Chapter 3 – The Sage's Warning
The old man did not leave the village immediately.
Instead, he walked to the small temple near the banyan tree in the center of Vedanagar and sat down quietly, as if he was waiting for something.
The villagers noticed him quickly. Travelers were rare, and old men with long white hair and calm eyes were even rarer.
"Who is he?"
"Maybe a sage."
"Maybe a wandering monk."
Children gathered around him, whispering and staring.
The old man smiled slightly and closed his eyes, ignoring the noise around him.
After some time, the midwife arrived at the temple, slightly out of breath.
"You… you are not an ordinary traveler, are you?" she asked.
The old man opened his eyes slowly.
"No one who watches the sky for a living is ordinary," he replied.
"You knew about the child before seeing him," the midwife said nervously. "Who are you?"
The old man looked at the sky for a long moment before answering.
"My name is Rishi Devavrata. I read the movements of stars, the flow of karma, and the lines of destiny."
The midwife's eyes widened. Even in a small village, people had heard stories about sages who could read fate.
"Then you know what that child is?" she asked quietly.
The old sage did not answer immediately.
Instead, he drew something in the sand with a small stick — a circle.
Inside the circle, he drew a wheel with many spokes.
"This," he said, "is the Wheel of Fate. Every life is a spoke on this wheel. The wheel turns, and lives move according to karma and time."
Then he erased one spoke from the wheel.
"What happens if one spoke is missing?" he asked.
The midwife looked confused. "The wheel becomes unstable?"
The sage nodded.
"Yes. And if the wheel breaks… fate itself breaks."
The midwife felt a chill.
"You mean that child…"
The sage looked toward the direction of Ariv's house.
"That child is not on the wheel."
The wind blew gently through the temple.
"For thousands of years," the sage continued, "every person born had a destiny written before their birth. Kings rise, kingdoms fall, wars happen, heroes are born, villains appear — all according to the great balance of karma and fate."
He looked at the midwife very seriously.
"But a person without destiny is outside that system."
"Outside fate…" she whispered.
The sage nodded.
"Such a person can become anything. A king. A destroyer. A savior. A demon. A god."
He paused.
"Or something beyond all of them."
The midwife was now clearly frightened. "Should we… send the child to a temple? Or a sect? Or tell the king?"
The sage's expression immediately became serious.
"No."
His voice was firm.
"If the wrong people learn about this child, his life will become a prison."
He stood up slowly and looked at the sky again.
"Kings will want to use him. Sects will want to control him. Warriors will want him as a weapon. Priests will call him a curse. And if the higher realms learn about him…"
He stopped speaking.
"What will happen?" the midwife asked.
The sage spoke very quietly.
"They may decide he should not exist."
The midwife felt her legs weaken slightly.
"So what should we do?" she asked.
The sage started walking away from the temple.
"Let him grow like a normal child," he said. "Let him run, fall, laugh, fight, and learn like others."
He stopped and turned back once more.
"But remember this."
His eyes were serious and calm at the same time.
"One day, this child will stand at a point where he must choose between Dharma and Freedom."
"Between saving the world… or breaking it."
The midwife did not understand his words completely, but she would remember them for the rest of her life.
The sage picked up his staff and began to leave the village.
As he walked away, he looked at the sky once more and whispered to himself:
"A child outside fate… after a thousand years… The universe is about to change again."
End of Chapter 3