The courtyard quivered under Mohana's dark presence.
Her eyes glowed gold, a predatory gleam that cut through the foggy air. She lifted a hand, and from the ground, the shadows writhed like living serpents. Dark tendrils, black as tar but shimmering with flecks of crimson, shot forward toward the family.
"Take them," she hissed, her voice both calm and terrifying. "Let them feel the weight of defiance."
Yuvaan reacted instantly, silver light glinting off the Reeva Talwar. He swung in wide, fluid arcs, slashing through the writhing darkness. Sparks of energy flew each time the blade met Mohana's tendrils.
Varun and Vikram fired without pause, arrows glowing with binding runes streaking through the air. Every tendril that lunged forward met steel or silver, snapped apart, only to rise again seconds later, relentless as the tide.
Kiara clutched Kiaan tightly to her chest, his small body trembling. Her heart thudded in her ears. She whispered soft, frantic reassurances into his ear, her fingers pressing into his tiny back, "It's okay… mama's here… papa's here…"
But Mohana's laughter cut through the chaos, cold and cruel, like shards of ice.
With a flick of her wrist, the tendrils accelerated, moving faster than Yuvaan could slash. They coiled around his legs, wrapping like constricting snakes, yanking him off balance. Varun and Vikram struggled to fend off the relentless onslaught, but even their perfectly aimed arrows were deflected by Mohana's dark energy.
Kiara's breath hitched as she watched Yuvaan being overpowered. Her fists clenched, her heart screaming with fear, but she couldn't release Kiaan.
Mohana's eyes glimmered with delight. "You cannot protect everything, little mother," she purred.
With a surge of power, she levitated Yuvaan high into the air. The ground seemed to quake beneath him. Time slowed. Kiara's chest tightened, and her stomach dropped.
He screamed—half in defiance, half in pain—as Mohana slammed him down against a jagged rock. The impact sent a shockwave through the courtyard. Dust and pebbles exploded outward. Yuvaan's body skidded across the stone, and he groaned, clutching his ribs, blood staining his tunic.
Kiara's scream tore through the air: "YUUVAAN!"
She ran toward him, but another dark tendril shot out, wrapping around her ankle and dragging her back. Her arms shook violently as she held Kiaan closer, her tears falling freely, her voice breaking with both fury and fear: "Let him go! Let him go, Mohana! You hear me?!"
The courtyard was chaos incarnate. Mohana hovered above, her hair whipping around her like living shadows, a storm of black energy emanating from her every movement. Her eyes locked on Kiara and Yuvaan, savoring their fear, their desperation, their helplessness.
Kiara's breaths were ragged. Her hands shook, gripping her child as if sheer will could make the darkness stop. Yuvaan groaned, trying to rise despite the pain, eyes blazing with protective fury.
Even in this moment of chaos, even under the weight of fear and powerlessness, one truth blazed inside them both: they would never—could never—let Mohana take Kiaan.
The air trembled. The courtyard seemed to hold its breath, awaiting the next move in this deadly dance.
Kiara's world slowed to a cruel crawl.
The moment Mohana's dark tendrils shot forward, she felt them coil around her legs and arms like iron snakes. She struggled, muscles straining, but the shadows held her fast. Her chest heaved, heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst.
"NO!" Her voice cracked, raw with terror and fury.
Vikram and Varun were similarly ensnared, unable to move, their weapons useless as the black tendrils tightened, wrapping around their limbs, dragging them closer to Mohana.
And then… it happened.
A surge of malevolent energy shot from Mohana's hands, striking Kiara's arms. The air twisted violently. She felt Kiaan being wrenched from her embrace.
"KIAAN!!"
Her scream split the night, echoing across the courtyard. She clawed at the air, her fingers grasping nothing but shadow as Kiaan was lifted high above the ground, suspended in a cruel grip of golden-black energy that shimmered with dark magic.
Kiaan's tiny arms flailed instinctively, his cries piercing and desperate. The child's golden eyes—so full of life and nascent power—locked onto Kiara for just a fraction of a second before Mohana's magic jerked him upward again.
Kiara's knees buckled, and she fell to the cold stone floor. Dust puffed around her as her hands scraped against it, still reaching, still desperate. Her voice shattered:
"KIAAN! MAMA'S HERE! I'M HERE! DON'T LET HER TAKE YOU!"
Yuvaan groaned behind her, half-lifted by a tendril that twisted around his torso, his Reeva Talwar slipping from his fingers. His gaze burned with protective fury, but the pain and force of Mohana's magic held him down.
Mohana hovered above them all, radiant with dark triumph, her smile cruel, her eyes gleaming gold. The courtyard seemed to shrink around her power, shadows stretching and twisting, the ground quaking beneath every heartbeat of her dark magic.
"Such resistance," she purred, voice cold and hypnotic, "and yet so… fragile. So very human."
Kiaan's cries tore at the hearts of everyone trapped below, every scream a dagger through Kiara's chest. She clawed forward, her fingers scraping stone, arms shaking violently, tears streaming freely.
"Please… please don't… Kiaan…" Her voice became a strangled whisper. The world narrowed to just her child, suspended cruelly above, just out of reach, as Mohana's power held everything in a suffocating grip.
The darkness around them throbbed with anticipation, and for a moment, every heartbeat, every breath, every thought froze in the gravity of Mohana's dominance.
And yet… somewhere deep in Kiara, in Yuvaan, a small ember of defiance remained.