The Ruler's Stone

Knowledge And Power

The night was quiet. Marki was walking to his home. His steps were slow. His bag was heavy on his shoulder.

He finally reached his house. He stood in front of the door. Then he pressed the bell. _Ring... ring..._

The door opened.

It was his childhood friend standing at the door. His best friend from years ago.

"What... what are you doing here?" Marki asked, his voice surprised.

His childhood friend did not answer. He just smiled and stepped aside.

Then Marki saw it. On the floor. Near the door. There were many shoes. Not just his friend's shoes. More shoes. Many pairs.

He slowly entered the house. And then he saw him.

Sitting on the sofa. It was his other classmate. The same classmate who always sat behind him in class. He was inside Marki's house.

Marki could not understand. Why is everyone in my house today?

Just then, his mother's voice came from the kitchen. His father was also there.

"Marki! Your dinner is ready!" his mother said with love. Then her face changed. "But why are you so late today? Are you okay, son? Is everything okay?"

Marki looked at his parents. He looked tired. He nodded slowly.

"Yes, Mom. I am okay," he said quietly.

He did not want to talk more. He turned and started walking to his room.

But footsteps followed him.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

He stopped. He turned back.

His classmate was coming behind him. In a straight line. Step by step. Following him to his room.

Then Marki went to the bathroom for a shower.

His friends were sitting in the room.

But after some times some of them started looking at things in his room.

There they saw many books about power. In the books, there were details about Zvaru Power and Mahu Rank.

Then Marki came out of the bathroom after changing his clothes.

The condition of the room was not good. Nothing was in its place.

Seeing this, he thought, "Tomorrow morning I will have more work to do to clean the room."

The sound of plates came from downstairs. Dinner time.

Marki went downstairs for dinner, his hair still wet from the shower. He walked slowly.

His classmate looked at the stairs where Marki had just gone. His face was confused.

He turned to Marki's childhood best friend and asked in a low voice,

"Why is he so quiet? Why does he always stay alone? Why doesn't he talk?"

Marki's best friend became silent for a moment. He remembered old days.

Then he said slowly, "He is not strange. He is not weird. You are thinking wrong about him."

His classmate was listening carefully.

"He just... he doesn't like those people," his best friend continued. "Those people who look at others with low eyes. Who think others are small. He hates that look."

"Why?" the classmate asked.

"Because when he was small, it happened to him," his best friend said, his voice now sad and heavy.

"In school, some boys bullied him. Every day. They laughed at him. They pushed him. They called him names. He was alone. No one helped him."

The room became completely silent.

"At that time, it was very difficult for him. Very, very difficult to control himself. but he controlled his anger. He kept everything inside his heart."

His best friend took a deep breath.

"He controlled himself that day... but his heart never forgot. Till today, his view about people has not changed. He still thinks people will judge him. That is why he stays quiet. His silence is not his weakness. His silence is his shield."

Downstairs, Marki was eating dinner,

One of them stood up. He started looking at the things in Marki's room.

"Wow... look at this," he whispered.

On the table. On the shelf. On the floor. There were books. Many books. Old books. Not school books.

Books about Power.

He picked one up. The cover was dusty. The title was written in bold letters: *ZVARU POWER.*

He opened it. Inside, there were strange symbols. Lightning marks. Circles. Levels.

"And this one," his childhood friend said, picking another book. "MAHU RANK - The Real Levels of Power."

Their eyes became wide.

Pages were full of notes. Handwritten notes by Marki. Arrows. Questions. "How to break the limit?" "Is Zvaru stronger than Mahu?" "What is above Rank 10?"

They had never seen this side of Marki. The quiet, average student... was secretly studying power levels?

"What is he doing with these books?" the classmate whispered. "Is he... is he trying to become something else?"

Marki came back to his room. He stopped at the door.

His friends were holding his notes book. They were looking inside. They were searching about power in the human body.

All their faces were shocked. Their eyes were wide.

They looked at Marki and asked, "You have this much knowledge about power? Then why don't you show it? Why do you hide it?"

Marki looked at them. He was quiet for a moment. Then he said in a low voice, "At the end of school today, I visited the Mahu Fighter Headquarter."

They listened carefully.

"The knowledge they have... compared to them, I have nothing. I know nothing much."

He paused.

"I just have interest. I want to know why we humans got power... and how we evolved."

The room became silent.

Then his best friend smiled sadly and said, "Ahh sorry Marki, I'm late. And you know I need to do some more work in the morning. So I will go now."

After that, his other classmates also started going. One by one, they left.

Marki closed the door. _Click._

He tried to sleep. He lay on the bed. But sleep did not come.

So he stood up. He started to reset his room. He put everything back in its place. Books on the shelf. Papers on the table. Just like before.

While cleaning, he felt sleepy. His eyes were closing.

After some time, his work was done. The room was clean again.

Now he was lying on his bed. And slowly, he fell asleep.

At the same time, far away, the Chairman made a decision. He decided to send his guard to Marki's home in the morning.