The southern part of the village was half in ruins. Most houses were partially burnt or collapsed. Residents were repairing their damaged houses while some were mourning the deaths of their loved ones.
Sharv walked past them and headed straight to the south. At the southern crossroads, the little girl he had saved the previous night ran up to him.
"Voidheart, are you going away?"
Sharv looked at her smiling face and offered a small smile in return. "Yes, I have a journey ahead. Are you feeling better now?"
"I'm perfectly fine! Thank you, Voidheart!" The girl said cheerfully.
"You don't call someone who helped you a 'Voidheart,' sweetie," her mother said, stepping out from the half-burnt house, her face still smudged with ash.
"I'm sorry about her words... and truly grateful. You saved our house and her life." Sharv looked at the damaged house-charred walls, a caved-in roof, ash everywhere. The woman was still trying to clean it.
"But everyone calls him Voidheart," the girl said softly. "I thought it was a good name... it has the word 'heart' in it."
"It's alright. You can call me that," Sharv said gently. Then turning to her mother, he added, "I don't see your house as saved. I'm not coming back-maybe never. You can shift to my house. It's better than letting it rot."
He paused, the image of his dead father flickered in front of his eyes.
'What if the attackers come back?' was the thought ringing in his head. They will surely go to the same house to find him.
After a brief consideration, he added,"But wait at least half a month, unless it's absolutely necessary."
The woman's eyes welled up. She had been living alone, working in others' homes to survive since her husband's death. For her, this was nothing short of a miracle.
"How can I ever repay this?" she asked, her voice thick with emotion.
"You don't need to," Sharv replied. "Just don't let my house die alone."
Without another word, he turned and walked down the southern road, toward the next kingdom: Avanti. The forest welcomed him like his home. He walked without rest and stopped once the night fell.
Wildlife had gone silent and no sound could be heard except for the sound of flowing water and rustling leaves. Sharv had chosen a lake for his stay. The full moon reflecting in the pond, combined with the cool breeze and greenery, created a mesmerizing scenery.
Sharv took out the unnamed book. The first was a basic starter guide for his journey. It was written personally by his father.
'Sharv,' The blurb read, ' I see only one way to fix the emptiness of your emotions. To live as a Mortal. On this journey, avoid using your power, see what the weakest and strongest do and how they survive. Only the extremities of human life can ignite emotions in one's heart.'
'Live as weak.' Sharv thought while reading the first passage, 'Then I did great by walking rather than flying. Should I also change names and act mysterious like spies? They generally aren't powerful are they?'
As he moved to the next page, his face turned much more serious. It talked about the cursed technique of Voidhearts and another breathing technique which would help him.
'This says that my community fuses PRANA with our vessels after attuning themselves to their Primordial Paths. And they can do it with the help of the five primordial elements.'
Sharv sat down in the lotus position.
' But what if I try to merge my Prana with outer worlds?' He thought, 'Sure, I would need to change the outer Prana to match my own, but can it be more effective?'
He started practicing the original technique. Slowly he emerged in his meditation. The night deepened and Sharv kept on with his practice.
Sharv walked by the day and practiced his breathing technique by night tweaking and changing it to match his own goals. Nothing eventful happened in the following days.
On the dawn of the fourth day, Sharv was sitting under a large tree. His wavy, shoulder-length hair was floating with the morning breeze. His chest bore a strange tattoo of a woman in a red saree, draped from her right hip across her left shoulder. Her face, though, was unclear.
He was still practicing his breathing technique. The unnamed diary had warned him to master it to avoid the curses. He could have done that but the tweaks he made completely slowed his speed to a crawl.
"Hey! Hello, fellow traveler!" a voice snapped Sharv from his meditation.
He turned to see a ragged boy stumbling toward him from a dirt trail leading through the western forest. The boy's breathing was heavy, and he was covered in dust and bruises.
"Do you need help?" Sharv asked, concerned.
"Water... Do you have any?" the boy gasped.
"No," Sharv replied. "But I can make some."
The boy stared. "What? Just give me some water, please!"
Sharv pulled a bowl from his pocket bag and placed it on the ground. He brought his hands together above it and focused.
Very faint blue, yellowish red, and silver green subtle luminescent lights began to glow-starting from his lower abdomen, then his solar plexus, and finally, his heart.
A sphere of clear water began to form between his palms, and then it started spinning with a whooshing sound. As it spun, steam rose from it, a fast wind passed through his hands and sphere, and soon a thin stream of water began dropping in the bowl.
In a few seconds the bowl was filled. The stranger boy was looking at him and then his hands and bowl, with wide eyes of surprise.
"Drink it." Sharv said, handing him the bowl. The boy looked at the bowl with disgust but drank the water. But his expression changed the moment he drank it. After finishing the bowl, the boy calmed down somewhat.
"Take a seat and calm yourself," Sharv offered, seeing the sweaty pale face of the boy.
" What is your name, Mister?" The boy asked, sitting beside the Banyan tree.
'I should use the name my mother called me.' Sharv thought.
" Àrì Màrdàn (Destroyer of Enemies)." He spoke.
"That sounds... powerful." Kant complimented, but couldn't understand its meaning completely.
"Yes, it is." Sharv accepted in a flat tone.
'He looks and acts emotionless. Maybe ...' The boy started thinking something but Sharv interrupted his thought process.
"What is your name?" Looking at the boy's brown oval face, with dirt filled brown hairs and tired brown eyes, he added, " And where are you going?"
"My name is Kant and I am going to the next kingdom - Avanti." The boy answered with closed eyes.
"Looks like you had a rough journey ?" Sharv asked.
"Yeah. Got attacked by some wild boars. Even though I could defend myself, thanks to my mastery of Earth Chàkrà, it left me thirsty and tired." Kant spoke in the same tired voice.
"So why didn't you carry any water?" Sharv asked while filling the bowl for himself.
" I am mastering Water Chakrà. So I thought I would just create water and drink it. But the created water had a metallic texture and taste." Kant spoke, looking down, like a child who had made a mistake, "But how did you create drinkable water?"
"Have you awakened Fire Chàkrà?" Sharv questioned.
"No"
"Hmm. The water you generally create has some impurities, depending on your mastery level and the presence of other elements. You need to vaporize it, using Fire Chàkrà, to make it drinkable. Then either collect the purified vapour, let it cool down itself or cool it down by using Air Chakra." Sharva explained.
" I can't do that." The boy, Kant, said to himself.
"You are travelling in the same direction, it seems. Can I travel with you?" He then asked Sharv. Sharv looked at him, from head to toe, inspecting his intentions, "You can."
"Thank you so much. I will pay you back, definitely." Kant spoke, cheerfully. Sharv didn't say anything else.
After a little rest, once Kant had healed and restored himself, they restarted their journey to Avanti.
Meanwhile in an office in the next city.
"So Karn's information was true?" A middle aged man with a goatee and thick moustache, and a scar running down his bald head, spoke. He was wearing a black military uniform, with several golden badges on his chest. The office was sparsely furnished but the golden hue of the walls and furniture illustrated wealth and luxury. Even the chair the bald officer was sitting on was golden coated. There was a Purple peacock painted on the wall behind him.
"Yes, Magistrate," said a shadowy figure, standing in front of him,"I have verified it personally in Swapna Gram."
"But his information is not the reason I am here," he added, " I sensed a presence there – A Voidheart."