The night in Nidhivan was unlike any other.
The wind didn't rustle; it whispered. The trees didn't sway; they listened.
And somewhere in that impossible stillness… Aarohi stood, staring at the circle etched into the ground — twelve concentric spirals drawn in ancient glyphs glowing faintly under the moonlight.
"This… wasn't here before," she whispered.
Beside her, Ishaan's jaw tightened.
He had seen it too — in his dreams, for years.
This wasn't just a symbol.
This was the Spiral of Kalchakra — a living map of every time-loop that had ever occurred… and every version of themselves that had ever existed.
Aarohi stepped into the first ring.
Time trembled.
A soft chime echoed in her ears. Suddenly, a vision snapped into her mind: herself, dressed in black robes, chanting near a pool of silver water — her eyes blank, her hands glowing.
The second ring. Another vision.
Aarohi with Ishaan dead in her arms… a battlefield around them, a blood-red sun overhead.
"What are these?" she gasped.
"Possibilities," Ishaan said quietly, stepping beside her. "Versions of us from different loops. Some failed… some never even began."
They stood in the seventh ring when the spiral began to pulse — each line beating like a heart.
And in the twelfth, something moved.
A figure.
Wearing a golden mask.
Watching them.
"It's you," Aarohi whispered. "But not you."
"The one Vrinda saw," Ishaan confirmed. "The first guardian."
The masked man raised his hand, and the ground cracked — a burst of symbols shot toward them. Aarohi staggered back, and suddenly, her necklace — Vrinda's amulet — shattered, and a parchment hidden within floated into the air.
Ishaan caught it.
And when he opened it, the ink rearranged itself, forming ancient Devnagari text…
One line glowed brighter than the rest:
"Only when love survives the Spiral… shall the Final Loop break."
Aarohi's voice trembled:
"Does this mean… we're close to the end?"
Ishaan looked at her.
"Or the beginning we never had."
And behind them, the twelfth spiral opened like a gate — revealing a mirror made of starlight, showing glimpses of Vrinda… Aarohi… Ishaan… in all their forms, from all timelines.
They reached for it.
Together.
Not knowing if they were walking into the past, the future… or into themselves.