Chapter one: The Day the Sky Remembered
The boy stood beneath a fractured sky.
Storm clouds spiraled like ancient serpents, and stars pulsed in unnatural patterns. The air hummed with something older than memory itself—an echo from the beginning of time. And deep within him, something stirred.
His name was Aarav, but even he didn't yet know what that meant.
---
Long ago, before kingdoms rose and maps were carved into the earth, there were only the Three Realms.
The first was Swarglok, realm of the Devas —celestial beings of light, law, and divine power. They were protectors, creators, and destroyers, wielding flame and wind and thunder like tools of purpose. Their voices carried the sound of order, of destiny spoken aloud.
Above them shimmered Akashlok, the vast realm of the Nakshatras—the stars themselves. They were not gods nor mortals, but cosmic minds that watched time unfold from afar. Each constellation held a secret, each alignment a prophecy. They whispered to the gifted, guided the lost, and guarded the threads of fate.
And below them all churned Patal-lok, domain of the Asuras—beings of chaos, will, and desire. They were not evil, but wild—born from the same force that drives a storm or ignites rebellion. They ruled shadows, illusions, and the untamed spirit of mankind.
For eons, the realms existed in tension, never fully at peace. But all of that changed the day they discovered humanity.
---
Humans were different.
They were fragile, short-lived, often foolish—but they held within them something terrifying and beautiful: the capacity to hold all three truths.
They could show compassion like a Deva, question reality like a Nakshatra, and burn with hunger like an Asura.
They were not perfect—but they were possible.
And that possibility made the realms afraid.
What if humans grew too strong?
What if they chose one path over the others?
What if they chose none at all?
A war began. Not with swords, but with souls. The Devas wanted to protect mankind by binding them in destiny. The Asuras wanted to free mankind—even if it meant chaos. And the Nakshatras? They watched, calculating the odds of survival.
The balance began to collapse.
Until Rudra came.
---
No one knows what Rudra truly was. Some say it was a god older than gods. Others say it was the soul of the universe itself. But when the war threatened to unravel the cosmos, Rudra stood between the realms and spoke a single law:
> "Each of you will gift your essence to humanity. You will not dominate them. You will empower them. One day, when the three powers reunite in one soul, that soul shall decide your fate."
It was called The Rudra Protocol—and it was obeyed.
The Devas gave their divine energy: light, flame, wind, water, lightning.
The Nakshatras gave vision: insight, foresight, stardust knowledge.
The Asuras gave raw force: will, shadow, and unchained power.
These blessings passed down through bloodlines, hidden in clans, whispered in prophecy.
---
Now, centuries later, a boy named Rayan stood beneath a sky that had begun to shift.
He did not know why the wind bent around him. Why fire listened when he screamed. Why shadows danced at the edge of his feet. Why stars flared when he dreamed.
But deep within him, the old power stirred.
The Protocol had chosen.
And the realms would soon remember what it meant to fear a human again.