Samba was born on a cold planet. They only had sunshine for one week. After that endless cold days continued. They would have died long ago if not for the borris trees. The borris tree’s fruits and leaves have this special property of raising the body temperature. But the problem is that right before the one week of summer, borris tree almost withers. So, they must prepare the food in advance.

But the problem is that once the food is prepared it loses its ability to raise the temperature after 4 months. No matter how carefully they plan by the end of the winter, they have causalities.

Many tried to find a solution to it. The extreme cold did not allow them to establish routes. Also during travel if weather did not kill them, wild beast would. Most the people lived in small communities. They only travelled when death is a certainty if they stayed.

So, though they have been trying to figure out a solution, since they can only share their research with people in their own community the progress was very little.

Samba was born into one such small communities. Both of his parents died due to winter when he was 8 years old. In such harsh environment, only the working can eat. At age of 8 he started working under the medicine man, whose main job is to prepare the borris tree.

Samba had shown great talent in cooking of recipes. By the age of 15 he became medicine man of his own right. The village chief tried to marry his daughter to him. But samba’s obsession lied somewhere. To find the cure for this coldness. He rejected that offer and constantly researched to find an answer. He is not doing for greater good nor he is interested in wealth. He just wanted to find the answer.

After reaching 20 years he hit stagnation point in his research. He made up his mind to leave the community. When one wanted to travel they usually start during the one week of summer. After that one week, it steadily gets cold. The best time to travel is one week and month after that.

He left and travelled to closest community. With his skills, he did not have much trouble establishing himself as the medicine man. He exchanged his knowledge with medicine man of that place. Again, after few years he hit a stagnation point. He went to the next community.

Like this Samba continued his research for 39 years. He made lot progress than anyone in the entire history of this cold planet. When he was 49 years old he again left to another community. But it seems the community he tried to reach was destroyed in wild animal attack. The wild animals attacked him. In a desperate attempt, he ditched his bag and ran. Though he lost the animals on his track, he has no rations and no idea where he is.

He was lost in the cold wilderness. After two days’ hypothermia set in. He made a small igloo and stayed inside it. He knew he will be dead if he sleeps. But which mortal can fight sleep? He desperately tried to be awake but lost the battle after 38 hours.

Then after sometime he regained consciousness. Rather than in igloo he is sleeping in cave. He is covered in thick fur rugs. He found bowl of food near him. Someone fed him in his sleep. There is source of fire coming from the other end of cave. He walked towards it. He found an old man seating near the bonfire. He has long white beard. He is wearing thick fur clothes. As he got close Samba noticed that the man had peculiar skin tone he never seen before. He skin has slight trace of green color.

That is how he met his teacher green man. The green man introduced himself as a medicine man. After few days of recovery, green man told Samba about his research.

Samba flustered when he saw the old man’s research. Samba realized that the man in front of him is superior in every sense and meaning. He asked the old man to take him as his apprentice.

The old man accepted. Like this the student and teacher continued their research. Time went by Samba started getting old. But that did not deter his motivation. Oddly he found that his teacher did not age a single day since they met. But samba never seen old men with fully white hair. Most perish before they reach 70.

At the age of 75 Samba finally found a way to preserve the medicinal effect for more than a year. He shared his research with the closest community. They held a great banquet in Samba and his teacher’s honor.

But despite his achievement, Samba felt no jubilation. All this time he thought finding this cure will make him happy. On that day he realized, what he has been searching for is how to avoid death.

Samba went back to his room. He did not know how to avoid death, he had no clue how to do it. He heard a knock on his door and it was his teacher.

Samba knew if there is anyone who can have an answer it is his teacher. So he asked, “Is there a way to avoid death?”

The old man smiled and asked, “What is wrong with dying?”

Samba saw hope, “So there is a way?”

The old man said, “There is, but the path is arduous and by end of it you have to face the big question all by yourself.”

Samba did not understand what the big question would be, but he said, “It would not matter to me, I will steadily research and find the answer. Please teach me how to avoid death.”

The old man laughed and looked at Samba. Immediately an unbelievable heat start welling up inside him. He lost his conscious and fell on his bed.

Next day when he woke up, he found a blue ethereal screen hanging over his head saying,

Welcome to battlefront. As the first to be introduced the system from planet-borris garden, gained title Pioneer.

From there Samba has been introduced to a reality he never heard before. His teacher took him to places he could not even imagine in his wildest dreams. Where ever they went, they were shown great respect. His teacher did not have an army nor did he ever show off his might. But everyone respected him.

Under the tutelage of his teacher Samba started becoming one of the best healers in entire battlefront.

He also started levelling up. He crossed his tribulations and became a half-immortal. He thought that was the big question his teacher mentioned.

But he came to know that is not the question he should be searching for. He concluded that might is the answer. He started investing his time on increasing his knowledge and strength.

After crossing every stage, he thought maybe he reached the same stage as his teacher. But every time he was proven wrong.

Along his journey, he heard many legends and myths about his teacher. Nobody knew his teachers real name, in fact even he has no clue. He asked him once and his teacher and said, “Name? I already have one, old man green.”

But the one legend that fascinated him most is that the old man can bring back the dead to life. Not as undead but living creatures with proper vitality.

He never had the chance to confirm it. One day his teacher took him to a deserted realm. He was searching a for extinct plant. After a long search, they found the fossil. His teacher bought it back with him to his garden. Samba forgot about it. One day when he went to meet his teacher he found a new creeper spreading in one of the newly made slots. He took a leaf and checked to see what species it belonged to. At this point, Samba is a primordial. Just by checking the leaves he can tell the origin of the plants.

It is the creeper of the extinct plant they found in the desert!

Samba was truly excited. So the legends about his teacher are true!

He went to old man green and begged him to teach that skill. The old man laughed, “skill? Silly child you are too young to learn it if you call it a skill.”

Samba did not get disheartened. He further researched. He got more strong. He realized there are higher stages after primordial. He thought may be in next stage teacher will give him the knowledge. But each time he got answer, “Not yet.”

During this process Samba did not stop his research. He thought if he knew more about death, then he might know more about life. As researched he came across concept of cursing. He researched in depth about it.

Samba came to understand one intrinsic nature of battlefront. It did not matter how high ones stage is, but death stalked everyone. It did not matter whether you are an immortal or not. One way or another they would be tangled up in deadly crisis. Very few survive it. Surviving one such situation did not guarantee anything. Again after sometime they would face another fatal situation.

Samba felt that behind these unfortunate events there seem to be some certain forces, manipulating from behind curtains.

Oddly curses worked in a similar fashion. Fascinated by the working mechanism of it, he started experimenting with it. After a long research he came to a conclusion. Before a calamity fell upon someone there are some subtle changes to that being’s surroundings. Those subtle changes looked exactly similar to how a proper curse is created.

Samba then came up with an idea. What if I can counter a curse with another curse? So he started experimenting. Then his research finally came to a point where he need to test upon live subjects.

His teacher never liked to harm other beings. The old man green never liked to hurt anyone.

But Samba never actually cared much for other beings. He is only interested in one thing. Eternal immortality. Without his teacher’s knowledge, he conducted experiments.

He put many creatures through unbelievable pain. But he did not stop.

After many years of arduous research, he created his ultimate skill, cursed soul. Fate is constantly trying to lead creatures to their demise. In a sense fate is like a slow poison to soul and curses are poison to soul. So Samba thought what if I curse my own soul? What if I start making my soul resistant to curses by using smaller curses and then use highly powerful ones.

He experimented with his own soul. The initial step was a huge success. With confidence that this method will work, he started slowly escalating the curses used. After a long process his soul became resistant to all the curses he known. It is not just resistance but also his perception towards the fate increased. He could sense slight traces of its workings.

He felt secure. He again started working on increasing his strength. His strength increased to an unbelievable degree. Slowly he started seeing the inner workings of battlefront.

But he did not notice one thing. After he modified his soul Samba’s personality changed. It was not a sudden change but a slow gradual one. He became crueler. He always had a detached personality. He only inflicted pain when it was necessary. But after the change, he infliction of pain became torture with no purpose.

His teacher knew that his student changed. Samba thoroughly hid his experiments from his teacher. But old man green hoped that Samba will revert to his old self.

Like this Samba continued his life. Then one day he sensed the fate’s working. It was planning his execution. It did not matter how much he modified his soul. It still came.

Samba panicked. He knew that once the fate is set into motion no one can stop it. He knew that if there is a way out, it is his teacher’s skill, bringing back dead to life. He went to his teacher and begged him to teach that skill and like usual he got the same reply, you are not ready. Samba knew he cannot change his teacher’s mind about this. If he tells his teacher that he can sense fate coming for him, obviously, he should explain his research on the curses.

Samba decided to do one thing he never had the guts to do, he decided to betray his teacher!

With the extensive research on curses, he came across a method by which he can extract information from a person’s soul. But even if he is able restrain the old man green Samba’s individual strength is not enough to defeat him.

Samba snared the troll king and naga queen with his teacher’s knowledge. He told them they all could share it, if they help him in his ambush.

After making sure that both trolls and naga have sneaked into the garden-realm, he implemented his plan. He mixed the poison with his teacher’s drink. This is a poison that he put lot of effort into making. Its main purpose is to suppress someone’s strength in soul and body. He tailored made it so that it can affect old man green.

He served it to his teacher. The green man drank it. The moment it touched his tongue he looked chagrined. Then he drank it in one swoop.

Samba waited for effects but none occurred.

The old man green sighed and said,” You are my student. I will accept whatever you will give me. But I have a responsibility to correct you.”

The old man simply waved his hand and Samba’s entire body shuddered. He shocked to realize that the curse power in his body started deteriorating. Not just that his soul is returning to normal. Immediately he sensed that the fate’s power closing on him.

Samba knew that if this fate power is set in motion, he will die. Samba has no intention of dying today. He produced his prized possession, a black amphora. By stroke of luck he found the materials to make it. It produces one of the most potent poisons in existence. In-fact he used this to create the poison he used on his teacher.

He let his soul leave his body and possessed the amphora. His teacher whose powers are removing the curses from his soul stopped. Even though he can easily remove Samba’s soul from the amphora, doing that will immediately kill Samba.

By this point the black poisonous liquid filled up the entire room. Yet it did not dare to touch the old man green.

The old man sighed and then a plant appeared in his hand. It had a dazzling radiance to it. It flew from his hands and forcefully started suppressing the black liquid. The black liquid could not fight back the plant. It was finally suppressed the black liquid to form a small pond.

The old man looked sadly at the black pond and said, “What you have comprehended is a law of death. Death by itself is incomplete. Your law will complete only when you understand about life. The plant that is suppressing you is an amalgamation of my knowledge. This will help you to clean your soul and you can start a fresh.”

After saying that he disappeared. The plant started taking roots in the black liquid and started removing the curses from his soul. He grew weak as years went by. He hated his teacher for what he did. Samba never realized it, but the plant on top of him is the inheritance that he desperately begged his teacher. All he has to do is, just let the plant remove the curses and the plant will bestow knowledge onto him.

But that is the thing with curses, it effects the user also. His mind is already gone too far. Even with removing of curses he still not able realize the facts.

Samba stubbornly fought against the plant. His battle continued for a very long time. Then came Pragna. The troll king and naga could only sense the portal token from Pragna. But he noticed something else. There are cursed souls inside Pragna. In fact much potent than his own. He did not know how a half-immortal possessed such soul.

But he did not care. If he can absorb those souls and take over the Pragna’s body he can easily destroy this plant.

POV CHANGE

Pragna has been delirious. He has no idea how long has it been since he fell into the black liquid. All he could sense is that something is taking him through underground channels. His body for some reason is not regenerating as fast it used to. His soul is in much more worse state. It is growing weak. His soul weapons are almost destroyed. He could barely sense them and they are getting weaker by second. After what seemed to be days his body ended at the bottom of black pond. By this point Pragna’s senses have become so weak that he can barely recognize anything. An object touched his head in this darkness. Something invaded his soul. His soul is an extremely fragile state. With this attack Pragna lost his last bit of consciousness.

POV CHANGE

Samba soul invaded Pragna’s soul. In doing so he went to the part of it where the curse power is. There is a seal placed on it. But the surprising thing is, there is another seal placed on top of it overlapping each other. To Samba breaking them is child’s play. He broke them with little effort to take over Pragna’s body.

While this was happening, deep inside Pragna’s soul the red woman has been observing this entire play of events. The moment both seals are broken she smiled. She got of the two gigantic coffins.

The moment she got off, with a huge rumble both the coffins collapsed. From the black coffin a woman got out. She looked exactly like the red woman except one thing, she looked pitch black. Her eyes seemed to be made out lightning itself. With her skin tone that could absorb light itself and eyes looked like lightning she looked quite contradictory.

A man got out of the withering and regenerating coffin. He looked like exact replica of Pragna. Only difference is that he is wearing armor made out pure white metal. He is holding a spear that is constantly projecting ghost images around it.

The black woman started laughing. Her voice seemed to be made out 1000 different voices.

The man did nothing of such sort. He lifted his spear and then…

POV CHANGE

After Samba broke the seals, he could sense the cursed power. As he invaded Pragna’s body he already started integrating with Pragna’s soul. Once he takes over it, the process will be finished and as whole it will become his own.

But as he broke the seals he felt a resistance from Pragna’s fragile soul. Samba laughed and communicated with Pragna’s conscious.

“Your soul is in tatters. Even if you were at full strength you are not my match. You should feel honored that I am possessing you.”

After saying that he heard a male voice, “True, with the way our soul is, I cannot fight back. But who said I will use mine?”

At this point the merging is almost at 50%. So, Samba could see the notifications of Pragna.

What he saw next confused him

Warning! You are hacking into the servers! Aborting the connection. [email protected]#$([email protected]#... Please Enter the password Hello Admin. Welcome to main terminal

Without a clue of what happened Samba disappeared into Pragna’s consciousness.