Dedicated to Furashu

It had been two weeks, Bhargav had become a human being with a very problematic superpower which he handled quite scholarly and in this Darshan was a living inspiration. But Darshan was a born human who had twenty four years of practice with his unworldly powers, even the upgrades were smoothly adapted and all the Lords and Ladies of Naarook knew how difficult it was for Bhargav who had two types of life for these days.

That's why they all tried their best to assemble and carry out the judgement of the Lord of Karma which was ordered by a superior. The new recruited members of the judging system did not know who the superior was or why all the Lords and Ladies were on their toes to hold the judgement in such a haste.

They were all excited as it had been few years, no Divine being was placed on the culprit's chair; but knowing the culprit's identity, they were nervous too as the Lord of Karma always had been the one who used to decide punishments, be it a human or someone from Naarook or someone dead.

Lady Shweta was the first one to reach the NORMS CAFE with her small jury, her white robe with pale sky blue embroidery work was shining silvery in the faint moonlight, her every step radiating grace, power and authority.

The working souls of the office did not dare to make eye contact or make any mistakes in presence of her. The judgement would have been  arranged in the ancient Hall of Justice if the Karma Lord was not the culprit, as he was banned from Naarook and that made every members to be offended with attending the event in a human domain.

Disha was already on duty, but Sampath did not take his leave, being part of only a shapeshifters' tribe, his presence was not that necessary; but he could not hold back his curiosity and the fortune to meet the Nature Lady. The meeting was held at the third layer of the office where the lifts to the gateway of Naarook were situated.

The huge vacant place where the Naarook's soldiers were kept in waiting on the night of the battle at the NORMS CAFE, was tuned into a parliamentary assembly. All Lords and Ladies came one after another with their jury teams and soon the hall was filled with faint murmuring.

The Death Lord came with only his head secretary of the Death Messengers and took his seat with utter coldness and the hall fell silent. He watched the opposite row with all the Vasantgarv family members and their jury teams with faces full of anger, disappointment and even fear, some were blank like Lady Amrita; he knew how divided she was feeling that time, she was never biased by Shanath's nature nor by his origin, after all a life is a life.

On his own side of row there were the Shinnai family and their only jury team as he himself came with only one ancient ghost and being the security in charge, Aayudh just could not use his men in his own benefits, he just sat there looking most uncomfortable one. Only Rajani had managed to hire some official workers from the Palace of Eternal Rest only to keep some sentences for their Second Prince. The Death Lord was not feeling ashamed for attending his own brother's trial, and he knew that neither did his sister or his youngest brother.

The entrance of the Lord of Karma left every and each of them dumbstruck, he was in his formal pitch black robe, his shoulder length coal black hair untied, his light brown eyes were sparkling with pride and self-esteem. In normal circumstances everyone would mistake him as the Lord of War, as Aayudh was an almost copy of him except for the hair, the skin colour, the dress and the slight differencebetween their physique. While the War Lord's aura used to give an emotional support, soothing and assuring; but the Karma Lord's presence alone could stir uneasiness to the core of every soul, including the War Lord himself.

It looked like that the whole officials' team from the Prison of Eternal Punishment had came to support their boss, including the High Saint. His presence alone had an admirable effect on the Knowledge Lady who was carrying out the judgements as head judge in the absence of Bhargav.

Shanath calmly took the culprit's chair in the middle of the hall, facing straight to Lady Shweta who gave a silent snort in utter helplessness and Shanath did not bother to give any spared look to any of them. Only after that, bowing to all the Shinnai family, the High Saint took his seat on their side with his other companions.

With Lady Shweta's reading out all the accusations against Shanath, the procession finally started and by the end of the list all the persons who were unaware of some of them, looked at the Lord of Karma, mouth agape.

The first accusation was bribing a Death Messenger. The Death Lord kept his calm demeanour as he was well aware of that his brother did never commit it.

Lady Shweta as per rules asked to Shanath
"Shan Raj, the Lord of Karma do you agree that in anyway you tried to bribe a Death Messenger?"

Shanath who had leaned his body comfortably in the chair, listening to his own original name, looked a bit uneasy.

Sitting straight, he as usual answered with his sharp, dominating voice
"I do not agree with something that I never even thought of, my Lady."

Lady Shweta was wondering what could have given such bold courage to that most unruly Lord ever and she could not help but admire the person whom Bhargav had given his whole trust.

She calmly asked
"Do you have any proof, regarding this matter?"

Shanath looked at his side where Lord Anthraj was staring at him intensely. Feeling the urge in his brother's eyes, the Death Lord indicated his secretary to bring the Death Messengers who were unable to collect the souls which were taken away by Shanath for his conspiracy.

Immediately enough the Death Messengers who were waiting outside went inside and they all looked like they were melted into pulp with so many glaring eyes fixed on them.

One of them were brave enough to talk to first when the Death Lord indicated to state the truth.

With a low shrill voice he stated
"We were unable to collect the souls because they were already gone from there, before we could even understand that they were taken away illegally."

He was trembling to utter any more words as Shanath's smirking face was indicating that they were going to be punished too, no matter what.

Confirming his own voice, the Death Messenger again said
"We are all apologising for failing in our duty, for that we'll take whatever punishment my Lord thinks to be perfect."

The Death Lord already had informations about these Death Messengers' negligence in their work, but he had to keep enough patience to let them state the truth or they would've been turned into nothing by then.
Lady Shweta was aware of that too, but she just could not jump to conclusions so early.

She blankly asked Shanath
"So the Lord of Karma himself took the burden of capturing those souls?"

Turning back to his original position, Shanath carelessly answered
"Yes, my Lady. As you know that I was once a temporary in charge of that work, it's not a surprise that I've learned how to work with this process."

Lady Shweta, giving a stroke on the scroll infront of her, said
"No wonder. So hereby the Lord of Karma is free from the mentioned accusation and his punishment for the crime will be decided later."

Though Shanath's face was full of disagreement he kept his cool. All the Death Messengers left with hanged faces as they knew that their ultimate death was very near.

Lady Shweta moved to second accusation which was: taking away a spiritual device from another Lord.

The entire hall witnessed the arrogant demeanour of the Lord of Karma turned into an utter self blaming expression, though his eyes were looking straight away, but to Lady Shweta the stare was vacant. The others remained silent on their seat as they were from the beginning, but their expressions told that they finally got a grip on the ever unrestrained person in front of them.

Surely Shanath felt his whole confidence crumbling down to nothing, he was not the person to be blamed for this work which he would never dare to even think of. Taking away the Fate Designing Tablet of the Fate Lord or the Fatebook, simply means taking away Bhargav's life.

How could he do that to the person who gave him his utmost faithfulness, respect and more to add, love, warmth and comfort. Shanath had a family which was cold to the core, though sometimes he felt their care but still the vacant part of his soul was yearning, which his family felt but that was not something to be solved by his family.

Shanath did not hear what Lady Shweta was asking him, he saw every eyes were scrutinising him, but the only thing that was ringing in his ears were the last parting words with Bhargav that he had a few hours ago in a haste meeting

"Don't let them get you okay. Just believe in yourself. I know you're blaming yourself for my condition, but as I've always said, everything related to me is yours to have, even my soul. And moreover we still cannot have control over the Universe's decisions right? So please keep your conscience to yourself, at least for my shake. And remember, whatever punishment they will give you, I know you'll use that as a benefit."

When Bhargav said those words, his face was full of trust, assurance, pride and comfort.

Shanath's eyes were still unfocused to the place where he was actually, until a strong hand gripped his shoulder from behind. His eyes fell on Lady Shweta whose expression was somehow pitiful though she was irritated enough for the delay in her work.

Then he saw the person who gripped his shoulder and a lone tear escaped from his eyes. Shanath knew that he had enough grip on his emotions and he would never ever show his vulnerability infront of anyone but the person, at that moment beside him, had enough effect on his emotions.

A few minutes ago, Aayudh could not sit still on his seat anymore, he was fidgeting with his fingers, glancing at Lady Shweta, clearly indicating the emotional state of Shanath was not well at all. The Death Lord's cold facade turned into a worried one, his
stare made a silent plea to Lady Shweta to permit a chance to make his brother a less agitated, to which she agreed.

The others however seemed to disagree on that as they knew if the War Lord approached him, there could be situations against them. But to their oblivious minds, Aayudh just held Shanath's emotions in a bay of control and the lone tear from Shanath's eyes glistened with regret, remorse and helplessness.

With his painful expression, Aayudh indicated Lady Shweta to continue, and this time the Lady of Knowledge, for the first time kept a plea in her voice.

"Lord Shanath, do you agree on the said accusation? If you do not, then please explain yourself."

Even she had to keep the question like that.

Shanath assured Aayudh with a nod that he would be okay. When Aayudh finally removed his hand from Shanath's shoulder, he felt like he was pressed down with the whole weight of Shinnai and the pain he felt, pierced through his veins; and he knew he needed that pain to keep his conscience to himself.

Closing his eyes once, after exhaling a shaky breath, he answered
"I hope that everyone here knows what actually happened. So I do not want to argue over this matter anymore. I fully accept the consequences of committing this horrible crime."

Aayudh knew it from the very beginning that his second senior brother would not deny the crimes which had even a tiny bit of his mind and this all happened due to his one carelessness. Still standing behind Shanath, he felt his senior sister's rebellious aura and immediately turned to her, with his intimidating light brown eyes, he pleaded her to calm down.

Rajani's veins were pumping viciously against her pale skin and her eyes were dangerously violet, only when she felt a surge of assurance from Aayudh, she could not help but look at her senior brother with pleading eyes to say something. The Death Lord who felt all the tensions between his siblings could not sit still doing nothing.

Standing up from his seat, with his official deep cold voice, he said
"Excuse me, my Lady, I have some insights to say upon this matter."

Immediately, every single eye turned to him. Lady Rashmi, the Lady of Light looked a bit troubled, her eyes narrowed in deep thoughts, and the two members of her jury were finally eager to note down something. Lady Prakriti, who came there with her main five elemental disciples, was as always indifferent to these matters, but her sea green eyes were scrutinising Lady Shweta minutely. Lady Amrita's furrowed eyebrows finally came to normal as she exhaled a long sigh and her companions, behind her relaxed a little.

On the Shinnai table, the High Saint finally came out of his outraged trance and the officials of the Prison of Eternal Punishment prepared themselves for a possible argument. On the other hand, Shanath did not look at his senior brother at all, he was already too much occupied with many kind of emotions and meeting with his senior brother's eyes would just cause him to dig a hole and hide into it.

However, Lady Shweta's face was telling another story, she looked amused. She had never seen the Death Lord showing any care to his siblings, let alone to the person who caused the worst pain ever in his life. She did not know, if she wanted to praise the openness or be disappointed with the fact that the Death Lord was being warm-hearted.

She carefully arranged her voice with a warning and said
"My Lord, if you have any relevant point to say regarding this, only then you can speak."

Hearing this Shanath who kept his head down since the beginning of this topic, finally looked at Lady Shweta. His light brown eyes were fueling with suppressed rage which told Lady Shweta only one thing "behave!"
Lady Shweta visibly cringed in her seat, she knew that Shanath had taken the statement as an act of disrespectful manner towards his senior brother. The Death Lord blankly watched Shanath's daring behaviour and could not let it long for any other minute.

He straightforwardly kept the point
"My Lady, all of us know that it was a misunderstanding. What happened was never an intentional plan. And the trace of the twin core essence is really something that we even can not differ. Then how is it even counted as a committed crime?"

Lady Shweta's lips were completely sealed as she was afraid that she would outbreak in anger, her eyebrows twitched in exasperation, yet she could not deny that Shanath was not the meant culprit here.

When she spoke it seemed that she was moving her lips with suppressing a hiss
"Very well then, since this crime is counted as an Universal decision which we could not stop from happening, the Karma Lord is hereby discharged from this accusation."

The Death Lord exhaled a silent sigh of relief, the whole Shinnai table calmed down. But the opposite table had total different reactions, Lady Rashmi gave a small snort whereas Lady Prakriti huffed in relief that Lady Shweta could keep her calm demeanour.

Lady Amrita looked a bit lively again but that did not stay for long as the next accusation struck her mind. Helplessly she looked at Aayudh to let him know that the upcoming accusation would ruin everything and Aayudh could not do anything except surging a calm effect on her.

The next accusation was stealing a Naarook's property without permission.

Since the rightful owner of the Book of Ancient Records and Memories was not in existence, the book was stored in the official library of Naarook and no one was ever allowed to even see that book. It was believed that even without the owner, the book could record all the histories and memories of the whole system; be it a normal human or someone from the Divine world.

The reason for stealing that book was still clouded, though few persons already had guessed it but the maximums were afraid of the consequences of the Awakening of the book by Lord Shanath.

Lady Shweta, as usual gave Shanath a chance to give them a relevant reason for taking away the accusation.

Shanath calmly sat in upright position and declared
"I do not have any relevant point to keep me out of this accusation. I, Shan Raj, the Lord of Karma hereby confirm that I have taken the Book of Ancient Records and Memories from the NORMS. And the book will be returned to its right place after the purpose is fulfilled. I should add more here,if you all are concerned about my mannerism, then you can rest assured that I asked for permission from the department head and he stubbornly denied my every requests."

His tone was firm, as if he did the things that were best in the situation and it was indeed true that though his works were reckless, they had wonderful effects.

Thankfully, the Shinnai table kept their mouth shut as they knew that in this accusation, they neither had any excuses nor any helpful clue of what was Shanath exactly planning? Even if they knew they kept their ideas to themselves.

In the opposite table, Lady Rashmi gave a smirk, Lady Prakriti again huffed in the feeling that she would be out of this scene finally. While Lady Amrita looked a bit pale with tensed face, she knew that Lord Shanath had to take the blame but still she was worried about the punishments, she could not even think of a life suffering hardship.

Looking at the Death Lord and Lady Rashmi, the two Elders from the two families, Lady Shweta at once firmed her tone and announced
"The Lord of Karma himself agreed with this accusation, and did not even try to come up with any evidences. So, hereby we all witness Lord Shanraj to be a criminal. And request all the Elders to give him suitable punishment."

Saying so, her shoulders slumped down, she suddenly felt exhausted. Lady Rashmi cleared her throat soundly and that captured everyone's attention. Being the eldest of all, she was a respected one and the decisions taken by her were meant to be agreed by all. The Death Lord and Lady Rajani sensed a danger and Aayudh could sense an untold joy from Shanath and he knew what was being planned.

Lady Rashmi did not care about other's reactions, she kept it straight with her stern face
"He'll be able to handle the people of Pranheena very well. I think it will be relevant enough for him to rearrange some points there."

The Death Lord was highly against the idea, it was his domain after all, he just could not let anyone enter there, at least not after knowing how chaotic the place was. Before he could say anything against it, Lady Prakriti who seemed to be out of the matter, raised her hand in agreement and so did all the jury members.

To all of their astonishment the High Saint and the other officials of the Prison of Eternal Punishment raised their hands too, a visible smirk was glittering on his face and the Lord of Karma turned to him only to give him a nod in appreciation.

Lady Amrita wanted to slap that man badly but seeing Aayudh's mischievous smile, she made a disagreed expression. Lady Rajani glanced at her senior brother once and she realised that they were the only persons who were worried about their brother; but that brother seemed to be glad enough after hearing that.

Knowing the inevitable incidents afterwards, Lady Shweta agreed to it too, she very gladly declared
"So with the majority of raised hands on the suggested punishment, it is hereby declared that the Lord of Karma will be exiled to the Pranheena for a while. And the souls which were taken away illegally and returned later as per the Lord Shanraj's truce will accompany him as well. If any of you want to object over some points here, please raise your hand."

In reply, she did not get anything except silence. And finally inhaling a calm breath, she declared
"Since everyone is clear on this, the case is closed with satisfied judgement."

Immediately enough the tension filled atmosphere vanished into thin air, and the High Saint and his colleagues were the first batch to leave the hall with a simple nod from their Lord, then Lady Prakriti and her elemental disciples left without concerning any other matter.

Lady Rajani gave permission of leave to the official workers from the Palace of Eternal Rest too; and so did the Knowledge Lady to her jury team and the Lady of Life to her companions. Lady Shweta, Lady Rajani, Lady Amrita, Lord Aayudh, the Death Lord and the Lord of Karma were the few who were left.

Before leaving, Lady Rashmi personally went to Shanath, and still with her firm voice, said
"Do not dare to disappoint me. And reflect well on yourself."

Shanath who was first amused with Lady Rashmi's suggestion, could not find any word of gratitude. Bowing his head in utmost respect, he said
"As you command, my Lady."

Lady Rashmi did not look twice at him and eying the Death Lord once, indicated to warn his brother well, then she too left with her two members.

The Shinnai siblings gathered in one place at once, Lady Amrita wanted to join them too but Lady Shweta was fast enough to hold her sister and warn her with furrowed eyes.

Seeing, his Senior brother's forever stoic face, Shanath rolled his eyes and said
"Senior brother, you can show your emotions sometimes, at least when you supported me so openly. I'm much gratified with your opinions."

His eyes were full of respect, adoration and amusement too and when Lord Anthraj looked at him seriously, eyes narrowed, Shanath gave his best ever charmful smile; and the Death Lord suddenly lost words for description of his inner joy and satisfaction.

However, still controlling his cold facade and stiff voice he said
"I'm sorry that I could not do much for you. But I promise you, the next time I'll be better if you BEHAVE."

Shanath's eyes widened as he had no idea how much his brother could surprise him with this caring side, his eyes moisturised and with a very weak voice he said
"Thank you, brother."

"Who do you think want your silly gratitude?"
The Death Lord said with the same icy tone and added
"Behave in that chaotic place or I'll be the first one to whip you."

Shanath could not hold himself anymore, he embraced his senior brother in a strong hug, as he knew his brother cared about him even though he disappointed him a lot, even though he caused that man so much pain. Lord Anthraj awkwardly patted his brother's back and Shanath broke the hug only to be hugged by his younger brother.

Aayudh was all teary and snorting loudly, he just managed to say
"I'm so happy for you."

Lady Rajani looked like she was in a wonderland where she got to see her most desired dream coming true, with a smile on her face, she gave her brother a nod. Shanath knew that his senior sister's time was up, she had to go to her duty and he nodded back; after bowing to the Death Lord and Lady Amrita she left.

Lady Amrita was watching the family scene with the same teary expression as Aayudh and Lady Shweta felt herself totally out of the place, she badly wished to call her son to join them and give fulfillment to the scene. When she remembered the other brother and no one cared to talk about his lost soul, she could not stay calm anymore.

She almost shouted in anxiety
"Wait! Did anyone think about Bhargav's soul recovery?"

Immediately, both Amrita and Shanath answered in unison
"YES!"

They looked at each other with a critical expression and Aayudh gave an awkward laugh, while Lady Shweta and the Death Lord realised that the three of them were more intensely connected than they thought.

Before the situation could get more suspicious, Lady Amrita declared
"Yes, we've found a very difficult way. And remember, this is going to happen in the history for the first time ever and I can assure safety and success. But for that we need the patient here with his whole body."

When Lady Shweta's eyes were scrutinising the three, Aayudh nodded his head vigorously to assure her and Lady Shweta settled her gaze on the Death Lord who himself was not sure about anything.

Almost stomping his feet on the floor, Aayudh nagged
"Senior brother, com'on, we need to go to bring Lord Bhargav here. My Lady needs to return to her duty."

Saying so, Aayudh grabbed the Death Lord's hand and hurled out of the hall, leaving Lady Amrita and Lord Shanath in Lady Shweta's soul piercing stare. They both exchanged a look of understanding and decided to surrender.

Before they could utter any sound, folding her hands behind her waist, with greeted teeth, Lady Shweta said
"You two have some explanations to do and I suggest you better do it now."

              ●●●●●●●●●●●
Hey, beautiful readers out there
Hope you are all good in this holiday session.

First I want to thank you all for supporting me this far. My achievements are only for you guys,for your reads, votes. Again sincerely THANK YOU!🙏🙏

So, the Life Lady has some way to cure Bhargav, but what is it?
Lady Amrita and Lord Shanath are seemed much closer, how is that possible?
Why do they all want Lord Shanath to be exiled to the Pranheena?

So many questions.........
Hold on tight, as it's going to be more tangled.....

A very long chapter! 4369 words !
Yeah! It took a toll on me. 😧

This chapter is dedicated to this amazing reviewer @Furashu
Thank you for your review, I really appreciate your suggestions. 🙏
& I promise to work hard on my problems. 😊✌

Please VOTE if you liked it!
Do comment and share too 🙏
Stay safe, stay healthy and enjoy reading.

                 ..............Anasuya Raj

27th December , 2020