BLACK AND WHITE #BOOK 1 - SWORD OF SILVER
THE INVITATION

Aarav's life had completely changed after getting recruited. Nobody now troubled him at college , as Mayank would always be close to him. The guy was only a bull from the outside, but he was a total softie from the inside.

Though he used to get some weird stares from the other students and he could clearly hear them saying things like, 'no self respect at all', 'always sticking in the bull's ass' and many more. But Aarav couldn't care less.

His two biggest concerns were that, he had no time at all. He had to study, train using the sword twice a day for 2 hours at dawn and before sleep, and because of that he was always away from home and also from Disha. . For some unknown reason, his clan members and especially Reva , hated the girl so much , that if she ever saw Aarav talking to Disha, the next thing he knew , his training would be the hardest that day.

Aarav spent most of his time at Reva's place and so did his other clan mates.They were given individual rooms to stay . And so Aarav could only go home on week days.

His training included meditation, that after much of an arguement , was to taught to him by Reva. Defensive skills were to be learnt from Mayank , new sword charms and spells from Pranay and hand-to-hand combat from Megha.

All of them were awesome at whatever they taught, and not to mention Megha's training sessions were especially hard for him, for the reasons that she was too strict and also a beast at what she did.

Though he tried his best, he hadn't achieved much of anything in Megha's training. Pranay's training on the other hand was stressful , yet fun. He was trying to teach Aarav to use elements of nature while sword fighting. He had told Aarav, that sword fighting in the Black and White world was highly dependant , not on the skills but on the elements that a person could conjure. Though Pranay himself hadn't yet learned to conjure all of them , but he knew how to conjure fire from his sword.

And so far , Aarav had only succeded in making his sword warm . though Pranay said that to reach the level where Aarav was , he had taken almost a year.

But the most successful he was in, was to defend the blows from Mayank's maces. Aarav was quiet a master at defending and even Megha accepted this.

It was a fine evening when all the clanmates were sitting on the dinner table, when Pranay spoke.

"Reva , i think Aarav is quite trained to have his first match."

"And?" Reva said, but Megha continued her sentence, she said,

"...that means a friendly match couldn't hurt , but yet Aarav you haven't progressed at all in my sessions."

Mayank was stuffing whatever was on the table , and with a mouth full of food he said...

"Af if fyour Fraining if progrefable...." . He gulped whatever was was in his mouth and said,

" As if your training is progressable..."

Megha shook her head and ignored him , but Pranay now spoke, he said,

"Its true Megha , your training is too harsh, and tell me one thing , what is the need to stand for hours facing the wall? Its not even training. While i was being trained by you, you even gave me a remark saying that i stand 3 degrees backwards!"

"I didn't hear her telling me to do something like that!" Aarav said.

Even Mayank said," Neither do i remember doing that...."

Megha's cheeks turned pink and she said, " That training is for....learning patience....for stubborn people "

" Wait a minute, did u just call me stubborn ?" asked Pranay.

All this time , Reva was silently observing Aarav , who was busy laughing and teasing Megha . She didn't know why she hated him or acted like she hated him.

While she was staring , Aarav turned to have some rice so he saw Reva staring at him. He raised his brows to ask what, because of that Reva was taken by surprise, so she cleared her throat and said,

"Ahem....enough joking around , Pranay contact the Sangamas and ask them if they are willing for a friendly match, Nakul was asking about freak and wanted to meet him."

Aarav had become familiar with Reva calling him freak , how much ever anyone said, she never stopped taunting him and calling him freak. He ignored her calling him freak asusual , and said,

"So does that mean there are other black clans in Kamhaan too? And who's Nakul?"

"Yeah, there are clans like Sangamas , Pandyas, Hoysalas and many more. Nakul is the active king of the Sangamas in the mortal world just like Reva , and an ally of the army of the Mauryas in the Black mingdom. He has a quite dangerous team to say the truth , and also he has 7 members in his team , he has only one vacant Knight post , that's all. He's quite strong not to forget, unlike some kings ...." said Pranay , eyeing Reva while saying the last sentence.

"Are u trying to tell something Pranay?" Reva asked him.

"Not at all , i was just saying that i'll contact him right away" he simply got up and winked at Aarav.

So the invitation was given and the Sangama clan accepted it. The match was to be fought during the midnight to avoid any problems and the venue was the public park and some areas surrounding it. All the charms were put around the perimeter by both the teams together, so that no mortal could come in any harm.

Finally all the preparations were done and now the teams were standing face to face in the centre of the arena .

The active king of the Sangamas , Nakul, was a skinny and tall guy , who would give a big flashy smile at Reva for every glance and for no reason at all , caressed his hand over his curly black hair.

He bent and took Reva's hands in his and kissed it,

" Hello, beautiful, long time no see! Looks like you've gotten yourself a new knight, though it looks like he needs some one to protect him ..." , he said turning his shiny eyes in Aarav's direction who was standing right next to Reva.

And instantly ,Aarav took a disliking to the person. Reva pulled her hand out of his hands and wiping it with a handkerchief , she said,

"I don't know who will need protection, but one thing for sure i know is if u don't stop acting like an asshole, you'll surely need medicine between your legs after I kick you there."

Aarav gave a cough which sounded more like a laugh, and Nakul glared at him.

A strong looking person from the opponent team came forward and spoke with a loud voice,

"I Pritam, second in command to the Sangamas , declare this friendly match as officially started."

Location: A far off village , in western ghats .

A man of unknown age is sitting in a cave , meditating under a waterfall.

Another man arrives, and watches the man deep in meditation and smiles at him. The standing man says,

"Well well well, after a very long time, we finally meet , Ashwathama!"

The man deep in meditation , smiles ,eyes still closed. He joins his hand and chants a mantra . he says,

"If its not the Priest himself!" The man finally opens his eyes and sees at a very old and kind face looking at him. He gets up and goes near the priest and touches his feet as respect.

The priest keeps his hand on the back of Ashwathama's head and blesses him , "He be always with you!"

Ashwathama stands up and asks the priest, " What brings a teacher to his long forgotten disciple?"

The priest smiled and said, " I never forgot you Ashwa, its just that i did not have the courage to interfere in your grief , that's all. Your anger is quite uncontrollable, and you too know that."

Ashwathama respected his guru , though he never forgave him for he had done. He spoke but this time it was serious,

"Priest , i respect you, and the world knows that, but if u are here to ask forgiveness, i fear i can't give that to you , even if it means my life is at stake."

The priest laughed , and said,

" I am too far gone to have your forgiveness, Ashwa, even if u did forgave me at some point in this dreadful life, i don't deserve it for what I did. But that is not the reason i'm here, i have a little piece of information you would love to hear, for your mission."

"You never come empty handed ,do you ? I'd love to hear that...."

PS: Please do give a review , so that i can know where i should improve.