The afternoon sunlight filtered softly through the windowpanes of our train coach, casting slow-moving patterns over the pages of the journal I was writing in. The rhythmic lull of the train swaying on its tracks should have been calming. But something... wasn't right with Kiyana.
Her brows scrunched in concentration, eyes darting left and right over the pages of a martial arts text she borrowed.
But something in her energy was off—too focused, too intense. She wasn't just reading—she was comprehending it. Devouring it.
Aaryaksh was shocked by the sudden surge in her energy.
He leaned back slightly, fingers pausing mid-sentence.
He blinked. Wait. That book—
His heart stuttered. He clenched his chest, while controlling his breath
The cover she was reading bore the sigil of the Fury Water Art—a deeply enchanted spiritual technique reserved for high-tier spiritual souls. Forbidden for unawakened mortals. Highly dangerous. If any ordinary mortal tries to comprehend it faces death.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath.
'No... no, how could she have this. I'm sure it was not the book she borrowed. Did she just took another one without my permission when I was napping.'
Even in full air conditioning his forehead filled with sweat.
'N..no I can't let her continue. If she fully comprehend it, the sudden accumulation of energy will burst her into pieces.'
Aaryaksh snapped forward, and snatched the book from her hands without warning.
Kiyana flinched, staring at him, startled. Her voice cracked, "What the hell, Aaryaksh?! Why are you—why did you grab it like that?"
He was already flipping through the pages, panic rising with each line he scanned. Symbols. Enchantments. This was it. The real one.
"Dammit," he muttered again. and glanced at Vaidehi's book—thankfully, she had not took any of his books or documentaries.
He breath a sigh of relief.
Then he turned towards Kiyana with raging eyes bulging with anger. His whole body turned red with anger.
"With whose permission you took out this book from my bag?"
The loud voice of Aaryaksh frightened every one in the coach. Even the steward who was coming to ask for any need fled in fear.
Hearing this Kiyana was panic stricken her whole body was shivering in fear.
The bold attitude of Kiyana blew like a punctured balloon. Her tone turned defensive.
"Aa..I.. don't to..to.took it intentionally." she was stammering in fear.
"Aa.a.I don't knew it was an important text of yours."
"I..I am so.sorry" she bowed her head and said in low voice
Aaryaksh was still so furious that his lips parted to give her a piece of mind, he was even thinking of giving her few good red finger imprints in her face, but then suddenly he sensed something something odd. Something in her presence shifted.
And then he saw it.
Her amber eyes were no longer amber. A glint of icy blue pulsed at their core, as if ocean tides were rising behind her gaze. The change was slow… then sudden. And in that instant, he understood:
It had begun. She had already fully comprehended the scripts.
At first he was shocked that how can anyone comprehend the laws of enchanted book in just few hours. Even tough it was incomplete. It was so odd that it shocked him inside out.
When he started to learn spiritual techniques. He can only comprehend few of the moves in a whole day with complete focus. And it took him nearly half a month to comprehend a full book. And that was already considered the most genius among the top geniuses.
But soon he come back to his senses.
"Not here," he whispered, grabbing her wrist.
"Come with me. Now."
He furiously dragged her out of the coach. The rest was so shocked that line they just turned into stone.
"Aaryaksh—waa..wa.what are you going to do with me?" Kiyana was panic stricken
"Aa..are you not going to push me of the train?" she was crying heavily struggling to escape from Aaryaksh's grasp.
But he didn't give her a chance. he dragged her out of the coach to the narrow doorway between compartments. Vaidehi and Rahul started after them, but he furiously raised a firm palm.
"Don't. Or it won't be good for you."
They were literally crushed with his powerful furious aura. That they dared not to take a single step out.
Kiyana stumbled beside him, crying, until he pointed to her hands.
"What…?" she was looking towards him with her watery eyes in question and gasped as she looked towards her hand.
A thin spiral of water, shimmering like liquid crystal, coiled around her arm in a perfect helix, moving as though it lived—breathing with her heartbeat. She tried to shake it off, but it clung, not like a curse—more like a limb.
Her body trembled. "What is this? What's happening to me?!"
She started jumping in panic shouting.
"Aaryaksh what's happing to me please save me. I don't want to die a virgin, I never even had a single boyfriend."
She began crying like a baby shouting and jumping every where to shake the spiral of water of her hands.
First of all he was shocked that even after fully comprehending the spiritual laws and accumulating this much spirit energy. Why was her body not burst yet. That only meant one thing is something is special about her then a mere mortal.
First she comprehended the laws within few hours and then this.
He took her hands gently but firmly, closed his eyes, and whispered an incantation. His spirit energy flowed into her—enough to pacify the awakening torrent of spirit energy inside so that she could slowly absorb it.
After a while the water tendril unravelled, dissipating into mist. Her eyes faded back to amber.
"You need to calm down first," he murmured and gently patted her head.
"This isn't safe out here. If anyone had seen that…"
"But I don't—what even was that?!" she stammered.
"Back inside," he said.
Then he took grasp her hand and walked toward the TC.
"well can I get an extra separate cabin"
than he pulled out a bundle of notes of 500.
The TC glanced Aaryaksh with knowing smirk then without any further question he opened his own coach and handed over the key. Since rest of the coaches are already booked.
He entered the coach with Kiyana and locked it form inside.
Kiyana saw this and her heart started pounding the a drum. Suddenly her face flushed red.
As Aaryaksh moved toward her she instinctively moved backward and her back touched to the wall of cabin.
"Aaryaksh wa..wa.wahat are you doing. I'm telling you don't come near me. I've many contacts if something happend to me they will not leave you."
He grabbed her form her slender waist and picked her then put her down in the seat. Suddenly she once again started crying.
On seeing this Aaryaksh looked her with confusion. But for now he ignored her, then placed his right hand on her forehead, and invoked the Soul Binding Verse. A soft icy glow radiated beneath his palm.
And in the next moment—they vanished.
Well, not truly. Their bodies remained stayed in very position. But their spirits had entered elsewhere.
*Inside Ocean Soul Realm*
They stood on a stone platform in the heart of a surreal world— it's Kiyana's subconscious soul-space. Towering waterfalls thundered around them, flowing in every direction. The air was thick with moisture, vibrating with spiritual power. Blue vines crawled across mountainous cliffs. Floating icy lotuses glowed faintly on dark, rippling water.
Aaryaksh was shocked because he was not expecting this when he entered her soul space. But he soon gained his composer.
She blinked in disbelief.
"W-Where are we?" she was shocked inside out.
Aaryaksh turned toward her. And told with strict face
"Inside your spiritual soul. Your subconscious realm. And what you see here—this storm, this fury—comes from you. That spiritual energy that you accumulated intentionally condensed here and reconstructed you soul space into your spiritual soul realm"
"I… I don't understand…"
"You're not supposed to. Not yet," He said gently.
"But soon you will. You have a Fury Water affinity—one of the rarest elemental spiritual manifestations, which give you command over one of the five element water to some extent. But your soul isn't fully awakened yet. That's why you lost control."
"Is this all happened because I was reading that book," she asked quietly. "Was that what triggered it?"
"Most likely." Aaryaksh nodded.
"But mostly because it resonated with your latent spiritual DNA. These books are enchanted. No ordinary mortal could comprehend them or they will burst with accumulated energy. They seek out their right host. You just… weren't ready and somehow subconsciously comprehended it."
"I was just imagining the steps that were pictured in the image and trying to do them subconsciously with the help of texts." she said casually like it was no big of deal.
"what" Aaryaksh shouted with eyes out with shock.
'I'm literally jealous how can she have such a powerful comprehending skills. She was just casually performing the steps even before her awakening which most of the spiritual seekers can achieve after reconstructing their spiritual soul realm and that took nearly 5-10 years of cultivation for average cultivators. And on that she already have a transformed soul realm that she subconsciously reconstructed. Just what kind of monstrous talent she have.'
She looked around, the crashing waves reflecting in her wide eyes. "This all came from *me*?"
As she spoke Aaryaksh snapped back and nodded.
Even though she is a savant he ought to not give her face or taking her attitude the consequences could be dangerous. Its better to keep her bounded.
So he commanded her
"Yes. And now, I want you to do something."
"What?"
"Calm it down."
She blinked. "What?"
"yes calm the raging waves and furious waterfalls."
"I.. I can't. How can I."
"if you panic or express your emotions eagerly they would grew even more furious that even I may not be able to control"
"Aa'n" Kiyana looked in his eyes with questions in her wet eyes.
"This place is bound with your emotions. It obeys the mind behind it. If you don't learn to command it… it will drown your subconscious and you'll be brain dead."
He tried to scare her off a little because considering her comprehension skill. She can easily control it in few tries.
She suddenly panicked and closed her eyes, trying to slowly calm down her heavy breathing. She tried to remember the scrips symbols and steps of the book.
After few tries the waterfalls slowed, the wind eased and the waves softened.
He smiled.
"Well done."
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I've done it, I've done it."
She was so thrilled that the calm waves once again started to grew according to her overjoyed mode.
On seeing this Aaryaksh suddenly slapped her back of the head.
"Ouch! Unh hu why did you slapped me. I had calmed it down just as you asked for."
Then he pointed at the rising waves.
"hehehe" she shamelessly giggled upon seeing them. After calming them few times. Now she gained better control at them and can even differentiate with her emotions.
After so many attempts she exhaled in tiredness.
"What is this platform?" she pointed at an icy structure covered in various scripts, runes and arrays.
"Your sanctum. Where you'll train and evolve. You'll learn how to use your powers here, grow them, shape them."
"And one more thing it's the same realm your dreams are born from. A blend of memory, potential, and spirit. And since you had already reconstructed it so you may not dream from now." Aaryaksh said with mocking smile.
She gasped in shock and then shouted in joy
"hahahahaha finally no more crazy dreams and nightmares"
Then her gaze fell to the carved runes etched into the stone.
"What are those?"
"Symbols of your potential. Each one will awaken and imprint here with time, training and your knowledge. Probably you're a mutated spirit soul, Kiyana. Born of a spiritual and a mortal parent. Most of these people never awaken to their power. But somehow you did."
She was silent for a while gently tapping her index finger in her lips. Then asked, "There are… other soul types?"
"Yes. Three," he explained. "Normal souls or you can say mortals—powerless. Demonic souls—literally parasites that consume others soul for maintaining and growing their strength. And spiritual souls—people like us…."
She looked me and asked with tensed look. "So now I'm not human?"
"You're more than human."
Her expression shifted—vulnerability bleeding into her eyes.
"But I don't… I don't know who I am."
She knelt in front of me crying. "Then let's find out."
"Why me?" she asked, voice small. "and why now?"
"Fate," Aaryaksh said simply because he too was bound by fate. "And a very old book."
Her shoulders trembled. "I'm scared."
"I know," he said. "That's why I'm here."
Her voice cracked. "Please… take me back."
"Soon, But there's more I need to know first."
He pressed her again for details.
She told him everything she knew. She was adopted by a middle-class family in Dehradun. Her father worked in a bank, her mother as a professor. She'd always felt different but never knew why. From a very small age she regularly had nightmares that she can't understand. So with time she learned to ignore it. But still it hunts her.
He listened her carefully.
"It fits," Aaryaksh murmured. "You never knew your bloodline. But your spirit… never lied. That's why it tried to guide you through dreams that you thought as nightmare."
Suddenly, her panic spiked again—waves lashed out across the realm.
"Calm down!" I barked. "You're draining yourself too much and me too. I won't be able to hold this place if you lose control!"
With effort, she pulled herself together. The fury quieted.
Then she throw herself in his arms.
"Please forgive me Aaryaksh I should not have to read the book. Please take me back I don't want any of this I just want to live normally."
He gently embraced her in his arms and patted her.
"Listen to me. There's nothing to regret. This awakening—it was meant to happen. You read the book because the book chose you. But you must understand something."
She looked up with her wet eyes.
"Never tell anyone about this. Never. There are… others out there. Demons. Hunters. Those who consume souls like yours. And those mortals who consider us danger. You'd be prey to them. I can handle them—but you're not ready yet."
She nodded, wide-eyed.
Then he pointed to the platform.
"To regain your consciousness, just meditate here. Since you reconstructed your soul realm unknowingly. You have to fully gain its control. Just like earlier as you calmed the waves now memorise the symbols and try to control it. But keep this world secret, Kiyana. It's yours now. Protect it. If you can't fully gain its control and someone knows about it. They will try their most to control it and turn you into their slave puppet"
On this she looked at me with surprise and asked me with complete seriousness.
"Then why don't you controlled me? I don't think that you can't control infect you can easily control me. Then why not?"
Aaryaksh was literally shocked with her sudden question.
"I..I." he tried to explain but even he don't know why he had not controlled her even though he had a great chance over it.
And with that, trying to avoid her question. He waved his hands and escaped form her soul realm.
On seeing him ignoring her question Kiyana smiled mysteriously and sat on the platform trying to her realm.
Back in the Real World
He returned to consciousness.
Only ten minutes had passed.
He gently positioned Kiyana in the bed. Then locked the door from outside and returned to his coach.
Vaidehi was the first to react. "What the hell happened? You both just—where had you gone taking Kiyana! And where is she?"
My head was already throbbed, drained from maintaining the spiritual tether in Kiyana's soul realm.
"She's fine," I said hoarsely. "Just… let me rest. She will return herself in a while."
And I collapsed back against the seat, exhausted.
But in my mind… I was already preparing for what came next.
Kiyana wasn't just some curious girl anymore.
And with her powers awakened if not bound by something she may become something far more dangerous.