NEW CHARACTER INTRODUCTION 2:
Name: Kavi
Role: F-Rank Hunter, kind-hearted.
Appearance: Chubby, glasses, backpack full of potions and snacks.
Personality: Naïve, optimistic, wants to be a hero despite being weak.
Notable Trait: He unknowingly follows an ancient path of a forgotten Vedic guardian spirit.
HUNTER ADMINISTRATION BUREAU – INTERROGATION ROOM
The room is cold. Sterile. A single table sits under a strip of flickering white light. Arvan sits across from a senior Hunter Division Officer — a sharp-eyed woman in her early 40s named Vasundhara Sen, A-rank, head of Internal Risk Division.
She places a steaming cup of tea in front of him. Arvan's fingers twitch. He hasn't said a word since the scan shut down.
VASUNDHARA:
"You're not in trouble… yet. But you know we have to ask what happened in that room."
ARVAN: (quiet, looking down)
"I don't know. It just… glitched."
VASUNDHARA: (leaning forward)
"Glitched. Right. That scanner was built from mana-calibrated crystal and Celestial Alloy. It doesn't glitch. And yet, your data was unreadable. Your screen… overloaded and hard reset the entire system."
Arvan flinches. He remembers the moment vividly. The name. The voice.
"Because I chose you."
ARVAN:
"Maybe it's… defective? Or maybe I'm just a late bloomer with bad stats?"
VASUNDHARA: (smiles, but not kindly)
"That's the thing. You don't have any stats. No system linkage. No registered class. No category. It's like the System doesn't know what you are."
She pulls out a file. Taps a section of it.
VASUNDHARA:"And then… this. The scanner printed a fragment before crashing. Just one word."
RĀVAṆA.
VASUNDHARA:"Wanna tell me what that means?"
Arvan looks down at the cup of tea. His eyes twitch. A faint, serpentine whisper curls through his mind.
RĀVAṆA (whispering):
"Tell her I'm your imaginary friend. Or perhaps… your godfather?"
ARVAN (whispers):"I don't know. It's just… a name. I've heard it in stories."
VASUNDHARA:"That's not just any name. He was the King of Lanka. A ten-headed titan. Some ancient texts call him a demon. Others… a god of wisdom who fell to pride."
ARVAN (trying to avoid eye contact):
"Sounds like a myth."
Vasundhara leans back. Studies him carefully.
VASUNDHARA:"We've seen strange awakenings before. People becoming vessels. Channels for something older. Something… divine. Or worse."
She stands.
VASUNDHARA:"You're not a prisoner. Yet. But until we understand what happened, you're being classified as a Category-Unknown Awakened. No raids. No clearances. Stay close. And Arvan?"
She pauses at the door, gaze lingering on him.
VASUNDHARA:"If you do remember something… you tell me. Before someone else decides to kill you for it."
The door shuts behind her.
Arvan now alone in the interrogation room buries his face in his hands. Breathing hard. The room feels colder now. The tea has gone untouched.
ARVAN (thinking): "Why is this happening to me…? I didn't ask for this. I just wanted a life. A small one."
RĀVAṆA (voice inside, calm and cruel):
"Small lives make the best vessels. So easy to twist. So desperate to matter."
ARVAN (thinking):
"Shut up… please. Just shut up…"
RĀVAṆA:"I once burned kingdoms for silence. You think you'll earn it by begging?"
He looks up. In the reflection of the metal table, for just a second… his face is not his own.Golden eyes. A cruel smirk. A shadow of a crown made of ash.
Outside the interrogation room, Vasundhara makes a quiet call.
VASUNDHARA (on phone):
"Mark him. Shadow surveillance. No engagement unless provoked. If what we saw is real…"
She looks out the window. A dungeon portal pulses in the sky like a wound.
VASUNDHARA:"…we may have just awakened something we can't contain."