Inside the tent, near Mahi river camp
Eshaan sat frozen for a long moment, the words repeating themselves inside his head faster than he could properly arrange them into anything sensible.
Did Kripa really said the knowledge was sealed and not lost?
Eshaan tried recalling the events from his original world, the ancient scriptures clearly stated that the knowledge of the Astras had died with the great war and only remained with a few immortal individuals who by boon or by curse were bound to this mortal world. It was a promise made to Krishna himself, that the upcoming age is far too dangerous to even seal the knowledge so, it should be completely eradicated. Eshaan had remembered reading the ancient scriptures, even in the hidden sanctum, the knowledge of the Astras were said to vanish with the Great war.
"This can't be right, this isn't the past of my own timeline or even a branch timeline. This must be a completely different timeline, a fantastical timeline?"
Eshaan's mind kept rummaging through the possibilities.
Kripa noticed his silence and studied him carefully, the tiredness in his face not quite masking the sharpness still sitting behind his eyes.
"You've gone very pale, Eshaan."
"Acharya," Eshaan spoke slowly, choosing each word very carefully, "what you just told me. About the knowledge being sealed, not lost. Are you certain of that? Completely certain?"
"As certain as anything the Navagranthika themselves are certain of, not entirely but enough to know that there are certain findings to prove it true." Kripa's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why does the distinction trouble you so much?"
Eshaan hesitated, the same hesitation he'd carried through nearly every conversation about his own past since the day Kripa had first found him in Pataliputra, he still haven't trusted anyone enough to let them know about his 'lil transmigration tale'. He actually hasn't figured out a way to do so.
"Because in what I remember," Eshaan said finally, "the knowledge to the Astras were lost, Acharya. It wasn't sealed, but lost completely as the last men who wielded them chose to not teach them to future generation for the knowledge could be proven a poison to the next age."
Kripa went very still.
"Where did you exactly heard or read this?"
"I don't know Acharya, I just remember it like this. I never heard about the Astras being sealed or protected."
"Then either your memory carries an error, which…" Kripa stopped mid-sentence. "I find difficult to believe given how precisely you've proven your own memory in every other matter I've tested it against, and hearing you say that earlier, it feels like the world you're describing and the world we currently stand in are somewhat divergent from each other."
"I have only heard it from someone in the Nalanda University but, our soul can traverse through the branched timelines where the events have occurred slightly differently and likely fish out that timeline's memories in our mind."
Eshaan was stunned completely, he was regretting mentioning his timeline's outcome of the great war. "An alternate timeline? Soul carrying different timeline's memories? How is it possible Acharya?" Eshaan tried to cover up his blunder, and to his surprise Acharya nodded and smiled at it.
Suddenly, the flap of the tent turned and Bhaskaracharya entered.
Inside the tent, near Mahi river camp
Bhaskaracharya's eyes found Kripa's tired face across the dim lamplight, and for a long time neither old man said anything at all, simply looking at each other the way two people who were longing to meet each other and feared the worst were finally at ease.
"You look terrible," Bhaskaracharya said finally, his voice rough in a way Eshaan had rarely heard from him.
"You always did have a gift for comfort," Kripa answered, and something in the exchange, worn and familiar and entirely their own, eased some of the pressure still sitting in Eshaan's chest.
Bhaskaracharya settled beside them, his eyes moving briefly to Eshaan's face, and immediately turned back to Kripa to address the whole room.
"His Majesty has agreed to release you into my custody, formally, once the proper documentation is arranged. You'll return to Ujjayini with us, once you're strong enough to travel."
"How generous of him," Kripa said, something dry entering his weakened voice. "I confess I expected a considerably longer negotiation considering the situation I was captured in and the way this war is moving forward."
"He hadn't truly believed your situation to be suspicious, old friend. He believed that something bad had befell you and you were simply veering through it." Bhaskaracharya's eyes flicked briefly toward Eshaan again. "I suspect he'd rather have you and me owe him a debt for releasing your old mentor and my friend which he might use as a leverage against us in the near or farther future."
"What do you mean by that?"
Kripa turned to answer the question instead of Bhaskaracharya, "He means to say that the current situation is dire for the king and he might not be able to use your brilliant thinking yet as Bhaskaracharya is still responsible for you. But, by sparing my life without any question, he will have a great leverage over you two and use it to gain Eshaan's assistance in the war."
"What? His majesty is not like that." Eshaan gulped and protested.
"He is a king, Eshaan. He will use all the weapons in his arsenal and I have heard that one of his most trusted generals have gone missing, either dead or taken prisoner." Bhaskaracharya explained plainly.
Kripa's tired eyes settled on Eshaan a long moment, something warm moving behind the exhaustion.
"Eshaan, you have built yourself a formidable position in this world in the time I've been gone. You have the magnetic attention of Bhaskara, his majesty, and even the groups that operate in shadows." Kripa's chest puffed a little as proudness crept into his voice despite everything. "I confess I did not expect, when I first found you in Pataliputra, quite how far you would carry all of it in so short a span."
"I had help, Acharya. All of it."
"Most worthwhile things require help," Kripa said. "The trick is recognizing which help is worth accepting and which help is simply another hand trying to steer you somewhere you didn't choose to go. You seem to have managed that distinction rather well so far."
"Not always," Eshaan admitted. "I've made mistakes, Acharya. More than a few, if I'm honest about it."
"Show me a life without mistakes and I'll show you a life that never risked anything worth risking." Kripa shifted slightly against his bedding, wincing at some ache Eshaan couldn't properly see. "Bhaskara. Has he been fair to you, at least? I trusted him to be, when I first sent you to his door, but trust and certainty are different things, and I've spent enough of the past year unable to check on either."
"More than fair," Eshaan said, and Bhaskaracharya, sitting beside him, made a small, dismissive sound that didn't quite hide how pleased he looked at the answer.
"He undersells me constantly," Bhaskaracharya complained. "It's one of his more irritating habits, though I've learned to live with it."
"I undersell you precisely as much as you deserve," Kripa argued, "which is considerably less than you'd claim for yourself, given half the chance."
Bhaskaracharya studied his old friend and, his expression turning more serious. "You should rest properly now, Kripa. Whatever's left to discuss will keep until morning."
"I've done little else but rest since your king's patrol found me," Kripa said, though there was no real complaint in it. "One more night of it won't undo me."
"It might," Bhaskaracharya argued. "You look like a man who's spent his own strength faster than his body can currently replace it. Humor an old friend, and sleep."
Kripa's mouth twitched into something tired but genuine. "You never used to fuss this much."
"I never used to have a reason to," Bhaskaracharya answered.
"Before I let either of you go," Kripa said, his voice dropping lower, "there's one more thing you should both know. This war hasn't reached its worst yet, Vindhyavarman might lose this one completely. He might even end up dead."
"What are you saying, Kripa? Is this all a joke to you?"
"It isn't that's why I am warning you. I found evidence that led me to believe the King of the Chalukyas may possess a divine Astra. I don't know which but, this will definitely overturn the whole Malwa. This won't only change the whole Malwa but the whole world."
Eshaan and Bhaskaracharya exchanged worried looks as they remained silent to listen to what Acharya Kripa had further to say.
"I don't know if he really have a divine astra but, I have been well informed by my sources that he holds onto something that cannot be of current age. Also, he hasn't found how to awaken it yet but, if he does...I fear the consequences will not stop with Malwa, and if it is indeed an astra than other Astras might awaken as well. They will look for suitable wielders."
"Is this some fantasy that you spun while you were sick tired of remaining a captive? Astras are long gone, sealed away and none could awaken them." Bhaskaracharya lashed out suddenly, his voice raised and brought the guards stationed outside into the tent.
"What happened Acharya?" one of the guards asked.
Bhaskaracharya tried to maintain his composure, and turned towards the guard, "Nothing of importance, please stay outside."
The guards bowed and left the tent immediately. Eshaan who had been quiet for a long time now, finally spoke, "Acharya if what you are saying is true indeed then, how do we deal with the looming threat?"
Acharya Kripa gazed into Eshaan's eyes, and announced as thunder cracked outside the tent, "Another Divine Astra."
NOTE: WE WILL BE GOING PREMIUM STARTING NEXT CHAPTER. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUOUS SUPPORT AND I HOPE YOU WILL KEEP SUPPORTING AND LOVING MY WORK. THANK YOU.