Twelve years has been passed since harsha brings his infant into the mortal world.
Arjun had grown up into a completely ordinary kid like any other kid around his age. To anyone watching him, he was no different from any other boy his age—he dealt with the daily grind of school, hung out with his friends, and kept a relatively low profile. No one looking at him would ever suspect anything was out of place.
Yet, hidden beneath that everyday normalcy was a dark, unexplainable secret—one he had kept buried deep inside since childhood. For years, a single, relentless nightmare had haunted his sleep, leaving him with countless sleepless nights and unanswered questions he dared not share with anyone.
Every time it took hold of him, it unfolded in the exact same terrifying sequence, and no matter how hard he fought, he was powerless to stop it.
It always began in a suffocating blur of choking fog and pitch-black smoke. Out of the dark haze, a looming, monstrous silhouette would rear back, hurling a razor-sharp obsidian dagger straight at his heart. Every single time, the feeling of impending death felt brutally real. But right before the blade could pierce his chest, a blinding flash of light would tear through the dark, yanking him backward out of the creature's reach.
Then, as the light dissolves his senses would spin out of control. The dark sky above would rotate wildly as he plummeted helplessly through the clouds—weightless, terrified, and falling out of control.
Splash!
The sharp, echoing roar of water would shatter his senses. Suddenly he wasn't falling anymore, but floating helpless on his back in an icy, churning river. Tossed like a stray leaf under a midnight sky torn apart by jagged, blue lightning, he was completely trapped—unable to fight the current, unable to escape, and unable to wake up in that terrifying dark suffocating atmosphere.
"ARJUN!"
Smita's voice thundered all the way from the kitchen, accompanied by the ferocious, rhythmic banging of a steel ladle against a frying pan.
"Wake up! Wake up right now! You are going to be late for the fourth time this week alone! Do you want the warden to kick you out of school?!"
Despite the noise echoing through the entire house, the screams failed to reach him. Trapped deep within the suffocating grip of the exact same nightmare, Arjun remained unconscious, his hand instinctively dragging the blanket higher over his face as the dark waters swallowed him once again.
Beside his bed, perched on the headboard, sat Coco—Arjun's sharp-tongued Scarlet Macaw. Realizing his human wasn't budging even at his mother's deafening screams, Coco initiated a series of tactical wake-up attempts.
First, he hopped onto Arjun's forehead and yanked the blanket away from his eyes to break the darkness. Seeing a small snot bubble expanding from Arjun's left nostril, Coco popped it with a quick snip of his beak and began tapping against his nose like a miniature jackhammer. Nothing. Next, he grabbed a dirty sock off the floor and dropped it right over Arjun's face. Still, just a low, pathetic snore.
Determined to win, Coco decided to take drastic measures: mild suffocation.
He used one tiny claw to pinch Arjun's sock-covered nose shut. But Arjun simply opened his mouth and kept right on snoring. Coco narrowed his eyes, brought his other leg down, and stomped it over Arjun's lips to seal the deal.
For two seconds, it actually worked. But then, a massive build-up of air pressure swelled in Arjun's lungs. With a sudden, explosive blow, Arjun exhaled so hard he blasted the bird straight backward off his face. Coco flapped frantically, wildly spinning mid-air before crashing headfirst into a pile of dirty laundry.
Thoroughly offended and covered in dirty shorts, Coco flew back and landed heavily on Arjun's chest, ready to peck his owner out of pure revenge. But as he stood there, he felt Arjun's heart pounding at top speed under his feet.
Coco paused, staring down at Arjun's twitching face.
"Great, he's again lost in another one of those screaming-abyss dreams," Coco muttered to himself, rolling his avian eyes. "I'd better wake him up fast before he wet the bed again."
But before the bird could do anything, Arjun sank deeper into the dark fog of his own mind.
Emerging from the black vapors pouring out from its own body, the shadowy demon materialized directly in front of Arjun. Though its form remained shrouded, two burning, blood-red eyes locked onto him with pure, murderous intent. Parting its jaws to reveal rows of pointy, wicked teeth, the creature spoke in a chilling, low growl—laced with a dark, terrifyingly casual grace.
"Enjoy your quiet little life while it lasts, boy... Because one day, i will find you. And you won't be able to escape. That day shall be your last."
As the demon voice echoed into the void, a swarm of towering demonic shadows materialized all around him. Their crimson eyes glowed with raw malice, locking onto him like a pack of starved wolves surrounding a helpless lamb, eagerly anticipating the moment they would tear their prey apart. A suffocating dread settled over Arjun.
They began to laugh—a chorus of loud, hysterical shrieks that vibrated through the cold dark. As they drew closer, the horror of their true form revealed itself: below their dark, looming torsos were grotesque, goat-like legs ending in cloven hooves, planting themselves heavily into the darkness as their fiery red eyes pinned him in place.
Desperation overriding his fear. Arjun broke the state of paralysis and bolted, trying to run into the endless dark. But as he ran, the reality around him twisted violently. The void shattered, and the environment morphed into a grim, nightmarish wasteland.
He frantically scanned his surroundings for an exit to escape, only for his breath to catch in his throat. Scattered across the landscape as far as the eye could see were countless human corpses—mutilated, cold, and piled high. Shocked, Arjun stumbled and looked down at his feet.
A sickening thrill of horror shot down his spine as he realized what he was standing on: a mound of lifeless, decaying bodies, their hollow eyes staring blankly back up at him.
Every nerve in his body screamed. The blood froze in his veins. Trapped between the landscape of the dead with the laughter of demons echoing from every direction, Arjun completely froze, and let out a scream of pure, unadulterated terror.
Then, a loud, hysterical laugh tore through the darkness from above. Drowning out all the other laughter.
Arjun forced his neck upward, his breath freezing in his chest. Floating in the abyss directly above him was a colossal, skull-like entity, expanding across the sky with a sickening, unnerving grace. The sheer magnitude of its terrifying presence crushed the air from his lungs.
Then, the massive skull unhinged its jaws to an impossible extent. A gigantic single eye emerged from deep within, consuming the entire entity. The skeletal frame vaporized into thin air. leaving behind nothing but a massive, floating ocular structure in the empty sky. Suddenly, the giant eye snapped wide open—its massive, unblinking pupil locking its terrifying gaze directly onto Arjun.
"Do you truly believe running away like this will save you forever? How long can you flee before the jaws snap shut?" the entity roared, its voice reverberating through the abyss like cracking thunder. "A deer may outrun a predator for a moment, but it cannot run forever. Its life is destined to end in the beast's grip one day—just like yours. And like that frightened prey, you forget one simple truth..."
The eye paused, casting a piercing, terrifying stare down at him that pinned Arjun to the spot.
"...you cannot outrun fate. You are destined for ruin! Your doom was written long before your first breath. And if you continue to run, mark my words,"
the entity warned, its voice vibrating with terrifying authority.
"Everyone dear to you will end up lying among these corpses, one by one, right before your eyes. And you will find yourself responsible for all of it, drowning in the blood of those you love. The longer you keep running, the more of your beloved ones will end up like this."
Arjun froze in complete terror at the entity's warning. As the words sank in, his gaze fell upon a pile of lifeless bodies nearby—and a cold dread seized his heart as he recognized a familiar cap resting right on top.
Before he could process the horror, the skulls of the mutilated corpses began to pour thick blood from their hollow sockets and gaping jaws. A crimson flood rapidly surged around him, rising fast to drown him as Arjun let out a helpless, blood-curdling scream.
This was, without a doubt, the most terrifying nightmare Arjun had ever found himself trapped in. He had endured strange, haunting dreams before, but he had never witnessed something so grotesquely vivid, ancient, and real.
Then, a screech of sheer terror pierced the void.
Arjun snapped awake with a violent gasp, his eyes bulging as he bolted upright, cold sweat pouring down his forehead and his chest heaving for air.
Standing directly on his chest, screaming at the top of its lungs with its beak just millimeters from Arjun's nose, was Rio.
Instinct took over. "GET OFF ME!" Arjun yelled, throwing a wild right hook out of pure panic.
With an effortless, mocking flutter of his wings, Coco dodged the punch completely, landing gracefully on the wooden bedpost.
"Missed me, slowpoke! Missed me!" Coco squawked, bobbing his head up and down in victory.
As Arjun's pacing heart began to settle, he looked around his room and glanced at the bright sky outside his window, feeling a quiet sense of relief that everything around him was completely normal.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!" Coco mocked, fluttering around the room. "I'm sorry to wake you like this, but unfortunately, I couldn't bring Prince Charming here to kiss you awake!"
"Shut up, Coco!" Arjun groaned, clutching his throbbing head. "Stop calling me that or I swear to God I'll clip your wings and turn you into a feather duster!"
Coco puffed out his chest defensively, tossing his head back. "Hey! Don't threaten the messenger! These are the official words trademarked by your mother, not me! I just repeats it."
Arjun ignored the bird's squawking, his hand instinctively drifting to his chest. His skin felt unnaturally warm, right over his heart where the dagger had been aimed.
Why does that same terrifying creature keep showing up in my dreams? he thought, his brow furrowing as a cold shiver ran down his spine. The dark river, the spinning sky, the endless thunder... what does any of it mean?
Then, the memory of the colossal skull-like entity roared back into his mind, and his eyes bulged wide with pure terror.
Was that... real? Arjun's breath hitched in his throat. He had endured haunting nightmares before, but never one of such terrifying scale. Everything about it—the suffocating weight of its presence, the malicious eyes, the echoing warning—felt unnervingly real. It wasn't just a nightmare; it felt like an omen, an inescapable promise of what was to come. A heavy, unsettling truth settled in the pit of his stomach: his life was about to change forever, and there was no running from it.
TRINNGGG-TRINNGGG! TRINNGGG-TRINNGGG!
The sharp, impatient ringing of a bicycle bell shattered his thoughts.
Arjun leaped out of bed and threw open the window shutters. Standing in the dusty lane below, leaning heavily on his bicycle with his thumb glued to the bell, was Gopi.