A ring of fields separated the walls from the village. Off to the left, Rudra saw a bunch of trees, probably an orchard. As Rudra walked through the deserted streets of the village, he considered if he should seek an inn. He decided not to. Rudra wasn’t sure what the payment would be but was sure he wouldn’t have it and was in no mood to take on a quest. He could be and probably was wrong, but he would not chance it when he just wanted to get some sleep. Rudra made his way towards the orchard and the fields.

The moon was up and he could see moonlight skipping over the crops as a light breeze danced through the fields. He was not sure what the plants were but a solid earthy smell filled his nose. Ten minutes later he was lying down in a bed hanging against the trunk of a tall thick tree at the edge of the orchard. Camping tents in Vendhya were simple affairs. Large capsule-like structures made with a metallic alloy that had adjustable transparency enclosed in force fields powered by shakti crystals for additional safety. It had a single bed along with blankets and pillows and was big enough for Rudra to sit on the bed with at least two feet of clearance between his head and the roof of the “tent”. He had set it up to be translucent from the bottom up to two-thirds of the height on the sides. The roof was kept clear. Rudra liked the feeling of sleeping under the gaze of the moon, under the sneak peeks of the stars, and to be woken by the first rays of a rising sleepy sun.

“The inn wouldn’t have charged you anything for your stay. It is also easy to locate.”

“Uh, huh, ok.”

Rudra had his back to her, but he could sense Little Sara sitting on the edge of the bed, looking up at the stars.

“There was a time when I lost everything. All my plans washed away because … (sighhhh) … I gave up after that.”

Rudra didn’t open his eyes, but his mind was in turmoil. Sara had scratched wounds he felt he’d not shown anyone.

“For a time I was like a leaf on the river… drifting in life, letting fate carry me where it will, not fighting, not choosing, just going with the flow. It didn’t …”

“Whitewater rafting.”

“Huh…”

“You can be rafting, not a leaf and even though the river drags you, you still go as you wish.”

Both were silent for a while.

“The primary purpose of this place is not to train your students. That’s secondary.”

“…”

“The primary purpose is for you to learn what is broken in them and fix it.”

“None can fix those broken by fate. I only try to help my students avoid the mistakes I made.”

Rudra snorted.

“You are angry. I bet it is an anger you hide from those close to you. But that anger is just a ruse, a shell carrying the emptiness within you. I don’t know what broke you or even I…”

“Nothing broke me. I was born empty and angry. There is no fixing it.”

Sara was quiet after that. When she felt Rudra was asleep, she looked at him. Rudra couldn’t ‘see’ her face but his senses were strong such that at such short distances it was as good as seeing. The full 360-degree visual was unsettling, not something he could keep up for long. Ironically, the sensory and mental exercises Sara had taught him were helping him improve this skill. He’d expected to sense consternation or concern or annoyance or pity or fear or a combination of these or anything else, not hope. Conflict and tension rippled across her eyes, but the hope was clear. Rudra fell asleep thinking over what he’d sensed.

Sara looked at him for a while and then turned back, to look at the stars pondering the case of her student who lived with no apparent aim or purpose, carrying scars and pain that had no business being on a child, and piling on skills and strength, enough to burn the world. Soon she sank into memories of her past due to the similarities.

Rudra woke up to a dusky sky. The sun was not yet up, but he felt well-rested. He activated the Cleansing Stone. It was easily amongst his most favourite artefacts of this world. It was a marble disk the size of a thumb with a thumbnail size shakti crystal in the centre. Once activated, it would cleanse the ones touching the Stone, inside and outside. More users meant the crystal would be depleted faster, with a single user it could last years before the crystal had to be charged. It wasn’t a replacement for a hot shower, but it was pretty nifty when traveling. Yashi never let him stay past the last sunset in the Forest around Hope Cottage, so his Stone rarely saw any use in camp. He used it when he was feeling lazy getting out of bed, which was every day that Suvi or Bouncy didn’t offer to bathe him. His whole body tingled for a moment before leaving him with an empty and clean feeling. Even his clothes were sparkling.

“That’s a pretty nifty device.”

Rudra looked out to see the guard from last night looking at him. He had a few others with him. Rudra was surprised because they appeared to be rather close to the capsule when he’d put it up high. The capsule should have woken him up if it was moved. He gave the capsule the pack-up signal and landed on the ground gracefully as the capsule shrunk into a foot-long cylinder and vanished into his ring. He then looked up at the villagers. Rudra had it wrong, the capsule hadn’t moved, most of the people before him were all 10 to 11 feet tall, and his ‘camp’ had been only 15 feet off the ground. The guard was the biggest at over 12 feet tall.

“Lands like a cat this one.”

“Shut it Viran. Traveller, hope you had a well-deserved rest. I believe you walked the Path of Capability and the Path of the Strong before coming here.” You now need to come open the village gate.”

Viran looked with a start at the woman and then at Rudra.

“Is this a test?”, asked the nine foot tall woman who was clearly the village head.

“We can open the gate. But only if you succeed, will the sunrise. If you fail or we open the gate, dusk will reign till you are done here.”

“A bit heavy, putting the weight of the sun on a child.”

She smiled, “Your age and size may be that of the children of the village, but in your deeds, Traveller, you are anything but a young one. Don’t worry on our account. The karma that brought us here was gained in the depths of night. For us, this is as good as mid-day. Also, of those hundreds who came before, only 11 could open the Gates on the first day. All succeeded in raising the sun before they left.”

Rudra looked at her thoughtfully, “Ok, let’s go. My name is Rudra.”

“I am honoured to make your acquaintance. I am named Vilakshni.”

Rudra nodded and walked towards the gate. He didn’t let his surprise show on his face when he noticed Vilakshni’s eyes rest on his shoulder for a bit, where Little Sara had appeared, yawning and stretching lazily.

The village gate was called the Gates of Twilight. Made of a wood that was tougher than any stone or metal he knew of, it was taller than the walls by one gaz and was one gaz thick. Each door was twice as wide as the blocks that the wall was made of. His senses told him the doors of the Gates weighed around fifty maund each. It was barred by a two-foot tall and thick slab of the same wood that ran the width of the gate. The gate and bar looked and felt old. They also felt as tough and unbreakable as if they were made last night and quenched in the moonlight. As he approached, Viran removed the bar for Rudra. He just needed to push open the gate. Bracing himself to push hard Rudra planted his feet, put his hands on the doors of the gate, and didn’t shove. As soon as his hands were placed on the Gates Rudra felt the doors move slightly as if they had no weight. If he had shoved, he’d have lost his footing and fallen flat on his face. He grimaced and then smiled. 11… so it was not meant to be this easy. This was an opportunity. He put great effort... into the act of opening the door. Once it was open, he proceeded to first put his hands on his knees, panting and then slowly keeling over to lie on his back, in sync with the slowly dispersing twilight and increasing sunlight. As he lay, Rudra felt he was eligible for the Oscars or its equivalent in the Arya Sector the NavRasa Tilak.

As he lay there, he heard the villagers dispersing. He then saw the village head looking down at him with a Mona-Lisa smile on her face. She spoke, “Good, you did well on the Path. The Gates acknowledge you.”

“What’s next?”

“You find yourself a teacher. Roam around the village, observe and when ready let me know whom you would like to learn from.”

“By when do I need to let you know?”

“When you are ready. There is no limit but what you would place on yourself.”

She then got up and looked away, “Feel free to rest at the inn from today. And no, you won’t have to open the Gates every day. Just once is enough to mark the start of your training.”

The village was a dainty little place. In width and length. Height was another matter. A motley collection of houses in various shapes, separated by wide paths and little parks, interspersed with a few shops and all of it around a big bazaar in the centre, made up the village. There were about 100 - 200 houses and less than five hundred people. Both of which were tall. After a long time, Rudra truly felt like he was a child amongst adults. The crystal purse tingling on his belt reminded him of his childhood on Earth, hustling to survive.

He’d bought it at the bazaar as soon as he saw it. There was something indescribable about the feeling of his profits on him, where he could touch and feel it instead of a storage ring. Right now, it was only half as pleasurable. The profit was there, the satisfaction of a good hustle wasn't. He was raking it in without having to pull a single con, discounting his morning performance. The people knew who he was and how much ‘effort’ he’d put in opening the Gates. They kept challenging him as he moved around. It soon became clear why.

The first challenge came at a wide stream running through the fields. They were apparently building a wooden bridge over it and they tasked him with carrying eight four foot wide logs of varied length and placing them across the stream. He won six crystals there. Next was a challenge from another potential master. This was simple - lifting stone blocks, same as the ones making up the village wall. His challenger could stack and lift three. Rudra lifted four. Easy ten crystals. One straight up challenged him to arm wrestle. Rudra ended up breaking the stone table they competed on. Kudos to his challenger for not getting his hand broken. He won twelve crystals in a javelin throwing competition, where the javelins were the same logs as used for the ‘bridge’. What surprised him more was that the people seemed to actually enjoy seeing him win.

Around midday, a group of children invited him to play a game, khacara dimba (Flying Ball). The children were between 10 to 15 yrs and six to seven feet tall. They were kicking around a three foot diameter metal ball over a thirty foot tall pole in the centre of a field just outside the Gates. The metal ball weighed at least a couple of maund. The rules were simple. Four teams of 4-5 each. Objective, keep the ball in the air and always going over the pole. Hit it as you like, with any body part. No tools or weapons. Each hit was a point for the player and the player’s team. If a player swung and missed, the player and the player’s team lost two points. If the ball went lower than the pole, the team lost half its points. No other rules. You get shoved mid way to connecting a hit - you lost. The ball you hit got knocked down before it went over the pole - you lost. The ball had some circuit on it so that prevented injury from incorrect contact, the ball would become feather-light. Injury was still possible, from the competitive players and overestimating one’s strength.

In the beginning, Rudra lost more than he scored but he picked up. Eventually, his team was placed third. But they didn’t seem to care. Encouraging him all the time, whether he scored or lost points. The game was clearly an exercise. To keep scoring, you had to have precision control over your ability to use your body to deliver your strength. He was easily multiple times stronger than any of the children, but their control over their strength and body was phenomenal. The game made training that control a lot of fun. And just like that, Rudra started enjoying himself and felt saddened because he knew it wouldn’t last. He managed to get a few hours of play in before the rock monsters attacked.

“Oh, no not them again.”

This was the first hint Rudra got and then his senses made him look to the left, where rock ‘creatures’(?) were swarming up from the stream. They were made of rocks of various sizes that somehow stuck to each other to create their bodies… bodies that… Some had humanoid shapes and were from 3 to 4 gaz tall and at least half as wide. Most, however, had bizarre shapes. Three-legged, four-legged, five-legged, even seven-legged. Pincers like a crab or lobster, rock tentacles, odd-shaped torso, odder head - if those were a torso and head at all.

Rudra gave up trying to understand them and asked, “What are they?”

“Rock-monsters. They like to come to mess with us once in a while.”

“They are made of rocks and stones?”

“No. Sand. They develop from sand in areas with highly concentrated life oriented shakti, like river, lake, or sea beaches. It can take thousands of years for a single core to appear. But only a couple of hundred years for them to develop their bodies. And once one appears, other cores appear faster.”

“They build themselves up from grains of sand, pulling in and compressing the sand till turns to stone. In time they use their earth and water affinities to hasten the process.”

“They create multiple stones in the same fashion to create their bodies, imitating the bodies of creatures they sensed while they were developing and them adjusting and adapting their bodies to move.”

“To hunt.”

“So, they are actually sand monsters?”

“Noooo. Never let them hear that. Or the actual sand monsters.”

“Sand monsters?”

“You won’t see them in the valley, but from what the teacher said, they develop in rocky areas with strong winds. They start off as rocks but turn themselves to sand through erosion, using their increasing wind affinity to make the erosion faster.”

“Yeah, apparently sand monsters prefer to keep changing their shapes and hate to be reminded of their origins as rocks. Just like these guys hate being reminded of their origins.”

Rudra and the children had reached the Gates. Rudra saw Viran already there, holding an impressive hammer that was as tall and wide as the guard. He asked Viran, “Is this a test for me?”

“Nah, just a bit of fun for them and for us. Though it may not be fun for you if they catch you.”

Rudra knew that the inhabitants of the valley couldn’t lie to him. Little Sara had explained it was a precaution to ensure they didn’t teach the wrong things to the students passing through. Still, he felt something was off.

“Doesn’t the mandala prevent creatures in the valley from harming students or other creatures?”

Viran just shrugged, leaving Rudra confused. Someone pulling a con would have an explanation ready.

Rudra turned to the girl holding the game ball, “Reka mind tossing the dimba.”

She grinned, “It won’t help but you should still try”, and she tossed it to him.

Rudra vaulted into the air and kicked the ball straight into a 3 gaz high, four-legged monstrosity that was the nearest to them. It was the smallest, fastest of the lot. The metal ball smacked into its ’artistically’ shaped torso with a bang, made a dent, and dropped to the ground. The four legged moving rock art lost just a bit of momentum and kept moving, having turned to barrel towards Rudra, growling, [Grrrrrrrrr]

“I told you so”, Reka said as she brought out a gadda.

Rudra thought for a moment. He was about to take out the Crusher when he saw the Gates and how the doors sat on massive hinges. And the handles and bars on the doors of the Gates. He had a wicked smile, “This will be fun.”

Viran turned, “Fun, you think even when…” and stopped.

Little Sara who had been riding his shoulder, “Oooooh”

Rudra lifted one door off its hinges and then sent it sailing past Viran’s and the children's shocked faces. It smashed the four-legged art piece into pieces, knocked off the legs of the rock monster behind it, and even as it lost momentum, it crashed into the group coming behind and caused panic and mayhem amongst the monsters.

A 3 gaz humanoid rock-giant had managed to leap over the oncoming door and almost reached the gates. It shouted, “What in the hells…”. And was promptly crushed into powder and pebbles as Rudra used the second door to smash him into the village wall and pulverize him. A perfect glass sphere as wide as half the length of Rudra’s thumb survived. Rudra had chosen to arm himself with the other door and now stood facing the group of monsters who stood frozen in shock as they stared at rockageddon.

“I give up. I didn’t sign up for this shit.”, a five gaz tall human shaped agglomeration of rock muttered, loud enough to be heard across the village, and then turned around to go help its mates.

“M*d*rc#*d. B%#%nc#*d. Viran, you told us he had barely pushed open the gates. You effing lied. You chuchundar.”

“Mommmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”, this came from the group forced to rest under the door.

“Adrisom was the best draksa-soma brewer and now he has been knocked back… Even the mandala can’t fix this.”, this came from one of the villagers who had reached the Gates by now.

“Mommy?”, it mystified Rudra.

“They absorb language and its use from others.”, Viran responded.

“There are people in the village who cry for mommy when beaten up?”

“Hrmph… (cough) (cough), you hid your talent well?

“So this was a test?”

“No. It wasn’t. There is no teaching involved.”, Vilakshni answered with a forced smile.

“I wouldn’t say that. I learned these fearsome-looking monsters can be made to call for mommy and, (cough) so do some villagers.”

“It is a prank that is played on students, ostensibly to make them more focussed during their stint in the valley, without permission.”, Vilakshni was staring at Viran, who seemed to be overcome with a coughing fit.

“But you allow it.”

“I don’t object to it once I am aware it is happening.”

“And you get very cross with the orchestrators!”

Vilakshni was silent after that jab.

“Scare students into toeing the line, thinking the valley is more dangerous than it is. That’s a lesson right there.”

Vilakshni grimaced, “We teach nothing. Each Traveller takes away different things. No one gets hurt, badly, till now. Everyone gets something out of this.”

“Some get chills, some get frills, some get pills, everyone lives long and prospers. Did they ever find out the truth?”

“At the end, when leaving.”, Little Sara piped in. Rudra grunted. He was setting back the door he held. Putting it back was taking more time than taking it off.

“I believe you have already found your teacher.”, Vilakshni stated while looking over at a group of villagers carrying the other door back. 16 villagers were carrying the other door, more accompanied them and kept swapping places with the carriers as they tired out. The door had landed over 100 gaz from the Gates.

“You could have carried it back yourself?”

“Yes, or Viran or another half a dozen in the village. But this is good exercise for the others, builds strength and stamina.”, Vilakshni was silent for a long moment before adding,

“You’ve met the old man?”