4 The Great Samrat Empire

[A.N- Samrat(सम्राट) means The ruler of the empire in Hindi.]

"Goodbye, big brother Khajoor. Goodbye, big brother Kaal. I had so much fun today. Let's go again some other day, alright?" shouted Chooha in his childish voice.

Kaal and Khajoor also waved back and then headed back towards their own little, thatched hut. Kaal was looking at the 5 setting suns and was deep in thoughts. He felt like something was weird about what Khajoor had said but didn't know what. He pushed this issue at the back of his and asked Khajoor, "You really didn't know that?"

"I am telling you, I don't know what the Little Chooha asked. Can you stop asking me again and again? Although I really would love to talk to you, but I don't want to answer the same question again and again, alright?" Khajoor said irritatedly.

'Ugh! This damn bastard! Who wants to talk to him? I just feel that whatever he taught the kid was definitely wrong. Should I tell him so that he could correct the thing he said to the kid? Wait! I should let it be. It would be better if someone could knock some sense in that small brain of his.' Kaal thought.

As they were walking down the street many people saw them and greeted them with a trace of fear, and admiration in their eyes. Although they were poor, those village people still admired them a lot. They both were orphans but they stood on their own legs and worked at many different places just to earn some livings. Some thought that they were very pitiful and while some thought that they were very strong kids who were mature beyond their age. This was one of the reasons why some people although poor too but hired them to work at their homes. And Kaal naturally understood this reason and was very grateful to them.

They were also a little bit scared of Kaal because he had survived the lightning strike that fell on him. They felt that it was a miracle that he didn't die and because of living in the villages they were superstitious too. They thought that Kaal was an immortal who couldn't die even after being struck by a lightning. And this thought became the reason for them to be a bit scared of Kaal.

By the time they reached their small, thatched hut which looked like it would fall down at any moment, it was already dark and stars could be seen winking and giving light to the darkest corners of the world.

Khajoor and Kaal jumped together and came in front of their home. Khajoor lifted the wooden slab which was only enough to cover the entrance of the house, then covered the entrance once again when they had entered the house. The house was very small. As Kaal sat on the floor, he looked up at the hole in the roof through which one could see the clear starry sky at night. No one spoke for a while but then suddenly Kaal opened his mouth, "Hey Khajoor, where are we right now?"

"Right now we are stuck on the ground, bound by the chains of the heavens, restricted to fly even an inch. This is our destiny. Why think about it again and again? Let's sleep. We have tons of work to do tomorrow too." Khajoor replied, looking at the clear starry sky.

"…Can you tell me more about this world?" Kaal asked after being silent for a while.

"Right now, we are at a remote corner of the world. This Kamdhan village is a very small village and comes under the Shalimar county. Although I say it is a county but it is too small and could be barely considered a county. The county comes under the Great Samrath Kingdom. The Great Samrath Empire has 18 other counties too but each one is larger than the previous. Our Shalimar county is the smallest county in the entire kingdom and this is why no one mostly pays any attention to our village as the entire county is too poor." Khajoor replied solemnly.

"Is there any way for us to break free of these shackles, these suffering that we have to go through every day?" sighed Kaal.

"Yes, there is one way."

" What is it?"

"The only way is to... cultivate. But this is impossible. Cultivation is very difficult, and the most important part of it is that one must have a talent in it too, otherwise taking even a step in it would be more difficult than ascending the heavens," said Khajoor emotionally.

When Kaal heard this, he had a weird expression on his face. He went silent for a moment and said, " Are you sure cultivating some fruits and vegetable can end all our suffering? Are you sure you're not joking with me? And you are even talking about being a talented person for growing some vegetables. F*cking retard. If that was possible, wouldn't everyone be enjoying their life without doing anything but growing some plants and vegetables?" Kaal shouted angrily.

"...…"

Khajoor's eyes went wide and he looked at Kaal's angry face with a dumbfounded expression. Khajoor wanted to go on and on about how cultivation was so wonderful but before he could even start he choked on those words. He swore that if hadn't choked on his words and needed some time to recover, he definitely would have choked the other person to death.

"We cultivate our own bodies to make it stronger We cultivate to attain immortality. IT-DOESN'T-INCLUDE-GROWING-SOME-MOTHERF*CKING-VEGETABLES, ALRIGHT?" Khajoor said word by word. He couldn't believe that there could be such an idiot present in this world who would mistake cultivating to growing some fruit and vegetables.

When Kaal heard this, he was so embarrassed that he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

'Argh!!! Cringe,' shouted Kaal's inner voice.

"*Cough, cough*…..Ok, I understand now. But how do we cultivate? Is there any method, training or something like that?" Kaal coughed and asked with a blush.

"Yes, there is a method. It has many realms and levels. To get started with cultivation, one has to first train his/her body until it has broken through the limits of a normal human. The first realm is called Body Strengthening Realm and it has 5 levels. Breaking through each level requires hard work and talent. If you breakthrough the 1st level, you would be 2 times stronger than a normal human. Breaking through the 2nd level grants you the strength which is 4 times stronger than a normal human. Likewise, 3rd level grants you 6x strength, 4th level grants you 8x strength and the 5th level grants you 10x strength which is the limit of the human body. I don't know what comes after that but I am sure there are some other cultivation realms too. I am sure that the path of cultivation doesn't stop there. I heard rumors that each level you breakthrough also grants you a bit longer lifespan than a normal human." Khajoor said with a frantic look in his eyes.

'Cultivation, huh?' Kaal thought.

Suddenly there came a term in his mind from nowhere.

'Chinese Cultivation novels'

'What is that?' Kaal shook his head.

"But Cultivation requires one to have fortune, money, and talent too. We have neither of them. Breaking through every level of the Body Strengthening realm, one's consumption of food increases by a lot because we train our body and that requires a large amount of energy. We don't even have enough money to eat food thrice a day, let alone enough for those levels. Hai….." Khajoor sighed.

"…..Ok, let's sleep. We have to wake up early tomorrow," Kaal said after being silent, "Good night."

"Good night" Khajoor yawned.

"..."

"...."

"Hey, Khajoor"

"….Yup"

"Can you take your hand off my butt?"

"No can't do. It feels so comfortable."

"F*cking bastard, take your hands off my butt now!"

"…Wuhuhuhuhu….You have changed. You were not like this earlier. Before you lost your memories you always wanted me to do thi-"

"Shut your mouth and sleep!"

"Wuhuhuhu..."

After a while, snoring sounds could be heard from the small thatched hut.