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This is ridiculous, Ansh thought as he hungrily made his way through the large fruit cake, wolfing it down like a man in near starvation.
'It is not. Just stop thinking and let us enjoy in peace.'
"Peace?" Ansh gulped down a glass of water and next second felt his teeth clamp down on another note of the cake. "With you here...that is impossible. And why am I eating this? I don't even like fruit cake."
'Because our Pia made it. Now eat.'
"Hmph."
He worked his way through the entire cake in a few minutes. With a burp, he sloshed down another glass of water and slowly stood up from the chair. He twitched uneasily; his stomach tight and way too full.
With silent steps, he quietly made his way out of the kitchen and into the garden. His stomach twitched and he straightened up trying to ignore the burp announcing it's arrival. A feeling of laziness spread across him and he plopped down on the grass, lethargy seeping in.
'I feel sleepy,' the voice buzzed happily.
Ansh agreed. He kind of already felt sloshed. "Me too."
He blinked and cleared his eyes that drooped immediately again. "Did I drink and lose my memory?" he pondered.
'Nope. It was all Pia. She made the cake.'
"But why do I feel buzzed?"
'Uff, how hard is it to understand. I get tired of your mediocre capacity. Our Pia made it. So it affects us. In short Pia can make the worst food in the world but for us it will make us feel high.'
"Oh," Ansh muttered.
'Yep,' the voice cheerfully responded. 'Let us go sleep now.'
Two hours later, found Ansh engaging in a desperate relationship with the bathroom, the toilet to be particular.
"Stupid voice and stupid decisions. You always end up doing something and then I have to pay."
The voice studiously remained silent and Ansh cursed. Again!
The next day
The pain sheared through him and he almost welcomed the familiar feeling. Lately it was what was always happening to him.
A new revelation.
And then getting beaten up. Again!
"Uff!" He gasped out as his Professor, at least that was what he knew him as before he turned out to be Pia's father, slammed a fist into his cheek and he slammed into the pillar.
'Shit,' the voice inside him gasped. 'It will be ok...just wait a bit. I am trying to heal us. Whatever happens just don't hit him back.'
"I know," Ansh wheezed back, "he is out Professor and Pia's father."
'Exactly and so it is better to appear submissive to him, or he might create problems later,' the voice advised.
"Problems?" Ansh gasped as he was pulled back and smashed hard onto the floor.
The voice winced. 'Umm, he is our future father-in-law after all. Now listen, pull out the arrow...slowly'.
Ansh swallowed and next second grasped at the arrow and pulled it out. Immediately he could feel the entity inside him beginning to work its power and just then felt himself being dragged and thrown at the glass pane. It shattered at the force and he fell to the balcony. He lay there with tears of frustration and pain welling up in his eyes and he felt his head becoming dizzy. He closed his eyes tightly and remembered Pia.
It was then that something changed.
The entity inside him froze.
A weird feeling of free fall overtook him. It was as if he was flying and racing; blood singing in his veins and a curious energy feeling in him.
"Wha-"
'Ansh,' the voice panicked, 'I am sorry Ansh. This was not supposed to happen.'
Ansh grew confused and alarmed as the energy slowly slithered onto him. What was happening? Why was it scared? It was all good. There was no pain now. And now it was time for revenge. He could hear it...the clear voice gently tugging him up.
~Kill him~
'No,' the voice inside him cried desperately, 'you will regret this Ansh. Please think of our Pia. Think of her. Don't give up. Please Don't give----'
It was as if someone switched off the voice that Ansh had been unable to ignore for so many months now.
'What's going on', he thought dazedly. 'Where are you? Come back!'
The violent energy encompassed him and he felt his bindings shatter. Something pressed on his consciousness and as he opened his eyes, everything went black.
When he came back to himself, he was standing up and his eyes flitted to Pia who was a few feet ahead of himself, crying loudly, as she looked down the balcony.
"PAPA!!" She cried out and her tears pained him more than the arrow did. He wanted to comfort her, take her in his arms and never let go.
He took a step towards her.
'That would be a bad idea,' the voice quietly told him.
"What!"Anshh shook his head, throwing away the last vestiges of drowsiness that harangued him. "Where were you? What happened?"
And even as he muttered, he felt something wrong in his bones. Something chilled him to the core and the next second memories raced into him.
Professor Sharma reaching out to pull him back but then he grasped back and thrashed him repeatedly. Him holding Pia's father by his neck and finally throwing him from the balcony of the building.
A skyscraper building!
Something lodged in his throat and he felt a violent hatred rise inside him. He had trusted it, all along and this was what it had done.
'It wasn't me,' the voice protested.
"Then who?" Ansh growled back.
'I will tell you...but later. Now go and find Pia's father. We need to save his life first, if he is at all alive'.
Some hours later
'And so she used her blood and roused that savage monster side of ours, the side that knows no love, no loyalty and no rules. It is almost primitive, not at all like me. Like I am the part of you with most control over the powers as well as sentient enough to respond back, that part is like a child caged inside in the roots and only to be let out when we both are in extreme trouble and the situation looks dismal. It is our Do or Die mode and unfortunately it got activated before it could be assimilated in us like I was with you and hence it remained underdeveloped without any understanding. It had only one goal - kill the threat. When I fight through you, my concentration remains in our protection but this side focuses on destruction.'
Ansh sighed. "How many of these parts do I have?"
'We are essentially halves Ansh,' the voice reasoned. 'More like one thirds of each other. You, the human part; I, the Davaansh part and it, the Dayaansh part. Together we are one whole but that would be when we all fuse together.'
Ansh sneered. "Why would I want to fuse with that monster!"
'It is not bad Ansh. Powerful and savage, yes, but not evil,' the voice soothingly said. 'And when we fuse, we just have to make sure that you and I are the dominant bond and then it comes third. We will be able to control and channelize it then'.
"But you couldn't, this time," Ansh snarled back. "And look what happened. Pia is gone. I hurt her father. And now she will never come back to me."
'At least you are saying that you want her to come back,' the voice mused. 'Silver lining indeed. What happened to that Patnivrataa Avatar of yours for your dear Ruby? No more I-am-married rants??'
Ansh ignored it.
'Anyway, we have to get back Pia. If not for us, at least for the safety of all others.'
"What do you mean? What safety?"
'Well,' the voice began haltingly, 'our third part is not developed and was brought out before time. So it is still unstable and might come out anytime during any altercation and hurt whoever is near by considering them a threat.'
"You are telling me that I might have another incident like this??"
'Yes,' the voice agreed, 'and probably worse than last time with no proper attacker or opposing force. Thereby we need to start our preparations to control it.'
"But how?"
'We need to fuse. You and I have to become one unit.'
Ansh took a deep breath as those words resounded in him. The voice inside him stayed silent, letting him get used to the situation.
"Will I change?" he whispered back.
'No,' the voice calmly replied back. 'You may develop a sweet tooth though. I can guarantee that.'
Sudden laughter broke out of him and he nodded.
'But how will this happen? Some ritual or something?"
'Oi, what do you take me for? Those stupid Tantriks your daily soaps glorify? Eh, I am a superior power entity. We don't require ritual. We just need a bond with Pia.'
"Right, bond with Pia", Ansh muttered absentmindedly and all of a sudden started. "Bond with Pia??"
'Yeah, a bond with a Daivik is the only thing that can fuse us both together. A Daivik demands complete loyalty and fidelity. Having two consciousness inside a husband of a Daivik is blasphemy and her powers will make sure they turn us into one. Only after that we can think about the rest. This is the main secret behind the myth that a Daivik is born for a Davaansh. She doesn't need us. Instead it is the other way around. We need her to stay sane.'
"Oh," Ansh whispered. "So that was why Maa was so adamant about me marrying a Daivik."
'Yes. No one knows the reason but the myth is very famous. Only a Davaansh knows the truth, not even Dayaans know of it. And that is exactly why this must remain a secret. Never share it with anyone Ansh. Not even Pia. This is one thing we have to guard, not only for us, but also other future children of Dayaans who would want to wrench themselves away from the set path of darkness. If anyone comes to know of this secret, they may exploit it and never let us fuse. We have to be wary Ansh. We cannot trust anyone and have to stay away from all till we get married to Pia.'
"Married?" Ansh's head throbbed with information overload.
'Yep,' the voice was all of a sudden back to the usual relaxed attitude. 'That is the only way. We need to go to her.'
"Are you mad?" Ansh spluttered out aghast. "Her father will kill me. He hates me."
'All fathers do,' the voice remarked. 'I have seen in every film - the heroine's Father is the villain that tries to stop the hero from marrying his daughter.'
Ansh felt like slamming his head on the wall. "This is not a film!"
'It can be,' the voice shrugged. 'All required drama is there, from love to betrayal, hatred, Villainy, forced marriages, star crossed lovers, two mothers...what else do you need?'
Ansh face palmed. "I liked you better when you were being serious."
'Too bad,' the voice cheerfully replied. 'I tend to cheer up as fast as I heal.'
"Very funny."
The voice harrumphed. 'So this is what we will do.'
As he outlined the plan and explained it, Mohana, in the room felt a sudden chill rise up from her back. It was as if something big was going to happen. Uneasiness rose in her but she dispelled it. Nothing was going to go wrong. Everything will be according to her plan.
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