The night over Mahakaal Lok was not quiet. The air shimmered with an unseen tension, like the breath before a tempest.
Lakshya sat cross-legged on a stone outcropping near the temple ruins, his eyes closed, hands resting on his knees. From the outside, he looked still as a statue. Inside, however, his mind was a churning ocean.
He could feel it again — that familiar, dangerous pull deep within his core. The power of the Trinetra. It was no longer just a tool he had glimpsed in flashes; now it roared in the depths of his soul, whispering promises of dominance, of destruction, of absolute control.
And along with it… came something else.
A storm.
"Boy," the gravelly voice of Nandiji broke the heavy silence, hooves clopping gently against the stone. "Your face is too serious even for a storm to approach politely. What is it now? Lightning? Fire? Cosmic doom?"
Lakshya didn't open his eyes. "It's growing stronger. Every time I fight, every time I push myself… it reacts. And now it's… loud."
Chiklu Maharaj, perched on a broken pillar, fluffed his feathers. "Loud how? 'Festival drum in the street' loud, or 'angry wife shouting at midnight' loud?"
"Both," Lakshya muttered.
The wind shifted suddenly. A deep rumble rolled across the horizon — but it wasn't thunder. Above, the clouds churned unnaturally, spiraling inwards over the valley.
Pandit Neon Baba, who had been tinkering with a small brass device that clicked and hummed, looked up sharply. His normally playful eyes narrowed. "This is no weather pattern… Something's calling to you, Lakshya. Or maybe… challenging you."
Nandiji's tail swished uneasily. "I've seen this before, long ago. It's the Aatmik Andolan — the inner storm. When power inside you refuses to be tamed, it tries to take you instead. If you fail… you become its servant."
Lakshya stood slowly, his gaze fixed on the swirling sky.
"So it's a test."
"It's a battle," Nandiji corrected, his voice low. "And unlike your fights outside, this one happens entirely within your soul. No friends can help you. No weapons will answer your call. If you lose… you're gone."
Chiklu tilted his head. "Gone where?"
Neon Baba's tone was grim. "Not gone. Consumed. The storm will wear your skin, walk in your place, and no one will know until it's too late."
Without another word, Lakshya closed his eyes.
The moment he surrendered to the pull, the world outside vanished. He was standing in an endless dark void, winds screaming around him. Lightning cracked in every direction, illuminating massive black waves that rose higher than mountains.
In the heart of it, a silhouette stood waiting.
It was him.
But not him.
The figure's eyes blazed with the Trinetra's third light, its grin sharp and cruel.
"I am what you could be," it said, voice echoing like thunder. "Unbound. Limitless. Fearless. Why resist me?"
Lakshya felt the storm's power pressing in from all sides, offering intoxicating strength. His hands trembled — not from fear, but from the sheer temptation.
"You're not me," he said slowly.
The shadow laughed, stepping forward as the void quaked. "Then defeat me. If you can."
The winds screamed louder, the waves surged higher… and the storm within began.
To be continued....