must promise to me that you would use him to sneak into Madhav’s camp.”
Neeraj nodded. “He is more powerful than you and you would only come in my way for rescuing Bharghav and my sister,” he said.
Ari was offended. But she didn’t voice her thoughts. She went out of the cell, leaving Neeraj and Surya alone.
Surya glanced at Neeraj, to see how he was feeling now. He didn’t wanted to offend him anymore. If he do that, then they would lose for sure.
His face was filled with agony. But it was not so deep as he thought it would be. He seemed excited and happy. Too happy than Surya would’ve expected off from him. His eyes were so keen that it looked as if he were curious to learn all about Surya that he could at this moment, as if he wouldn’t get another moment like this.
Surya was unnerved by that. If they were successful, which seemed pretty low, they would get chance to meet more in the future. At least he hoped they would.
He trust Syri with his life. She was more his friend than a master, coming to save his life whenever he was in danger. She had also given him hope. She said the secret about Bharghav, and that he was also alive. He would believe it.
So, all he needed was for Neeraj to believe the same, trust him.
“Even though Ari believed in you, I am not. As I have said before, your claims seemed to be too much of a convenience for you. Even though it would be great if I could spend the rest of my life with Bharghav,” his voice didn’t had the emotion it had back when he spoke about him when Surya visited for his help couple of hours ago. “I still believe what you said was too good to be true.”
Surya nodded. He would’ve felt the same if he learned that his mother were dead. And when someone came and said that his mother was alive and that she was powerful and that she could save him. But he had heard that form Syri and there was no way that she could betray him. “I could understand how you are feeling right now. But you knew that I have means by which I could get information which were truth. What is said about Bharghav was truth. You could believe it,” he said.
Neeraj still looked like he wouldn’t believe him. “It doesn’t matter. We are going to attack Madhav’s camp one way or another. But since you were so powerful and you know where Bharghav’s been last seen, I need you to help me in this matter,” he said.
Surya was very excited. He barely controlled himself from marching forward. “I came here for the same reason. You have the army to go against Madhav’s army. Madhav has powerful mage. You could take care of Madhav while I would take care of Ira,” he said.
Ari snorted at that. “You are as much of a fool as I believed you could be. You are not powerful than me. I could feel it. You dare to say you would take care of Ira, the Powerful One. How did you know that was her name?” she asked.
Madahv nodded. “I heard that Ira was extremely secretive about her origins. How did you get to know her name?” he asked.
He kept on forgetting that they didn’t knew her name. And he was disappointed that Ari believed that he had a bit of power. It was true that he was not as much powerful in mental magic as she was. Because, he didn’t have a grain of power when it comes to mental magic or physical magic. But he had one thing. His will. He was impervious to her mental magic. He just had to learn it. “I have my ways. Besides, I have a secret weapon using which I could defeat her,” Surya said.
Ari grew excited. “What is it?” she asked.
Surya ignored her. “I believe that you wanted to march as soon as possible towards Madhav’s base camp,” he said.
Neeraj nodded. “One way or another, today was going to be a decisive battle. Either one of us needs to go down. If you are confident that you could take care of Ira, then I will help you as much as I can,” he said.
Surya was very grateful that Neeraj trusted him. “When are we going to make a move? I heard that the Sand storm was going to come in few hours,” he said, standing up.
Neeraj frowned. “Sand storm?” he asked, confused. As if he didn’t know what that was.
Surya was suspicious, before Neeraj stiffened. “Sorry, I was s worried about Bharghav and my sister that I forgot for a moment that today a sand storm was going to come,” he said.
Surya nodded. After all, their lives were in danger and both of them were very dear to Neeraj. “I can understand. So, do you know how much time we have before that could happen?” he asked.
It was Ari who had answered to him this time. “In 2 hours. We need to move as quickly as possible,” she grew very excited that she was practically shaking.
Surya frowned. Did she asked Neeraj that she wouldn’t want to participate in the conflict, that she were to be left alone?
“You seemed too excited about the battle. You said you didn’t want any involvement in the battle any longer,” he said.
Ari nodded. “I know, but that was before I found out that you have a secret weapon against Ira. I also want to get my hands on it. Or at least learn about it so that it could be helpful in the future,” she said.
Neeraj shrugged. “I will take all the help I could get. Now, before we go any further, I still want you to know that I do not trust you. I want you to do something to gain my trust,” he said.
Surya nodded. He could do anything to achieve that. “What is it?” he asked.
“Ari had identified some shape shifters amongst our guards. I want you to take care of them,” he said, nodding towards Ari.
Surya stared at them. “How can you expect me to be of any use in combat? I am a weakling when it comes to physical magic,” he said.
Neeraj chuckled. “We have special sword amongst us that could give it’s user the power necessary to do the same,” he said, waving to his guards.
They left the dungeon, then came back, holding a long wooden box.
Neeraj opened the box and there inside the box, a sword made out entirely of white ivory lying there.
Surya’s interest spiked. He moved forwards to touch that weapon. But he felt some resistance against it. As he stepped closer, he felt nauseated. He was gasping for breathe when he took another step.
He retreated away from the sword in agony. Once he calmed down, Neeraj frowned at him. “Are you alright?” he asked, his voice too eager.
There’s something strange about him. He studied Neeraj again. His eyes, which were usually filled with warmth, was replaced by coldness. His curious gaze felt different. His aura, it also felt different.
With a start, Surya realized that the man standing in front of him was not Neeraj. His skin colour, he believed that it was palest he had ever seen. But Neeraj standing in front of him was a tad bit darker. His eyes were smaller.
“Give me a moment,” he said, then used every bit of his will to jump into the Living Realm.
This time, there was no resistance.
The door was opened to the white palace. The red pulsing sphere still beating over the sky.
He stepped inside to see Syri frowning at him.
“Why did you come?” she asked.
Surya frowned. It’s good to see that she was doing alright. But there was this stubborn set of her jaw, the way she looked down on him, even though she was just the height of his own head, irked him.
“Did you know what’s going on outside?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care. Till you acknowledge that your mission here’s a lost cause, I will not allow outside matters concern me,” she said.
“What would happen to me if I fail to finish my first task of Super Task Cultivation System?” he asked.
She stiffened. “Nothing major. I guess. Besides, even though you have brought shitty luck to me, you are still my disciple. I will protect you. You don’t have to worry about that,” she said.
He was not convinced. There were so many things she were hiding from him. He was usually not curious about them, but that was not the case for this matter. He was sure that something horrible was going to happen to him if he failed his first task. “Couldn’t you at least answer me in general sense what’s going to happen?” he asked.
She frowned. “I said nothing horrible was going to happen to you. If that’s what you have to come inside, then I will—“
He shouted at the top of his lungs. “NO. What did you know about the shape shifters? Is there a way to know whether the one in front of me were a shape shifter or the real one?” he asked.
She seemed to be interested, but was controlling herself. “One is outside right now?” he asked.
He nodded. “I think he is. Neeraj, before throwing me into the dungeon, had went along with Ari to his base camp. But he came along with her. And everything about him seems off. I believe that he was a shape shifter. Ari seemed to be an okay mage, but even she was fooled by his shape shifting skills,” he said.
“Who’s Ari?” she asked.
“The mage that Neeraj employed, just before we met him,” he said.
She raised an eye brow. “From what I heard, she was the worst mage one could ever find,” she said.
“That’s not what Neeraj think about her. Besides, there’s a strange sword with him. I feel nauseated just to stand nearby it. I want to know whether we are dealing with the shape shifter or not. I also wanted to know about this strange sword,” he said.
She fronwed. “Tell me how the sword looks,” she said.
He described the sword to her and she sighed. “It’s not a sword of our kind. So, you don’t have to worry about that. As far as the shape shifter was concerned, you confirmed that he behaved strangely than that of the real one. Just deal with him and we will verify later,” she said.
“Will you help me?” he asked in a hopeful voice.
She sniffed. “I will help you only if your life was in danger. And from what you’ve said, that was not the case,” she said, then threw him out of the Living Realm.
Surya cursed, opened his eyes to see Ari staring at him, her brows furrowed. “Are you alright? We have called you many times and you haven’t answered to us,” she said.
Surya nodded. “I wan—“ he stopped as the fake Neeraj came towards them.
“Are you going to use this chance to gain my trust or not. If you are not, then we will part ways,” he said.
Surya shook his head, pushed himself to his feet. “I will see to it that I will gain Neeraj’s trust. Meanwhile, I wil have to take care of YOU.” He shouted at the top of his lungs, lunged at him.
The fake Neeraj’s was surprised. He stumbled backwards, his arms flailing.
Surya’s balance was knocked, as if someone invisible were pushing him sideways. He fell to his side, looked towards Ari, who glared at him. “What are you doing? He’s Neeraj. Are you one of Madahv’s?” she asked.
Surya shook his head. “He is not the real one. He’s a shape shifter,” he said.
“No way. I have been with him the entire time,” she said.
“I am sure that he is the shape shifter,” he said, then strode towards the shape shifter, who was now on his feet, ready to fight.
The guards by their side dropped the case containing the sword, stood by the side of Neeraj, guarding him.
“You asked me to trust you. Is this how you are going to betray me?” the fake Neeraj asked.
“You are not Neeraj. I will meet up with him and gain his trust by my own. You don’t have to worry about that,” he said, stepping forward. Or at least he tried to.
Ari used her mental magic to prevent Surya from walking further. He let out a frustrated groan. “For the love of sands, stop playing with me. He’s the fake one, one of the Madhav’s men. I am on your side,” he said.
She gritted her teeth. “No, you aren’t. The moment you attacked him I was convinced that you are our enemy,” she said. “And I would do anything to let you walk away or harm him.”
Surya shook his head and strained to push forward. But the invisible wall still held.
“Why don’t you reveal yourself? That way things could be much easier for all of us,” he said to the fake Neeraj.
“I don’t know where you got the idea that I am the fake one. But stop with this nonsense,” he said.
Surya had to find a way to reveal the true colours of the fake Neeraj. Other wise, he was going to be in real trouble. Bharghav. He had to ask him about Bharghav.
“What does Bharghav meant to you?” he asked.
Fake Neeraj frowned. “He’s my second man. What’s wrong with you? Stop playing and surrender,” he said.
Surya grinned, turned towards Ari, who looked pale. Sweat forming on the top of her forehead. “Are you alright?” he asked.
She gritted her teeth and continued to put the invisible barrier in front of him. “Stop distracting,” she said.
“You were there with me when I arrived here, before I was thrown into dungeon?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Then you know what he means to him,” he said.
Her eyes widened, but she was still not convinced. He will have to do more. He turned towards the fake Neeraj. “I am asking you again. What does Bharghav meant to you? Just your second?” he asked.
The fake Neeraj frowned. He seemed thoughtful before replying. “He.. he is like a brother to me. Because of you he’s been captured. I should punish you…” he sputtered. “Guards, take him down.”
Ari gasped, her barrier flickering for a moment, before it disappeared completely.
The guards scrambled towards his, their body slowly packed with sand on top of their skin, increasing their muscular strength.
Ari raised her arms and the guards were thrown back in air. “He is a shape shifter,” she yelled. But her voice was fading. She was shaking horribly and her face was pale.
The guards ignored her and came forwards, striking at the invisible barrier multiple times, finally, one of the guard fell forward. The invisible barrier was broken.
The other guards steadied themselves.
The fake Neeraj swore under his breath, but he didn’t came forward to fight. Or he couldn’t.
The sword was beside him and for some reason, the fake Neeraj couldn’t move an inch. Is the sword something that weakened shape shifter’s powers?
He didn’t know. He turned towards Ari and she slumped on the floor, her body shaking. She couldn’t help him further now. He had to take care of the guards and also the fake Neeraj.
The third guard stood on his feet and together with his team mates, he formed a formation and approached Surya.
Surya cursed under his breath. “Don’t you recognize your own leader?” he asked.
The guards ignored him and stepped forward.
Surya fell to his knees, his hands taking a much sand as possible. For a moment, he felt he could awaken the sand magic of the physical magic. But knew he couldn’t and threw it directly against the three guards face.
They cursed under their breath and protected their eyes while Surya dashed towards the sword.
His nausea grew worse and he knew that there was no way that he could use the sword to go against Neeraj. But he had to try something. He didn’t have physical magic or mental magic. He was a weakling.
All he had was his intelligence. And hope that if he finished saving Shravani, then he could get a sword that would aid him, provide him power.
He gritted his teeth and took another step towards the sword. His leg quivered. He strained, veins popping in his forehead and completed the step while the guards came for him, all of them at once.
Surya dodged to the side, the guards were fall on top of the sword. Or at least that was what he thought. The guards, as soon as they reached the sword, froze in mid-air.
They get sucked into the sword, their forms twisting and slowly disintegrating, until nothing remained.
Surya stared at the sword in horror.
He remembered Syri saying that it was not the one he should be worried about after he described the sword to her.
The sword kind of consumed the three guards, right before his eyes. But he trust her with his life. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself to his feet and strode forward.
There was resistance like before, but it reduced greately.
He turned to the fake Neeraj to see him looking at Surya with surprise. “How?” he asked, but that was hard enough. The sword definitely something that could be used against shape shifters.
He took one more step forward. One more and another, till he reached the sword.
He bent down and picked the sword, his mind became blank.
He bit his lip, the pain enough to keep him awake and lifted the sword. He swung the sharp edge at fake Neeraj’s head. As the sword touched Neeraj’s head, his original features revealed. It was men who was beside Bharghav when they first met.
Surya grit his teeth, then continued pushing the sword through Neeraj’s head and was immediately met with resistance. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t push an inch forward.
Meanwhile, something tried to take control of Surya. His mind was on the edge of becoming complete blank when he heard a scream.
It was the fake Neeraj. Finally, the sword pierced his head, cutting the head off the shape shifter. It flew in air and away from the body, while blood splattered all around him.
Surya should be horrified, but he didn’t felt anything. He was slowly losing control of his mind and he struggled to control it anyway possible. He strained against it, tried to push it towards himself. Nothing worked.
He knew that he was slowly losing control. What was gone was replaced with hunger, hunger for blood. Hunger for death.
Surya didn’t know when he left the dungeon, but he was walking out of it and saw soldiers rushing towards him. His arm moved as if they had a mind of it’s own, sending the soldiers swords away. Cutting their hands, arms, head, waist. It cut everything that came at it’s way.
Surya was crying, he wanted to stop, but he cannot control it. His mind was slowly filled with raging madness, as if someone were erasing what was of him.
His life was in danger, couldn’t she help him at least now?
He tried to call for her. But found he couldn’t. The more he tried to focus on other things than trying to contrl whatever awareness remained, the quicker he was losing himself.
He gritted his teeth. Tried to control his arms.
He couldn’t.
He moved towards the servant quarters, who were looking at him with horror. They were crying, he was crying. As he raised his arms against them, he found out that he couldn’t.
Somehow, his attacks were useless against htem. He smiled.
He was satisfied.
“Kill me,” he whispered.
They were horrified, huddled together.
“Stop me,” he said.
They scrambled away from him.
Few more guards threw themelves at him. his sword cut through them as if they were cheese.
The servants screamed at the top of their lungs. Surya followed them.
“Stop. Me.” He yelled loudly.
“Enough,” a voice shouted.
Surya tried to turn, but he couldn’t. his body was still under someone else’s control. But the thing was retreating. He was slowly regaining his control.
Soon, he was able to turn.
It was Ari, whose form flickered to Ira. Then Ari. Then Ira.
She was the one who played them all along.
She smiled at him.
“I wanted to see whether you could bond with the sword or not. But I realized that you couldn’t. Since Madhav had already started to bond. So, I found this,” she said, pointing towards the sword, which hung limply in his hands. “It was something that anyone could bond. But was something so difficult that whoever tried to bond it losed their minds, thereby their lives. I am surprised you were still able to hold that even now.”
She walked towards him. she tried to touch the sword, but flinched as if it’s stung. “I see that you started to bond it. Who’s helping you? Syri?” she asked.
It was then that Surya realized that it was Syri who said Enough earlier. He looked into his Living Real to see that she was straining harder. Straining against the blackness that was slowly draining her power.
“Anyways, the bonding takes such a long time. Besides, you haven’t even accomplished your first task. It would take even longer for you,” she said. “I will leave the sword to you. Good luck with that.”
She stepped away from him.
Surya was slowly losing consciousness, but he struggled. Syri was also struggling with him. He had to fight for her.
He had only one power. Powerful Will. Gritting his teeth, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Another voice echoed form the Living Realm.
Something was changing inside, he didn’t know what it was. He didn’t know what it meant, didn’t know whether it was good or bad. But he struggled to push the invading madness that wanted to consume him.
He banished it away, like his village banished him, claiming him as Consumer of Darkness.
The darkness struggled back, defiant.
Surya and Syri poured everything in their power and pushed against the power, which did struggled back. But it was retreating from his consciousness.
Soon, it was completely banished from his mind and Surya slumped into unconsciousness.
***
What do you think about it?
What was the Strange Sword I’ve mentioned in the chapter? Why did Ira leave it with Surya, instead of taking it with her?
What had happened to Syri? And also, it’s mentioned that one cannot bond other master’s sword or object. But Surya had started to bond with one in this chapter?
Comment your theories below. I would love that.
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Until Next Time,
Nagendra Kumar Yadav T.
Nagendra's Stories and Craft 