Kush could not get up from the kneeled position no matter how much he tried, he was on all three limbs his head forced downwards, held up only due to his awesome will power. He had managed to stay up in 13-times gravity with tons of weight on his back, but this was impossible to bear, it was not the gravity that increased, it was pressure of power. If this continued for long his eyes would pop out of their sockets. Slowly the power of the presence of the being was retracted as he eyed Kush and asked “Well? So how was it?”

Kush replied “I am sorry for disrespecting you. I was not aware you were a living being. Instead of thanking the being who helped me and probably saved my life, I have disrespected you and attached you all the same, please forgive me for my wrong doings elder”

The tortoise was silent for some time, he thought he could play around with Kush for a bit longer but listening to his reply he stopped and said at a slow and steady pace “Youngling… what is your name?”

To which Kush replied “Senior my name is Kush, son of Sagar and Alicia Samudraputra”

“Oh…” replied the tortoise bringing his bag of things to Kush, the bag was floating in air and slowly it approached the human. Kush grabbed a white dhoti from the bag and wore it, he then stood poised in front of the great tortoise.

The tortoise then said “I am Kurmaputra, son of the great Hero Kurma, the Hero who carried the burden of the lokas.”

Hearing this shocked Kush beyond measure, a being great as him had come to Bhoomi without purpose “Senior, once again I apologise for offending you”

“Heh… its ok now, looks like I have scared you a lot. Don’t worry, rather you should rejoice at the fortune you gotten” said the Tortoise.

This confused Kush, for a moment he thought that the short training was a fortune he got. Thinking upto this point Kush was not really satisfied he was about to thank him when the great being continued “I was sent to this planet by my father to find a successor to his powers. I have waiting on this planet for millions of years and have tested trillions of suitable candidates, people with different age, race, gender, specie powers tried, but none could achieve what you have son”

Kush was a bit excited but before asking for anything he said “But senior, I am really sure that there are people stronger than I am. Please tell me how w…”

“Heh… heh… heh… son, the people of this planet are but specs of dust in front of truly strong people, but you are right, but this test had nothing to do with strength and power, what was tested here was your willpower and your ability to make the correct decision.”

“Long ago the Tridev; which are the Destroyer of Lokas Mighty Lord of Kailash, the Protector of all Lokas the Lord of Vaikunth and the Creator of all Lokas and residing in the highest Loka himself the all-knowing Lord of Satya Loka; were in a discussion regarding the creation of Lokas. These were the primordial times when not even the design for Lokas were in place, there no planets. Only the primordial Gods, Devas and Asuras existed at the time and an ocean of ether. Ether, was the combination of matter and antimatter the origin of all. At the behest of the Gods; The Devas and the Asuras agreed to the churn the ocean of ether in an attempt to produce from it. But the Primordial ocean was anything but small and in order to churn it a rod was required. It was at this time that the Lord of Kailash himself brought out an axe. An axe of such weight that even he himself with all his might was only able to barely walk with it on his shoulders. Such was its weight, that even the ocean of ether was unable to bear its weight. No one was able to lift the weight of that axe, an axe so massive that it is said that it is larger than all the 14 lokas put together, it was longer than the great Naga Lord Vasuki himself. When the lord of Kailash tried to place it in the primordial ocean, the axe started to sink. It was then that my great father the great Hero Kurma agreed to bear its weight. With that decided the axe was placed on my father’s back inverted, its handle facing upwards. But there was still the issue of what would be used as the churning rope, cause no rope in the world could encircle the handle of the axe. It was then that the great Naga Lord Vasuki himself agreed to act as the rope to churn the ocean of ether. And so it began… the beings continued churning for what mortals refer to as eons and slowly the some of the ocean was split into matter and anti-matter. The antimatter released from the churning process coalesced together into a humongous cloud and then it condensed into a liquid like state again. The vapours-esque emissions of the antimatter were starting to kill all the Devas and Asuras, to the point that the first creations of the now lord of Satya-Loka would have died. In order to protect his creations, the lord of Satya-Loka requested the lord of Kailash for help. Seeing the coalesced antimatter Halahal, the Lord of Kailash drank it up and stored it in his neck, giving it the famous blue hue, this also gave him the famous nickname of Nilkanth or the one with blue throat.

The current lord of Satya Loka who at the time resided in Vaikunth too, gathered all the matter generated from churning and created the 14 Lokas which were Satya-loka (Brahma-loka), Tapa-loka, Jana-loka, Mahar-loka, Svar-loka (Svarga-loka), Bhuvar-loka, Bhu-loka, Atala-loka, Vitala-loka, Sutala-loka, Talatala-loka, Mahatala-loka, Rasatala-loka, Patala-loka. For his job as the creator, he was awarded the Satya Loka by the Lords of Vaikuntha and Kailash and also the title of Tridev or a position equal to theirs. The Asura and Devas were also awarded with many things including the ‘Amrut’ or the Gods nectar. The great Lord Vasuki too was awarded a position around the neck of the Lord of Kailash and his clan was given miscellaneous rewards making them what they are today”

Kush was flabbergasted with the story, he did not understand “why is he telling me this?? This seems like the answer to everything, people for millions of years have been looking for the answer to this question the origin of the universe. Sifting through texts, postulating theories, conducting experiments, meditating for centuries to understand why and they still do not know the answer!!!” even though he was perplexed, he was to know this.

Kurmaputra’s expression became sombre after this, he ignored Kush’s troubled expression “But my father…” Saying upto to here he gritted his non-existent teeth for a moment but then calmed down “Everybody was given what they deserved, save my father. The primordial axe which was balanced on my father’s shell, was heavier than what my father expected, but he bore the weight, the churning produced matter and antimatter in the ocean first before floating up and coalescing into a liquid above surface. Father bore the weight of the axe, the churning of axe and poisonous antimatter, corroded his body over and over again in waves. The Devas and Asuras rested during the churning process but never was my father given the option of resting because no one wanted to enter the ocean of ether and lift the axe off of him.” He paused

“The great Tridev” he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice “Turned around and left him alone once everything was done. But he never let a complain slip his mouth.” A smile creeped up on his face. It seemed like pride, his eyes wet. He continued “My father survived, his organs corroded, his shell and body destroyed but he survived!!! Do you why? Why something which would have destroyed all the primordial Devas and Asuras, Primordial Axe which only the great lord of Kailash could barely lift did not kill my father despite it being churned on his back?” he paused as if expecting Kush to reply.

Kush was flabbergasted, shocked, stunned all at the same time. All he could do was swallow his spit “Gulp…”.

“Heh… it was the power of DHARMA!!!”

Kush was confused, again not understanding why the old senile tortoise was telling him these things and also cause of the fact that he came to know of another power except for Karma and Characteristic power. “Was this a new one? Was this a power of the Gods?” If so he would have liked to have it!!!

Kurmaputra then looked intently at Kush and asked “You must be confused as to why I am telling this to you”

Kush nodded his head. Kurmaputra them continued “Heh… heh… heh... Though my father survived, the ordeal had weakened him greatly. During his final time, he advised me to take a test, a test to see if I was capable of being a successor of Dharma but I failed. My father was not disappointed, he looked like he had known this would happen and asked to come to this planet, for this is where I would have found the new successor to his powers”

Kush’s eyes widened he was half anticipating something amazing. Excitement visible for a moment, then he thought of the trillions of people who had been tested and not yet passed it.

“Son… you are the successor to my father’s powers”

Listening to this Kush wanted to explode in happiness. He thought it would be an amazing primordial weapon or no it should be a shield. Yeah that is what I lack right now, a shield an all mighty shield, that should cover for my weakness in agility. He looked at the tortoise in anticipation of the prize.

“What?? What are you looking at me for? You’ve already been given the powers already!!” said the Tortoise

Kush was confused so the tortoise used its mana to guide Kush’s mana inside his body where it was there, a black egg the size of his heart floating in his body right next to his heart. Kush was stunned by this development, the black egg not connected to any of its mana veins or his physical body. It seemed to be in another dimension such that it was not occupying any space in his 3 dimensions, making it so that he did not feel anything additional in his body. Kush looked up to the tortoise and said “Senior, I cannot connect to it using mana, nor can I feel it in my body. Please guide me how to access this power”

“Ha hahahahahahaha” laughed the giant tortoise, its neck turned going sideways in the ocean. The movement was so violent that waves or tsunamis of height of 100 m were formed. Had there been any land form nearby they would have been destroyed beyond recognition from the force of waves itself. Kush though; under the protection of his power was fine. Kurmaputra slowly controlled his laughter.

“Son… maybe my reaction seems a bit excessive or weird to you, but ‘Dharma’ the power you now possess has only been possessed by only two other people but is desired by all the beings in 14 lokas, including the lords of Kailash, Vaikunth and Satya Loka. Even I don’t know who the first owner of the power was. My father called him the Lord of all creation his master. His head was connected to his torso directly meaning he had no neck, he did not have limbs meaning he never performed any Karma, the only being in 14 Lokas who did not have any Karma attached to him, the person who practiced Akarma (or no Karma). He did not perform any good Karma nor did he perform bad Karma. His red eyes do not have any lids meaning he has witnessed all the time and he has witnessed everything, since the beginning and will witness till the end.”

Listening to all these incredible thing stunned Kush to silence. He had no words to say but he said “I don’t have any Karmic power and my characteristic power is Endurance. I may not be suitable for…”

Kurmaputra on listening to this “It is not you or me who decides who will get this power. This power chose its own owner; you need not worry about this”

Hearing this the pressure on Kush’s shoulder alleviated a little. He then thanked the tortoise “Senior, you have done me a great favour, I may not realize it now, but you have helped me a lot in my path. Thank you for everything”

The old tortoise was pleased with the kid’s manners, he added “I have been observing the humans of this planet and something seems fishy. I would recommend you be careful”

“I will heed it well, thank you senior” Kush said from the bottom of his heart

“Now… of you go, on your way” said the tortoise

“Senior, what will you do now??” asked Kush

With a serious look in his eye, the tortoise asked “Where do you want to go?”

“Can you send me to the nearest shore”

As soon as he said that a giant wave emerged from the spot he was standing at and picked him up 20 m high and carried him on it towards some direction.

“Ah… 100000 Yugas huh … it has been a long time … finally now I can rest… Father hope this boy ushers in an era you wanted…” saying so the turtle with turned into a massive pile of shining dust and the dust one by one slowly and steadily rose up and out of sight.