The fall was silent.
No wind.
No heat.
No sense of movement.
Just a slow, gentle drift through a tunnel of faint blue light—
a Gate designed not for speed,
but for precision.
Mandakini's hand tightened around Kashyap's.
"You alright?" she whispered.
He nodded, though his chest still felt heavy.
Not from the collapse—
but from the last thing he saw:
The Void-Seeker standing alone
in a dying universe,
arms open to the storm.
Before Kashyap could speak again, the Gate shattered behind them.
And they landed.
Not with a crash,
not with a roll—
but standing upright on solid ground.
Kashyap blinked.
Mandakini whispered, stunned:
"…Where are we?"
The world around them looked… wrong.
Not dead.
Not broken.
Not futuristic.
Intact. Peaceful. Perfect.
Tooperfect.
Clear sky.
A calm lake stretching to the horizon.
Soft grass swaying in a gentle breeze.
Air so clean it felt unnatural.
Mandakini took a slow breath.
"This…doesn't exist."
Kashyap frowned. "What do you mean?"
Mandakini looked directly at him.
"There is no world in the multiverse that is untouched by the Collapse.None. This place—this purity—it died millions of cycles ago."
Kashyap turned in a slow circle.
"It means the Void-Seeker…lied?"
Mandakini shook her head immediately.
"No.He can distort worlds. But he can't create one."
Kashyap's heart thudded.
"So someone else is controlling this."
Before Mandakini could reply, a ripple spread across the lake—
not in the water,
but above it—
like a curtain of reality fluttering.
A voice drifted across the breeze.
"You came later than I expected."
They spun around.
A figure stood atop the water.
Barefoot.
White clothing.
Calm and composed—
but glowing faintly,as if the world filtered through her.
Mandakini's breath hitched.
"…Vasundhara?"
Kashyap froze.
Vasundhara.
But not the Vasundhara they knew.
This one was older.
Wiser.
Eyes bright with shifting patterns—
like starlight trapped under glass.
She smiled at them.
"Hello, Kashyap.
Hello,Mandakini."
Mandakini stepped forward cautiously.
"You're…alive?"
The woman nodded.
"In this version of the multiverse,yes. I survived the Collapse. And I've been waiting for you."
Kashyap's jaw tightened.
"Who are you exactly?"
She held up her hand.
Around her wrist glowed a ring of symbols—
the same runes Kashyap saw inside the Pulse-shard.
"I am Vasundhara the Archivist," she said.
"Keeper of what remains.
And guardian of what must not return."
Mandakini exchanged a sharp glance with Kashyap.
"What must not return?"she asked.
The Archivist looked at them with a sadness that felt impossibly old.
"The fracture."
Kashyap's heart stopped for half a breath.
"You mean the Void-Seeker."
The Archivist's eyes darkened.
"I meanall versions of him.
The one you met.
The one you fled.
And the one who still hasn't found you yet."
Mandakini tensed.
"All versions…?How many are there?"
Vasundhara stepped closer.
"Enough to erase a world.
Enough to rewrite a timeline.
Enough to collapse a multiverse—
and they're searching for you."
Kashyap stiffened.
"Whyus?"
The Archivist turned her palm upward.
A projection flickered above it:
A glowing symbol—
a circle broken by a single crack.
Kashyap had seen it before.
In the shard.
In the younger Mandakini's world.
In the Void-Seeker's chamber.
"This," she said,
"is your mark."
"Our what?" Kashyap whispered.
Vasundhara met their eyes.
"You and Mandakini,"she said softly,
"are the only two beings in existence who survived a Collapse without being erased.That makes you…"
She paused.
"…a threat."
Mandakini's breath caught.
"To who?"
The Archivist raised her hand again—
and a new symbol appeared.
Sharp.Angular. Red like a wound.
A sigil Kashyap had never seen.
One that radiated pure danger.
"To the Council of Origin," Vasundhara whispered.
"The first civilization.
The oldest rulers of the multiverse.
And the ones who created the Void-Seeker."
Kashyap's entire body went cold.
Mandakini stepped closer to him instinctively.
"And what do they want from us?"Kashyap asked.
Vasundhara's answer was quiet.
"They want you dead."
Silence stretched.
The lake stilled.
The sky darkened,just slightly.
Kashyap exhaled sharply.
"Then we fight."
But Vasundhara shook her head.
"You're not ready.And they are already coming."
Mandakini clenched her fists.
"Then tell us what we need to know."
Vasundhara studied them—
and for a moment,her expression softened.
"I will," she said.
"But before anything else…"
Her eyes glowed with rising power.
"There is a truth you must hear first—
because it will change everything between you."
Kashyap and Mandakini exchanged a tense glance.
Vasundhara lowered her voice.
"Kashyap…
Mandakini…
you didn't meet by chance."
The world went silent.
"You were created for each other."