"Even gods can feel fear; even fear can birth legends."
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The heavens above Ashvattha quivered with an unease unseen for millennia. The devas, once aloof and indifferent, now gathered in whispers behind veils of thunderclouds. The celestial realms trembled, sensing the rise of a power that dared to challenge their sacred order.
Word of Asma-Ra's defiance and the shattering of Padma-Kshetra reached the highest halls of Indra, King of the Gods. His throne, carved from clouds and lightning, pulsed with the fury of storms.
> "This mortal stirs the ancient balance," Indra rumbled, his voice echoing through the skies.
Beside him stood Agni, the Fire God, flames flickering nervously.
> "He carries the Shards… the weapons of old. If he completes their awakening, even we may fall."
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Meanwhile, on the mortal plane, Asma-Ra and Vāma-Sattva prepared for the coming storm. Their bond was tempered in fire and memory, each Shard a key to unraveling forgotten truths and lost powers.
> "The gods fear the flame because it burns their lies," Asma-Ra said grimly.
"They will send their champions."
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As the first star bled dusk, the earth beneath Ashvattha shattered. From fissures of molten rock, a figure arose — Mahākāla, the Dark Lord of Time and Death. His eyes were voids, endless and merciless.
> "I am the reckoning you have summoned," he said, voice like the grinding of worlds.
"To defy the heavens is to invite oblivion."
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Asma-Ra met Mahākāla on the battlefield of shattered realities. Around them, time twisted — seconds stretched into eternities and collapsed into flashes. Each strike echoed across realms, bending fate's thread.
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But within the storm, Asma-Ra glimpsed a vision — the faintest smile of his sister, the Lotus. The fire inside him rekindled, not as wrath, but as clarity.
> "You do not hold dominion over me, Dark Lord," Asma-Ra declared.
"I carry the truth of mortals — the flame that no god can extinguish."
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The clash would shape destinies, but in this moment of cosmic upheaval, one thing became clear:
The gods trembled because the age of mortals was dawning.