The air felt different here—heavier, older, like the sky itself had forgotten how to breathe.
Satya landed face-first in gravel. Again.
"Someday I'll enter a place standing on my feet like a normal person," he muttered, spitting dirt.
Oorja's hologram flickered above him, arms folded. "Someday you'll have dignity. But we both know that's far away."
"Even my system bullies me now." Satya groaned. "Great."
Suddenly, water coiled in the air like a living serpent.
"Clown with a divine ego," a sarcastic voice snapped.
Satya turned.
A woman stood barefoot atop a floating stream, her body wrapped in robes that shimmered like the night sea. Her hair flowed like waves, her eyes sharp and unreadable.
Vaidehi.
Her presence was commanding, calm, and beautiful in the way natural disasters were—graceful but lethal.
Vayunanda froze.
"...Vaidehi?"
The water around her stiffened.
"Oh. He speaks."
Another figure emerged behind her—slightly younger, with soft eyes and a staff carved from stone and bone. The air calmed around him like even the wind obeyed.
Yug.
Satya blinked. "Uh… anyone gonna tell me who the angry water goddess and earth prince are?"
Oorja whispered into Satya's mind. "Brace yourself. Drama alert."
The Backstory: Of Family and Flames
Years ago, in a peaceful region of Bharat, Vayunanda had a family.
A wife. Two children. A normal life—at least, until the first Gate opened.
He was ordered to the battlefield. A nation needed him.
He left, promising, "I'll be back in a week."
But on the seventh day, an unstable Infinity Loop Gate opened near their village. A rip in time and space. Everything it touched was absorbed.
Vayunanda couldn't return in time.
His wife, realizing the collapse was near, used her life force and spirit flame to activate a hidden sacrificial sigil—a protective barrier meant to eject her children through a Time-Shard Capsule, sacrificing herself in the process.
She vanished, screaming her children's names.
Vaidehi and Yug were only 10 and 6.
They didn't even have time to cry. The Loop swallowed them.
Vayunanda returned just in time to see the sigil fade and the Loop sealing behind it. His home reduced to silence. His wife's last tear still evaporating.
He screamed into the void.
Then he fought. He joined every expedition, signed every mission, faced every realm—searching, hoping. Even when the Council declared them dead, he never stopped.
But the guilt? That never left.
Life Inside the Loop
The Infinity Loop reset the world every 365 days—but left minds untouched. Time repeated. Wounds didn't.
Food? Hunted. Milk? Nonexistent.
"We drank monster blood once," Vaidehi recalled casually.
"For calcium," Yug added.
"Also for fun," she said.
Their playground? Volcano ridges. Playfights? With lava slaps.
Vaidehi once shoved Yug into a pool of acid during a game of tag.
"He survived," she shrugged.
"Barely," Yug muttered. "I had green hair for a month."
Satya blinked. "I cried once because my noodle soup was too spicy."
Vaidehi clapped. "Oh no. A true warrior."
The air shifted.
Vaidehi slowly walked toward Vayunanda. No water tricks. No snide remarks. Just silence and footsteps.
He stood there—broken, scared, and unsure.
And then—
She hugged him.
Tightly.
Vayunanda's body shook as he held her back, eyes full of regret, relief, and something deeper—hope.
"I thought I lost everything," he whispered.
"You did," she said. "So did we."
Yug joined them, wrapping his arms around both. "But maybe not forever."
They stood like that—for a breath outside time.
Satya watched from a few feet away, awkwardly scratching his head.
Oorja nudged him. "Go ahead, hero. Say something dumb."
Vaidehi turned, breaking the hug. "Right. The potato."
"Excuse me," Satya said, straightening. "I am Satya."
Yug raised a brow. "Emotional damage, maybe."
Vayunanda laughed, wiping his face. "Satya's the reason I'm still enjoying. He's my first discipline, funny, annoying…"
"Hey!"
"…but he never gave up. But try his best to give up."
Vaidehi stepped closer, eyes scanning Satya. She extended her hand.
"Then maybe we won't give up on him either."
Satya blinked. "Wait, was that… respect?"
"Don't ruin it," she warned.
That night, around a glowing crystalfire, Vaidehi shared stories—fighting dream eaters, bathing in lava because water was rare, killing a hydra for its teeth to build armor.
"You haven't lived till you've slept in the ribcage of a lightning gorilla," she said, staring into the fire.
"I cried once because a centipede touched me," Satya mumbled.
"We once fought over a raw snail," Yug added.
"I WON that snail!" Vaidehi barked.
"You stabbed me for it!"
Satya blinked. "You guys are like if trauma had a sibling rivalry."
Then he proudly pulled something from his bag. "Anyway, I brought snacks! Behold—spicy ghost chili chips."
He opened the bag with a dramatic flourish.
Vaidehi looked at it with suspicion. "You carry death-seasoned cardboard?"
Satya stuffed a handful into his mouth. Instantly turned purple.
"Why…" hic "why does pain taste like mango—" he choked, coughing flames.
Oorja materialized beside him. "Warning: Dumbass levels critical."
Vaidehi raised an eyebrow. "Did you just poison yourself voluntarily?"
"It's… called culture," Satya wheezed.
Yug smirked. "It's called natural selection."
Satya lay down, holding his stomach. "If I die, tell my story."
Vaidehi stood over him. "Sure. I'll say: 'Here lies Satya. He died as he lived—like an idiot with a snack addiction and no survival instincts.'"
Oorja nodded solemnly. "Factual."
"And his fashion sense?" Vaidehi added. "It looks like someone asked a flamingo and a traffic cone to raise a child."
Satya gasped. "Excuse me—this jacket was blessed by a monk!"
"Blind?" she asked.
Yug coughed into his hand, trying not to laugh.
Vaidehi stared at Satya, then burst out laughing—really laughing, the kind that cracked something open in her chest.
It was the first time in years.
Satya blinked, stunned. "Wait. Did I… make you laugh?"
Vaidehi wiped a tear. "No. I just remembered your aura has the personality of boiled spinach."
"Oh come on! I'm majestic!"
"You're a wet phoenix nugget," Oorja added helpfully.
They laughed harder. Even Yug chuckled.
Satya groaned and curled up dramatically. "Therapy. I need therapy."
Oorja leaned down and whispered, "Therapy won't work here."
Still, they laughed.
And for the first time in years, Vaidehi and Yug laughed without a sword in their hands.
Satya smiled quietly, rubbing his scorched tongue, watching them.
Countdown
Suddenly, the sky glitched.
[WARNING: Loop Reset In 365 Days]
Vaidehi stood and faced the group.
"This world… it's a copy of Bharat. The same lands, same cities—but twisted. Here too, Gates open. There's a DDA, a DHA—Demon Hunter Association—we fought monsters, like you all did. But there's one difference."
She pointed to the sky.
"The Infinity Loop. It opens once a year. A Gate to the original timeline. We missed it last year. We've been stuck here ever since."
"So…" Satya said, blinking, "you mean this whole place is like… Bharat's evil twin but on repeat?"
"Basically," Yug said. "You catch on slow."
Satya's eyes widened. "Wait. You mean I'm stuck in a demonic Bharat with sassy kids, monsters, and no biryani?"
"Welcome to hell," Oorja smirked.
"Great," Satya sighed. "Even my nightmares had more snacks."
Vaidehi grinned. "365 days. That's how long we have to survive. Then the loop opens. And maybe… we go home."
"Maybe," Vayunanda echoed.
Yug raised a mountain beneath them.
Vaidehi summoned a tidal wave.
Satya ignited the heavens.
And in the distance, something ancient woke up.