The snow burned under his boots. The mountains of Kargil were silent witnesses to chaos, yet the world around Karn was deafening. Artillery fire rattled his ears, bullets tore through the frozen air, and screams mixed with the wind into a single, incomprehensible roar.
He tightened his grip on the rifle. Every breath was a battle. Every step, a gamble. He had trained for years for this moment. But training did not prepare him for the sudden flash of pain that seared through his chest.
A bullet pierced his left lung.
Time slowed. He fell to his knees, numbness spreading through his limbs. Snowflakes melted against the heat of his blood. His vision blurred, and the last thought that crossed his mind was as precise and cold as a sniper's aim:
"This is it. I'm done."
Darkness swallowed him.
---
When Karn opened his eyes again, it was not snow or mountains that greeted him. Warm sunlight fell on his face. He blinked. The air smelled of earth and incense. Birds chirped in a rhythm so peaceful it hurt.
He tried to move, but his body was small—smaller than before. His chest, though, felt… heavy. Not just from breathing, but from something else, something buried deep within.
A voice called softly behind him.
"Ah… you've awakened."
Karn turned. A man, draped in simple robes, with a golden aura faintly shimmering, approached. His eyes were sharp, but not unkind.
"Who… are you?" Karn whispered. His voice was thinner, younger—like a boy's, not a soldier's.
The man smiled. "I am a humble teacher, nothing more. But you, young one… you carry a weight few can understand."
Karn frowned. His chest throbbed. He reached for it instinctively and felt a faint, glowing mark under his skin, shaped like the sun.
"The seal," the man said, nodding knowingly. "You are the son of the Sun God. From birth, your power has been locked, waiting for the right time. Only patience, meditation, and discipline will awaken it. Abuse it… and it will destroy you."
Karn's mind raced. Fifteen years old. Living with his Sudra parents in a quiet village. Nothing here had prepared him for this.
"I… I don't understand," he said.
"You will," the man replied calmly. "But first, you must learn to survive. The world you knew… is over. You have been given a second chance, Karn. A chance to master what was denied to you in your past life."
---
Memories of snow and blood flashed in his mind—Kargil, the battlefield, the bullet, the cold, the pain. He shivered. His past life as a soldier felt like a dream… yet it was vivid. He remembered tactics, training, and the precision of death.
Now, in this small body, he felt vulnerable. Yet his mind remained sharp. A tactician's mind does not fade with youth or size.
Karn clenched his fists. Step by step. Observation. Discipline. That had always kept him alive. That would keep him alive now.
The sun in the sky shimmered against the mark on his chest. His heart beat faster—not from fear, but calculation.
I will survive.
I will master this power.
And I will not be helpless again.
The man looked at him, eyes piercing. "This is only the beginning. There are forces… waiting. Your fate is already written, but perhaps… it can be rewritten."
Karn's lips pressed into a thin line. The air around him pulsed faintly with gold. His chest throbbed with the seal's hidden energy.
Outside, the wind carried the scent of forests, rivers, and danger. The world had changed. And now, so had he.