The walk back to the workshop was a suffocating affair. The golden-clad guards of the Dharma Sanctuary marched in a perfect hexagon around Arjun, their armored boots rhythmically crunching the dry mountain soil. To the villagers lining the path, it looked like a royal escort for a savior. To Arjun, it felt like the cold, metallic walls of a cage closing in.
"Move back! Give the Saint-Child space!" the guards barked, pushing aside children Arjun had played with just yesterday. The reverence in the villagers' eyes had turned into a distant, fearful awe. He was no longer Arjun; he was a "resource" of the High Priests.
When they reached the smithy, the lead guard—a man with a scar running through his Sun-mark—halted. "We will remain outside. Blacksmith, you have seventy-two hours to prepare your son's belongings. Do not attempt to leave. The perimeter is sealed by a Golden Bell Array."
Kaelas didn't even look at the guard. He grabbed Arjun's shoulder and pulled him into the darkness of the forge, slamming the heavy oak door shut.
The Weight of Truth
Inside, the forge was silent. The fire had died down to a low, pulsing amber glow. Kaelas walked to the center of the room and did something Arjun had never seen: he triggered a hidden lever beneath the anvil. With a groan of heavy machinery, a stone slab in the floor slid away, revealing a steep staircase leading into the cool dampness of the earth.
"Down," Kaelas commanded.
In the sub-cellar, lit by flickering oil lamps, the air felt ancient. On the walls hung weapons that looked nothing like the simple plows and knives sold in the village. These were jagged, aggressive things—axes made of bone, swords that seemed to bleed shadow.
"Father... what is this place?" Arjun whispered, his left hand still throbbing with that dark, electric hunger.
Kaelas turned, his face illuminated from below, making him look like one of the stone Asuras from the old temples. "The world thinks the Dharma Sanctuary brought peace to Bharatavarsha. They think the 'Light' they preach is the only path. They are liars, Arjun. They are harvesters."
He grabbed Arjun's left hand and forced the palm open. "Show me. Don't hide it here. If you keep that power suppressed, it will shatter your meridians before the sun sets."
Arjun let go.
BOOM.
The basement exploded in a flash of violet light. The Vajra Trident manifested, not as a flicker this time, but as a solid, heavy weapon of obsidian. Purple lightning arced from the three prongs, striking the stone walls and leaving scorched, glass-like scars. Arjun's breathing became ragged, his eyes turning a predatory silver.
"The Vajra-Astra," Kaelas whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "The weapon of the Great Destroyer. It has been dormant in our bloodline for three centuries."
The Secret of the Twin Souls
Kaelas sat on a wooden crate, the weight of years finally bowing his shoulders. "Your mother was not a commoner, Arjun. She was the High Priestess of the Sanjeevani Sect—the only people who truly understood the Blue Lotus. The Sanctuary didn't 'invite' her to the Capital; they hunted her. They wanted her life-essence to fuel the immortality of the Maha-Gurus."
Arjun's heart froze. "Is she... dead?"
"She is in a 'State of Eternal Meditation,'" Kaelas spat. "A soul-stasis chamber beneath the Sun Temple. They use her Prana to keep the High Priests from aging. I was the captain of her guard. We fled together, but the Sanctuary is a beast with a thousand eyes. I hid you here, in this dirt, hoping the Trident would never wake up. Hoping you would just be a simple smith with a simple flower."
Kaelas stood up, his gaze turning sharp as a razor. "But the gods have a cruel sense of humor. You have the Lotus of Life to heal the world, and the Trident of Death to tear it down. If the Envoy finds out about the Trident, they won't just take you. They will dissect your soul to see how two opposite poles can exist in one body."
The Forbidden Training: Asura-Gati
Kaelas walked to a stone chest and pulled out a scroll that seemed to be made of human skin. It was cold to the touch.
"You have Rank 10 Innate Power, but you have zero control. To survive the journey to the Capital, you must learn to Seal. This is the Asura-Gati (The Demon's Stride). It is a technique used by rogue cultivators to mask their presence."
For the next ten hours, Kaelas showed no mercy. He didn't teach Arjun how to fight; he taught him how to hide.
"The Sanjeevani Lotus is a peaceful soul. It is soft, expansive, and warm," Kaelas explained, his hands moving through complex mudras. "You must wrap the energy of the Lotus around the Trident. Like a silk cloth over a jagged blade. If even a spark of that purple lightning leaks out, you are dead."
Arjun sat cross-legged, the Lotus floating in front of him. He tried to pull the warm, blue petals toward his left arm. The two energies hated each other. Every time the blue light touched the purple lightning, Arjun felt like his veins were being filled with molten lead.
"Again!" Kaelas roared. "If you cannot control your own soul, you are nothing but a vessel for others to pour their will into!"
Arjun screamed, his silver eyes bleeding tears of light. He visualized the forge—the way he folded steel to remove impurities. He began to "fold" his Prana. He forced the violent, chaotic hunger of the Trident into a tiny, dense point in his Dantian, then draped the soothing, floral essence of the Lotus over it.
Slowly, the purple glow faded. The Trident vanished back into the mark on his palm. To any outside observer, Arjun now looked like a talented, Rank 10 Healer.
The First Weapon
As the second night fell, Kaelas approached the forge. He didn't use common iron. He pulled out a bar of Black Meteorite Iron, the same material the Trident was made of.
"The Sanctuary will give you a staff of gold and jade. It will be beautiful, and it will be useless," Kaelas said. "A smith's son carries a hammer."
He began to strike. The rhythm was different now—not the slow beat of a villager, but a rapid, thunderous tempo. He was forging a Spirit Tool. As he worked, he bled onto the metal, his own Rank 60 Prana infused into every strike.
"This is Vajra-Bhara," Kaelas said, handing Arjun a heavy, black smithing hammer. It looked ordinary, but when Arjun touched it, it felt like an extension of his own arm. "It is heavy enough to crush a mountain, but it will appear as a simple tool. It is the only thing I can give you to remember who you are."
Arjun gripped the hammer, the weight grounding him. "I'm not going to be their battery, Father. I'm going to bring her back."
Kaelas looked at his son, a flicker of pride finally crossing his weathered face. "The path to the Capital is long. The Dandaka Forest is full of Asura Beasts. The Sanctuary will want you to stay 'pure' and avoid combat. Use that. Let them think you are a helpless lamb. But when the time comes..."
"I will be the wolf," Arjun finished.
The Ominous Departure
On the dawn of the third day, the Golden Bell Array was deactivated. The Envoy returned, his eyes scanning Arjun with a predatory hunger.
"Are you ready, Saint-Child? Your new life awaits."
Arjun stepped out of the smithy, the black hammer tucked into a simple leather loop at his belt. He didn't look back at the forge. He didn't look back at the villagers. He looked only at the golden horizon.
"I am ready," Arjun said, his voice flat.
As they walked away, Kaelas stood in the doorway of the forge. He didn't wave goodbye. He simply picked up his hammer and struck the anvil one last time. Clang. It was a signal.
Far in the distance, in the shadowed peaks of the Himalayas, a group of figures in tattered grey robes looked toward Nila-Giri. They were the Parashu—the rogue hunters.
"The Trident has spoken," their leader whispered. "The Mandala is turning."