**Tuesday, 7:45 p.m. – Yamuna Riverside Villa**
The garden had become a war room disguised as a children's party.
Rajesh had dimmed the fairy lights to blood-red.
The lotus fountain now pulsed with **barrier runes** etched in liquid mercury.
Every bronze coin from the group chat lay embedded in a circle of Himalayan salt around the banyan (108 coins, 108 heartbeats).
**Guests (no children tonight):**
- **Brijesh Joshi** – Garuda Force field commander, kurta sleeves rolled, talwar at hip.
- **Dr. Saraswati Iyer** – veena across her lap, strings humming with **mantra-frequency**.
- **Neha Patel** – laptop open, live drone feed of the Yamuna, fingers flying over code.
- **Anjali Rao** – eyes blazing, holding Priya's butterfly crown like a battle standard.
- **Little Sheru** – no longer Pug-sized. Full **flaming tiger cub**, flames banked to ember-gold, prowling the perimeter.
Priya was asleep upstairs, sealed in a **lotus-shaped ward** only Rajesh could open.
---
### 8:00 p.m. – The Briefing
Rajesh stood at the circle's center.
"The Void's Debt Collector returns at dawn. She wants the **Time Bead** in my soul… or Priya's life."
He opened his palm.
The red bead floated above his skin, spinning slowly, casting crimson shadows.
Brijesh: "We end her tonight."
Dr. Iyer: "Violence feeds the Void. We bind her."
Neha: "I've hacked the river cams. Any ripple over 0.3 meters, we know."
Anjali: "No one touches my daughter."
Rajesh nodded.
"Plan:
1. **Lure** – I offer the bead as bait on the river.
2. **Bind** – Dr. Iyer's veena + Brijesh's talwar + salt circle.
3. **Seal** – Anjali anchors with Priya's crown (pure maternal intent).
4. **Backup** – Sheru eats her if she twitches."
---
### 11:55 p.m. – The River
Rajesh walked on water again.
The bead glowed like a dying star in his hand.
Behind him, the villa's lights went dark (only the banyan glowed, veins of gold running through bark).
The woman rose from the depths.
Cloak now **living shadow**, edges dripping star-corpses.
**"You brought witnesses. How quaint."**
Rajesh: "Terms changed. Take the bead. Leave the child."
He tossed it.
The bead hung mid-air, spinning.
She reached (
**SNAP**
The salt circle ignited.
Dr. Iyer's veena screamed a single note (**Sa** of the **Saptak**, the root of creation).
Brijesh's talwar flashed (
**Om Namah Shivaya** carved in mid-swing).
Anjali slammed the butterfly crown into the riverbank.
**"NOT MY DAUGHTER!"**
Golden chains erupted from the coins (
lotus-shaped, unbreakable).
They wrapped the woman's wrists, ankles, throat.
She thrashed.
The Yamuna boiled.
---
### 11:59 p.m. – The Binding
Dr. Iyer played faster.
Each note a **bind rune**.
Brijesh chanted the **Garuda Gayatri**.
Neha's drones dropped **holy Ganga jal** in a perfect grid.
Little Sheru roared (
a cub's roar that shook the banyan leaves into **flaming mandalas**).
The woman shrieked:
**"THE DEBT—"**
Rajesh stepped forward, pressed the spinning bead to her forehead.
**"—is paid in full."**
Red light **imploded**.
The bead shattered into dust.
The chains tightened (
then **dissolved into lotus petals**).
The woman's form unraveled (
shadows peeling away like burnt film).
Last words, a whisper:
**"The Mirror… remembers…"**
She sank.
The river stilled.
The lotuses bloomed again (
brighter than before).
---
### 00:05 a.m. – Aftermath
The team stood on the bank, soaked, trembling.
Brijesh's talwar hummed, spent.
Dr. Iyer's fingers bled from the strings.
Neha's laptop screen cracked in a perfect lotus.
Anjali clutched the crown (now glowing softly).
Rajesh knelt, scooped river water, let it run through his fingers.
The **Time Bead was gone**.
He felt… lighter.
Mortal.
Anjali touched his cheek. "Is it over?"
He looked at the villa (
third floor, lotus bedroom, Priya still sleeping).
"For tonight."
---
### 00:30 a.m. – The Cost
Back inside, Rajesh checked his reflection.
A single grey hair at the temple.
He smiled.
**First grey hair in ten thousand years.**
Worth it.
Little Sheru shrank back to Pug size, curled on the rug, flames extinguished.
The group collapsed in the living room.
Neha opened the fridge, pulled out **mango lassi**.
"To mortality," she toasted.
They drank.
---
### 3:00 a.m. – Dawn Promise
Rajesh carried Anjali to bed.
She murmured, "You gave up immortality for her."
He kissed her ring. "I gave up loneliness."
Upstairs, Priya stirred in her sleep, smiled, hugged her crown.
In her dream, the black lady turned into a butterfly and flew away.
---
### 6:00 a.m. – New Day
Rajesh woke to Priya's voice:
"Papa, your hair has a silver streak! Like a superhero!"
He laughed (
first real laugh since the siege).
Anjali watched from the doorway, eyes soft.
**Day 17.**
The war was over.
The family had just begun.