The world had gone silent.
Not the silence of peace—
but the silence left behind after something enormous had been torn out of reality.
Kashyap stood in the ruins of the collapsing corridor, the shimmering fracture-gate still flickering behind him like a dying heartbeat. Mandakini was gone—vanished through the breach after their brutal, wordless clash. Only the charred echo of her presence remained.
He touched his jaw where she'd struck him.
A faint smile cracked through the pain.
She's strong.
Not just physically—her presence had weight. Purpose. Training. Whoever she was, Kashyap knew one thing:
She wasn't an ordinary multiversal agent.
He didn't have time to dwell.
The fractured air around him vibrated—low,metallic, dangerous.
A voice buzzed into his comm-band.
Bhrigu:
"Kashyap,report. The anomaly spike reached our universe. What happened inside?"
Bhrigu's tone carried command—steady, sharp, the voice of a man who had seen impossible things and learned to doubt none of them.
Kashyap exhaled.
"Encountered resistance.Unknown operative. Highly skilled. Possibly from the Outer Continuum."
A beat of silence.
Then Vayu cut in,his voice crackling with static and worry:
Vayu:
"Are you wounded?"
Kashyap glanced at the scorch mark on his arm.
"I've had worse."
Vayu:
"Typical."
But Bhrigu wasn't amused.
Bhrigu:
"You said unknown operative.Describe her."
Kashyap paused—Mandakini's face flashed in his memory:
That unwavering gaze.
The energy swirling around her hands.
The unshakable certainty in her movements.
Kashyap:
"She wasn't trying to kill me.Not really. She was… testing me."
Vayu scoffed.
Vayu:
"What kind of assassin tests her target?"
Bhrigu answered instead of Kashyap.
Bhrigu:
"The kind that isn't here to eliminate him."
The comm-line crackled.
A second voice joined—calm,deep, older:
Agastya.
Agastya:
"Kashyap."
He spoke like he was addressing a soldier about to step into fire.
"The anomaly gate you entered did not collapse naturally.Someone triggered a targeted fracture from the other side."
Kashyap tensed.
"You think she did it?"
Agastya's reply was slow, measured.
Agastya:
"I think she is protecting something."
Kashyap felt a strange pull in his chest—
a mixture of irritation and intrigue.
Before he could respond, the floor beneath him shook.
The fracture behind him flared white-hot.
Bhrigu shouted into the comm:
"Kashyap,get out of there NOW—!"
Too late.
The fracture exploded outward like a screaming supernova.
Kashyap instinctively shielded himself—
but the energy surge didn't tear him apart.
It wrapped around him, pulling him upward, bending his body through spirals of shimmering light.
A voice—unfamiliar yet faintly echoing with purpose—whispered from inside the collapse:
"Find me."
Mandakini's voice.
Then everything shattered.
---
He hit solid ground. Hard.
The world around him snapped into focus—
a vast metallic chamber lit by pale blue luminescence.
Geometric sigils floated midair like suspended holograms.
And standing in the shadows…
A figure waited.
A woman.
Not Mandakini—
but someone who carried the same presence,the same aura of cosmic authority.
She stepped forward.
Vasundhara.
A senior guardian of the Continuum.
One of the original architects of the multiverse corridors.
Her eyes pierced him.
Vasundhara:
"Kashyap."
He rose, breath unsteady.
Kashyap:
"Why am I here?"
Vasundhara's gaze hardened.
Vasundhara:
"Because the woman you fought…Mandakini… is not your enemy."
His heartbeat kicked.
Kashyap:
"Then who is she?"
Vasundhara raised a hand.
Symbols lit the room—timelines,fractures, universes collapsing one by one.
Her voice became a quiet storm.
Vasundhara:
"She is the only one trying to save you."
Kashyap froze.
Save him?
Before he could speak, the doorway behind Vasundhara cracked open, and a familiar, impatient voice called:
Viraj:
"Step inside.This involves all of us."
Viraj entered—
weapons strapped to his back,eyes on full alert.
Kashyap suddenly felt the weight of something much larger than a collapsing universe.
This wasn't just an anomaly.
This wasn't just an attack.
This was the beginning.
And somewhere across the multiverse…
Mandakini was preparing for their next encounter—
one that would not be a misunderstanding,
but a choice.
A choice that could rewrite entire realities.