The elders have decided that a competition will be held among the princes when they return to Hastinapur. More like it was Shakuni's suggestion and Dhritarashtr agreed to it, hoping that his son will win in the competition. The day has arrived and the competition has started. Ashwatthama along with Shakuni made a plan so that Duryodhan will fight with all the Pandavs and Shakuni made a plan to kill Arjun as soon as he arrives by making sure that the elephant head that was built on the arch from which Arjun arrives will drop on his head. After Lord Suryanarayan took Karn with him all those years ago, nobody knew where Karn was or how he was doing. Shakuni was hoping that Karn would return along with the Pandavs, but much to his dismay, the latter didn't.
Ashwatthama hit the wheel which contained the names of all Kuru Princes except Karn's and the arrow hit Duryodhan's name. Duryodhan made a grand entrance by sitting on an elephant and jumped from one elephant to another and another and then landed on the ground. Next, Ashwatthama launched the arrow at Nakul's name. Nakul was carried to the arena by an Eagle and he jumped into the stadium. Both the brothers started fighting - Duryodhan with a mace and Nakul with two swords. In the end, Duryodhan unarmed one of Nakul's hand and then kicked Nakul, making him land on the ground and stamped Nakul's arm. He was declared the winner amongst the two of them.
Ashwatthama launched another arrow at the wheel of names and it landed on Sahadev's name. Sahadev entered the arena with an axe in his hand. The two of them went at each other and eventually, Duryodhan overpowered Sahadev by kicking Sahadev at his shin and hitting his face with the mace. Sahadev landed on the ground on his stomach and Duryodhan placed his mace on the former's back and applied pressure knocking him down to ground before he could get up. Duryodhan was declared as the winner amongst the two of them and Sahadev walked towards Nakul to take a seat, but not before taking Kunti's blessings.
"Ashwatthama gave us a new name, Nakul. Now we are no longer Kauravs but the Pandavas" said Sahadev making Nakul frown.
"Nakul, I find this name quite endearing. It seems as though Pitashree is with us" added Sahadev.
"Why? Did you not have any premonition today?" asked Nakul.
"I do. Premonition of victory" replied Nakul with a gentle smile on his face.
"A premonition of victory after defeat?" asked Nakul.
"Nakul, bhratha Bheem has told me that if I take part in the competition before him, then I must not tire Duryodhan out. He does not want Duryodhan to say the he lost to bhratha Bheem due to fatigue" laughed Sahadev and Nakul joined him.
Ashwatthama aimed his arrow at the wheel and the arrow landed on Yudhishthir's name. It was clear to everyone of the royal family that deceit was taking place in the competition in order to downgrade the Pandavs. Yudhishthir jumped into the arena from a tower with a spear in his hand. Duryodhan started attacking Yudhisthir in grudge with his mace and the latter kept blocking his attacks. When the opportunity came, Yudhishthir knocked Duryodhan down by jabbing the latter's back with his spear. Duryodhan however hit Yudhishthir with his mace, making Yudhishthir fall down. He was about to attack Yudhisthir again, but Yudhisthir got on his knee and block Duryodhan's attack. They kept going at each other again and Duryodhan seems to be loosing the upper hand, so he tried to hit Yudhisthir emotionally.
"Yudhisthir, you are indeed powerful. The blood of which dynasty runs through your veins? From whom did your characterless mother conceive you? Tell me at least this" said Duryodhan.
Yudhishthir looked at Duryodhan in anger and pushed the latter making him fall down. Yudhishthir was about to attack Duryodhan with his spear, but stopped mid-air.
"I cannot fight you any longer, Duryodhan. This is a friendly competition and there can be no place for anger in it. However you have angered me for a moment, back then. If I raise my weapon against you now, it will be unrighteous" said Yudhishthir and started walking away from there, but Duryodhan said "But it is not unrighteous for me" and attacked Yudhisthir's back.
YOU ARE READING
A Different Destiny - A Mahabharat/Karn Fanfic
FanfictionDestiny mourned the loss of not just great warriors, but also great people in the Kurukshetra war. One of them was Suryaputra Karn. Even the gods wept looking at the amount and pain and suffering their children had endured and in the end, Destiny ch...
