"It is a miracle that she is alright, Vasudev." The royal physician murmured, feeling her faint yet steady pulse. 

Krishna nodded, and the physician left. 

All the princes had returned to their chambers, and Krishna had already issued spies to look into this matter.

"Kanha, is she alright?" Balarama looked at Ishani, sleeping peacefully. The curtains fluttered in the wind, as the lamps burned furiously.

"She will be." Placing a forehead kiss, he sat by her bedside.
Karna paced back and forth in his balcony, wondering if she would be alright. His heart was gripped tightly with fear, for some strange reason.

He looked down, seeing the magnificent garden. Rows and rows of  plants with the rarest of flowers met his sight. Each was a different shade of another colour. Their sweet scent lingered in the air, but his instinct told him something was wrong.

Seriously wrong. A wisp of black made him rush down the stairs, to the spot where he had witnessed it.

There was nothing he  could hear or see, except the chirping of birds and the distinct chatter of people. He crouched down, brushing his fingers against the spot. A jolt of pain ran through him, and a rumble was heard.

He stepped back, as the spot revealed itself to be a circular stone. It moved, and he held his breath as a  passageway greeted him. 

He took a deep breath, quietly walking in to the deep abyss.  His sharp ears picked up the sounds of snakes slithering around, rustling of leaves and the faint cricket sounds. He winced as thorns poked his feet continuously. 

The entire path was faintly lit and it seemed like he was entering a closed chamber. 

He could hear whispers as if they were coming from far off. 

'Thou mustn't go there, Ye son of the Gods. Place is cursed.'

'Please, don't go forward. Thou shall suffer terribly.'

"Excuse me? Who are you all?" The whispers faded away, silence greeting him again. 

 Chills crawled down his spine. There was a door and it was the dead end. He clutched the door knob, twisting it as the door opened.
The sight in front of him made him blood run cold.

"No" Ishani screamed, gasping for breath. A trickle of sweat rolled down her forehead.
Krishna clutched her shoulders, pulling her close.
"You are alright, Ishani. Calm down. " She shook her head, gasping softly.

"Krishna, there's someone here. Someone so sinister that it pulls me towards itself and I want to go there. Badly." She rasped, trying to break free from his hold. 

"Dau, the garden is seen." He spoke, and Balarama's eyes widened. Someone had opened the entrance to the monster. 

And it was currently free. 

Karna shuddered, seeing the dark prison. Insects crawled in freely, but never came back. He could hear soft groans and rumbles, as if some was in deep pain. Creepers grew out of the prisons, allowing not a speck of sunlight in it.

"Excuse me? Anyone there?" Karna clutched the outline of his waist band, underneath which lay a dagger.

"Karna... Come to me..." Whispers echoed in the dead still prison. He frowned, looking around. 

Except the insects and plants, there seemed to be no other sign of life. He steadied himself as a sudden force pushed him down. 

"Where ever you are, come out and show yourself!" Karna looked at the prison, hearing huge footsteps. It was like the entire earth was shaking in fear. 

"Here I am, Ye son of the gods." He glanced upwards, unable to believe his eyes. It was a huge panther, but its lower half of the body was curved like a snake, looking like a head.

"Free me.. I long to roam free in the giant forests and oceans." Karn pressed his lips into a straight line, Vasudev would have imprisoned this monster for a reason. A normal human would have fainted at its sight.

He had barely begun to walk back, when a huge arm shot out, squeezing the life out of him. Karna growled, ripping its arm apart. It screamed in anger, throwing another arm when Karna shot millions of arrows.

"You can't defeat me.. I'm Halahal.. Foolish demigod !" It cackled, and the entire ground shook violently. He hissed as a scorpion crawled on to his leg. He held its mouth, tearing it apart.

It was barbaric, but right now his safety mattered.

"Jyesht, why is the ground shaking all of a sudden?" Nakul yawned, thinking it was his hallucination. He fixed his green Angavastram, looking at his brothers.

They held a worried look, whispering something. A huge roar startled them. Something was happening.

"Where is Karna?" Krishna burst in, looking all around the chambers. 

The brothers searched everywhere, pulling aside the curtains, looking in the kitchen and war grounds, but he seemed to have vanished all of a sudden.

Krishna looked at Balarama. "What if he was the one who discovered it?"

Balarama shook his head in horror. "It will rip him apart, Kanha. It hates demigods."

"Adi!" Ishani was holding a whip and a sword. Her attire was changed. She wore a dhoti, the Angavastram wrapped around her in a war style.

All them glared at her. Was she insane ?

She had just woken up from a life threatening situation.

"I want to go there. To the garden." 

"No! Your poison is attracting the monster. This poison contains a minute portion of Halahal."

"Meaning?" She frowned, unable to put the pieces together.

"During the Samudra Manthana, a drop of Halahal was left and it multiplied so much that people began dying after consuming the river or ocean waters. Lord Vishnu collected the poison, leaving it on a deserted island. It assumed the form of a monster and even time travelled, terrorizing the people occasionally. Its tail was in such a way that it looked like the curve of its neck."

"Wait, does that mean that the Loch-Ness monster really exists?"

"No, that was just a hoax. It lived in the ocean, and swallowed everything it came across. That's the reason ships and planes went missing. It could trap a person by catching its shadow. Similar to that monster in Ramayana, but not the same."

"The Bermuda Triangle mystery." She mumbled, realisation dawning on her. She looked at Krishna and Balarama.

"Why can't you both kill it?"

"How can you kill something when you don't know its origin? There's no cure for Halahal. We locked it here to prevent it from causing trouble. it was prophesied that many people would try to kill it, but only one would succeed."

"How many people died?" Ishani whispered softly.

"Too many. To be exact, 4999 men. All discovered it through different ways, but met with the same end."

"Now Karna is inside. We have to stop him or he has to win the battle."

"He maybe a great warrior but there's no solution." Balarama confirmed.

"I have an idea. What's the counterattack for poison?"

"Nectar." Balarama shrugged. She grinned, but he frowned.

"Don't tell me we have to procure nectar from the Gods now." Ishani flicked his head.

"I didn't say that. Didn't you know that our body produces nectar in the Sahasrara chakra, but is consumed away by our digestive fire because 99 per cent of us are unaware of it ?"

Krishna smiled, patting her head. She had proven her worth, finally.

"Brilliant. But how do you use it?"

"We've to collect it in the Ajna chakra, our eyebrow centre. So stop it before it reaches the stomach.  Which mean we have to block it at the throat. Jalandhar Bandha." She shrugged, astonishing the Pandavas.

"How do you know this much Yoga?"

"I was a Yogini back then." She chuckled, nodding at them. 

"We have to tell this to Karna. I'm going."

"You can't. The monster will seek you out more." Balarama warned.

"Exactly. If it seeks me out, it's easier for me to find Karna." Ishani pleaded, and they sighed.

"We lost you once." He whispered softly, trying to make her realise that they too had suffered.

"Dau only seeks your safety, Ishani. But if you want to, we can not stop you. The poison attracts you, and it would be more lethal if you delayed." Krishna advised.

"My wound is healed. I'm completely fine. Please..."

"Agreed. But we're accompanying you till the entrance."

"Alright." A loud groan scared the wits out of them.

Ishani froze, realising the scream belonged to a very familiar person.

Karna.

Meme of the day: