Kalinaya: Blood of the Forgotten Gods

Location: South Kolkata Slums, Near Railway Station Ruins

Date: October 4, 2029

Time: 6:47 PM

The old city was still dying.

But some parts refused to collapse —

they just rotted slowly.

The south slums were one of them.

Burned. Fused with vines.

Metal twisted into trees.

Ash woven into the wind.

And walking through this graveyard…

was a girl in a yellow hoodie.

Torn.

Bloodstained.

Wired with battery packs and blinking lights.

Her name wasn't known yet.

But people in the slums whispered:

"Beware the Ragpicker."

She carried a sack of old tech.

She spoke to no one.

And she didn't run when monsters appeared.

She pressed buttons.

Dropped cans.

Lit tripwires.

Boom.

Monsters died.

And she scavenged their corpses — not for meat…

but for metal.

Three days earlier, she'd watched her entire squat get devoured by a crawling shadow.

She hadn't cried.

She hadn't screamed.

She just walked away, chewing a toffee.

"Figures," she muttered.

"Just when I fixed the Wi-Fi."

Now, as she crossed into the broken east sectors,

she saw a wall.

Scorched. Painted. Reinforced.

And written on it in red:

ASH WILL GUARD US.

She smirked.

"Great. Another cult."

She placed a hand on the wall.

Felt warmth.

Energy pulsing under the concrete.

"Oh… not a cult."

"A Vira."

Yash was already waiting inside.

He felt her before she arrived.

Not as a threat.

As a signal — something different, something unstable.

And when the gate opened…

they stared at each other.

He was barefoot.

Ash still curling from his arms.

Eyes calm. Unreadable.

She was… chaos.

Eyes twitchy.

Mouth moving before thought.

One headphone still working.

"You're the Vira," she said.

"You smell like burnt timelines."

No one spoke.

Yash simply nodded.

"Name?"

"Mira," she said.

"Last survivor of the Fireline server tower."

"I make bombs. Steal power.

And I hate people."

Khushi peeked from behind the wall.

Mira pointed at her.

"Except maybe kids."

Later that night, she repaired their solar panel.

She also installed tripwire alarms, patched a broken battery, and turned an old speaker into a motion detector.

She worked like a machine.

Then, finally… she slept.

On the floor. On wires. Like home.

Yash sat near her, silent.

Watching.

And for the first time in a while…

he almost smiled.

Because Mira wasn't a warrior.

But she had fire.

And fire… builds hope.