The corridor was being cleaned now.
Blood wiped. Cracks patched. Screams silenced by the hum of hospital machinery.
But the memory still lingered.
A nurse — the same one who had witnessed it all from behind the cracked door — stepped toward the boy who had saved them all.
> "Sir… that power… how did you—?"
Parth, seated on a bench near the corridor's end, looked up. His face was calm, eyes dimmed with exhaustion.
He didn't reply at first.
Then, gently, he said:
> "There's a child in the utility closet. Third from the left. Please check on him." "He's safe. Just scared."
She blinked. "But—what about—"
> "Help him first."
Parth's voice left no room for argument.
"He needs you more than I do."
---
He stepped outside.
The cool night air kissed his sweat-drenched skin. The sky above was half-drowned in clouds, half-lit with the faintest traces of dawn.
His feet carried him instinctively.
Down the slope, past the sleeping vendors, past the closed chai shop and the banyan tree whose roots scraped the pavement like old memories—
And there it was.
The Krishna Mandir.
Silent.
Closed.
But beautiful as ever.
He stood before its locked gates. His eyes softened.
> "Madhav…" he whispered, "I need you."
And at that very moment—
CLANK.
The iron lock unlatched on its own.
The gates creaked open, slowly, like a friend leaning forward to embrace him.
A gust of warm air swirled around Parth, carrying with it the scent of incense and marigold. The temple courtyard was bathed in a surreal calm, untouched by time or decay.
---
He walked in.
There stood the idol of Shree Krishna — dark stone glowing in soft moonlight, the flute frozen mid-song, that ever-smiling gaze watching him.
Parth's lips trembled.
He knelt. Sat. Stared.
> "So… this is what it feels like," he muttered. "To be the only one awake in a sleeping world."
> "You left me behind, Madhav." "You… you said you'd always be there."
There was no answer.
Just the rustle of leaves and the echo of his loneliness.
He folded his arms on the floor and rested his head, tears he didn't even notice slipping onto the marble.
His eyelids grew heavy.
And before he knew it—he slipped.
Not into unconsciousness.
But into something else.
---
Kurukshetra...
A battlefield soaked in silence.
Time… paused.
The arrows frozen mid-flight, dust hanging still in the golden air.
Parth stood in the middle of it — but not as the boy from the hospital.
He looked down.
Armor.
Bracelets.
Finger guards.
Gandiva on his back.
He was Arjuna.
Again.
And ahead, on that chariot bathed in divine light, stood Krishna. His skin blue as twilight, his robes radiant, his eyes — smiling.
> "Finally decided to stop sulking?"
Parth blinked.
> "Madhav…?"
Krishna laughed softly, hopping off the chariot like a mischievous friend.
> "You're the one who came here, Parth." "I was always waiting."
Parth ran to him.
He didn't say a word.
He just—hugged him. A trembling warrior folding into his divine anchor.
> "You left me," Parth muttered into Krishna's shoulder.
"You left me to face this alone."
Krishna gently pushed him back.
> "I never left.""I simply changed the way I walk beside you."
---
They sat on the edge of the chariot.
Krishna's fingers idly traced the dust.
Parth's voice was quiet. "I fought them tonight."
> "I know," Krishna said.
> "Without weapons. Without… you."
> "You didn't need me tonight," Krishna smiled.
"But that didn't stop me from being there."
A long pause.
Then Krishna said:
> "You're not alone, Parth."
Parth turned to look at him.
> "What?"
Krishna's eyes sparkled.
> "Sahadev stands with you. He has always stood by you in silence."
Parth's heart skipped.He uttered the first person's name that came to his mind.
Parth gasped.
> "Aarav… is Sahadev?!"
Krishna simply nodded, eyes glowing with affection.
Parth stared at nothing, processing it.
> "Wait, wait—that Aarav?" "That walking chaos machine who eats candy during anatomy lectures, argues with professors about aliens, and sends me memes about apocalypse dates—he's the calmest Pandava?!"
Krishna smiled. "You always underestimated Sahadev's silence, didn't you?"
Parth buried his face in his hands. "This timeline is cursed."
> "Sahadev used to sit in caves, predict eclipses, and speak only when it mattered." "Aarav literally once asked me if he could microchip a pigeon for surveillance purposes."
Krishna chuckled. "Even wisdom chooses strange vessels sometimes."
Parth pointed an accusing finger at the sky.
> "You're trolling me."
Krishna gave an exaggerated shrug.
Parth narrowed his eyes. "Next you'll say Neel—the guy who vanishes from conversations like a ghost—is someone important too—"
He paused.
Froze.
Krishna tilted his head, waiting.
> "…No." "…Wait." "…You didn't."
Krishna raised an eyebrow. "Neel remembers more than he lets on."
Parth's voice dropped to a whisper.
> "Yuyutsu?"
Krishna gave a single nod.
Parth blinked like he'd been hit by a coconut.
> "The one Kaurav who chose us?" "The same Neel keeps acting like a ghost with his EMF radar?"
Krishna chuckled. "And yet, he stood with dharma when even brothers turned away."
Parth sat back against the wheel of the divine chariot, groaning.
> "My two best friends are reborn legends and I'm the last idiot to figure it out."
Krishna grinned.
> "You were always a little slow emotionally."
Parth scowled. "Oh, shut up."
Parth remembered,who he was talking to immediately.
"Sorry Madhav.I did not mean to say that.I grew this habit after meeting some certain people."
Krishna chuckled.
Parth's voice grew thick.
> "They're with me." "I'm not alone…"
> "No," Krishna said, softer now.
"You never were."
---
Parth paused. "What about the others?"
Krishna looked into the horizon.
> "Some have returned," he said vaguely.
"Some are… remembering."
Parth frowned. "Who?"
Krishna's eyes twinkled.
> "You'll find them." "Especially the loud ones."
Parth shook his head. "Of course you're being cryptic again."
> "It's in my job description," Krishna grinned.
---
But slowly, the smile faded from Parth's lips.
> "Even if they're all here… you're not." "I can't hear you in the day. I can't see you when I need you most." "Madhav… you were everything. My charioteer. My conscience. My friend."
> "How do I fight this era without you?"
Krishna's expression grew still.
He rose.
And then—
He spoke.
---
> "Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛijāmyaham
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśhāya cha duṣhkṛitām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge"
🌸In English:
[> "Whenever there is a decline in righteousness, O Bhārata,
and a rise in unrighteousness—then I manifest Myself.
To protect the good, to destroy the wicked,
and to re-establish dharma—
I appear age after age."]
🌸In Hindi:
[यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत । अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ।। परित्राणाय साधूनाम् विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ।।]
---
Parth looked up at him.
His eyes wide.
His chest… full.
He whispered,
> "So you are with me."
Krishna didn't answer.
He only smiled.
And the world around them—began to fade.
---
Parth woke up.
The aarti bell rang once, though no one had touched it.
He stood slowly, heart heavy and light at once.
And walked back into the waking world.
Changed.
He didn't know what came next.
But he no longer felt… alone.
---
🌸Author's note:End of the 3rd volume❤️
Let me know,how it was😌
🌸To all the silent readers,
I love you and appreciate you for reading my story.But I would love to interact with you and know your thoughts sometimes😌❤️