Kalki thought he had seen everything until the fire blazed inside the house they had just escaped from. The tunnel had led them quite far from it, and he was glad he was away from the wretched man, Kali. But then, the house was aflame and Kalki tried and failed to stop Bala from leaving.

“I have to go, brother,” he had said.

Kalki, his energy dead and his joints hurting, shook his head. “No, he’ll kill you.”

“I won’t let Ratri die.”

And Kalki understood what Bala was feeling. That’s how he had felt as he raced across the plains of Shambala, only to find Lakshmi dead. He understood it, but he knew Bala would be in grave trouble if he went.

“Stay safe.”

Bala nodded, and with a smile, said, “I believe in you, brother. I believe in the cause. Bring back order again.” And he left, sprinting across the field.

Kalki remained there. The fire had caused most of the house to crumble. Where was Arjan? Where was the new girl Padma? Why was everything so dire?

It had been an hour and the house he had lived in, was now ash. People had gathered around it, but Kalki didn’t understand why. Kalki began to trudge forward with Shuko over his shoulder, when he was toppled over to the ground by Kripa.

“You shouldn’t leave. Let’s go, Bhargav waits for us.”

“I don’t care about some man in the hills. This is my family,” Kalki began to walk away, gritting his teeth. He had reached and exited the plains, when he saw the heartrending sight before him. A group of people looked at him, some even recognizing him as the prisoner who had escaped on the flying chariot. Kalki found in front of him, two corpses, hideously massacred.

It was Bala, his face destroyed and Ratri, a sword sticking out of her spine.

Kripa had managed to catch up to him as Kalki fell to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes, his fists clenching with hatred. Kripa gasped, as he tugged on to Kalki, pulling him away.

“You can’t see this.”

“I have to kill him,” he said, his mind had wandered to the time he had the racing contest with Bala. Lakshmi would have hated Kalki, now that he had let her aunt die as well. All the deaths were now weighing him down.

“You will. But everyone recognizes you, mate. Come with me,” he pushed him, away from the crowd.

Kalki pushed the old man away. “You don’t get it. I have to kill him now.”

Kripa remained there, not even moving. “And then what? Get caught again like last time, when you went all heroically in front of Durukti? Do you want to get trapped again, stuck in that vicious cycle and keep having us free you?”

“There’s no ‘we’ anymore,” a voice came from behind.

“Oh for the love of the Gods,” Kripa grunted.

Kalki turned to face a tall, agile girl, with shrewd eyes and silvery hair. She had a pale and drawn face. As she came forward, Kalki realized she had been crying. “It shouldn’t have happened…I told him it was a bad idea, but he didn’t listen,” Padma said.

“What do you mean?” Kalki was panting now.

“Arjan followed me to Vedanta’s palace,” her voice was quiet.

“No,” gasped Kalki, his nightmares were coming true.

“Did he die as well?”

“I-I don’t know…” she began to cry again.

Kalki grabbed her by the shoulders, squeezing them tightly, making her wince.

“How do you not know if he died or not?”

“I couldn’t see…” she choked.

“Leave her!” yelled Kripa, grabbing Kalki’s hand, and who felt a force come over him.

He left Padma. She lay there mutely, on the ground. Kalki looked up. From afar he could see hooves throwing up dust in the air. It was the Manav soldiers.

“We need to leave now. Fast!” Kripa urged.

“I can’t. I have to check if he’s okay…”

“He’s dead!” yelled Kripa. “All right? Arjan is dead, Bala is dead and Ratri is dead and if you stay here longer, we will all die as well. Now I know you don’t like either of us, but we need to leave. All of us, mate. I know you want to kill Kali. He did all of this and I agree with you.” He clasped Kalki’s face, and for a moment, Kalki felt he was looking at him like a son. “But you can’t let Durukti’s episode happen again. You can’t go there and get caught, getting imprisoned. You will return after learning the Ways of the Worthy and you’ll be able to defeat the Adharm. But for that, we need to leave.”

You need to move on if something happens to me, Arjan had said to him.

No. Kalki chose to believe that Arjan was alive and well, and he would be out there, surviving somehow. Shuko had been flapping his wings, confused, until Kalki realized that he had let his anger control him and he had to calm down. Shuko sat back on his shoulder again.

“Will you come with us?” Kripa asked Padma.

Kalki looked at Padma and both of them shared a look of guilt and embarrassment, before she agreed. She wiped her tears. Kalki felt guilty for hurting her, but only for a split second.

“I’ll go with you,” she said.

Kalki suspiciously eyed her, but chose not to speak just then. He was overwhelmed by grief and anger.

The people of the city were watching as the Manav soldiers got closer.

“Let’s go.” Kripa offered him his hand.

“How do we…” he tried to find words. “How do we escape?”

“I have got some horses lined up, from a friend in the city; he’ll get us the transport.”

Kalki nodded, taking the old man’s hand, and looked at his broken, new team of people. He looked at the man he couldn’t trust and the woman who had left his brother to die. And he wasn’t sure if he was ready for a journey with them.

But he had no choice.