Child of prophecy
Chapter 14
"This is your room, you can stay here from now on. My room is beside yours, and at the front is Aman's. He's already asleep, so don't make any noise," Tushar said as he opened one of the doors in the hallway.
"That's fine," Aksh replied. "But can you put me down now?"
Tushar blinked, looking down as if just realizing he was still carrying Aksh over his shoulder.
"Oh. Right."
He gently lowered Aksh to the floor. Aksh dusted himself off with whatever dignity he had left.
"You didn't need to carry me, you know," he muttered.
"I'm sorry, it was all so sudden I kinda forgot," Tushar said, rubbing the back of his head with an awkward grin. "And hey, don't forget—if it weren't for me, you'd be in that devil's grip too!" he added with a chuckle.
"If you get hungry at night, you can wake me up. I know where all the secret food's stashed in the kitchen," Tushar wispered in Aksh's ear.
Aksh entered the room.
It was bigger than his entire house back in the slums.
The bathroom was attached, and in the center stood a single bed made of black wood, with a soft white bedsheet.
A matching study table sat beside it.
An almirah was placed in the corner. Above, a ceiling lamp glowed brightly, lighting up the entire room. The rest of the space was empty.
Aksh opened the almirah. It was already full of clothes, all perfectly his size—and hanging neatly among them was the academy uniform.
So they already knew everything about me even before I stepped into the academy… and they were already sure I would join. I shouldn't trust them so easily. With the amount of resources they're providing me, it would be even weirder if they didn't want something in return.
These were the thoughts clouding Aksh.
"You should trust them. I can't sense any malice from these guys here. And that Arihant brat… he's different. The move he used to teleport—Kalasanchara—that's no simple technique. It was developed by Agnivardhana himself," the deep voice echoed in his mind.
"It takes a lot of Tejas to perform that technique and it is very hard to master, but the version Arihant used… it wasn't just faster—it used a negligible amount of Tejas."
"Do you think Arihant has found out about your presence? Is that why he's helping me?" Aksh asked in his mind.
"It's impossible to sense my presence unless someone has reached the peak of 9 stars—which I can tell he hasn't. So, there's only a 0.1% chance he's figured it out. But… if it's him, we can't completely rule out the possibility."
"So, what do you think I should do if he knows about your presence?" Aksh asked, his voice barely a whisper this time.
"You can't do anything right now. You're too weak," the deep voice responded with a tone of indifference. "Focus on getting stronger. I will assist you with your Tejas training, but first, you need to fortify your body. Only then will you be able to endure the demonic Tejas."
"I'll just sleep for now," Aksh muttered, his voice barely audible. He moved toward the bed, his mind tired from the long day.
As he lay down, the moonlight from the window casted a glow on his face. The curtains of the window fluttered with a cool breeze. There was a light sound of insects singing outside which was perfect lullaby to anyone.
His eyes slowly closed. His breathing steadied.
He slowly fell into sleep but there was something wrong.
His heartbeat became too quiet. He could no longer hear the sound of insects or feel the cool of breeze.
Aksh opened his eyes. He was in a completely different place.
The entire area was a sea of blood, with dead bodies floating in every direction. As Aksh looked up, his breath caught. The moon was completely red and so large that it seemed fused with the Earth.
His heartbeat quickened.
Lub-dub…
Lub-dub…
Lub-dub…
It pounded harder with each second, like it was about to burst from his chest.
The sea slowly began to rise—first covering his knees… then his abdomen… his chest… his neck— Until it swallowed him whole.
He clutched his chest tightly as the pounding grew unbearable. And then—he started falling— drowning into the endless abyss of blood.
And then he hear a distant, but familiar voice. "You shouldn't be here. It's too early for you."
A hand reached into the blood. It was covered in crimson scales,and tipped with long, pointed black nails. It grabbed his wrist and pulled him upward.
Aksh's eyes snapped open.
He was in bed completely soaked in sweat and gasping for breath.
His heart was still racing like crazy.
Thump thump thump—
"Aksh, wake up! Captain is waiting." Tushar's voice came from outside the door, followed by a knock.
"Are you awake, or should I come inside?" Tushar called from outside.
"No—wait. I'll be out in ten minutes," Aksh replied immediately, his voice still shaky but steady enough to hide the storm inside.
"Hey, old bastard. What the hell was that dream?" Aksh muttered, still catching his breath.
There was no reply.
He waited but the voice didn't respond.
"Oh, now you want to keep your mouth shut? Fine then. Don't talk." Aksh said, completely frustrated and dragging a hand through his messy hair.
Still annoyed, he pushed himself up from the bed and walked into the bathroom and took off his shirt, to wash away the sweat from his skin. But just as he reached for the tap, he felt a burning sting on his wrist.
He looked down at his wrist—and froze.
There was a mark on his wrist. Four long, faintly red finger marks wrapped around his wrist—exactly where that crimson-scaled hand had grabbed him in the dream.
So that wasn't just a dream.