The night cloaked Prince Aryaman's bed chamber in a peaceful quietude, broken only by the gentle rustle of the silk curtains at the balcony, dancing to the soft whispers of the night breeze. Seated at the edge of his ornately carved balcony, Aryaman's silhouette melded with the silver moonlight that bathed the room, casting an ethereal glow on his thoughtful face. His legs, folded beneath him, supported his lean form as he leaned slightly forward, elbows resting on the balcony's marble rail, hands clasped together as he kept replaying the events of the day.
His mind was restless and excited, filled with anticipation for all he would be learning under his skilled guru. The excitement of his thoughts flickered in his eyes as he kept thinking about how deftly Svetavastra had defeated the war veteran General Pushya. That was so cool! He thought to himself.
The cool night air brushed against his skin, carrying the subtle fragrance of night-blooming jasmine from the gardens below, but Aryaman barely noticed it. Occasionally, he would rise slightly, his body mimicking the motions of the Svetavastra from the day’s fight, he was a silent shadow against the backdrop of his room, before settling back into his introspective stance.
Svetavastra was standing in his balcony at this time, and he observed the crown prince’s motions with his mind’s eye. Prince Aryaman’s chambers were located in an adjacent tower and well above in height compared to Svetavastra’s own room. Svetavastra’s lips curled into a soft smile and he leapt into the air to reach where the crown prince was.
“Gurudeva!” Aryaman said in surprise, getting up to bow to him.
Svetavastra stood before the prince with his hands crossed behind his back.
“Were you practicing my moves from today?” Svetavastra asked gently.
“Yes, Gurudeva!” said the prince, his eyes and body lighting up with excitement he couldn’t hold in. “I’m eager to learn and there’s so much to learn! I can’t wait to get started.”
For Svetavastra, in his mind’s eye, the energy from the prince resembled that of an excited puppy that wanted to play all day long.
“I need to leave on an urgent mission,” Svetavastra said in a calm tone.
Aryaman went still for a moment. His excitement quickly drained away.
“And I’m not to be joining you?” he asked his voice losing its earlier energy.
Svetavastra cleared his throat. The pup would need some cajoling and toys to play with while he was away.
“That’s correct,” Svetavastra said. “You are a prince, you cannot leave as you wish. Protocols must be followed. And the king wants to keep your demi-god identity under wraps.”
“I understand,” said the prince dejected, his shoulders drooping.
“Even if we ignore your stature as a prince,” continued the cultivator. “You are not trained enough to accompany me. I do not have the luxury to worry about your safety while I encounter hordes of the rogue undead.”
“Then how would I learn?” asked the prince. Svetavastra felt in his mind the pleading puppy eyes from the prince.
Svetavastra brought his right hand in front of his face and extracted something from his mind, wisps of white energy coalesced into a white glowing orb that floated in the palm of his hand.
“This is the Undead Simulation Orb,” said Svetavastra. “I’ve extracted my memory from the incident at the Northern Mines.”
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Prince Aryaman leaned in to observe the orb, his eyes wide with wonder and interest.
“You can access it in two ways,” continued Svetavastra. “If you intend to learn how I warded the undead with the daityahan asi, you can simply think about it and the orb will take you to the replay of that memory. If you wish to practice, it can take you to a simulation, where you can fight with the undead with your sword.”
“Wow,” said the prince amazed and excited in equal parts. “Is my sword called daityahan asi?”
“That’s not the name of the sword,” clarified the cultivator. “It simply indicates the category of the sword in the cosmic arsenal - that being demon-slaying. You can give it a name, as you wish, and once you invoke it with the divine tongue, it will come to you.”
“I see!” said the prince.
Svetavastra gestured to the prince to extend his hand and the orb floated to the prince’s hand where it changed its colour from white to a golden hue.
“It recognised your cosmic aura and now it has become yours,” said Svetavastra. Aryaman’s face lit up with a smile as he looked at the orb floating in his hands.
“To access it,” continued Svetavastra. “You need to first have your emotions in control. Only if they are balanced, can you unseal the orb - any extremity in your emotion, be it too much joy, too much frustration or too much sadness, the orb would seal itself. Any strong emotion will impair your judgement and without proper judgment, you cannot fight any enemy to your favour. Therefore you are automatically disqualified from the simulation practice without first having your emotions under control.”
“How do I have my emotions under control?” asked the prince concerned with the prequalification.
“You must of course practice cultivation,” said Svetavastra. “That’s a given. Follow the same instructions I gave you for the meditation exercise earlier. Do it every day for a couple of hours, it will build your spiritual energy and help you regulate your emotions. Then, you can access the orb.”
“I will Gurudeva!” said the prince with a determined look.
“Train well,” said Svetavastra. “I shall see you in a fortnight.” The cultivator then leapt into the air and disappeared into the night sky.
----------------------------------------
Svetavastra sat and rode on a cloud that became his vehicle temporarily thanks to the power of the Nagamani. The moon shone brightly and the land sprawled beneath him stretched out like a patchwork quilt of shadows and moonlight. He brought out his compass and waved at it to get the map out.
“Why didn’t you take the daityahan asi with you, No-god God?” asked the preta in the bracer.
“Why do I need it?” asked Svetavastra.
The preta became silent. Of course, the god would not deprive the original master of his sword. He had even instructed the prince how to summon and use it and even created a training simulation for him.
“Would you create a training simulation for me too, No-god God?” asked the preta expectantly.
“You watch it live by being with me,” said the cultivator.
“Of course! Of course!” said the preta satisfied. “I have the front-row seat after all.”
Svetavastra looked at the map from his mind’s eye and observed the swirling dark energy above the border city. He traced his fingers around the area trying to get a sense of the spread.
The preta in the bracer was trying its best to look at the map but found it difficult from its position in the bracer.
“I also want to look at the map, No-god God,” said the preta.
The cultivator waved at the bracer and the preta was out, it stretched its translucent make-believe arms and fluttered from side to side of the cloud and finally settled on the crook of Svetavastra’s arm and looked at the map.
“The dark energy is covering the entire city,” remarked Svetavastra. “That’s unusual. And the diksuchi picked up the energy from a far distance. Moreover, the dark energy is not spreading outwards, it looks stable and contained.”
“Is that good or bad, No-god God?” asked the preta unable to deduce what that meant.
“It means the undead in that area are not rogue like the ones we encountered in the village and the Northern Mines,” explained the cultivator. “Rogue undead be it pretas or the undead corpses would seek out sources of energy be it spiritual or human. If they are seeking humans, why haven’t they spread outwards to other areas? And there are no major ley lines around the border city. So why are they still contained in that area?”
“Why No-god God?” asked the preta curiously.
“Somebody made them to,” said Svetavastra his brows furrowed. “Someone can control them.”
“And that is—?”
“Not good,” said Svetavastra. It meant that this somebody was a powerful entity and must not be taken lightly. He assessed his spiritual powers and decided to bolster them before heading to the border city. So he navigated the cloud to a nearby ley line, which was near a flowing stream in a forest. He sat under a tree by the stream and closed his eyes under the blindfold to cultivate. A spiritual barrier formed around him and the preta making them invisible to mortal eyes.