Kalinaya: Blood of the Forgotten Gods

Location: Ashtashram — Inner Chamber

Date: September 29, 2029

Time: 3:33 AM

The dreams had changed.

They weren't dreams anymore.

Yash no longer saw memories or symbols.

He saw her.

Always faceless.

Always shrouded in black fire and screaming wind.

But she watched him.

And every time he blinked — she got closer.

That night, he collapsed during meditation.

No blood. No wound.

Just silence and then… a gasp.

Khushi ran to him, but couldn't touch him —

his skin was radiating heat.

Ash curled around his limbs like a second skin.

Then his mouth opened—

and a scream came out that wasn't his.

It shook the walls.

Cracks formed in the ceiling.

Candles exploded in black flame.

Inside his mind, Yash wasn't in the shelter.

He stood in an endless red field.

The ground made of bone.

The sky bleeding downward.

And at the center…

stood Bhairavi.

A goddess. A storm. A nightmare.

Eyes glowing crimson. Hair made of knives.

And a smile made for war.

"You opened the first gate," she said.

"Now feel the cost."

She raised one hand.

The air split like paper.

And suddenly—

he was inside her breath.

It wasn't wind.

It was rage.

He saw visions:

A world burning in divine fire.

Mortals praying in fear, not hope.

Rakshasa-Viras rising from the ashes of cities.

And his own hands… killing, again and again.

He fell to his knees.

Tears rolled down.

Not from fear.

From understanding.

"I'm not a savior," he whispered.

"I'm a weapon."

"You are both," Bhairavi said.

"You burn not to destroy... but to cleanse."

"You carry my breath now —

and every scream you release will echo with my name."

Yash opened his eyes.

Back in the real world.

Ash had written something on the wall beside him — without hands:

भैरवी

Bhairavi.

Khushi looked at him, terrified.

He was still glowing.

But his eyes weren't white anymore.

They were red.

Just for a moment.

No one dared speak that night.

But everyone knew something had changed.

Yash Roy wasn't just a Shakti-Vira now.

He was a vessel.

And the goddess had begun breathing through him.