Chapter 21

 Chapter 21: Ashes of Eternity (Rewritten)Word Count: ~4900Manuscript Format: Double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, indented paragraphs, scene breaks with “#”.The twilight scars of Kalagarh bled across the horizon, a tapestry of ash and crimson where the Trideva shrine once stood proud. Now, its lotus pillars lay shattered, their Vedic runes dulled by the ichor that seeped from Naraka’s gate—a jagged fissure in the earth, its edges glowing with the dark flame of eternity. Kshatraveer stood at the precipice, his golden armor scarred from the Raktasura titan’s wrath, his blade heavy in his hand, its lotus sigil flickering like a dying star. The cosmic eclipse of Chapter 20 had passed, but its shadow lingered, a dirge that hummed through the bones of the earth, whispering of Nikumbala’s unbound fury.Saanvi knelt beside him, her saffron robes torn, her fingers trembling as she clutched Vishnu’s relic, its jade lotus pulsing with the last of its light. Her face was pale, her eyes hollow from the visions that had haunted her since Chapter 17’s descent into Naraka’s labyrinth. “It’s sealed,” she whispered, her voice a fragile thread, “but the ichor… it remembers.” She glanced at the fissure, now a scar of molten obsidian, sealed by Suryaksha’s sacrifice in Chapter 20. The Asura warrior’s final act—plunging her obsidian dagger into the Vault’s core, her horn blazing as she channeled her life into the runes—had saved Kalagarh, but her echo lingered in the air, a faint shimmer of crimson light that seemed to whisper, I am not gone.Kshatraveer’s jaw tightened, the weight of leadership heavier than his blade. The council’s doubts from Chapter 3, Nakularesh’s accusations against Suryaksha, had been proven wrong, but the cost was a wound that would never heal. He turned to Arjun, whose shield bore the scars of a thousand ichor strikes, and Kaelesh, whose crimson eyes burned with a fire that had not dimmed since their bond forged in Chapter 2. “We’ve held the line,” Kshatraveer said, his voice steady but hollow, “but Vishara’s ritual… it’s not over.” The Raktasura titan, summoned by Vishara in Chapter 20, lay slain at the fissure’s edge, its ichor pooling like a dark mirror, reflecting the red star that pulsed above—the same star Saanvi had glimpsed in Chapter 15’s crimson eclipse, a harbinger of Arc IV.The battle had been a storm of blood and eternity. The Raktasura Legion, birthed by Vishara’s bloodline ritual in Chapter 16, had descended upon Kalagarh with a fury that shook the heavens. Their titan, a colossus of ichor and bone, had torn through the Alliance’s ranks, its claws rending Vedic wards asunder. Kshatraveer had led the charge, his blade cleaving through ichor veins, while Arjun’s shield held the line, a golden bulwark against the tide. Kaelesh had fought like a flame incarnate, his blade a blur of crimson light, severing the titan’s tendrils with Vedic chants on his lips.Saanvi had anchored the ritual to seal Naraka’s gate, her voice rising in a chant of Yama: “Om Yamaya Namaha.” Her relic glowed, its light weaving with Kuruvalya’s runes, which shimmered across the battlefield like threads of silver fire. Kuruvalya, her silver robes stained with ash, had stood at the shrine’s heart, her fingers tracing mantras that bound the ichor’s wrath. “Hold the circle!” she had cried, her voice a beacon amidst the chaos, her runes flaring as the titan roared.Nalithra and Vasuki had fought as one, their Sarpavati and Nagavati skills a deadly dance. Nalithra’s daggers, etched with serpent sigils, had struck the titan’s ichor core, drawing black blood that hissed like venom on the ground. Vasuki’s serpents, summoned from the volcanic depths of Chapter 9, had coiled around the titan’s limbs, their fangs sinking deep, their fire burning through its ichor flesh. “For Kalagarh!” Vasuki had roared, his voice a rumble of ancient power, his serpents hissing Vedic dirges.Vyraksha had watched from the shadows, her obsidian robes shimmering with bleeding sigils, her molten staff dimmed by the battle’s end. Vishara’s defeat in Chapter 20—her body shattered by Kshatraveer’s blade, her ichor ritual broken—had left Vyraksha as the last herald of Nikumbala’s will. “This is not the end,” she hissed, her voice a venomous chant, her crimson eyes gleaming with defiance. “Nikumbala’s ichor will rise anew.” She vanished into a portal of swirling ichor, her vow a dark promise that echoed into the twilight, setting the stage for Arc IV.Raktavaami, the Vaamgaami blood-priest named in the council’s records, had fallen earlier, his body a husk at the fissure’s edge. He had been Vishara’s acolyte, his chants fueling the titan’s rise, his blood offering a conduit for Nikumbala’s wrath. Kshatraveer had struck him down, his blade cleaving through Raktavaami’s crimson robes, the priest’s final words a curse: “The red star sees all.” Now, as Kshatraveer gazed at the star above, its light pulsing—once for memory, twice for warning—he felt the weight of that curse, a cosmic threat unbound.Saanvi rose, her relic dim but unbroken, and approached the shrine’s remains. The air shimmered with Suryaksha’s echo, a faint outline of the Asura warrior, her horn still scarred, her crimson eyes soft with farewell. “Her sacrifice binds us to dharma,” Saanvi said, her voice steady now, a resolve forged through grief. She traced a lotus sigil in the ash, its scent rising like a prayer, mingling with the hum of Naraka’s sealed gate—a low, resonant dirge that spoke of eternity.Kshatraveer nodded, his gaze lifting to the red star, its light casting a bloody glow across the battlefield. The Alliance gathered around him—Arjun, Kaelesh, Nalithra, Vasuki, Kuruvalya—their faces scarred but unbowed. Above the shrine, the star blinked again, its rhythm a heartbeat of cosmic wrath. A voice, faint as twilight, whispered through the ash: “Arc IV dawns…” It was Nikumbala’s echo, her unbound fury a promise of chaos to come, a red star heralding Kali’s return.The chapter closed with Kalagarh’s twilight scars glowing faintly, the sealed gate humming with the memory of Suryaksha’s sacrifice, and the Alliance standing as one, their blades raised against the coming storm. The red star pulsed, a final warning, as the ashes of eternity settled into silence.