Kala and Varna separated at the junction like they always did.
For a few quiet seconds, neither of them moved. It wasn't awkward. It was just… heavy. As if something unspoken lingered between them.
Kala finally turned away first, hands sliding into his pockets as he walked toward his house. As he walked, his smile vanished.
Next time I see her, I need to tell her what my name means, he thought.
Behind him, Varna walked in the opposite direction. In her mind, he was always a mystery.
Why is he named Kala? The teacher named me and the others too… we all have common names. But Kala? Why?
No one in the orphanage had a name like that. It didn't feel weird. It felt unique.
But anyway… he will tell me the meaning soon.
A small smile touched her lips.
I've known him almost my whole life, but I still don't understand him… but he is a sweet guy.
They walked away from each other, both smiling faintly, unaware of how quickly everything was about to change. The only thing was, it was not known whether it was for good or bad.
Varna entered the park, the shortcut she always used to reach home. She slipped her headset over her ears and played music, letting the sound fill the quiet around her, making her forget about the scare she felt inside.
She moved from the quieter residential area and then into the park.
The moment she stepped under the trees, the atmosphere shifted.
The trees were heavy and tall, their branches tangled so thick that even at noon it felt like evening. The light struggled to reach the ground. Cold air brushed against her skin, growing sharper with every step. The streetlights stood far apart, leaving long stretches of shadow between them.
There were no people.
Usually, there would be sounds — birds, insects, something alive.
But today there was nothing.
It was as if even the animals were afraid to make a sound.
A strange discomfort crept up her spine.
She focused on the music to ignore the cold… the silence… and the feeling of being watched.
Then she saw her.
Far ahead, in the dim light, a woman walking toward her.
At first, relief washed over her.
Another person. A woman too.
As they got closer, something felt wrong.
Same clothes.
Same posture.
Same body structure.
Her heartbeat slowed.
When they were near enough to see clearly, the world tilted beneath her feet.
Same face.
It was her.
An exact copy.
Shock.
Confusion.
Fear.
She blinked hard and looked again.
The girl stood there, staring back at her like a mirror — even copying the way she stood.
Then the streetlight above the copy flickered once.
The first time it blinked, Varna froze.
The light flickered a second time, and she turned her head quickly, looking around as if something had suddenly appeared right behind her.
When it blinked the third time, the other girl slowly dropped to her knees, her hands touching the ground as if something invisible was surrounding her.
The fourth flicker came, and she collapsed fully onto the pavement, as though whatever stood near her had finally reached her.
The fifth time, the light did not blink.
It went out completely.
Darkness swallowed the park.
No wind.
No sound.
No movement.
Then a scream tore through the silence.
It was not Varna.
The light returned suddenly.
The copy lay in a pool of blood.
Then the streetlight flickered again—
Gone.
No body.
No blood.
Nothing....
Varna's breath trembled.
I'm going crazy!
She looked around wildly.
Then she heard something far away.
A faint electrical sound.
She turned.
In the distance, streetlights began going out one by one.
Coming toward her.
Her streetlight started blinking.
She stumbled backward, trying to return the way she came.
Behind her, the lights shut off one by one.
Like something was tracking her.
She ran into the center of a streetlight circle and dropped to the ground, clutching her head.
Despite the cold air, sweat poured down her face.
I'm imagining this. It's stress. It's fear. It's not real.
She pulled off her headset.
Silence.
Normal silence.
When she looked up, all the lights were on.
Everything looked normal.
Her breathing slowly steadied.
She stood up.
And stepped outside the circle of light.
The moment her whole body crossed the edge of the light, it changed. The light vanished. Even the sky didn't light the path for her—
The world vanished.
The light behind her disappeared.
It felt like stepping into another world.
Total darkness.
No sky.
No ground.
No sound.
She couldn't see her own hands.
Then she felt it.
Hot breath against her hair.
It moved slightly from the warmth.
Something was standing behind her.
She froze.
Her body trembled.
She tried to turn, but her limbs felt heavy and unresponsive.
Slowly, she forced her head to move.
A voice whispered near her ear.
"Boo…"
Her legs gave out.
Everything went black.
Kala had just reached his house when his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
Varna.
He smiled slightly and answered.
Instead of her voice—
He heard screaming.
Raw.
Terrified.
Real fear.
Then the scream got cut off.
The call disconnected.
Kala didn't think.
He ran.
He ran toward the park, faster and faster, her image flashing in his mind.
He entered the park and kept running, breath burning in his lungs.
He didn't stop.
Then he saw something shining faintly on the ground.
He passed it—then stopped.
He turned back.
Her phone.
Broken.
Under a streetlight.
Nearby, claw marks were carved deep into a wall. Too deep for a human. The shape looked partly human… partly animal.
His body tensed.
He felt something.
He turned—
A blow struck him from the side of his head.
Rope lashed from behind, wrapping around his torso and arms. It felt like snakes, but it was rope acting on its own, like a snake wrapping him tight to swallow him whole. It tightened with intention, like it had a mind of its own.
He struggled.
It tightened harder.
Something hit him from behind again.
He fell to his knees.
From the darkness, a small goblin-like creature stepped forward. Long limbs. Black eyes. A twisted smile.
The rope climbed over his face.
Darkness consumed him.
Varna Wakes in a Broken-Down House
Varna woke tied to a chair.
Her wrists were bleeding from the tight ropes. She had tried to get her arms out; her hands were red.
The house had No proper doors, Broken roof, Rain dripping inside, Mold everywhere, Grass growing through the floor, A snake inside the house it was near her.
She screamed.
A man stepped out of the shadows.
He said calmly, "Don't scream," moving in front of her at super speed.
The snake went out in fear.
She begged him to let her go and Offered money she had saved her entire life.
Offered her bank card and PIN in her bag.
Everything.
He said, "Paper money has no value. Gold has value. I don't get why you humans like paper more than the shiny metal."
His eyes turned fully black when she tried to scream again.
She understood
If she screamed again, she would die.
Two more figures entered.
They said, "We brought him, brother."
But they looked entirely different from one another. The one she first met was in the shadows and looked normal. He was the big brother among the three. The second was a big, muscular guy, looking angry. The third looked like a kid but held a staff and had a creepy look on his face. She wondered how they were brothers.
They were dragging someone wrapped completely in rope.
She looked but felt pressure from those ropes.
Like an invisible force.
She sensed something unnatural in them.
As the rope moved on its own from covering his face, Kala was not awake. His eyes were not open. She felt like screaming, but the big brother looked at her, and the fear for her life made her not open her mouth even to call out for him.
The first brother said with relief,
"It's not him."
"How do you know it's not him?" the third brother asked.
"No. If it was him, we wouldn't be alive," the second brother said.
The third brother said, "I am strong. That's why he got knocked out, and I used magic too. Maybe it's him."
The second brother replied, "He fell unconscious from your attack. It's not him. If it's him, he would have killed you."
"What do you mean, brother?" the third brother asked.
"You are still an idiot. It's not him. If it was him, you wouldn't be alive. Remember why I asked you to attack both of them."
"So you were using me? If he was him, then you were planning on abandoning me?"
"I did to you what big brother did to us — he knew even the three of us could never defeat him. If it's him, he would have killed us all, so he sent us, saving his own skin. So I did the same."
The second and third brothers fought with magic and muscles.
Varna saw those supernatural powers and became even more scared.
Finally, the second brother pinned the third brother to the ground.
"ENOUGH!" the big brother said. "He killed twelve of us. Three of us aren't even a match for him. So I knew this was the only way to confirm. I took it. I don't have any regrets. And if you want to fight me, then try…"
The second muscular brother quit fighting and turned to Kala.
"Let's find out what they are."
He struck him violently, attacking Kala and throwing him out of the house, breaking part of it. As he threw him, the ropes started moving away from Kala as he got attacked by the second brother.
"Let's see what they are. Let's start with him."
The second brother grew his nails, cutting the air and forming a slash that threw Kala away.
Kala didn't react. He flew away and fell outside the house.
The attacker's nails grew like steel.
They assumed:
It's not the one they're searching for.
Seeing Kala attacked, Varna lost the fear in her head and started to scream, "Let him go! What do you want?"
Rain started pouring harder and harder.
Thunder struck wherever they fought. It was not a fight — it was a one-sided massacre.
Water inside the house started behaving strangely in response to Varna's scream. No one noticed at first. As time passed, the tremors started increasing.
The big brother started feeling something strange.
The second brother was hurting Kala with his nails. He slashed him, cut him, and created a pool of blood around him. Kala was beaten down.
As thunder struck near the house, hitting a tree, Varna screamed.
Her screams vibrated the water inside the house and around it too.
It was a small vibration at first.
Then it grew.
It grew louder and louder.
As it grew, the water from the area started gathering, forming one big pool of water.
The first brother knew something was different.
They are not like normal awakened people. They are not like normal others.
Water started resonating as she screamed. The grass around the house began moving. Water was flowing as per her orders.
As Varna screamed her loudest, her eyes started changing color, turning light blue.
The ropes began breaking easily. The rope that tied her broke apart, and her red, bloodied hands started healing.
She screamed in rage.
That rage transformed into power.
Rain gathered and moved with her pain, with her scream. Water lifted up, and in her scream, that scream gave the water purpose.
It gathered from everywhere, forming into many water serpents, and then attacked the brothers. They resisted but were pushed back by the three brothers.
Varna ran to Kala, putting him in her lap.
The water serpents came toward her. Instead of attacking the three brothers, they formed a water vortex around her and Kala to protect them.
Kala was in her lap, bleeding.
The three brothers saw that and said, "Water mage."
"And a powerful one at that…"
Varna, inside the vortex, saw all this. She looked at the three brothers reaching near her. She started crying while holding Kala. She called out for him.
As she called out, Kala's wounds slowly started moving.
She didn't see it at first.
Then smoke-like strands, like the rope, emitted and filled his wounds.
A pressure started to rise from him.
It grew darker.
It felt like letting go of a beast that had been wrapped up in chains.
His presence changed.
His body started to change. His bone structure began shifting.
His pressure overtook Varna's presence.
The three brothers thought it was Varna's doing and that her power was increasing. The three of them planned to attack.
But all three of them were attacked by other serpents.
The second brother started attacking the water with all he had and tried to attack the vortex. He tried hard. His nails started turning black, like his eyes. The attack became harder and more ferocious.
It broke the vortex.
He got in and tried to attack them using his nails, which were harder than diamond and sharper.
A thunderbolt struck.
It was a big one.
It struck near them.
The second brother's hand was raised up to attack both of them, to finish it off.
Thunder struck.
Varna couldn't feel Kala's presence in her lap.
Varna looked to where the second brother stood.
She saw Kala holding him by the neck.
Kala's body was changing.
He grew taller.
His hair grew out.
He became more muscular.
Kala looked back at Varna and said:
"I'll tell you the meaning of my name as promised… It holds a god. A god of death."
The 3 brothers froze.
They realized something.
They said:
"Brother…" to Kala.
Varna was shocked by them saying that to Kala and looked at him in a new image.
They 2 retreated in a flash, but as they ran to the opposite side of Kala, they found themselves reaching closer to him, like some force was dragging them toward him.
Kala released the second brother. He fell down.
Kala said, "Brothers, so you are here to capture me. So why flee?"
The third brother started crying and began saying it was all his doing and started blaming others.
The second brother fell near Kala's feet, hardened his nails, and tried to attack Kala.
Varna screamed, warning about the attack.
But Kala didn't do anything.
As the second brother's nails reached him, the nails broke upon impact.
The second brother fell down with a bleeding hand.
He looked up, seeing Kala with black eyes and the worst thing was he didn't even changed his gaze from the third brother crying.
and then kala looked at second brother, It felt like pure animal hunting instinct.
With one gaze, he could kill him.
As Kala looked at the second brother, his pressure increased, pinning the second brother to the floor.
It was a look that kills.
The second brother, out of fear, begged Kala to let him go out of fear.
As Kala looked at the others, they lost the will to fight and looked like they accepted what was going to happen.
Kala said, "I'll let you three go, but I just want one things from you."
"Yes, tell us, brother. We will do it." the first and third brothers said.
Kala looked at the fallen second brother.
He said, "Yes, I'll do the same. Tell me, brother. I'll do it."
Kala said, "You didn't see me or her today. You killed two mages — that's what you sensed. Understood?"
"And if you break it, I won't have to kill you. He will do it, if he knows you let me go."
"Today we killed two mages. We didn't find you, brother," the second brother said.
Kala's eyes turned back to normal.
He said, "Go now, brothers."
The three brothers retreated as fast as the eye could see.
"I thought I had more time," Kala said after they retreated.
He looked at Varna and said, "It was painful, but worth it. Let go," he said to Varna.
Some time later.
When the three brothers later returned to their hideout, darkness swallowed them completely.
They walked through a corridor where even shadows had weight. They could see each other by the fire burning in every entrance.
As they moved, black eyes opened along the walls.
Watching.
Unblinking.
Following every step they took.
The ground beneath their feet shifted from rough stone to something sticky.
Dark red… Blood red.
It looked as if blood had been poured across the floor and left to dry in layers.
Then came the sound.
A heavy metallic scrape.
Clang…Clang…
A chain dragging slowly across stone.
Claaaaang…
It echoed endlessly through the place.
Their bodies bowed automatically under the crushing presence ahead.
At the end of the hall stood a throne carved from black stone. A stump was attached to a chain. They looked at the end of the chain, the figure was behind them. He walking passed the three toward the throne to sit there, as he moved fear took hold of the three brothers, the three looked at each other began Sweating.
Second brother said Moothonna we checked the presence.
Moothon sat in the throne looked at the first brother.
"Was it him?" he asked.
"No, brother, it was mages we killed him," said the first brother.
Then the second brother described it proudly: "I slashed the mage's lungs. He died choking on his own blood."
Moothon laughed. "Is that so? Good, good…"
The chain sound echoed and he asked, "What about the girl?"
The first brother's face changed he head hit the blood red floor as if he were begging for his life.
"Please… don't return us, brother…"
The others stared at him.
"Why are you doing this, brother?"
"We didn't say anything about the girl yet… and he knows."
Suddenly, the throne was empty.
The chain sound stopped.
Moothon appeared behind the second brother.
Without hesitation, Moothon hit him, throwing him across his head with ease, and said, "A life he spared. You don't want that, do you? Come, return to me as new. Return to me without any debt."
Then he split the second brother in two as if nothing happened the other two bowed there head down as low as there head hit the floor.
The other two trembled.
Moothon looked at the other two. "What is his name now?"
The third brother said, "…Kala."
Moothon's expression changed.
"Kala… means black."
He leaned back slowly into the throne a smile appeared on his face.
"But there is another meaning."
"Kalabhirava…"he spoke in a gentle tone
"God of death. That protects his own."
He smiled that smile turned to laughter.
"Let's see this time… will he be able to kill me… or return like last time?"
The chains began dragging again in the darkness behind him.
"And for you two—"
"Brother, spare us, please."
Moothon said, "Don't worry. We are brothers. Don't fear me. I returned him to make him pay his debt. I will not do that to you two."
The two brothers felt relieved.
Moothon continued, "But don't lie to me."
As Moothon's eyes touched them, the pressure knocked them both down hard to the floor, breaking the rock beneath them.
Moothon's voice echoed, "Youngest..., you will be my salvation."
The echo revealed he was in a cave.
Moothon was in the deepest part of the cave.
There were others like him in that cave, with black eyes.
As his voice echoed, it sounded like a monster speaking. It caused the bats in the cave to fly out starting the Era of Blood.
End of Chapter.