A figure travelled through the dark forest on foot at night when all the horrors of the world roam free.
Clad in a black cloak that flew back as it moved at inhuman speeds, almost breaking the sound barrier.
The animals and monsters in the forest fled from the road and retreated into the darkness.
However, one such monster was unable to run away and tripped on a rock.
It was a goblin, no, it wasn't even a goblin but a gobbling, maybe just a year old.
He was terrified as he watched the figure come closer, so he closed his eyes, waiting for death to arrive.
Yet it never did, the child was lifted in the air and launched up into the tree, where his mother caught him.
They looked down as the figure saluted them before carrying on, shaking the entire tree line.
At the edge of the forest, it slowed down, coming to a halt.
Before it was Green Village, where the sun rose from the other side.
Since yesterday morning, The Band of Heroes had been here.
Right now, the Band was in their carriage, where all four of them were sleeping. Eldrain on the top berth, An in the middle and Aurelia on the bottom.
Raghav was still sitting on the floor, holding Aurelia's hand.
And he was the first to wake up, his eyes opened up fully at once and looked straight at Aurelia.
"Good morning, Aurelia."
He stood up and noticed her hand was still holding onto his. "I will be back in a few minutes. Can you let me go?"
As if she were awake, she nodded, and her grip loosened around his hand. He gently put down her hand and looked at the locket around her neck.
Before leaving and going to do his ritual, he closed the door behind himself.
While Aurelia stirred in her sleep, her eyes shot open and she sat upright, gasping.
She hit her head on the berth above hers but was unhurt thanks to the pillow tied on the underside of the berth.
'He placed a pillow for me.'
Instinctively, she looked down at the cold sensation around her neck; it was Raghav's locket.
Her lips parted, and she reached down, holding the locket and opened it.
Inside it was her picture. 'How do you have this?'
She remembered how she felt last night, when she first saw the picture.
It was blurry and unclear, but she could make out a picture.
Yesterday night in the same spot as she is right now.
With her back to the door, she saw her picture in Raghav's locket.
Under the influence of the illness, she was unable to react then, until An disturbed her and she asked to be taken to Raghav.
What happened after that was in fragments, helping Aurelia to the driver's seat, them arriving at the abandoned house and seeing a gathering of thousands there, standing in the open rain.
They had to make their way through the crowd until they reached Eldrain, standing there alone.
'I am too late.'
Was what went through her head as she realised Raghav had already entered the house.
All of them had a different reason to be there, but all reasons tied directly to Raghav.
For some, it was his presence that drew them there; some just felt an urge to be there, and some woke up in the middle of the night by a voice calling them here.
Eldrain was here for his companion and to repay someone's kindness.
An was here to support her husband and companions.
Aurelia was here for one man.
Raghav Suryanshi.
That very man would soon emerge from the broken house, looking at none other than her.
The rest of the night was a dream come true.
She smiled, rubbing the locket with her thumb, turning towards the door, and she walked forward.
Warm sunlight fell on her as the door was opened, accompanied by cold monsoon wind, gently blowing on her hair.
Stepping down onto the soft soil, she looked around for traces of Raghav. Yet found nothing.
Not until the sound of water splashing entered her ears and she followed the sound, walking around the carriage and saw Raghav washing his face from a bucket of water.
"Good morning, Raghav."
He stopped, splashing water on his face and smiled at her. "Good morning, Aurelia."
"Aren't you going to dry yourself?"
Taking a deep breath, he picked up his towel, patting his face dry.
"Are you well?"
Leaning on the carriage, Aurelia nodded, taking off the locket, holding it out for Raghav. "I am, thanks for leaving this to me. But I must return it to you."
Raghav reached out for the locket, but Aurelia pulled back.
Her action caused him to tilt his head, frowning. "You looked inside."
She nodded, and the two of them smiled at one another. "I want to ask something, it is not about the locket, but rather why you only look at me and no other woman."
This was something he did not give an answer to, waiting for her.
"I have seen you control your eyes, looking away or outright closing them. I have heard others talk about this. I want to know why I am the only exception."
This time, she received a chuckle. "You already know the answer, as per the question you will not ask. I found that locket when I was five, had it with me ever since."
Sincerity was visible in his words and eyes, so she accepted the answer with a smile and handed the locket back to him.
Wearing it around his neck.
"You can look at others, I will not mind, just view them as you would view your mother and sister. Let me stay the only woman in your life."
"You did not need to ask for that; I gave you that right years ago."
He smiled at her, and she smiled back, lost in each other.
Thud
A loud noise was heard from inside the carriage as it shook.
"Looks like Eldrain rolled out of bed."
Raghav nodded with her words. "That is one way to put it."
As they talked, Eldrain came out and stretched, while yawning.
"Morning, you two. Are we ready to move out?"
"We are Eldrain, we are."
Aurelia patted her thighs, excusing herself. "I will go and wake up An."
Eldrain moved out of the way, letting her leave.
"It is good that we stopped using honorifics; this lets us bond nicely. Don't you agree, Raghav?"
"I do. I am going to pay the tavern for their services."
"Alright, I will get the girls, and we will prepare to leave momentarily…"
Pausing for a moment, Eldrain looked at Raghav, his eyes narrow and a slight frown on his forehead.
"What is it, Eldrain?"
"Just wanted to say thank you for saving Amesha and thank you for letting me be a part of it."
Raghav turned towards the tavern, shaking his head. "No need to thank me, Eldrain. I did nothing. But if it makes you feel happy, then I accept."
Finishing the conversation, Raghav left as Eldrain smiled and went to the stable to get Gati, Anu and Mili.
Ring
The bell upon the door rang as Raghav stepped through, all eyes inside turned to him, and the people stood up. "Hero/Raghav!"
Many of them gasped audibly.
"Gentlemen, I am just passing through; no need to pay any special attention to me. Enjoy your morning."
His eyes scanned the room for the man he had met yesterday and spotted him.
"Mister!"
They walked towards one another, and the man bowed. "Yes, My lord?"
"Could you tell me what the cost was for our stay here?"
The man laughed, shaking his head. "No cost, for The Hero and his party. You are here to save our world. I may not be able to journey with you, but let me do this service to my world."
Nothing was spoken for the next few minutes as Raghav looked down at the man and nodded. "If you wish to."
The man nodded and handed back the silver coin he received yesterday and walked away, tending to another table.
Raghav looked at the silver coin and placed it in his pocket, and pulled out a gold coin, silently placing it in the open register behind the bar.
Then, without meeting eyes with a single person in the tavern, he left.
In the corner, a man scribbled down in a small textbook, everything he had witnessed.
Outside, the rest of The Band was ready and on their respective carriages, with Eldrain and An on the food carriage, Aurelia on the other.
An was talking to Eldrain when she looked at Raghav, who at long last met her eyes and nodded.
Her lips parted, before she laughed, pointing at him and shaking Eldrain with the other.
Eldrain whipped his neck around and chuckled when he saw Raghav. "So what changed?"
"My perspective, thanks to Aurelia."
Hahaha
There he was, Eldrain as they knew him.
Once he had his laugh, he pointed over his shoulder. "Good, it was getting tiring. Now hop on, we are leaving."
Without waiting for approval, he patted Anu and Mili, drawing them forward and behind their wagon was Aurelia's already in motion.
Looking left and right, Raghav crossed the road, climbing on the moving wagon and sitting on Aurelia's left.
"Are we not going to say goodbye to anyone?"
"They will not want to hear these harsh words, such as goodbye."
He then pulled out the compass and called out. "Eldrain, here take this."
And threw the compass forward, over the food carriage and into Eldrain's hand.
Who, upon confirming what the item was, nodded. "Alright! Just follow me."
.
.
.
.
At night, nearly two thousand kilometres away from Green village.
Again, they found themselves in a dark forest.
Raghav was taking deep breaths through his nose, a smile forming on his face.
"The air is so fresh here in Paneria, free from pollution, and there is such an abundance of greenery and nature."
Aurelia nodded, yawning as she leaned on his shoulder. "I wish I could see your world, too."
Wrapping his hand around her shoulder, he held close. "We will get to see it someday."
She simply nodded as her eyes started to close.
"Maybe we should camp for the night."
The moment he said that, the food carriage guided itself into a small open patch on the side of the road, and Gati followed after them and the carriages were parked on the sides of the patch.
It was big enough that after the carriages were parked, there was enough space for a small section for them to sit in and at the inner end, enough space for the horses.
"We were just waiting for you to say that."
An told Raghav as they went untied the horses and let them rest on the inner end of the patch.
Raghav, meanwhile, carried Aurelia and took her inside, letting her sleep on the bottom berth.
He then stepped out, gesturing towards the carriage. "You two can sleep, I will sleep out here and watch guard."
"As you say, captain."
Eldrain remarked, heading inside, followed by An. "Goodnight, Raghav."
"Goodnight, An."
With that, he was left all alone.
For the next few minutes, he gathered some small rocks and dry sticks, creating a campfire near the horses.
He took out some butter from the food carriage and smeared it on the wood.
Then from his pocket, he pulled out a lighter and ignited it, blowing into it, making the fire bigger.
Once it was self sufficient, Raghav sat with his back leaning on Gati as she turned to him, rubbing her neck on him, and he in turn held her face.
The fire pushed back the cold darkness of the night with its warm light.
The grass began to soften and began to dry as the crackling of the fire filled the empty forest.
The horses fell asleep as they nestled closer to Raghav, who looked up, taking a deep breath.
Silently watching the sky, remembering the words from yesterday.
Before his eyes returned to the fire as tears ran down his face.
"Hei Ram, Hei Ram,
Tere charno me sare dham,
Hei Ram, Hei Ram,
Siya Ram, Siya Ram, Siya Ram."
From within the forest behind him, two yellow eyes drew closer.
Careful not to alert anyone, it avoided twigs and held its breath, its eyes lowered as the being began to prowl, hiding in the region where the light could not reach, blocked by the horses.
Gati opened her eyes facing the forest, and the creature closed its eyes, becoming one with the darkness.
Once she closed her eyes, the yellow eyes opened once more and slithered forward.
This beast or monster, whatever it was, had been following them since yesterday night, watching them in silence.
In a few moments, it was directly behind Raghav, with Gati being the only separation between the two.
Slowly, it rose.
First to come into light were two white ears, then two black eyes, then the head of a pure white wolf, the size of Gati.
At last, it placed its front legs on Gati and stood upright, looking down at Raghav, lost in the memory of his beloved.
He reached into a small bag beside him and pulled out an apple, holding it over his right shoulder.
"You must be hungry. I am sorry, but all I have is vegetarian food."
The white wolf looked at the apple and then at Raghav, who turned around, smiling at it.
Without making a noise, the wolf gently picked the apple by the Peduncle and stepped over Gati, sitting beside Raghav and lay down on all four, facing Raghav.
.
.
.
.
"I slept like a…Ah… child."
Eldrain said as he stretched, stepping out of the carriage, looking up.
It was about to be dawn, so he looked around for Raghav and his eyes shifted towards the campfire.
He immediately went back inside and shook An. "An, wake up, you need to see this."
Being an experienced Adventurer, An woke up, getting out of the berth instantly and rushing out, followed by Eldrain.
She looked towards the campfire and saw a giant white blanket on Gati.
"Raghav had such a blanket, and he did not tell us. That is not nice."
Eldrain shook his head after finishing the sentence and stepped down.
The moment their feet touched the ground, the blanket stood up and turned around.
It would seem that the wolf slept on Raghav, like a cat lying on someone's chest, but because of its size. Raghav was sandwiched between the wolf and Gati.
"Good morning, you two."
Called out Raghav, still sitting with his back leaning on Gati, he smiled at them, an act that An reciprocated.
"Good morning, Raghav. Who is our new friend?"
She pointed at the wolf, who looked down at her.
"So he finally revealed himself. I was wondering when he would do that." Eldrain added.
Causing An to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know he is a he?"
"I looked down between his legs."
Before she could ask any question, Eldrain provided an answer all on his own.
"It's a natural reaction."
By now, Raghav stood up and placed his left hand on the underside of the wolf's face, scratching it and used his right hand to gesture towards him.
"This is Vrisht."
"You named him already?"
Frowned Eldrain and An smiled. "That is a beautiful name you gave him."
Raghav shook his head. "I did not give him that name; he told me what his name was."
"He told you?"
Now, An was just as confused as her husband.
"Yes, I can talk to animals. How did you think? I know Gati's name."
They were dealing with this when Aurelia stepped out from the carriage and looked at them.
Vrisht saw Aurelia and bowed. "Good morning, Princess Aurelia."
This caught Eldrain, Aurelia and An off guard. "I heard you all talking from within the carriage, so I know you can talk to animals, Raghav, but how can we understand him?"
"I just shared my ability to talk to Animals with all of you."
Hearing Raghav's words, Aurelia walked over to Vrisht and held out her hand to him.
"I am Aurelia Reid. It is a pleasure to meet you, Vrisht."
Vrisht placed his right paw in her hand and shook it. "The pleasure is mine, Princess Aurelia."
In the distance, the cloaked figure looked at them from a tree.
Their eyes fixated on Raghav, who, for a moment, shifted his gaze in their direction and gently shook his head.
Before returning them to the group as the Band began welcoming Vrisht.