Chapter 6: Proving to be worth

Empty while pouring, even though the heavens fall.

They just arrived at the village, still on their boroki. This was not the village that was described to him; the village that they had in front of them was completely in ruin. It barely looked like a village where people lived; there were even corpses on the pavement. It is as if the forest were trying to hide this hideous place. It was not plants that grew over the debris of this village, but fungi of all sorts. The forest was in one big clearing, a big space in the middle of the forest. As if nature itself called for a place to live for the humans among the trees, but nature now rejected it. As they stood on their animals, Srishta was disappointed with their view, and the brothers and Chairo looked absolutely furious.

“WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY FATHER'S VILLAGE?” Chairo screamed; it was a mix of pure anger and sadness in her voice.

“This isn’t supposed to look like that,” Srishta asked, legitimately confused by this sight, thinking they might have arrived at the wrong village. Chairo, Chore and Chavi spoke of this village with such respect and dignity that it should be a beautiful little place in the middle of a forest with loads of people coming in and out of it. The sound of children playing and the scent of Grandma’s last bake should have filled the air, but instead, it reeked of corpses and rot. This place had not been forgotten by family Yash (Chair, Chore, and Chavi) but by the world itself, and now it was slowly decaying, trying to erase its own existence.

Srishta took a look at Chairo’s face. In the short time they spent with each other, he knew that this face was a special one. Tears were running down her face, accompanied by an expression of wrath. The brothers looked different; it wasn’t sadness, he saw it was pure animosity. Not the kind that you find in a fight, nor was it the kind of loud screams. It was the kind that was silent, controlled and planned. They knew where to direct their pain.

“Sister, do not be distracted,” Chore was speaking calmly but firmly. It didn’t seem like there was anger in his voice, but there was resentment and violence.

“We have a job to do,” Chavi said, the first to get off his boroki as he uttered his statement. He said it without vocalising his resentment or suppressing, like his brother did, what Srishta heard in his voice was different. This was the first time Srishta felt this while listening to Chairo’s brothers, but this pure, unfiltered brutality they were repressing, not the violence you see while a lion hunts their prey. More like a very sly fox, the fox remains calm and silent until the chicken's neck is right in its mouth.Then and only then will it show its animalistic side. These were not men angry, these were men waiting for their prey to approach their mouths. Waiting to finally be able to taste and smell the blood of the ones they despise.

The difference between the siblings was flagrant to Srishta. On one hand, you had the brothers patiently waiting for the right time to go into a frenzy and on the other hand, you had their sister, you saw all the emotions in her face and heard all of it in her voice. He knew this was going to be a battle he would not regret being part of.

Chavi and Chore, now off their boroki, patiently waiting for Srishta and Chairo to do the same, looked around. There was a goon, or more so a pawn from Bran Tren walking. He was clearly drunk, and his sword was sheathed.

“Hey, you guys, you shouldn’t be here,” he walked drunkenly to the siblings who were off their boroki. He came just in range of Chavi’s sword; the drunk man came from behind their back. His steps were loud; they could easily perceive where he was in their space. The moment he came into Chavi's sword range, in an instant, Chavi unsheathed his sword and beheaded the guy. He did it without blinking, without even turning his back. As if nothing happened, somebody’s life got taken away. Srishta realised that it was the sword he polished, the same sword he had made sure had the cleanest and sharpest edge. He felt uneasy about it. Chore, on his highest senses, noticed the situation.

“Your weapon did this. Do you have any issues with this?” He looked straight at Srishta with no emotion behind his eyes.

“No, I do not,” Srishta said firmly in his voice.

“Good,” responded Chavi.

“Be careful to clean the blood properly afterwards, or else the sword will rust,” Srishta said in a very serious tone.

To the brothers, this was a sign that he was fully on board with their plan.

Srishta and Chairo finally stepped off their boroki. Chairo had her halberd in her hand; it didn’t look like she had calmed down. She looked concentrated as if she was a thousand steps ahead of her enemies. The siblings and Srishta walked next to each other. Another person came, this time he wasn’t drunk. He readied his sword and came towards them. Before he could attack, the halberd already reached him.Chairo cut off the arm he was using for his sword the moment he was in range of her halberd. The edge was sharp and refined; Srishta didn’t even have to do anything with it. The blood was pouring out of his wound.

“Go get your boss, before you bleed out, preferably,” Chairo said in a way that scared Srishta.

“MY ARM, IT'S GONE, MY ARM,” the goon was trying to catch an arm that wasn’t there. There was no arm anymore, but he didn’t fully realise it yet.

“I said, Go get your boss,” she said, and they came to a standstill. The halberd was now right under his neck, forcing him to realise his situation. The goon quickly picked up his arm that fell on the ground and started running towards the way they were walking; they were going the right way.

They kept walking for a few minutes to get to the centre of the village. As they walked, they heard a lot of noises coming from the centre, including loads of screams. As they walked, the siblings didn't glance around the village in ruins; they kept their gaze fixed on the path ahead,as if something was waiting for them. Srishta, on the other hand was looking around plenty. It continued to get worse the further they went. The deeper they went, the worse it became: fungi sprouted across crumbling walls, the stench thickened, and the number of drunk figures slumped in the shadows increased. He wondered where the rest of the villagers had gone, until suddenly, a boy burst out of a nearby house and screamed at the top of his lungs, looking at them.

“THE YASH FAMILY IS BACK, WE WILL BE SAVED,” the siblings did not flinch nor even look towards the boy; they kept walking towards the centre of the pavement. While they kept walking, a few other goons arrived to stop them, sometimes one individual and occasionally a small group. Completely unfazed, the siblings took care of them in the blink of an eye. If there were many, Chairo swung with her halberd once and cut them in half; if there were too many, the brothers beheaded a few. Sometimes they were coming from an angle Chairo couldn’t reach, so one of the brothers handled it, but it was always extremely swift and smooth.

One goon, while both his arms were cut off, started screaming at the top of his lungs before Chove swiftly beheaded him too.

“YOU GUYS WILL DIE ANYWAYS, BRAN TREN WILL KILL YOU, HE WILL SMASH YOU, PULVERIZE YOU, HIS PET WILL JUMP ON YOU AND FEED ON YOUR REMAINS, YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED AS-” at that moment Chove beheaded him.

“You know, if this guy were so tough, he would go for the government or at least actual cities instead of a small remote village not even protected by the government,” he said in a light tone as if it was clear as day that the person wasn’t that tough.

“The only reason he beat our dad was because he was holding the villagers hostage, you know,” Chavi added as if it was clear as day their father would kill Bran Tren in an instant, and it wasn’t even debatable to them. Srishta was certain this battle would be swiftly decided.

Chairo didn’t react to what her brothers said. She didn’t even register what they said, she might have not noticed anything they said. Within her, something was unraveling. She felt it, it was like a chrysalis finally getting close to its true form.

They continued walking, now close to the centre, their fight for their village awaited.