A blur.
Images of an explosion.
Flames danced through classroom windows—science labs, computer rooms, every corridor once filled with laughter now buried in ash and screams.
And through it all… a girl walked forward.
Cracks echoed beneath her feet as glass crunched and smoke curled around her. Familiar voices rose from the fire—whispers that grew louder and louder.
"Senior… dummy junior… why didn't you save us?"
Her eyes widened. She trembled.
"It's not my fault!" she cried, trying to block the voices, her knees hitting the charred ground.
But they didn't stop.
The echos with familiar male "You should've saved us…"
Another echo with female voice "You left us to die…"
Her hands covered her ears as she repeated over and over "It's not my fault… it's not my fault…"
Then—
A soft hand gently rested on her head.
A warmth she could never forget.
"Eswar uncle…"
Her voice cracked as tears slipped through the soot.
"It's not my fault… no… it is my fault. I couldn't save them. I couldn't save anyone…"
Then with smile that familiar voice "Anaya… don't carry this alone."
The world shattered again.
---
The smoke turned into a crowd. A broken venue.
A new explosion.
A stage collapsing.
A sharp crack of falling steel.
Dust blinded the air.
The stanger unfamiliar male voice "There's someone here! Look—someone's alive!"
Two bodies buried beneath rubble.
A girl's leg pinned beneath concrete.
Beside her—another collapsed figure, barely breathing.
"What's your name?" she whispered, crawling closer.
Then that stranger male voice responded "My name is… Ayaan Ran…"
His voice faded before he could finish.
His chest stilled.
Her scream never left her mouth.
---
Then—again—the valley.
Drenched in blood.
A lone figure stood above a mountain of corpses, his crimson axe pulsing, reflecting moonlight like a curse.
She gasped. "No… not this again…"
Her body collapsed, too weak to stand. Tears mixed with dirt. Her voice broke through the silence of death.
"Ayaan… next time… I will definitely save you."
Everything faded.
She cries , she mourns , she shouted Until—
On a train "My name is Anaya. Nice to meet you, Ayaan."
And the dream finally crumbled into reality.
-----
"Anaya! Wake up!"
She shot up in bed, breath heavy. "Five more minutes…"
Then a familar voice with
"Just kidding—look, Ayaan's here!" Pooja teased.
Anaya ran to the window—nothing.
Sneha rolled her eyes. "It's time to focus on the singing competition, Anaya. Three weeks left. Wait—tears? Same dream again?"
Riya chimed in, flipping a page in her journal. "You always say one dream is irreversible… but the other still has a chance. What's your deal, Anaya?"
Anaya laughed it off. "Thanks for worrying about me. But hey—you were frustrated yesterday. Tell me… what's your opinion on Dev?"
Riya exhaled deeply. "Ugh. I've told you—I don't have feelings for Dev. And get this—my mom called this morning. Padma aunt wants to arrange my engagement with Dev. Without even asking me! I don't know what's going on in their heads…"
Pooja and Sneha burst out laughing.
Riya scowled. "I just remembered—yesterday at the café, you two didn't back me up. You were just eating biscuits the whole time! I felt betrayed!" She glared at them.
Pooja smirked. "Speaking of boys… last night, we ran into a guy playing guitar."
Sneha sighed dramatically. "He was hotter than Ayaan, Dev, and Ajay combined."
Anaya froze. "Wait… someone playing guitar?"
Her thoughts raced. " Riya's hidden gun with a spear symbol." Then " A stranger playing guitar nearby"
And she murmurs
"It was never like this before…"
She repeated louder, "Something is changing…"
Pooja nodded dramatically. "Yep! Just like the judge change at the finals—everything's changing!"
"What?!" Anaya and Riya said together.
Sneha blinked. "You two really need to wake up earlier. I've been telling you."
Pooja switched on the TV.
---
News Anchor:
"Today, we have two major updates from President Aditya Rajan."
"First: The event organizers of the Singing Competition have announced Aditya Rajan will be attending the finals as a special guest. There are rumors he requested to be invited."
"Second: In a surprising move, President Aditya has officially appointed two key positions after years of holding them himself."
"Captain Rathore has been appointed as Home Minister."
"And Ranvijay, known as the confidential Village Head of MRN Village, is now Vice President."
"A live broadcast featuring Ranvijay will air this evening."
Photos of Captain Rathore and Ranvijay flashed across the screen.
---
Riya went pale.
The conversation with Rathore—his warning, the cold pressure of a gun at her temple, his eyes.
She murmured, half to herself:
"Who is Captain Rathore? If he know about the bombing? Why he let Aditya appear at the event if it's that dangerous?"
Anaya whispered too, gripping her wrist.
"No… it's not like before. Someone's making these changes. But who?"
Suddenly, a spear symbol came into her mind.
"Eswar uncle… you always made the impossible feel possible. If you're behind this change… where are you now?"
---
In a dense forest, beside a crystal stream,
a man washed blood off a dagger etched with a spear emblem.
The morning light shimmered off the blade.
He looked up to the sky, whispered "Two months left… to finish , to prove my theories. And deliver my final message…"
"...as Rudra."