Gauri's world shattered.
Around her, the silence was suffocating. The charred remains of her family, the empty air where their voices once rang, the cruel void of loss—it all pressed on her like a storm. She could barely move. Her hands trembled, her chest heaving as though the very air itself was trying to escape her lungs.
Charvi and Adrija, wounded and weary, crawled closer, their faces etched with fear and desperation. They clutched Gauri's arms, leaning into her, seeking to share the unbearable weight of reality.
"Didi… Gauri… you're still here…" Charvi's voice was small, trembling. "You're still with us. Please, don't give up."
Adrija nodded, tears streaking her bruised cheeks. "We'll figure this out… somehow… you're not alone. You never were."
But Gauri could barely hear them. Her vision was blurred with tears, the taste of salt on her lips mingling with the suffocating horror of what had just occurred.
Mohini's laughter cut through her despair like a blade. It was sharp, cruel, unrelenting. Her eyes glittered with a wicked delight that made Gauri's stomach twist.
"This… this is exquisite," Mohini whispered, crouching low to study her anguish. "Twenty-five years ago, when you were born… Jalpanchi… the prophecy said you would destroy my lineage. But look at you now. Your fate has turned… and the hunter becomes the hunted."
Gauri's throat constricted. The words sank like daggers, each one twisting her heart further.
Mohini's voice grew colder, sharper, venom seeping from every syllable. "Do you know why all this has happened? Your parents… gone. Killed by Kamini, the serpentine witch, before you even had a chance to know them. The witch hunters—Vedika and Dev—they tried to protect you, and she… she killed them too. And Kesar," Mohini paused, letting the name linger, a knife through Gauri's chest, "your twin sister… your Agni Paanchi… she's gone because of me."
Gauri's mind froze. Her chest caved in, her vision went white, then red. Her twin sister… Kesar? The sister she had never known she had, the sister whose brief, fleeting memory she now recalled—the laughter during Vrat Savitri, the way she had held her hand, the promise of sisterhood. Kesar.
All gone. Taken. Destroyed by the cruel hand of fate.
She staggered backward, her fingers trembling, reaching for air that seemed to have vanished. Her knees hit the ground, her sobs breaking through her chest like shattered glass.
"No… no… this can't be… my Kesar… my sister…" she whispered, her voice cracking, raw and broken.
Mohini's grin widened, feeding on the anguish. "Yes, that's right, Jalpanchi. Every moment of happiness you've clung to… every hope… I've destroyed. And now, because of my manipulation… Sarvansh Vihaan has killed your entire family. You're powerless. Even your gods cannot save you."
Dark tendrils shot from Mohini's form, wrapping around Gauri's limbs, lifting her into the air as if she weighed nothing at all. Charvi and Adrija gasped, rushing to protect her, but the dark magic flung them aside, their cries swallowed by Mohini's cruel laughter.
Gauri closed her eyes, her body trembling, surrendering to the suffocating despair. "I… I've lost…" she whispered, a broken murmur into the void.
Then, in the emptiness of her consciousness, she saw them.
Kesar. Vedika. Dev. Their spirits shimmered with soft, warm light. They reached for her, and Gauri's sobs became wails of pure grief as she wrapped herself around their forms, clutching them as though sheer will could bring them back.
"I… I failed… I couldn't save you… I couldn't protect anyone…" she cried, her heart shattering into a thousand irreparable pieces.
Vedika's gentle voice soothed her like a balm through her pain. "Gauri… listen to me. Good never gives up against evil. Evil may rise… but it never wins."
Dev's tone was firmer, full of command, yet wrapped in love. "Remember your lineage, Gauri. You are a Reevavanshi. A hunter of darkness. You were chosen… and even in despair, your strength remains. You are meant to save this world."
Kesar's voice, soft and tender, broke through the storm in Gauri's heart. "Didi… I am here. Always… even if only in spirit. You are not alone."
The warmth of their spirits seeped into her broken soul, bolstering her, even as the cold, crushing reality remained. She held onto them, letting their voices be the anchor in her tempest of grief.
As their forms began to fade, a radiant light pierced her consciousness. The Tridev appeared, their presence vast, infinite, yet comforting.
"You have suffered, Gauri," they spoke in unison, their voices a symphony of power and mercy. "Even stripped of your Jalpanchi powers… even in despair… you fight to protect life. That is true strength."
Gauri felt a spark ignite deep within her chest—a fire that was not magic, not prophecy, but something far older, far stronger.
"You were destined to end the witch lineage as Jalpanchi," the Tridev continued, "but the world has changed. A new path opens for you. A new identity, a new power."
Warmth and light poured into her spirit. "From this day forth… you are Rishva. Destroyer of the Dark Lineage. Protector of the innocent. Your heart, your courage, your love—these are your true powers."
Back in reality, Charvi and Adrija had attempted to strike at Mohini. But the daayan's might was too great, flinging both sisters across the floor, their bodies battered, their breaths ragged.
Gauri, suspended by dark tendrils, felt the Tridev's blessing course through her, mingling with the memory of her twin sister, Vedika, and Dev. Pain remained. Loss remained. But now, so did a spark of hope.
Mohini's cruel eyes gleamed, unaware that the storm she thought she had contained had already begun to rise in Gauri's heart.
To be continued…