The morning after the spirits vanished, Ram didn't feel like himself.
It wasn't fear.
It wasn't exhaustion.
It wasn't even confusion.
It was something heavier.
Something like the silence before a landslide.
Something like the moment the sea pulls back before a tsunami.
His room felt wrong.
Different.
The air felt thinner, like something had been ripped out of it.
Even the stray dog, who always wagged its tail when Ram stepped outside, didn't show up that morning. Instead, the place where it usually sat was empty, cold, abandoned — as if the creature had sensed something Ram had not.
Ram stood outside, scanning the area.
"Buddy?" he called softly.
No movement.
No sound.
Just silence.
A strange chill slid down his spine.
Everything that had been steady… was shifting.
---
He Tried to Carry On
Ram forced himself into routine.
Jog.
Meditation.
Work.
But every step felt heavier than the last.
Every hallway felt darker.
Every passing moment felt loaded.
During his jog, he felt a presence behind him — not human, but watching.
During meditation, his breathing faltered every time he remembered the spirit touching his throat.
At work, he caught himself staring at his phone every few minutes, hoping Sita would message. The relief from the last two weeks — the peace, the sunrise, the healing — had begun to crumble again.
He didn't tell anyone.
There was no one he could tell.
How do you explain ghosts that appear without warning?
Or voices calling you by ancient names?
Or dreams that feel more real than waking life?
He tried to forget.
Tried to push through.
But by evening…
It happened again.
---
The Dream Returns
Ram fell asleep almost instantly — not because he was tired, but because something pulled him into sleep like a hand grabbing his collar.
Darkness.
Cold.
Stillness.
He recognized it immediately.
This wasn't imagination.
This wasn't random.
This was a place.
A realm.
A memory.
He stood once again on the dark road from the first dream.
The same cracked asphalt.
The same sharp wind cutting through him like glass.
The same eerie silence, heavy as wet sand.
He looked around.
"Sita!" he called, voice echoing into the vast emptiness.
No answer.
But he felt her presence.
Not near.
Not far.
But fading — like a candle burning its last few seconds.
A gust of wind hit him hard, pushing him back a step.
Then he heard it.
A whisper.
Not human.
Not spirit.
Something older.
Something that shouldn't exist.
"Rama…"
Not comforting this time.
Not soft.
This voice was weight.
This voice was hunger.
This voice was ancient.
Ram's chest tightened.
"Who are you!?" he yelled.
Silence.
Then a deep rumbling sound began echoing through the darkness.
Not thunder.
Not footsteps.
A pulse.
Breathing.
Something was breathing in the dark.
Ram felt the tremor through his feet.
Another exhale.
Warm air this time.
Too warm.
Too close.
Ram stepped back.
The breath followed.
He turned around—
And saw nothing.
But he felt it.
Something enormous.
Something invisible.
Something crawling around him like a predator circling prey.
He clenched his fists.
"I'm not afraid of you," he said, trying to sound brave.
The unseen creature laughed.
Not loud.
Not maniacal.
Soft.
Cruel.
Mocking.
The laugh of someone who already knew the ending.
The wind around him twisted into a vortex.
The ground cracked.
The entire dreamscape began collapsing inward like a dying star.
Ram felt his knees shake.
For the first time in his life, he felt like a child lost in an endless night.
Then — like a knife cutting through darkness — he heard a voice.
Not the voice from above.
Not the invisible creature.
Sita.
Weak.
Shaking.
Barely alive.
"Ram…"
He spun around.
Far down the road, he saw her silhouette.
The same fragile form.
The same fading presence.
"SITA!" he screamed.
He sprinted toward her, breath pounding, heart splitting, tears burning—
But the road stretched longer with every step.
Like the world was pulling her away from him.
He kept running.
Faster.
Harder.
His lungs burned.
His legs screamed.
His throat tore with every cry.
"SITAAA!"
She stretched her arm toward him.
Flickering.
Fading.
Becoming transparent.
"Ram… save… me…"
Her voice cracked and dissolved like she was being erased again.
He pushed harder.
"STOP TAKING HER AWAY FROM ME!" he roared into the darkness.
A deep voice answered:
"She was never yours."
The world shattered.
Ram fell.
Not onto ground — into empty air.
Endless falling.
Endless darkness.
Endless fear.
Sita's scream echoed with him.
Until—
RAM.
WOKE.
UP.
---
The Awakening
He shot upright in bed, gasping.
His chest hurt.
His throat felt raw.
His fingers were trembling violently.
"Sita…" he whispered.
His entire body was soaked in sweat.
He grabbed his phone, hands shaking so hard he dropped it once before managing to unlock the screen.
One missed call from her.
Two.
A message:
"Landed in Manipur. Phone battery low. Will call you soon."
That message was now 6 hours old.
He called her immediately.
Switched off.
He called again.
Switched off.
And again.
Again.
Nothing.
He pressed the phone to his forehead, breath shaking, panic rising like wildfire.
"What's happening to you?" he whispered.
His heart was thundering so loudly it hurt.
The dream wasn't fantasy.
The dream wasn't symbolic.
The dream was a warning.
Something deep in his bones — something older than memory — whispered:
Go.
Go now.
Go to her.
Go before it's too late.
He grabbed his bag.
Shoved in clothes without folding.
Picked up his wallet.
His keys.
His jacket.
His charger.
He didn't think.
Didn't plan.
Didn't tell anyone.
He walked out of the door, locked it mechanically, and headed for his car with only one thought burning inside him:
Find Sita before the darkness does.
He opened the car door.
Stopped.
Looked up at the sky.
It was not the peaceful sky of the last weeks.
It was cloudy.
Heavy.
Unsettled.
The stars were hidden.
The air felt wrong.
The universe wasn't whispering peace tonight.
It was screaming a warning.
Ram got into the car, turned the key, and the engine roared awake.
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
His heart hammered.
His soul whispered one last message:
"She's waiting for you.
And you're not the only one who can sense her fate."
Ram pressed the accelerator.
The car shot forward.
A storm had begun.
And Ram didn't know it yet…
But this journey would change everything.
For him.
For Sita.
For the world.
For the war waiting in the shadows.
The dream hadn't returned to scare him.
It had returned to prepare him.