Rudhra’s Hesitance
Rudhra tore a piece of idli from his plate, dipped it into the tangy sambar his mother had prepared, and put it into his mouth. He glanced at the time.
He had two more hours before he needed to be at Site A for training with Yodhika.
For the past ten days, he had been training with her, and every day she had given him the same task: find a trustworthy ally among the Amirthyas.
Though he knew the face and name of every Amirthya in the building, there wasn’t a single one he could truly call close—aside from his parents.
With a quiet sigh, he picked up the plate, still holding one untouched idli, carried it to the kitchen, and scraped the food into the garbage. He washed the plate, dried his hands, and returned to the living room. Taking his sword from the table, he slid it into its sheath and secured it behind his back before stepping out of the apartment.
He locked the door and turned around.
The apartment opposite his stood open.
Rudhra paused.
He took a slow breath, then stepped closer to the door. “Hello?” he called out softly.
A man appeared at the doorway, his face tight with distress.
“Yes?” the man asked. “What do you want?”
Rudhra hesitated, scrambling for words. “O–oh… nothing. I usually see this door locked when I leave. S–so I was just checking if everything was okay.”
The man studied him suspiciously.
“Do you check every apartment when you find its door open?” he asked, irritation creeping into his voice.
“N–no, no,” Rudhra said quickly. “I just thought it was unusual, so I thought—”
“You thought you could see if anyone was here,” the man cut in, “and if no one was watching, steal something?”
Rudhra froze, dumbfounded. “N–not at all, sir—Mahim. I live in the apartment across yours. I was only checking—”
“How do you know my name?” Mahim demanded, cutting him off again.
Rudhra began to sweat. “Sir, I work under Sabo—the military trainer. She trained me to learn the name of every citizen in this town.”
Mahim stared at him in silence for a long moment. “Which department do you work for?”
“I don’t belong to any specific department, sir,” Rudhra replied. “I’m more like an assistant to Sabo. I do whatever she assigns me.”
Mahim studied him once more, then shut the door without another word.
Rudhra lifted his hand to knock—but stopped.
Lowering it slowly, he let out a quiet sigh and walked away.
“This is not good, Rudhra. You couldn’t even get close to one person?” Yodhika snapped.
She flung him away with a violent surge of energy.
Rudhra landed on his feet several metres away, his body already reforming—ribs knitting, organs settling, skin sealing as though nothing had happened. He steadied himself and raised his sword.
“It’s hard,” he said, breathless. “I feel… uncomfortable talking to any Amirthya except my parents. What do you want me to do?”
Yodhika slammed the prongs of her trident into the floor. “This is not the time for personal issues. Do you even understand what’s at stake? Or do you not care about saving your clan?”
Rudhra fell silent, staring at the ground.
Yodhika sighed. “Fine. I won’t push you again. Do it at your own pace—but it has to be done by the end of this month. After that, it’ll be too late.”
Rudhra lifted his head. “I’ll try.”
“Good. Now focus.”
Without warning, she hurled her trident at him and unleashed a blast from her core. The weapon’s speed multiplied instantly.
Rudhra barely had time to react. He raised his sword just as the trident stopped a hair’s breadth from his eyes. The impact sent him skidding backward as the trident dropped beneath him.
He charged.
Yodhika met him head-on, slamming an energy wave into the ground. The floor shattered. Rudhra leapt instinctively as debris exploded upward. The trident was flung into the air by the shockwave.
Yodhika slid beneath him and released another surge from below.
Rudhra was hurled skyward. Bone cracked audibly.
Before his body could fully reform, Yodhika caught the falling trident and launched it with lethal precision.
It pierced straight through Rudhra’s head.
Blood and fragments splattered as his body hit the ground.
Yodhika walked forward calmly, yanked the trident free, and wiped it clean.
Minutes later, Rudhra sat up, his head fully restored.
“How do you approach battles?” he asked, genuinely curious.
Yodhika glanced at him while cleaning the last stain from her trident. “With ten plans. None of them alike.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You fight by sharpening your senses and predicting your opponent’s next move,” she said.
“Yeah… don’t you?”
She stood. “I use everything—my power, the terrain, the environment, the opponent’s habits. I force them to move the way I want. Then I end it when I choose.”
Rudhra stared at her, stunned. “That’s possible?”
“It depends on what you want,” she said. “You just enjoy fighting. I fight to win.”
“Do all Pranvars fight like this?”
She retracted the trident into its sword form and secured it. “In their own ways. But yes—they fight with victory already decided.”
Rudhra looked down.
“Don’t worry,” she added. “If you defeat me even once, you’ll be able to take down most of them. Even Ashura. And you are improving.”
Rudhra looked up, a faint grin forming.
Yodhika smiled back.
Her gaze flicked briefly to the CCTV camera.
Then she grabbed Rudhra by the collar and blasted him backward into a yellow car behind them—its door long gone. She followed, landing inside moments later.
As Rudhra’s body finished reforming, she lowered the trident and pulled him into an embrace.
“Do we have to do this every day after training?” Rudhra asked, embarrassed.
“Yes,” she replied calmly. “This is my fee.”
“I feel like I’m being used.”
She said nothing, eyes closed.
Slowly, Rudhra relaxed. His arm slipped around her back. “But… this does feel nice.”
Yodhika looked up.
She leaned closer.
Rudhra stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“I thought we’d try something new,” she said softly.
“What?”
“Stay still, idiot.”
She kissed him.
His tension melted. Their breathing quickened as the kiss deepened, hands gripping tighter.
When they finally pulled apart, both were breathless.
“Wow,” Rudhra murmured.
Yodhika chuckled. “Yeah. That was new.”
They remained still for a few moments, both mesmerized by how the world had shrunk to just the two of them. A faint smile of excitement lingered on their faces.
Yodhika’s smile slowly faded.
“They’re back again,” she said quietly.
Rudhra lifted her face, meeting her eyes. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to silence those voices too,” he said with a reassuring smile.
Yodhika smiled back, then let out a long breath.
“We should leave,” she said, tapping his thigh as she stepped out of the car. “If we stay any longer, they might grow suspicious.”
Rudhra waited until she had walked away. Then he climbed out of the car himself and left Site A.
(To be continued)
Karun G Nath 
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