The moon was high when the three children made their way back toward the silent village. The path through the trees shimmered with a thin layer of mist, and every step felt heavier after the long night in the forest.
Ansh shifted his sword from one hand to the other, Daav perched on his shoulder like a faint ember. "I can almost hear my bed calling," he grumbled, trying to keep his voice light.
"Don't start," Ashwini said softly. She was still tense from what they had found—the dark pool that seemed to breathe sickness.
Vijay walked behind them, scanning the shadows. "Something's wrong," he murmured. "Listen… no insects, no night birds."
The hush thickened as they neared the village edge. Then Ansh froze.
A figure stood in the clearing before the first hut, facing the village with his back toward them. Tall, broad-shouldered, completely still. Moonlight gleamed along his outline, but his shadow stretched unnaturally long across the ground. The air around him felt heavy, like a storm about to break.
Daav hissed a low, uneasy note.
"Who's that?" Ansh whispered. "A villager?"
"No one told us someone else lived out here," Vijay said.
Ashwini stepped forward cautiously. "Maybe he doesn't know about the plague." She raised her voice. "Sir! The village is sick. You should—"
Her warning died on her lips.
Two spheres of liquid silver rose silently from the stranger's sides, floating like weightless moons. Without a word, a thread of the same shimmering metal lashed toward them with blinding speed.
Ashwini reacted first. Roots erupted from the earth, weaving into a wall of living wood. The silver line struck it with a hiss, searing a deep scar through the bark but stopping just short of them.
The figure turned.
His eyes were black as midnight, no whites, no pupils—just endless dark. A thick beard framed his face, and long hair, tied high, shifted in the wind. He studied them in silence for a heartbeat, then spoke, his voice low and rough.
"Who are you?"
Before they could answer, another silver lash shot forward.
Ansh yelped, swinging his sword instinctively. The strike deflected but sent a jolt up his arm.
"Stop!" Vijay shouted. "We don't want to fight!"
The man's eyes narrowed. "Who gave you permission to enter my place?"
Again the silver line cracked through the air, faster than before. Ashwini's vines barely rose in time. Sparks flew as the liquid cut through leaves and branches.
Ansh darted left, pulling Daav with him. "We're not trespassing!" he yelled, voice trembling despite the bravado.
The stranger did not slow. A sweep of his arm sent both spheres whirling outward, each trailing a whip of silver. One slashed the ground at Vijay's feet, throwing dirt and stone high. The other streaked toward Ansh.
Daav shrieked and spat a burst of flame. The silver hissed but did not melt, only slowed enough for Ansh to dive aside.
"He's trying to kill us!" Ansh shouted, heart pounding.
Ashwini's jaw tightened. "Then we fight back."
She flung her hands forward. A storm of thorned vines shot toward the attacker. For a moment it looked as though they would ensnare him.
The man merely raised a finger. A beam of silver light sliced through the vines like silk. The backlash sent Ashwini stumbling. Another beam followed—this one a needle-thin lance.
"Ashwini!" Vijay cried.
The silver pierced her shoulder. She gasped, collapsing to her knees as blood blossomed dark against her tunic.
"NO!" Ansh dashed to her side, Daav fluttering madly. Together he and Vijay hauled her backward, dragging her behind a fallen log. Ashwini's breath came quick and shallow.
The stranger advanced without pause. The silver orbs circled him like predators, each movement deliberate, merciless.
Vijay thrust out his palms. "Wind Wall!" A gust roared between them and their foe, scattering leaves and dust.
The man sliced through it with a single flick of his wrist. "Children should not trespass," he said coldly.
Another whip of silver slammed against their hastily raised defenses. Wood splintered. Stone cracked.
Ansh tightened his grip on his sword though his hands trembled. "Why are you doing this?!"
The man's black eyes glinted. "Because you do not belong."
The next strike came like lightning. Vijay barely had time to counter with a surge of water drawn from the damp earth. Steam exploded where water met molten silver, but the impact hurled all three of them backward.
Ashwini bit back a cry, clutching her wounded shoulder. Daav darted around them, spitting flames in desperate bursts, each one swatted aside by a casual wave of the stranger's hand.
Their magic and strength were fading. Cuts lined Ansh's arms. Vijay's breathing was ragged. The man showed no sign of tiring.
Another lash of silver streaked toward them—this one aimed to kill.
And then a deeper shadow fell across the clearing.
The strike halted midair, inches from their faces, frozen as though the world itself had caught its breath. A faint shimmer like heat haze spread outward, and the deadly silver recoiled as if struck.
A tall figure stepped from the darkness, cloak stirring in a wind that was not there. His eyes held the calm of a silent ocean, but power radiated from him in waves that bent the night around his form.
Rajyugas.
Without a word, he raised one hand. The silver whip dissolved into mist. The floating orbs quivered, dimmed, and hung lifeless.
The bearded man's head snapped toward him, eyes narrowing.
"This ends," Rajyugas said quietly, yet his voice carried like thunder through the still village.
The stranger stiffened, as if an unseen weight pressed upon him. For a heartbeat the two men stood locked in silence—the intruder's silver light flickering against the Vice Principal's unshakable calm.
Ashwini clutched her wounded shoulder. Ansh and Vijay struggled to their feet, battered and breathless, staring at the sudden wall of power between them and death.
Daav settled on Ansh's arm, feathers still glowing, but his tiny body finally still.
The night held its breath, the battle broken by the simple presence of the man who had come to protect them.