The name lingered through the observatory long after Arin spoke it aloud.
"…Arjuna."
The celestial mechanisms overhead continued rotating silently beneath the open night sky while golden symbols pulsed softly across the chamber walls. But the atmosphere had changed completely again.
Because this time the memories surfacing inside Arin were not fragmented or incomplete.
They were clear.
Painfully clear.
Kurukshetra unfolded vividly through his mind once more. Endless battlefields soaked in blood beneath burning skies. The sound of conches echoing across armies stretching farther than sight itself. Brothers standing on opposite sides of destiny while the world itself watched history tear itself apart.
And at the center of all of it—
Arjuna.
Arin slowly tightened his grip around Vijaya while those memories continued flowing through him.
Not hatred.
Never hatred.
Something far more complicated.
Respect.
Bitterness.
Understanding.
Regret.
A rivalry so deep it became inseparable from his very existence as Karna.
The others remained silent while watching him now. Even Riven understood instinctively that this memory carried weight far beyond ordinary history.
Arin finally spoke again quietly.
"Gandiva belonged to Arjuna."
The observatory listened.
"He was my brother."
A faint smile crossed his face briefly afterward.
"…though I only learned that near the end."
Liora quietly watched him beside the pedestal.
Every time Arin spoke about his past now, his voice changed slightly. Not colder. Older. Like he wasn't remembering stories anymore but reliving pieces of himself directly.
Arin's gaze lowered slightly afterward while more memories surfaced.
Arjuna standing across from him beneath storm-filled skies with Gandiva drawn fully.
The battlefield trembling beneath divine weapons colliding.
Krishna guiding the chariot between worlds of destruction itself.
Then finally—
the moment everything ended.
Arin's expression darkened faintly.
"He was my one true rival."
Silence settled heavily afterward.
"No one else ever came close."
The weight behind those words surprised everyone.
Because even through memory, Arin spoke about Arjuna without hatred.
Only certainty.
Elyra quietly watched him now while the golden light surrounding the observatory reflected faintly through her eyes.
Arin continued softly,
"And in the end…"
Another pause.
"…he killed me."
Liora looked toward him immediately afterward.
The words still carried pain despite the centuries separating them.
But Arin's next sentence came calmly.
"Even if it happened through unjust means…"
Fragments surfaced instantly again.
A broken chariot wheel sinking into the earth.
Karna struggling to free it while curses stripped away everything protecting him.
Krishna ordering Arjuna to attack before Karna could recover.
Then—
the arrow.
Silence filled the observatory afterward.
Arin slowly exhaled.
"…he had his reasons."
The others didn't fully understand the depth behind those words.
But Elyra did.
Because the first Karna's memories carried more than battle. They carried tragedy buried beneath destiny itself.
The observatory remained quiet briefly afterward before Arin's expression shifted again.
Because another thought had already surfaced.
A disturbing one.
Slowly, he looked back toward Elyra.
"…but Gandiva isn't like Vijaya."
The Regent remained silent.
Arin continued carefully now.
"Vijaya belonged to me naturally."
Golden energy pulsed softly across the weapon in his hands.
"It recognizes my soul."
Another pause.
"But Gandiva…"
The memories sharpened instantly again.
Arjuna holding the bow while divine light moved endlessly across its surface. A weapon forged directly through Brahma's will itself. Not merely powerful. Sacred.
Arin's eyes narrowed slightly afterward.
"Gandiva was created by Brahma himself."
The atmosphere deepened instantly.
"A weapon meant solely for Arjuna."
Fragments continued surfacing through him now.
No warrior besides Arjuna ever fully wielded Gandiva.
No king could even withstand its divine pressure properly.
The bow itself chose its wielder completely.
Arin slowly looked toward Elyra again afterward.
"So how…"
The observatory became completely silent.
"…did the first version make Gandiva submit to him?"
The question lingered heavily across the chamber.
Because everyone immediately understood the implication behind it.
If Gandiva truly belonged only to Arjuna—
then the first Karna accomplishing such a thing should have been impossible.
Even Elyra remained quiet for several long seconds afterward.
Then slowly—
the Regent walked toward the observatory opening overlooking the stars above.
"The first Karna did not take Gandiva by force."
Her voice echoed softly through the chamber.
"He earned its acknowledgment."
Arin's expression sharpened slightly.
"…how."
Elyra looked upward toward the night sky briefly before answering.
"After escaping the cycle, the first Karna no longer remained entirely human."
The words immediately unsettled everyone again.
Riven quietly muttered afterward,
"That sentence never leads anywhere good."
Nobody disagreed.
Elyra continued calmly.
"He wandered across collapsing worlds for centuries."
Fragments appeared faintly around the observatory now as she spoke. Images formed from light itself.
A lone figure walking through ruined dimensions carrying Vijaya across endless skies. Entire civilizations collapsing around him while he remained untouched by time itself.
"The cycle could no longer fully contain him."
Another image formed.
The first Karna manipulating stars themselves while reality fractured around his presence.
"He mastered powers beyond what ordinary existence should allow."
Arin quietly understood something then.
The first Karna didn't merely survive escaping the cycle.
He evolved beyond it.
Elyra continued softly afterward.
"But evolution came with cost."
The images darkened.
Vijaya glowing weaker in the first Karna's hands over time. The weapon resisting him more with every passing century.
"The more he changed…"
Her voice lowered slightly.
"…the less Vijaya recognized him."
Silence followed.
Then another image formed above the observatory floor.
A colossal temple floating alone within endless darkness between realities. At the center rested Gandiva, suspended beneath countless stars while divine energy surrounded it like a living universe.
Everyone stared silently.
Because even through projection alone, the weapon's presence felt overwhelming.
Not violent.
Absolute.
Elyra's voice echoed quietly afterward.
"Eventually the first Karna sought another weapon."
Another pause.
"One capable of matching what he had become."
Arin's heartbeat slowed slightly now while staring toward the image of Gandiva.
The bow looked exactly as he remembered.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
Perfect.
The weapon of his greatest rival.
Elyra continued.
"Gandiva initially rejected him completely."
The projection shifted again.
The first Karna reaching toward the bow only for reality itself to rupture around him as divine energy forced him backward violently.
"Because Gandiva recognized only one master."
Arjuna.
Arin quietly lowered his eyes briefly afterward.
Even now, after countless lives, the thought still carried strange weight inside him.
Because despite everything—
Arjuna remained unmatched.
Elyra's voice pulled him back afterward.
"The first Karna spent decades attempting to understand the weapon."
Fragments shifted again above the observatory.
The first Karna meditating beside collapsing stars. Studying creation itself. Learning how Gandiva functioned not merely as a weapon but as an extension of divine law.
"Eventually…"
The Regent's expression darkened slightly.
"…he realized something."
Another pause.
"Gandiva did not reject him because he was unworthy."
The observatory grew quieter.
"It rejected him because he still viewed himself as separate from Arjuna."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Even Arin looked stunned slightly afterward.
Elyra slowly turned back toward him.
"The first Karna eventually understood the truth hidden beneath Kurukshetra."
Golden symbols along the observatory walls pulsed softly now.
"He and Arjuna were never opposites."
Fragments exploded through Arin's mind instantly again.
Two brothers standing on opposite sides of war while destiny manipulated both equally.
Sun and creation.
Destruction and preservation.
Different paths leading toward the same truth.
Elyra continued softly.
"When the first Karna finally accepted Arjuna fully…"
The projection above them shifted once more.
The first Karna standing before Gandiva while lowering his head quietly in acknowledgment. Not conquest. Not domination.
Acceptance.
And slowly—
the divine bow responding.
The weapon descended willingly into his hands afterward while creation itself trembled around him.
The observatory fell silent completely.
Arin stared motionlessly toward the projection now while memories of Arjuna continued flooding through him harder than ever before.
Not enemy.
Brother.
Rival.
Equal.
And suddenly—
for the first time since learning about Gandiva—
Arin understood why the first Karna sought it.
Because Vijaya belonged to Karna.
But Gandiva represented understanding beyond rivalry itself.
A weapon impossible to wield until he accepted the one person he could never surpass or escape from.
Arjuna.
And somewhere far beyond the Fractured Expanse—
something ancient stirred beside the final fragment of Vijaya.