Morning sunlight filtered through the tall windows of the city library, painting long golden rectangles across the wooden floor.
The building smelled faintly of old paper and dust—an oddly comforting scent that Nirja had always liked. It was quiet except for the soft turning of pages and the occasional creak of a chair.
Normally, she enjoyed the silence.
Today, however, her mind was anything but calm.
She sat at one of the long reading tables, surrounded by stacks of books she had pulled from the mythology section. Ancient legends, regional folklore, river traditions—anything that might explain what she had seen.
Or dreamed.
Or imagined.
Her fingers tapped restlessly against the table.
"Sacred rivers of India… rituals and myths…" she muttered, flipping through another page. "Come on. There has to be something."
The dream still lingered in her thoughts.
The ancient temples.
The glowing lotus.
And the mysterious woman standing calmly in the river.
The river remembers.
The words had echoed in her mind all morning.
Nirja leaned back in her chair with a frustrated sigh.
"This is ridiculous," she whispered. "I'm looking for answers to a dream."
Still, something deep inside her refused to let the matter go.
Her gaze drifted across the room.
In the corner of the library, a young man sat at another table surrounded by an even larger mountain of books. His laptop was open, and he appeared to be typing rapidly while occasionally flipping through old pages.
Nirja had seen him here before.
Many times, actually.
He seemed to live in this library.
She remembered overhearing someone mention his name once.
Kabir.
The "history nerd," as Tara had jokingly called him.
Kabir was known for researching obscure myths and ancient texts for his university studies.
If anyone might know something about strange river legends…
It would probably be him.
Nirja hesitated for a moment.
Then she gathered one of the books from her pile and walked over.
Kabir didn't notice her at first. He was too focused on whatever he was reading, muttering quietly under his breath.
"…incomplete translation… that symbol again…"
"Um," Nirja said cautiously.
Kabir looked up.
His expression shifted quickly from confusion to recognition.
"Oh," he said, adjusting his glasses. "You're the girl from the river cleanup yesterday, right?"
Nirja blinked.
"You noticed?"
Kabir shrugged slightly. "You were the only one who didn't look completely bored while picking up trash."
"Wow," Nirja said dryly. "What a compliment."
Kabir smiled faintly.
"So what brings you here? Research project?"
Nirja hesitated again.
How exactly was she supposed to explain this?
Hi, I saw a magical lotus in the river and dreamed about a mysterious woman.
Yeah.
That sounded perfectly normal.
Still… she needed answers.
"Do you know anything about river legends?" she asked.
Kabir's interest immediately sharpened.
"That's a very broad category," he said. "Which river?"
"The Ganga."
Kabir leaned back in his chair, clearly intrigued now.
"Well," he said slowly, "there are hundreds of myths connected to the river. Why?"
Nirja placed the book she was holding on the table and opened it.
A page showed an illustration of a lotus floating on water.
Kabir glanced down.
"Lotus symbolism?" he said. "Pretty common in mythology."
"Not just a lotus," Nirja said quietly. "A glowing one."
Kabir's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"Glowing?"
Nirja leaned forward.
"Have you ever heard of a legend about a lotus that appears in the river once every hundred years?"
Kabir didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he studied her carefully.
"You're serious."
"Yes."
Kabir slowly closed his laptop.
"Where did you hear about this?"
"I didn't," Nirja said.
She hesitated, then decided partial honesty was the best option.
"I saw something yesterday during the cleanup. In the water."
Kabir's expression shifted from curiosity to something closer to fascination.
"Describe it."
Nirja told him.
About the glowing flower beneath the water.
About the whisper she had heard.
She skipped the dream.
Kabir didn't interrupt her once.
When she finished, he remained silent for a moment.
Then he stood up suddenly.
"Wait here."
Before Nirja could respond, he disappeared into the tall rows of bookshelves.
A few minutes later he returned carrying a large, worn book that looked far older than anything else in the library.
He placed it carefully on the table and opened it.
The pages were yellowed with age.
Strange symbols and illustrations covered the paper.
Kabir flipped through them until he reached a particular page.
Then he turned the book toward her.
Nirja's breath caught.
The drawing on the page showed a lotus flower glowing within a river.
Exactly like the one she had seen.
"What is that?" she asked quietly.
Kabir leaned forward.
"That," he said, "is part of a very old legend."
He tapped the page.
"It's called the Eternal Lotus."
A chill ran down Nirja's spine.
"The Eternal Lotus?"
Kabir nodded.
"According to the myth, it's a magical flower connected to the river goddess herself. It blooms only once every century."
Nirja's heart skipped.
"A century?"
"Yes."
Kabir turned another page, revealing an illustration of a temple beside the river.
"The lotus was said to be protected by a group called the Lotus Keepers."
Nirja stared at the image.
For some reason, the temple looked strangely familiar.
"They were guardians," Kabir continued. "Their job was to make sure no one misused the lotus's power."
"What kind of power?" Nirja asked.
Kabir met her eyes.
"The kind that could reshape life and death."
Silence settled between them.
Nirja's thoughts raced.
The dream.
The glowing lotus.
The whisper.
Kabir frowned slightly.
"Why are you asking about this legend?"
Nirja looked down at the book again.
Her fingers hovered above the illustration of the lotus.
"I think," she said slowly, "something in the river might be waking up."
Kabir stared at her.
Then he said something that made her stomach drop.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
Kabir pointed to the page.
"Because according to the legend…"
He paused.
"…the lotus is supposed to bloom again this year." 🌸