: The Flame's Melody
Suryapuri Palace – The Grand Music Festival
The Suryapuri palace blazed under the setting sun, its white marble walls stained crimson and gold. In the grand hall, the air was thick—a heady mix of champaka flowers, sandalwood incense, and the low hum of anticipation. Nobles from ten kingdoms shimmered in silks and jewels, but all eyes were on the Sun Throne.
Prince Aaditya sat there, a statue of regal perfection. The rubies inlaid in the gold throne caught the light, mirroring the fire in his eyes as he scanned the Sage Hall. This Sangeet Sammelan was his first major test as the future king, and every detail had to be flawless.
Yet, as performer after performer took the stage, their technically perfect ragas washed over him and vanished, leaving no mark. A strange, hollow silence echoed in his soul, a quiet that had been his shadow for as long as he could remember.
Then, the court announcer's voice cut through the murmur. "And now, representing the glory of Chandrapuri, Yuvaraj Devansh!"
A ripple of surprise. A prince, performing?
Devansh walked onto the stage, and the very air stilled. Dressed in moonlight-blue silk, he seemed to carry a piece of the serene night with him. In his hands was an ancient veena, its dark wood inlaid with silver and sapphires that winked like distant stars. He offered no greetings, no royal preamble. He simply sat, closed his eyes, and let his fingers find their home on the strings.
Tan…
The first note was not heard with the ears, but felt in the marrow of the bone. It was a single, pure tone that commanded the heart to still and listen.
Tan-ta-na… tan-ta-na…
Then, the magic began.
His fingers danced, and the veena wept, sang, and laughed. The raga was ancient, one that spoke of the first monsoon rain on parched earth, of a soul meeting its other half after lifetimes of searching. It was a melody that felt… familiar.
Aaditya leaned forward, his breath catching. The rest of the world—the nobles, the hall, his duties—dissolved into a blur. There was only the music, and the musician.
And then, the impossible happened.
A row of oil lamps at the edge of the stage, deliberately extinguished for the next act, flickered. A tiny, hesitant flame sputtered to life in one. Then another. And another. As Devansh's music swelled, building to a crescendo of raw longing and power, every single lamp blazed alight, their flames dancing in perfect, rhythmic time to his notes.
The hall erupted. "Sorcery!" "A divine blessing!" "How can music command Agni?"
But Devansh played on, lost in his trance, a mere conduit for a power he didn't understand. For Aaditya, it was as if a ghost had walked over his grave. This music… it wasn't just lighting lamps. It was trying to light a forgotten fire inside him. A memory, a feeling—a chord that resonated with a part of his soul he never knew was silent. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic, joyful, painful rhythm.
Why does this feel like a key turning in a lock rusted shut for centuries?
---
The Garden of Whispers
When the final note faded, leaving a silence that felt holier than any prayer, Aaditya was the first on his feet, his applause thunderous amidst the stunned crowd.
Later, under a canopy of stars and night-blooming jasmine, he found the Prince of Chandrapuri. Devansh stood alone by a pillar, looking as if the performance had drained him of all energy.
"Prince Devansh," Aaditya began, his voice slightly unsteady.
Devansh turned. Those deep, kohl-rimmed eyes met his, and up close, the pull was a physical force—a magnetic attraction as confusing as it was undeniable.
"Your music…" Aaditya struggled, his usual eloquence deserting him. "That was not a performance. It was a revelation. You didn't just play a raga; you commanded it."
A faint, weary smile touched Devansh's lips. "The ancient texts say that when the notes are perfectly pure, Nada Brahma—the divine sound—manifests. The flames… they merely recognized the truth in the vibration. It is not my power, but the power of the music itself."
"Walk with me," Aaditya said, the request leaving his lips before he could reconsider. "I wish to… understand."
Devansh's eyes widened slightly, but he nodded. "I would be honored."
They walked side-by-side along the moonlit garden paths, the silence between them comfortable, charged with unspoken questions.
"Your skill… where did you train?" Aaditya asked.
Devansh looked down at his own hands as if seeing them for the first time. "I didn't. Not truly. I picked up the veena one day, and… it was like remembering a language I had always known. The ragas come to me in dreams, as if my soul has already played them a thousand times before."
Aaditya stopped walking, turning to face him. "You feel it too, then? This… strangeness."
"You are unlike anyone in Suryapuri," Devansh said softly, his gaze tracing the sharp, sun-kissed lines of Aaditya's face. "There is a fire in you, but it feels… familiar. Like a hearth I have warmed my hands by in another life."
"And you," Aaditya whispered, stepping closer, drawn by an invisible thread. "You carry a coolness, a silence that somehow… quiets the storm in my mind."
Their eyes locked. The space between them crackled. It was more than attraction; it was a recognition. As if two halves of a whole, shattered and scattered across time, had finally found each other.
Aaditya's hand lifted, almost of its own volition, to brush against Devansh's.
The moment their skin touched, a spark—not a metaphor, but a visible, electric flash—jumped between their fingertips. A jolt of searing heat and freezing cold shot up Aaditya's arm, followed by a dizzying wave of images—a celestial garden, a flash of gold, the agonizing sound of a veena string snapping, and a voice thundering a curse.
"Kai janmon tak bhatkega…!"
(For countless lifetimes,you shall wander…!)
Both princes stumbled back, gasping, their composure shattered.
"What… what was that?" Aaditya breathed, his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest.
Devansh had his palm pressed tightly over his own heart, his face pale. "A memory…" he panted. "It was… a memory."
---
The King's Collapse
The charged silence was shattered by the frantic sound of running feet.
"Yuvaraj! Yuvaraj Aaditya!"
A royal guard skidded to a halt before them, his armor disheveled, his face a mask of pure panic.
"What is it?" Aaditya demanded, the prince in him instantly snapping back into place.
"It's Maharaja Viraj! He… he collapsed in his chambers! The physicians… they don't understand. One moment he was fine, laughing, and the next…" The guard's voice dropped to a terrified whisper. "They say his life force is fading. It is not a natural illness, My Prince. It feels like… like black magic!"
Aaditya's blood ran cold. His father, the rock of his world, struck down by an unseen hand?
He turned to Devansh, his eyes wide with fear and a dawning, terrible suspicion.
But Devansh's expression was not one of shock, but of grim realization. His grip tightened on the veena he still carried, his knuckles turning white.
"This is no coincidence, Aaditya," Devansh said, his voice low and urgent, dropping all formalities. "I have read of such things. A sudden, mysterious blight striking at the moment of a powerful, divine connection." His deep, haunted eyes met Aaditya's. "I fear this darkness... it did not just strike your father. It struck because we met."
---
Chapter End Note:
A king lies dying, felled by a shadowy force. A connection between two princes that defies logic and rewrites fate. Was their meeting the trigger? Is some ancient power trying to keep them apart, fearing what they might become together? The harmony has been broken, and a new, dangerous melody begins.