Chapter One

A lush green field, in middle of a densely packed forest. A sight that is quite unusual in Indian terrain. But this was no natural growth. The field was carefully crafted to be sitting between one of the thickest areas of a central Indian jungle. There were couple of monks toiling the small fields nearby. The ladies of the ashram were on their way for their daily morning ritual of fetching water from the stream a kilometer away. The weather was pleasant, and the wind was day. Birds chirping away with all their might. Technology of any kind was not in sight anywhere. Just then a loud noise shook the atmosphere, like a ripple in a calm pond. It was the gong from the temple.

The temple, though not being an inch over 20ft, stood tall as the highest structure in the ashram. At the northernmost end of the ashram. All the other houses were single storied humble residences.

Ban-ku was playing with his pet dog outside his house. He saw his father come out of their house. He straightened his robes, glanced once towards the direction of the stream. He knew that Shaam’i won’t be home for another 15 minutes or so. He looked at Ban-ku with a troubled eye, the kid is too mischievous to be left alone! He called out to his neighbor and asked him to look at his young one for the next quarter of an hour till his mother arrives. Thanking him, he hurriedly left for the temple.

The temple had a big and heavy wooden door, leading to a broad hallway which forked out to multiple smaller rooms. Meditation rooms, kitchen, dormitories for young disciples who wished to stay in the temple itself and learn the art. At the very end, the hallway emptied into a single large rectangular gymnasium. All kinds of wrestling equipment’s that one can imagine build with hands and basic tools were present there. All stacked neatly into their racks.

The gymnasium was uncharacteristically clean and sorted. It was due to the annual competition that was about to start in the next half hour. Slowly people started filling the empty spaces in the gymnasium as the time grew near. Ka-an too made his way into the first rows.

Behind the gymnasium was a door, which opened exactly on time. An elderly man walked out of the door, followed by three men and a woman. They all were dressed in purple dhotis and red angavastra’s, except the elderly man, we wore a robe as white as a swan. All the men bore long beards and equally long hair. The elder walked past everyone and sat on the middle chair at the far end of the gymnasium. The other four occupied the chairs besides him, two on each side. Above them, on the wall was the logo of their ashram. A Swan within a circle made by small red crosses. The Swan represented Elegance, and the crosses represented strike force. There was a nervous undercurrent running throughout the gymnasium. These were the five most powerful people in the ashram.

An announcer took this moment as his cue and announced that the tournament will now begin and asked all the competitors to stand and move to the room behind them.

Ka-an knew he shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have enlisted himself in the tournament. Shaam-I would kill him if she knew what he was doing in the temple. For her, he was a literature teacher to the students studying in the temple. She did not approve of the secret arts, having lost her father and brother to it. Ka-an bit his lip, he had enough, for too long he had practiced alone and now was the time to show the results of his training to everyone. As he saw his competitors, he could see why Shaam’i despises the art. There were hardly 20 other people besides him in the room. Ka-an was one the few of within the ashram who practiced the secret art. Not everyone could handle the pressures of the training. He wasn’t the most talented, but he had worked hard on it for the past 8yrs.

The announcer shouted out two names from a parchment. These were the first two contestants to battle and showcase their strengths.

The stage was set, both contestants took their marks on the floor, around 20ft apart, folded their hands in a namaste and sought blessing of their gurus. All five nodded simultaneously in affirmation. The contestants sat down in the designated areas in the lotus mudra, closed their eyes and chanted their individual mantras.

It took a minute but then a cold air blew over the gymnasium, and besides both the contestants, standing were two translucent figures. Both of average height, one the left holding a mace was looking pale yellow and the one on the right, was light green holding a sword. The audience gasped and both the astral warriors charged at each other. It seemed like a scene from a sci-fi movie. Two people sitting on corners while their astral projections fought amongst them. As the fight grew in length, the contestants started developing visible marks of exertion. Sweat, shortness of breath, etc. Just then the warrior with the sword pierced his counterpart in the chest. It was a clean cut. The pale-yellow warrior grew even more pale and then slowly disappeared just as he has come into being. The contestant controlling him fell down unconscious.

As the medics attended the visibly wounded and defeated contestant, the audience cheered for the victor, who got up with a bit difficulty, bowed to his masters and limped back into the waiting room. This one fight was enough for Ka-an to seriously doubt his actions. His fight had not even been announced and here he was standing soaking wet in his sweat.

500 meters away from the ashram, right opposite to where the stream was, Kaa-li gulped down from the canteen he was carrying. The 6’6” broad and well build man looked menacingly towards the ashram. He closed his eyes and chanted his mantra. A rustle of leaves behind him. Kaa-li smiled as he looked at a 10-foot green ogre standing behind him, with a club in his hand. They marched ahead. I shall have fun today Kaa-li smirked.