After that conversation, we kept walking.
Mukund led the way—he always knew where everything was. Through the Gurukul gates, past the market, into a part of the city I'd never really explored. Big houses. Clean streets. The kind of place where important people lived.
We stopped in front of one house.
It was big but it didn't look fancy. Just... normal. Simple walls. Simple windows. A garden out front that looked well-cared for but not showy.
Mukund adjusted his glasses. "You know," he said quietly, "the parents of Samarth bhaiya and Drishti di are really big scientists. They work for the YODHA leader himself. They rarely come home."
Ruchi nodded. "I've heard of them. They're working on something big. No one knows what."
I stared at the house. Two kids, living alone in this huge place, parents always gone.
That must be lonely, I thought.
Mukund rang the doorbell.
A voice came from nowhere—smooth, electronic, female. "Who is it?"
Mukund spoke clearly: "We are Mukund, Ruchi, and Rag. We're here to join the Parakastha group."
A pause.
Then the door clicked open. "Welcome. Master Samarth is in the backyard."
We stepped inside.
The backyard was huge.
Seriously huge. Like a training ground hidden behind a normal house. Open space. Training equipment everywhere. Dummies. Weights. Obstacle courses.
And students.
Dozens of them—older students, Parakastha members—training in pairs, alone, with weapons, without weapons. The air crackled with Prana. Fire. Ice. Wind. So much power in one place.
In the distance, I spotted Samarth bhaiya and Drishti di.
They were watching someone.
A skinny guy—fourth year, by the look of him—standing alone in an open area. He was thin. Wiry. Unimpressive at first glance.
But the way he stood...
"Raj you ready?" Samarth's voice carried across the yard.
The skinny guy grinned. "Yup. Always."
Samarth pressed a button on a remote.
Four panels rose from the ground. Guns. Real guns.
And they opened fire.
The skinny guy moved.
I couldn't follow him. None of us could. He was just... there, then there, then there. Bullets passed through where he'd been a second ago. He ducked, spun, jumped, twisted—all without stopping, without slowing, without getting hit even once.
My eyes couldn't keep up.
"Is he... is he dodging bullets?"
Mukund's mouth hung open. He didn't even try to answer.
The guns kept firing. He kept moving. Minutes passed. Not a single hit.
Finally, the guns stopped.
The skinny guy stood in the center, breathing hard but smiling. Not a scratch on him.
Samarth nodded. "Good. Again."
The guns started up again.
"Hey. What are you three doing here?"
I spun around.
Vishesh bhaiya stood behind us, arms crossed. Masculine. The same guy from the cafeteria—the one who'd been with Samarth and Drishti.
Ruchi stepped forward. "We're here to join the Parakastha group."
Vishesh raised an eyebrow. Looked at each of us. Then nodded toward the backyard.
"Go to Samarth. He'll give you the test."
He walked past us without another word, heading toward the training area.
We followed.
Samarth saw us approaching and waved. The guns had stopped again. The skinny guy was catching his breath, grinning like he'd just had the time of his life.
"You here for the test too?" Samarth asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. But... what do you mean 'too'?"
Samarth pointed.
Toward a staircase. Bench-style seating. Like a small stadium.
And sitting there—
All twenty first-years.
Every single one of us.
They were all here. All waiting. All wanting into Parakastha.
I stared.
"Wow," I breathed. "Huh."
Is Parakastha really this famous? I thought. Every single one of us wants in.
After some time, Samarth bhaiya walked toward us. Drishti di followed. Vishesh bhaiya too. And the skinny guy Raj—the one who'd dodged bullets—came along, still grinning.
They stopped in front of us. All twenty pairs of eyes locked onto them.
Samarth spoke first.
"Welcome, first-years. You want to join Parakastha. That means you want to be the best."
He looked at each of us.
"This group has been here since the beginning of the Gurukul. Since the first YODHAs trained. And since then, we've produced more S and S+ rank YODHAs than any other group."
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"The Gurukul staff trusts us. The principal trusts us. That's why only Parakastha members are given monitoring duties—patrolling the halls, keeping order, reporting problems. Because we're loyal. And we're skilled."
He paused.
"I m Samarth the current leader of Parakastha, a 5th yearer S rank yodha and these are the co-leader of the group. Drishti 4th yearer , S+ yodha. Vishesh 5th yearer A rank yodha. And Raj 4th yearer A+ rank yodha"
"To maintain our standards, we have a test. Designed to select only the best."
He smiled. It wasn't a warm smile.
"So. Is everyone ready?"
A roar of excitement answered him. Students jumped up. Fists pumped. Faces glowed with confidence.
They all looked like they were going to pass.
Samarth led us to the training area. The obstacle course was massive—
Land sections. Water sections. Moving platforms. Swinging blades. Targets everywhere. And dummies—human-shaped dummies scattered throughout, meant to be "saved."
"The rules," Samarth announced. "Cross the course in the time limit. Dodge the attacks. Save the dummies. Hit the targets. Do it all, and you pass."
He pressed a button. A timer appeared on a large screen.
"First up... go."
One by one, they failed.
A boy rushed in, confident. Made it past the first few obstacles. Then a swinging blade caught him in the chest. He flew backward, landed hard. Failed.
A girl dodged everything beautifully. Fast. Agile. But when she reached the targets, she only hit three of five. Failed.
Another boy made it to the water section. Almost crossed. Then slipped. Splash. Failed.
The screen kept updating. FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.
no one had passed.
Samarth's face grew darker with each failure. Drishti watched in silence. Vishesh crossed his arms, unimpressed. Raj's grin had faded.
"Are all these first-years absolute garbage?" Samarth muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
No one answered.
"Raghav."
My name.
I stood up. Legs shaking. Heart pounding.
Mukund grabbed my arm. "You can do this."
Ruchi nodded. "Show them."
I walked to the starting line. All eyes on me. The other first-years watching. The seniors watching. Samarth watching.
Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't—
I activated my power.
Fire covered my hands. My feet. Warm. Familiar. Mine.
The timer beeped.
I ran.
First obstacle—swinging blades. I ducked under one, jumped over another, spun past a third. Fire pushed me faster.
Second—moving platforms. I leaped from one to the next, never slowing. Fire gave me balance.
Third—targets. Five of them. I threw fireballs without stopping. Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. All five exploded.
Fourth—dummies. Three of them, needing to be carried to safety. I grabbed the first, dragged it to the zone. Second, same. Third—
I grabbed it. Ran.
Water section. I somehow managing my balance crossed it with the dummy still in one of my hand.
Out of the water. Final stretch. The finish line.
I crossed.
The timer stopped.
Silence.
I stood there, breathing hard, sweat dripping, fire still flickering on my hands. Waiting.
Samarth rubbed his forehead. Frustrated. Annoyed.
"But I completed it!" I said. "I hit all the targets, dodged everything, saved the dummies—"
I looked down at the dummy in my hand.
Half of it was burned. Blackened. Smoldering.
My fire. My power. I'd held it too close. Too long.
I blew on it—tried to put out the flames. Instead, they flared up. More burning.
Behind me, someone laughed. Then someone else. Then more.
I kept blowing, patting the dummy, making it worse.
The laughter grew.
I finally stomped the fire out. The dummy was ruined. Half its body gone.
FAIL
I spun around. "But—only the dummy! Everything else was perfect!"
"Perfect?" Vishesh raised an eyebrow. "The dummy is half burned. How will you save normal people by turning them into barbecue?"
More laughter.
"And the targets." He pointed. "Some are half destroyed. Some are completely vaporized. I just wanted them hit. You destroyed some of them and some of them are not completely hit. Do you even know how to control your Prana? Your fire power?"
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
"You lost balance three times in the water section. Three times. If this was a real mission, you'd be dead."
Samarth waved a hand. "Next."
I stood there frozen.
Then I walked back to my seat. Sat down. Stared at nothing.
Mukund and Ruchi were next to me instantly.
"That was amazing!" Ruchi whispered.
"You did so well," Mukund added.
I didn't answer.
Ruchi's name was called.
She walked to the starting line. Confident. Fit. Ready.
The timer beeped.
She ran.
And she did well—at first. Dodged the blades. Crossed the platforms. But when she reached the targets, she punched them. Hard. They didn't break. Didn't even crack.
Her power is healing. Flowers. Not combat.
She had no attack.
She tried again. Failed. Moved on. Reached the water section, jumped in—
Slipped. Splashed. Failed.
She climbed out, soaking wet, head down, and walked back to us without a word.
Sat down.
Looked at the ground.
Mukund went next.
He was steady. Careful. Precise. Dodged everything. Crossed smoothly. Saved the dummies perfectly.
Then the targets.
He hit them. All five. But his ice wasn't strong enough. They cracked—but didn't shatter. Didn't break completely.
Samarth shook his head. "Not enough power. Failed."
Mukund walked back. Sat down next to us.
The three of us. Together. Looking down.
Failed.
The disappointment grew.
One failure. Two failures. Five failures. Ten failures.
Samarth's face got darker with each one. Drishti watched in silence. Vishesh had stopped watching altogether. Raj just shook his head.
Then—
"Next. Kshitij."
A skinny kid stepped forward. Blonde hair. Sharp face. He walked to the starting line like he already knew what was going to happen.
The timer beeped.
He took his stance.
And lightning sparked around his feet.
His patterns glowed—bright, electric—and then he moved. Faster than my eyes could follow. The obstacles didn't matter. The blades didn't touch him. He was just... there, then there, then at the targets.
Five shots. Five hits.
Dummies saved. Water crossed. Finish line.
The timer stopped.
Silence.
Then Samarth's voice: "Kshitij passes."
He walked back to the seating area, sat down, face calm. Like he'd known all along.
Everyone stared.
"Next. Purv."
A fat kid stood up. Dark blue hair. Looked nervous. Walked to the starting line slowly.
The timer beeped.
Water exploded around him.
"Another five-element user!" someone whispered.
He covered his entire body in water—a swirling, protective layer. Then he moved. Not fast like Kshitij, but steady. He dodged every attack and slid off harmlessly. The platforms didn't shake him. From his swirling armour some tentacles emerged which hits the target and destroyed them perfectly . Then the tentacles grabbed the dummies and moved them safely to the safe zone.
He crossed the water section like he was the water.
Finished.
Samarth almost smiled. "Purv passes."
The test continued.
More failures. A few more passes.
When the last student finished, Samarth looked at the screen.
SELECTED: 4
FAILED: 16
Four. Out of twenty.
I stared at the number. Four.
Kshitij. Purv. Two others whose names I didn't remember. They sat together now, separate from the rest of us. The chosen ones.
I looked down at my hands. The hands that had burned the dummy. The hands that couldn't control fire.
Failure.
I stood up slowly. Mukund and Ruchi did the same. No one spoke.
We started walking toward the exit.
"Hey. Rag."
I froze.
Samarth's voice.
I turned around. He was walking toward me, face serious. Drishti stood behind him, watching with empty eyes.
He stopped in front of me. Looked down. Studied my face.
"The son of Viraj." His voice was quiet. "And brother of Ayansh."
My body went cold.
I looked up at him. Frustration building. Anger rising. My jaw tightened. My eyes locked onto his.
He stared back. Unblinking.
"I was expecting more from you."
Too be continued.....