Please do vote and comment your opinions.

Author's PoV

Suddenly... Aarohi was somewhere else.

Somewhere far... far away, she could feel it in the air... which was so fresh one could get high on oxygen alone.

She wasn't in her bedroom anymore, she was standing in a beautiful palace garden! The cool breeze of nature was so refreshing, she was surrounded by greenery which felt so surreal and made her heart beat faster.

God! What a dream she was having!

'Why can't my real life radiate even half of these positive vibes?' She thought.

Aarohi searched around for that mysterious man dressed in yellow who brought her there, and then she saw him standing right in front of her.

His face looked so divine and he had a calm smile on his face. His aura emitted a sense of security and he had unique a glow to him. He had a peacock feather in his hair and a flute in his hand. Almost like he was- -

"Welcome to dwapar yug my pryie sakhi! I've brought you here because you have been given an opportunity to watch the great epic from your eyes. I'd introduce myself but I think you've already figured it out." He said cheerfully. He sounded more like a salesman trying to convince her to buy something she didn't want... but still...

"Are you... Lord Krishna?" She whispered, unsure but the twinkle in his eyes made her believe it.

What in the world was going on?

'Dwapar yug? Wow. How impossibly stupid! Maybe it's because of all the sugar I ate before in which I thought I could drown the pain of my one sided breakup. But I'm kinda impressed by my brain's capacity to make up these twisted scenarios. A nice distraction from my mess of a personal life.' Aarohi thought.

The man in front of her, who was 'Lord Krishna' chuckled, but seeing the pissed off expression of the young girl's face he pretended to be scared and tried to conceal his laughter behind his hands.

'So dramatic.'

"Are you laughing at me?" She crossed her arms, she was sure it was just a dream and she was going to wake up any second, in the real world. Where she had to put up with seeing the man, who she thought was the love of her life with her best friend and pretend to be happy for them.

'Gosh! I really wish I had some kind of escape from there.'

"What if I told you that you could escape it? At least for a little while at a time?" He said, totally reading her mind.

Was he?

Aarohi shuddered at the thought. There were a lot of things in her mind that she didn't want anyone to know, especially possibly a god! She'd take those mortifying memories and messed up thoughts to her grave, before opening her mouth.

'Some things in my head should stay in my head. No one needs to know! Oh god help me! Only, the god can't help, in fact he's the one who's troubling me!'

Krishna's lips tugged into a smile again. She was sure he was actually really reading her mind.

"What do you say Aarohi?" He asked, diverting her distracted brain towards the question at hand. She couldn't believe herself for she was actually seriously thinking about it.

"Before I decide anything... I want to know what you meant by 'at least for a while at a time'? Will I not be able to go back home?" She'd asked a valid question.

"No, no priye. You have your mother's bracelet right?" He gestured towards it and Aarohi nodded, lifting her hand in which she wore it.

"Well, this will help you get home. It's pearls will turn from white to black one by one and when the last pearl will turn black, you'll automatically get back to the future. There might be uneven fluctuations about the duration of time, but when you want to come back, you'll have to wait until they turn white again. And yes, the time will move forward even when you're not there, which is why you'll have to be very careful. So... what do you say?" He explained and asked the young girl, who bit her lip, thinking hard, even when she thought it was merely a dream.

"I think... I accept."

'Oh come on! I know this very sudden, but I could use the distraction. Not my most strategic decision, I agree, but sometimes you gotta give yourself a break. Besides, I need to get my mind off Rudra and Aakriti. Even if it's just a dream, which I'm pretty sure it is, I'll feel better having something weirder, like this experience, to think about. I don't want to cry over some guy, even if it was Rudra. I need to move on.' She thought to herself, only if moving on was that easy.

"Very well then! Now come on, there's some people I want you to meet. But first, we need to get you in some clothes appropriate to the time line. And please, call me Kahna, being called Lord Krishna makes me feel so old sakhi! It's so unfair because I know how to use your smart phones and I keep up with all the latest slang your generation oh wait- - I mean Gen-Z uses!" He pouts and Aarohi couldn't help but giggle.

'Oh yeah, he's the most dramatic god I've ever met. Well, the only god I've met...'

And the next thing she knew, she was being introduced to the Royal family of Hastinapur as Kahna's sister who lived in a far away kingdom and would now stay here for a while.

'Really Kahna? Like... give a girl time to process! It's all happening so fast. This is too real for a dream.' Aarohi looked up at him with an unusual expression as Maharani Gandhari caressed her cheek lovingly and Mata Kunti gently grasped her hand while they all happily welcomed her into the palace. She was weirded out by this show of affection, especially because they were meeting for the very first time. But the smiles on their faces seemed pretty genuine.

"Hmm... 'Aarohi'.Your name is just as beautiful as you putri." Mata Kunti complimented and Aarohi didn't know how to respond, so she just smiled. She never thought her name of all things was something special.

"Pranipat."

"May god bless you." Maharaj Dhritraashtra and Mahamahim Bheeshm blessed her as she greeted them formally not wanting things to be perceived about her, even if it was a dream. She had enough people who'd do that.

"Mata, isn't it great? I have another friend now!" The cheery voice of princess Dushala chimed in as she pulled Aarohi into a tight hug, while the latter alarmingly tried to pull away from Dushala whose sudden action made her remember her elder sister Akshara. She was the only one who gave her spontaneous hugs like that, and now it had been months since they'd even talked.

Aarohi was hit with a unexpected wave of emotions that almost knocked her flat. Gosh, she didn't realise how much she missed her sister till now.

"Forgive my sister, she's a bit tired from the long journey." Krishna covered for Aarohi as she tried to keep it all in and Dushala made a little sound of understanding and let the girl go as she smiled at her.

Aarohi was overwhelmed by the affection of all these new people surrounding her, basically towering over her. It was a good thing she requested Kahna to bring her some high heels so she wouldn't look like an ant amongst them. She was still way shorter but least she wouldn't be tiny.

"I wish I could introduce you all to the princes' aka my 105 brothers, but that will have to wait." Dushala told. Aarohi was now passing time with Rajmata Kunti, Maharani Gandhari and Dushala along with their dasis in the big balcony of the Maharani's room.

"Why is that? And aren't there 106 brothers?" Aarohi asked, subtly indicating towards Yuyutsu. The poor guy was just conveniently left out of everything.

"How do you know that? There's bhrata Yuyutsu but..." Dushala trailed off.

"You didn't answer the first question." She changed the topic, the reaction the Kuru princess gave told her everything thing she needed to know.

"Oh! Yes, well you see, they're all busy in training for the big day, which is the Kalapradarshan day after tomorrow. All the princes' will have to show their talents and what they learnt from their days in Gurukul. You'll have to attend with me Aarohi, I won't take any excuses!"

"Okay... well if I'm still here by then..." She muttered under her breath while Dushala let out a confused giggle.

The trio of ladies asked her so many questions about her and the 'far away kingdom' she lived in but she carefully avoided the truth. They were probably trying to get to know her, but nonetheless she got bored pretty quickly.

"Aarohi, putri, look this is how you make a cross stitch." The Maharani said. They were trying to teach Aarohi embroidery, while she just sat there nodding, pretending to listen while thinking of excuses to get out.

'I do know how to stitch up a human and I'm sure it's the more advantageous skill to master. Especially in this era.'

So she excused herself and instead went on to explore the palace. But her wish for some alone time to sort out her emotions was not fulfilled. The news of the new princess had spread like wildfire. Everyone she came across somehow recognised her and took their time to talk to the mysterious stranger.

'Ugh, there are spies in the form of maids! Gotta be careful here Aarohi, even the walls have ears. How else would they recognise me anyway?' She came to a conclusion.

Since they were royals from other kingdoms who had arrived to see the kalapradarshan, she couldn't just ignore them, fearing they'd chop her head off or something. What an embarrassing thing to die in a dream!

Nonetheless, she was getting more and more frustrated after every conversation.

After she bid her goodbyes to- - like the thousandth person... she didn't count, who'd approached her, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and went her own way.

Her phone suddenly rang with a notification, as if dealing with countless people from this era wasn't enough, now the others had to bother her too!

"It's Rudra..." Aarohi didn't check it, she just couldn't. Everything was so fresh, she tried to shake her feelings off but her damned brain dived right back into them. She wanted to be happy for her friends, but it hurt. Because she did love him, at least that's what she'd always thought all her life.

Aarohi couldn't tell the first moment she fell in love with Rudra. He was just the quiet boy next door who taught her how to ride her bike when she was seven. Who held her all night as she wept when her mother passed away. The truth was... she always had loved him, but she couldn't tell him.

You know what the funny thing was? That she had never imagined what would happen after she'd confess. Despite her love for him, Aarohi never really wanted a relationship. It was just until a confession and that too, for getting back her own peace of mind. Marriage was never something on her bucket list, she did not want to get married. She thought nothing wrong of it, but for her, it was being tied down which meant losing the absolute freedom over her life and choices.

She'd had to think twice about how everything she'd do or want would also affect her partner, be responsible, make up for things and love that person unconditionally all while trying to achieve her life goals but Aarohi didn't want that. That life wasn't for her. No one belonged in that little inconsolable heart of her except her dead parents.

Aarohi had always only liked the idea of having someone in her corner.

Isn't that what we all want in the end? To have someone to support you through thick or thin? That someone who never leaves and accepts you for who you are?

Although still hurt seeing him with someone else, she understood that what had to happen, happened. It was nobody's fault and she needed to move on from this.

'Just concentrate on exploring the big palace Aarohi.' She tried to shake off the negative chain of thoughts.

And when she looked around...

'I'm lost... aren't I?'

She came across an open area which had weapons at one side. To add to her misery, the dress and jewellery Kahna made her wear were so heavy that the poor girl was struggling to keep it all together. And don't even ask about those high heels.

'Wow, am I getting that insecure now that I literally requested for heels? Damn! I thought this was supposed to be a fun dream!'

She was trying to adjust the hem of her saree so it would stay at one place, but suddenly, an arrow was shot through the air and it was coming right towards her!

'You can't die in a dream... right?'

Aarohi stood there frozen, bracing herself for the arrow. But it never came. She was tackled out of the way, just as the arrow hit the target behind her. However all of it proved to be for nothing as she collided with a wall behind her, stumbling upon some spare wooden weapons kept there for practise and painfully twisting her ankle and she sat there furious.

"Huh? Where did she go?" Her saviour looked around, trying to find the girl who was half his size.

"She's probably right where you threw her, you monster!" Her voice rang out.

"Monster? Me?! You could have gotten killed, standing in front of the target! How unaware can a person be of their surroundings? Do you have a death wish?" The man who saved her thundered, he looked no less enraged than Aarohi.

'Excuse me... what? Couldn't he see a 5'6 woman standing here? I'm short in comparison but it's not that bad that I'm invisible. And he's so damn rude for no reason! Aren't men in these times supposed to be knights in shining armour?' She thought as she got up from the ground, ignoring the sharp pain in her ankle. Showing she was hurt and in pain was not an option. She didn't want to look weak in front of 'daddy long legs' over here.

"No, I don't have a death wish. Didn't you see me standing here before shooting that arrow? I'm not invisible!"

"With that height, you might as well be." He retorted and Aarohi was sure she'd popped a blood vessel in her eye with how hard she was glaring at him.

'He really wants to make comments about my height huh? Just wait archer boy I'll give you something else to think about.'

"You know what's funny? How you call yourself an archer."

The stranger's deep black eyes widened in shock at the remark. "Look, Devi I don't know who you are, but it's really awful to assume about my skills when you've not even seen them."

'Ohhhh no. Dangerous territory. I mean... might as well twist the knife you're offered.'

"You nearly almost killing me with your so called skills, tells me everything I need to know about them. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going." Aarohi put a stop to the conversation, leaving the man fuming behind her and turned to leave.

But she stopped and winced, shutting her eyes as a wave of pain went up her leg. She had accidentally stepped on the wrong ankle and it hurt like hell. Tears formed in her eyes, threatening to flow down her face, but she bit the inside of her cheek. Crying out aloud was not her thing. But her little wince didn't go unnoticed by the unfamiliar man.

"Devi...?" The man looked at her, either she was too dramatic, or something else was the matter.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

***

Note:- Okay, so how was that for the first chapter? Don't forget to Vote and Comment your opinions as it encourages me.

Who do you think he is? Will he help her?

Ps:- I know I took long to post the chapter, but in my defence, I had to go out of station. Also, you all have one more chance to choose. So comment for your favourite one.

See you guys in the next one. Bye.✌️