When August and his team reached Suryadham Sor-Mandal, the capital of the Golden Sun Empire, they were met at the border of the megasystem by a quad from the Empress’ own guard led by Nalan. It stung the Sages’ team a bit. Given August’s power and status Mara herself should have come with her shield. August’s smile quelled all angry remonstration, they could not be offended where he wasn’t. For August this was just the opening move in the game.

The Suryadham megasystem was a colossal structure. A double shell of force-fields, with the inner shell also having large swaths of matter, that enclosed a star. This had initially been a solar system with 5 planets. Over 3000 years ago 4 of these had been broken down and incorporated into the inner shell along with matter from white dwarf. It had taken over 600years for the construction of the megasystem. Only one planet, Suryadham, remained circling the star - symbolically and figuratively the center of the Golden Sun Empire, the home of the Suryavan family, the strongest family in this Empire and in 100 others around the Golden Sun Empire. Hundreds of millions lived on that planet along with a few trillion on the shell.

Sage August had visited the Suryadham system a few times earlier on similar missions as this one and a few other megasystems in the galaxy. No matter how many times he visited them, they left him awed with the ingenuity and power of the mortal races. The first one had taken over 3000 years to be built and now one could be completed in a little over half a century. Of the 379 mortal empires in the Galaxy, only six other empires had megasystems and only two had more than one. All six were closer to the center of the Galaxy, where prana densities where higher. For the Golden Sun Empire to have created this, despite being on the edge of the Empire, was a testament to their power and also to the power of the shakti based training methods. The latter had eaten into the power and influence of the Sages who focused solely on the old ways. Sage August pulled his mind from falling into the trap of what ifs, focusing on what he had come to achieve and what he hoped to avoid.

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The Suryadham planet had 3 moons which were used to receive visitors and conduct official business of the Empire. The Sages were taken to the largest moon, White. The other two moons were Red and Yellow, named after their color as seen from the planet. All the moons where enclosed within force-fields designed to contain their atmospheres, allowing the empire to completely cover the surface of the moons with buildings till each moon was one large city, with as much construction under ground as above it. The largest building was the Empire Palace on White, where the testing ceremony would be held. The ceremony would be a private affair given the individuals involved. The results would be made public later.

The ceremony was introduced ages ago in a more benevolent time by the Viraaz Empire. It was then and still one of the 5 most powerful mortal entities of the Galaxy. The Golden Sun Empire had been a vassal state and the testing ceremony was based on newly discovered soul sutras that would provide guidance on a newborn’s talent. The kings and queens could use this knowledge to better train and develop their heirs. This would make the kingdom stronger and in turn make the Viraaz Empire stronger.

The ceremony required a Sage with at least 4 chakras open. The fees was exorbitant enough to put this ceremony out of the reach of all but the ruling elite, even then with subsidies from their masters. The tests had become tradition, even voluntary, once the benefits were evident. Now the ceremony had been weaponised by the Sages with tacit agreement of the Viraaz. Even though the Golden Sun Empire could be counted among the 100 most powerful mortal entities of the Galaxy, was able to pay for the tests itself and had taken off most of its burdensome yoke long ago, it was still beholden to the Viraaz and could not easily shrug of certain traditions. Not easily if it wanted to avoid overt repercussions.

The Soul Body Chakra Mapping plate used for the ceremony was an octagonal shaped metal sheet, about a foot from one vertex to another, with a clear crystal embedded at its center and a ring of crystal going around the plate at half its width. The rest of the body was inscribed with very fine and numerous yantra circuits. Traditionally the Soul Body Chakra Mapping plate was placed under the gestational sac carrying the embryo. Then the Sage would power it with using secret techniques till a blue sphere of energy covered both the plate and the sac. The Sage would then feed the plate with power till the blue sphere collapsed and the crystal had turned blue, inscribed with the results of the test. The test took anywhere from 1 to 4 days.

This time since the birth was being carried naturally Empress Mara was sitting cross-legged in front of the plate, her body enclosed within the energy sphere while her head was above it. She sat looking at Sage August with a half smile. She was connected to various wires, ostensibly to monitor both her and the babies, same as if the babies were in sacs. Sage August wondered if they served other purposes also. The plate worked by using a captured ghost embedded in the crystal ring. The plate would create an enclosed space in the soul sea and then use a single strand of prana to connect the ghost to all souls completely within the energy sphere and pull them into that space. The Sage was needed to restrain the ghost using the soul yantra inscribed on the disc, forcing it to carry out certain techniques and only those techniques to determine the baby soul’s characteristics. Of course the list of things the Ghost was allowed to do had increased with time. It was not possible for any other soul to observe, let alone record the examination in the soul sea. Not even the Sage operating the plate could do that. Thinking about the reports he had received he still wondered.

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Jamo was tired. He kept beating the boy and the boy kept getting back up. He had inflicted pain, enough that he himself would give in but the grin plastered on the boy’s face never faltered. The boy, designated Sun-Alpha, was enjoying the fight. Jamo was easily the better fighter, yet the boy wouldn’t yield. Ignoring Alpha was not an option. Even if Alpha couldn’t defeat him he could still hurt him.

As Sun-Alpha materialized in the shell space he had looked around, found the soul of the Empress’ heir and tossed it to the far side opposite Jamo. He then took a position between the ghost and the soul and asked,

“Are we going to talk or are we fighting?”

Jamo attacked. August’s plan meant talking would be pointless. He charged towards Alpha, taking that moment to manifest a large sword and swung it in a large arc that would make it difficult to dodge. Alpha didn’t dodge, he instead jumped on to the blade and flipped over his head to get behind him. Jamo quickly turned and thrust his sword directly at the boy’s heart. The blade was deflected this time, using a sword the boy manifested himself. Jamo was startled and he took a few steps back to appraise the situation.

The boy was dual wielding holding two swords in each hand. Looking at his stance the boy clearly had training. Jamo was rusty since it had been millenia ago that he’d last fought and he had forgotten more than the boy seemed to have learned. Even now Jamo could defeat Alpha with an arm tied beyond his back. The sword in Jamo’s hand morphed into a scimitar and as he pulled his hands apart, it turned to two scimitars.

Jamo attacked the boy with rapid swings crossing each other, using arcs that created cutting spheres. He was a whirlwind of motion. Alpha also burst into a flurry of action. Parrying thrusts, deflecting cuts, swaying to dodge the blades edges. Alpha was able to block fewer hits than he took and fewer still were those he could land. Their fight lasted for a long time. Alpha switched arms twice in the middle of the fight. Once to daggers, as he had managed to close the distance. Jamo allowed one to sink in as he knocked away the other and spun away to avoid more damage. Later to a staff, as long as Alpha was tall and half as thick as his wrist. His fight skills improved immediately. He wielded it naturally, using one end to hit at a scimitar while the other end blocked the blow from the second scimitar. He exploited the longer reach to score hits and flit away to avoid getting sliced.

Even as Alpha’s fighting improved and he was able to deal out more damage, he was still taking on more damage. The difference in skill was evident. However one thing he didn’t fail at - he kept Jamo away from the other soul. He was willing to take strikes if it meant he could push Jamo back.

“You have done well to learn soul manifestation in such a short time. It took me quite a few years to be able to do so. Your manifestations maybe effective but they are still crude and inefficient.”

“Maybe, but I can keep doing this forever.”

Jamo knew he couldn’t. A soul in transition was connected to the soul sea. A soul that refused transition to become a ghost was bound to the mortal plane. Jamo was being powered by August, and August’s energy wasn’t infinite like the soul sea’s. He could power the plate for 6 days before he was depleted, but he wouldn’t. Jamo at best had a little over 4 days and their fight had gone for over a day now. He also needed two days to “fix” the other soul. If this kept up he’d run out of time.

Jamo converted his scimitars to daggers and closed in on the boy. Waving his hands in arcs, looking for an opening through the twirling shield of the staff. He swung down with his left hand, aiming for Alpha’s right shoulder. The boy immediately swung his staff to block. He tossed the dagger straight up, hooked his hand around the staff to lock it, threw the dagger in his right hand towards the boy and crossed his right hand swiftly to grab the falling dagger on his left to stab at Alpha’s neck. The boy’s eyes widened in alarm, he immediately let go off the staff and chose to fall back to avoid the daggers. The staff vanished in a puff of smoke and Jamo staggered as he lost his balance. The boy scrambled back and rolled to get up.

“I guess you have yet to learn how to maintain your manifestations when you are not holding them.”

The boy pushed himself off the ground, turning in air to face him with a stretched bow and notched arrow in his hands.

“Guess again.”

He let the arrow fly. The distance was short and the arrow was fast. It was not fast enough that Jamo couldn’t dodge, but he was shocked and reacted late. The arrow sunk into his body just below his right shoulder. A second arrow slammed into his thigh and third bit into his left shoulder, knocking Jamo on to his back. He was in a lot of pain, but he was also angry, very angry at himself. He had underestimated the enemy, viewing him as a boy and inexperienced. He had sought to end things quickly, effortlessly. He had been wrong. He would set things right, he would get his hands dirty.

As Jamo got up he dismissed his daggers, instead forming knuckle busters on his hands. Alpha also let go of his bow. He formed bracers with spikes on his forearms and grew four short claws out of knuckles. Jamo sneered.