The desert gave way to scrubland, and then to forest, but the silence of the journey remained. Meena noticed it first, Dhruv had barely spoken since the Tower of Agni.
He walked differently now. Slower, heavier. Like the flame hadn't just burned his karma but carved new weight into his soul.
"Say something," she finally snapped.
"Every time I close my eyes, I'm not sure if I'm me," he murmured.
She exhaled. "You're still Dhruv. Still the boy who used a flame axe to free a spirit from a cage and told off a relic hunter with too many teeth."
He smiled weakly.
Companion Bond Level: 2.9 — Close to Evolution.
Karma Echo Processing: Past Self Unlocked — Identity Suppressed Until Memory Tower Entry.
That last line stuck in his mind.
Who was I?
They headed north, toward the Aravallis—toward a place not marked on any maps, but etched into the system like a buried scar.
Objective: Reach Memory Tower (North). Access Key: Bharadwaja's Flame.
Estimated Arrival: 5 days. Warning: Increasing levels of dimensional distortion and anomaly activity.
By the second day, the land around them shimmered.
Birds flew backwards.
Cattle walked in slow loops, tails unmoving.
Once, they passed a tree whose roots hung upward into the sky like ropes being pulled.
Meena murmured, "This place is breaking."
On the third day, they met the Historian.
A caravan wagon rested near a crumbled stepwell. Books stacked to the roof. Solar panels glinted on the roof. A man in saffron robes and round glasses sat surrounded by floating scrolls, operated by hovering copper spiders.
"You must be the flamewalker," he said. "And the girl who sees threads."
"Who are you?" Dhruv asked, hand on his axe.
"A recordkeeper. One of the last. I archive relic-bearers. And you, boy, are overdue."
The Historian handed over a scroll sealed with black wax.
Lore Fragment Acquired: Vishwamitra's Banishment.
New Relic Trait Unlocked: Lorekeeper's Blessing – Allows Dhruv to retain memory clarity during dreamscape trials.
"A gift," he said. "You'll need it for what waits at the tower."
He turned to Meena. "You, however... may have another choice soon."
"Choice?"
"To stay behind, or walk deeper into the gods' shadows."
She said nothing.
They moved on.
That night, Dhruv dreamt of a black sun.
Not burning. Absorbing.
He stood in a chamber made of obsidian mirrors. His reflection stared back—but its eyes were different.
Older.
Colder.
Wiser.
It said, "You are a patchwork of karmas. But one of those lives was a king. And kings don't run."
When he woke, the campfire was out, and Meena was missing.
Alert: Companion Thread Distressed. Location: 700 meters northeast.
He sprinted through the trees.
He found her kneeling in a clearing surrounded by white mist. In front of her floated a small, glowing disk, a broken mirror shard spinning in place.
She was crying silently.
He didn't speak. Just knelt beside her.
After a while, she whispered, "I saw my death. In that mirror. I die in fire. Screaming. Alone."
"That's not how this ends," he said.
"How do you know?"
He reached out, placed her hand on the flame-shaped charm the dhaba woman had given them.
"Because the fire only burns what you're ready to let go of. You're still holding on. So stay."
Companion Bond Evolution Achieved: Thread of Faith.
New Ability Unlocked: Shared Will – In trials, Meena can stabilize Dhruv's mental state during karmic overload.
On the fifth morning, the sky changed.
Clouds no longer moved. Birds no longer sang. Even the insects had vanished.
A clearing opened ahead. There, carved into a mountainside, stood a tower made of white stone and black glass.
It did not rise.
It spiraled upward, like a helix of thought, caught in time.
And floating above the entry arch was a single phrase:
"Only memory may enter."
Memory Tower Reached.
Access Granted: Flame of Bharadwaja.
Trial of Vishwamitra Awaiting. Warning: High Karma Interference Detected.
Dhruv looked up at it.
Then looked inward.
Something was moving inside him, unfurling.
A second heartbeat.
A forgotten oath.
He stepped forward.