It was evening and the sun was ready to set down.
A girl reading her scroll with much intensity.
A man standing on the cliffside watching the sunset.
Young boys standing in a queue waiting to go to the counter.
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It was evening and the sun was ready to set.
‘Bang’. The door opened suddenly with a sound.
The young girl who was immersed in reading her scroll was startled by the sudden noise. It was a tall man with long hair and a rough beard.
“Dad, what happened?” The girl asked timidly to the man who clearly was not in a good mood.
“Veena, did your brother say anything to you about the tournament?”
“No.” The girl replied.
The man’s face became ugly.
“What happened?” Veena asked.
“I heard that the stupid brother of yours signed up for the tournament. And do you know his cultivation level? Not even rank 1 yodha. Even an average talented cultivator would have crossed that level at 21 years of age. He is 27 years old and with such puny cultivation level, he is audacious enough to participate in the grand tournament hosted by us. If people know that he is my son, Singala clan leader’s son, after losing pitifully in the ring, it will be a huge shame to me and our clan. After running away from home for 15 years, why is he back now just to shame our clan? That stupid son of mine. I know that you are visiting him. If you go, tell him not to disgrace our clan and don’t participate in the tournament. Whatever amount of money he needs, I will pay him.”
While the man was speaking all of this, tears were gushing out of Veena nonstop. Yet he didn’t stop. He didn’t console his daughter and went away leaving the door open.
“Second elder, elder Raksh, arrange a meeting with all the elders urgently. We need to discuss important matters” Saying this, the man stormed off into the mahogany corridor.
The second elder followed the clan leader.
Elder Raksh came to the crying Veena. His eyes were filled with familial love and sympathy. He went near her and stroked her head.
The crying Veena burst into tears and hugged the powerful elderly man and cried buckets.
“Silly child. Don’t cry. Your father is just in a bad mood. Don’t cry. He didn’t mean to make you cry. You know he loves you a lot. More than anything in the world. Your father is angry because of some different matter and afterwards, we got the news that Manu is participating in the tournament with some alias.”
The young girl shook her head. “Elder Raksh, I’m not crying for that. Why does it have to be like this? Why must there be a clash between father and Manu?” The girl asked.
“Huh”, elder Raksh sighed. “Why must it be like this indeed? Whose fault is it? Thinking about these things fifteen years after that day is useless. It is just a twist of fate that the relationship broke between the stubborn pair and father and son. Your father was harsh. Your brother was aggrieved. While fate laughs at the turn of events, it has led Manu where he needs to go. It’s alright. Your dear brother promised you that everything’s going to be alright? Just relax and go to sleep child. I have to attend the meeting.”
Veena swiped the tears off her cheeks and got up.
An elder was waiting outside for elder Raksh.
“Oh, eat something before you go to sleep, Veena. Don’t sleep with an empty stomach”, elder Raksh told while leaving.
Elder Raksh gently closed the door and walked to the meeting with another elder.
“Shall we go third elder?” elder Raksh greeted the man that was waiting for him.
“Huh. Thinking back, it was really the fault of clan leader Veer to show such harshness on Manu. Truly the mistake of the whole clan.” Third elder sighed as they both walked off.
“How’s your son Kusha doing?” elder Raksh asked the third elder.
“He is doing very good. Thanks to the help of Manu, his reiki is the purest I have ever seen. Truly thankful to Manu. But he can’t participate in the tournament for his reiki level has fallen below level 1. Well, it is good for his future. So no complaints.” Third elder was speaking with a beam on his face.
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Taking in a whiff of the cool mountain breeze, standing over the edge of a cliff, 27-year-old Manu closed his eyes as he relaxed his body after a heavy work out. The cool breeze took away all his perspiration and exhaustion. His toned, wheat-colored body glazed in the sunset glow and all the muscles and abs twitched in excitation as they grow more powerful daily.
Opening his eyes slowly, he looked over the edge into the deep river and without a second thought he jumped down.
Slicing through the layer of freshwater, Manu dived deep into the river. He let the cool water wash away all his dirt and exhaustion as he loosened his body and gave the flow of river all the control over his body.
The buoyant force and the weight of his own body made him dance strangely in the undercurrents of the river.
Flipping down, he swam with great joy.
As he went deeper into the river, he glanced upon a fairly large eel about 3 feet long swimming agilely like a snake.
Maneuvering his way towards the eel, Manu swiftly swam and caught up with it.
It is about half of his length and thick as a log.
The terrified eel sent its tail slashing at Manu sending out electric shocks at the same time.
Without backing out, Manu caught the tail and gripped it tightly towards his stomach. The electricity passed through his body but he withstood it with his body alone. Years of training in martial arts, going to extra lengths each time developed his body beyond the average human’s and became a superhuman body.
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With one hand catching the eel, he squeezed the portion below its head giving it a quick death.
Manu quickly got out of the water with the eel in his hands. By this time, the sun has already set and stars could be seen in the sky.
Mustering the strength in his hands, Manu hurled the eel over the cliff high into the air.
Making an arc, the eel flew into the sky.
Manu got out of the water and with his bare hands, he started ascending the steep cliff. The cliff was rocky and impossible to climb for normal humans.
Manu quickly got up. The eel made and beautiful arc in the air and dragged its way towards the cave.
Looking at the starry sky, Manu was lost in thought as the eel was being roasted.
Fire crackling sound faded into the background. He thought about the times he and his sister slept on the terrace of their roof dozing off into sleep while gazing at the twinkling stars.
Looking at the eel, it was perfectly roasted.
Manu picked it up and wrapped it in huge banana leaves. After packing, he tied it on his back like a backpack and ran towards the Singala clan house. Singala clan mansion, situated on a rocky mound, was aloof from other mansions and bungalows.
Standing tall and mighty, the Singala clan’s corridors were lit even in the darkness and soldiers were standing with alert.
Under the blanket of night’s darkness, Manu sneaked his way upon the roof tiles towards his sister’s room.
He found the window to be open with the pink gauze curtains waving in the cool night’s breeze.
Veena was lying on the chair and was sleeping on the books itself. She cried to herself for a long time and dozed off to sleep unwittingly as tears were still evident on her cheeks.
Manu came inside and went near her.
Veen’s face was weary and traces of tears could be found on her cheeks.
Manu felt like needles prick his heart as he knew his sister cried.
He controlled his anger and woke her up gently.
Veena opened her eyes weakly and saw her brother standing near her.
Manu gave a smile.
“Look what I brought you, sister.” Manu waved the roasted eel near her face.
Veena looked at the huge eel that was oscillating to and fro over her face.
Still drowsy, she was shocked and fell down from her chair.
Manu caught her before she hit the ground and made her sit again on the chair.
Veena slapped Manu on his chest lightly.
“Stupid idiot. What were you doing scaring me like that?” Veena asked.
“Uh, it’s a mistake sis. I’m sorry. I brought this tasty eel to share with you. I didn’t know this would happen. Hahaha. Sorry.” Manu scratched his head and apologized to Veena.
Veena laughed and took it from Manu.
Seeing her smile brought warmth to his heart.
Both of them sat and had dinner together.
“Manu, I heard that you are participating in the tournament. Is that true?”
“That’s right sis. How did you know?”
“Dad told me.”
Manu’s face changed upon hearing this. His face became serious and stern.
“Well, I suppose he also told you to tell me not to participate in the tournament.”
“He did.”
“I know it. Who could understand him more than the son he chased away from home?” Manu was bitter and his voice was anger.
“Manu, does it have to be like this? You and father being this angry on each other?”
“I don’t know, you have to ask that man. After all, he was the one who didn’t have a shred of hope on me. He was the one who didn’t give a tiny bit of support to me. He was the one who would punish me just because he was disappointed in me. He was the one who was responsible for me to go away fifteen years back. Even after coming back with warmness and nostalgic, he didn’t change at all. He was the same person who was back then. He was..”
Manu’s voice became angrier with each word he spoke.
Tears started flowing down Veena’s eyes once again.
While Manu was crying, she started crying.
Upon seeing this, Manu stopped talking and sighed.
He hugged his sister with one hand.
Veena crying took Manu shoulder as support.
“I’m sorry sis. Don’t cry. But yeah, I’m participating in the tournament. I must act. Ran away or not, I’m your brother. With the clan facing such predicament, I can’t standby. Or you won’t be happy. For your sake, I will participate in the tournament and settle things once and for all. You will see. It’s for the good of the clan. So don’t cry alright.”
Veena rested her head on Manu’s shoulder while Manu was consoling her. Both of them were silently watching the crescent moon hanging on the starry sky through the window. The cool night’s breeze made the tense atmosphere cool down and made both of them peaceful.
“Remember? When you were bullied in childhood, I used to console you just like this and you used to sleep on my lap.”
“Yeah, I remember.” Manu smiled as warmth filled his heart while thinking about those days.
Their mother died when Manu was just 4 years. Their happy family came to shatters after their mother died. Their father Veer Singala loved his wife and his family so much. After her death, he became an alcoholic and shut himself out of the world. The time he spent with his children became less and less as he had numerous works as the head of the clan.
Veena was more than an elder sister to Manu. She used to pamper him and take care of him and tried her best not to let Manu know the lack of their mother.
As an elder child, she spent more time with their mother and father. Losing both of their care and affection while still a child, she was the one who was affected the most. Yet, she took care of Manu.
Manu would never forget about the love his sister has towards him.
Veena, tired as she was, slept like that.
After some time, Manu slowly got up and made her rest on the bed.
Before it was dawn, he left through the window to his cave mansion.
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The bustling streets of Blazing triumphant province were lit up with street lights.
The sun was about to set and all the shops lit up their shops around the square.
Paved with cobblestones, the square was looking beautiful and colorful. The neon lights flashed on the square while the internal lights set up in between the cobblestones also lit up.
To a side there were some people standing in a queue in front of a small table. Behind the table was an official filling out forms.
There was a hexagonal crystal beside the papers. It was about two fists size colorless.
“Next.” The official called out.
The person standing moved away and another person came. He took the crystal upon the instruction of the official.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated his reiki into the crystal. The crystal shone in orange color instantly.
There was a cylindrical gem inside the crystal aligned parallel to the crystal. As the person filled the crystal with his reiki, the gem was filled with orange type light. The light bar raised from the bottom with speed.
As it went up it slowed down and stopped approximately at 6 parts of the length of the bar.
“Rank 1 yodha 6th tier.” The person behind the desk announced and noted down in the form. “Next.” The person called for the next person.
At the end of the line were standing two young men getting bored due to the line in front of them. They were discussing different things. There was no one behind them and they were the last ones.
From their accent and their clothing, it could be seen that they were not from nearby regions.
Soon they waited for their chance and finally, they reached the desk.
Both of them filled their forms at the same time and took turns to verify their cultivation status.
The person behind the desk gave them their numbers and groupings for the upcoming tournament.
After they took their badges, they looked at the list of people in their group.
The list was prepared in the order of applications. In it were mentioned the names of the participants, where they were from, their ages and their cultivation status. The cultivation status is what’s important for them as it decided most of the fights’ outcome.
Since there were none behind them, they took their time to study who would be participating in their group and what level of cultivation status they had.
There were many with cultivation level of rank 1 yodha. What surprised them was there were even some who was rank 2 yodha and his age was 28 years old. Even though he was only tier 1, that’s still impressive. An average talented person could reach that level at around 40 to 45 years of age.
“Rank 2 yodha? Wow. His name is Visu Singala? That’s the top-ranked junior from the Singala clan, the leader of this region.” One man exclaimed.
“Rank 2 yodha at this age is really impressive. Seems like he will take the top spot from our group.” Both of them talked within themselves.
Both of them were at 4th and 2nd tiers of rank 1 yodha. They knew that they don’t have a chance at winning the tournament but they want to give their best.
“Hey, look here. There’s someone of rank 0.”
“Rank 0? What? Seriously? Who could be such stupid enough to participate with such low cultivation level? Whoa. And his age is 27 years. This person must be a real weakling.”
“Hahaha. You’re right. What’s his name? Wandering prince?”
“Really wandering prince. Do you think he is really that wandering prince?” one man spoke as sweat dripped on his forehead.
“No way is this weakling that wandering prince. This person must have also come from around the Ocean Bay City like us and he must have used that title since it is cool.”
“Really audacious person. How dare he use the title of the great fighter titled by the Emperor himself? We must teach him a harsh lesson.”