The silence of my room was a cage. The words from the library echoed in the emptiness, a relentless whisper. "I've always wondered." What did he wonder? Who I was beneath the prince? Or was it something else, something that saw the shadow of the future clinging to me?
I couldn't breathe. The walls of discipline I had built around myself felt like they were cracking, and through the fissures, a terrifying truth was seeping in. I was not just afraid of killing Neer. I was afraid of the part of me that was already grieving for him.
Restless, I paced. The moon was high, painting my floor in silver. It was against every rule, but I needed the cool night air. I slipped out, moving like a ghost through the sleeping Gurukul, the silence a balm on my frayed nerves.
I wasn't the only ghost awake.
Near the boundary wall, a figure dropped silently from the shadows, landing with a soft thud on the grass. Even in the dim light, I knew that silhouette, that infuriatingly graceful carelessness.
Neer.
He brushed dust off his blue tunic, a satisfied smirk on his face. He had broken the curfew. He had left the Gurukul grounds.
And the violent, protective fury that surged through me in that moment had nothing to do with rules.
"Where are you coming from at this hour, Neer?" My voice was low, cutting through the stillness like a blade. I stepped out of the shadows.
He spun around, his eyes wide for a fraction of a second before the familiar mask of mockery slid back into place. "The Perfect Prince, breaking curfew? I'm shocked."
"Don't," I warned, my voice tight. "Leaving the Gurukul at night is forbidden. You have broken the rules."
"Rules, rules, rules!" he laughed, a sharp, brittle sound. "You must have never broken a single one, right? Oh, I forgot, you are the Acharya's most favorite disciple—forged from rules, Agnivrat. Rules can't possibly be broken by you." He took a step closer, his eyes challenging in the moonlight. "Anyway, I like to go out whenever I feel like it. See, the guards didn't even know when I went out and when I returned. And listen... I will go every night now."
He looked into my eyes, that smirk deepening. "You're not jealous of me, are you? That I can go wherever I want... and you remain trapped in the chains of your rules?"
Something in me snapped.
The fear, the guilt, the unbearable tension of the entire day—it all coalesced into a white-hot spark of rage. It was irrational, it was dangerous, and I let it consume me.
In one fluid motion, I drew my practice sword and struck.
He ducked, his eyes flashing with surprise and a flicker of excitement. "Oh dear, you've really gotten angry!"
I didn't answer. I struck again, a controlled but forceful arc aimed at his shoulder. He nimbly dodged and this time, his own sword was in his hand, deflecting my blow with a sharp clang of wood.
For a few moments, it was just the sound of our clash—the thud of wood meeting wood, our ragged breaths, the rustle of disturbed grass. It was a language we both understood better than words. Every block, every parry, was a conversation we couldn't have.
But the emotions were too raw, the power within us too volatile.
Frustration boiled over. I channeled it, and a flicker of flame danced along the edge of my wooden blade. I didn't think. I swung.
Neer ducked again, but the fire leapt from my sword, catching the dry thatch of a nearby storage hut. A small flame began to lick hungrily at the roof.
We both froze for a second, horror dawning.
Then Neer moved. He thrust his hands forward, and a stream of water shot forth, dousing the flames with a sharp hiss, leaving only a wisp of smoke and the smell of charred wood.
He turned to me, his face alight with a different fire now. "You want to play with elements, Agni?"
Before I could react, he conjured shards of ice from the moisture in the air and sent them flying towards me. I reacted on instinct, a shield of heat erupting around me, melting the projectiles into harmless droplets.
The fight escalated. We were no longer two disciples sparring. We were fire and water, rage and release, locked in a dance we couldn't stop. We became lost in it, the world narrowing to the space between us, to the raw power we were unleashing.
Just as I gathered my flames for another strike, a wall of solid earth erupted from the ground between us, separating us with a final, resounding thud.
"Enough!"
Dharaya stood there, her face pale but her voice firm. "What are you two doing so late at night? If anyone sees you, you will be expelled from the Gurukul!"
Neer immediately pointed at me, his voice dripping with false innocence. "See, Dharaya! He provoked me into this fight."
I took a deep breath, the heat receding from my veins, leaving behind a cold, hard shame. I looked at Dharaya, my voice calm but my gaze stern as I looked at Neer. "Dharaya, you go. I am also returning to my room."
I didn't wait for a reply. I gave Neer one last, deep look—a look filled with all the things I could never say—and turned, walking back into the shadows towards my room.
Behind me, I heard Neer's soft, satisfied laugh, as if he had gained some kind of victory. But the victory felt hollow. The duel had solved nothing. It had only proven one thing.
The chains he spoke of weren't just rules. They were the prophecy itself. And tonight, I had felt their cold, unbreakable weight more than ever.
---
Chapter End: The chapter ends with Agni's realization that his fight wasn't just with Neer, but with the inescapable prophecy that binds them. The emotional tension has escalated, and the reader is left wondering how this volatile relationship will survive the next test.