Sometime later, Lakshman opened his eyes. For a moment, he was confused. He was lying on top of a comfortable bed as he stared up at the ceiling. Then he slowly sat up and realised where he was.

He was in his room and the bright sunlight poured in through the open windows. The wind whooshed in and had a cooling effect on him. He closed his eyes and let the silence envelop him. Then he opened his eyes and got out of bed.

Walking down the stairs, he suddenly felt a strange sensation in his backside. For some unknown reason he felt pain, but he couldn’t understand why. Just then, he reached the ground floor and walked into the living room.

“Ah! You’re awake!”

Looking up, he realised the living room was filled with people. It was only five people, but in his drowsiness he thought he saw many people. In confusion, he walked over to a spare an empty couch.

As he sat, he felt a soft hand pat him on the head. Looking to his left, he saw his mother smiling at him. He blinked several times before rubbing his eyes to focus them properly. Turning around, he saw his father, Sumara and their maid present in the room.

“Um...” he muttered, looking around at them all.

“You are quite the sleepy head, aren’t you?” Sumara said.

“I ah... um...”

Lakshman stuttered for words when he turned to face her. For a moment, he couldn’t understand the proceedings. Then something clicked in his mind and he realised. He turned to Indra and Lakshmi with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Wait... why was I in bed?” he asked them.

Indra and Lakshmi looked at him and then at each other. A message seemed to have been passed between them. They suddenly smiled and turned to look at Sumara who shrugged her shoulders.

“At least your brain is functioning again,” Sumara muttered.

“Eh?” Lakshman said, turning to face Sumara. “Did you say something, Miss Sumara?”

“Oh! It’s nothing,” she said. “Anyway, to your question: you passed out after your battle.”

“I-I did?” he said, sounding surprised.

“Yes...” she said in a tired voice. “You’ve been asleep for quite a while.”

“Oh... how long was I was out for then?”

“To be exact: four hours and fifteen minutes!”

“Wow! Four hours...! Mmm...” he said, looking surprised by the length of time he was asleep for.

“Yes Mr. Explosive... you drained your energy firing off ridiculous powerful attacks!” Sumara said severely.

“I’m sorry, but I was trying to win the fight quickly,” he said and he scratched the back of his head.

“Yes, quickly... quick to drop unconscious is more like it!” she said with displeasure, but she did not look too annoyed.

Lakshman laughed and scratched his head distractedly.

“Well, I must have had a good time sleeping,” he said as he touched his body.

“I’m sure you did. Even falling off the horse wasn’t enough to wake you up.”

“What?”

“While on our way back, you kept falling from the horse,” Sumara said with a stern face.

“Oh...”

Lakshman did not know how to reply to that. He simply hung his mouth slightly open. Then, he smiled and moved his left hand to touch his back.

“I see... That explains why my back is so sore...” he said, patting himself on the back.

“Obviously it would be, you kept falling of the horse,” Sumara said in annoyance. “It gave me quite the trouble, unlike Ondine.”

Lakshman smiled in embarrassment. Then he realised the last words Sumara said.

“Ondine...” he said and he looked around for her. Not finding her, he asked “Where is Ondine?”

“She’s upstairs in her bed, sleeping,” Lakshmi informed him.

“Oh...” he said in surprise. Then he remembered how the fight ended and he said “Oh yeah! That’s right! She collapsed right after the fight, didn’t she?”

“She certainly did,” Sumara said with a nod. “Anyone at her level would be knocked out if they suddenly tried to fight against an overwhelming amount of power!”

“Haha... but the aim was to knock her out,” he said.

“Good aim! However, there is no point to it if you, the winner, collapse within ten-minutes after winning the fight!”

“Yes... my bad...” Hahahe said and scratched the back of his head.

“Still, I am impressed by what I heard,” Indra said.

He looked at his son proudly. He then leaned back and smiled.

“I’m quite surprised and impressed at your level of skill.”

Then he looked back at his son and grinned at him.

“You unleashed two massive Energy Force attacks by the way of swinging your sword.”

“Oh, that,” Lakshman said, finally understanding what Indra meant.

“So... how did you come to realise you could use Energy Force together with your Weapon Force?” Indra asked curiously.

“Well... I thought they might be able to work together, but I didn’t know anyone who could do it,” Lakshman said.

“Ah, I see,” Sumara said, nodding her head and Lakshman continued.

“So I thought that maybe I should experiment with it. Since we were fighting, I took the chance and used it. That is probably why my first swing had too much power in it.”

“Too much is an understatement,” Sumara said in exasperation. “That was excessive amount of energy!”

She then recounted what had happened. How Lakshman unleased the raw Energy Force. Then the massive explosion followed by the great surge of wind. She even stated how she feared she might be blown away by the strong winds.

“I now have come to a puzzling conclusion about you Lucky,” Sumara said.

“What about, Miss Sumara?” he asked curiously.

“Explosions... they constantly happen whenever you unleash your powers!”

“Ah... ah... ah...”

Lakshman was speechless. Even Indra and Lakshmi were surprised by her statement.

“What do you mean that, Sumara?” Lakshmi asked.

Sumara turned to her and said “Please think about it. His Weapon Force was very strong to control and he destroyed many swords. His Magic Force was exceptionally strong that his incantations had a powerful effect. Even his Energy Force was no exception, constantly exploding in his face!”

“AH!” she suddenly said, looking surprised as if she realised something. “Which reminds me... your Energy Force exploded on your AGAIN when you were charging your energy.”

“Again?!” Lakshmi exclaimed in shock.

“Yes, it did!” Sumara said empathetically.

“Miss Sumara, that was an accident,” Lakshman said defensively.

“No way is it an accident!” Sumara said seriously. “By this time, you should have full control over your force.”

“Yes I do, but... that was my first time Energy Charging,” he said.

“Ondine did not have any sort of trouble,” Sumara said and he looked uncertain.

Indra folded his arms and looked as if he was thinking. Then he clapped his right fist in the palm of his hand while making a “OH” sound with his mouth. They turned to see him grinning broadly.

“I got the perfect name for this!” he said. “Explosive Boy...! That’s your official nickname, Explosive Boy!”

For a few seconds, silence ensured

“Dad...!” Lakshman exclaimed, looking unhappy at his father’s words.

Lakshmi, on the other hand, was not impressed. Looking seriously at her husband she said in a deadly voice “Indra!”

“W-what Lakshmi?” Indra said, turning and fearfully looking at his wife.

“Stop it with your stupid quips!” she said firmly. “It’s annoying!”

“Eh? What?”

“Like father, like son,” she said and Indra opened his eyes in shock.

“What’s wrong with that?” he asked indignantly.

“It’s bad enough that you are stupid! I don’t want our son turning into someone like you!”

“What did you say?!”

Indra rose to his feet and Lakshmi did the same. It looked like a battle of words was about to be launched between them. They stood and glared at each other fiercely.

“I dare you to say that again!” Indra said angrily.

“I dare say, I don’t want our son to become stupid like you!” Lakshmi said.

She even smiled at Indra. He suddenly let out a yell and they began arguing. Their arguments suddenly ranged from their past to the present which also included the future plans.

Lakshman stared at his parents uncomfortably as his parents verbally argued with one another. He looked around and saw Sumara indicating him to leave the room with her. Grateful, he rose to his feet and quietly left the pack of arguing couple behind.

Both he and Sumara sighed in relief once they were away from the noise. Then they looked at each other.

“Today, we’ll be cancelling your practice,” she said. “You’re still tired. So, go back to bed and get plenty of rest.”

“Ah, thank you Miss Sumara,” Lakshman said and smiled at her.

Sumara nodded and said “It’s obvious you need to practice releasing your energy. However, perhaps we should do it away from people... probably in a deserted field.”

“What is that, Miss Sumara?”

“It’s to make sure the power you release doesn’t cause a massive explosion,” she said curtly. “Remember my earth wall? It got blown away by the sheer force of your energy.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, remembering that he saw his unleased force of energy destroy the earth wall and create an explosion.

“I would need to use my magic constantly to create an earth wall powerful enough to contain your explosive energy.”

Then she stopped and her eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“You know what...? Calling you ‘Explosive Boy’ does make sense.”

“Miss Sumara!” he said indignantly.

Sumara chuckled and patted him while he looked unhappily at her.

“Rest assured Lucky, I won’t call you that... unless you annoy me!” Sumara said.

“Miss Sumara!”

Laughing, she walked upstairs and he followed her. Once they reached the landing, she waved him goodbye and walked into her room. He watched her go and sighed when she shut her door.

It had been a long day and he decided to rest. From below, he could still hear the angry shouts of his parents as their argument continued. Suddenly, it was shut off when he walked into his room and closed the door shut.

Author's Note:

End of "Arc 01: Beginning"