Hastinapur, Guru Dron's Ashram

Arjun's POV

"You and him were never the same, Arjun. Never."

Light.

I felt light, as the heavy weight of guilt was slowly lifting up from my chest. I knew everything needed some time to settle and absorb, so was the need to slowly drift apart from Eklavya's memories. It was difficult to accept everything with a clarity when I myself was tangled with it in a way, a sigh escaped my lips walking towards my quarters.

It was silent as usual, with me witnessing my brothers huddled with each and slumbering peacefully. I crept towards my bedding beside Jyesth, refraining from making an ounce of sound. Pulling the duvet over myself, I gazed up at the open space as the cool breeze brushed past my tresses, exhaling deeply.

The trust.

The innate trust Gurudev had for me, everytime. He trusted me more than I could ever trust myself. That man has something, something more than I could ever fathom in my life, his words and his thoughts.

Perhaps, his love for me.

He knew me more than I knew myself. He knew every inch of me for my own good.

What would I have ever done without him?

My fingers curled around the duvet, the calmness inducing my lashes to drip down gradually with Gurudev's words were delving for an anchor in my heart. A mellow nudge on my arm made me subtly hum in response, "Phalgun?"

Jyesth's soft voice was laden with a tinge of drawl, "Hmm?"

"Is everything alright?"

My fingers firmly gripping his palm allowing the warmth to gently drift in as my eyelids dimmed down, "Hmm."

"You, sure?" His voice almost escaped with a silent eupnea, budging towards me.

"Hmm......" There was a faint curve on my lips, as the breezes brushed forth to drift me down into the depths of slumbers.

★★★★★★★

3 years later...

"You, my dear Anagha is undoubtedly an Atirath."

The one look of pride in Gurudev's eyes for me was what I used to yearn for each day. He stood by his firm stance and so did I by my promise, engrossed in its depths. My entire self lay at my preceptors feet, at his mercy and will as with every passing day my conscience was guided by him. My life had turned into a living austerity, its beginning and end finding avail in the presence of Gurudev. 

Turning an ever mindful eye of never repeating the same mistakes. Ever.

There was yet more to discover, more to learn as the years began to sweep by in a blink of an eye. I knew I had to endeavour for more, to push my limits further in order to master the Divyaastras; the ultimate forms of weaponry. Handling such a vast power required adept concentration and mindfulness, as a single err could be baffling; the vivid spell of the chants, the locking of fingers and its various arrangements were delicate, there were stark differences in summoning the Agneyastra to Varunastra, even though from a few glances it appeared very similar.

And that's when I realized, there was no end to knowledge and learning. 

It was as vast as the sea and endless like the Universe. One could only grasp and master an ounce of it.

One could only inch towards perfection. Nothing more, nothing else.

And even as the days passed, it appeared as if our assessments turned more rigorous. Gurudev was sparing no chance in assessing every move, every stance of us. He had turned strict and more vigilant, and we had to turn enough mindful not to perform the slightest of errors.

For attaining the mighty Brahmasheer astra, one cannot afford to display any moments of their fickle-mindedness. 

The Sun casted it slanting orangish rays across the sky, the clouds rolled beyond as the soothing breeze fissled past the dry leaves for it was the advent of autumn. The weather had turned slightly chilly, but only a relief after the perspiring summers. 

"Can you all see this wooden bird, students?" Gurudev's voice boomed all of a sudden, halting the curious whispers all around. He had his own ways, he would never, never ever allow us to even have a hint of what he was preparing to assess us upon. And we would be only left guessing what he could possibly do. My gaze amusingly traversed up towards the branch of the tree, from where the artisan climbed down after fixing a wooden bird.

What did we had in store for today?

"Not clearly." 

"It's hidden behind the foliage!" One of them commented, squinting his eyes, "It's not--I mean I can only witness a part of it."

A wave of confusion fell amidst the students, as Gurudev let out a tiny chortle, "It's a target students, it is very obvious to be hidden in that manner."

"Anyways, let's come to the point." Gurudev's eyes began to rake each and every one of us, while mine was curiously trying to view and locate each and every part of the bird that was less than a mile across me. With a little effort, its rear end was visible—probably a part of its wing—its head and—

The eye.

"You all need to grab your bows and arrows, and point at the bird's head, you see there?" Gurudev pointed somewhere near the tree as thousands of faces turned towards the side, "You need to aim at the bird,"

"After that, slice off the bird's head as soon as I give you the permission. Got it?" 

★★★★★★★

A/N

*Grinssssssssssssss* Abhi maja ayega na bhidu! 😍😍✨✨✨✨

Signing off for today!

Kiritija Nushkie