The moment Manya stirred back into consciousness, Vaibhav shifted—becoming nothing more than a shadow, unseen and silent.
Blinking against the light, Manya instinctively reached for her throat, expecting pain... but there was none. Her skin was unblemished, as if nothing had ever happened. Relief briefly flickered across her face, but it was fleeting.
"Aarav," she whispered, fear lacing his name.
Frantically, she tore through every room of the sprawling bungalow, searching, calling—but Aarav was nowhere to be found. A heavy dread gripped her chest. Maybe... maybe the devil has taken him away, she thought, her heart breaking.
Panic consumed her. Driven by a desperate madness, Manya stumbled out into the forest, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Aarav!" she cried into the thick, tangled trees. "Aarav, where are you?"
Her voice cracked with anguish. "I'm still here in this world only for you... please, come back!"
Deeper and deeper into the woods she wandered, until her legs gave out and she collapsed onto her knees, sobbing.
It's my fault, she thought. If Aarav's hurt... if he's gone... it's because of me.
Suddenly, she felt a small, gentle hand touch her shoulder.
Startled, Manya turned.
Behind her stood a child—his face, his eyes—he looked exactly like Aarav.
In truth, it was Vaibhav. Seeing Manya's anguish had broken something inside him, so he had taken on Aarav's childlike form. In this way, he could comfort her without breaking the ancient laws that bound him. As a child, he could speak to her, reassure her... without crossing forbidden lines.
In a sweet, innocent voice, Vaibhav said, "Listen... I'm fine. Don't cry."
Manya's breath caught. She whirled around, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Aarav!" she gasped.
Without hesitation, she threw her arms around the small figure, clutching him tightly as if she could protect him from the whole world.
Vaibhav stiffened in shock. The warmth of her hug, the way her body shook with emotion—it pierced straight through him. He hadn't expected it to feel like this. He hadn't expected his own eyes to sting, or for tears to suddenly spill down his cheeks without reason.
Manya pulled back just enough to see his face, and her heart ached seeing the tears there.
"My little one, why are you crying?" she murmured tenderly. With a soft smile, she wiped his tears with her fingers, her touch gentle, motherly.
Vaibhav flinched, startled by her tenderness. For a moment he simply stared, feeling the trail of her touch still lingering on his skin. I'm crying? he thought, bewildered.
Quickly, he pulled away, brushing her hand off.
"Enough!" he snapped, struggling to regain control. "Don't touch me like that."
Instead of being hurt, Manya simply laughed, a soft, musical sound that wrapped around Vaibhav's heart like a ribbon. She leaned forward, pinching his cheeks playfully.
"Oh, so my cute little Aarav gets angry too?" she teased, eyes sparkling through her tears.
Vaibhav clenched his fists at his sides, a growl rising in his throat. Mad girl! I'm not a child! he thought furiously. Oh, God, why did you make me protect such a crazy girl?
He groaned internally. This... this is going to be the most difficult task of my life.
The Realm of the Angels
Meanwhile, far above in the sacred halls of the angels, Rakhi sat silently on the steps where Vaibhav had once spoken with the deities.
Her mind wandered back to their first meeting. She had been standing there, radiant with happiness upon seeing him. Vaibhav had given her a hard look and asked,
"Stop, goddess. What are you doing here?"
Smiling shyly, Rakhi had replied, "I needed to tell you something. I... I wanted to thank you. When you saved me, I never got the chance to say it properly, and..."
But before she could finish, Vaibhav had cut her off brusquely.
"No need to thank me, goddess. I have to go."
And with that, he had vanished, leaving Rakhi standing there, unsaid words trapped inside her heart.
Now, as she sat there alone, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
Once again, I couldn't tell him how I feel, she thought bitterly.
In the Depths of Hades
Far below, in the desolate darkness of Hades, the black smoke that had once claimed Aarav's life drifted through the twisted forests.
It reached a colossal palace made of blackened stone, a place where poison gas rose in choking clouds from pools of molten lava.
Inside, the smoke coalesced into the figure of a boy. His body was pale as bone, dark circles under his hauntingly beautiful eyes. Dressed all in black, he was a vision of tragic, terrible beauty—a monster clothed in innocence.
The boy, Dhundal, entered the palace where the lava itself seemed alive. A great mass of molten fire rose up around him, shaping itself into a monstrous, leering face.
"What are you doing here, Dhundal?" it rumbled, the voice booming with a terrible heat.
Dhundal fell to his knees, bowing low.
"I had to bring you a message," he said humbly. "It's something only you could hear... something you must tell my lord yourself."
The lava face hissed, sending up clouds of poisonous steam.
"You came here... for this?" it roared. "Fool! If the deities even suspect we have claimed the lower parts of the earth, they will destroy us without mercy!"
Dhundal bowed even lower, trembling under the weight of the molten being's fury.
"I know I've broken the rules," he whispered. "But the news I carry could not be trusted to any other. Only by meeting you could I deliver it."
The molten face stared at him for a long, burning moment. Then it growled,
"Very well, speak quickly. I have little time—and less patience."