The morning sun filtered through the trees, casting golden patterns on the training field. Aryan sat cross-legged on a flat stone, calm and centered, while Kiran paced in restless circles nearby, dust kicking up around his boots.
"We should talk about it," Aryan said without opening his eyes.
"About what?" Kiran asked, though he already knew.
"Innate ability," Aryan said. "You've opened your first gate. Now something deeper is stirring inside you."
Kiran folded his arms. "So how did it happen for you?"
Aryan opened his eyes and looked up at him. "It was quiet… gradual. After I opened the Root Chakra, I started feeling something shift not in the world, but in me. Like pieces rearranging themselves. My thoughts, my instincts. My blood."
He stood and pointed at the flat ground beneath them. "I began sensing balance. Lines. Designs. Like the world was made of patterns, and I could feel them. The places where stone should sit, where trees should grow. The alignment of things. That's when I knew my ability came from who I was. A architect as I used to study the monument s. I can guide energy chakra specifically perfectly through my body. Every movement, every breath… it becomes efficient. Balanced. My body wastes nothing. The more I use it, the more natural it feels. And when my chakras open more, I can move that energy even faster."
Kiran tilted his head. "So that's why your strikes feel heavier even though they're light."
Aryan nodded "A stabilizer. It's called the Architect's Sense."
"Architect's Sense?" Kiran repeated.
Aryan nodded. "I can sense the energy flow in my environment and in people. It helps me see how things fit. And more importantly, I can control my own energy perfectly. My chakras move with very little resistance. Even breaking through the tiers will be easier for me because I don't waste a single breath of energy. Also I can make my attacks way stronger. As you know we can strengthen our body with chakra energy but I can do it at a higher degree."
"What about the earth ability."
"I found out that I can use my chakra ability with power and accuracy."
Kiran sat beside him, rubbing his chin. "So it came after your chakra opened?"
"Not immediately," Aryan said. "But once the energy settled, once I understood it… it awakened on its own."
Kiran exhaled slowly. "That… makes sense. Because I've been feeling something too. Since my gate opened. Something bubbling. A kind of pressure. Like a storm behind a dam."
Aryan tilted his head. "Then maybe you're close."
Kiran looked toward the forest and then back at Aryan, a flicker of a grin on his face. "I think I need a fight."
Aryan raised an eyebrow. "A fight?"
"Yeah," Kiran stood. "Something to stir the pot."
Aryan laughed quietly and stretched his shoulders. "Fine. Let's do it properly."
---
They moved to the clearing, facing each other with calm breaths and steady stances. Aryan summoned the Earth beneath his feet, gently shifting small rocks in a circle, maintaining a balanced posture. Kiran cracked his neck.
"No chakras yet," Aryan said. "Just see what stirs inside. Only use chakra energy."
"Alright."
Then Kiran launched forward, his movements quick and precise. Aryan parried the first blow with an open palm, sliding backward on the dirt.
Their fists clashed again. Aryan swept low, forcing Kiran to leap, but Kiran flipped mid-air and came down hard with a knee aimed at Aryan's shoulder. Aryan deflected and countered with a controlled attack of fist enhanced by energy and traping Kiran's feet in earth
Then it came.
Mid-motion, Kiran stopped. His chest rose as something surged from within. A pulse.
Not of chakra but of something deeper. A thundering beat from within Kiran's chest that echoed out through his limbs.
His body shimmered briefly with silvery lightjust a flash and then his muscles surged. Not larger. Not glowing. Just… more alive. More wired. He moved again and this time, he vanished.
Aryan barely blocked the next blow. The impact sent him sliding backward across the stones.
"Whoa!" Aryan slid three paces before regaining balance.
Kiran stood wide-eyed. "What the hell was that?"
Aryan steadied himself. "That… looked like your innate ability."
Kiran's hands were shaking slightly. "I felt something release. A pulse of energy, like I could just… push outward. It's like like I stored the energy in my body, and then… let it loose all at once.
He exhaled, and suddenly, another force pulsed from his chest faint but deliberate. It bent the air like heat waves, and the earth trembled softly beneath his feet.
Kiran looked at his palms. "It's like I can push energy out from me. Not like a wave… but a vibration. I can feel things coming near me. Pressure. Movement. I think it's… Pulse Sense. I can detect force and send it out as a blast."
Aryan nodded slowly. "So you generate force and read it. That explains the backlash. You're compressing force. Kinetic bursts. It's not elemental it's physical. That's why it's so explosive."
Kiran rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry for knocking you."
"It's fine," Aryan said, brushing dust from his tunic. "That's a strong ability. Especially if you master it."
"I can already tell," Kiran muttered. "If I focus… I can expand it outward. Like a sonar… but also a weapon. Also it's like my body knows the perfect amount of strength to use in any situation. I can increase impact, strike more efficiently, time things better. It's not about brute power. It's about perfect pressure."
"You've always had instinct. It makes sense."
"I want to name it energy pulse." Kiran said then he looked down at the ground and tapped his foot lightly.
The land under him cracked just a little. But then it split further, rumbling with a sudden landslide as a nearby edge of the hill began to collapse.
"Stop!" Aryan shouted, throwing up a wall of stone before the falling dirt reached them.
Kiran stepped back, jaw tight. "I didn't mean to…"
Aryan looked at him sternly. "You have to control it. You're not just stronger now you're more dangerous."
"I get it," Kiran said quietly.
The tension eased as Aryan lowered the wall and dust settled. They both sat again, this time side by side, watching the distant mountain mist swirl in the morning light.
"So," Kiran grinned and cracked his knuckles.
"Let's go all out today, Aryan. No more holding back."
Aryan stepped beside him, adjusting the sash around his waist, gaze calm but focused.
"You sure?" he asked. "We push too hard, and we'll leave this place in ruins."
Kiran gave a shrug that was more challenge than indifference.
"Then we'll rebuild it."
Aryan laughed quietly and nodded. "Alright, then. Let's head to the clearing in the forest outside."
They moved deeper into the forest roots rising like veins, trees towering around them in silent witness. The air thickened with anticipation.
In a wide, natural basin surrounded by stone outcroppings and old tree stumps, they stood apart.
No more words.
Kiran struck first.
His heel slammed into the ground, sending a ripple of force that cracked the earth outward. The pulse wasn't visible, but Aryan felt it a pressure wave barreling through the terrain.
He leapt just as the ground where he stood exploded upward.
Aryan's body twisted mid-air, and with a sharp exhale, he focused his chakra. The soil below responded to his presence, forming a smooth, elevated platform that caught his fall like the open palm of the earth itself.
"Still the showoff, huh?" Kiran called, crouched low.
Aryan's eyes narrowed. "Still the wrecking ball?"
Kiran didn't answer. A low hum began to resonate around him a throb of pressure expanding from his chest.
His innate ability Pulse Sense spread out like an invisible sonar. Every vibration, every energy flicker in the forest became clear to him. He didn't just see Aryan anymore. He felt him each shift of muscle, each inhale of breath.
He charged.
Aryan raised both arms, and two sharp pillars of stone erupted from the ground in front of him. Kiran smashed through them like brittle twigs, his body momentarily enveloped in a concussive force field, chakra-enhanced through his pulses.
Aryan dodged, flipping back, landing on a curved arc of rock he shaped beneath him.
"Your control's still sloppy," he taunted, pushing a hand forward.
The ground beneath Kiran's feet buckled, a sudden vacuum of pressure that pulled him slightly off balance. In that instant, Aryan slid forward on a platform of smoothened rock, aiming a palm strike toward Kiran's chest.
Kiran reacted.
A focused pulse blasted from his arm, not wide but narrow like a lance of energy. It hit Aryan mid-step and knocked him back, his body flipping once before he landed hard, rolling to a stop.
For a moment, the air was still.
Kiran blinked. "That was… new."
He looked down at his hands. A glow deep maroon seeped through his veins. The Pulse wasn't just sensing anymore—it was empowering, amplifying him. His muscles felt tighter, energy more focused.
"I think… I just got stronger," he murmured.
Aryan groaned and sat up from the dirt. "You call that a friendly tap?"
"Sorry." Kiran chuckled, offering a hand. "Innate stuff. It just… happened."
Aryan ignored the hand, rising with his own balance. He dusted off, eyes studying Kiran not with irritation, but understanding.
"So, your ability adapts through combat. Builds pressure, releases it in bursts, and now reinforces your body. It's dangerous."
Kiran smirked. "Only if you're on the wrong side of it."
Aryan adjusted his footing. "Then I'd better stay on the right one."
He stepped forward and the ground answered.
The battle shifted again.
This time, Aryan channeled his Architect's Sense, his fingers moving like an artist brushing across the air. The terrain molded to his will, every motion triggering geometric reactions sharp-edged stones aligning into barriers, steps forming mid-air, and channels opening that directed natural energy like rivers flowing in unseen lines.
Kiran darted forward, but Aryan was faster.
A circular wall of stone rose, not to block but to redirect the next pulse. It bounced back at Kiran, who caught it with a grunt, sliding back.
"You redirected my pulse?" Kiran gasped.
"I sensed the vector and bent the earth accordingly," Aryan explained, breathing slow, hands raised. "My Architect's Sense connects with the world's natural flow. And my chakra control lets me manipulate it with precision."
He stepped forward again.
"I don't waste energy. I place it exactly where it needs to be."
Kiran clenched his fists. "Then let's see what happens when I just break your structure."
He sprinted, each step releasing a minor shockwave that shattered roots and cracked bark. Aryan countered by sinking into the ground, letting the stone absorb his momentum and push him upward.
They clashed in mid-air Kiran's fist surrounded by a pulsing aura and Aryan's palm steady with calculated power.
The collision echoed through the trees like thunder.
They broke apart.
Landing on opposite ends of the clearing, the forest bore witness to their power. Trees leaned. Stones cracked. Animals had long since fled.
Kiran wiped sweat from his brow. "Alright, maybe I need to train more before I fight you again. Your fist is harder than rock your perfect charka control terrifing."
Aryan nodded, also breathing heavily. "Your power's explosive. But mine… keeps building."
Kiran chuckled. "So what now?"
Aryan walked toward him, gaze thoughtful. "Now… we find the next gate. We learn what it takes to awaken the rest."
He paused. "And we train. Harder than ever. Because what we felt in those dreams… what we saw… that was only the beginning."
Aryan wiped his brow and stared into the valley below. "Now we begin preparing to awaken the other chakras."
"Any idea how?" Kiran asked.
"I think we have to align ourselves first. The first gate was Root. The next… Sacral. Water. Emotion."
"Emotion, huh?" Kiran gave a small chuckle. "I'm overflowing with those."
Aryan smiled faintly. "Then it might not be as hard for you."
They shared a look warmer now, with mutual understanding.
Both of them were no longer the boys who had walked into that cave weeks ago.
Something had changed.
Their chakras had opened. Their innate powers had awoken.
And now… their path was unfolding.
One step at a time.
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End of chapter 8
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