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The silence in the tent was deafening. 

It was the quiet, that the skies assume, before the heavens above, prepare to split the world open with a thunder so destructive that it can burn the land down to cinders. 

It was as if, time itself had stopped in shock. 

And then like a roar, everyone started speaking at once. It was a cacophony of disbelief, terror and utter panic in the room as shaking voices overlapped in a frantic effort to out sound their peers. 

Till, Yudhishtira raised his hand and everyone stopped at once. 

Whether in deference to their ruler or relief at someone else taking the reigns of the arduous conversation that was sure to follow, it couldn't be said. 

"Vasudeva, I do not understand. Why will you, not be able to guide us further? What is the meaning behind such an unbelievable announcement?", his words were shaky even if he tried his very best to school his features into his characteristic calm mask. 

The dusky Yashodanandan didn't smile in reassurance as was his typical gesture before giving any answer to any question. Instead his face remained scarily impassive, frightening everyone furthermore. 

"I am regretful Kuntiputra, I cannot give you the reason. I can only inform that my involvement in this war might result in drastic consequences. And my removal is just a way of ensuring that such events do not occur."

Krishna worded a frosty reply and Draupadi who had been stilled into a statue finally broke through her stupor with a ferocious fervour. Her face was awash in heightened agitation and her hands which had balled within the folds of her maroon saree trembled unnoticed. 

"What are you even saying Govind? You are the one who has guided us our entire lives, repeatedly assuring us, that this war was inevitable and that we are the instruments of justice that will bring upon the new era of Kshatriyas. How can you back out, now?"

"I am not saying that the war should end. It will continue as it is. But I cannot be a part of it."

"You are not a part of it, Vasudev. You have not taken up arms. Isn't that what the condition was?", Bhima asked behoved. 

Krishna remained stone faced. Unmoved. His words sharp yet clear. 

"Yes it was. But I am still indirectly a participant, bhrata Bhima. I wield your younger brother's chariot. And my advises rule your strategies just as much as your Jyestha's."

"That is correct. But, that was part of the plan wasn't it, Keshav? We are following through whatever you have made us do. Why are you suddenly backing out now? In the middle of the war, that is", Satyaki joined in helplessly. 

The atmosphere had become palpably thick with tension. So much so that one could easily hack into it with a sword like a heated knife through butter. Even amidst such alarming declarations, it still felt like the worst, was yet to come. 

The veracity with which the situation was deteriorating, it was becoming clear to everyone present, that this uneasiness gaining momentum at the back of their minds, would conclude into a explosion which will shake them all. 

What they hadn't noticed yet was that Arjun, surprisingly, had not uttered a mere whisper yet. Not when they had collectively lost their composure on Krishna's shocking announcement, not even when the increased frantic conversations carried on with the Lord of the Yadavas. 

Because Arjun, could barely breathe. 

To him it felt like he was underwater. The words his wife and brothers were speaking and Madhava's answers, all got lost between the numbing barrier of something icy which had laid on his skin like painful pinpricks. 

He could distinctively realise that he should speak up too. The questions burning inside him like a wildfire, corroding into his fleshy insides like maggots must be given air, before he collapses into himself. 

But he could hardly take in a breath. His lungs were aflame. 

Abhimanyu, who had been mute till now, flabbergasted at his favourite uncle's words, finally gathered his scattered courage to look at Arjun and then immediately wished, he hadn't. 

He had never seen his father look like that. 

He had never even comprehended that the infallible Gandhivdhari can look like that.

Like he had been speared through the chest. 

Rochananandan swallowed loudly as his throat completely dried up and as a result, stinging tears sprang to those marble like eyes he had inherited from his mother. He wanted his father to rage at his uncle, scream his head off, do anything other than look so... so corpse like. 

"Say something pitashree please. We all know, he would only listen to you", he uttered weakly.

"Precisely Arya. Command your dear sakha to stop this madness right now. It is not funny anymore", Draupadi repeated after her son. Her words razorlike but her tone bellied any hint of annoyance. She sounded just as scared as her husbands looked. 

Arjun's eyes moved at that and felt the pain from the rigidity in his war torn battered body return with a vengeance. Only a rock sized lump of leaden panic stuck in his throat prevented him from speaking up. Yet he tried, as all eyes seemed to have gotten trained on him now. 

Everyone except his Madhava's, that is. 

Krishna still refused to meet his eyes, looking unnervingly through his soul as his jade brown gaze landed on him. 

He had to clear his throat twice before any hint of his voice could even emerge. And when it did, everyone cringed at the sandpaper like quality, Sabyasachi's usual velvet deep and saffron smooth baritone, had become. 

It sounded like he had swallowed crushed glass. 

His words though severally weakened, were unexpected if not unsurprising. 

"Madhav... have I... have I done something wrong? Have I.. offended you somehow?", Parth asked meekly. 

For just a split moment, Krishna's inanimate rock like mask seemed to crack open and something akin to great agony splashed on those much loved, beautiful features. But it may as well have been a trick of the light and his own desperation, as it walled back up into an  impenetrable fortress immediately. 

"Believe it or not Arjun, the world doesn't revolve around you. My decisions have nothing to do with your actions."

Krishna may have very well speared his father again, Abhimanyu thought agonized. The edge of those uncaring words snapped on Phalguna's skin like a barrage of ox horn whips. He had to swallow a whimper. 

The Pandavas and their warriors looked shell shocked and Draupadi could feel her husband's pain hit her like a sledgehammer even as her dearest friend's cold uncaring tone cut into her like daggers. 

"Kanha... please...", Krishnaa whispered tearfully. 

"You wanted the truth Draupadi, now have the fortitude to bear it", Madhusudhana turned at that, ready to walk out of the Pandava shivir, after what may have just been a literal massacre, by the looks on the pale faced people inhabiting it. 

"Vasudev!"

"Mamashree!"

"Madhav..."

They had all called him together, their voices falling over each other yet again in a pathetic parody of some minutes prior, but this time, only Arjun's feeble voice managed to out sound everyone else's, without even trying. 

Krishna didn't turn but he stopped for a moment. 

Sahadev felt the hair at the back of his neck rise up in a powerfully apprehensive static. His blood started cooling rapidly and his heart started galloping with a speed, their horses might envy. 

He opened his mouth, desperate to halt any words Krishna might say next, but like every time, he failed to turn destiny, even after getting a note of it earlier, like always.

Who would have thought that with these few words, Aryavarta's future would flip on its head?

Krishna never turned once, but the accuracy with which he shot his verdict made everyone think, he may as well have strung up a bow and let lose a few divyastra. 

"Our journey has come to an end for I forsake you Parth, son of Prithaa. May we never meet each other again, in this lifetime."

Vasudeva walked out with that but Arjun stood rooted to the ground. Worlds may have been destroyed and rebuilt in those few seconds, his family may have perished, yet he could not have moved, could have seen nothing, could have heared nothing. 

It was like a void had opened in the pit of his soul and everything had started sinking into it. He could feel something snapping inside. Like an invisible threat ordained through generations and eons, cut through the ravages of time, had been ripped taught from the middle. 

And with it, his heart caved in. 

There was a distinct ringing in his ears which bellied any other sounds and the world seemed too bright. Almost keen on burning out his eyes. A shade of darkness felt like a marvellous idea right now. His physical body may have taken some time to get to that conclusion but slowly and surely it reached there. 

The soothing waters, swirling obsidian beckoned him gently like a mother awaiting her son with a lullaby and Arjun let himself he be drowned in it. 

The outside world had become too painful, too agonizing to be with, at the moment. 

And just when his head dipped underwater, a flash of heat split his forehead open and he thought he heard snatches of a couple of yells, all of his different names mixed into each other - poisonous and sickly sweet.

And then, it was all blessed silence and a soothing oblivion. 

And the world saw, for the first and the last time, the mighty Vijaya crumple onto Mother Earth, like he was but a sack of potatoes, like he was but a marionette with its strings severed, like he was but a marble sculpture turned to dust.

The wailing shrieks of the vultures outside seemed to add to the overall scenery, morbidly but aptly.

To be continued