Shambhu was standing in his room wearing just a black dhoti, his long hair still wet from the bath. He was looking at the monitoring display in front of him. The screen was split in two, displaying both his front and back.
"This tattoo has gotten much more vivid. And my muscles are kind of more toned than before; it's probably just because I sweated a ton." Shambhu was checking up on himself after his cleansing process.
"What do you think, Raktaa? Did my height increase too?" he asked Raktaa.
'It will increase bit by bit after every cleansing,' Raktaa confirmed his thoughts.
'Every cleansing? You mean to say this process will happen more than once?' Shambhu asked, slightly surprised.
'Yes, obviously. Just like the seven stages of mastery, your body will be cleansed 7 times, and only then will a spiritual vessel be completed,' Raktaa explained.
'Meaning, first I need to spread and raise my Práná within all 70,000 Nádis. Then start harnessing elemental energy and merge it with PRÁNÀ,' Shambhu mused.
'Exactly. This keeps the process simple and gives the best results according to the knowledge I have unsealed,' Raktaa agreed.
'I forgot to ask, but why do you think your knowledge is unsealed? Have you confirmed your theories?' Shambhu asked Raktaa.
'Yes. Once knowledge is partially revealed to you, then the complete knowledge is unsealed in my mind if you're deemed worthy. This theory is the most likely, considering what has happened,' Raktaa said.
'Hmm, then it's all about me being worthy, huh.' Shambhu nodded to himself. He then sat on the ground and focused internally.
'What are you trying to do?' Raktaa asked him curiously.
'I am trying to see if I can visualise my Dhàritrí Chàkrà now,' he answered.
Once he focused, he could see that a red sphere was at the bottom of his spine and almost 15 percent of his Nádis were now shiny white.
'Raktaa, is it good?' he asked, wanting to confirm that what he was seeing was good progress.
'Yes, once the whole system of Nádis is shiny white, you are good to start on your awakening journey,' Raktaa said.
'Let's get to the classes first. It's supposed to be the sparring day. Let's see who we get to fight.' Shambhu was excited. This cleansing process had increased his overall strength, in his opinion. He headed out after putting on the academy shirt.
Daru was already waiting for him on the bench under the tree in his front yard.
"Good morning, brother. Who do you think you will spar with today?" he asked Shambhu excitedly. "Wait a minute, did you just get taller overnight?" he suddenly asked after shaking hands with Shambhu.
"What are you saying, Daru? Nobody gets taller overnight," Shambhu tried to deny without lying. He couldn't accept that he knew how he got taller since Raktaa was a secret and the cleansing process was simply not known by anybody else.
"No, Shambhu, I think so too. You just got taller, at least 1 cm," Vajra said, shaking his head. He had just arrived on the path in front of them.
"You think so, too? Then maybe you are right. But I don't think so." Shambhu said without clearly accepting it. "But how are you here? You are not our neighbour?" he asked, diverting the topic.
"I came to meet Daru, to make sure he spars with me," Vajra said in his usual way. He was someone who liked fighting and sparring more than anything else.
"Oh, so you guys are really excited for the sparring session," Shambhu said while nodding. "Let's see what the future holds," he spoke like an elder.
When they reached Ràkshá Kéndrà, some students were already present in front of the building. Guru Rudra was also waiting for them, standing by the gate, arms crossed over his chest in his usual pose. A levitating black and red bus was also parked by the building.
After all the students were present, Guru Rudra spoke.
"We had changed the usual schedule from patrolling once a week to sparring because of the summoning last week. But since the Protector Forces have already captured the culprits, we are restarting the patrol," he said in an informative manner. The students were excited for their first task and about what they would have to do during the patrol.
"Get your weapons and board the bus. Everything else will be explained to you by Raghu, who is going with all of you," Guru Rudra ordered them after seeing their excited faces.
All the students took seats in the big bus. It had over 100 seats, five seats per row, so they didn't have any problems finding seats. A man clad in black clothes was sitting on the very first seat behind the driver. He had black hair and a dark skin tone. There was a horizontal scar over his left eyebrow, deeper towards the center and trailing off to the left with decreasing depth.
After they had all taken their seats and the bus started moving, the man stood up and addressed them.
"Good luck on your first patrol," he started in a calm voice. Shambhu noticed that it was the same man who had brought his gauntlet.
"We are going to the Western Zone. There, you will patrol different areas in different teams. You will report anything where you think a protector should intervene, according to what you have learned so far, after returning to the academy. If the situation needs immediate attention, you will notify me or the Peacekeeping Department of the Protector Forces. But you are not to fight in public or act as the Protector Forces. Do you understand?" Raghu spoke in a strict and authoritative tone.
"Yes, we understand," the students replied in unison. Most of them were serious by now. The excitement from earlier was only on some faces.
Raghu started again. "You will be divided into ten teams according to your sitting positions on this bus. No two teams should be seen together, and you all are to return before six in the evening."
Raghu sat down after speaking. The bus kept moving at its own pace. Soon, they crossed the Central Bridge and entered the Western Zone.
The bus came to a halt in front of a yellow building.
"PEACEKEEPING DEPARTMENT" was written in bold letters on the entrance gate.
"Seats 1 to 10 are the first team, 11 to 20 are the second, and so on. The bus will stay here. You can go in any direction. Your I-Band already has a map of this zone. So, now move. Return on time," Raghu ordered, standing up.
Shambhu, Vajra, and Daru were sitting together and thus were in the same team. After getting out of the bus, Shambhu noticed that the zone was just as chaotic as it had seemed when he first saw it during the fair.
But this time, he was not an innocent boy who had come here to just wander the world. He now had a responsibility to see what lay behind the veil the world puts on itself.
He was not a citizen, but a Protector.