Prologue -
Far from the martial arts world, where there was a world of ordinary people, a country existed called 'Stambha'. It was a beautiful place surrounded by two lakes which made it an interlaken. People of that country lived an ordinary and peaceful life. They farmed, harvested fresh food, reared cattles and
did small businesses. They never included themselves with the martial arts world. They never interrupted them, nor did the martial arts world interupt them anymore.
The reason was a treaty signed twenty-five years ago, that the outer world will not disturb the Stambha country. Nor will Stambha disturb them.
Stambha country was just a peaceful country. It didn't have any new generation fighters because since twenty-five years, they only followed the path of peace. They worshipped their gods and deities, spread positive teachings, preached spirituality, danced and sang in groups.
And that's how they had lived since twenty- five years. That's how, they planned to live in future. Everything went as planned, until, that one night.
Chapter 1- Welcoming the new guest
The present crowned prince of the country, Kuber Bharat, nineteen years old, was returning from his regular night walk after dinner. His maids Ridhi and Sita were following him. They were a short and pretty pair of twin sisters, serving Kuber since an early age. They were treated less like maids, and more like friends of him. Now, they were almost seventeen.
Behind them was his highness's personal guard, Angad, who was a tall young boy, with a muscular build. He was the son of the royal weapon master, Jaidev. Right now, almost twenty-one. Angad was Jaidev's only son, and the only new generation person allowed to learn swords.
For most of the time, he didn't have his weapon in hand, since no one attacked anyone in that country. People were just so peaceful. He only had his weapon during practice.
Then what was he there for? Well, to protect his highness. From who? From his highness himself.
Kuber Bharat was an over excited person wherever he went. The reason was- animals. He would see an animal, he'd jump, urging to touch it. Then sometimes, the animal would attack him.
Last time, he found a stray cat and immideately ran towards it, to pet it. The cat almost scratched him, if Angad hadn't come in time for the rescue and that last time was just that morning.
Things like that happened everyday. Even after incidents like that, the prince of Stambha would have a wide smile on his face and would attempt the same action again. Hence, his biggest danger was he, himself.
Angad yawned, "I know he's going to walk until he finds an animal." He mumbled. Ridhi and Sita looked at each other, and then showed their angry faces to Angad. They supported their crown prince in every matter. Angad withdrew, "What's with them?"
The prince had his hands behind his back, walking gracefully, wearing the most expensive woolen cloak over his especially made clothes and the golden jewellery. His hair were adorned with the most expensive and rare flowers. His woolen cloak was especially made by the best cloak designer, selected after a four-day competition, designed to protect him from the extreme cold of the Stambha country, which hadn't arrived yet, but was closer than a month.
Prevention is better taken ahead of its time.
"Let's see, what the border woods have inside them." Kuber said with a mischievous smile on his face and opened his foxy eyes.
At that time, they were staying in the hometown state of prince. The royal palace had its own little forest. It was closer to the border of the country. If not enemies, then at least animals were bound to be found there. Well, that's exactly what his highness's intentions were.
The four of them were out on walk. The forth one was obviously forced.
"Your highness, when will the walk come to an end?" Angad finally asked.
"Shh! Listen to the nature. How peaceful!" Kuber smilingly said with his eyes closed. The two maids admired him and agreed.
"Sorry?" Angad tried to listen, by focusing his ears towards the woods, "Am I suppossed to listen to the crickets?" He wondered. "That's a clear noise. I don't like it!"
"Offender!" Ridhi stepped on Angad's feet harshly.
He collected his leg up, to hug it in pain with little screams and squeezed eyes.
"So what? Crickets are also part of nature! His highness loves them too!" Ridhi scolded him. Sita nodded aggressively, to side with her sister.
They kept walking ahead, Kuber's soul searching for an animal to play with. That's when he heard someone's loud breathing. He immideately focused his ears towards that direction. He found out the direction. With excitement, he opened his eyes and ran towards that direction. Ridhi and Sita followed their dear prince.
Angad, although frightened, ran behind them as well. He also heard the loud breathing. That had him concerned.
"Your highness! Please don't go into the woods!" Angad shouted.
After running through the woods for a while, Kuber finally found the area, from where the loud breathings were coming. There was, the animal. Lying on the ground. Due to darkness, it wasn't clearly visible, but it looked black from far. Kuber looked at it with excitement and astonishment. He slowly stepped towards it.
"Your higness! Don't go near it. It could be a bigger one." Angad said, trying to convince his prince.
"It surely is." Kuber mumbled. That's when he realized that the animal in front of him was breathing in pain. His excitement turned into worry. "It's hurt!" Without thinking twice, he hurried towards it.
''Your highness!" Ridhi and Sita called him in concern. They turned and gave an aggressive stare to Angad. "Go after him!"
Without being able to argue back, Angad ran after Kuber in just one order. Although, he clearly didn't want to. He was lifting his legs higher than usual while running and was screaming and gritting his teeth in frustration. He was scared, but as the personal gaurd of Kuber, he didn't have any other option. Also, he was dead worried for his prince. What if something happened to him?
Ridhi and Sita looked at each other in concern.
Kuber ran closer to the animal but now, it felt a little strange. It seemed to be covered with a black cloak. Turns out the black colour didn't belong to it, but to that cloak. Kuber was confused. Angad had reached there too.
"An animal wearing a cloak?" Angad showed his confusion.
That's when the lightning in sky struck, and the true identity of the animal was revealed. They saw a human face attached to the top of the cloak. The both of them fell to the ground. Ridhi and Sita screamed too. They held each other tightly.
"A human?" Angad mumbled in true terror. "In the woods?"
Kuber, truly shocked by the unexpected twist, stood up and slowly stepped towards the human. He was breathing heavily and when the lightning struck again, the wounds and blood on his face and cloak was revealed too. He was extremely injured. To the point, that his eyes were barely open.
Wind started blowing in a faster speed. Kuber looked into the sky. The storm seemed to be arriving soon. It was also getting colder now. Even in that thick expensive coak, Kuber started feeling a little cold. He didn't take any longer and hurried towards the man right away. He held his forearm to support him to stand but the moment his hands touched the man, he was pushed away by him.
"Your highness!" Angad hurried towards him in his defence. That was the first time someone attacked someone in that country. Shocked by the sudden attack, Kuber was frightened and confused what to do next. He remained in his place until Angad was about to fight the man. Kuber rushed and stopped him from doing so.
"But he hurt you, your highness!" Angad shouted.
"Let it be! He seems injured. Let's first take care of that." Kuber replied. Angad obeyed and stayed silent. Even though if he knew how to fight, he was still from Stambha after all. Like every child of that country, he was also taught to love and care first since childhood.
Kuber stood up and walked towards the injured man. He didn't rush this time. He slowly approached him.
"Why are you resisting? I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you. Trust me." Kuber used the most gentle voice he could.
The man didn't resist this time. Seemed like his body didn't allow him to do so. He was now too exhausted to do that. He let Kuber approad him. His eyes were starting to close on their own.
Kuber held him from his shoulder to support him to stand. Angad helped him too. The storm also arrived.
The five of them were walking against wind. Angad and Kuber were holding the man, while Ridhi and Sita led the way. The storm had taken a wild form. It was getting tougher for them to even stand still. But somehow, they managed to reach the royal manor of the prince. The storm was so powerful, that even the soldiers at duty had to go inside.
All the soldiers were sitting inside the outer room built for emergency situations like that. They were having hot herbal tea, as it was getting colder.
"Are you not concerned about his highness? He went for a walk." A junior solider asked.
"You must have heard the popular saying in our country: No one can stop the storm and night walk of prince." A senior soldier replied and sipped tea. "What do you think that meant? There are emergency wooden rooms at every few distances in the royal palace, for his highness to find a safe shelter in situations like this. He for sure wouldn't be in danger. Unless, he found an animal." He shrugged.
That's when some soldiers peeped outside through window and saw some shadows outside.
"Who's that? Who's that?" They started whispering.
That's when one of them realised.
"That's his highness's neck jewellery shining!" He shouted. It really was his highness. They saw him bringing someone with him, "Seems like, he did find an animal."
The senior soldier, named Nakshatra immediately looked outside too, only to find that the other soldiers were right. He got up and went outside in that storm right away. Others joined him too.
The man that Kuber and Angad were carrying had fainted as he was exhaused badly. He was getting heavy for them to carry.
"I can't do this anymore..." Kuber whispered in pain while breathing heavily. The man's hand was over his shoulder. It was tougher for him to carry him any further, also because of his heavy weighted cloak.
"Just a little more your highness..." Angad himself was tired. The two of them were barely hanging onto that man. Ridhi and Sita rushed to help them too. They supported that man from behind.
That's when the soldiers completely recognised them and went to help them too. Kuber finally breathed in relief after spotting the soldiers. He ordered them to carry the man to his room. Everyone in that country was so innocent, none of them suspected the man. Except for Nakshatra.
When he laid the man on Kuber's bed, he found a small sized sword-like weapon hanging on his waist. He snatched it from there, to assure his highness's safety and kept it with himself for the time being. The man was unconcious, of course he didn't realize it.
As soon as the storm stopped, the royal doctor was called. Not for the man, but for Kuber.
As his back was hurting because of carrying the 'animal' in that storm. In his whole life, he had never carried anything that heavy. So, it was only natural for his back to get damaged a little bit. After treating his back, the royal doctor treated the injured man.
"He's totally fine. Just some injuries. Probably after fighting a predator. I'll give the medicines and ointments.'' The royal doctor told.
"A predator?" Ridhi and Sita looked at each other while serving herbal tea to the prince.
"But i doubt that this man here is from martial arts world." The doctor added as he gave a concerned look to Kuber.
Hearing that, Kuber got chills all over his body. What had he done? All his life, he did everything to spread love and spirituality, worshipped all the gods, avoided sins, just to help a man from martial arts world in the end?
Was all that done to save him from the sins he was going to commit in future? He said nothing, only stared at the doctor with pure shock and fear. So did his maids and guard.
...
"I knew he was a bit suspicious." Angad said while taking rounds of the room in anxiety. Sita was massaging Kuber's shoulder, while Ridhi served food to him.
Kuber just stared at the man lying unconcious in front of him. The 24-years old royal doctor, Dhanush, was ordered to not spread the words of a man from martial arts world lying in prince's room, to anyone outside. He was not going to do that, even if he wasn't ordered. He was loyal to his prince.
"Who are you? Where have you come from?" Kuber mumbled. With no expressions, he just looked at the unconcious man in front of him.
"Your highness, eat something." Ridhi showed her concern. Kuber moved his head in her direction and all he could see was a worried little girl. He couldn't tolerate her sad face, so he just gave up being serious and grabbed the plate of food. He just digged into it. Ridhi finally smiled. So did Sita. Angad also waited till his prince was done eating.
"Your highness, what do we even do with this man?" Angad asked him. He just wanted to know what his prince wanted. Kuber thought for a while, then replied.
"Let him wake up first. How can royal doctor Dhanush be so sure, that he is a man from the martial arts world? He-he can't be completely right every time. May be this person lost his way and reached the border woods. Some predator attacked him, so he fought back in order to protect himself and stay alive." Kuber said, "Once he wakes up, we can ask him who he is and where he has come from. Everything will be clear then."
That's when the man opened his eyes.
"Your highness-he----" Sita, frightened, pointed her finger at the man. Everyone else immideately looked at him too.
The four of them were shocked. They remained frozen in their places, not knowing what to do next. They just looked at the man slowly getting up and facing them. He had that look on his face when you're too confused. His expressions matched that of a new born baby, who was just seeing the world for the very first time.
His vision was barely clear. He looked at the blurry faces in front of him and tried to clear his sight by gently rubbing his eyes. That didn't work. Perhaps, he couldn't help it. He just accepted his fate and stared at the strange people in front of him.
Angad slowly walked towards Kuber, "Why is he looking at us, as if this is his home, and we are the outsiders?" Angad whispered in his ears.
Kuber had his mouth open in shock and eyes engraved on that man, waiting for him to say something himself. Ridhi and Sita looked at him with same emotions. But the man said nothing.
Instead, he closed his eyes and held his head tightly, as if he was trying to remember something. Kuber, Angad, Ridhi and Sita, the four of them patiently waited for him to do whatever he wanted.
"What do you think his first words would be?" Kuber said quietly. His face had mixed expressions of excitement, pride and curiosity. "A thank you?" He added and joyfully prepared himself to accept the gratitude. Ridhi and Sita agreed and passed each other an excited smile. Angad smiled too.
On the other side, the man's head was spinning like a wheel, and no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to remember anything. In failure, he finally opened his eyes. Only to find four strange people staring at him into his soul.
"Seems like he's finally able to say something..." Angad whispered. The four of them shared same feelings.
Kuber's chest went wide with pride.
"Someone is going to thank you for saving his life, your highness." Angad said while smiling, and started massaging Kuber's shoulders. He was proud of his master.
Ridhi and Sita were ready to throw applauds. Stambha country's people loved gratitude. They believed, that the more the 'thank you' you recieve in your life, the more chances of you going to heaven increases.
The time slowed down for them. The man was moving his lips in slow motion. Kuber closed his eyes to feel the emotion of gratitude he was going to be offered, with his whole heart. Angad prepared his ears to be purified with words of gratitude in his highness's praise. Ridhi and Sita almost threw the imaginary flowers. The words of gratitude were going to be recorded in the history of Stambha's. But the man's first words almost snatched their dreams away from them.
"Who am I? Where am I? Who are you people?" The man said.
Kuber opened his eyes in humiliation. Angad's jaw dropped. Ridhi and Sita, frozen with their hands joined, which were ready to clap in their master's appretiation. All of them's smiles dropped. Their celebration, which wasn't celebrated yet, shattered.
The man's vision got a bit clear. He found himself receiving gazes from some strangers.
That's how, the new guest in the crowned prince's mansion was welcomed.