A few days later:

Arjun opened his eyes and found himself on his bed. He got up slowly, looking around the dark room.
The oil lamps were extinguished, the moon being the only source of light. The palace felt cold and unwelcoming, as he looked around. He was greeted by empty corridors.

No daasis, no guards, even his brothers weren't in sight.
'What has happened to this place', he thought.
He decided to step out of the palace and investigate.

Arjun found himself in an empty town. He recognized it as Indraprasth. It had become a ghost town. It was dark, the black night sky, a little orange hue of the setting sun. It was as if he entered another world. It was ghostly and eerie.

She was there as well. She was always there. Running away from him. He followed her, the tinkling of her payals and clanking of her bangles echoed it the silence. He called out to her, but she didn't look back.

He kept running after her and followed her to an unknown place. An barren land. It was completely dark now. This place was misty. He looked at her properly. Her movements were like flowing waters. She was translucent. A little mystical and enchanting. Like a phantom who haunted him.

Her bruised body and blood stained green attire seemed to be taunting him, reminding him of how he had failed her. All of a sudden, she stopped. Arjun halted as well, catching his breath and he smiled at her.

She turned around to face him. Fear written all over her face. She held her hand out to him, beckoning him to come to her and protect her. He ran towards her, as fast as he could, but the distance didn't seem to be shortening.

After a lot of struggle, he finally reached her. He sighed in relief and moved towards her. She smiled at him. He was about to touch her, brush his fingers against her cheeks, but all of a sudden, she dissapeared into the mist.

Arjun went down on his knees. His eyes brimmed with tears at the terrible feeling of loosing her, he was mourning when he heard a cry coming from the opposite direction. It was a woman's cry. Helpless and full of pain. He hurried towards that person, fast as he could before he froze.

He saw his parents. His mata pita. Their hands were chained to the rock. They were bruised and weak. They had dark circles under their eyes and their cheeks were hollow. Arjun stared in horror at the sight in front of him.

He tried moving towards them but an invisible barrier prevented him. He looked at them helplessly while they stared at him in disappoint. He could hear accusations from nowhere, echoing in his mind.

He fell to the ground and shut his ears. But the more he tried to block the voices, the louder they grew......

Arjun woke up with a start. He sat up on his bed. He was drenched in sweat and was panting. The cold winds blowing from his window, made him shiver. Panicked, he got out of his bed and went out, in the balcony. He looked around and sighed.

The streets of Indraprasth were empty, but the torches burning outside the doors of every house, indicated life. He wasn't alone. He caught his breath and went back inside his room. He poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down.

Things weren't great in Indraprasth since his parents went missing. Mahamantri Arun had taken over for the time being, but things were still bad. He could see Indraprasth slowly becoming like Panchal and there was nothing he could do.

His life had taken a bad turn when his parents went missing, and Krishnaa's recent demise, still imprinted in his mind........his life had become haywire.
Over these some days, he hadn't eaten or slept properly, being woken up by dreams.

He despised those dreams. They were painful to be a part of, yet at the same time, he cherished them. It was the only way that he could meet her, could see her.

'This is madness. Am I going to live my entire life like this?'

But he was addicted to the madness. It drove him away from reality, but he was with her. He sighed.

'If I had gone with her, would have things been different?'

**********************
I have divided the prologue into 2 parts, simply because I don't want to reveal anything in the first update itself.
So, here is part 1.
I tried my best to show his grief and state of mind.
The prologue takes place few days after previous book's epilogue,  the main story will start after a leap.