Darkness pulsed around him.
The black-haired figure stood still amidst the suffocating silence, the last ripples of chaos fading into the void. Instinctively, his hand moved behind him—as if to draw a bow. But the moment it reached back, he froze.
"Why… why did I do that?" he whispered aloud, his voice barely audible in the suffocating gloom.
The question lingered in the air, unanswered.
Who was he?
Why did his body remember movements that his mind could not comprehend? Why did his fingers itch with the memory of battles he couldn't recall?
There was no time to reflect.
A monstrous claw, large as a greatsword, slashed toward him with blinding speed. He twisted away—barely evading it—then stepped forward. Without thought, his body moved on its own. He caught the creature's massive wrist, twisted violently, and slammed the beast into the cracked ground. A tremor shot through the earth. The red-armored monster shrieked in agony, then went limp.
But it wasn't over.
From the shadows, more emerged.
Dozens of them—hulking monstrosities cloaked in glimmering red skin. Their bodies rippled with inhuman muscle, claws dragging sparks from the black stone beneath them. Their eyes gleamed—not with hunger alone, but with something colder. Older. As if they recognized him.
His breathing quickened. Heart pounding. The bow—where was it? How had it vanished?
Was this where it ended?
Then, everything stopped.
The monsters—one by one—lifted their heads and turned skyward.
A wave of golden light descended like a divine dawn, washing across the battlefield. The void parted, and a figure streaked down from the heavens—like a comet flaring through a dead sky.
She landed with grace and power.
A girl. Young, radiant, and burning like a small sun. Her eyes were molten gold. Her auburn hair danced in the wind, the tips glowing with ethereal fire. Upon her palm blazed a mark—a radiant symbol shaped like the sun itself. Behind her, a smaller figure floated—terrified, wide-eyed. The same girl the man had instinctively tried to shield.
He blinked.
Something about her burned in his memories—unformed, indistinct. A flicker of recognition.
Then she moved.
Leaping from the air-bike she'd ridden through the abyss, she landed between him and the charging beasts, planting her feet in a protective stance.
Her voice cut through the tension. Commanding. Absolute.
"Get back."
He stumbled back, still dazed.
She stepped forward, raising her hand. The mark on her palm ignited with fire—pure, blinding, and alive.
She spoke a tongue foreign to his ears, yet the words struck something within him, carving themselves into the marrow of his bones:
"Burn those who are unjust. Protect those who cannot stand. By my life, I vow to walk the path of Dharma."
The incantation roared to life. A sphere of pure fire burst forth from her palm—searing and golden, like a miniature sun. It tore through the air and exploded amidst the silver horde.
Screams filled the void as monsters incinerated instantly—ash scattering like burnt snowflakes.
All but one.
A massive creature burst forth from the flames, silver hide scorched but intact. It lunged through the smoke, claws outstretched, aiming straight for her unguarded back.
The black-haired man's voice ripped from his throat. "Behind you!"
Too late.
But the moment its claws neared her skin, they froze—mid-air—quivering.
A storm erupted around her.
Wind howled violently, forming a shield. From the mark on her neck, shaped like a cyclone, a blade of air unfurled.
She turned slowly, golden eyes burning with fury. Her gaze met the monster's, and in that instant, it knew fear.
Without a word, she conjured a dagger made of compressed wind—razor-sharp and invisible.
She struck.
The beast let out a guttural scream, then collapsed into a heap of silence.
The battlefield quieted.
She turned to the black-haired man, the fire reflecting in her eyes. "I'm Aureya Vahnara. Senior trainee from Indraprastha."
The name stirred something deep in him, like a bell tolling in another lifetime.
She offered her hand.
He hesitated.
But something in her gaze felt… safe. Familiar.
He took it.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice soft now. "What are you doing here? And… how did you manage to take down a red-class monster alone?"
"Red-class?" he repeated, dazed.
She nodded gravely. "Their skin determines their class. Black is the weakest, then pink, green, red, white… and silver—the strongest ever recorded."
He blinked. The memory of the red-skinned beast flashed before him. The one he had shot down. The one that vanished before his eyes.
"I don't know," he murmured. "I… I don't even know who I am. I fell. From the abyss."
Her eyes softened. "Amnesia," she whispered. "You probably had a dream. Or… something more."
She turned to her bike and gestured. "If you have nowhere to go, come with me."
He hesitated again. But the alternative was to wander in a land where monsters knew his name.
He climbed on.
They sped across a road that shimmered like a dream, through forests where trees bent unnaturally and silver haze wrapped around the sky like a dying star.
"So," she shouted over the wind, "what happened? Before I got there?"
He looked forward, voice grim.
"There was a portal. It tore the ground open. A creature stepped out. Half-white, half-black. It looked like a man… but it wasn't."
At those words, the bike jolted to a sudden stop.
Aureya's face had gone pale. Her hands trembled.
"What… did you say?" she asked quietly.
He repeated himself, slowly. "It said something to me. I didn't understand the language. But one word—it called me… Antambha."
The name rang like thunder.
She took a step back, as if the air had grown colder.
"You need to come with me," she said, her voice low and urgent. "Now."
And as the bike roared back to life, racing toward an uncertain destination, the man realized something ancient was awakening in his chest. A truth long buried. A force that should never have existed.
A name that even the gods had tried to erase.
Antambha.