Kingdom Of Shrughna : 1000 Years Ago

"Netri, how many times have I told you not to sneak in here?", Shaila Devi caught her daughter's arm and dragged her silently away.

"But Ma, I too want to go to Pathshala (school) like brother." Netri nagged in.

"You are a girl Netri, this is not for you. Have you seen any girl go to school in our community? The boys are the ones who will be earning anyway. Moreover, you will be married off soon and you don't need to learn scriptures for doing household chores do you?"

"Ma if no one will attempt to teach us how they will know if we are too capable like the boys or maybe even better", Netri argued.

"That's enough Netri. Now come home and help me with the chores will you."

The sounds of the students practicing their lessons were gradually fading away while Netri kept staring in the direction of the pathshala while her mother dragged her away. Netri is the second child of Shaila Devi and her husband Pandit Girijapradhan who taught in the pathshala as a guru (teacher). But since Netri was a girl he never attempted to educate her like her brother.

But Netri was stubborn to learn. So after much contemplation and getting caught many times near the pathshalas, she somehow managed to agree with her parents to learn only the basics of education. But unbeknownst to Shaila Devi and Girijapradan, Netri managed to get herself to learn more by sneakily stealing books. Every day she used to go to the nearby mountain forest on the pretext of finding medicinal herbs and in solitude used to study all the scriptures she stole before sneakily returning them to their place. However, as days passed by, pressure was mounting on her to get married off to a prospective suitor who was much older than her. Soon her parents informed her about the marriage which was about to take place in two months.

"Netri, we have found a perfect suitor for you. He is economically sound and has no problem in taking you in as his second wife" her father said in a rather calm determined voice.

The word 'second wife' came as a tight slap on Netri's face.

"Second wife??" She stuttered.

Her father explained that the merchant wanted to marry again as his first wife was bedridden and had a very short time to live. The doctors have tried their best to cure her but they failed. The man needs a new wife to take care of his house. Her dreams came crashing down like a rock mountain being bombarded. Upon hearing it she ran away to the forest as if she was running away from a swift approaching sinister. Huffing and panting she stopped among the forest. She dreamt of learning and going to school someday just like the boys in her village. Even she managed to agree with her father who reluctantly allowed her to sit the primary exam which takes place once a year. But all these dreams got trampled and destroyed like delicate flowers under a rock. The thoughts created a violent riot in her mind. With tears rolling down her eyes and quavering wet lashes she let out a scream. Suddenly a vast wave of psychic energy was released and rippled through the surroundings slicing off trees and bushes. Birds and animals nearby got thrown away due to its impact. The emotional buildup inside Netri's mind manifested into a violent outburst of psychic energy which knocked her unconscious. Hours later she was found by the villagers when her parents started getting worried about whether she ran away.

Netri opened her eyes after one whole day of staying unconscious. Suddenly, she remembered what happened in the forest. The whole incident replayed itself in her mind. She became restless yet had to hide it from her parents who are busy preparing for her marriage by consulting a horoscope expert. An auspicious date was fixed. With so little time left Netri geared up to know the mystery of her powers. She started to steal scriptures from the school library on the pretext of bringing food for her elder brother. This time she took books and scriptures from the section of the art of magic which was until now untouched by her. She started studying about it and found out that people like her, with magic are called auras. She became more submerged into learning about it and got her hands on the scriptures which state that there are a whole lot of spells and techniques of magic arts which auras can learn to control their magic and until the coming of age of seventeen, the abilities will not fully manifest. Netri was fourteen and a half years old, so she thought that it was still two years before her magic could fully manifest. But she will be married off in two months so how will that be possible. Suddenly, she grew strangely determined and decided that whatever happened, she would learn it. And with that, she stole a significant number of books and scriptures and hid them in her clothes given by her parents as a part of dowry gifts.

Netri was married off to the merchant two months later. With a heavy heart, she left for the neighborhood province not knowing the sinister waiting for her.