The mountain loomed like a sleeping god — vast, unyielding, eternal. Its peaks were crowned with snow older than empires, and its slopes were treacherous, strewn with jagged stones and the skeletons of forgotten beasts. The world was quiet here. No birds, no beasts. Just wind.
Arin's feet bled as he climbed. His hands were frostbitten, cracked, and raw. But he did not stop.
He could still see the fire when he closed his eyes. Still hear the screams. His mother. His father. His sister's laughter, gone silent. Ashan's last words. Kael's betrayal.
He would die here, maybe.
He welcomed it.
But death did not come.
Instead, when he reached the summit — a barren altar of black stone and starlight — the wind stilled. The clouds parted. And the world… shifted.
Time rippled.
Above him, the sky split open with a light not of this world — not fire, not lightning, but presence. A radiant form stood at the edge of the summit, tall as mountains, cloaked in endless stars. But Arin could not see his face — only a shadow cast by light, and a single, echoing line:
"To walk the bow's path… is to walk alone."
Arin fell to his knees. Not in worship. But because the weight of the world had just pressed against his chest.
He couldn't breathe.
Another presence emerged beside the first — not shadow, but storm. A warrior. Slender, shining. A spirit of precision. Arjuna.
The soul of the bow. The ideal that lived in Arin's bones since childhood.
He did not speak.
But he drew a bow — invisible, golden, eternal — and loosed an arrow that never landed. Its path curved into the air, becoming a circle. A seal. A mark.
And three lights fell from the sky.
🌑 1. Shadowform – The Step Beyond Sight
"The hunter who cannot be seen... cannot be stopped."
Arin felt darkness crawl across his skin. Not fear. Not evil. But stillness. Like becoming part of the night itself.
His breath vanished. His heartbeat slowed. His presence faded.
He stepped once — and appeared five paces away, silent.
The blessing settled into his bones.
He would be unseen.
He would not be bound by the gaze of gods.
🜂 2. Vritta-Dhanush – The Infinite Bow
"A bow is not a weapon. It is an extension of the will."
The obsidian bow at his side pulsed with light. It grew warmer, heavier — then lighter than air. It reshaped, folding into itself, forming a sigil at the center of his chest.
The bow was now part of him.
It could never be taken.
It would grow as he grew.
One day, it would shape the very rules of battle.
He could feel it breathe with him.
⚡ 3. Dhruva-Sanskriti – The Unshaken Mind
"When the world screams, the still mind kills gods."
The wind screamed.
But Arin heard silence.
The chaos in his heart stilled. The grief, the rage, the betrayal — all became clear. Not erased, but sharpened. He saw the path now.
He would not be broken.
He would not be deceived.
His will would guide others, or shatter them.
He stood.
His body was broken. His spirit, reforged.
The sky dimmed. The presence faded. Only Arjuna remained, seated in the soul-realm beyond vision, invisible to all but Arin's spirit.
Once every two years, he would speak. Not as master. Not as god.
But as archer to archer.
Arin opened his eyes.
The summit was silent.
He was still alone.
But now, the world would never be the same.
And neither would he.
"One day," he whispered, "I will become a storm they cannot silence."