**(Yr. 2220 - secret lab)
(*grumble*)
'Ohh! I'm awake again?'
As I tried to open my eyes, the black-ish Prana fluid seeped inside my eyes giving me a burning sensation. I shut my eyes immediately, trying to resolve the pain and then opening my eyes again.
[*opens eyes*]
'What!? What is happening to this place?'
[*things falling to ground*]
(*shatter*)
From the blurry vision completely soaked in dark, I could see that something was wrong in the laboratory.
"What is happening!?"
"Is anybody here?"
I spoke with my loudest voice, but the sound couldn't completely penetrate the oxygen mask over my mouth.
Even if it did, the Prana liquid combined with different chemicals of the 23rd Century wouldn't allow the sound to escape.
(*crack*)
I heard a cracking sound from outside the laboratory, followed by various different breaking sounds.
[*Earth starts shaking rapidly*]
Just as I was thinking I must be having a dream, the whole facility started shaking violently.
'Is it an earthquake?'
- I realized the flaw in my own logic.
'It's impossible for an Earthquake to impact the sky-city!'
"WHAT IN THE HELL IS HAPPENING THEN!!"
(*whoosh*)
The laboratory gate which was made up of high grade 'Palasit' alloy flung open and a lot of dust entered into the laboratory at once.
'The scientists would kill whoever just entered the lab!'
The crazy scientist that was experimenting on me was highly mysophobic and had a serious case of OCD.
"I see my most prized possession is still alive. How are you rat! Feeling the thrill of infinite power yet?"
It was the same mad scientist that had walked in.
Even with my heightened senses and third eye, it was impossible to read what was going on behind the thick layer of Prana liquid, but the voice gave it all away.
"What is happening outside?",
I asked the crazy scientist who was one of the people I definitely wanted to take revenge against after getting out of this place.
"Nothing for you to worry about! Just some rabid dogs who think they are lion after killing some mice."
I knew this person more than his own family, after all, he spent the last two decades of his life experimenting on me daily.
He particularly liked calling the Union militia "dogs".
Going from the tone of anger and the way he called them infected and rabid, Union must have sent Users to attack the military base.
"Are their Users out there?"
"Ohh! Now the Rat is interested about a dog's life?"
"What! You want to take revenge for other Rats? Hahaha", he laughed menacingly at his stupid joke.
"Are their?", I said ignoring the taunt.
"Tch! Yeah and they have sent some nasty ones at that."
"Gurus have come!!!?". If anybody could see inside the black fluid, they would know that my stone face could also make expressions.
(*bang*)
"What Gurus!? They are just a bunch of jealous dogs who want to have the bone and eat it alone!!"
He kicked the glass chamber and cursed at both Gurus and me simultaneously.
(*gurgle ... gurgle ... pop*)
Although it was just a simple kick from an 80-year-old man with aged bones, he was still an Early Level 2 Strength-type User.
Just as the kick rattled the concentration of Prana liquid inside the chamber, the black fluid started churning and moving inside in whirlpools which completely disoriented me for a minute.
Kicking the chamber was his way of shutting me up.
All 12 Gurus of the Union were among the most powerful Users in existence. Although there wasn't much known about them in government, I had known and heard about the Union from Maiyatt team members, and was actually the most knowledgable about them.
Even the weakest of them was at Level 3 and the most powerful was at Level 4. They also knew many secrets about Prana, magic, and other various witchcraft.
(*BOOM*)
The gate to the main laboratory was blasted by some kind of Prana attack.
"WHAT! WHO ARE YOU! DO YOU WANT TO DIE!". The mad scientist lost his composure and the nerves on his forehead were as thick as his fingers, ready to burst at any moment.
This laboratory was his most prized possession, and throughout the decades the only other person from outside his team I had seen enter this lab was the governor of Akshya city.
Governer was a position which was at the epitome of a sky city and in the whole of Bharat, there were very few people who were above him in authority.
(*Fu-tack*)
The attack came so fast that even with my higher senses I couldn't see them executed.
'A Guru!?', I thought.
The mad scientist was flung towards one corner of the lab, and the Guru made it seem easier than hitting a fly.
As the Guru walked near I felt a sense of closeness. It was hard to describe, and even with all my experiences and knowledge, I couldn't have guessed his identity in million years.
"I have finally found you."
His voice cracked as he spoke, and for some reason, I felt an inexplicable sadness in my heart.
"Do.. Do I know you?", I spoke out from within the chamber.
There was a veil between us two, but I could still sense that he didn't have any malice towards me. It was the benefit of having a third eye, I could sense people's real sentiments behind their word.
"No! you don't, but I do."
[*swings sword*]
(*crack... shatter*)
The military-grade glass made of the toughest translucent material in the Universe cracked like biscuits under his attack.
(*splash..thud..cough...cough*)
Immediately at once, my senses were bombarded with an amount of information that was more than the information they had perceived in two decades.
I coughed hard grabbing my chest as I tried to breathe the un-refined oxygen from the air of the laboratory.
"I'm sorry. I'm late."
The Guru's voice had inexplicable coercion in his voice. For reasons which were beyond my understanding, I couldn't speak a single word in front of him, and yet it was as if some things were exchanged between us.
"Hoo.. Wh..."
"Right now is not the time. We will talk after we get out of here!"
I simply nodded. There was no way I could simply just walk and act like a normal human after being contained in a chamber for 20 years.
I trodded and stumbled as the Guru lead me out of the laboratory and into one of the core rooms of the facility.
"I have some work here, just wait for a minute and we'll leave this place."
I stood silent.
Since a couple of minutes had passed after my freedom, I was slowly recovering my senses and abilities.
I could sense a large amount of screaming and bloodshed that was going on outside the military facility. As a priest, my role had been to preach sermons to prisoners of war, but now I had no identity.
'How long has it been I wonder?'
As if the Guru had read my mind, he answered my question.
"It is the year 2220. The war is almost on his last legs."
"I see."
'That means I'm exactly 100 years old in Earth's age!'
"Is Union so desperate that they have to even dispatch the [Param Guru] to fight on the frontlines?"
[Param Guru], the highest position among all the Gurus. He was the leader of the Union.
"Ohh, how did you know?", he smiled at me.
He didn't care that I knew about his identity. However, in contrast, I didn't know. I had just made a guess made on the density of Prana surrounding the old man and his overall combat ability.
'He is definitely a Level 5. To be able to activate 5 of the 7 primary Chakras, it definitely can't be an ordinary existence.'
"Well, anyhow, you have the same blood. I wouldn't expect anything less of you!"
I was confused.
How does he know me, and whose blood I have?
"However, you are right. It is a crucial moment now. We can't let humanity continue to move towards destruction."
"Why do you oppose the exploration of Ruins?"
"Human's aren't powerful enough yet."
"What does that mean...."
(*kaboom...*)
Our conversation was cut short by the arrival of 'The Hound'.