The "Book of Tantra" didn't just contain skills; it contained a path to the afterlife. Rudra looked at his brothers, Sai and Jaswanth, his face pale.
"I have to go to Kashi," Rudra said, clutching the urn of his grandfather's ashes. "I must mix these ashes into the Ganga... only then will the next gate open."
After a long journey, Rudra stood on the banks of the sacred river in Kashi. As the grey ashes dissolved into the holy water, the air around him began to crack. He wasn't on the riverbank anymore. He was in the Void Dimension.
The atmosphere was freezing. In the center of this darkness sat a massive Tantra Chakra, glowing with a blood-red light. Rudra felt his emotions—his love, his fear, his anger—starting to evaporate.
[ SYSTEM WARNING: VOID ADAPTATION IN PROGRESS ]
[ COST: LOSS OF HUMAN FEELINGS ]
[ RULE: IF YOU FEEL EMOTION, THE 5-INCH VOID WILL SHATTER ]
Rudra sat in the center of the Chakra. To master the Void, he had to perform the ultimate sacrifice. His hands moved as if possessed. He reached into his own chest, his fingers tearing through muscle and bone. With a scream that had no sound, he ripped out his own heart.
As he held the pulsing, bloody organ in his hands, he did the unthinkable. He ate it.
His vision went dark. He was dead. But in the silence of death, a terrifying presence appeared. Goddess Kali, her tongue dark with the blood of demons, looked down at his hollow body. She reached out and placed a swirling vortex of black energy where his heart used to be.