Chapter 394 - 362: Training Completed... Changes Over Time...

(A/N):

Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.

Guys I hope you put more comments and power stones... Which will encourage me...

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Lord Vishnu slowly turned away from the enormous crater created by Devara’s final strike and looked back at his son.

Devara was still standing with his Gada resting against his shoulder, breathing heavily after the intense battle, while sweat covered his body and dust clung to his clothes.

Around them, the barren island had been transformed by four years of training.

Cracks ran across the ground for kilometres, several rocky formations had been reduced to rubble, and deep impact marks were scattered across the landscape like scars left behind by countless battles.

Vishnu looked at Devara for a few moments without saying anything.

There was a quiet satisfaction in his eyes, the kind that Devara had rarely seen during their training.

Finally, Vishnu’s lips curved into a warm smile.

"Devara."

Devara straightened slightly.

"Yes, Father?"

Vishnu walked toward him, his expression calm and proud.

"Your training is complete."

Devara remained silent for a moment.

He looked at his Gada, then at the shattered battlefield around them, before finally looking back at Vishnu.

"Complete?"

Vishnu nodded.

"You have learned the Gada, but more importantly, you have learned how to fight with it without allowing your strength to control your movements. You understand balance, timing, momentum and restraint. You no longer swing the weapon simply because you possess the strength to do so. Every movement now has a purpose."

Devara listened carefully.

"And your training in Maya?" he asked.

Vishnu’s smile widened.

"That is where you have changed the most."

He stepped closer.

"Four years ago, you depended heavily upon what your senses told you. If you saw something, you reacted to it. If you heard something, you believed it. If someone appeared to be in danger, your instinct was to immediately act."

Devara smiled faintly.

"That sounds like me."

"It was," Vishnu replied with a quiet chuckle.

"But now you question what you see before allowing it to control you. You have learned to recognize inconsistencies within illusions, to rely upon your awareness when your senses are deceived and, more importantly, to create Maya yourself rather than simply resisting it."

Vishnu glanced toward the place where Devara’s illusion had fooled him moments earlier.

"Today, you managed to deceive me."

Devara raised an eyebrow.

"Successfully."

Vishnu laughed.

"Yes. Successfully."

Devara couldn’t help but smile.

Vishnu then placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"Remember this, Devara. Maya is not merely a weapon. It is a reflection of the mind. The stronger your understanding of yourself becomes, the harder it will be for another person to control you through illusion."

Devara nodded.

"I understand."

Vishnu looked toward the horizon.

"You are ready to return."

Devara followed his gaze.

After four years on this barren island, the thought of seeing his family and kingdom again brought a quiet warmth to his heart.

He had left as a king who possessed great power but still had much to learn.

He would return as someone who understood his abilities far more deeply.

Vishnu turned back toward him.

"Come. Your family has been waiting."

Devara smiled and tightened his grip around his Gada.

"Then let’s go home."

Vishnu smiled.

Meanwhile, back in Devara’s kingdom, the four years of his absence had passed far more peacefully than many people had expected.

When Devara had departed with Lord Vishnu, Queen Gandhari had taken responsibility for the kingdom, and she had quickly proven that she was more than capable of carrying the weight of the crown in her husband’s absence.

She did not try to rule by imitating Devara.

Instead, she developed her own way of governing, listening carefully to her ministers, hearing the concerns of the people and making decisions only after understanding the situation before her.

Every morning, the royal court opened its doors as usual, and Gandhari would take her place upon the throne with Shakuni beside her.

Petitions from farmers, merchants, craftsmen, soldiers and nobles were brought before them, and Gandhari dealt with each matter patiently.

Minor disputes between villages were settled before they could grow into larger conflicts, trade routes continued operating normally, grain reserves were maintained, and the kingdom’s treasury remained stable.

Whenever a difficult political matter arose, Shakuni would quietly offer his advice, but Gandhari always made it clear that the final decision belonged to her.

The people gradually became accustomed to seeing their queen sitting upon the throne instead of Devara.

At first, many had wondered whether the kingdom would feel different without its king.

Some feared that neighboring rulers might take advantage of his absence, while others worried that the enormous responsibilities of the kingdom would become too much for Gandhari, especially with her own children still young.

Those concerns slowly disappeared as the months passed and Gandhari continued to maintain peace and order without allowing the administration to fall into disorder.

She also made certain that Devara’s principles remained unchanged during his absence.

The poor were not ignored, the royal granaries remained open during difficult periods, disputes between nobles and common people were investigated rather than automatically decided in favor of the powerful, and the army was instructed to protect the borders without unnecessarily troubling the people living within them.

Gandhari had also grown into her role as a mother during those four years.

Her eldest son Prabajan had grown considerably, while his younger brothers and their little sister had begun filling the palace with the noise that only a large royal family could produce.

Even with all the responsibilities of ruling, Gandhari made sure she spent time with them whenever she could.

There were evenings when she would finish a long meeting with the ministers only to find several of her children waiting outside the chamber, eager to drag their mother away from matters of state and into whatever game they had invented that day.

Shakuni had often watched these moments with quiet amusement.

One evening, after a particularly long council meeting, he approached Gandhari as she reviewed another set of reports.

"You have managed rather well," he remarked.

Gandhari looked up from the scroll.

"Rather well?"

Shakuni smiled.

"Very well, then. I was trying not to make you too proud."

Gandhari gave him a knowing look.

"You are my brother. You should know by now that I don’t need your praise to know whether I have done my duty."

"I know," Shakuni replied.

"But I suspect your husband will be pleased when he returns."

At the mention of Devara, Gandhari’s expression softened.

"I hope so."

She looked toward the palace windows, beyond which the kingdom was slowly settling into the evening.

"He has been gone for four years."

Shakuni nodded.

"Four years is a long time."

Gandhari placed the scroll aside.

"But if he has truly spent all this time training under Lord Vishnu, then I know he will return stronger than when he left."

She smiled faintly.

"And probably with another impossible story to tell us."

Shakuni laughed.

"Considering everything that has happened since he became king, I would be more surprised if he returned without one."

Neither of them knew that at that very moment, far beyond Bhulok, Devara’s training had finally come to an end.

After four years of maintaining the kingdom in his absence, Gandhari’s wait for her husband was finally nearing its end.

Meanwhile, within the royal gardens, Rajmata Satyavati sat beneath the shade of an enormous flowering tree, watching the children gathered around her.

What had started as a peaceful afternoon in the garden had quickly turned into something resembling a small royal assembly.

Devara’s children had come together and surrounded Satyavati, some sitting on the grass, others standing behind them, while a few of the younger ones had practically climbed onto the stone bench beside her.

They had been waiting patiently for their grandmother to settle down because they had something important to ask her.

They wanted to know about their father.

It was hardly surprising.

Devara had been away for four years, and for the younger children especially, their memories of him were limited to the stories they had heard from their mothers and the occasional memories of the time before he left.

To them, their father was almost larger than life.

He was the king who had fought demons, travelled to different realms, stood beside gods and somehow always returned with another unbelievable story.

Yet they wanted to hear those stories from someone who had known him long before he became the man they knew.

Satyavati looked around at the eager faces and smiled.

"So," she said, resting her hands upon her lap,

"all of you brought me here just to ask about your father?"

Several children nodded immediately.

"Yes, Rajmata!"

"We want to know what he was like when he was young."

"Was he always this strong?"

"Did he really fight demons?"

"Did he really meet Lord Shiva?"

"Was he always a king?"

The questions came one after another, leaving Satyavati laughing softly as she tried to keep track of them.

"One at a time, children. If all of you speak together, even your grandmother won’t understand anything."

The children quickly became quiet, although their excitement remained obvious.

Satyavati looked toward them with affection.

She had watched Devara grow from a young boy into a warrior, then into a ruler, and eventually into the husband and father whose children now sat before her.

She had not given birth to him, yet somewhere along the way, the distinction had stopped mattering to her.

Devara had become her son long before she had chosen to remain in his kingdom rather than return permanently to Hastinapur.

She smiled as one of the children asked again,

"Was Father always brave?"

Satyavati’s expression became thoughtful.

"No."

The children stared at her in surprise.

The children listened closely.

"But," Satyavati continued,

"the difference was that he never allowed fear to decide what kind of person he would become."

She looked toward the palace in the distance.

"That is one of the things I remember most about him. Whenever he saw someone in trouble, he could never simply walk away. Even when helping someone caused him difficulty, he would still do it."

One of the older children smiled hearing it.

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(Author note:)

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