Flower or the Most Dangerous Weapon?

The voice that called out to him multiple times in the past but every time he has been completely oblivious to it. He ignored that voice again and again, yet it sounded so much clearer now. He was going crazy to think how much it resembles his own voice. Even if it was his own voice, it was as if filled with hollow rage, discontent with each word it uttered. As each moment passed, things began to make less sense to him. A crying Mir in front of him continuously calling out to him, shaking him occasionally but he could hear none of it. There was a point where he blankly stared back at Mir without a word. It was as if the two were separated by a thin invisible film where at one side, the time had stopped and on the other, the time seemed to be moving fine.

Mir began to become restless at the lack of reaction too suddenly. He was on the verge of dropping his tears along with trying all his spells carefully not to hurt the others when suddenly the other let go of his own head and reached out only to hold the former’s hand. And then very slowly, he said, “Mir, am I going mad? I hear voices in my head.”

The way he looked completely lost and dejected Mir pitied the man in front of him. It didn’t take him much time to realise that it was the first time of both his personalities clashing. He mentally cursed himself to ever think ill of his friend when it was someone else inside the latter doing it all without any knowledge of the owner at all.

“Oi oi, are you now trying to gain sympathy?” the voice spoke to him again.

Vinasaka calmed down a little. He had realised that Mir couldn’t hear what the voice was saying at this point, neither could he hear Mir. He tried talking in his mind to reply, “Who the hell are you? Why are you messing with me?”

“Woah looks like you are smart after all, you didn’t talk to yourself like a crazy dude.”

Looks like that worked.

“As for who you ask? I am you, the you who you have always ignored, who everybody has ignored. I am going to destroy you.”

There was a cynical laughter after he completed which again made Vinasaka clasp his ears with his palm but in vain since the source of the voice was nowhere outside. Mir seemed to be unable to hold back any more and there was only one option left. He took a carnation from the floor and put it in Vinasaka’s hand.

“Imay...Imay..can you hear me? Imay say something if you can...Im--” He was almost screaming on top of his lungs in front of him when suddenly he felt the touch of another hand on his lips which made him stop abruptly.

“Thanks, Mir….thanks.” Both of them fell silent as Vinasaka laid his head on his friend's shoulder while clasping the carnation in his fist as tightly as possible. Mir didn’t say another word but only smiled with a sigh ever so lightly and kept their kneeling before him as long as Vinasaka didn’t get up. A long time had passed before they both stood up, the carnation in his hand was all crushed and the liquid of the flower was all washed in Vinasaka’s palm but he refused to let it go. He found Mir taking the hand. He was about to object when Mir threw that flower away but instead zipped up his lips and found them curling up when another flower was pushed in his palms along with a more familiar hand clasping it together with him.

None of them let it go. There was finally an excuse.

They hadn’t even gotten too far when suddenly they heard several voices all muddled up. It seemed like they were just outside the border of the lily forest and the moment a pair of eyes laid on them, the person who seemed to be Princess Zaharia ran towards them only to be held back by a grip of a strong hand which belonged to none other than Mohnish.

“Did you forget?” Another calm voice spoke out from the opposite direction which made Zaharia laugh in embarrassment but she didn’t stop herself from going up to Vinasaka and hugging him when he finally came out.

Vinasaka and Mir did not really understand why Crown Princess Novah was there. And the slightly reprimanding voice earlier belonged to none other than Amir who stood beside Princess Novah. Mir quickened his pace and greeted the princess who told him that Ariah had also been worried about them but she was back at the palace.

After a while, Mir said, pointing at her hands near her stomach.

“The Neel Kamal?”

Sensing the obvious confusion in Mir’s voice and the doubt in his friend’s eyes, she smiled and said, “Without this it would have been totally out of control now.”

They didn’t yet understand but only after Zaharia explained the two, did they understand the whole turn of events since they had disappeared.

It seemed as if Zaharia was the first back up to have arrived and along with Mohnish both had tried hard to deal with the demons. However, the numbers were no small. It was almost like what they had experienced back in that vacant village, Vinasaka thought.

However, when Zaharia found Vinasaka’s ‘kara’ lying shattered on the floor, she went pale with fright since there was no sight of both of them after that for hours. Hearing this somehow made both the newcomers feel some sort of guilt and evidently Vinasaka went to his sister to rub her shoulder and earned a pout for free.

It was almost as if those small shards of his ‘kara’ were keeping the demons away and protecting his sister even if he was not there. However, she wouldn’t sit still, and Mohnish and Zaharia went prying further inside the forest. But the forest was more like a maze. No matter where they would go, it was all red lilies all around and there were no signs of the two.

Of course, they didn’t realise the importance of the kara so when they had left it behind to look for the two boys they had to again face some other demons. This time they were more like in the interior of the forest and they were barely holding up. Mohnish had protected her once as a result of which he was now standing with the side of his stomach all covered in bandages. Zaharia looked down and her expressions weren’t visible but Mohnish took her hand in time and drew something on her palms that made her ashen face completely tomato red in a second. Mohnish chuckled softly at the reaction whereas the others started looking anywhere else but the love birds. Zaharia cleared her throat before she continued.

The princess was almost about to run out of her time magic when suddenly the demons seemed to all disperse as quickly as possible. Standing behind them was Crown Prince Amir and Crown Princess Novah with her weapon, ‘Neel Kamal’ glowing like a shiny lotus of golden colour. As she continued to chant the spells silently, slowly the entire forest seemed to become clear of the demons one by one.

It was really a complete K.O.

“I had no idea you were that strong?” Vinasaka gleamed like a puppy.

Embarrassed by the third prince, she said, “I am flattered by the third Prince, but it is not I who is strong but this weapon of mine. I am but a mere vessel.” Princess Novah has always been the calm type. She was never seen too excited or too sad, Amir thought or was it that he hasn’t known her enough.

“But I know that there isn’t another person who is suitable to control such a lethal weapon as the ‘Neel kamal’.” Mir cut in with a proud smile.

Amir sent a smoke signal before they left as a signal of gathering all the members as requested by Mihas before Amir went to back the others up and refused Mihas to come along since someone had to be in the court if someone was to come up.

Several days had passed since they came back. The forest of the red lilies was nowhere to be found after that day. It was as if the ‘Neel Kamal’ had completely eaten up the whole forest bit by bit. Charon and Lyca were also back beside Mir who would occasionally summon them both in the woods in the middle of the night and spend some time with them. Lyca was now somewhat closer to Vinasaka and would often play pranks on him. Charon was clearly grateful towards him as well and even if they couldn’t speak, gestures were enough.

They had let the others know about the uninhabited village they had come across and it was still under investigation and also about Yakshi but none of them seemed to know about her. Even after they had visited the abandoned village several times after that, they couldn’t grab a sight of her.

“Do we really not get to see her again?” Vinasaka said in a plain voice but Mir didn’t reply. His face was the same. After all not all questions are meant to be replied to.