I moved closer to see where the bright shining light came from.

The whole place was covered with gold and diamonds, which shone brightly under the lake.
"Treasure?" I exclaimed.

All of a sudden, I could breathe underwater. I don't have to hold my breath anymore.
What the fudge moment.
Can Mahabharata be less mysterious than this?

"Is this gold?" I took a cup from there.
I heard someone moving behind me, but when I turned, there was no one there.
"I better swim back up," I thought as I started to ascend.

A sudden force pulled my foot down, and as I looked down, I saw a serpent with five heads holding my foot with its tail.

"What the fuck?" I tried to pull my leg out of the grip.

In an instant, it pulled me closer and held my entire body. All I could do was to pray to the Lord Krishna.

I closed my eyes, struggling in its grip, and began to pray.
"Kanha, Help me" I screamed.

"Dhaksha!!!" I heard my Kanha.
I looked around, searching for him.

The entire underwater began to shake, causing objects to swirl around. Land under the lake started to break, and the serpent started to lose its grip.

"How dare you touch my sister?" I heard Kanha say from a bright light in the distance. The light became brighter as I closed my eyes.

I found myself in a misty fog, where I saw my parents sitting inside a room with a little boy beside them.

"Ammaa appa," I shouted and tried to walk towards them.

No matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't reach them.

"Her name is Dhakshayani." A guy sat in front of them.
"She came to our home a week ago," he said.

"Alright. We are ready to do it," my mom said.
"That's your brother," I heard someone. I turned to see Balram na.

My brother? What are they ready to do?

"Look for yourself," he smiled.
"We would love to adopt her," My father said while signing the documents.

What the fuck? I was adopted?

"You both shall make good parents for her," the guy replied.

"I was adopted, Balram na?"
"Yeah, you were adopted by them." he nodded his head.

"But her name is Dhakshayani?" my dad said.
" I always wanted to name my daughter Diana. Let's name her Diana sweetheart." my mom smiled. " You gonna become a brother, my Manuel." my mom took him in her arms.

"Yeaahh!!" he exclaimed.

"Look how happy they were," I said with my eyes filled with tears.
"Your brother died, so that you could return to us," he said.
"He did that for me? What are you saying?"
"Yes, Dhaksha. Don't worry, now you are with us. We are going to protect you no matter what." he held my shoulder.
"But my brother died-"

A sudden force pulled me from behind, and I found myself in the grip of the serpent. Kanha kicked it's head, made it lose its grip.

"Go to the surface!!" he shouted while fighting it.
"I can't go without you."
"I said go, Dhaksha!!!" he shouted again.
"But-"

I was lifted to the surface.

"Bhaiya!!" I shouted.
"Dhakshaa," Balram swam towards me.
"Kanha is under the water, fighting the serpents." I was out of breath.
"Come let's get out of the water." he dragged me.
"But Bhaiya, you have to help Kanha."
"Calm down Dhaksha." he made me sit.
The whole water turned black.
"Bhaiyaa, what's happening?"
" I guess it's the Kaliya Nag," he replied.
"Kaliya Nag? The Serpent?"
"He used to reside in Ramanaka Dwipa. Later he was chased away. I guess he's hiding here, we never knew about it." he replied.
"I don't understand anything," I cried.

Suddenly, the serpent emerged from the water, while Kanha stood still on top of its head and started to play the flute while performing his cosmic dance.

"Kalinga Narthana?" I exclaimed. "Is this where Krishna slays the Kaliya the Serpent?"

It was said that Krishna carried the entire weight of the universe and crushed Kaliya under his feet.
"Jai Shri Krishna" I prayed.

"Forgive our husband for his sin. We didn't recognize you earlier." the wives started to plead. "We wouldn't do anything like this."

He climbed down and walked towards me.
"Are you alright, Dhaksha?" he patted on my head.

"Here upon this Krishn. You shall never return to this water. Many cattle and people of this village come here to drink water. It's not right for you to poison the water like this and put their lives at stake. Now off you go," he shouted.

The serpent greeted Kanha and swam away.

"My dhaksha come here" he called me.
"Don't touch me. The serpent should have killed you. You made me go inside the lake. This is all because of you Krishna!!!" I shouted.
"If you didn't go inside the lake, we wouldn't have known that Kaliya was residing there. We thought we chased him away." he smiled.
"Ohh so you used me as your prey. You knew it right the serpent was inside the lake. That's why you wanted to come all the way here to take a bath in another village. What would you have done if he killed me down there?"
"Dhaksha dear, Calm down" Balram na said.
"Dhaksha, I wouldn't have let anything happen to you. Don't be mad at this Poor Krishna," he said with a baby face.
"I'm never forgiving you for this. By the way, I'm letting you know that I'm mad at you for two reasons. Firstly, for using me as prey and secondly, for lying to me about my birth." I started to walk inside the woods.

"Balrama, you know Kaliya can take human forms too. I hope he doesn't take human form and roam inside the woods, to attack us," Kanha said.
Human form? What?

I took a few steps back from the woods.
"What are you looking at? It's your place...uh Lead the way, Krishna!!" I stammered.
He laughed and walked towards me.
"Call me Bhaiya," he pinched my nose and walked away.
"Krishna, Krishnaa, Krishna!!" I shouted.
"Dhaksha, let's move. Walk now, I'll come behind you," Balram na said.
"Can Kaliya take human form" I whispered in his ears.
He laughed at me and he pinched my cheeks

It's a brother thing, the pinching thing.
"Krishna was joking," he replied.

I walked fast towards Kanha na and got past him.
"Why did god give you long legs? Walk fast" I said.
I heard both of them laughing as I walked forward.

~~~~~~~~~

"Is this where you lived?" I pointed.
"Where he lives. This is where he lives now," Balram na corrected.
"Yeah, that's what I meant."
"You have to meet my parents." Kanha pulled me inside.
"Mata Yashoda," Balram called out.

A woman who looked exactly like my mother got out.

"Krishna? Who is she? Is she your foster mother" I took a few steps back.
That's my mother. No way she's-
"Who's she? What trouble did your brother get into again Balram?" she asked.
I ran to her and hugged her closed.

"Mom," I cried hugging her.
"She's my Sakhi from another village. She just misses her mom so much." Kanha said.
"It's okay dear. If you miss your mom go be with her. Why are you with us?" she wiped my tears.

She's right. What am I doing here?
"What's happening here?" I heard a voice.
"Pranam Pitashree," Kanha greeted.

I knew it. He's going to look like my dad. I fell on his feet and got his blessing.
"Ayushmaan Bhava. Get up dear. Who's she ?" he asked.

I got up to see my family standing before me. My mom, dad and my brother.
"She's Krishna's Sakhi," Mata replied.
"She's going stay with us for a night. Can she?" Kanha na asked.
"Of course she can." Mata Yashoda pulled me inside the house.

I was so happy
~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you so much, Kanha," I said while gazing at the moon.
"For what? I did a lot for you today," he laughed.
"For taking me here and making me learn things and allowing me to spend time with my family."
"God wanted you to know the truth."
"You are my god, my Krishna" I smiled at him.
"What did I do to become your sister? What did I do to the universe to sit beside you like this and get the love of you? What good deed did I do to call you my brother? Huh? My Murali Manohara. " I bend my head.
"Everyone in this universe deserves Krishna's love. You deserve a little bit more than them" he pat on my head.
"Krishna.."
"What happened, my sister?"
" I don't want to wage war. I want peace with my Aarya Arjuna, with you, with my putras, with Draupadi, with Karna and everyone-"
"Dhaksha, you gonna get peace. This Krishna promises you that you'll get peace." he caressed my cheeks.
"But after the war." he looked away.
"Is there anything you can do to change the fate?" I held his shoulder.
"Even god can't do anything right now" he replied.

I started to gaze at the moon and the stars of Vrindavan, and then I heard Krishna's flute.
He began to play the flute. The stars started to shine more. What did I do? To hear Lord Krishna playing his flute.

"Go to sleep my dhaksha. I'm going to play more for you." he smiled at me.

I lay on the grass near him and closed my eyes.

~~~~~~~~~

"What are we gonna do now?" I heard a voice.

I slowly opened my eyes to see my Aarya Arjuna, Subhadra and Draupadi beside me.

"I knew it. Kauravas are not going to do what they promised us, Aarya," Draupadi said.
"What happened to my sister?" Subadra looked at me. "Sakhi, are you alright?" Draupadi looked at me.
"Dhaksha?" Aarya held hands.

To be continued

The shocking fact that Dhaksha was adopted shook the entire audience. Does it not?
What's gonna happen next?
Are you excited for the war?

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