"What are you??"

Khushi's question circled around them. Her terrified eyes were thoroughly locked with the amused ones of Arnav.

"That's easy, I'm human" Arnav answered, and before she could call him a liar and demand how he was a human with what he conjured just now?

His almost dark chuckle as he continued stopped her from saying something she'll surely regret later. After all, She was at their mercy.

"But what I am capable of doing that's another matter, " Arnav finished with a transparent ball of water dancing and shape-shifting in his palm as to prove that fact.

Khushi fainted.

✖➖✖➖✖➖✖➖✖➖✖➖✖➖✖➖

Khushi woke up to the sound of people discussing her again and was hit with a tremendous wave of deja-vu.

"Did you really need to do that? I was making it easy for her to grasp the situation, " 

It was Sid, she was sure arguing about her with someone.

"Well, how's it my fault that she tumbled upon the scene like that and I thought it will be easier to believe with a live demonstration, "

Arnav's tone was totally unapologetic and Khushi didn't know what he was really trying to do? After everything said and done, all he had succeeded in doing is shock her.

"And she is awake again, "

Arnav announced merrily and she opened her eyes feeling all guilty for snooping in a conversation about herself. And again, how does he know she was conscious? Do they have some kinda mind-reading power and all?

"Hey...how are you feeling?"

Sid questioned her kindly yet she couldn't reply to him. She was too terrified with the prospect of what they were yet her thirst for knowing what they were, was overriding her fear of them.

"What are you?"

She asked again knowing it was only the three of them in the room.

"As I mentioned earlier humans, "

Arnav grinned merrily thoroughly enjoying this and Khushi loathed his all-knowing obnoxious look at that moment.

Sid sighed apprehensively. He dreaded this conversation and hated that he was the one breaking this to Khushi. Giving Arnav a withering look he began.

"Do you remember my story Khushi?" Sid asked Khushi, hoping she will listen to them with an open mind.

Khushi nodded again in response.

Confused.

"Well, it's true a long time ago before the humans descended this planet. Even before this planet, existed. The world was divided into five kingdoms Krashanu-fire, Udak-water, Samiran-air, Kshiti- earth, and Jeeva- Nature. The people of these kingdoms used to control these elements,"

Khushi gave Sid a look that screamed— why are you telling me this? She was feeling so confused about everything already. And, he is confusing her more. She did not know why he was telling her this, again?

Sid sighed wearily, glaring at Arnav.

"Okay, so long history short. We are the heirs of those kingdoms and are actually direct descendants of the gods. Devvanshi is the actual term but some people like to call us demigods,  but of course not us. We are mortals. So, I'll say we are kinda humans with some special abilities and responsibilities, "

Sid looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to declare them all bonkers. But she just looked at them with a thoughtful look and spoke in a totally snarky manner;

"So, let me guess. The responsibility laden on you is to protect poor little mere humans, "

Khushi didn't know why she uttered it. It was totally cliche. And maybe, this whole situation seemed just that to her. She was ready for someone to jump out from behind a curtain or something and yell "Congratulations, you're officially mental, "

But no one did and with what she witnessed before it seemed too real to be untrue. And what other responsibilities do the divine beings have except looking after the humans they created? Sometimes she doesn't know why they created them? Yes, she knows she is a human and still asking this?

Arnav and Sid just laughed at her declaration. Well, the laugh seemed kinda relieved laugh to her.

"Well, no... There's a reason humans are called the best creation of gods. The art of protecting themselves is ingrained in them. Our responsibility is to protect nature. For someone had to or the world couldn't withstand the wrath of mother earth. The anger of a mother generally doesn't tend to end good, "

Khushi still was thoroughly confused by their presence. Could such powerful beings really made just for the protection of nature and that too from humans? It totally wasn't making any sense to her. But again, she had seen just Arnav's healing power in action and was it all. 

She doesn't know?

"But how?"

Khushi began again. Her curious streak getting the better of her. She wanted to know-how was this even possible.

"Wrong question sweetheart?" Arnav pipped in again and Khushi glared at him. Forget he's a supernatural being, a demigod, or whatever. She'll seriously maim him if he continues like this.

"The right question is, how you are one of us? When you're totally not supposed to be?"

Arnav mused looking thoughtful while Khushi felt as if someone had literally dropped a thunderbolt on her. She–one of them, no it wasn't possible. She couldn't be. She looked at Sid hopefully, begging him to deny Arnav's words. Begging him to tell her that Arnav was joking and that's it.

But he didn't instead Sid hissed Arnav's name in a warning tone.

"What? I was just helping, "

"Don't then, "

"Khushi..."

Sid began again coaxingly but she didn't want to hear this. She didn't want to know she had power. She was a descendant of gods yet she was so helpless to defend herself. She couldn't defend even herself. No, this is a lie. A cruel joke.

"No, it's not true. Tell me it's not true, " Khushi demanded from Sid looking extremely close to a breakdown, and Sid couldn't help but glare at Arnav.

"Khushi, " Sid started again.

"No, I'm not one of you. I can't be one of you, "

"Khushi listen to me, "

Sid asked her firmly but she was gone beyond words now. How ridiculous this statement was? She had power. She is a supernatural being according to these guys yet she was raped and left to die. She couldn't protect herself. She couldn't and calling her powerful is a joke. A very cruel joke.

"Nooooooo, "

She screamed in denial but the sudden crackling of thunder overhead. The sudden change in the weather proved her wrong. She had electricity flowing through her veins yet she couldn't save herself.

No, it can't be possible. No, no, no...not with her. No...

Shock.

Shock is defined as the sudden or violent disturbance of the mind, emotions, or sensibilities.

In medicine, it is a critical condition brought on by a sudden drop in blood flow through the body.

She was experiencing shock in every sense of the word.

Complete shock.

"Khushi, " the loud yell of her name as Sid violently shook her holding her shoulders brought her to reality.

"No, "

She whimpered still in denial.

"Khushi breath, look into my eyes, breath. Take a deep breath. Yes. Inhale. Now, slowly let go. Exhale. Yes, breath, "

And as the waves of panic slowly left her. The doubts about her power left too. For the sky was clear and bright again.

"How and what do ya mean by wasn't supposed to?"

She couldn't help but whimper and what did Arnav mean by she wasn't supposed to be one of them? Was she an outcast among the supernatural beings too? 

Sid again glared at Arnav and then sighed in a long-suffering manner.

"Well, we have a theory. Do you know about recessive and dominant genes?"

Khushi gave Arnav a flat look. What recessive and dominant genes? And again why her genes are the reason for all her sufferings? Isn't she going through all this because she is her mother's daughter?

"Okay, so in genetics, the characteristic trait that expresses itself is considered dominant and the one that doesn't is recessive. Humans get genes passed from both the set of parents and usually the dominant traits express themselves..."

"And what all this has to do with me?" Khushi demanded from Arnav annoyed at this impromptu Bio lecture as Sid rubbed his head frustrated with the whole world right now.

"What Arnav means to tell you is; we suspect your father was the last of the Samiran rulers while your mother was a mere human and they weren't mates. So, you received your fathers and his ancestor's power but in the recessive format as it happens to all the children born out of the mate bond. But something happened that night, something that forced them to express themselves and I'm glad it did. For, those powers gave you an extra edge. They were the only thing that kept you from dying not by much but they kept you alive. A normal human wouldn't have survived it."

Khushi could feel her head swimming hearing Sid's words. She still truly don't understand the whole thing. What mates? What genes? What was this really all about? But she got that whatever this was this saved her from dying. This power activated on that night.

"What Sid really means to say in simple language is that you had the power all your life but it wasn't activated and neither was it meant to be wielded by you. It was supposed to pass down as recessive traits are usually passed down. But something triggered it and it got activated. You weren't born with activated powers like us before that night you were all human after that, not so much... See that silver small chakra on your wrist, it's rakshak chakra. You're supposed to be a protector, "

For the first time, since waking up Khushi noticed the small silver spherical mark on her wrist. It was like a sharp chakra made of what looked like peacock feathers.

What's all this about? What's happening with her? How she is supposed to protect everyone when she can't protect herself?  She doesn't want to be a part of this world. She doesn't want to be the wielder of this power? She wants to be just Khushi, not some Rakshak. She doesn't want these powers. She wants to go away.  Far away from everything and everyone.

"You're the last living heir of the air dynasty, Khushi and not at all in control of your powers, "

Sid told her in a warning sort of way. What do they mean by this? Were they going to keep her here as a prisoner? And how's she the last heir? If dadi's last words were true then her father is live somewhere if her father is alive then how is she the last heir? She needs to find her father. She really needs to only he can answer all her questions.

"Try to summon the clouds Khushi, " Arnav ordered her there was a very serious look in his eyes and Sid seemed to agree with Arnav's command. And she didn't know how to and why should she? She didn't want anything to do with this power yet the boys looks made her relent. They weren't letting her go anywhere until she did what they asked her to.

"How?"

Khushi asked the boys confused. How to make a clear sunny sky cloudy?

"Just think about it"

She did but nothing happened. She tried again and again but nothing happened until she felt utterly depressed and the sky turned all stormy. She looked at the boys stunned. She wasn't still quite able to align her mind with all these having power stuff.

"You're not in control of your powers, Khushi. They control you right now, " Arnav informed her somberly and she gave him a look that screamed she knew that fact. She knew. She knew she wasn't in control.

Sid sighed again.

"You see Khushi, we were born with those powers. We knew from starting our roles and what kind of powers suit us. Arnav, Riya, and I knew we are the preservers. We have an affinity for healing powers while Dhriti, Aashvi, Kanil, Arjun, and Iresh are the protectors. Their powers are usually destructive in nature and so is yours. You're not the first soft drizzle, love. You're the violent pouring, you're a hurricane and you aren't control of that hurricane. You don't know but cyclones after cyclones assaulted this land after your injury. The day you woke up all panicked you changed the clear skies to a violent thunderstorm and also nearly killed yourself because your body was not made to wield this raw energy,"

All this was told to her in a very conversational tone. Khushi just stared at them totally blown away. So, she wasn't made to wield this power yet something that night triggered her power that gave her an advantage and saved her life yet the raw energy of the power due to upheaval of her emotions wreaked havoc on the atmosphere and almost killed her.

"And even now, the powers can kill you if you don't learn to control it. It won't be good if you end up killing yourself because of your own uncontrolled energy,"

If Arnav wanted to terrify her. He had achieved it. Wow, now her mood swings were capable of killing her. Wonderful. Just terrific. What else was remaining in her life?

"Well, you can see the whole thing as sort of rebirth. You know your demigod gene activation purified all the drugs and its effects on your system. You were given all the three main types of drugs and that too for quite a long time. I think a stimulant was injected in your body before..."

Sid paused and she shook her head acting as if that's nights mention didn't affect her. It did. But they didn't need to know that.

Getting her look, Sid continued " Ao as I was saying you were given Depressants, Hallucinogens, and Stimulants. And it had quite an adverse effects on the body especially the organs and you know drug abuse can cause cancer too. But the activation of your genes erased or you can say destructed all those drug triggers and cells in your body. That's why you're not going mad for drugs as an addict in rehabilitation does. So, you're safe from there effects now as they don't quite affect us, "

"So, I should be relaxed right that human serious diseases like cancer and all can't kill me, now. But my own powers can do that and I may kill myself unknowingly, "

Khushi felt just as happy about the whole situation as her snarky comment made it seem and Arnav's "bingo, " didn't quite help. So, she was a walking talking time bomb with the capability to hail cyclonic destruction on the whole world. Just great.

"Not everyone gets a second chance, you know," Arnav said calmly.

And she knew that but she would have liked a more normal second chance. But ignoring that she listened calmly as Sid told her about the rules of their world and the utmost important rule, the breaking of which can lead to loss of power and very violent death. The rule being — they can't use their powers on humans, no matter what. And they can't mingle with the human world with their powers unless the demons are on the rise and trying to annihilate the whole human population.

"So, you're telling me that I can fry my wrongdoers to death. Make lightning fall on them and make it all seem like a natural accident. But I'm not allowed too, "

Yes, Khushi was all but screeching while saying so. Remembering her dream where she rained lightning on her wrongdoers, killed every single one of them. It was so easy. She can achieve it with a snap but she can't because it's not allowed. Because Gods forbid them. Because humans are weaker than them and so they can't kill them in the most painful way or try to punish them.

"We never said we can't try to correct them. We said we can't do it with powers. Why do you think Riya and Iresh are in the police? And on that high-rank officers that too? Why Arjun as young as he is made the head of the whole reserve? We can't use our powers to punish them but we can do it the human way. And it's more fun that way anyway, " Arnav said.

And Khushi couldn't help but be very suspicious of him. Was he reading her mind? Did he have mind-reading powers? She narrowed her eyes at him. He just smirked in reply.

"hallucinations, Will I still have them?" Khushi questioned Sid ignoring Arnav momentarily. Suddenly afraid remembering how difficult they made her life. And even though Sid and Arnav repeated numerous times that she was completely human with recessive demigod genes in her body before that night. She wanted to be sure whether these genes were anyway responsible for her hallucinations. And the misery of going mad.

"No, it was because of the drugs and as its effects are nullified, you won't have any such trouble, " Sid reassured her.

"And your dreams were the result of them too. I think it was playing with your subconscious mind and desires and presenting them in your dreams like a movie or someone was repeating these things again and again near you. And your mind was playing with you, "

The way both the brothers shared thoughtful looks Khushi decided she is better not knowing things. She doesn't want to end up as their lab rat. So, to stop them from deducing what was actually causing her hallucinations and dreams. She asked them softly.

"So, what now?"

What were they going to do with the walking, talking disaster with them? What were they going to do with the girl who could launch a violent raining misery on the world in a bad mood unconsciously?

"Well, we will train you to control your powers and see what powers do you have and what's your chosen spirit animal, " Sid mumbled thoughtfully.

She nodded first and then questioned him almost accusingly "you said I was the last one of my clan, "

"Yes, you are" Sid agreed.

"Then how can you help me know and control the extent of my powers?"

She questioned their words weren't actually making sense.

"Well, you're the last of Samiran Royals but we never said what clan we belonged too, " Arnav winked at her with a totally insufferable expression.

Sid ruined Arnav's fun quite somberly.

"Khushi, Saesha is a human and a little afraid of us. I hope you don't let this change the bond between you two, "

"Saesha is human, " She exclaimed startled. What was a human doing between these mighty demigods? And that too totally aware of their existence. Is this the reason Saesha wasn't talking much about her family? Is she like her born out of mate bond hence not receiving the supernatural powers?

"No, she is not like you and it's her story to share. Ask her about it?" Sid answered her questions before she asked again.

And the air around them was quite somber again. She wouldn't ask Saesha anything that'll make her sad and it felt like this story will make Saesha really sad. So, she changed the topic as always. Turning the matter and avoiding it until she didn't have any other option.

"So, what powers do you have?"

"Well, Aasvhi belongs to the Krashanu clan. It means she wields fire and she is the warrior princess of the clan. She wields the destructive fire energy. She is light, born of fire, and a child of the sun god. She has enough power to yield an artificial sun to disperse the dark clouds of well evil though she can use fire for healing and cleansing purposes. She isn't well very apt in that art, " Arnav finished with a fond look thinking about his youngest fiery sister-in-law.

"Both Dhriti and Riya belong to the Kshiti clan. It means they control earth while Dhriti is the warrior princess. Riya is the healer princess. Dhriti controls the violent power of earth, earthquake, volcano, and all. She can disperse mountains and change landscapes make the plains hilly and hills plain turn forests into deserts and stuff like that while Riya is growth. She can make infertile land fertile, grow trees, make and preserve forests. The plants listen to her. The animals listen to her. She can feel them. She is connected to the forest and every little nurturing aspect of nature. Though Riya can cause earthquakes and all too and Dhriti can heal too but the intensity of those powers is not that much, it's like a righty writing with left hand kinda situation, " Sid ended smiling obviously very fond and proud of his sister-in-law's. They had known each other for long, after all.

"And what powers do you guys have?" Khushi asked them with narrowed eyes getting they hadn't informed her about their powers yet.

"Well, you can find them out when we train you, "

Arnav smirked in that obnoxious manner again so she turned to Sid and even he just smirked in her direction.

Khushi gaped. They couldn't do this to her. They can't tell her all this and leave their powers as a mystery. That's not fair.

"Hey, where are you going?"

She asked Arnav watching him walk towards the door whistling.

"Well, I don't know about you but  you see when it's midday, normal people tend to get hungry and eat food, strange concept, I know" 

Arnav's tone was dripping with sarcasm as he fled the room before she could hurl something at him. Maybe his book.

"And I forgot, Don't freak out if you hear prayers. Grateful people tend to do that too, "

With that being said Arnav really fled from there while Khushi turned her horrified eyes to Sid. What did Arnav meant by prayers? Who'll pray to her and why?

Sid sighed looking like he was wishing for this day to be over already.

"You see Khushi, the tribals, and some clans throughout the world pray to the spirits connected to nature. Like the people residing in this forest thank us for looking after them and protecting them, thank us for a good harvest, pray for the protection of them, and their harvest. It's a scared bond." Sid explained and Khushi couldn't be any more horrified, having powers was one thing but being unknowingly worshiped by others, another.

What will she do if she hears Shyam or Dadi praying to her? Curse them?

"You have many things to learn now, " Sid told her in an elderly tone and She wanted to tell him that she wants to know everything right now. She wants to learn everything but Sid's look clearly told her it wasn't going to happen.  She'll learn about this world in accord with these people and not because of her curiosity.

"Let's go before Arnav eats everything, " Sid ushered her out of the room. She doesn't know who's room it was? Neither she is interested in asking about it. All she could think about her powers and how her life has totally turned upside down? And who'll be her mentor? She hopes it's not Arnav. That guy is insufferable and totally infuriating, dropping things on her like this.

God forbid if Arnav becomes her mentor, she might actually end up destroying the world accidentally.

~to be continued~

So, yeah, what do you think guys?
Still interested in this story?
If yes, who's going to be Khushi's mentor? Think, think, think...no, hints from me. Well, it's in the story, let's see if you can seek it out. 😉

With that said I'll say bye-bye.

See you with the next update.

Till then stay safe and happy.