Questions are often short, but their answers are long.
This is because the answers must be extracted and crafted from the questions themselves.
It is precisely like the time it takes to cook raw vegetables until they are ready to be eaten.
The necessary duration required to shape clay into a sturdy pot.
In the same way, the process of drawing profound answers out of simple questions is a matter of time and patient construction.
When Virat first saw them, only moments passed before the creatures noticed him in return.
Some of the beings immediately ceased their feeding.
Those creatures who could see fixed their bizarre eyes on him.
The ones who couldn't see, perhaps they smelled the scent of his fear, or maybe they simply heard the sudden, chilling silence—the sound of raw flesh no longer being chewed.
The one-eyed giant creature rose. It tossed the raw flesh it held in its hand, and thick drool dripped from its mouth. A massive tongue lashed out, licking its lips in anticipation.
Virat was a short distance away—not too far, but not terribly close either; close enough to be seen, yet distant enough for a moment's grace.
When that monstrous being began to charge toward him, Virat had the window of time he needed to run.
Both the giant and Virat were now sprinting.
However, their motivations were entirely different: Virat ran out of fear, while the monster ran out of hunger.
This difference in drive gave Virat the critical edge: the monster lagged behind, and Virat pulled ahead.
The demon, exhausted from the chase, finally slumped down. Virat, also breathing heavily, stopped in his tracks upon seeing this.
He watched as the silver radiance faded from the creature's body.
The giant's footsteps glowed, and as he ran, his luminescence scattered all around him.
He settled down, sighing.
The colossal giant, whose arms were thicker than an elephant's legs, had a square head.
On it was a single colossal eye that was weeping from a human eye.
However, as Virat stood near the giant, suddenly, silvery shining branches of trees erupted from the white ground and imprisoned Virat.
When the giant saw this, it rose and moved toward him. Saliva was dripping from the giant's mouth.
It looked happy, as if it had finally found its favorite meal. The colossal, hungry giant stepped closer. It was nearly upon him.
Just then, Virat cut the thorny branches with his dagger. He then struck the giant's neck, but the blow didn't even leave a scratch.
Frustrated, Virat muttered, "If this dagger can't kill a common monster, then how did it ever get the power to cut Kakraj?"
The giant lunged at him. Virat dodged the punch, which slammed into the ground, causing the earth to shatter into pieces.
When the giant forcefully stomped its foot on the ground, the earth shook, making Virat lose his balance, and he fell to the spot.
The giant immediately punched again, narrowly missing Virat's head. However, a piece of stone struck Virat's head, and a few drops of blood began to seep out. The giant was right in front of him.
Virat stood up and challenged, "Come on, fatty. Let's see how much strength you really have!"
Virat placed the dagger on the ground, doing so because he had lost hope that it would ever glow with that blue light again. He prepared himself for a wrestling match with the giant.
The giant was powerful, but Virat was fast.
When Virat dodged the giant and punched it in the face, he realized he had made a huge mistake: the giant's body was stone.
Virat clutched his hand, groaning in pain. Just then, the giant quickly grabbed Virat's leg and swiftly slammed his body repeatedly against the ground.
This left Virat completely soaked in blood. The giant then tried to pull on his arms, as if planning to rip them from his body.
Virat struck the giant's head with his free leg, causing the giant to lose its grip, and Virat fell away.
By the time Virat got up, the rest of the Daityas also started arriving.
Virat was gasping for breath and coughing. He spat out a broken tooth and said, "Looks like my luck is terrible."
Virat looked at the dagger lying on the ground. He realized that fighting with his bare hands was useless; he had to fight with the dagger.
Drops of blood were flowing from his wrists and collecting on his fingers when he touched the weapon.
The dagger shuddered to life!
Blue and red flames engulfed the dagger, drenching it in a dazzling light.
The sight of the flame erupting from the dagger spread a smile across Virat's face. And within that smile, I understood the answer to my first question: what was missing.
As the flames touched Virat, all the wounds on his body healed, and all his fatigue vanished.
Virat swiftly charged and separated the colossal giant's head from its body. The head crashed onto the ground.
The other giants paused for a moment, but then surged toward him again.
A snake-like creature tried to coil around him, but Virat sliced through its eyes and its entire body in a single strike.
He leapt high into the air and cut a tall giant's body cleanly in half down the middle. Just then, wooden branches grabbed him. Directly ahead was a tree that shimmered with a moonlit glow.
Virat cut through the tree branches and moved towards the tree, but the Bush Giant, whose body was 15 feet tall, blocked his way. It struck at Virat with its hand. Virat fell but quickly recovered his balance.
Virat attacked again, but the giant's arms were very long, swinging like ropes. One of the hands finally connected with Virat, nearly knocking him unconscious. However, he took a deep, deliberate breath and stood firm.
He paused for a moment, looked at the giant's feet, and smiled.
Virat moved forward. The giant tried to stop him with its hand, but Virat sliced off its fingers and then struck at the giant's heels. As soon as he wounded the heels, the giant fell.
Virat leapt into the air and, as he dropped, plunged the dagger right into the center of the giant's head. A sharp, silver lightning burst from the giant's head, causing all the other monsters to panic and retreat.
At that moment, the fire on the dagger extinguished.
Virat's expression changed. Seeing his face, the monsters advanced again, as if they had read the fear there. He did not panic. He thought for a moment and then said, "It seems this is the only way."
He gripped the dagger in his hand and inflicted a wound on his own palm. When the dagger was soaked in the warm blood, it absorbed the power of the fire and burst into flame once more And the light from that fire completely healed Virat's wound.
The monsters charged at Virat all at once.
At that moment, Virat smiled and shouted, "Surya Burst!"
A fierce, blinding red shockwave erupted from the dagger, instantly reducing all the monsters to dust. After one massive explosion, every single demon had been annihilated.
He was certainly exhausted, but his fatigue was not visible on his face; instead, there was a glow of energy.
He looked again at the child, who was still smiling. The child was far away, but Virat knew it was the same one he had seen the previous night.
Just then, Lekhaam arrived, applauding.
"Why are you applauding?" Virat asked.
"Because you have passed my test," Lekhaam replied.
Virat let out a disappointed, deep sigh and said, "I knew it."
"Did you know this was a test?"
"Yes, what else? What did you think? That I am some fool who wouldn't realize this was all your magic?"
"Oh, I just wanted to see how the dagger's powers actually work, and for that, it was necessary to put you in danger."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You are a great well-wisher of mine," Virat scoffed. "You could have just told me."
"If I had told you, you would never have taken the fight seriously."
"But how did you figure out that all of this was fake and that it was my magic?" Lekhaam asked.
"I told you, I'm no moron!" he yelled. "These shiny monsters, the trees, and the strange weather—none of this exists in the real world!"
"Oh, I did all of this for your own good!" Lekhaam insisted.
"Fine. And what lesson did that child teach me by cursing me? Tell me that."
"What child?" Lekhaam asked.
"There! Over there!" Virat pointed into the distance.
But the child wasn't there.
"Where is he?"
"He was just there a moment ago."
"Perhaps you were just hallucinating," Lekhaam suggested.
Virat continued to stare in that direction. Lekhaam said, "Come, let me show you your home. You're following me, right?"
"Yes, I'm coming," Virat said, and he followed Lekhaam.
Sometimes, the answers to questions are incomplete. This universe is filled with partial answers. But the answers to questions are always found. That is just how it is. And the answer is often hidden within the question itself.
Another question arose in Virat's mind: Who exactly was that smiling boy?