(Four Months Begin — The Weight of Survival)
Inside the Gravity Gate
The training ground was silent.
Drona Acharya stood calmly, his staff resting against the ground.
Garud stood barefoot at the center.
"From today," Drona said slowly,
"time will lose meaning for you."
Garud listened without blinking.
"To awaken the Muladhara Chakra," Drona continued,
"your body must learn survival before strength."
He raised his staff.
The air itself changed.
The First Trial — Godly Gravity
Without warning—
BOOM.
An invisible force crashed down on Garud.
His knees struck the ground instantly.
"This gravity," Drona said calmly,
"is ten times that of your world."
Garud clenched his teeth.
Every breath felt heavy.
His bones screamed.
His muscles trembled violently.
"Stand," Drona ordered.
Garud tried.
His hands pressed into the ground.
His arms shook.
He collapsed.
"Again."
Garud forced himself up—
and fell again.
Day After Day
Days passed.
Then weeks.
Garud crawled more than he walked.
His skin tore.
His hands bled.
His breath burned.
Yet Drona never stopped him.
"Fear lives in the Root Chakra," Drona said one evening.
"Until you face it, you will never rise."
At night, Garud slept on bare stone.
He dreamed of demons.
Of death.
Of being too weak to protect anyone.
The First Month Ends
By the end of the first month—
Garud could finally stand under the gravity.
Only stand.
Nothing more.
Sweat drenched his body.
His legs shook endlessly.
"Good," Drona said.
"Now the real training begins."
Garud looked up, exhausted.
"Acharya… this was not it?"
Drona smiled faintly.
"This," he said,
"was only preparation."
End of Chapter 24