NOVEL WEB Chapter 25: Chapter 25 — Rakshasa-Vira
Location: Perimeter Trail, 2km outside Ashtashram
Date: October 18, 2029
Time: 7:29 PM
The air changed before the ground did.
The dogs stopped barking.
Even the wind held its breath.
Mira's sensors short-circuited again.
Ankita tightened her grip on the rifle.
Rishav instinctively moved Khushi to the lower levels.
Only Yash stayed still.
"It's not a beast," he said.
"It's something worse."
The stranger walked into view just past dusk.
Barefoot.
Shirtless.
Eyes like burnt stars.
He didn't speak.
Just stared at the Ashtashram walls.
And smiled.
Yash walked alone toward the outer gate.
Mira protested.
Ankita cursed.
But he went anyway.
The man spoke first.
"You wear ash like armor."
"But it's just what's left of your fire."
His voice wasn't loud.
But it echoed.
Through metal. Through minds.
Yash's back burned.
The sigils on his spine pulsed — two active now.
"Who are you?" Yash asked.
The man grinned wider.
"Once, I was like you. Chosen. Cursed."
"But I didn't want to protect. I wanted to survive."
He raised his hand — black veins visible up to his elbow.
"And they answered."
The sky flickered.
Not lightning.
Something else.
Behind him, a second shadow moved — but no one else stood there.
"I am the first Rakshasa-Vira," he said.
"And I've come to see what the gods waste their power on."
He moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Yash barely blocked with a flare of divine energy — not an attack, just instinct.
The ground cracked.
Yash staggered back — first time since awakening he'd been overpowered.
The Rakshasa-Vira laughed.
"Not ready yet. But interesting."
"Keep building your little temple of hope."
"I'll return when your fire's worth extinguishing."
He vanished into the wind.
Silence.
Yash stood alone in the dark.
Ash drifting from his palms.
Heartbeat echoing through the broken earth.
Behind him, the shelter lights flickered back on.
But something had changed.
They all felt it.
Not every divine is a savior.
Some were built to unmake.