Amawas stood petrified, both arms hanging freely at her sides, and her scythe discarded, ignored by her feet. She couldn't believe her own stupidity in standing up against someone like their elder brother. The fraction of time he took to materialize before her out of nothing was simply insane.
She glanced back at Aatish, who sat on the ground, trembling in fear and confusion, her fire burning deep blue. Amawas pushed Shahrukh away, summoned the chain scythe, and lifted her arm with tears rolling down her cheeks. Shahrukh smiled.
"I am not going to hurt you, Amawas," he said, his frosty appearance belying the warmth in his words. However, Amawas had long learned not to trust the awful feeling—the back-biting, treacherous sensation called trust.
She pushed the tiny light that had barely begun to ignite the depths of her darkness and asked Shahrukh, her left hand turned towards Aatish at her back, "What is your purpose here?"
"To see how my little sisters were doing, nothing much if I am honest. But then I saw all these vile creatures, and knowing you two and how reckless and foolish you are, I took care of them," he shrugged.
"Yes, but Adawat resurrected you; his corruption burns within you," Amawas said, skeptical.
"Do you see it burning within my eyes?" Shahrukh asked in return.
There was no trace of corruption in Shahrukh's eyes; he genuinely looked completely revived somehow.
Aatish stood up and walked to them, emotions getting the better of her. She shouted, "I saw Kehkashaan killing you myself. I saw the life escaping from your eyes. Now you stand before us completely healthy, and you claim Adawat had the courtesy of just reviving you and giving you your free will?"
"Oh, wait, I didn't explain better; I'm sorry," Shahrukh sat back on the ground just in front of them, his legs crossed again, his off-white shawl draped over him.
**********
Few days ago, somewhere in the Sehray-e-Shargh
Adawat, the sovereign, breathed his malicious corruption into Shahrukh, and as his eyes opened, the corruption manifested as deep jade and black fire dancing within his irises.
Silently, Adawat descended the steps, sending a mental command to Shahrukh, who obediently followed. Together, they reached the Coatl Dragon, its translucent grey skin radiating an inexplicable aura of evil with deep, lingering fire beneath.
Adawat instructed Shahrukh to climb upon the dragon, and as he did, the abomination took flight, leaving a massive wave of snow in its wake.
High in the air, with Adawat facing forward and Shahrukh seated behind, Adawat began to speak.
"Listen well, scum. You will go to Sehray-e-Shomaal and find your sisters, the Dark Rat, and the Butcher. Kill the Dark Rat, she's useless, and gain the other one's trust, she will take you to the Twilight Grove. Once near the Zar-e-Zameen, unleash havoc, like you unleashed upon all of us before kehkashaan thrusted you back in your place. Kill it without warning. Kill Golden. Slay every inhabitant of that cursed grove. Kill the butcher. Kill all who dare to stand against us."
Adawat then turned to Shahrukh, scrutinizing him for a few seconds before continuing.
"This task requires you to use your pathetic mind and make decisions. I will release just a tiny bit of your will—enough for you to speak and interact, but never enough to disobey. Will you defy me?"
Adawat stared into Shahrukh's eyes, shivers running up his deformed spine. He still couldn't believe that this scum had once stood up to Kehkashaan.
Shahrukh remained motionless, the corruption dancing in his eyes.
He then nodded in negative.
"Good, you pathetic scum!" as he released just a fraction of Shahrukh's will back to him.
Then they continued onwards,
After some minutes.
A voice came from behind Adawat that paled him,
"I have a new plan" The voice said,
Adawat turned around sending a mental command to the coatyl to snap its maw shut against Shahrukh and it did but it was too late, Shahrukh had disappeared.
A blizzard struck them,
Adawat soared past it to clear the snow and he was almost successful but then Shahrukh appeared, hovering in front of the dragon, with his staff glowing at its peak.
In the next second, the Coatl Dragon breathed out black and yellow fire right upon Shahrukh, parting the clouds below and clearing away a large section of snow, but Shahrukh had disappeared.
Adawat turned around, looking deep within the blizzard frantically, looking below on the ground. His anxiety got the better of him, and he commanded the dragon to rush forward and scurry away from the fight.
The dragon flew at an astounding speed despite its enormous size, slithering in the air like a giant serpentine. Then it got chopped in half, as a slash of ice struck its deformed body in the middle, completely separating it. Adawat gasped and fell through the air. He opened his palm to reassemble the Coatl, but Shahrukh caught it in midair, then froze it.
"You see, you brought my sisters in it. So, i cant let you go now" he said, his voice extremely carefree.
"How... I didn't give you any freedom to disobey" Adawat said,
Sadly, this wasn't enough to kill him. Adawat's body fell on the ground and upon reaching it, scurried away, trying to gain as much distance as he could from Shahrukh. But he was not in his domain; he was in the domain of the king of the mountain, Shahrukh.
Suddenly, the snow started eating away at its body, first the fingers were gone, then the body, then the legs were gone. And before the ominous core that powered the sovereign from within would disappear too, Adawat regenerated a set of long claws and a hand and started digging the earth frantically. Shahrukh kept looking at him, holding the still decapitated head in his arm, and turned around. He had decided to let him go; he didn't feel like taking his life.
***********
After Shahrukh finished explaining what happened to the sovereign, he took Adawat's head out from underneath his shawl and rolled it to Amawas's feet.
"You let him go?!" Amawas exclaimed.
"Yeah... I didn't feel like killing him," he said.
Amawas closed her eyes, reflecting on how all her brothers were nutcases at some level.
Aatish walked to Shahrukh and hugged him. Her fire and his frost didn't oppose each other; instead, they danced around each other in joy.
Shahrukh then looked behind them, straight at Isra.
"What happened to Qatan?" he asked.
Amawas felt bitter and stayed queit, but Aatish replied instead.
"Bhaijaan died fighting the sovereign, Inaara. He ended up killing her but lost his life too."
"Wait... Did that little rascal kill Inaara?" Shahrukh asked, completely ignoring the fact that his little brother was dead.
"Yes."
He didn't further question about Qatan, and after a moment looked at Amawas and asked.
"Hmm... So what's the plan now?"
Amawas still felt something missing in the whole story but she didn't care, Seeing her brother infront of her warmed her heart, as she replied in complete honesty.
"We are here to retrieve the vine for Golden; it's in the bottom-most layer."
Above the Khandaq the guards had found out something was wrong and were about to lock the whole structure down, the sky was slowly getting painted with tiny black dots one by one.
Shahrukh looked up and then said,
"Okay, meet me outside, you two. I will retrieve the vine." He then walked to Isra and Khadija, knelt down, and opened his palm, revealing snow candies.
The girls looked at Amawas, then took them hesitantly.
"Don't eat them, okay? There will be a huge battle when you fly up. When it starts to get really dangerous, just squish them in your palms, and they'll change into tiny assistants" His soft voice warmed their hearts. But they kept quiet. Then he stood up, looked at Aatish and Amawas, and nodded; they nodded back.
And disappeared.