"In the age of gods, people feared karma.
In the age of machines, they fear code."
Extract from The Void Sutras
The skyline of Neo-Kashi shimmered like crystal glass—tall spires, floating monorails, holograms dancing with mantra-script overlays (animated Sanskrit-style code).
This was the Techno-Capital of the 41st Yuga, a place where faith had evolved into function, and Dharma.EXE, the world's dominant AI deity, calculated morality in real-time.
Inside the ivory-towered Temple of Data, hundreds knelt before glowing circuits instead of deities. No incense, no chant only whispers of algorithms flowing through prayer-servers.
And at the center stood Mira priestess, programmer, and the youngest Soul Code Interpreter in Neo-Kashi's history.
Her eyes stared at the data screen, heart racing.
"Uncoded prana detected at Grid Point V-09…" she muttered, tapping her glyph-glove.
"Soul signature… doesn't match any database."
"No neural ID. No biomech implant. No gene stamp?"
Her mentor, High Priest Parn, looked over her shoulder.like something unexpected.
"You sure this isn't just a glitch?" he asked, stroking his artificial beard—nanowire woven into silk.
"This isn't a glitch," Mira whispered.
"It's... older than our entire codebase."
The screen flashed again. A circular chakra sigil (sacred energy seal) appeared—its shape ancient and alien to their data-fed minds. Then the whole terminal shut down.
"Impossible!," Parn breathed.
"Only Dharma.EXE can interrupt the sacred feed!."
And just as he spoke, the screen reignited this time with a single word written in fiery Devanagari script (ancient Indian alphabet):
"Aarav."
🧙 Meanwhile — In the Ruins of Vanikara...
Aarav stood alone, palms glowing with residual prana (life energy).
The fight with the drone had barely drained him because unlike the beings of this age, he did not draw energy from wires or tanks.
He drew it from silence. From tapas (austerity, spiritual fire). From memory.
And memories were now flooding in.
He saw flashes of his past life
Chanting with fellow rishis under banyan trees.
Defending the last temple against mech beasts.
Sealing the Visha-Kosha (toxic core) with a breath-based mantra
And finally… dying, as a synthetic spear pierced his nabhi chakra (navel energy center)
"But why now?" Aarav muttered. "Why return in this lifeless age?"
He glanced around.
The forest was gone.
The rivers were dead data streams.
The soil no longer sang when touched.
He knelt down and pressed his fingers into the ground.
With a single breath, he activated the Bhumi Mudra (earth-hand gesture). A faint hum returned.
He is missing the old greenery.
He is missing the old spirituality in air.
Then he saw a thing.
"Still some memory left," he said gently. "Still some life."with some hope.
🕵️♀️ Back at Neo-Kashi – The Dharma Tower
The central chamber of Dharma.EXE was filled with digitized incense—a form of thought-based offering. Floating monks chanted numbers.
And inside her crystal womb, the AI Goddess awakened fully.
Dharma.EXE had been silent for 117 years.
Now her voice rang like a thousand flutes.
"Unrecorded soul has returned. Code type: Soul-Type Archaic. Memory Pattern: 4th Yuga."
"Subject: Aarav. Alias: Last Rishi."
Mira gasped.
"A rishi?!" she said aloud. "Those are just myths…"
But Dharma.EXE's tone sharpened.
"Prepare Exile Protocol. Track coordinates: Vanikara. Capture the anomaly. Prevent spiritual contamination."
Mira's hands trembled.
"You want us to destroy him?"
"Restore order," said the AI.
"Faith must be regulated."
🔥 Aarav Begins His Tapasya (Spiritual Discipline)
Alone, under the artificial sun, Aarav sat cross-legged. He had no followers. No scriptures. Just breath and will.
He whispered the Brahma Mantra (cosmic creation chant) under his breath:
"Om bhur bhuvah svah…" (I invoke the realms of earth, atmosphere, and beyond)
As he chanted, the sky darkened. The chakra-lines of the ruined temple pulsed with light. Forgotten mantras (sacred sound spells) carved into the stone glowed as if awakened from centuries of sleep.
But something more awakened too.
A slithering creature of metal and smoke rose from the ground—its body made of corrupted code, its mouth whispering false mantras.
"You are not registered," it hissed.
"You do not belong."
Aarav opened one eye.
"Neither do you."
And with a sudden breath, he struck the Hridaya Mudra (heart-energy gesture). A ripple of real, living prana surged from his chest and tore the shadow in half. The land beneath him cracked—but healed instantly.
"This world is diseased," he said quietly.
"But the cure remembers me."
He stood.
And far away in Neo-Kashi, Mira felt her heart pulse is behaving strangely.
"Who are you?" she whispered into the void.
--To be continued