New characters for this chapter:
Nupur: Her and prem were childhood friends/sweethearts and everyone had talked about them getting married when they grow up. Nupur loves prem.
Chapter 20
He was laying down, deep in sleep. "prem!," someone called out.
"I will carry your bag all day if you just give me ten more minutes," he mumbled in sleep.
"prem'are you alright?" someone asked.
Prem: "please dharam'just five more minutes," he whined.
"prem'its me harman!" someone said.
Hearing that, he shot up from sleep'wide awake. Looking around, he saw a familiar surrounding'.he was in his house.
Prem: "what am I doing here?"
Harman: "some guards found you at the bottom of the cliff. You have been out for two days," he said.
Prem: "that's not true. Where is heer? And dharam? How did I get through the boundary," he said as he got up from bed.
Harman: "you are not making sense'you should be laying down. You had quite a fall."
Prem: "this is some sort trick isn't it? I know you think that heer killed father, but that's not true. It was gurinder."
Harman: "what are you talking about?" he asked confused.
Prem: "I am talking about dad dying. He died right outside that door," he said pointing towards the front door.
"I tried to stop the bleeding but it wouldn't. I felt the life go out of him," prem stated as he remembered his father die in his own arms and he couldn't do anything. He remembered being helpless for the first time in his life.
Prem: "you accused me, your own brother, of killing father," prem said hurt.
Harman: "I am going to call the healer. Looks like you hit your heat pretty hard," he said.
"Tell me what you did with heer and dharam'or I will beat it out of you," he yelled as he raised his hand to hit harman.
"prem!" a person said as he walked in.
"dad?" prem said shocked.
"I am so glad to have you back son," lalit said.
Lalit walked up and hugged his son happily as prem stood there shocked.
Coming out of the hug, "what happened?" lalit asked as he saw prem stood there worried and confused.
Prem told them everything about what has happened with him. Both harman and lalit told him that it was just a dream or may be it was happening because he hit his head during the fall on the cliff.
Prem: "it wasn't all a dream. I have been gone for months. I have fought battles'killed people. And heer'," he said when harman interrupted.
Harman: "who is heer?"
Prem: "she is a confessor. She came all the way from the midlands looking for me. The first time I saw her was when she was running down the hill in her white dress with worry and scare on her beautiful face. The daharans were chasing her. Running, she ended at the edge of the cliff...they were going to kill her. And that's when I helped her and that is how we meet," he said remembering heer and smiling a little.
As harman and dharam listened, prem continued.
"gurinder tried to kill her and I saved her. you know gurinder fell off the cliff and when we looked over, he was gone. He fell from so far and just walked away!"
Lalit laughed, "who knew my son had such a vivid imagination!" he said.
Harman: "prem, everyone knows that not even something as small as a mosquito has ever been able to cross through the boundary. We know it's impenetrable!"
Prem: "everyone is wrong!" he said as he quickly got up and searched for his boots.
Finding them near the bed, he picked them up and quickly started to put them on.
Lalit: "where are you going?"
Prem: "I need to talk to dharam."
Lalit: "that crazy old man who talks to his chickens. What do have to do with him?"
"don't try to stop me!" he told them both as he walked out of the house.
Prem ran as quickly as he could from his house'all the way through the forest and reached dharam's house.
Barging in, "dharam'something is wrong. I don't know if this is any kind of a spell by risabh or what? But, I know I am the seeker'I know everything." prem went on when dharam intervened.
Dharam: "slow down'slow down. You are prem juneja'aren't you? Lalit's son," dharam said as prem looked confused.
Prem: "look'I know you brought me here from the midlands and I know you have been watching over me all my life," he said and at that moment, harman and lalit walked in.
Lalit: "he fell down dead man's cliff."
Harman: "and he is not been making sense since he woke up."
Prem turned to dharam, "tell them you are a wizard'tell them the truth," he said.
Dharam: "that's a new one. Someone taking me for a wizard!" he said as he chuckled.
Prem: "he is pretending because he doesn't believe you. I got bitten by a vine that heer bought through the boundary. I got sick and fell off my horse. You cured me. I was on that bed right in this room. That's when heer found out that I was the one she came here for." Prem told them all.
"And then you told me that it was my destiny to kill the tyrant rishab rampal and you gave me the sword of truth," prem said to dharam.
Dharam: "sword of truth?" he asked having no clue what he was talking about.
Prem: "yes! You pulled it out of the air'It was hidden somewhere here," he said looking around.
Dharam: "only our life was as exciting as you make it,"
Prem: "I dreamt all this?" he asked to no one in particular.
Lalit walked up to him, "I am not dead son. I am right here and I am not going anywhere," he said as prem hugged his father. He was glad to have him back.
Coming out of the hug, "if all this is real and everything that happened was a dream, then heer really doesn't exist," he said even though he couldn't believe that.
"yes I do'I am right here prem," she said as she sat with him in her lap in the dark forest.
"she is just something I dreamed of," he said.
Heer: "prem'you are dreaming now. Wake up!" she said to him.
Hearing heer, dharam woke up from his sleep and sat up.
"What happened?" he asked.
Heer: "he is talking in his sleep. I cant wake him up."
He waved his hand over prem's face, "you wont be able to," he said
Heer: "what do you mean?"
Dharam: "the three stars of ambience appear in the circle of the crescent once every 119 years and that is the only time when it becomes possible to cast the spell of lying moon."
Heer: "what kind of spell is that?"
Dharam: "powerful magic. It caused a person to fall in a dream where he believes that he is among friends when he is among enemies. And in that dream, the person might reveal secrets that in real life he would share only with those he trusts the most."
Heer: "who would do this to prem? and why?"
Dharam: "There is only one wizard other than me who is powerful enough to cast this spell and he works for rishab."
Heer looked at dharam shocked. "we have to get him out of it," she said as she tried to wake up prem.
Dharam: "you cant; the spell has already taken hold of him."
Heer: "cant you undo it?"
Dharam: "I cant try...but...," he hesistated.
Heer: "what is it? whats gong to happen?" she asked.
Dharam: "Do you see that star that is starting to disappear behind the moon. We will have to get him out before all three stars disappear and if not, we would never get him out," he said as she sat on the ground looking at prem.
Back in hartland, prem still couldnt believe that all this was just a dream.
"prem...there is no one called heer and dharam is not a wizard," lalit told him.
Harman: "we should take him to a healer," he suggested.
Dharam: "oh...he doesnt need a healer. I dont have the powers you dreamt of, but I do know a few healing tricks that can help you. And the best heal for a nightmare is to share is with a friendly listener. So, tell us did you take up the sword and defeat the tyrant?"
When prem just sat there without saying anything,
Dharam: "come on prem, at the least it will make a good story."
Prem: "But, it doesnt feel like a story."
Dharam: "I know, but tell it anyway. I promise it will do you good."
Prem looked at lalit unsure. "go ahead prem!" lalit said and prem started.
Prem started from when he came back home and saw lalit dead. Then, he told them about how they followed gurinder to find the book of counted shadows and killed him at the boundary.
Prem: "That was the first time I killed someone. The sword made me feel so powerful and the magic in it was somehow connected to me."
Dharam: "That's fascinating. Magical veins...magical swords...I have always been fond of these kind of tales. Tell us prem, what other magical things did you encounter?"
Prem: "this isnt funny to me!" he said getting angry.
Dharam: "Forgive me. I just got carried away with the story. please keep going," he said and prem continued.
Prem: "There were many magical objects I saw, but nothing was more amazing than the magical people. I met a boy who could read people's mind like he was reading an open book," he said as he smiled remembering his little friend and how he blackmailed him that he would tell heer his feelings. Prem remembered the night when arjun told him about heer and he remembered seeing heer sleeping under the moonlight with the moon shining on her face making it look radiantly gorgeous in the light.
Prem: "I dont want to talk about this anymore!" he said as he got up and walked of the room.
Dharam: "Prem....come back...you need to rest yourself and stay calm....," he yelled as the scene switched to rishab in his castle yelling the same words as dharam.
"Be careful my lord. If you push him too hard then the spell might break," rishab''s wizard told him.
Rishab: "I will push him as hard as I can to make him speak the truth about the box of ordain," he stated as he looked at the sky where one of the stars have disappeared.
In the forest, dharam tried to break the spell and also reduce the fever that was an effect of the spell.
Dharam: "Until the spell casts off, the fever isnt going to go down," he told heer as she sat with a wet cloth and placed it on prem's forehead to help with the fever.
Rishab was determined to find the truth about the box. "Richard...your brother and father...." he started as the scene switched to dharam walked up to prem in the forest in hartland.
Dharam: "your father and brother are worried about you. Come back," he said as he came and took a seat next to prem who was sitting on a tree log.
"what is is boy?" dharam asked.
Prem: "I cant believe heer is not real. How can I feel like that about someone in a dream?"
Dharam: "we all have our little fantasies," he said as he chuckled.
"I would like to be alone for a while," he said as he left from there.
The smile dropped from dharam's face as well as rishab's.
"what is it my lord?" the wizard asked.
Rishab: "the idiot has fallen in love with his confessor. She is all he can think of. Why can't I just reach into his brain and see where he has hidden the box!" he yelled in frustration.
Wizard: "childhood memories are easy my lord, but the secret as important as where the seeker hid the box of ordain is hard to find even with the magic of ambiance. Prem is a young man as any other. I am sure there is a girl he left behind...a familiar face...that can draw his thoughts away from heer maan."
Rishab walked near the window where he could see the crescent and the stars and started to concentrate on prem again.
Prem was walking through the forest lost in the memories of everything that has happened with him. His heart just couldnt believe that heer was just an imagination. She felt so real to him, yet he couldnt forget what everyone has told him from the morning. Right then, someone came running up to him.
Prem: "Nupur? what are you doing here? how did you...," he said when nupur interrupted.
Nupur: "I came as soon as I heard. South Aven to hartland in two days...someone try to beat that."
Hearing her, prem smiled. "do you hate me for moving away?" nupur asked.
Prem: "I was angry for a long time, but I cant hate you nupur."
Nupur came forward and hugged him. Prem didn't hug her back. He felt something wrong having someone so close to him.
Wrapping her hands around him, "only you would be crazy enough to go running around dead man's cliff. What were you thinking?" she asked.
Prem: "I was helping someone."
Nupur: "The women in the white dress?" she asked.
Prem: "you saw here too?" he asked hopefully.
Nupur: "no...I went to your house. your brother and father told me about your dream," he said as he caressed her cheek.
He took her hand away from his cheek and walked away from her. Nupur walked up to him, "tell me about this dream. For a dream to be that real, there has to be something important in it. May be something you could learn," she said.
Prem didn't want to talk about it. The more he talked about his dream, as everyone called it, the more he thought about heer. It hurt him that he was in love with a girl who didn't even exist.
Nupur: "Do you remember the black dog you had when you were little that got swept away in the flood?"
Prem: "Araul?"
Nupur: "Yes. What? You were only seven years old. You disappeared after he died and no one could find you."
Prem: "I was hiding in your cellar."
Nupur: "yes. And when I found you, you were crying. You told me about araul's heroic deeds all day and you went home and no one ever saw a tear on your face other than me. Come on, talk it out and it will be fine. Tell me about this dream. What was the scariest thing you saw?" she asked.
All through the conversation, rishab was happy that his plan was succeeding as nupur would move prem's thoughts away from heer.
Prem: "I saw many scary things!"
Nupur: "like what?"
Prem: "well, nothing was scarier than the mord-sith," he said as he remembered narayani and the agil. He remembered how she tortured him and the pain the agil gave him.
"Nothing in a dream can hurt like that. Nothing in a dream would leave a scar," he said as he moved his shirt to see the scar on the side of his stomach gone.
Nupur: "Just keep getting it out prem. How did you escape from this place?"
Prem: "heer saved me."
Nupur: "whose heer?"
Prem: "the woman in the white dress. I don't know how long I have been there. I was almost under narayani's control, but heer came for me even though it meant putting her life in danger. She asked me to kill heer and I couldn't do it," he said remembering how heer suffered because of him and for him.
"Narayani kept torturing me but I just couldn't do it. I was so close, but something stopped me," he stated.
Prem: "Any magic you use against a mord-sith comes back at you ten times stronger and you can't imagine the pain it gives you," he told nupur as he completed his story about how him and heer together killed narayani and escaped from there.
Nupur: "wow'that's quite a dream. You almost died for this heer."
Prem: "not as many times as she almost died for me."
Nupur: "Did she look like me?"
Prem: "no," was all he could reply.
Nupur: "Prem, moving to south haven with my parents was a big mistake."
Prem: "you were nineteen'you could have stayed."
Nupur: "I know. Remember when we were five? It was always prem and nupur were made for each other'everyone thought we will get married someday. You are the only man I have ever kissed. And it took for you to fall of a cliff and almost loose your life for me to realize that you are the only man I ever want to kiss," she said.
Coming close to him, "sorry I don't have any magical powers and I am not that great at sword fighting, but I love you prem," she said.
Seeing prem lost in thoughts, "am I too late? Do you still care for me prem?" she asked.
Prem: "yes I care for you nupur," he said.
Hearing him in the dark, silent forest, "nupur? Whose nupur?," heer asked to no one in particular.
Nupur: "you are home prem. You are home with me and I am never leaving you ever again," she said as she hugged him.
Rishab smiled wickedly, "he is in my hands now. Now to find the box'," he said.
Wizard: "not too soon my lord. If you move too fast and he suspects our spell, he is the seeker of truth after all, the spell shall break," he warned.
"keep pulling him in," the wizard said and rishab continued.
Nupur: "so what happened to this woman in white? Did you marry her?"
Prem: "no."
Nupur: "That's good. I wouldn't want you marrying someone else, not even in a dream," she said.
Prem: "I did marry someone else though," he said as he started to tell nupur the story about getting marrying to prachi and how everyone thought that he was neev, instead of him.
Nupur: "so, did you stay with her?"
Prem: "no, I had to get out of there. dharam and heer were going to the city of colabra with a fake seeker and I had to get to them. rishab was sending masses of his men there."
Nupur: "what was he looking in the city of ruins? Did you ever find out?"
Prem: "it was something more important than I could ever imagine. He was looking for the second box of ordain," he told her.
DHaram: "just as I suspected, rishab is trying to find out where the third box is?" he said as he heard prem.
Heer: "prem'don't say anymore'please don't!" she said as she tried to wake him up, but it failed.
Prem continued to tell nupur, "The box had significant magic. All through the dream, heer and dharam kept telling me that if rishab got all three boxes, he could enslave the world. Rishab had the first box, he found the second in colabra and now, we had to find the third."
Nupur: "where was this third box?"
Prem: "it was hidden in the heavily guarded treasure room in the midlands," prem started and told him about dharam being a puppeteer and about how big of a brat was sneha and finally about chahat.
Prem: "she was the bravest little girl I have ever seen," he said remembering how she escaped from the daharans and bought them the third box of ordain.
Nupur: "what did you do with the box?"
Prem: "once we had it, we started for a place where dharam thought he could hide safely. But, we came across a forest which was guarded by daharan soldiers searching for us. So, I broke away from the others and hid the box safely for a while until things quite down."
Heer: "no! He is going to tell them where it is. Prem'.prem no!"
Nupur: "where could you possibly bury it that would be safe enough for something so precious?"
Prem: "I buried it under a tree few leagues west of Tutees Bridge."
Rishab smiled hearing that. Moving away from the shade of the moon, "send 100 men to Tutees Bridge right now!" he ordered the wizard.
Nupur: "under a tree? Doesn't sound terribly safe to me. What kind of tree was it?" she asked as they sat on a wooden bench.
Prem: "why does it matter what kind of tree it was?"
Nupur: "well, I was just wondering whether they have the same trees as we do here. Pines? Algars? Wonder-blossoms?"
Prem: "how do you know about Algars? They only grow in the midlands."
Nupur: "It used to be in the books my mother read to me when I was a kid. May be your mother read them to you too and that's why they got into your dream. So, it was an algar?"
Prem: "I know this sounds crazy, but back in my dream or whatever it was, the fate of the world depended on no one knowing the secret about the box. And it doesn't look right to me to tell it to anyone now," he said as he felt something weird in his heart. Even though, he knew nupur since they were kids, he felt it was wrong to tell a secret no matter where it happened, in a dream or for real.
Nupur: "prem, I love you. I have always loved you and I have realized that I want to spend my life with you. And if you don't trust me to tell me something that happened to you in a dream'what did it all mean?" she said acting to get hurt and emotional.
"All those times that we were together as kids and thought about our future and came up with names for our kids. Was that all a lie?" she asked pressuring prem to tell her the truth.
"No, it wasn't a lie nupur," he said feeling guilty.
Nupur: "these memories'these phantoms you think of are not just dreams prem'.they are bad spirits trying to drag you into the dark and they wont let go off you until you show them that you don't believe in their lies. Say the word prem! Say it! break the chains of the dark'.say the name of the tree!" she told them as prem stood there thinking.
In the forest, dharam and heer saw that two of the three stars have disappeared behind the moon and there was only on left. They had to bring prem back at any cost.
Heer: "prem'prem I am right here. Come back to me!" she said as she tried to wake him up.
Dharam: "its no use. The spell of ambience is unbreakable," he said losing hope,
"No, I can get through'I know I can," she said with confidence.
Heer: "prem'don't believe the lies they are telling you. Think of me and everything we have been through together. I need you prem'I need you here with me. That night in the forest, I never wanted that kiss to end. And when you stopped me from leaving, I wanted to stay. When I said that I didn't have any feelings for you, it was a lie. This is the truth'I love you prem!" she confessed as tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"I love you prem and I never want to lose you again'tell me," nupur to said to prem in his dream.
"prem'come back," heer pleaded.
Prem: "it's a kind of tree that'," prem started.
"no! prem please don't say it!" dharam yelled.
"you would like it. It blo'," prem said when nupur interrupted. "it blossoms in the spring?" she asked impatient.
Heer: "prem'please come back," she said as she cupped his face in his hands.
Heer: "I cant live without you prem'please!" she said as tear rolled down her cheek and fell on prem's palm.
Prem felt drops of tears fall in his palm as he stood next to nupur in the forest of hartland. He looked at the tears and then at nupur.
"whats wrong?" she asked.
Heer: "look through the lies they are telling you. You are the seeker of the truth'find the truth prem. see it!" she told him as she caressed his cheek.
Prem turned and looked at nupur. He stared at her and saw the rishab hiding in her. Seeing rishab, "no!" he yelled as the spell broke.
Rishab fell to the ground as the glass window broke and prem woke up from his sleep. As soon as he saw heer, he engulfed her in his arms'happy that she was there'that she existed.
Coming out of the hug, "we have to dig up the box now'lets go!" he said as he grabbed his bag and ran. Heer and dharam looked at each other happily and started to follow him.
Getting up from the floor, "cast the spell again'I am not finished!" rishab told his wizard.
"I am afraid you are my lord," he said as he showed rishab that the third star has disappeared and the spell of ambience can never been cast again for the next 119 years.
Prem, heer, and dharam ran to the tree where the box was hidden and dug up the box. Hiding the box in dharam's bag, they left from there before someone could find them.
As the morning sun rose, they started their journey again.
Heer: "you have been awfully quiet?" she asked seeing prem.
Prem: "nothing. I have just been thinking that if you really existed and that dharam is really a wizard, not that chicken man of hartland, then my father is really dead," he said sadly and dharam placed his hand on prem's shoulder consoling him.
Heer: "so, how did you know it was trick? What bought you out of it?" she asked curious as dharam walked ahead of them.
Prem: "As real as it was in every way, nothing has been more real in my life than you," he said as she looked at him.
"Right when I was about to tell nupur where the box was, I absolutely knew you existed because I'.I felt your love for me," he said as they both stopped to look at each other.
No matter how forbidden their love was in the eyes of the world, the love they had in each other's hearts for each other was true and strong. It had the power to break through any barrier of magic and this strength was unbreakable by even the most powerful magic of the world.
Precap: A crypt opened? A story unfolded? Two lovers separated! Who are these two lovers? Can they ever be united? Keep reading to find out!
hey guys
I know I am really late this time and I am sorry I was so busy with school and family stuff that I didnt have time to write up the update 😳. But, I posted the whole chapter instead of splitting into two...so I hope that makes up for the long wait...😆 hope you guys like this part...do comment...😊
love
Afreen
Edited by premeer928 - 14 years ago
Shiv Shakti
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
