The sound of clinking anklets echoed out as a woman slid the curtains apart to enter the mud cottage. However, compared to the humble adobe that she had entered, her appearance could only be considered as lavish. For she was dressed in a blouse that was bright pink and a long skirt that was just as vibrant.

A long and wide scarf was tucked below her shoulder, from where it covered her torso as it circled her other shoulder and back while it passed over her head and fell back on the shoulder, where it had begun. Her wrists were decorated with numerous bangles while a thick beaded necklace adorned her neck. Even her feet were wrapped in anklets that had tiny bells decorating it.

Thus, as the woman moved her clothes rustled, her bangles clanged and her anklets clinked.

Despite her extravagant attire and the ornate jewellery, the woman was more motherly than beautiful. Her features were common with brown eyes and a circular face that could only belong to a person who came from a well-fed family. Her skin was the colour of wheat grains while her body held slight plumpness that came with being middle-aged.

Being in a mud cottage as she was, she sat on the floor beside her husband. A moment passed before she frowned. Usually, the mere sound of her footsteps was enough to draw the eyes of her husband, this she knew. Yet, at the moment even her being next to him did not distract the man from his thoughts. His eyes remained narrowed and his gaze continued to be distant.

The woman rose and the sound of her rustling clothes and clinking anklets filled the room once again as she left the cottage to prepare dinner on the firepit outside the cottage.

When she entered the cottage again, she did so with two earthen plates full of food. Her each step caused her anklets to clink and announce her arrival. She sat down again on the floor and the cottage came alive with the sound of her bangles clanking as she slid one of the plates towards her husband.

However, despite the vivacity that the woman brought with her mere presence, her husband remained lost in his thoughts with his forehead marked with wrinkles of frown and time.

“What are you thinking about such?” She finally broke the lingering silence in the cottage and asked. Though, it had little effect as the man’s gaze remained distant. “Shrinath’s father. Shrinath’s father!”

The man blinked as if he had been startled awake.

0.0

Pranay almost jumped as the sound of his wife’s raised voice. “Eh, yes…what?”

The heavily decorated woman frowned for a moment before she sighed. “What bothers you such that you forget the world around you?”

Unintentionally, the woman’s words touched the sore spot that he had been pondering about; the lie of the illusion. As her words registered in his mind, his shoulders slumped as his back hit the wall behind him. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t know my path ahead, Kriti. What should I do? What should be my next step? Should I even take the next step?”

The woman frowned and did not reply. After all, she could not help him with his path. This helplessness was not because she didn’t want to help Pranay but because she did not know what the path at Tier 3 entailed. Much like the how Tier 1 Class [Shishya] were not allowed to know the advancement method of the Tier 2 Class [Brahmin], the Tier 2 Class [Brahmin] were not allowed to know the advancement method of the Tier 3 Class [Muni] or the Tier 4 Class [Hrishi].

This knowledge prohibition was not from the misguided sense of hoarding, of course. Rather it was to save the disciples from themselves. After all, walking down the path of [Shishya] was not only difficult but also convoluted. As at first Tier, this path demanded its walkers to distance themselves from the world and earn the rare Attribute [Reflection].

However, this same path, at Tier 2 demanded that its walkers re-enter the world that they distanced themselves from. Not only this path demanded this re-entry but it also demanded complete submergence in the world to temper the Attribute [Reflection] against the desires and temptations of the world.

This was still not the end of the convoluted path that was the path of [Shishya]. For once someone had entered Tier 3, they had to once again distance themselves from the world that they had been submerged in. And this time, they had to completely reject the world as a mere illusion. A hallucination of mind.

While at Tier 4, this illusion had to become reality.

This back and forth trial that interfered directly with one’s life was not something easily endured. And if the knowledge of this undying cycle was imparted beforehand, it broke the will and the hearts of those that walked down this path. As a result, the knowledge of each Tier was dealt as if it were precious and imparted only on the need to know basis.

Pranay’s smile was bitter as he observed his wife and her vibrant attire. As a Tier 2 [Brahmin] she was entrenched into the worldly desires as she tempered her [Reflection]. He could not tell her the challenge he faced, lest he broke her will while she could not ask lest she put him in a difficult situation.

Pranay shook his head as another weary sigh escaped his thin lips. “Why were you called by Acharya Ji?”

The brightly dressed woman breathed deeply to centre her thoughts before she answered. “A true progeny was found within the unending drones of the [Termite Monarch]. Acharya Ji wants it tamed before it reaches the first Tier.”

“Oh?” Pranay sat up straighter. “Have you started the search for the prospective trainers?”

“I have found a few disciples.” The woman answered as she slid an earthen plate towards her husband, causing her bangles to clink and fill the cottage with a beautiful sound. “However, nothing is set yet. Is there anyone amongst your students that seek the [Monster Tamer] path?”

Pranay frowned for a moment as he thought before he shook his head in denial. “None of my students have taken it up. Perhaps they are daunted by the royal monopoly.”

“A pity.” The woman shook her head. “This is once in a lifetime opportunity, for the Ashram will bear all the cost of raising the next [Termite Monarch].”

“A pity indeed.”

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-