--- 10:45 AM — Ujjain, Old City Alley
The street still hissed with faint sparks and scorched stone. Wisps of steam rose from cracks that ran through ancient brick walls like veins feeding a dying heart.
Aadiv stood in the ruins, sweat rolling down his neck. His breath came out like smoke, curling in the sun. His hand rested on the hilt of his katana — Kurokagetsu, its runes flickering gold deep inside the void-black steel.
Across from him, Shaurya leaned against a half-toppled pillar, arms folded over his chest. His double-edged blade hummed faintly, arcs of lightning still dancing off its edge. He watched Aadiv like a storm held behind glass — one flick and it would break free again.
---
Shaurya's eyes narrowed — not in anger, but in a kind of hunger that made Aadiv's flame pulse in his veins.
> Shaurya (voice low, rough with old memories):
"You've changed. This power of yours… it's not the same boy who used to run rooftops with me. You've got that thing inside you now — the one that wants to devour everything."
Aadiv's grip on the katana's scabbard tightened. The void hummed at his back, but underneath it — the faint warmth of something older, something that refused to die, pulsed like a heartbeat.
> Aadiv (calm, like embers under ash):
"That 'thing' didn't appear out of nowhere."
> Shaurya (tilts his head, sparks flicker in his hair):
"So tell me, brother — where did you get so strong? Who did you cut open to feed that fire?"
Aadiv's eyes met his. For a moment, he almost laughed — but there was no humor in his voice.
> Aadiv:
"No one gave this to me. I bled for it. I burned for it."
Shaurya stepped closer, the storm on his blade gone quiet — only the crackle of his breath remained.
> Shaurya:
"You keep saying you'll burn the world. But where did that fire come from? The Aadiv I remember didn't have gold in his veins — only shadows."
Aadiv looked past him — through the crumbling alley, beyond the smoke, past the bruised skyline of Ujjain. His eyes turned inward, to the night that had never left him.
> Aadiv (voice like a door creaking open):
"You want to know how I got strong? Fine. Listen — and remember what I was before I learned to breathe in ash."
--- The Flames of Yesterday Ignite
12 April 2021 — 3:30 PM
Ujjain — Aadiv's old home
He was fifteen then — a boy with a hollow chest and a head full of ghosts. The ceiling fan creaked overhead, pushing warm air through the room that still smelled of memories — his father's half-folded shawl on a hook, a cracked photo frame balanced on the shelf.
Aadiv sat on the edge of his bed, uniform shirt half unbuttoned, dirt smudged on his cheek. He held the old family photo in his hand — mother, father, sister — all smiling, frozen in time they never got to finish.
His eyes stung. But no tears came.
---
> Aadiv (thinking, voice inside his skull like coals):
"They say grief fades. They lied. It just shifts its weight. And this thing in my chest — this thing that wants to swallow the whole damn world — it feeds on what they left behind."
A faint heat flickered at the tips of his fingers — a spark that shouldn't be there. He clenched his hand into a fist, snuffing it out.
> Aadiv (thinking):
"They wouldn't want me to have this. They'd say 'burn it away, Aadiv, you're still good.' But the world took them. And the world's gonna pay."
--- 12 April 2021 — 5:55 PM
Broken Shrine, Jungle Outskirts
The jungle near Ujjain was half-swallowed by dusk when he found the old path. Thorned branches scratched his arms, but he didn't flinch. He didn't feel the sting anymore — not since the night the screams ended and the silence grew teeth.
The shrine lay ahead — ancient stone, blackened by time, cracked open like a wound that had never healed. Faint runes twisted across the walls, half-eaten by moss.
Aadiv stepped inside, feet crunching over roots and broken offerings. He dropped to his knees at the shrine's heart, the air thick with the smell of wet stone and old prayers.
---
> Aadiv (murmuring to the dark):
"If you're real — the thing that whispers in my head — show yourself. Take what you want. Just give me the fire to burn it all down."
The shadows around him rippled. The air went silent — so silent it felt like his heartbeat was the only sound left in the world.
A faint ember flickered in his palm — no bigger than a firefly. But in that tiny light, he saw it — the edge of the void swirling just beyond reach. And at its heart, something older than the void — a flicker of gold.
His teeth ground together. He forced his trembling hand to open wider, feeding the ember every broken promise he'd hoarded for years.
---
> Aadiv (whispers, eyes wide, voice trembling):
"You want my grief? Take it. Just leave me enough to stand."
The ember hissed. The shadows coiled tighter — wrapping around the flame like a snake guarding an egg. In that breath, he saw his family — smiling, alive, then gone again, devoured by golden fire that bled into the dark.
--- Back to the Present
10:55 AM — Ujjain, Old City Alley
Aadiv's voice faded. The street was still. Shaurya stared at him, storm hum silent — like he'd forgotten how to breathe for a moment.
> Shaurya (low, eyes fierce):
"A golden flame… born in that pit? So you really did make a pact with the darkness."
Aadiv's eyes glowed faintly — not red, but that rare, searing gold that didn't flicker in the wind.
> Aadiv:
"No. I made a pact with myself. The void devours — but the flame? It burns everything unworthy to ash."
---