CHRONICLES OF MATHURA! Arc 1: The Calling.

Travelling to another world. Somehow, this concept was stuck in my mind ever since I watched the documentary on the T.V. Suddenly waking up in another world, after going to sleep normally. I was thinking about the same today too, as I was about to go to sleep. “I wish it’s true.” I kept saying it to myself. Slowly but surely, I drifted into sleep. And that’s all that remember of the real world. The next thing, I wake up in an old-fashioned tavern. But my age, it was retained. I was a 18-year lad. “You’re awake!!” exclaimed the lady who was sitting next to me. “I was so worried. You’ve been unconscious for ten days.” “Ten days, huh..?” ….. “Wait….. WHAT????” I was shocked to hear that. The young maiden let me in on everything. “The villagers found you in the forest when they heard a huge noise and went to check on it. Apparently, they say you…..” She gave a pause and looked at me as if I weren’t human. “ That you… actually… fell from the sky..” At this point, I understood that my wish to go into another world came true. “Oh, I see….” “So, since you’re awake, why not take a stroll??” “Uh.. yeah. Sure.” I got up and got ready. I had a lot of questions, but I figured it’s best saved for later. As she showed me through the village, she introduced herself. “My name is Mythri. And this village is actually a nation, and the name is Mathura.” “Mathura??” “Yes.” I was shocked. A legendary place from Indian mythology. And here I am, in a place with the same name. “So, what is your name?” “Arjun.” And as I told my name, I started to look around with more interest. The nation itself seemed like an Indian one, with all dressing and construction styles. “Mathura isn’t like all other nations.” She went on. I listened intently. “There is no difference, whatever the calling, everyone is equal. No difference between royalty and commoners.” “So, the king and a common farmer are treated the same??” “Yes, only that the people bow to the king in respect before they talk. Everything else is the same.” It took me a while to digest all this. Meanwhile, I started to get to know the people around me. The tavern lady, Gayatri, was a sweet lady. Young, in her 20s, she asked us to call her by her name. I was offered a room in the tavern for my stay, permanently. But I would start paying the rent once I got my calling, a.k.a, job. The farmer closest to the tavern sold the highest quality veggies around. It didn’t take me much time to befriend people. I went shopping and bought some clothes, and accessories that were necessary. People here were very friendly, and honestly, it took me some time to get used to it. A week passed by, and I and Mythri became good friends. She was two years older than me and was already attending the academy. “I’m training to be a healer and a cook. You know, any student can take up two subjects, out of which one will be their calling, the other, an auxiliary survival skill.” “I don’t know a thing about the academy or the subjects taught. And I don’t even know the various callings people can take up!!” “Alright! Follow me then!” Without even giving time for me to breathe, she pulled me by my hand and took me to the library. “Here”. She handed me a book and asked me to read it. “Read this. And you can borrow it too, and do check around.” With that, she left for the academy. “108 callings and what each actually means.” “Weird title for a book. Wonder what’s inside.” I opened it and started to read. After what seemed like an hour, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back and saw an old man, who seemed of a high family. His face had a strange radiance and a soothing smile. “Ah, another young aspirant!” He stared into my eyes for a while and smiled. “What’s your name, son?” He asked, not breaking the eye contact. “A…A…Arjun,” I replied. “A fine name. So, have you decided on your calling yet??” “Umm…. No sir, not yet. I’m just going through this book for knowing more.” “It’s no use, son. You cannot choose the calling. The calling chooses you.’ “What does that mean, sir?” “Come with me.” I follow him, as he leaves the library and goes into the forest, explaining to me what it means, the calling chooses me. “You cannot just choose a calling son. You should have an aptitude for it. It means, for an example, for you to become a wizard or a necromancer, you should have an aptitude for magic.” “So then, how do I figure out my aptitude???”. At this point, all I was interested in was what my aptitude was for. “Curious, now??”. He laughed and moved on. I followed him into the forest, and after a small walk, we arrived at an altar. “Sit down, close your eyes and start meditating. Don’t open your eyes until I ask you to do so.” I followed the instructions and sat down to meditate. As I started to meditate, I heard him mutter something under his breath, and I was surrounded by blue light. He was a magician. After minutes of what seemed like him extracting something from me, he paused and asked me to open my eyes, maintaining the same smile. “God bless you, son. I knew something was unique about you.” He said. “So, sir….. What is my aptitude for?”. Curious as I was, I did not waste time in knowing what it was. “Magic so powerful that you create its essence, the Arcana merely from nature energy, and that love of yours for weapons, you are truly suited to one of the rarest forms of combat magic, ‘The Arsenal Magic’.” “Arsenal magic??” I became even more curious to know about it. “Yes. Arsenal Magic. A form of magic so rare, it is not taught in the academy itself.” He seemed fine with this shocking news, which hit me hard. “Then, how do I master this art?” As though it was decided that I would become an Arseneer, a snow pigeon flew towards the old man and gave him a letter. After reading it, he looked at me and said: “It seems you’re quite lucky, young lad. Maya is returning back to Mathura after the five-year long journey. “Maya??” “Yes. The granddaughter of the world renowned Arseneer and the headmaster of Arsenal Academy, Dr Bheeshma himself.” Three weeks passed. In this time, I visited every library in the whole of Mathura in search of a book that can explain what Arsenal Magic is. But all my efforts were in vain. There was not a single book that contained any information about this rare magic. At nightfall, I went to the market to fetch some food, where I heard some people talking about having seen Maya in town. I just took the news casually and started to walk home as I felt a hand on my shoulder, again. “Oh, it’s you, old man. Where did you go these three weeks?” I asked, without even bothering to look back. But I was in for a shock when a lady replied back. “I’m sure I’m not an ‘old man’ of any sort. For all I know, I’m a woman”. I turned back to find myself, staring at a woman, my age. “The name is Maya.” She replied back, a warm smile on her face which made her glow like a goddess, and a hand stretched out towards me, for a handshake. “My name is Arjun.” “Nice name. And yes, I already know your name. The Headmaster told me.” “So, the old man is the Headmaster of the academy, huh??” I had been used to shocking events, and this was the least surprising of all. “Well, shall we head to the tavern then?” She asked me. Without an answer, I took lead, and she followed, somewhat happy to see me, as though she had reunited with her brother, she lost contact years ago. “I’m home!!” She said as we entered the hall of the tavern. Gayatri seemed happy to see Maya, only confusing me even more. We headed towards our room where she took the room adjacent to mine. “This is where I used to stay.” “So… did you also … fall from the sky??” “Ahh no! I grew up here. But tragic as it may seem, I lost my family in a fire.” “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay. I can understand your curiosity.” “Hey, Maya. Can I know you’re age?” “I’m 19.” ‘Wait, you’re younger than Mythri?” “Yes. And about how she’s still in the academy, you already know the answer. Arsenal magic is not taught in the academy. And, also, I started my training when I was five. But for the academy, you need to be fifteen years old to attend.” “Right. I got you.” “I’ll call you once I change. You freshen up too. We’ll talk about Arsenal Magic after dinner.” I went to my room, changed into my pyjamas, and went downstairs to join Maya for dinner. Gayatri had whipped up a huge meal in the delight of Maya’s return. Everyone was tired after dinner, so we postponed the explanation to some other day and went to sleep. Maya spent most of her time with me, observing me, probably because she had to figure out my strengths. “When is your birthday?” she asked, one night at the dinner table. I was confused. I realized I never learnt how the yearly system went by. Gayatri knew about this, so she started explaining me and Maya too, which in-turn gave Maya the answer she wanted. “Every year, one night, the moon glows bright red. The next day is marked as the beginning of a new year. And every year consists of 400 days.” “And as for his birthday, it’s the same as your birthday Maya, 12th day from the night of the red moon.” Maya looked at me and smiled, which made my face turn red. “Well, Your training starts tomorrow. And since you’re 18, you can leave Mathura with me for training.” “So, wait, you’re telling me you don’t live here?” I asked Maya. “No, I live in the mountains just outside Mathura, which separates the two nations, Mathura and Lucia.” “And as for why I live there, there’s a school there, which specializes in teaching Arsenal magic. And the headmaster of the school happens to be my grandfather!” “Figured as much, since you look so tough.” “Thanks. And as for the explanation, how about tonight?” “Sure!” Maya and I went to my room, and after getting comfortable, Maya started to explain, in ‘the simplest way possible. “Arsenal Magic is a rare kind of magic which lets a person assimilate a weapon and convert it into the base of magic, Aether. When a person wields a weapon from his arsenal, the weapon loses its aether form and assumes its original solid form. When the weapon is not being used or it is let-go by the wielder after a fight, it returns to the aether form, which can be differentiated easily as weapons in aether form glow with white light and are ‘not solid’. Not solid- in the sense that they are not materialistic, they are like animated white weapons floating around you in a circle. As for where the weapons are when you’re not using them, they’re INSIDE you.” “……… Guess I can remember this much.” “One more thing. An Arseneer can only use one class of weapons. My weapons are of the class ‘Longswords’. They include broadswords, polearms and bows.” “Understood.” “And by what I could figure out from the old man’s words about my aptitude, my class will the ‘Shortblades’. Which will include swords, katanas and Kunai knives.” “You know your stuff. That’s pretty interesting.” “Thanks. I did my homework. And guess what? You can skip the ‘conversion of nature energy into aether’ lesson. I already know it.” With that, I took a deep breath and just did what I told. Aether which is converted from nature energy is stored inside the human body. And each person has different storage amounts. And the storage amount is measured in units of ‘hans’. When I showed my ability to convert nature energy into the aether, Maya was surprised. “Wow, how much storage do you have??” “Pretty high. According to the books, if calculated, mine is around 1000 hans.” “No kidding. That’s pretty high even for the skilled magicians and necromancers.” We chatted for a few more minutes after this, where I had a few doubts about how a weapon is assimilated. “Alright then, tomorrow morning at 9 am. Meet me near the altar in the forest.” With that, she left for her room. Next morning. By the time I went to the altar, Maya was already there, with her arsenal of weapons rotating around her. “Morning!” “Morning Arjun! And here’s my arsenal of weapons!” Her whole arsenal consisted of 11 weapons, 3 great swords, 5 polearms and 3 bows. Out of these 11 weapons, 1 great sword, 1 polearm and 1 bow were glowing with a slight orange tinge. “What’s with those three weapons glowing differently??” I asked Maya. “Oh, that! They’re my strongest weapons, and rise in colour from white to orange means their difficulty of usage.” “Ooooh, nice!!” “Shall we then??” She looked at me, as though waiting for an answer. “Shall we what??” “Go get your first weapon dummy!” “Ah! Okay!!” I was waiting to ask her the same, but she already read my mind. Without further delay, we started walking toward the academy, more precisely, to the market place just outside the academy, where there’s supposed to be an exhibition of the strongest sword ever to be seen in Mathura. “There’s going to be a competition for that sword. If you can win it, you get to keep the sword.” Maya really was excited to see me with that sword. “Ma’am, Yes ma’am!!’ We walked for an hour and we were almost at that place when I stopped abruptly. “What’s the matter?” “Nothing, I just realized I don’t have a weapon to fight with.” Maya suddenly remembered the same. But just then, I felt a cold air blow towards me from the woods nearby, as though calling me. Without a word, I set out towards the woods, guided by the cold wind. Maya followed me but was confused as to why I was acting so strangely. “Where are you going anyways?” She asked me after I slowed down my pace a little. “To the source of the wind.” “Source of the wind??” She didn’t quite understand. Just then, we arrived at the altar of these woods. “Wait!” Maya cautioned me. “Mathura has four forests, each towards one direction. These are the western woods. And this is its altar. The one near our tavern is the southern woods and it's the respective altar. The academy is located in the centre of Mathura, with four woods and four villages in each respective direction. Also, the academy itself is the palace. And the Headmaster, the King.” She went on. “One cannot pass into the woods beyond the altar. Demons lurk in their darkness, and in the deepest parts lies the toughest one of them, and if defeated, will grant you its power. But in the current state, you don’t stand a chance against it. Let’s head back out.” “Wait!” I called out to her. She looked back at me, almost as if looking at me angrily. “I’m not going into the forest. We’ve already reached the source of the wind.” Hearing this, she eased up a little. “Then what are you going to do??” I approached the altar and started looking behind it for something. “Ha! There it is!” It was a lever. I found a similar one in the altar of the southern woods, but it was jammed and rusted. “No, don’t go in there!! It could be dangerous.” I turned towards Maya, and with an adventurous look in my eyes, I said: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” “Fine, I give up.” She agreed to follow me. We descended the stairs, into a large hall. There was a huge block in the exact centre of the room. We approached it with caution. It was a pair of kunai knives, with trident style blades: two blades fused to form a crescent moon shape, one blade in the exact centre. “The wind led me to this, as though the blades were calling out to me,” I whispered to Maya. “Be careful.” I raised my hand towards the pair of kunai knives, as though holding them. With a jerk, the blades started floating, covered with a strange white light. The kunai knives completely converted into aether form, flew a few meters away from me, and plunged at me and stabbed me in the middle of my chest, only to burst into polygons of aether particles. “Congratulations on getting your first weapon, and your first successful assimilation!!” Even though she looked happy, I clearly saw she was scared as hell, when the kunai knives flew towards me. “This is what assimilation feels like…. Weird.” It was only a matter of mere imagination to summon forth my arsenal. But as I summoned it, a splatter of aether particles nearly scared me. “It’ll take some time to get used to, especially the splatter.” Maya reassured. “Yeah, that scared the hell out of me.” As I looked at my arsenal, the pair of kunai knives, now in the aether form, was revolving around me, glowing with a red tinge. Now, I wanted to hold them. But I had seen how Maya summoned her weapon without accessing her arsenal. A small amount of visualization, and I did it. The knives materialized in an instant, and the same with de-materializing, i.e, converting back to aether form. “Looks like I got the hang of it!” I said to Maya. “Just the basics. But it’s quite impressive you were able to wield the blades without accessing your arsenal. I’ll give you credit for that.” “Well then, shall we head to our original destination??” “Sure. Since you have a weapon now, be sure to win it. The sword is rare and extremely powerful.” “Roger that.” With that, we started towards the market place near the academy. It was almost evening when we reached the place. The walk was quite tiring, considering the small detour on the way. “Let’s crash at an inn. The competition is tomorrow.” “Sure. I’m so worn out. Is it always this tiring using a weapon??” “Only until you get used to it.” We settled in our respective rooms and went down for dinner. After dinner, Maya suggested we get some good sleep since I’ll need my stamina replenished for tomorrow. “Well, you’ll see something exciting tomorrow Maya, take my word on it!” “Let’ see then!!” She made it back to her room and slept within just a few mins. After making sure she’s asleep, I made it down to the entrance of the inn. The innkeeper was still cleaning the place. I offered to help her. “Oh no, son. You’ll need all the strength you can get for the competition tomorrow. I heard from a few folks that the Knights in training are gonna show up. It’ll be a tough one for you, considering you don’t go to the academy.” “How did you guess that I don’t go to the academy??” “Easy, if you’re with Maya, you’re probably an arseneer too!” “So, how do you know Maya??” “She’s our regular customer.” With that, I enquired if there were any place I could train. “Well, there’s a training ground in the backyard of the inn, with training dummies and all. You could use it.” “Thanks. Better be prepared to face those tough Knights you talk so highly of!” “Ah yes, It's always better to be prepared.” I made my way to the backyard. Something about those kunai knives had me interested. And its red glow too, I figured it was stronger than Maya’s weapons since they had only an orange tinge. I trained the whole night and returned to my room just before Maya woke up. But she easily spotted that I didn’t sleep. “Either way, if you’ve been training, I know you’re gonna get that sword then!!” “And also put up an exciting show!!” After freshening up, i went to the training grounds again for one final warm up round, and to make sure I got the hang of whatever I had been practicing. Maya came and called me. “Hey, the inn lady wants to see you. Got something to offer ya!!” I met the inn lady before heading out. She gave me a tea to drink, darker than usual. “It’s gonna replenish your stamina and revitalize you. Something tells me you’re gonna win. Good luck.” With all that luck and tea, and Maya’s support, we finally made it to the place. “No more mister nice guy, eh?!” I said to Maya, as I did a few warm-up exercises to loosen my body. “That depends on your fight. Just do your best. The Knights will be tough. I’ve never managed to defeat one myself.” “Great! Time to shine then!!” Registration went smoothly. There was a huge crowd, so I expected quite a few competitors. But besides me, only two knights had registered themselves. “Wait, just the three of us??” “What?? Do you seriously expect to defeat us??” One knight asked me. “Well, that’s the plan.” The referee rang the bell. It was a battle royale. The last man standing gets the sword. The two knights flung their gigantic swords at me. I dodged them with ease. This continued for a bit and they got tired of me dodging their attack. Not only them, but I was also tired of dodging. “Maya, look closely now!!” I called over to her amidst the fight. Just for the purpose of intimidation, I accessed my arsenal. The knights who were so intent on attacking me stopped and observed the pair of knives revolving around me. “An Arseneer eh?? A worthy opponent!!” piped up the same knight who threw in the challenge earlier. “Is it only me, or does it seem like you guys are slow??” These words enraged them and their attacks got swift and strong. After two near misses, I finally decided to show them what I could do. I grabbed the knives which materialized instantly and threw one of them towards the loudmouthed knight. “Too slow!!” he said and dodged it with ease. “The fun begins now!” Just as he dodged, I warped (teleported) to where the kunai was, grabbed it and ducked to perform a low kick. The low kick landed perfectly and he fell to the ground, his sword flying away from his hands and lying a few meters apart. Now unarmed, he accepted defeat. In the meanwhile, the second knight managed to land a hit on me. I stumbled across the ground, losing grip of the kunai knives. “Looks like you were slow, not us!” I looked across and saw Maya. She looked tensed. “Oh no, it’s not over yet!!” It took a while for both Maya and the second knight to realize that the knives had not come back to the arsenal like they usually do. One kunai was lying right next to the standing knight. I warped to it, quickly struck him with it, and warped to the second one. Before he could gain balance, I threw one at him, which he dodged, but I warped to, and pierced his armour with the other one, and dealt him a final blow, but tossing one kunai high into the air, warped to it, and threw the other one towards him, which pierced his armour at the right shoulder, and at the exact moment it pierced him, I warped to it and pierced it deeper into his shoulder. Immobilized, he accepted defeat. “You see, unlike other arsenal weapons, these kunai knives stay for a while even after I let go of them. Normally they dematerialize and return back to the arsenal, but since these are specialized in warp strikes, they linger for a longer time.” Maya finally relaxed. With the win, I got the sword. Not being able to hold back, I tossed it into the air, where it converted into its aether form, and pierced my chest again, like the knives, only to be shattered into polygons of aether. “Assimilation successful!” I turn towards Maya, summoning forth my arsenal. “Congratulations!” She said, with teary eyes. “That was a brilliant show. Except it also gave me a heart attack.” “Sorry, but I had to spice it up.” “Idiot.” A huge silence followed. My arsenal was still showing, now the kunai pair with red tinge and the sword, with a golden tinge revolving around me. “Say, Maya, why were you so worried about me??” Her face turned bright red as I asked her this. “I… I…. It’s nothing, really!” Desperate to change topics, she noticed my sword. “Oh, a golden glow. It means it’s a-” “A Royal Arm” I interrupted her. Her face still bright red from blushing, she gave me a cute look that rendered me staring at her for a while. “I did my homework,” I said, recovering myself from that magic. “I knew you’d make me wait a lot before you’d explain what each glow colour means, so I asked the inn lady for some books.” “You can’t wait now, can you??” She nudged me, and as though teasing me, said “Shall we head back then??” “Always ready!” We stopped by the inn for some food, and after lunch, and some congrats from the inn lady, we set off for the tavern. “Say, Arjun, how about we head to the mountains for your training??” “Sure, It’ll be my pleasure.” “Okay then. We’ll leave the day after tomorrow, okay?” “Fine by me. But before we leave Mathura, I want to meet the Headmaster.” “Okay! But remember, we won’t be coming back for a few years since the training there is going to be tough.” “Understood. Then, can we leave after three days, instead of the day after tomorrow?? There’s only a day gap!” I pleaded with Maya. “Meeting someone??” She asked, with a jealous tone. “It’s just Mythri. Haven’t met her since that day she dropped me off at the library.” “Oh… Okay.” Maya was silent the whole way back to the tavern. The next two days flew by. I filled Mythri in about my plan, and also Gayatri. They both were excited and supported me in every way they could. The second day. Maya hadn’t spoken to me for two days. I approached her and asked her if she’d accompany me for some shopping. She was reluctant at first, but then she agreed. “Why aren’t you talking??” I asked her. “It’s nothing.” She said. “I don’t know what it is between you two, but I’m only doing this because I’m indebted to her for saving my life. I don’t see any other connection, what-so-ever.” “You sure??” she asked. “100%” “Fine.” She eased up a lot. “What are you shopping for anyways?” “A rucksack. Didn’t buy one because I never felt I’d need one.” It took up most of the day, but that shopping was worth it. I found a good rucksack and also, corrected whatever was wrong between me and Maya. The dinner was a blast. Gayatri really went overboard preparing a lot of food, especially what Maya liked most. The next morning, we got ready to depart. “So, finally on a path!” The Headmaster said. “Yes sir. All thanks to you.” “Do take care of yourself. Good food and adequate sleep are essential.” Gayatri added. After all farewells and goodbyes, we set out towards the school that would shape me into an Arseneer. “So, it’s finally begun.” “What has?” Maya asked, with a confused expression. “My calling, that of an Arseneer.” “Sure has. And in the best possible way.” “Indeed. Our destination: Arsenal Academy.” With this, our first steps towards Arsenal Academy: the school in the mountains that will help me grow as an Arseneer, began.