'You mean to say, Vishnu was born as Martanda?' Kush's eyes popped.

'No. Martanda is a dormant godhood that lies in heaven. In that generation, it was likely that he was born as Vishnu's twin who was stillborn. Some say he was born as a girl who immediately converted to Shakti to secure Vishnu's passage to the human world. Whatever the case maybe, ever since Vishnu took such an interest in the humans to actually be born as a mortal himself, the rest of the gods followed trend as well. His divinity was the wide sea that all the rivers seek to find. And that time, it was not a wisp of consciousness that sent discretely. He sent himself in all this fullness. Even if the gods were blind, they couldn't help but be overwhelmed. Ever since that generation, the gods became more proactive towards the humans and there were various cases where gods send their avatars to human kingdoms or give their blessings to some fated bloodlines.

But the need for a divine rule still comes from the Adityas. Anywhere in the Aryan land, a person without the divine sanction will not be accepted as king. Actually, this isn't entirely the fault of Adityas, but the branch kingdoms that originated from them. The neighboring kingdoms in the drylands such as Dhijas still call their clans as Aditya vansh sometimes. But it is in an archaic sense. The Dhija kingdom's ruling clan actually takes after the second Aditya, Mitra. For them, the word Aditya means the Mitra or sometimes Varuna, but them alone. Meanwhile, one of the other major dryland kingdoms named Pranaya is ruled by a clan called the Surya vansh. For them, Aditya is a generic term for a Sun God, of which there are twelve instead of eight. Each Aditya then represents a single solar month. Similarly, there are other ruling clans along the line of history who have each taken after a single Aditya, be it Varuna, Mitra, Surya, Chandra, Kamadeva, Agni or Indra. Since they have all been ruling clans for the longest period of time even after they spread to various Aryan lands, it had become tradition among Aryans that the king must be either a representative of a god, or must be a god himself. Of course, there is one exception to this and only one. And he is called Martanda.'

'Teacher, what that prince said about Martanda… Is it true? What is the connection between Rtadhara and the rest of the world? Why would a reign changing in this small place effect the entire human civilization? I find it hard to believe…If it really is true that one human king taking reign can throw the entire world into chaos, why doesn't anyone stop it?'

Ashangi smiled indifferently. 'Of course it's true. Little Kush, one of the reasons I brought you here is so that you can get acquainted with this ancient kingdom. Seven gods shall rule as humans and one human will rule and become god. Keeping aside whether its all true, how can you expect a god to emerge from humans without great peril to the world itself? Like they say, heroes are born in war times. Gods similarly are birthed in chaos. Even when Vishnu was born as the eighth Aditya, the world was undergoing extreme levels of strife.

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'The long heritage of the present Aditya vansh is not to be taken lightly. They have already ruled this kingdom for seventy generations! Imagine the rich and vast history that lies within their rule. Discarding some legends which have been woven later on in history, Rtadhara is literally the oldest kingdom in this cycle of time after Brahma destroyed the last civilization of humans. Yes, it maybe just a small kingdom in an unknown part of the world, but a small crystal that can exist under tons of stone for the longest time will naturally turn into a precious diamond. It will cause wars in society from people trying to covet it, simply because it has existed for so long. It is something a flimsy crystal which is readily available can never do. Rtadhara has existed for so long…who knows how many waves it stirred up over time, even from this remote location?

'What we do know is that the eighth reign always brings with it a period of chaos, whether in a scale large or small.'

Kush's teacher asked him gently after explaining, 'Based on what you've seen of the world so far, you tell me…Is it getting more chaotic?'

The boy frowned, his round pink face glowing cutely. Little Chandra Kush is but ten years old. Even if the world did turn chaotic in these ten years, he would only think it's the natural way of things. However, Chandra Kush was born cynical and adamant. He had some ideas about how the world was meant to be. How people were meant to be. When what he experienced differed from what he expected, he automatically judged himself to be right and everything else wrong.

Posed with this question from his teacher, he turned up his nose immediately thinking back to some experiences in Amaravati, the supposed god's city that ruled the central plateau. The emperor who ruled that land was also titled Indra, but the other gods who were called Adityas in this land were known as Devas there. Sometimes they had a subordinate relationship with Indra, but mostly they were individual powers who owned their own factions. These factions could topple Indra's rule, causing the title of the sovereign to change. For example, Mitra and Varuna ruled intellectual factions who had much sway over the common citizens' way of thinking. Agni ruled a martial faction known for its explosive power, while Chandra lay low, amassing power for unknown reasons. Surya was a general who had control over most of the empire's armies. He was a constant thorn in the emperor's heart. His popularity among the citizens exceeded even the emperor's.

As if this was not enough, several more smaller and independent factions existed in this land. They swore loyalty not to the Devas who ruled the empire, but Asura sects spread across the highlands and valleys, the plateaus and prairies. Consequently, while the god's city Amaravati was the central and largest power in the Aryan subcontinent, it is actually a seething pit of chaos that may as well set the world on fire.

Chucking his hands, little Kush answered helplessly, 'But the chaos in the central plateau is so far removed from here teacher…I can't imagine how these two places are even connected.'

Pensively, Ashangi shook her head. 'Naturally, you won't be able to see the connection now. Wait till you ascend to be a sovereign yourself. Then you will know that no matter how high and wide the leaf cover is, the state of the solemn tree trunk lying close to the ground is what actually denotes the health of the tree,'