LEGACY OF THE FALLEN
Chapter 17
Aksh went out of the room and entered the hall. It was nothing like what he saw yesterday. The table was set fine with the chairs aligned, not a speck of dust anywhere—and below the table lay Rudra, sleeping with his face covered in bruises. He trembled a little and muttered in his sleep, "Devil… she is a devil."
"Just ignore him," said Shreya, standing at the corner with a cup of tea in hand. "He was awake the whole night and was forced to clean not only the hall but the toilets, kitchen, and walls as well. I feel bad for him."
Aksh gave Rudra one last glance, eyebrows raised.
"Oh right," Shreya added, "Captain is waiting outside behind the Dog House. You should hurry. He isn't fond of waiting. The more you make him wait, the more devilish ideas he'll come up with to beat—" she caught herself and smiled awkwardly, "—I mean train you."
"So you're finally here. My hair started turning grey waiting for you. And what happened to your wrist?" Arihant asked, arms crossed, his voice laced with annoyance as his eyes narrowed at the makeshift bandage.
"Oh, it's nothing," Aksh replied quickly. "I was setting the almirah… my foot slipped and my hand got caught in the door."
He instinctively tightened the cloth wrapped clumsily around his wrist, trying not to show the wince.
"So… this is where I'm going to train?" Aksh asked, eyeing the cramped space with confusion.
"Why? Is there a problem?" Arihant raised a brow.
"No, it's not that… it's just..." Aksh looked around, clearly confused. "Isn't it a bit too small for a training ground?"
They were standing behind the Dog House. The forest loomed on the sides and at the back, dense and still. The front was closed off by the building itself, and the only open space available was barely the size of Aksh's room. It was hard to believe this cramped spot would be the starting point of his training.
"There's a reason behind that," Arihant said, glancing at the narrow space. "You'll understand it soon enough. For now, let me explain what you're going to do."
He turned toward the forest and shouted, "You two, come out!"
From the shadows between the trees, two figures emerged.
Avni and Jasmine came forward, Avni still floating on her inverted hat, their clothes and faces covered with dirt.
"You already know Avni, right?" Arihant said with a smirk. "She's about your age, and that's exactly why I chose her. She'll be your training partner."
"Hey Aksh! We meet again—how are you? I'm fine, if you're wondering. We're gonna train together so let's be friends! And you know, the thing is, I actually once tried to spar with a monkey—well, not a real monkey but a guy who moved like one—and also, yesterday I accidentally kicked Jasmine and she—"
She floated around Aksh on her hat, spinning in lazy circles as her mouth ran faster than her thoughts, words slamming into each other in one long, chaotic stream of noise.
"So… are we two going to spar?" Aksh asked, completely ignoring Avni's presence as she continued spinning and rambling in the background.
"Ahh… he ignored me…" Avni whimpered dramatically, wobbling on her hat like a wounded duck in the sky.
In the background, Jasmine sighed and gently patted her head.
Arihant let out a loud laugh. "Spar, he says! Hah! Don't get cocky, you snotty brat. Avni here could kill you with her pinky finger—and you wouldn't even know what hit you." He pointed at Aksh's lean frame, grinning. "With that bony body of yours, you'd snap in half before the first punch landed."
Then, just to top it off, Arihant pulled one of his signature, obnoxiously smug expressions—the kind he reserved exclusively for Aksh, like some kind of cursed collector's item.
Aksh clenched his fist, struggling to keep a straight face. There was only one person in the world who could make the expressionless boy show any emotion at all—an expression of pure annoyance.
"So what exactly are we going to do, bastar—Captain Arihant?" Aksh asked.
"Since your body is too weak," he said, locking eyes with Aksh, "you can't handle any training related to Tejas right now. So for the next one month, we are solely going to focus on building your physical strength—pushing your body to its absolute peak." Arihant replied .
"You didn't have any breakfast, right? Here, eat this." Arihant threw a pouch toward Aksh.
Aksh opened the pouch. Inside were strange, dark brown-colored pills. "Only take one," Arihant ordered.
Aksh was never picky about food—he would eat anything that could fill his stomach—but what was with these weird pills? And how was just one supposed to be enough for a growing kid?
Aksh didn't say anything and simply gulped down the pill.
"Alright, Avni—begin now."
As soon as the words left Arihant's mouth, something slammed into Aksh's left abdomen, sending him skidding a few feet back.
He instinctively grabbed whatever had hit him, protecting his side to shield it from injury.
When he looked down, his eyes widened—it was a tree branch, twisting and moving on its own.
His hands were already tattered and bleeding from the friction of grabbing the branch. Before he could even process what was happening, another one came hurtling from behind like a missile, aimed straight at his back.
He released the branch in his grasp and ducked just in time, barely dodging the incoming strike.
But the ground beneath him betrayed him. Another branch shot up from the field, coiling around his leg like a snake.
The one he had dodged curved mid-air and struck again—this time slamming directly into his gut.
Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body crumpled to the ground
And just like that, Aksh fell unconscious.
Aksh slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring into a pair of teary, emerald-green eyes—Avni's.
Her green hair hung over his face like the overgrowth of a forest, wild and soft, brushing against his skin like curious vines.
"Are you alright? I-I'm sorry I hurt you," she sniffled, her voice trembling.
Before Aksh could answer, a blunt voice cut in.
"It's fine. It's for his own good. And it's not like you hurt him—he's just too weak to protect himself from such simple attacks."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Aksh, get up and sit in the lotus position," Jasmine said lazily, cracking her knuckles.
Aksh groaned softly as he pushed himself up, one hand clutching his bruised abdomen. His shirt was already stained red—soaked in blood from where the branch had struck him earlier.
Jasmine sat beside him, mirroring his posture with eerie calmness. Her hands hovered over his back and her eyes closed in concentration.
A soft, almost imperceptible hum filled the air. Slowly, delicate plum blossoms began to form around Aksh's body, their petals shimmering with a faint glow. One by one, the blossoms circled him, weaving a protective barrier. As the blossoms gathered, they slowly wrapped around Aksh's body, until his entire form was cloaked in a soft, floral cocoon.
After a few minutes, the plum blossoms began to wither, their once-beautiful pink hues fading into dull gray. They started to fall gently, one by one, like petals drifting away in the wind. Jasmine slowly removed her hands from Aksh's back, her breath soft and steady. As the last of the blossoms fell, Aksh's body started to become visible again, and the vibrant flowers—once glowing with vitality—lost their life and crumbled into the earth.
Aksh blinked, slowly opening his eyes. For a moment, he felt disoriented. His body was completely healed—there were no longer any wounds on his hands or torso. But there was something different. He clenched his fingers into a fist and, despite no visible change, he could feel it—his muscles were stronger. Not drastically, but enough for Aksh to notice the change.
"What happened?My wounds are completely healed," Aksh asked, a little confused.
"It's nothing to make a fuss over. Do you understand now how you'll be training?" Arihant replied, folding his arms.
"No, I'm not quite sure," Aksh answered, still uncertain.
"It's simple," Arihant began, his voice casual but sharp. "Avni here can manipulate nature—especially trees and plants. She'll be continuously beating you near to death. Dodging her fast and lethal attacks will improve your perception. Taking them head-on will increase your strength. Running from them will build your stamina and speed. And learning which attacks to dodge and which to take will sharpen your judgment. Getting hit again and again will increase your endurance—though, you'd die if we kept it up too long."
Arihant's grin widened, a touch of amusement dancing in his eyes.
"And that's where Jasmine comes in," he continued, motioning to her. "She's a six-star healer. She can heal any wound, no matter how fatal, as long as you're still alive. So, she'll continuously revive you from near death so you can keep going with the training."
He paused, his face suddenly turning serious, then shifting into a mockingly sorrowful expression.
"But," he added dramatically, "she can't help you much after a while. Using that level of healing drains her Tejas. Sooooo…" Arihant dragged the word out, relishing the moment.
"I gave you those pills," he said, his tone turning instructional. "They're the latest invention from the infirmary department of the academy. They don't dissolve immediately into your body. Instead, they dissolve according to the energy your body needs. When Jasmine uses her power, she boosts your white blood cells for faster recovery. Normally, that would take her Tejas, but thanks to the pills I gave you, the energy from them will substitute. Not only will they heal you, but they'll strengthen your body too, since the more cells regenerate, the stronger they become."
"So with that settled, let's begin the second round—hahaha!" Arihant laughed like a devil.
At that moment, Aksh gulped.
He knew—that this training would be worse than hell.