The Bhūmigriha courtyard was alive with tension. Warm, dry wind pushed the training dust into slow spirals. Students stood in rows, backs straight, eyes forward. A stone platform rose slowly from the ground at the center.
Bhūmivedan, the towering and solemn head of Bhūmigriha, stood atop it. His voice rumbled like shifting rock.
"Tomorrow," he declared, "you will fight in the Intra-House Trial."
Murmurs and excited whispers broke out among the students.
"This will determine your star ranks. Your command over Earth, your discipline, and your resilience will be tested. Not all of you will rise."
The floating stone tablet behind him lit up. Matchups were displayed in flickering golden script:
Dev vs. PravarRajyashrī vs. Karnav
Dev blinked. "Pravar? That tall guy who punches stone pillars like they're soft fruit?"
Rajyashrī squinted. "Karnav… he's new. Came from last season. But they say he can sculpt stone like water."
Roshan, standing behind them, snorted. "Good luck. Maybe take a few buckets of Bhūmigraha mud to defend yourselves."
Dev groaned. "I was hoping to nap through this week."
Rajyashrī smirked. "Not anymore."
Later that evening, inside the quiet corners of Bhūmiśikṣāyaṇa, the special training hall, Dev and Rajyashrī sat on raised stone circles. Between them lay the ancient, cracked scroll of Bhūmisāgara, their secret prize from their hidden library mission with Maarun and Roshan.
The parchment shimmered faintly, its text alive with elemental energy.
"We've already mastered three hybrid forms," Rajyashrī said, flipping through the worn pages. "Earth Shield Flow, Mud Vine Hold, and Dust Camouflage."
"I vote we skip straight to the fun part," Dev said, pointing to a complex diagram. "This one: Stone Spiral Flood."
Rajyashrī raised an eyebrow. "That's a fourth-tier combo. It'll drain your stamina in seconds."
Dev cracked his knuckles. "Or it'll win me the match."
They got to work. Dev practiced channeling energy through the soles of his feet, raising stone rings in sync while pushing water pressure beneath them. Rajyashrī molded thin clay plates and tried to run water spirals through them like chakras.
Their first attempts failed miserably. Dev tripped over his own spirals. Rajyashrī accidentally soaked both of them with a misfired mud geyser.
Roshan appeared at the door, arms crossed, grinning.
"Are you two sure you're not secretly training for Jalāgriha?"
Rajyashrī wiped her face. "We'll see who's laughing after I win."
"And after I don't lose terribly," Dev added.
Roshan chuckled and left.
By midnight, the hall was dim, the only light coming from soft crystal orbs. Their hands were scraped, their robes caked with mud, but there was a fire in both their eyes.
Dev sat back, breathing hard. "You really think we can pull it off?"
Rajyashrī closed the scroll. "If we don't try, we'll always just be ranked B. And I—"
She paused.
"I lost last year. In front of everyone. To someone from Jalāgriha."
Dev turned. "The same girl you mentioned before?"
He nodded. "Then let's make history instead."
They stood up. The ground beneath them was carved with patterns of practice, soaked and hardened from their effort. Tomorrow, they'd face real opponents.
But tonight, they had trained like never before.
Tomorrow, Bhūmigriha would tremble.