Rudra sensed the path change and its look also changed. Instead of cobblestones, it was now paved with granite setts of varying shades and sizes. The setts formed complex patterns on either side of the road and stone murals depicting various characters performing feats of strength. Some he could see were like stories from Earth. He knew the last trial would begin exactly at a hundred gaz from the exit gate. He had 19 hours and 28 minutes. 333 feet in 788 minutes.

As he took the first step, he could see a sense of anticipation on Little Sara’s face. He didn’t feel any different as he took the first few steps but he was surprised at the lack of surprise on Little Sara’s face. Instead, there was a faint smile, as if a theory she had was now confirmed. As he flexed his senses, he realized that there was an immense pressure bearing down on the road from the first step. It was physical and spiritual, affecting body, mind, and soul. Enough to slam anyone under Stage One to the ground and make it difficult for anyone under Stage Two to even take another step. This was for normal people with no yantras or talismans or enchanted armor or techniques, and that would only help with the physical pressure. Even the best-known techniques and yantras could at bet reduce the spiritual pressure by half. And, the pressure increased with every step, doubling after every 33 steps.

Rudra hesitated for a fraction of a second before continuing. Not hiding felt good. “Secrets are shackles, cages we create for ourselves, chains we put on our souls. Shedding secrets gives the same sense of freedom as a prison break.” He was strong, in ways the unit could not measure, beyond what his levels, base or effective, indicated. As best as he could work it out, this was a combination of the genetic cocktail of enhanced human, volcanic tiger and halahal snake, rigorous training… and good fortune. The trials could have gone much easier for him, but he’d held back. Even in his anger, he’d kept his strength in check, only to have its extent revealed casually. Rudra smiled wryly at the irony. He didn’t mind, he had gained, not lost. Rudra looked at the arch, the exit. He knew then he would walk the whole 333 feet. His smile changed, a smile of a bird free to soar.

He first felt the pressure on his soul after 13 steps. It soon grew till at 17 steps it was light as if his soul had put on a light but snug jacket. After 25 steps he sat down to meditate, letting the pressure temper his soul. The pressure was now crushing his soul as if a mountain of sorrow weighed on it. Physically, he felt nothing. He turned his senses inside and out, trying to figure out how the soul was affected. There were no known techniques for developing the soul. Right now he held it together with his will and as his soul resisted, it strengthened. In a few minutes, he would be able to move one more step. This would take too long.

“Balshali-sya Path”, Little Sara spoke up, “Path of the Strong. I found it in an ancient ruin during my explorations. It tests one’s strength. Strength of the Body and the Strength of the Soul.”

“That’s kind of obvious, not the name but the rest.”

“If you are at your limit, just give up and take a step forward. The path will know and you will find yourself at the end of the path.”

“I won’t give up.”

“Then strengthen yourself.”

Rudra grunted.

Little Sara smiled, “What is a soul? How do you build your strength?”

Rudra looked at her for a while, “Thanks.”

He loosened his will. He let his soul crack. The pain of a hairline crack on the soul was enormous, and he had many that were growing. Rudra gritted his teeth, he’d fought in the Soul Sea and this pain was not unknown. He used the lessons he’d learnt there. Rudra let the cracks expand and deepen. He had already infused his soul with his will and it was pushing back on the cracks. The cracks stopped after expanding to a fifth of his soul's depth. And then they started healing. Two hours later, all the cracks were gone, replaced by scars. The surface of his soul looked like it was covered in fine spiderwebs, made by thousands of spiders weaving thousands of patterns over it.

Rudra stood up and took his 26th step. The pressure squeezed his soul, and it pushed back. The surface of his soul pulsed and some cobwebs cleared up. After a minute, he took another step. After another seven minutes, he could take a step in 33 seconds. Five minutes later he could take a step in half a minute, 20 seconds. He maintained this pace to let his soul build its strength. The physical pressure made itself known after 51 steps. He stopped then and took out two stone malkhambs from his storage. They had been a gift. They would always weigh a fifth heavier than what he could truly handle. The pressure of the path put an enormous strain on his body as he went through a physical training routine that used the malkhambs heavily, while stepping onwards. His healing factor repaired the fractures on his bones, the tears on his skin and the rips in his muscles as they happened, improving and strengthening them. The pain of both his body and his soul being broken and healed at once was a lot more than double of either individually. He persevered.

After 66 steps, the pressure doubled. This time he needed an hour to walk and within four minutes could take a step every half minute. He didn’t meditate. The pressure had surpassed his physical limits. So he exercised. Before that, he took out an earthen flask, cylindrical, about a foot tall, bound with rope. It had a wooden stopper. He took a sip from it of a sparkling white liquid. A network of shining tattoos appeared over his body, covering his arms, legs, torso, back and neck. They blazed with an earthen green glow before sinking into his body.

As he was doing push-ups, Little Sara came and sat on his left shoulder. Her mood was somber, “Ten Thousand Elephants Elixir?”

Rudra nodded.

“You’ve met the old man?”

Rudra shook his head, “I met something. He said he was a shadow of a soul.”

Little Sara, in her current form, was like a mirage hanging in the air, but some sadness from the past seemed to weigh on her heavier than the path pressed on Rudra.

Rudra spoke, “I didn’t understand then when he asked if I was one of Saras’ children.”

After a bit of silence, he asked, “Was he one of those who…”

“No. He didn’t involve himself. He was different.”

After a longer silence, she asked, “Did he talk about me?”

“No. He didn’t talk about anything but… my training. He mentioned you thrice. Once at the beginning and twice at the end. He left me words for you. He was certain I would meet you.”

Little Sara waited.

“He told me, ‘Tell her I never hated her. Tell her I respected her and her path. Her successes made me happy and her failures left me sad. Tell her I wish she finds her peace. Tell her she made…’. He was silent after that for a long time.”

Sara sighed, “I know the words.”. She vanished after that.

At the 99th step, all the cobwebs over his soul were gone and its surface now had a red shine that sparkled with an inner light. Till then he did not know that a soul had levels. Now he knew. His soul had tiered up. His physical strength had increased, his body was tougher. He felt his body make a breakthrough after 132 steps. His tattoos had blazed again, going from an earthen green to an earthen brown. He still needed about an hour after each 33 step milestone to recover and advance, but the steps between each step came easy enough, needing two minutes for the first few steps and a minute after.

Little Sara reappeared when he was a few steps away from the end and had a few minutes to spare. She was back to her old self and immediately commented, “Look at you. Your soul tiered up three times.”

Rudra smiled. He was happy. His soul shimmered in three colours - red, orange, and yellow. It could handle the pressure much better, conversely, it was strengthening slowly now. His body felt stronger and tougher. It had been through another breakthrough. The tattoos had turned an earthen red. In the end, the pressure was enormous but not unbearable. He asked, “Can’t you tell about my body?”

Little Sara shook her head, “No. His techniques don’t just strengthen the body in the usual ways. They unlock hidden potential allowing you to use all of it… and more. There is no way to measure this potential, it differs for each and depends on many factors. Your tattoo colour is a rough indication. Eight colours are known, for eight levels.”

“He said there are nine levels and my tattoos would mark each change. He wouldn’t discuss measuring strength. He always said, ‘Your strength is always less than the…' ”

“'… strongest one you can defeat and more than the weakest one who defeats you.’”, Little Sara finished for him, “The ninth level is elusive. No one has achieved it, even him. What colour are you at?”

“Red.”

“For an average person that means anywhere from the base of Stage 3 to the peak of Stage 4. Brown would have been mid Stage 2 till mid Stage 3. The ranges expand as you go higher.”

“That doesn’t sound right. Are you saying I could be at the peak of Stage 4 now?”

“No. You could be higher. Or lower.”

Incredulity shone in Rudra’s eyes.

“Oh well. No, you are not at Stage Four. Or higher. Or lower.”

“Because I lack shakti.”

“It is possible for people to scale individual attribute scores a Stage higher than the average for their own levels. Temporarily with shakti techniques or yantras, permanently with elixirs, special herbs, flowers, fruits, beast cores and similar. It is very rare for it to be as excessive as your Strength and Endurance.”

Little Sara stopped to look at Rudra and continued, “You see this often with people striving to be the greatest on their path. For them, ignoring some attributes makes sense. But there is always a downside. A balance is maintained. Always. There was a saying in our times, ‘The greatest are the weakest.’.”

Rudra looked at his arms, “I’ve heard another, ‘The exceptional is not average’. Without my boon, anyone with attributes at a similar level wielding shakti will always be stronger. I can only apply my peak strength in short bursts that leave me sapped and useless. But when I need it, when I use it, I can always carve my own way, with my own strength.”

Little Sara chuckled, “We can address the downsides you mentioned with external tools. This path has allowed you to exceed your peak strength without exceeding your energy. The real downside is that all your strength is in your body. All advancements with shakti enhance the body with a tie-in to the soul. It is difficult to take away another’s advancement for yourself. But with you…”

Rudra stared at her. “You mean possession?”

Little Sara shook her head, “Maybe, but that's often iffy. I am talking of taking all your cells and extracting all relevant bits and infusing into their own cells. Its much faster when the attribute being taken is purely biological. You’d make a very tempting target for any heavy magic user that has foregone physical advancement. Extracting your essence and infusing it is a shortcut to balancing their attribute spread.”

Rudra stared at her for a minute. He couldn’t deny he was shocked. He now understood the old man’s insistence that he curb his strength until absolutely necessary. Rudra then looked back at the path and the exit.

Rudra was at the last step with minutes to spare. He looked at Little Sara, “Nothing is going to happen when I step off the path.”

Little Sara wasn’t surprised, “When did you figure it out?”

“During my walk down this path. Those who came before me, at my age they wouldn’t have had my training. Still, they all ‘passed’.”

“The road is to test the level of skill, knowledge, creativity and determination. To work out what to teach them and how.”

“And these were not the eight arts of the valley. That training comes later.”

“Yes.”

“I have a lot more time than four days. You lied.”

Little Sara grinned, “I didn’t lie, I just twisted the truth. A lot.”

“How much?”

“Oh, a lot. I mean, nothing would happen if you didn’t make it…”

“How much?”

“Twelve months, less 4 days.”

Rudra kept glaring at her. So she asked, “You want to know how?”

“Of course.”

“Time loop. Time doesn’t exist in this valley.”

“But… my unit measures time, I am moving and I’m sure freezing time for such a large place needs a lot of energy.”

“You don’t need Time to move. It is localised time, not the Time of the Universe. This valley is in suspension till a student comes. Then local time activates. Once you leave it resets. It is all self-contained, and the reset restores the energy.”

Rudra still looked puzzled. Nothing he heard made sense based on what he knew.

Little Sara smiled, “Your concepts of Time don’t account for prana. Everything that is, is made of prana. Time is its own dimension, and the Universe is constantly expanding into it, creating the sense of Time. The Universe is created at each moment, a perfect copy of the previous moment with the changes arising from the previous iterations. At every moment on the Universe’s timeline, you will find the Universe fully realised, frozen at that moment.”

“But that’s impossible. That means there are infinite Universes for the infinite moments. It would need infinite energy.”

“Haven’t you learned prana is infinite? If a perfect copy didn’t exist at each moment, how could you ever go back in time? You would need to reverse the entropy of the entire Universe right up to the time you are going back to. That would need energy approaching infinity. And having rolled back everything, you would lose everything leading up to the moment you started rolling everything back, ergo you wouldn’t start rolling things back...”

“You can go back in time?”

“Yes. Some believed that everything that is and will be is already mapped out in prana. So you can go back and forward in time. Experimentally it was shown that going forward in time consumed as much energy needed to maintain a stasis field for the period of the jump, so it was not possible to distinguish between entering stasis and taking a time jump.”

“So, I can go back and kill my parents or grandparents and never be born?”

“No, what a wild notion. Every moment, every decision taken by a being, sentient or not, results in branches in the timeline, accounting for all possible decisions. Often branches overlap and most of them merge back into the main timeline. So when you travel back in time, at the moment you re-enter the timeline a new branch is created. Your own timeline continues down this branch. For you it is your future and even if you kill your parents, it won’t affect you since all your past exists in another timeline.”

Rudra took the last step and sat down. This was too confusing for him, and dealing with the pressure of the path was no help. Rudra looked back at the path. Little Sara sighed, “He already told you about the path. This was the third mention.”

Rudra nodded.

“The path can only help you level four times, up to yellow. When your trainings are done, you can tread the path again. If you want, you can even go through the whole road. This time the enemies will be scaled to your skills, not the expected average of novices.”

“No thanks. The time loop?”

“It is created using a mandala, circuits that work directly with prana, not indirectly like yantras using shakti circuits. It cuts off a section of the universe from the timeline, freezing time to a single moment. The mandala simulates a local time and collects all energy back to keep it within the construct. That is why we created the stasis field in the training room. If you enter a ‘time-loop’ then you have to exit it back at the same time and location. Without that stasis field, this would not be possible.”

“Then the four days?”

“Energy is needed not just to enter and exit the loop, but to send and receive information. I can only give you twelve months here for three days and twenty-four hours out there.”

“This is a prison, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Ironically, it inspired my own. In my journeys, I defeated many, while pursuing 'righteous' causes. Some chose to serve me instead of oblivion. When I turned from that path I offered them freedom if they would complete their service in this valley.”

“How long?”

“Ten thousand years.”

“Do they know?”

“The main eight do. The rest don’t.”

“Are you looking forward to meeting them?”

“No.”