That first night, the village had organised a feast. The village square transformed from a bazaar to a place of festivities with dance, music, food and drink flowing freely. The people of the village were possessed of strong bodies, strong mirth and strong desires. Vilakshni and Rudra sat on a table off to a corner, but clearly a position of honour. Their table was piled with the choicest dishes and pitchers of drink, a few of which Vilakshni moved from his reach, “Not for children.”, making Rudra seethe, not just because he wanted the drink.

Vilakshni was alluring. She was wearing a thin strip of cloth tied across her chest, tight pants and hair tied into a bun, relaxing in her chair and looking immaculate. Looking at her made his teenaged imagination run wild. Vilakshni was shaped perfectly, with toned muscle and skin, exuding strength, confidence, and femininity in spades. Sitting down she towered over him but her size instead of being off-putting spurred his mind into wilder regions, where be dragonesses. Her hands rested on the table as she leaned in to talk to him over the noise of the feast. To look at her face, into her eyes, his gaze went over impressive territory. To be called a child by someone he was crushing on crushed him.

Rudra tried time worn diversionary tactics, “The old man le…”

“Guru Balram. Don’t let the Little One’s words distort who he was to you and me.”

“Why do you call Tinkerbell here, Little One? Is it because of the form she takes in this valley?”

“Tinkerbell?”

“Tiny little fairy woman, in tinier clothes, flits around the hero, curious like a squirrel, spoiled like a princess, ill-tempered, pulling pranks and insufferable. From a children’s story from my old life.”

“Hehe… hahahaha… Tinkerbell… A long time since a student of yours gave you such an apt nickname.”

Little Sara clicked her tongue and stuck it out at Vilakshni and Rudra.

Vilakshni turned to Rudra, he leaned in for a better view, “She is my sister, from our time in the Pod. A year and 3 months younger.”

Rudra recalled what Sara had told him about Pods. As people in the Collectorate chased advancement, they had less and less time or patience for rearing children. Pods were the answer. Centres were people could come and leave their blood. Then DNA from different people would be sequenced and combined directly to create embryos with uncommon ability bases. No child could be stated to be a child of any person. At the same time, it allowed for experimentation in gene enhancements to get optimum abilities. The embryos were brought to term in artificial birthing chambers over a year and the children were raised as wards of State till adulthood, with access to the best care and training, more opportunities made available as they proved themselves. Children within 3 birthing cycles were raised together as siblings. Even clans had adopted these practices with an aim to have subsequent generations with even more powerful bloodline abilities, without the hassle of internecine succession wars. Pods had been the way of life for 199 of the 200 million years of the Collectorate’s existence. Rudra was not sure how he felt about it given his own experiences as an orphan. Sara, in turn, was fascinated and weirded out by the concept of families.

“Guru Balram left me with some words for Sara, you and another.”

“Ashwatthama. I am surprised about Saras, but the other has to be him. And if anyone survived the Collectorate’s fall till now, it would be him.”

Sara’s head was bobbing. Rudra was glad. He’d not been given a name, just descriptions and “you will know when you meet them”.

“He wanted you to know… ‘I was never disappointed in you, only proud. Good and evil, right and wrong. Their meanings change with seasons. The strength I gave you was not to be righteous but to carve your own path, to get and keep what is yours, to live with honour. I am happy that you never shamed my teachings.’ And that’s it.”

Vilakshni was silent, but her quivering eyes spoke volumes. She looked away at the celebrations. After some silence, she sighed, “Thank you. The words are as much for you.”

Rudra started. As Vilakshni turned to look at him, she was looking at him afresh. Appraising him. “What did he give you?”

“Not he, his shade.”, Rudra was met with a hand wave, showing it didn’t matter.

“Can I ask something before I answer?”

Nod.

“What did you do?”

Vilakshni’s playful smile returned. It felt predatory.

“Before the Little One defeated me, I led the Void Reapers, the most feared pirates, across 50 galaxies in any direction from this one, after the fairies. They are the most feared across the universe.”

Rudra looked at the celebrating villagers with new appreciation when something clicked. “Fairies, pirates?”

Vilakshni chuckled, “Your teacher will fill you in on what you can expect out there.”

“Appendix 11 of the cookbook. Fairies comprise many fey races, some of whom form the largest number of space pirate crews. Imps, trolls, ogres, gnomes, gremlins, red elves, led by sprite - the crew captains are always sprites. They are the most dangerous, devious and bloodthirsty pirates out there.”

It was Rudra’s turn to sigh.

“An earthen flask bound in rope with an unending supply of the Ten Thousand Elephants Elixir, his Eternally Heavy Malkhambs, a clay tablet detailing the 9 Color Strengthening Exercises and these tattoos.”, with that he looked at his hands and closed his fist, causing earthen red lines to appear over his torso, back, neck, shoulders, arms and legs.

He looked up to see lines of metallic orange with hints of flame covering Vilakshni. Hers were less complex than those on him. But the power they represented was crystal clear.

“Fifth color, wow,” there was no awe in Rudra’s voice, “Do you need more elixir? I have plenty.”

Vilakshni’s laughter boomed through the square. She ruffled his hair and pulled him to her. Rudra was confused and wary, he knew this laugh it preceded either anger or annoyance. Then he heard Vilas grumble, “I hate the fate-bound”. Annoyance. Good. Rudra immediately grabbed the opportunity, and other things, to pull himself in tighter, given where his face had ended up.

“He drinks it like water.”, Sara pouted.

Vilakshni grumbled, mumbled, then continued in a rueful tone, “No, traveller. You need only one shot per rank, and I was given enough to cover my journey. Drinking more is dangerous, it can cause rapid exothermic cellular disintegration. Cheena took two shots when she couldn’t advance her rank. Her rank advanced but soon after even the ash had evaporated.”

Rudra’s throat dried up as he sat up straight. Before he could voice his fear and accusations, he saw the mirth in Vilakshni’s and Sara’s eyes, “The Halalal snake’s healing factor… but then why…”

“Does it not continuously enhance your strength and rank?”

“Ummm… let’s see in simple terms the elixir first increases your potential, then fills it up. The amount of elixir to take and the timing of taking it depends on how much your body can handle. It is a careful balance. Taking more breaks the balance and the energy from the elixir causes you to go… poof!”

Rudra winced.

“Your healing factor protects you from the damage, but in the process also reduces the effects. So your potential expands, but your strength doesn’t increase as much.”

“I noticed the strength I got from drinking the elixir was not much, so I drank more…”

“For us we use the Sutra to stabilise the increased strength and consolidate it for breaking to the next rank. You need to use the Sutra to first match your potential.”

“Oh”, came out in a very unhappy tone.

Vilas clucked. “Luck is wasted on the young. Yes, you have to put in more effort, but the upside for you is that you don’t need to consolidate and stabilise your gains and since your potential keeps expanding, the strength you gain at each rank is higher than the norm. That is why with a recent breakthrough to the 3rd rank, your strength is at the peak of Tier 4, while at 5th rank I am approaching mid Tier 5. ”

Rudra relaxed, not being in any imminent danger of vaporising and increased strength materialising.

“Ahem… so anyway, seeing as Guru Balram already trained me and I am quite strong, I don’t think I need to spend much time here.”

“Hahahaha… hahaha… this boy is precious. No. Has Tinkerbell told you the real name of this Valley?”

“Ummm… Valley of the Arts.”

“That is the pretentious one. The ones whom you will encounter here call it Ek Paath Kataka, Valley of One Lesson. Each time a traveller passes through, they get that one lesson they need at the seven stops in the valley.”

“But I don’t need lessons on body strengthening. Guru Balram taught me everything, what I need to do keep advancing my strength. The herbs, minerals and exercises I need at each stage. Using the malkhamb, fighting with the gadda…”

“What is your strength?”

“Huh…”

“What makes you strong?”

“Is that a trick question? My strength is in my body…”

“Wrong.”

Rudra mulled over the question, “My will powers…”

“Wrong. You wish to leave. Three paths, find the right answer to the question. Or come to the square at first light and prove yourself. If you fail, you will follow my instructions the rest of the day.”

“And the third path?”

“I confirm you are ready.”

The words were abrupt, harsh but there was no hardness or the bitter in her tone or her eyes. Vilakshni spoke gently, like a teacher laying out the syllabus and revealing the end of term exam details. Rudra was actually happy. He finally had a goal and clear milestones. This he could manage. “Yes, master”

“Oh, I am not your teacher or master. You are a traveller through this valley and I one of the seven guides you will meet on your journey. You may call me Vilas. Come enjoy the feast, it is in honour of your coming.”

The next morning, the test in the square was simple. A slab of metal stood on a circular platform with pillars at eight corners and ornate steps leading up from four directions. As he walked up the stairs, the slab actually turned till the flat section faced him directly. The slab was bare, shiny as a mirror. As he approached it he stepped over a white circle going around the slab and when he did, the reflection in the slab turned blurry and everything in it lost all color. A blurry grey human form pointed him to a thin table that had just appeared. He arm-wrestled with the blurry humanoid reflection and lost. He stood there for a few moments, staring at his reflection with a whimsical look on his face. Master Vilas was waiting for him as he jumped off the platform.

“Any being, even when pushed hard, can only consciously use up to a tenth of their real strength. We call that base strength and real strength refers to 100% of one’s strength. Guru Balram’s Mahabali Sutra allows one to increase real strength, and expand one’s base, AND use up to three and a third times their real strength in a crunch. That is true strength. As you advance in rank in the Sutra, you can apply your true strength for longer. At the 9th rank, the distinction between real and true strength vanishes.”

“I already know this.”

“Hoosh petunia, just listen. We can achieve the first 3 ranks or colours just by following the exercises and a shot of the elixir at each boundary. For the next 3 you need to seek special zones to breakthrough, in order, Womb of the Mountain, Embrace of the Ocean and Heart of a Star. In between breakthroughs, if you can find the Nexus of Seven Storms, Birth of an Ice-Berg or Thousand-Thousand Meteor Shower, you can use them to temper your body. Ideally, you use the zones for every other breakthrough and tempering between each zone.”

“I also know this.”

“Huushuush, muffin. Keep your ears open. You’ve already ascended to the 3rd rank through the Path of the Strong, so you need to find the zones for the other 3.”

“I thought the Path could help me advance four times.”

“Spoosh, peanut. I am getting to it. The path can be used for any three of the first five breakthroughs, provided the other two are through the zones, and then to break into the seventh rank. For the last three ranks, you need shakti, elixir, yantras, special materials and special zones for each breakthrough. The Path can substitute for the special zone. If you can find the mythical Akashganga Divya Bal Pindala, Divine Bridge over the Milky Way, then you use it for both the seventh and eight rank breakthroughs. It is the big brother of the Path. As for the ninth rank…”

“Ok, I didn’t know about the Path but I know the rest.”

“Phoosh, buttercup. Body building is an excellent alternative to those with weak foundations and limited scope in advancing with shakti. At the same time, advancing on both the physical and shakti paths takes more resources and time.”

“You are not good at this, are you?”, Rudra turned to Sara, “She’s not good at teaching is she.”

“Your choice. Deal with it.”, Sara shrugged.

“Yo, pinky-thimble, I am as good as you need me to be. Now, li’l know-it-all, did you know Guru Balram was a rebirth? His first birth was in an ancient civilisation that formed 4 billion years into the life of the universe, spanned thousands of galaxies and lasted for close to 2 billion years?”

“Ummm… what…”

“What he taught us was as per his memories from that time. He told us that in that civilisation many people focused on achieving 5 to 6 ranks in body strengthening prior to breaking through the first tier with shakti. Why?”

“Ummm… ahhh…”

[Snort] “To maintain some parity between those who choose to cycle their advancement and those who don’t.”

“Wait… Guru Balram was actually from an ancient civilisation, one from the early universe? And what is this cycling?”

Vilas looked at Sara.

[Sigh] “Yeah. Rebirths were not unknown. Even at one in a 300 million it was rare but not exceedingly. However, apart from the old man, the furthest a rebirth went was 10 million years. He had a fabulously powerful memory, almost on part with yours. If the soul gains a strong memory ability, then the ablation in the Soul Sea can take a very long time. And even with close to 8 billion years he was not reincarnated, but reborn, albeit with gaps in his memory.”

Rudra was stunned, as he tried to work out what it meant for how long he’d been away from Earth. He’d thought that he’d crossed over with his memories largely intact so it shouldn’t have been too long since he left Earth. Now that may not be true.

“Cycling is redoing the first 5 Stages three more times. For most people, the first time they advance their shakti is gaseous, like air. Rare those who naturally channel shakti in liquid form and vanishingly rare are those whose shakti is solid. Cycling is about going through the Foundation Tiers channeling shakti in the other two forms and then lastly by channeling shakti in all three forms together.”

“As per Guruji, some geniuses could even channel shakti in the same form as all the Primary Gross Elements - Void, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Just cycling the three forms reduces the difficulty of the 6th level by a fifth. But if you can cycle all five forms, the difficult reduces by half.”

“Yeah, the old man made it seem like it was common, but its only for geniuses, geniuses with rich and strong backers that can help get the required materials and yantras. Without enough talent and resources, one might not complete the cycling and get stranded at a lower tier with lower strength.”

“Says the lady who breezed through her cycles like taking a walk in the park.”

“Not that easy.”

“You made it look easy. Anyway, by strengthening to the 5th or even 6th rank, even though your advancement drops when cycling, you still keep enough strength to contend for yourself.”

“5th rank, crossing the 6th rank with no shakti enablement is impossible. I know the old man talked of herbs, fruits and minerals that allowed geniuses to do this, but even he couldn’t name all of them and even then the names he had didn’t match any we knew, much less what will be known now.”

“Yeah, anyway, runt, do you know any body condensation techniques?”

“Uhhh…”, the question lobbed suddenly at Rudra caught him off guard as he tried to digest the furious exchange between Vilas and Sara.

“Reducing your size by increasing the density of your skin, muscles and bones, making the blood thicker yet flow faster?”

“No…”, Rudra turned to Sara, “Is that how you reduced your size?”

“Tinkerbell here never practised condensation. What she would have shown you is the skill Body Collapse. You can think of it and its complement Body Expansion, as using shakti for folding and unfolding your body in layers to reduce or increase its size while keeping its proportions. Tinkerbell will surely teach you. They are part of her infamous Divine Illusions Disguise skill.”

“I can teach you the Swarnim-Loh Purusharth skill, allowing you to condense your body to the toughness and malleability of stellar irongold. It needs very little in terms of resources, but its results are amongst the best, resulting in a strong but flexible body. Once you complete its 6 levels, you can withstand 12 strikes from Tinkerbell here at full strength, expending no energy.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “It is good, but the downside is it is extremely painful. And you will not be able maintain that muscle bound farm animal look you are going for. Conversely, you will keep your young and innocent image for longer, much longer.” There was a giggle accompanying innocent.

“It is what I practice. Now, listen runt, you are right, I am not good at teaching by explaining things. But what I can do is show you and answer questions about why I do what I do. I watched the exercises you did on the Path, and they need improvement. So I’ll show you how to fix that. I will also show you exercises to improve your speed and dexterity. There is no point in being a strong, lumbering ox. You only end up as beef on the table. You will also play the iron ball game with the children for 4 hours, at least, every day. They were all holding back, now they won’t. You need to learn how to direct your strength.”

“All that name calling… instead of trying to find a nickname, why not use my name?”

“Why not?”

It was six weeks of the most gruelling, painful, enervating physical training Rudra ever went through. And it was the most rewarding and fun. He would do it again if he had to.

The other children had actually been holding back. During the first game after his training with Vilas he realised he was completely outclassed by even the worst amongst them. In six weeks he became a middling player and could restore some pride.

He also completed the first level of the Gold-Iron body condensation technique. He lost an inch of his height, but the most remarkable change was in his look. His muscles no longer bulged out, now they flowed and you could literally sense their hardness. From bulky, he now looked sleek. Rudra was sure Rana would love to get his bulky look advantage back. Looking at Rudra his strength was no longer an in your face thing, but as his muscles pulsed with his every move, they gave the feeling of a resting tiger ready to burst into action and take down any challenger.

Vilas had grumbled again about the luck of the fatebound and told him to accompany her that night. She wanted to see if his luck extended everywhere. Her grumbling didn’t reduce, so he assumed she got her answer. He got more invites, to his own joy.

His stay ended the day he didn’t lose to the reflection. He did not win, just held his opponent to a draw. And then he realised.

“I’ve been contending with my reflection.”

“Yes.”

“But then I can never win. If I defeat it, then it is not an accurate reflection. If I improve, it should also improve. I can only tie with it.”

“There is a difference between your reflection and you.”

It took Rudra till the moon rise to figure it out, maybe. He went to Vilas.

“The only difference between the reflection and me, is that it is not me.”

“Yes.”

“Then… the source of my strength is me. What makes me strong is me.”

“Yes.”

“That makes no sense.”

Vilas and Sara both smiled. Sara answered, “True, but that is because you don’t know yourself.”

“I…”, Rudra wanted to protest but realised he had nothing. They were right.

“Lucky runt. 'You' live in your body. Your will's power depends on the situation. Everything you think of as your strength is external to ‘you’. They support 'you', extend 'you', but are not you. Your strength is what 'you' have when 'you' have nothing else. Life is a journey to understand who 'you' are and with that how strong 'you' are.”

"That is a lesson that cannot be taught, only learnt"

Rudra opened his mouth and closed it without making a sound. There was much to digest in these simple sentences.