“B..Brahmastra?...How do you know about that?” The man asked again with a baffled expression. Arav smirked,

“If I tell you that, the whole thing about not knowing anything unnecessary will fail.”

“Fine, but as for your conclusion, It’s a mantra left by our ancestors, every generation tries to perfect it but so far, they have failed and passed on the progress made to the next one.” The man responded.

“Hmm…You never told me your name..”

“My name is Drona..”

“....I am Arav.”

“Ho?..Thought of a name I see..” The man chuckled upon Arav’s reply.

“You need to physically train your body to become stronger, but I’m sure you have already found out that the elves will be transported outside of the city after a week.” The man spoke while stroking his chin;

“That time will be more than enough..”

“Huh?..You don’t seem to understand, your bod…”

Arav moved his hand and picked a stone lying beside the dried grass, he placed his palm on the ground and struck it,

[DRIP…DRIP]

“Are you crazy?” The man anxiously asked while trying to reach Arav’s wounded hand. His eyes widened, as he slowly retracted his arms, as he saw Arav’s wound heal in seconds, appearing as if nothing had happened. The man turned his gaze towards Arav;

“I can recover from fatigue and physical damage in no time, making it possible for me to continuously train for 24 hours without break..”

“Hahaha…What a student I have..” The man's face palmed while awkwardly laughing.

***

{Next morning}

Arav moved his limbs in a pattern, while his body was surrounded in a yellow energy. With Drona standing a small distance away while stretching his arm towards Arav, while moving it in the similar pattern.

“HAHA..you are a monster..” Drona awkwardly laughed while lowering his arm, causing the energy around Arav to dissipate.

“What now?” Arav asked while appearing as energetic as ever. Drona’s eyes flinched with an annoyed expression appearing;

“Y..you learnt every single martial art I know…in just ten hours. I think the physical training ends now.” Drona sat down on the grass while appearing exhausted.

Arav moved forward and stood in front of him;

“Teach me mantra,..”

“Tch…sit down and listen carefully..”

“What we call mantra isn’t actually an energy,..It’s the passage by which the energy flows through.” Drona moved his arm and picked a dried leaf from the ground.

[WOOSH]

A small amount of yellow energy gathered in his hand, turning the leaf green.

“Every human has their own unique mantra manipulation. For reference, I use srijana energy for the source of my mantra, leading me to create any weapon I want at will.” As he spoke, he raised his other hand;

[WOOSH]

Yellow energy gathered above them, and formed an arrow completely made of energy.

“These weapon’s durability and destructive prowess depends upon how well you know your energy and manipulate it.” Drona stretched the arm holding the leaf towards Arav;

“I summoned and used pure shrijana energy on this leaf, and created that arrow using a mantra.”

Arav glanced at the arrow, then at the leaf.

“Hmm…The effect is temporary.” Arav spoke while taking the leaf away from his hand, causing it to dry again.

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“Hahaha, of course..we aren’t gods, we have limited energy and the effect will only last as long as we can keep providing that energy.” Drona chuckled as the arrow disappeared.

Arav stayed silent, and stared at the leaf for a moment. Drona curiously looked at him, while wondering what his peculiar student was thinking;

“Demi humans use a completely different kind of energy, but they lack the flexibility of mantra. Why can’t they use mantra?”

A smirk appeared on Drona’s lips,

“They don’t need to, demi humans directly siphon the energy of nature leading to a set of abilities that humans can’t have.”

“Are you perhaps hinting towards the possibility that demi humans can use mantra?” Arav asked with one of his brows raising;

“No, they can’t, unless they completely get rid of natural energy from their body.” Drona shook his head while answering,

“Then what about you? Why can you use mantra?” Arav’s question caused Drona’s expression to get serious;

“I’ll retain my demihuman strength throughout my lifetime, whether I use mantra or not, but my human half won’t allow me to use natural energy, but use of mantra is possible.” Drona’s expression saddened while answering,

“What should I do then?” Arav asked, causing Drona to drift out of his thoughts.

“You can already sense energy, you need to mold that energy using the mantra that I’m about to teach you, your task is to retain the abilities acquired for as long as possible.”

***

{5 days later}

[THP..THP…THP]

The sun shone bright over the head, the surrounding area was filled with the sound of birds chirping. A small amount of shadow remained right under the tree, at its roota. Arav stood under the bright sunlight, while continuously hitting on a mass of yellow energy in front of him.

“Tch…Wrong!.” A voice of annoyed Drona came from under a nearby tree, he began walking with the help of his walk stick towards Arav. Who had stopped and stood silently while drenched in sweat.

“Hooh…” Arav took a deep breath and wiped sweat from his forehead.

“You are too stiff, let your emotions flow, don’t strike just for the sake of it, fuel your every punch with mantra.” Drona spoke in a disappointed tone, seemingly adjusted to Arav’s rapid growth.

“There’s some kind of wall. I can summon mantra, but the moment I try to use it, that wall appears.”

Drona’s eyes widened;

“What kin…”

[TAK..TAK…TAK]

Their conversation got interrupted, as they heard footsteps from behind them. Upon turning, they found Yaksh, Drishti and Yashi running towards them with a concerned expression.

“What happened?” Arav asked while walking forward;

“Someone’s here..” Yaksh said while turning towards the path they had just arrived from.

“Oh?..This place seems rather lively..” A young man with golden hair spoke while forwarding towards them,

“Ugh…” Arav held his head, as a ringing sound overwhelmed his head. Then suddenly, his brows expanded;

“Stay silent..” Arav whispered while slowly moving his hand down.

“What are you doing here?” Drona spoke in a serious tone, causing the man to turn at him.

“Hmm..That’s the kind of welcome I was expecting.” The man responded while smiling, his eyes scanned the elves and stopped on Drishti.

“Woah..That’s a beauty even rare among the elves.” The man spoke with a smirk, as he stopped right in front of her. Yaksh clenched his fists, but refrained from speaking anything.

“What’s your name lady?” The man spoke while trying to grab Drishti’s hand.

His movement suddenly stopped, confused, he turned towards his left and found Arav grabbing his fist. He tried to shrug him off, but the grip was strong enough for his attempts to fail.

“Who are you?”

[WOOSH]

The man asked while his hand began gathering yellow energy.

“STOP!” Drona’s voice stopped him. Arav released his hand and stepped back.

“Hello dear father, nice to see you too.” The man bowed down with a smile. Yaksh’s brows expanded, as he looked at Drona while surprised;

“Why are you here?” Drona asked while completely ignoring his greeting;

“I’m just here to see my father and….his students..” The man said while his gaze turned back towards Drishti, who glared at him.

“You don’t need to come here.”

“Oh well I’m aware father, It’s just that I’m here to warn you to continue living here without doing anything for the next two days.” The man smiled at Drona;

“Why?..Is that witch getting worried about me?” Drona mockingly said while standing between the man and Drishti;

“I’m here by my own courtesy.” The man’s smile slowly disappeared, with a serious expression covering his face.

“You sure do care about these…disciples of yours..” The man spoke, while his eyes met with Yaksh glaring at him.

“I do not require your courtesy.” Drona angrily slammed his walkstick on the ground, with an intense energy radiating from him. The man silently turned away from them and began stepping away.

“[SIGH]..” Drona moved towards a nearby tree;

“And one more thing…Your students will require a better disguise than that..” The man spoke again, while waving his hand without looking back. The three elves were caught off guard by his words, Yaksh tried to move forward but Arav stopped him. Drishti and Yashi anxiously turned towards Arav;

“Who was that?”

“Digvijay….UGH!..” Arav fell down on his knees and grabbed his chest, he felt his heart beating at a rapid rate.

***

{Few hours later.}

Usha sat on the throne, while the room was filled with darkness. In the silence, the sound of her pouring drink in a glass echoed throughout the room. Her brows were close, with eyes filled with worry. She moved her hand holding the glass, but before her lips could touch it;

[WOOSH]

A mass of purple energy appeared in front of the throne. She placed the glass back on the table beside her, and looked at the energy.

“SSS…Greetings..My majesty..” The energy disappeared, with a man with purple skin and the lower half of his body of a large snake appeared, he greeted her while bowing down, causing his long tongue to appear for a split second.

“You are here, I expect information.” Usha spoke, with her usual calm expression appearing back on her face.

“SSS…Yes my majesty..Young master digvijay went to visit his father.”

“Hmm?..” The woman’s expression darkened upon hearing, she placed her finger on her chin.

“SSS…It seems ‘that’ man has accepted some disciples..”

“....They can’t be normal if he has accepted them…”

[TAK…TAK…TAK..]

“Mother!..” A man stormed inside the room, Usha turned towards him and found Vijay covered in blood.

“SON!..WHAT HAPPENED?!” She quickly moved away from the throne and reached Vijay, she placed her left hand on his cheek and worriedly asked.

“I went towards the south of the forest to investigate that soldier, but hundreds of wolves attacked us at once, of course this blood isn’t mine.” Usha did not get relieved by his response, her eyes stayed serious while she slowly walked away from Vijay, she hit her back on a pillar while blankly staring at the entrance.

Vijay walked forward and grabbed her hand,

“Mother!, are you alright?” He worriedly asked while supporting her. Usha turned towards the man standing;

“Go and kill that man’s disciples..” Usha spoke in an uneasy tone while Vijay supported her walk towards the throne;

“Mother?..What happened?”

“T..that..prophecy…I can’t let it happen…never..no…no…It…It can’t be…” She began sweating heavily while whispering, with her eyes shaking wildly.

“Mother, what are you talking about?..He is dead, we killed him with our own hands..” Vijay anxiously said, as his heart too began getting uneasy by seeing his mother’s condition.

“He..has returned....” Usha’s eyes looked at something above the entrance with her entire body shivering. Confused, Vijay turned towards the direction, his eyes widened, as he saw a painting of a silver haired woman proudly smiling while holding a sword.

[Chapter 10: END]