The Sage felt an imbalance ripple through the fabric of spirit power. He could sense energy flowing unnaturally, surging toward his home.
Moments later, faint blue wisps, the wandering spirits are reached the small wooden wall surrounding the Mahavihara Monastery. They could not pass through the spirit barrier to protect the sacred grounds. Sage created this barrier when he first created the settlement.
The spirits, unable to enter, began communicating spiritually. Their message was clear,
"the Sage's son was hurt."
"The boy fall from the top of the divine water into the waterfall."
The Sage's heart tightened. Without a word, he sprinted toward the outskirts of the village. A few of his followers, realising the urgency, followed. They too understood the spirits warning and quickly prepared a cot to carry the boy back.
Meanwhile, the Princess was still deep in prayer before one of the Three Supreme Beings, unaware of the tragedy unfolding.
As the Sage ran, he could faintly feel his son's life force weak but stable. He couldn't understand how his son could survive such a tremendous fall from the waterfall. Assumed that perhaps someone had intervened, but there was no time to think. He had to reach him.
The Sage leapt into the open air. He summoned his power, and the ground beneath him caved in from the force of his takeoff. He soared over the trees, covering more than fifty meters in a single bound. His followers gasped. They had never seen the Sage use his powers, and those who knew of them understood this was only a fraction of his strength. He restrained himself, unwilling to destroy the forest around him.
His next jump shattered the earth again, this time propelling him over seventy meters. In less than two hundred leaps, the Sage reached the waterfall. His followers are nowhere near.
From midair, he saw his son lying motionless beside the water and a few meters away from the waterfall. He redirected his leap and landed a short distance away. He reached the ground and sprinted towards Rav, whose body was still and pale. The Sage extended his senses and felt… and nothing. No spirit flow. No aura.
His eyes filled with tears. The tears, brimming with pure spirit energy, fell to the earth. Where they landed, tiny dust motes transformed into newborn spirits, shimmering briefly before vanishing.
The Sage knelt beside his son, cradling him in his arms. He pressed his fingers to Rav's wrist and found a pulse. He exhaled a long, trembling breath of relief.
Placing a hand over Rav's chest, he sent gentle waves of spirit energy through his body to assess the damage. What he discovered stunned him.
Inside the boy was a storm of power and his internal organs pulsed with energy akin to that of a high Spiritual Sage, perhaps even a Demi God.
The Sage hesitated to probe deeper, fearing what he might find. He expected his son's spirit paths to be shattered completely. But as he traced them, he felt little life, flow, and recovery.
"Impossible…" he whispered.
He found several damaged paths, but the spirit nodes were active, functioning independently. The Sage's worry softened into wonder. He observed that the broken paths are still trying to extend towards the nearby nodes. He is still worried, this may cause unexpected tanglement and is still shocked by how broken paths can move or self-repair without any external spirit force.
Moments later, his followers arrived, breathless and shaken. They gently lifted the boy from the Sage's lap and laid him on the cot. Together, they carried Rav back to the monastery's infirmary and began treatment.
__________
The Blind Man's Recovery
The Sage ordered his followers to move the blind man to a separate room and tend to him as well. When he opened his sightless eyes and he could smell his god. And without a thought, he ran towards his god in the next room. He fell on the ground by hitting his legs on the doorstep and near the Rav's bed. He heard the faint breathing of the boy.
He called out softly,
"My God… you're here."
The man moved closer to the bed, his trembling hands searching for the boy's legs. When he found them, he bowed his head, pressing his eyes against them as he whispered a prayer. His tears soaked the child's feet.
Neither the Princess nor the Sage understood what was happening. Yet neither interrupted him. They only watched, astonished, as the artifact the blind man had brought began to merge with the boy. The Sage felt no harm, no resistance and only a perfect synchronisation. He sensed the artifact's energy blending seamlessly with Rav's spirit, as though it had always belonged there.
He decided not to interfere. And decided to question the man later.
__________
The Morning After
At 4:30 a.m., the Sage rose to check on the boy before going to the waterfall. When he entered the infirmary room, the bed was empty.
Alarmed, he went to wake the blind man and only to feel the coldness of death at his touch.
The Sage bowed deeply.
"Human… your faith shall not vanish into the current."
He asked his followers to move the man's body to the park opposite the monastery and prepare funeral rites. Then, he sent a few men to search for Rav.
__________
The Boy Awakens
Rav opened his eyes. He inhaled deeply, and the entire world seemed to fill his lungs.
He could smell everything.
The wet fragrance of the earth.
The distinct scent of trees, each age giving off a different note.
The faint metallic tang of blood in the rocks.
He could feel change within and around him. Turning toward the shore, he saw a man lying by his feet. He did not know him, but the scent stirred something deep inside and a connection older than memory. Some unknown reason he felt very sad for the man sleeping on his bed.
Then he sensed another familiar smell and warm. He followed it to the farm, where animals rested.
__________
Reunion
Sage's followers finally found Rav. He was playing with the calf that the blind man had brought, named Sivam.
They carried Rav to the Sage's meditation quarters.
"Father," Rav called softly.
The Sage looked at him, emotion held behind a calm face.
"I'm sorry, Father," said Rav.
"I wanted to see the waterfall. I slipped and fell… and when I woke up, a man was holding my legs. I felt Shivam was sad, so I went to play with him."
The Sage asked, "Who is Sivam?"
"The new calf in the barn,"Rav smiled.
"Ah…" the Sage sighed. Then his tone deepened.
"Do you know who that blind man is near your bed?"
Rav looked blankly at his father.
"A man with no eyes, but the clearest faith I've ever seen. He came here guided by the scent of his god and waited for his god."
Rav's eyes dimmed. He felt something precious fading away, like warmth leaving his chest.
"He saved your life and lost his in the process," said the Sage.
"Show your gratitude. Attend the ritual."
Rav nodded silently.
That afternoon, the Sage, Princess, and Rav performed the funeral rites. The Sage and followers went to bury the blind man beside the left bank of the waterfall and built a small two-foot shrine where a candle could burn eternally within.
__________
The Revelation
Sage and followers returned to the village.
Rav smelled and said,
"Father is coming back."
The Princess blinked in confusion.
"How do you know? I can't see him anywhere."
Rav smiled faintly.
"I can smell him."
The Princess stared, bewildered, and quietly returned to the temple to pray to Ling, one of the Supreme Three.
Moments later, the Sage arrived. Rav ran and leapt into his father's arms.
The Sage embraced him and immediately felt something strange. Rav's spirit energy had grown vastly stronger. He sent a pulse of his own power to analyze it, and was shocked.
All the spirit paths were repaired, and a new spiritual core had formed but not around the heart, but slightly to its right. The Sage probed deeper, and Rav cried out in pain. He stopped at once.
"Does it hurt in your chest?" the Sage asked. Rav nodded.
"Forgive me, my son. I only wanted to ensure you were well."
"It's okay, Father," Rav smiled weakly.
"I'm fine."
__________
The same evening, the Sage retreated to his meditation chamber. He tried to recall the strange sensation he had felt while examining Rav's spirit realms. The answer struck him suddenly.
"the artifact"
It had created a new spiritual core within the boy, and was complete with its own spirit circle.
That meant Rav now possessed two cores, one his own, not awakened and one newly born one with a circle. And even more astonishing, the Sage had sensed a third object, left of the heart. It's faint, but alive.
He had dismissed it earlier as damaged energy, but now he wasn't sure.
"Could it be a third core, or some unique spirit yet forming?" asked himself.
He scoured the sacred scriptures but found nothing that described such a phenomenon. Even beings with divine blood, himself included, had never achieved the creation of a second core.
"Only true gods could," mutters himself
Now, his son carried two, and possibly a third.
The Sage resolved to seek counsel from other ancient Sages.
That night, Sage recorded a single verse in his scroll
"This power bears no lineage, not mortal, not celestial, not demon; a whisper from the dawn before dawn. An entity of unknown, smells, divine - mortal - demon."
_________
Internal System Logs
"Human Spirit: Sacrificed."
"Artifact: Absorbed."
"New Path Formed: Muru's Blessing: Scent of Salvation."
"Ability Manifestation: `Primal Scent` - Host perceives life essence, emotions, and truth through scent."
"Divine Core: Second core still forming."
"Human Core: Third core unstable: may merge with the heart's core."
__________
The night fell quiet over the Mahavihara Monastery. The Sage meditated, the Princess prayed, and the boy, bearer of three bloods and two cores, slept peacefully beside the calf Shivam, his breath carrying the faint fragrance of faith and divinity and demon.
The boy isn't aware that unknown powers are gazing at him with grudge, admiration and worship.
A war is brewing for the boy without him knowing a thing.
Human tribes wished,
"Through the dark forest he moved, unseen and uncertain, until the moon broke through the clouds. And for a fleeting breath, his silver sigil twinkled in the night, revealing him as one of the Patels."