Laxita's POV

After that embarrassing/surprising/eventful day ended, I deep dived onto my bed. In a not so surprising turn of events, his thoughts kept me up the entire night. I think I went to sleep sometime around dusk. And then, I slept until late morning as I couldn't sleep at all last night. 

In the afternoon, uncle summoned me to his office. As soon as he saw me, he asked, "Are you alright? You look tired."

Tired because someone's dreams wouldn't let me sleep peacefully. "I am fine. I just didn't get a proper sleep last night."

"Hmm. Well you might be wondering why I called you here." 

As a matter of fact, I was. "Yes, I am."

"How are you feeling? Your powers aren't giving you any trouble, are they?"

"Yes, I am completely alright." After that day, my powers actually didn't give me any trouble.

"It has been a few days since then. So, I was thinking, maybe we can take off your artifact. See if your powers are controllable or not."

"I'm on board with whatever you're planning."

"Good. Meet me after lunch. I'll tell you what you've to do."

With that, he dismissed me and I returned to my room. With all that Veer induced commotion in my life, I had briefly forgotten about what I had become. I should never forget that there's a huge responsibility on my shoulders now.

As I had been instructed, I went to meet my uncle in his office after lunch. He was standing in front of his office with his peculiar staff. Over time, I came to know that the staff actually determined the authority of the association's head. I rarely saw it. Since, he's holding it today, it means that we're on official Soma Sangha business. He also had a bowl in his hand. I wondered what that was for.

"Come with me. There's somewhere I would like to take you." He said.

He led the way and I followed behind him. Soon, we were in a hallway which I had never seen before. Strange. After staying here for 3 whole years, there's hardly any hallway that I might've missed.

"Can I ask where we're going?" I couldn't hide my curiosity.

"Patience child. You'll know in due course." That statement did nothing to quell my curiosity.

We stopped in front of a wall, it was a dead end. "Um, uncle?"

He muttered something and touched the wall with his staff. And then suddenly, the ground shook. I lost my balance and held a nearby wall. What was this? An earthquake?

"What's happening?!" I shouted. My voice could be barely heard over the rumbling and shaking of the ground. I closed my eyes because of the impact.

"Laxita, open your eyes and look ahead." 

I opened my eyes to see that there was an opening in the wall. The stones had shifted to reveal an entrance. Alright, what just happened?

"Follow me." My uncle entered that entrance and I followed behind him.

And what I saw there, blew my mind away. Because the place we had reached through that entrance was ethereal.

The place was actually very beautiful. There was sort of a water source - a pond? A lake maybe? - in front of us which was surrounded by the arches of the Soma Sangha architecture. The water was so clear that I could see the reflection of all the surroundings in it. The place was cool and tranquil.

I instantly fell in love with the place and I thought that I could stay here forever.

"What is this place?"

"Laxita, behold the sight of Somtal!"

I could not believe my eyes. Is this the part of Somtal where the power of the sky Gods reside? It was the energy source for all the mages. Without this part of Somtal, Soma Sangha was nothing. This is the place where Gods appeared to bless their devotees.

The Somtal which was outside of the association was just a simple water source. The real magic resided here.

"It's enchanting." The words left my mouth in a whisper.

Somtal (Inside The Association)

I think that the beauty of this place has bewitched my mind. Not everybody has access to this place and I am beyond grateful that my uncle brought me here.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Why are we here? I mean as remarkable as this place is, I am not getting as to why we're here..."

"We're here to put an arch mage's powers - your powers - to test."

"My powers? What do I have to do?"

"I think you're already aware that the powers of the mages are weakening with every generation." I was aware of that. The reason why everyone was so happy with the discovery of an arch mage was because their powers were growing weak. They needed someone. Someone powerful enough who could even the odds against dark mages. That's why my role was so important.

"I don't know if you know the real reason behind our weakening powers. Actually, we're unable to harness the magical energy residing in Somtal." Was that the reason? I always wondered why they were becoming weak.

He continued, "An Arch Mage is capable of harnessing the magic of Somtal. So, that's what you're going to do."

"Harnessing the powers? How?" I was perplexed. Sure, I had read about Devendra doing just that but doing it in person was confusing.

"Take off your artifact and concentrate your powers into the centre end of Somtal. Don't worry if anything goes wrong, I am right here to take care of it."

I did as I was told to and took off the artifact. "Do you feel any discomfort or the burning sensation you felt earlier?"

"No. I feel....fine." Powerful even. It was exhilarating. Since, the restraint was off, I could feel my power rushing inside my whole body. "I feel more than fine. I feel amazing." I said with a laugh.

"That's a good sign. It means your body has adjusted to your powers."

I summoned my magic on my fingertips and concentrated my powers to the center of Somtal.

I continued that for a while but nothing happened. I looked at him and asked,  "Uncle, are you sure this is the right way?"

"Wait for it. Look!"

My gaze shifted back to the spot and I stopped whatever I was doing. That's when it happened. The center, where my powers were concentrated, illuminated. The water of the Somtal parted to reveal a rotating golden sphere of energy and a path was created which could be used to reach that illuminated sphere. That path was nothing but the floor of the lake. I mean how come the water was standing at the sides as if it was a wall? And the water walls were really tall, indicating just how deep the lake actually was.

"Is that..."

"Yes, that's the power of Gods." A slow grin spread across his face. It seems I wasn't the only one who was in disbelief. "Let's go."

Both of us climbed down from where we were standing and approached the sphere through that path.

As soon as we were in the vicinity of the sphere, a small ball of energy separated from the huge sphere and landed in uncle's bowl, the one which he was carrying all along. "Thank you, dear Lords. Us mere mortals will always be indebted to you." Uncle said, as if chanting a prayer. I also joined my hands to thank the Gods.

Was that just me or the sphere shone brighter for a moment? I concluded that the Gods might have heard our gratitude.

Since, our work was done, both of us came back to the spot where we were previously. The water walls, as if sensing our absence, collapsed and in no time, it was back to normal. It was as if nothing happened.

On our way back, uncle said, "The water of Somtal is so deep that it appears bottomless and the energy resides at the bottommost end. There have been countless attempts in the past to reach the energy but all of them had failed. That was until you appeared..."

"Um, can I interrupt and ask you something?" He nodded. "The energy which we collected in the bowl looks like normal water. How is this useful?" After that shiny exterior of the ball of energy wore off, it looked as if we had collected normal water from a normal water source. Had the powers already dissipated?

"Oh, no, no. This bowl of water contains tremendous energy. It might not have that shiny appearance anymore but it is present. Here's what we're going to do - we will mix this magical water from Somtal into our main container of drinking water. Whoever drinks from it will recover a part of their energy which got lost in the generations. Devendra was the one who first discovered this way of replenishing the powers of the mages."

"Wow..." Who knew this tiny amount of water could do that. Very impressive. 

We headed towards the water container and uncle emptied out the contents of the bowl into the water. After that, he closed it's lid.

"Is it done?" Aunt came up behind us.

"Yes." Uncle replied.

"Excellent. Great job, dear Laxu. That completes the first thing on our agenda today," she said.

"Is there something else remaining on the agenda today?" I asked.

"Oh yes, there is. Since, the work here is done, I want you to follow me now."

I followed my aunt as she had asked me to. "Aunt, how many things have you planned for today?"

"This is the last thing, I promise."

We kept on walking for a while and then, we reached a spot which was in the far end of the association. There was a wooden door in front of us. Aunt chanted a spell and the door creaked open.

We took a winded staircase, which took us to the lower floors of the association. It was dark and there were torches to light our way. Hmmm, I was discovering new corners of the association today. Once we reached the lowest floor, aunt went ahead and opened another wooden door. We came out through that door and we were outside once again. It took me a while to adjust my eyes to the light.

It was a place that I had never seen before. Very calm. Very serene. The area was surrounded by huge trees and I could hear the chirping of the birds. Where were we?

"We're here." My aunt said and we stopped.

This time, we were standing in front of an iron door. It looked very old, ancient even. I wondered as to whom that room actually belonged to.

"All I can see right now, is a huge door."

"Not just any door, this is Devendra's chamber."

The Door Of Devendra's Chamber

"It is what now?" I asked like an idiot. As if I hadn't heard it the first time.

"Devendra's chamber."

"So, what business do we have here?"

"You, my dear, are going to open this door."

"And, how am I supposed to do that? That door seems locked. It looks like it hasn't been opened for centuries. I don't think that I have the physical prowess to tear open that door."

My aunt chuckled. "That's not what you're supposed to do."

She sobered and continued, "Devendra locked up this door before he died, sealing all the vital knowledge he had acquired during his lifetime. Over the years, nobody has been able to open it. It has been locked with a very powerful spell."

"Why would he do that? He didn't want the future generations to learn about it?"

"Maybe he feared that his knowledge would fall into the wrong hands, or worse it would be destroyed. You see, he was successful only in warding off the dark mages and not eradicating them entirely. He must have feared that the dark mages may come to steal his knowledge.

Since, they didn't appear for centuries, we thought that they were gone for good. That is when they reappeared, shattering all our misconceptions.

We need his knowledge, now more than ever. If we want to stand a chance against the dark mages, we have to enter his chamber. Everyone at the association speculates that this is where Devendra has hidden his methods of defeating the dark mages. We have been guarding this chamber for centuries and now's the time to open it."

"Alright." I stretched out the word. "That's fine and everything but where do I come in all of this? How am I supposed to open it?"

"You, my dear, are our new Arch Mage. If anyone is capable of opening that door, it's you. You are the true heir of Devendra. The one, for whom we had been waiting for centuries." That sounded like a really heavy responsibility.

"How do I open the door?"

"Try by releasing some of your powers into the handle of the door." I did what she said. I held the handle and started releasing my powers into it.

Suddenly, the handle shifted and started rotating. And then, the door creaked open. The hinges were so rusty that the door opened with an irritating noise.

"It worked! It worked, Laxu!" She seemed very happy. "Let's go in."

When we entered inside the chamber, the light flickered in the torches and soon the place was entirely lit up. What kind of a magic was that? Fascinating.

As far as our gazes went, we saw piles and piles of books, records, papers and research material. So, this was Devendra's chamber. The first mage, the one on which the Gods had bestowed their powers. It was like a sneak into the past. Amazing....

Devendra's Chamber From Inside

"This is what we were missing. I can't even begin to describe how useful this knowledge is going to be for our fight against the dark mages."

After wandering into that room for a while, my aunt and I made our way back.

"Now, do you realize your role and power? You solved two of our biggest issues, that too in a single day! I wonder what else your powers have in store for us."

Even I didn't know what these powers have in store for all of us. But I was ready to find out. Maybe, I can handle being an Arch Mage.

That evening, the water from the container was given to everyone at dinner time. After dinner, many of the mages came up to me to thank me. They said that they had already been feeling more powerful after drinking that water and they couldn't wait to try their levelled up powers.

Since, dinner was done, I was chatting with the twins. Veer was nowhere to be found today. Devansh said that he was cooped up in his room and was dealing with some of the affairs of Somapura. Being an army general is surely a tough job.

We were talking about random topics when we spotted Revati. I noticed that she had burns on her forearms. How did that happen?

I called out to her and asked, "Revati, what happened to your arms?"

She hid her forearms and said, "Nothing. Just got a little burned when I was trying out an ancient magic spell."

"Take care of yourself Revati." She nodded and left.

After she left, Devansh turned towards us and said, "You know, I saw her this morning, at that time, she had no burns on her arms. What happened during the day that she got such serious burns?"

"Seems suspicious." Devika added.

"Very suspicious." Devansh agreed.

Now that I think about it, it really seems suspicious. I have read a bit about ancient magic and none of them had a side-effect of causing burns. It made me wonder, what was she actually doing?

.

.

.

Hello Cutie pies🎀

How's it going?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Keep voting and commenting to motivate me🥹