The jungle air hung thick with late-day heat. Leaves glowed copper in the slanting light as Ansh, Ashwini, and Vijay padded along a narrow deer trail, still laughing about the "Great Rabbit Chase."
"Next time," Ansh declared, sword balanced across his shoulders like a staff, "I'm catching that rabbit. No excuses."
Ashwini raised an eyebrow. "Next time you'll slip into the next river instead."
Vijay smirked. "Or fall on your face before you even start."
Daav chirped from a branch overhead, the sound suspiciously like a giggle.
Ansh opened his mouth for a clever comeback—then stopped. The ground trembled beneath his boots.
Thoom.
Ashwini froze. "Did you feel that?"
Thoom… thoom. The earth shook harder, the air shivering like a drum.
Daav shot into the air with a sharp cry, feathers flaring.
"What is that?" Vijay whispered.
The answer came on the wind: a low, thunderous rumble that grew until it swallowed every other sound.
Ansh turned toward the noise—and his jaw dropped.
From the shadowed curve of the valley poured a living tide of muscle and horns. Enormous water bulls, each taller than a man, surged forward in an unstoppable river of pounding hooves. Their dark hides gleamed with sweat, eyes wild, nostrils flaring steam.
"Migration," Ashwini breathed. "They're migrating to the low lakes."
"More like stampeding!" Ansh yelped. "Run!"
They ran.
The ground quaked so violently Ansh nearly lost his footing. Branches whipped past as they sprinted through the thick undergrowth. Behind them, the herd's roar grew deafening—thousands of hooves drumming the earth in a single relentless heartbeat.
"This way!" Vijay shouted, veering left toward a rocky rise.
Ashwini lifted her hands, coaxing vines to curl down like ropes. "Climb!"
She and Vijay grabbed the vines and scrambled upward, feet braced against the cliff face. The bulls crashed closer, their bellows echoing like thunder.
Ansh leapt for a vine—only to have it tear free in his grip. He tumbled back to the ground with a yelp.
"Ansh!" Ashwini cried.
"I'm fine!" He scrambled to his feet, but the herd was almost upon him. The first massive bull burst through the trees, eyes blazing.
Ansh bolted. There was no time to climb again.
The forest blurred into streaks of green and gold as Ansh raced along the narrow trail. His sword slapped against his back with every desperate stride.
"Daav!" he shouted.
The little firebird swooped low, screeching in alarm. Sparks shed from his wings like falling stars, but the bulls barely noticed, surging forward in an unstoppable wave.
Ansh dodged left, then right, weaving through trees. A branch snapped like a whip across his face. He gritted his teeth, lungs burning.
Think!
But all he could think was run.
Behind him the pounding grew louder, the hot breath of the herd seeming to press against his back.
A bull lunged closer, horns sweeping. Ansh ducked, rolled, and sprang forward, heart hammering.
"Too close!" he gasped.
Daav darted ahead, calling shrilly, leading him toward a narrow gully.
Ansh followed, leaping fallen logs and splashing through a shallow stream. The gully walls rose steep on either side, but the path narrowed to a dead end of jagged stone.
"No, no, no—"
The first bulls thundered into the gully mouth behind him.
Ansh spun, sword in hand though he knew it was useless. "Great plan, Daav!" he shouted over the roar.
Daav circled frantically, searching for an escape. Sparks flickered from his feathers, but he couldn't burn a path through solid stone.
The herd bore down.
A flash of light split the air.
Space itself rippled like water struck by a stone.
Rajyugas stepped through the shimmer, calm as night.
He lifted one hand.
The world bent.
For an instant, every sound ceased. The bulls reared as if caught in invisible ropes. Dust swirled upward in a perfect ring around the vice principal, hanging motionless in the air.
Ansh skidded to a halt, panting. "You—You were following us?!"
Rajyugas did not answer. His eyes gleamed with quiet command as he swept his arm aside.
The entire herd shuddered. Space warped in a sudden, silent pulse, and the bulls were… elsewhere. One moment they filled the gully, the next they were a distant blur beyond the trees, still charging but harmlessly diverted.
The ground stilled.
Ansh collapsed to his knees, sword clattering beside him. "I… I almost became bull pancakes."
Daav landed on his shoulder, feathers ruffled, and pecked his ear sharply as if to scold him.
"Ow! Okay, okay, it was my idea to chase the rabbit. I get it."
Ashwini and Vijay scrambled down the vines moments later, breathless and wide-eyed.
"Ansh!" Ashwini cried, relief flooding her face. "Are you hurt?"
"Just my pride," Ansh wheezed.
Vijay looked from the vanishing herd to Rajyugas, awe plain in his eyes. "You moved… all of them."
Rajyugas lowered his hand, the faint shimmer of distorted space fading around him. "You three," he said quietly, "will chase anything that moves, won't you?"
Ansh managed a crooked grin. "It was just a rabbit."
"A rabbit," Rajyugas repeated, the faintest trace of amusement in his voice.
Ashwini crossed her arms. "He nearly got flattened."
"I noticed," Rajyugas said dryly. He studied Ansh for a long moment, then allowed a single nod. "But you kept running. Good."
Ansh blinked. "Good? I almost died!"
"Yet you did not," Rajyugas replied. "Remember that."
They began the slow walk back through the quieting forest.
The sun dipped lower, washing the trees in copper light. Birds returned to their branches. The distant rumble of the herd faded to a soft echo, like a dream.
Ansh trudged at the rear, Daav perched contentedly atop his head.
"I still say," Ansh muttered, "I almost had that rabbit."
Ashwini laughed, the sound bright and free. "And next time you'll almost have a herd of bulls."
Vijay shook his head, smiling despite himself. "Let's just hope there isn't a next time."
The jungle closed gently around them once more, as if the stampede had never been—only a wild heartbeat in an endless, mischievous journey.