Pushing the grasses away, Rudra was somehow walking though it. He looked at the map in his hands to realize that this barren land was not briefly displayed in it. After all that map only covered the area of the state of Mahak, which meant now he would have to guide his way on his own based on the surrounding and rough presumptions.
At that time, the harsh , unrelenting sun rays poured waves of heat into the surroundings. The winds that breezed every few seconds against Rudra's face, swaying every single strand of the golden with it across the field in a rhythm. Rudra's face and his entire body was drenched in sweat, as multiple drop trickled down his chin with every movement.
After a few moments, Rudra halted his steps and leaned against the nearby stone spikes pillar. Taking some deep breathes, Rudra wiped his face with his hands and looked around me. Rudra's gaze surveyed every single thing in his vision. But something caught his eye, causing him to stop and frown. He tried to focus as what he was looking at was very distant, and faintly visible.
It seemed like a huge natural structure from afar, it was faintly visible, due to which Rudra was not able to analyze it properly. It stood as an exception, completely different from the stone spikes structures surrounding him. In bright sunlight, his vision grew even more fogged as the wind weaved dust particles around him.
He decided to approach that structure to examine it more closely. As Rudra moved closer, it vision became more clear. Upon getting a clear view of it, Rudra realized that wasn't any ordinary stone structure. It was a monument that was broken to pieces and completely destroyed with only few of it wall standing still.
Out of curiosity, Rudra took a step towards those ruins but something else grabbed his attention. The sound of rustling grass echoed from a nearby stone spike. For a moment Rudra believed that it could be due to the wind, but still he wasn't able to suppress his suspicion.
Rudra carefully walked towards direction the sound came from white his eyes fixated on the Stone spike. As Rudra moved closer, the rustling of grass grew more consistent each time. With only a few steps left between him and the stone spikes, Rudra suddenly dashed towards the stone spike. But to his surprise there was nothing to be found.
Rudra peered around the edge of the stone spike to look behind it, only to find tall golden grasses and stone spikes. Rudra was looking around where suddenly his stiffened for moment. The very next moment, Rudra hastily sidestepped, evading the blow that passed his head by an inch and hit the jagged piece that jutted out from that spike.
The stone spike trembled a bit as small pieces of rocks were broken and fell to the ground. Rudra swirled around to make a distance between the attacker and him. He also got a slight glimpse of what thing was it that tried to hit him. Rudra somehow balanced himself and maintained his composure, realizing that the attacker was a human.
In an instant, a blade with sharp, gleaming edges under the sun rays flew at him. Rudra haphazardly unsheathed his sword, drawing it out, he swung it at the blade. Rudra was able to detect the projectile that flew at him, as the blade now plunged into the ground a few meters away from his feet. But Rudra's as his eyes spread wide, realizing that this all was just to distract him.
He looked at the direction that blade came from, only to see shadow that at him unleashing it's fist to hit him squarely into the face. Rudra reacted as fast as he could , trying to avoid that fist. But still that fist blew up against his right shoulder, chasing his entire arm to tremble and loosen the grip of his sword.
The attacker then jumped on Rudra and slammed him onto the ground. Before Rudra could even react, a sudden pain flashed in his right thigh due to quickly movements, causing him to lose his balance. Rudra was laid on the ground, with the attacker straddling it's legs around his waist and holding his hands very tightly. He was pinned on the ground by that attacker. This was when Rudra was able to get proper glimpse of the attacker, which had its long hairs tied into a bun behind it's head. The attacker was a girl.
"Who are you? A mercenary?" the girl asked.
"Why should I tell you?" Rudra said as he raised his hand to punch that girl. But his hand was pinned down again, locked the girl's legs, then she extended her hand and wrapped her delicate fingers around Rudra's neck and tightened her grip bit by bit.
"I am not a mercenary, instead I am looking for them!"
"You too are searching for the mercenaries?" that girl asked.
Rudra nodded in agreement.
"Why are you looking for them?"
"My family members, some of them who survived were capture by those mercenaries," Rudra said.
"Why should I believe you?"
"You have the bottleneck to my life grasped into your hands! Why would I lie!" Rudra said.
"Okay."
"But what are you doing in these barren lands alone?" Rudra asked.
"I am not alone." She said as she released Rudra's neck and stood up while dusting off her clothes. "I have been hiding here in these ruins with a few survivors from the village.
"You should come with me. What if someone happens to be your family member."
Rudra touched his neck while coughing a couple of times. He looked around to notice that the harsh sun was now covered by clouds, reducing the waves of heat radiating in that area. Meanwhile, That girl was clearly observing Rudra. Her eyes filled with a hint of suspicion.
"Let me introduce myself, I am isha."
Isha bowed while offering a namaste.
Rudra followed her and greeted her with a namaste as well. "Myself Rudra."
After this both of them began to stare into each other's eyes, as if trying to read each other's intentions. This was followed by an eerie silence as wind weaved around them, echoing with its flow.
A few moments later, the girl picked up her blade and began walking towards the ruins. Rudra took his sword and sheathed his onto his back and followed her trail. Soon they approached something that seemed to be the entrance of that ruined monument which was blocked by a huge piece of pillar. That girl held the pillar into her hand and began to lift it.
"Help me!"
Upon hearing this, Rudra stepped forward and grabbed that pillar from the other and used his strength in unison with that girl. After a few moments, both of them had lifted the pillar aside and entered through the gateway. The girl then pulled the pillar back to its previous place, again blocking the gateway. She then waved her hand indicating Rudra to follow her.
The gateway led to a path which guided to a place that felt like a courtyard. The path was completely surrounded by darkness with the only visible light coming from the courtyard. Rudra felt as if a looming shadow lurked behind, he turned to look around, only to hear a sudden sound as a piece of rock fell down and a bat spread its wings and glided over him.
Following that one bat, many others came into activity and began to fly towards the courtyard. The courtyard too was a little dark as the sun was completely covered by the clouds, allowing only a little bit of light to approach the surface.
"There is no one here!" Rudra said as he looked around and found no one in the courtyard.
"They are hiding in the backyard."
"Okay… But why does this place look like a small broken castle?" He asked.
"Years ago this place was used as training barracks for soldiers by a tribal clan that prevailed in these barren lands and it's surrounding regions."
"So what happened to them?"
"They waged a war against the empire.
"The king allied with the other clans and suppressed the tribal clan, hence turning this place into barren lands as an aftermath of the war."
Rudra thought about it and remembered that he was taught about this part of the history of the empire by his elders, it was just that it had gotten out of his mind.
Rudra then avoided any other thoughts as he carefully observed the surroundings. Multiple stone bricks were spread across the courtyard and some huge pieces of pillars sat at random places in the courtyard as well. The courtyard was surrounded by corridors on three sides and the other side was covered with the huge gate.
The corners were connected by huge towers that crumbled down, where as some still stood as guards protecting the monument. The courtyard they were in right now led through the front corridor, revealing another bigger courtyard which was surrounded by thick castle walls and several rooms around it.
The ground was paved with huge stone blocks some which were broken in their place, and most of the blocks were now covered in moss and lush due to lack of maintenance. Rudra followed that girl who went into a narrow pavement that went into the backyard.
As Rudra was about to enter the backyard, his heart began to beat faster as he hoped to meet his clan members here. He was anticipating such a moment since a long time. He began to become nervous, his hand clenched as his mind was again flooded with those memories of his destroyed clan base.
Remembering all that, the only thing Rudra did was to wish that their clan members would be safe and he could meet them as soon as possible.