The first light of dawn touched the rooftops of the village, painting them in pale gold. Roosters crowed, women rose to fetch water, and smoke curled from kitchen fires. But Arjun was already awake. He had not slept at all.
All night, the monk's words had echoed inside him: "Are you ready to walk the path within?"
Arjun looked around his small room—his father's worn plough leaning against the wall, the clay lamp still faintly glowing, his mother's folded cloth near his bed. Everything he loved surrounded him, and yet none of it could answer the question burning in his chest.
His heart was torn. He thought of his mother's gentle hands, of his father's quiet pride, of the life they had imagined for him. But the river's whispers and the monk's eyes had awakened something that refused to sleep again.
He stepped outside into the cool morning air. The village felt both familiar and distant, as though he were already a stranger here.
When he reached the threshold of his home, he hesitated. His mother's voice called from inside, humming an old prayer. His chest ached. For a moment, he thought of turning back.
But then, deep within, a voice arose: "Your love for them will not end. But your search must begin."
Arjun placed his palms together, bowed silently toward the house, and whispered a farewell that only the dawn could hear.
Without carrying food, without carrying wealth, without even telling anyone, he stepped onto the dusty path that led toward the unknown forest where the monk had disappeared.
The further he walked, the lighter his body felt, but the heavier his heart became. His legs moved forward, but his mind was filled with memories—the laughter of his childhood, the scent of the harvest, the warmth of his mother's lap.
At midday, the sun was high, and Arjun was tired. Hunger gnawed at his stomach, but his spirit was strangely calm. For the first time, he was not walking to reach a destination—he was walking into a question.
By evening, as the sky turned crimson, he saw a familiar figure sitting under a banyan tree—the monk, silent, waiting, as if he had known Arjun would come.
The monk opened his eyes and smiled gently. "You have left your world," he said, "but the real journey is yet to begin."
Arjun sat down before him, breathless, trembling, but with a strange sense of relief. For the first time in his life, he felt he was exactly where he was meant to be.