There was no light.
No dark.
No direction.
Mandakini did not arrive in pre-causal space—
she stopped being late.
Thought came before awareness.
Awareness came before self.
For a terrifying moment, she forgot her name.
Then she remembered why she needed it.
I am Mandakini.
The statement stabilized her—barely.
Around her, possibility drifted like dust suspended in nothing. Events that had never happened brushed against ones that never would. There was no forward here. No backward.
Only potential.
A presence stirred.
Not a being.
Not a voice.
A condition.
> WHY DO YOU INSIST ON EXISTING?
The question did not echo. It simply was.
Mandakini answered without sound.
Mandakini:
"Because existence chooses."
> CHOICE CREATES INSTABILITY.
Mandakini:
"Choice creates meaning."
The potential around her convulsed.
Images unfolded—worlds without hesitation, histories without deviation, lives optimized into silence.
> THIS IS PEACE.
Mandakini felt the temptation.
Perfect stillness.
No loss.
No sacrifice.
And no Kashyap.
She steadied herself.
Mandakini:
"This is absence. Not peace."
The condition shifted.
> YOU ARE A PARADOX.
> PARADOXES ARE ERRORS.
She took a step forward—impossible, but real.
Mandakini:
"Then why am I still here?"
Silence.
Then—
> BECAUSE YOU ARE USEFUL.
The words cut deeper than any threat.
Mandakini laughed softly.
Mandakini:
"So is a weapon."
> YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE MORE.
She reached inward.
Not for power.
For memory.
She remembered Kashyap stepping into the Sunder.
His calm.
His stubborn refusal to let fate decide alone.
Mandakini:
"I wasn't meant to be anything. And yet—I am."
The potential around her collapsed inward.
A shape formed.
Not a face.
A convergence.
> IF HE RETURNS,
> THIS CONTINUITY WILL FRACTURE.
Mandakini didn't hesitate.
Mandakini:
"Then let it fracture where it must."
The condition pressed harder.
> YOU WILL LOSE WHAT REMAINS OF YOURSELF.
She closed her eyes.
Mandakini:
"If that's the price, it's already paid."
For the first time—
Reality hesitated.
A thread emerged from the void.
Thin. Fragile.
Human.
> A SINGLE OBSERVATION POINT MAY BE RESTORED.
> NO GUARANTEE OF STABILITY.
Mandakini reached for the thread.
Mandakini:
"Where is he?"
The answer came not as direction—but as connection.
She felt him.
Not whole.
Not broken.
Waiting.
As she grasped the thread, her form began to fade.
Identity peeled away—roles, titles, even fear.
But one thing remained.
Choice.
And that was enough.