Thunder roared through the village, and the street turned muddy from the mixing of rainwater with the soft soil.
A Grand Master stood in front of a Rishi's house, drenched in the rain, his heart beating fast, his breath staggered.
His mind was a mess, but his heart and soul were at peace, for he had found trust in someone else. His eyes were fixed on the doors at the top of the stairs, through which the source of his trust disappeared.
People around him were rushing to reach their homes, using umbrella, rags and even their own hands to cover themselves from the rain.
Yet Eldrain was unbothered.
Inside the house, water dripped from the ceiling and the dark house was lit up ever so slightly whenever lightning struck.
Even then, most of it would be blocked by the wooden planks nailed to the windows.
Still, some light made through, and it illuminated a dark figure seated on the couch in front of the doors.
However, even if it had been day instead of night, nothing much would have changed for Raghav.
Because he walked into the house with his eyes closed, and he had yet to open them.
Honestly, he did not need to open them. He could sense the power and intentions of the figure clearly.
So he joined his hands and lowered his head. "I bow to Amesha, the wife of the Worshipable Rishi Purrn. Please accept my greetings."
For this act, he would receive nothing.
The figure by now had transformed itself into her original form, wearing a black robe.
Darkness spread from her form and covered the entire house. Reaching for Raghav's feet, only to stop a few centimetres away.
"So, you are The Hero of Prophecy, the one who is meant to save this world from doom. How disappointed will everyone be when they learn you died in an unknown village to a ghost?"
Seductiveness dripped from her voice, as each word was enough to match one arrow of passion from Kamdev, the lord of desire and love.
Enough to tempt any of the greatest of men and even deities.
She leaned back on the couch, stretching her robe, in an attempt to seduce Raghav.
But it had no effect as his eyes remained closed and his head lowered.
'My powers have no effect on him? He needs to look at me.'
"Will you not look at me?"
Slowly, he shook his head.
Hahaha
The seductive laugh echoed in the house as she lay on the sofa, lifting one of her pale legs, letting the robe slide down her petal like skin.
Her hands reached into her hair, opening them, then trailing down her face, gliding over her skin, stopping at the knot that kept her robe from falling from her bare body.
"Are you certain you will not look? I am a beauty unlike any other in the world. I have disturbed the meditation of Rishi's, Sages and even Saints. Deities have forgotten their status, and Planets forgot their limits when they laid their eyes on me. That is how beautiful my being is, will you not look even once, before you die?"
Taking one deep breath, she spoke out again, this time summoning all the lust she could into two words.
"Raghav Suryanshi!"
This time, she would receive an answer.
"As tempting as it may sound to others, Raghav Suryanshi does not look at other women."
Changing her position, she sat on her knees, with her hands placed on the table before the sofa as she leaned forward.
"Do you not want to save her?" Coldness covered the seductiveness for a moment.
"I do." A smirk appeared on her face as she raised her head and looked at Raghav, biting her lips.
The seductive tone reemerged
"If you want her life, then will you not open your eyes, or have I put you in a moral dilemma?"
"Moral Dilemma? Such big words for something that I do not need to think about even once. The eyes that you want to look at you have only ever looked at One Woman since they came to be. They will not look at another."
"So you will let her die. Is your Ego that important to you?"
Raghav bowed slightly more and shook his head. "This had nothing to do with me, but rather everything to do with her. I will not betray her trust in me, no matter the cost."
She stood up, walking around Raghav, standing behind him, leaning into his ear and whispered, without laying a finger on him. "You are just looking, nothing more. I am certain she would not find any harm in it, neither would I."
"We both know, these things never stop at Just Looking. Desires are a slippery slope in life. You give in once, and they take you deeper. You look, then you want to touch."
Moving to his left, she whispered in his other ear. "Then what is the problem? These desires are there for a reason."
"To bring in a new life, meant only for those unified by the bonds of marriage, not to satisfy the fire in these bodies, wherever we find it."
Smiling, she returned to the couch and sat on it, crossing her legs and adjusting her robe. "So you will let her die. You could have just said that."
"As I said, I am here to save her and free you. But I will not give up my morals and ethics to achieve this. For this is what makes me the man she loves."
"Even when desperate, you refuse to do what needs to be done." A hint of amusement was present in her tone as it was no longer seductive.
"I am doing what needs to be done. This is what I need to do."
Finishing his sentence, he got on his knees and bowed with his head on the floor, his hands still joined and in front of his head. "I ask of you, please spare Aurelia. I cannot satisfy your desire the way others have attempted, and if that is truly the way to free you. Then forgive me, I am incapable of doing this wrong deed."
He opened his empty hands, asking for the cure.
There was nothing but silence on the other end; only the distant thunder and the sound of rain could be heard.
After a few minutes, the floor creaked and the glass flask fell in his hands.
A warm light fell on his body as he was lifted from the ground and stood upright, and he felt someone touch his feet before they let go, and he heard a voice.
"Open your eyes, Raghav Suryanshi."
This voice was filled with warmth and tender love.
Raghav did as he was asked, and before him was Amesha, in her traditional dress, covered from head to toe in her white dress and veil.
The darkness around that once made her being and covered the house vanished, and a radiant white glow appeared around her.
He then down at his hands and saw the flask.
"Thank you. Mother Amesha."
"You saved my soul from this suffering and are thanking me?"
She nodded and stepped back.
The glow around her was getting brighter. "I witnessed your arrival nineteen years ago, and now my wait has ended. It is as my husband had said, someone will come to satisfy my desire. You have done that, Raghav. You have satisfied my one and only desire, one that I had when I took my life. My desire to see a man who is loyal, enough to reject my beauty even when I call upon him. One that even when desperate remains loyal."
Her hands joined, and she bowed her head. "Even deities and planets have lost their senses, just from looking upon me, yet you resisted despite the added influence of my curse and power. Hence, I am certain, None other could have done this, and for that, I grant you a boon. With the moon, the stars and the world as my witness."
The white glow within her pulsed, and the storm began to intensify as she floated in the air.
When she spoke, there was the presence of another voice within her own.
A voice Raghav knew.
'THE ONE.'
He instantly joined his hands and bowed to him.
"Raghav Suryanshi, from your birth, till now and till the end of time. I, Amesha, wife of Rishi Purrn, for I have been loyal to my husband and have remained pious my entire life. Grant you the boon that your name, your deeds, shall be sung till life exists. Your name will be revered and spoken in the same breath as The One."
Bolts of lightning fell in the house, setting the roof on fire as The One continued.
"You are pure, you are honest, and you are truth itself.
Raghav Suryanshi, all who take your name, will find themselves close to The One.
Your name will lead them to freedom.
From this day forth, you shall be known as Raghav Suryanshi, The Ultimate Man of Principles.
Because your character is one all should aspire to embody, for it radiates righteousness, loyalty and Honesty.
The qualities of a true Hero."
"Bear this title with respect and responsibility. Now go and tell the world the truth about Amesha. Let them know of her piousness and her loyalty."
"What of Mother Amesha. My Lord?"
"Rishi Purrn has attained me in his life and in death became one with me. In doing so, he has granted the same fate to twenty one generations in his bloodline, fourteen generations that came before him and seven that came after and all those that were in his generation. That will be Amesha's fate as well; the only thing that stopped her was her punishment as a ghost for taking her own life."
Then her form began to turn into pure white light, which engulfed everything and then returned within Raghav as the house stopped burning.
He now moved his hands and looked at the flask, taking a deep breath, his eyes landing on one open window.
The window was in the direction of Rine. He smiled, walking back towards the door.
As the doors parted, he lowered his eyes as before the house was a crowd of thousands with Eldrain, An and Aurelia.
Closing his eyes, the white glow emerged from within him.
It radiated through the village, reaching far and wide, clearing out the sky, and the storm itself parted.
Raghav had become the sun during the night.
Then he addressed the people, his voice firm and gentle.
"People of Green Village, I bring to you the truth of this house. The truth of this village, the truth of Amesha and Rishi Purrn. So let it be known that Amesha was not unfaithful."
No one could interfere; their senses were overwhelmed by Raghav's calming presence.
"Four hundred and seventy eight years ago.
On one unfated day, the planet of fortune and misfortune, Imposteon, looked down on Paneria, and his gaze landed on Amesha when she was washing herself in the washhouse of her home.
Amesha was a special woman, her mother had prayed to The One to bless her with a daughter as beautiful as him.
The prayer was answered, and Amesha was born with unparalleled beauty, enough so that Imposteon forgot his vow of marriage with Hempus, the planet of Health and Longevity.
He overstepped his limit and descended down onto Paneria, in a form that was not his own.
He came down in the form of none other than Rishi Purrn. For Amesha would never allow anyone else to even glimpse at her being.
The time was perfect for him, Rishi Purrn had went out to meditate and worship The One.
Imposteon arrived inside the home and found Amesha working in the kitchen, fresh from her bath.
She felt his gaze and turned around. She asked what brought him back, and he made an excuse, pretending to be Rishi Purrn.
As he explained the circumstances of his return, he approached her, and she backed off. She knew he was not who he pretended to be.
And she was not about to let this imposter stain her being.
Just then, Rishi Purrn returned, by the will of The One, he had forgotten his globular pot, and he saw Imposteon reaching for his wife.
Imposteon turned to look at Rishi Purrn and his blood ran dry, for all the power he had as a planet, he was in the presence of a Rishi who had attained The One from devotion, the power he could summon would turn the planet itself to ash, leaving behind only ten planets instead of eleven.
So he ran away.
Rishi Purrn went to his wife, holding her close. 'Are you safe, my beloved?' He asked her, and she shook her head.
So held her for as long as it took to calm her down.
Once she was calm, he rested her on the couch and told her that he would return for his daily meditation.
She asked him, What if Imposteon comes back, he reassured her that Imposteon would not come down to Paneria ever again and if he did, he would suffer for even thinking of such an irreprehensible act.
After reassuring her, he left and returned hours later, and when he entered his home, Amesha was there on the couch he had left her on.
Only this time, her wrist had been slit open, and she had left behind a letter that expressed her regret of not recognising him sooner and letting him see her.
He took away the only pride she had, that she had only been seen by her husband and none other.
She expressed her desire that she hoped there was someone in this world who would not attempt to take advantage of a married woman, someone who would resist all temptations.
This was the desire that would free her from the ghost she had become by taking her life, an irreprehensible act.
Rishi Purrn left behind his household life and left, taking his wife's corpse with him.
The suffering and freedom that others heard was this.
Her new nature as a ghost twisted her mind and turned her violent.
For the fulfilment of her desires, she began infecting women and later tempting their lovers.
That is the truth. One that the planets have tried to cover up for centuries.
Let it be known that Amesha was a pious and loyal woman.
The likes of which are not born every day!"
There was silence as Raghav descended the steps, and with each step the glow returned around his body little by little, yet the intensity remained the same.
With each step he took, more and more people began to speak among themselves.
When he was on the street, he looked up at Aurelia.
Who stood there smiling at him, the effects of the illness were still visible.
Standing before her, he handed her the flask, and she looked at it before returning her gaze to him.
He held her hand and took her to the metal carriage and entered it.
Only stopping to turn his head and give a nod to Eldrain.
Not wasting a moment, Eldrain and An moved to the driver's seat, and Raghav closed the door and lay Aurelia on the bottom berth and sat on the floor, holding her hand.
"This will put you to sleep, so for now take the cure and rest."
The carriage jolted as it moved through the city, and yelling and voices from outside could be heard.
Ignoring them, she did as he asked and took the medicine and fell asleep.
He watched her for a few minutes as she attempted to stay awake, but eventually gave in, holding his hand.
When he attempted to pull his hand back, he found her grip too strong, so he smiled and leaned onto the berth and rested his head on it.
As the glow returned within him, he closed his eyes.
Seeing only her.