The sixth day at Ashrama started with my first ever rejection. Well, nothing can be done when the other party doesn't even want to have 'feelings', to begin with. Somi rejected me saying she was glad that I liked her, but she never probably felt anything for me because of her circumstances. She's currently bound to two divine beings, Kalpa and Devi Saraswati. One wants her to stay in a different dimension altogether, while the other wants her to become a maiden of her temple, pouring her life into the cultivation of knowledge. I'm curious how they even found women to marry into the family. Her husband would be a slave to someone else, her first child sent off to some spinster institution, and her second child, a son, who will carry on his father's legacy of kissing someone else's ass.
Stop. I told myself. Being bitter doesn't mean you can badmouth someone's family.
I realised I had this mask on my face before, where I would unknowingly try to talk and think in a way so that others won't get offended. How long until it completely peels away? I was surprised at myself for having so much poison stored inside, that made me think so negatively and disapprovingly of someone at the first instance of a disagreement. Was I subconsciously doing the same things back at my previous school? The fact that I am doubtful about it, not refusing it outright, might be at the core of all this. I need to be more mindful of how I conduct myself. Crazy how a single rejection can send you down through a hell hole of self doubt. After dawn, all I have been thinking about is what if ... what if she didn't have all those curses binding her? What if she was just a normal person? Would she have accepted me then? I decided to create the rules that I'll abide by in the future. And also expect the people close to me to follow the same. There's no use keeping people around who don't have the same morals and thinking as me. I know rules like that will only put me inside an echo box, without allowing me to perceive other viewpoints, but after witnessing the Asuran onslaught, I just needed people who would understand my perspective instantly, without wasting time arguing about every little thing. Time is of the essence when you're in a fight. Harmonising your actions with others in an instant, will give you an enormous advantage in a fight against such numbers. Now I realised why Rathis need to be powerful enough to be able to handle sixty thousand enemies. With Asuras coming at you continuously, even after getting killed and resurrecting multiple times, you'll need to automatically kill thousands of enemies in one sitting considering the ratio of Rakshaks to that of Asuras. To stay alive and kicking I need to follow these rules religiously.
Rule 1: I like it when someone returns the help I have provided. I would also do the same. This learning was thanks to Saiyan.
Rule 2: Loyalty. I, from now on will never talk bad about my friends behind their backs, something I probably used to do before unknowingly. They might have learnt it after I took a long leave, by conversing among themselves. I want people here to come out front talking about my shortcomings. I'll also do the same.
Rule 3: People have their own strengths and weaknesses. I will never make fun of people who are trying in the fields they are not good at. I was disillusioned after coming here, thanks to the people who were so much more advanced in the things that were required in this world. It just means you haven't given time to that particular aspect. I will support them and also expect 'my people' to do the same when I'm trying new things out.
These are the ones till now. I'll keep updating as I go through more experiences I guess.
I opened Kalpa's status for the second time to finally take a look. There was a red exclamation mark on the friends icon.
Block notification?
I sighed and opened it. There were messages from two of my friends. One from Somi that was sent a few hours ago. I poked the air over her name and read what she had sent. I didn't want to ignore her last message incase it had something useful.
'Sorry, I saw your message right now. Please stay where you are. I'll arrive shortly.' it said.
I scolded myself for getting even a bit expectant. Seriously man... I can imagine myself opening my messages every once in a while to see if she changed her mind forever like this.
'I will get wasted in obsession. She's right, there's no future for us.' I deluded myself, 'If she was only Kalpa's guardian it would have still been possible. But after what I heard about the women of her family, unless her brother breaks the cycle of curse... wait.'
There are still two ways, if I am crazy enough. Summon Goddess Saraswati herself and somehow change the terms of her blessings. Her method was extreme and failsafe to be honest, essentially an example of 'you got what you wished for'. But changing the rules might create some loopholes that might again endanger Somi. The other is to take control of the actions of the two families who are meant to do the conditioning. The curse of greed is at the core of it all.
Again, do I waste my life trying to find out the cure for this curse? Or just forget everything like she told me to and move on? What do I want to do?
My heart wanted to stay and my brain wanted me to pack my bags and leave.
I kept staring at her roll number after coming out of the messaging interface, on the list of friends.
Releasing a long breath, I deleted her contact. Just for a second, I was reminded of her face with those green tinted chocolate eyes shining bright, when she had found only her name in my friend list, as a final attempt by my heart, but a little too late. The complaints of my heart were left unheard, as I tried to tuck its voice away in the deepest reaches of my mind, keeping it locked away from interfering with my currently activated logical mindset.
'Sit down quietly.' I whispered to my heart. 'You have been putting me in tough situations lately.'
She was the first to come and also the first to go. What a ridiculous set of events.
I opened Apsara Didi's message next.
'Why did you take so long to accept it?' it said.
Now, how should I set the tone between us. There should be a balance between respect and familiarity... You're still doing that... I told myself. Why act in front of others? Why do you even need to portray yourself as someone else? Why even bother? Write the first thing that came to your mind, I told myself.
'Been battling with my heart for the last few hours.' I sent and closed the window.
Kalpa's status screen came up again, the one thing I have been ignoring or getting distracted from checking for quite a while. I keep remembering Kalpa's attitude when I went to her dimension whenever I think about opening her status. Let's take a look.
_________________________________________
STATUS from [Kalpa]
Name: Dhruva
Species: Human
Age: 12
Trait: Quick Acquisition
Class: Vaidya
Level: 7
HP: 170
Attack: 9
Defense: 8
Crit chance: 0.01
Crit damage: 0.15
Stat points: 14 (Use!!)
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STATS
Strength: 5
Stamina: 3
Agility: 5
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 12
------------------------------------------------
Shakti(divine energy): 4 [$$&#π]
Kundalini(internal energy): 2 [#$€!!]
Prana(life energy): 16->17 [????!!!?]
Conversion???!!: [Taboo] (Seal!!!)
------------------------------------------------
Curse resistance: 0
Enchantment resistance: 2
Poison resistance: 0
Ailment resistance: 2
Mental resistance: 3
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SKILLS
Passives:
Concentration: LvL 1
Mental Fortitude: LvL 1
Kundalini Conductivity: LvL 2
Kundalini Tethering: LvL 1 (Verify!!!)
Shakti To Kundalini Conversion: 0.57->(0.63+0.05) [€π¥√!!]
Active:
Wide Heal: LvL 1
Recovery: LvL 2
Kundalini Cloaking: LvL 1
_______________________________________________
This is hilarious. She's clearly got something against me. If this is how others were progressing, they got no chance against the Asuras. Then again, their performance gave such an impression though. Is her power getting distributed a lot, giving us such poor efficiency in return? What is happening?
There can only be a single explanation for all this. The skills got introduced after the Rakshak Vrata and started gaining experience for leveling up individually from zero. I need a basis of comparison though. All the skills deemed useful by Kalpa are only related to my class, which will be helpful in team fights.
Even my stats are not even half of what I have at Panna's status. Health is only 10 points per level. 2 stat points per level. Everything is so degraded. What is up with that pathetic strength? That halved intelligence and dexterity? I know those are for Dhanurdhars usually, but still...
Panna, are you blocking my current capabilities from Kalpa? How do the stats work when there are two windows? Are they different representations of the same aspect, but from two perspectives or do they add up?
"I'm not sure either." Panna said. "We have to conduct some rigorous experiments."
I was more interested in the weird special characters that were blinking beside the stats that were abnormal. Energies in my body are probably hard to mask, giving her an impression that they were much more than the amount they're supposed to be, but still she counted them, assuming I had only one chakra available. Seal for the Prana conversion... Was it already sealed? Or just a notice for the sages to make sure that they sealed it properly? I laughed at the verify sign beside Kundalini Tethering skill. She can't believe someone can get it so fast. Especially someone with below par stats in all fields.
There will be two cases, one, Kalpa and Panna are representing the same stats. One has access to all of it, while the other can access only a masked version. And two, both of them are individual, Panna's being my actual and Kalpa being just a bonus over it. Whatever it is, Panna is the most important right now. Getting a new auxiliary chakra after every ten levels is enormous, nothing can even come close to it.
"Can we direct all our experience to your status? I feel like Kalpa is manipulating something behind the scenes considering my low stats, atleast in dexterity. Let's just focus on getting only your level to as high as possible. I can keep showing others Kalpa's window, element of surprise and lack of information about you is a huge advantage to have. Kalpa also confused Field of Protection with Wide Heal, which are fundamentally different in how they work. I'm yet to know properly because we'll start getting formal lessons from next week in the Ashrama. What I realised is that the first week is just for chilling. Go around and meet your batch mates from other Gurukuls. Get familiar with the area and your training facilities. Talk with the sages and decide which skills favour your constitution and learn them accordingly from your class.
I still have questions about how they knew from the beginning which class we will be in, as they made the room arrangements like that, putting one of each in the same room, so that it is balanced. What if there are imbalances within the classes? Did they forcibly assign classes to someone who had a different disposition just for keeping a balanced proportion?
"Panna, please try to find a way where we can monopolize the experiences that we get in the future. I will keep allocating some to Kalpa here and there, to make sure she doesn't suspect anything. How much experience can a healing Vaidya even acquire, right?"
"Yeah, I have to rechannel the connection between Kalpa and you. I'm not sure how to do it yet, but I'll try some things out." she agreed to my request. There is something to gain for both of us if this works. Best of luck Panna.
I think I won't be using Kalpa's status window often. Let's just allocate 10 points to agility, incase I need to run away from enemies I probably won't be able to handle. I have a feeling that there will be a whole lot of them. And the rest 4 to intelligence. I don't know what the points in intelligence translate to, probably helps with better memorization or increases understanding of concepts. Since physical training can increase strength and stamina for now, I will wait until I reach a stage where it can't be increased naturally anymore.
Things that needed to be taken care of regarding the status window are now done. It really takes quite a while to analyse and theorize things.
What's next?
Let's return and have some lunch. Missing meals won't do me any good. Checking the position of the white ball up above in the sky, finally shrouded with the mountain clouds once again, I realised there were still a few dozens of minutes left. Let's see how faster I am with 15 points newly allocated in agility.
As I ran, much faster than I ever had in my whole life, twigs and branches in the jungle scratched and scraped my skin, leaving my body with long lines of red wounds. It stung a lot. My white traditional wear fluttered behind me as I made my way through the forest and then into the clearing, all the while using recovery over my whole body. I strolled around the dairy farm for a few minutes. It had a long fence that was rectangular in shape, containing fifteen to twenty cows, three oxes and seven calves. There were huge earthen water bowls toward the south, a shed with straw for its floor in the east, and a pool for the animals in North West. It was the southern most facility at the Ashrama. On its north east, there was the shooting arena where I could hear the bow strings being tensed and released, accompanied with a 'shap' sound that lets you know that the arrow hit its mark. I'll ask Anik to teach me archery next week. It will be fun to try it atleast once. To the north of the shooting arena was the boys' bathroom stalls. In the same place where the shooting arena was, but on the girls' side, to the north west of the dairy, was the sword and melee weapon training arena. The distant clangs of weapons clashing could also be heard from there. There was a fruit and vegetable garden between the dairy and the dining hall, all three of which lied on the middle line connecting north and south. The dining hall had three doors facing north, east and west respectively, serving as an entry point for the dorms on both the sides.
I waited at the east door since the girls didn't use that, thinking it might be a drag to again come across her or her friends. This was a truly crucial time. I can't waver now with my new found resolve.
I saw Saiyan, Anik and Dweep arriving from the dorms. They smiled as we waved hands at each other.
"Are you even taking showers? Where do stay all day and night??" Dweep asked, truly concerned. He could have asked it without being so loud though, I thought as I heard snickering from around me. Let's ignore his query.
"I wonder what's in the menu though. I'm gonna revolt if they only give some rice and curd like yesterday." Anik said.
"I thought you liked everything of Satya Marta. Just pick up some fruits from the jungle and fill your belly if you don't want to." I told him.
"The cows were so afraid of the Asuras, they couldn't produce solid Paneer anymore. That's why they are giving us liquid curd everyday." Anik suddenly said making us dumbfounded.
"You're joking, right?"Dweep tried to confirm as Anik's serious face searched through ours and then burst into a fake laugh that anybody could tell.
"Bro. Where do you think Paneer comes out from?" Saiyan finally tried to end this ridiculous conversation. " You should have studied basic things in Alik atleast. You're too obsessed with this dimension. It's not good to associate yourself fully to one side. You never know what can happen there..."
"Don't mind it, they'll probably teach us about microorganisms next year. You'll know about it then. How different milk products are manufactured." I mediated, instantly cutting Saiyan off. Wasn't he saying too much? I think he's trying to warn them beforehand without saying it directly. He probably thinks that they don't need to shoulder any additional burden by knowing everything, but also remain vigilant incase something happens. With the Asuras being so aggressive suddenly, we can't say anything. They'll probably stay put for a few months until they can again join their forces and go out hunting for food outside their Loka. But how were they bypassing Kalpa's barrier? Was there someone powerful on their side who can manipulate Maya like Kalpa? I've heard that even God class beings have trouble coaxing Maya to do their bidding. If I ever get hold of an Asura, this is the first question I need to ask properly. A lot of things will be simplified if they have no means of invading our dimensions again.
Brahmand, the Universe, is like a multistoried building. The basements are Patala Loka, the next few commercial and living quarters for normal families will be Marta Loka, and the penthouses for ultra rich people above are dimensions of Swarga Loka. Technically three, but multiple dimensions within. We need a really good security that wont allow anyone to come from the basement to the living quarters. The Asuras have got hold of some backdoor, or have a collaboration with someone who wants to create chaos in the Lokas above. Otherwise it is impossible for them to cross the barriers of Maya. They can easily get lost between worlds otherwise.
We were directed to sit towards the eastern side and sat on a bench for four, with a tin plated table in front. We were surprised to see fish today. I made sure to check they weren't my Kundalini fishes, I knew they weren't that stupid, but you can never know. I had taken a lot of time carving them to make them as real like as possible.
What a pleasant surprise. There was a normal homely curry, with a sour side of fish eggs. It was awesome.
Today Mr. Baagh was there in the dining hall and cleared his throat preparing to announce something. There was also a middle aged woman on the left end, announcing something for the girls. We were asked not to sit in mixed seating today. The right, or the east was for boys and the west for girls.
"From next week everybody will finally start attending their classes. The first day, you'll be tasked with checking out all the demos by the sages from your class. You can later try learning skills of other classes, but for now, stick to whatever you've got, be it a Vaidya or a Surakshak. I know those are support classes and have a slow leveling pace, but they are very important to make sure your friends are alive. In return the damage dealers should also give their support friends chances with last hits from time to time so that they can get stronger and ultimately be more helpful too. The four of you are now bound together. Whatever differences you have must be sorted out amongst yourselves. Whatever obstacle you come across must be overcome together. Trust them with your back while covering for theirs, you'll surely grow stronger together. Your seniors, from the performance they showed that day, were far below than what was expected of them. We won't continue the format we were following before. Lord Ashwatthama have decided to make some changes, to give all of you rigorous training and some knowledge of beginner divine missiles that can be helpful in unexpected situations."
Listening to Baagh's speech, everybody got excited. Divine missiles were really important against Asuras. They can penetrate the uniform Kundalini Armor that the Asuras wear very effectively. But there were a lot of conditions that you need to fulfill before you can invoke them. Next week will be exciting.
I tapped my foot on the wooden floor of the Dining hall, looking around. I was so focused in the eating for recovering my Prana previously that I never bothered to even look around and see how impressive the architecture was. Stone artwork filled the ceiling, depicting various events from the mythologies. In the middle was a huge tortoise, holding a mountain above its shell. The Avatar of the Preserver, Lord Vishnu. There were other sculptures on the walls just below the ceiling line. The characters from Ramayana and Mahabharata were depicted there having intense fights, sitting together playing a Game of Pasha or creating a bridge connecting two lands with a turbulent sea in between. The stone sculptures also had different colored parts. Some were red, some green or blue, and some black as the night.
We prayed, sending our thanks to whatever God we wanted to for the delicious food and started getting up when the day suddenly started went dark. It was the same thing that had happened back when Ahara called upon the solar eclipse to use Surya Kavach, to save himself from Ashwatthama's Brahmastra. The candles inside grooves carved into the walls at regular intervals, of the Hall lit up instantly, as if it was dinner time and not lunch.
We could hear the sages getting agitated outside, shouting and preparing some enchantments. Something's really wrong!! My intuition was flaring up as I heard a thud from my left where Saiyan was sitting.
"Shit!" Anik cried out warily, holding Saiyan's shoulders trying to keep him straight. "Saiyan's down. Is something happening to the Seven?"
I pressed my ear against Saiyan's chest trying to hear his heartbeat and heard two of them far apart from each other.
I could see small crowds also gathered in different parts of the Hall, all tending to the Seven.
Suddenly my brain wanted to collapse in itself, as an intense pain brought tears to my eyes.
"Bring your roommate to the Central Banyan, all twenty one of you." I heard Lord Ashwatthama's voice booming inside my consciousness.
Carrying Saiyan, we hurried to the middle of the Ashrama.
We were dumbstruck as soon as we came out. The once gray sky was now orange in the west, and black in the east, both having a celestial body hanging in the middle, just above the snowy peaks. The clouds were also nowhere to be seen, again. Whoever is putting up a show of eclipses is very thorough, making sure everybody gets to witness it.
We heard Ashwatthama's voice again inside our head, this time the tone was a bit wary.
"Something is interfering with the dimensional jump channels, taking control of them." he said with a sense of urgency, "Teams stay together. This is all I can say right now. We'll try to help as so..."
Before he could complete the word, silence crept in through the mind communication channel.
The solar and lunar eclipses, both completed devouring the celestial bodies as a crack spread across the middle of the sky where the orange and black met from opposite sides. Blood red fingers made its way violently through the crack as the gap widened, presenting a huge red eye looking down at us like an omnipotent being. I had to force myself to stand straight with Saiyan's hand over my shoulder. Currently me, Saiyan and Dweep were in contact. Dweep reached out and touched Anik just as a weird purple magic enveloped the fingers invading the dimension. The Kalpa's sap vessels in our bodies got forcibly activated, as tendrils of lightning crawled up to our skin from within. As our essences started fading from the current dimension, I could hear the faint curses of Ashwatthama shouting back at the ominous being.
"Rahu!!!! All the Chiranjeevis will be coming after you!! Your fate has been sealed!! Mark my words, if anything happens to these children, I'll uproot your whole bloodline...."
With a flash, just like the first night, sorry, it's still the same night, at Gurukul back in Alik Marta, we teleported somewhere unknown in this Brahmand.