Vayu felt immense pain as he was dropped inside the crimson liquid. His skin burned as the corrosive liquid seeped into his skin. He screamed, but no sound escaped the tube. The agony grew until his consciousness slipped away. Mercifully, the liquid stopped after dissolving only his skin, leaving raw muscle visible across his entire body. When Vayu woke up, he was no longer inside the tube. He found himself floating inside in a vast void of darkness, curled into a ball, his arms wrapped around his knees and his body drifted aimlessly.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't speak.
And although his eyes were closed, mysteriously he could see everything around him. He drifted for what felt like countless days, carried by the emptiness—until one moment, he felt something pulling him. An unseen force tugged at him gently, his body started moving towards the pull, the closer he got, the stronger the pull became and his speed increased…and kept on increasing, until he seemed like a shooting star. Ahead, a sphere appeared in the distance. It grew larger and larger as he approached towards, the closer he got, the bigger the sphere became and then he broke through the atmosphere.
Vayu crashed onto the planet like a meteor, the impact shook the ground as dust exploded outward. When it settled, Vayu's body hovered two feet above the ground, still in that curled position and a golden aura wrapped around him like a cocoon, a group of strange-looking people stood surrounding the edge of the crater.
"What is this thing?" one of them whispered.
"Kill it before it wakes up," another said
"but it looks human" said one
"that's what makes it more suspicious, we should kill it " and all seemed to agree with this man. Then the man pointed towards someone and that man instantly drew his sword and leapt forward, his sword raised to strike. Vayu saw everything, that was happening around him. But he could not move. His body remained frozen as the blade descended toward his neck.
And then—
Everything stopped.
The world around him stopped and suddenly the man leaping toward him returned to where he stood and then the man looked towards him again and the conversation happened in reverse, the time started flowing backwards. The dust flew back into the ground. All people, all actions, started happening in reverse, everything except Vayu.
As time flowed backward, Vayu watched history unfold. He learned the truth of this world, this planet originally belonged to animals—creatures of every shape and size, from weak animals to colossal and ancient beast. Even mythical beings roamed here freely. Then the humans arrived. They invaded the planet and after endless battles, were able to seized only ten percent of its land. Time kept rewinding, pulling him deeper and deeper into the planet's forgotten past, many years ahead to the moment the very first humans stepped onto this world.
Before them, the planet was a paradise of beasts, the golden aura around Vayu slowly faded and what remained was a massive egg. Wild beasts roamed the land, many tried to bite, claw, or devour the strange egg like object. But the egg never moved. It was impossibly heavy and whenever a creature sank its fangs into it, the shell was harder than stone, harder than metal, harder than anything they knew. Years passed and leaves fell, dirt gathered, moss grew. Eventually, the egg looked like an ancient boulder.
Then, one day, a small crack appeared on the egg and then nothing happened. For the next seventeen years, more cracks slowly formed—thin lines spreading like spiderwebs. Until finally, the shell split apart completely.
A body emerged. It had the same frame, the same face, the same presence as Vayu and after years of being lost in darkness, Vayu finally opened his eyes. He saw an endless forest stretching before him, although he could see…but he could not control himself. His body moved on its own, as he walked forward, he saw a rabbit nibbling at a bush, his body stopped on its own.
The rabbit sensed him and instantly fled. Vayu's body mimicked the rabbit's movements—darting, leaping and sprinting behind the rabbit. The rabbit panicked as Vayu closed the gap and raced even faster, but soon met a dead end. It spun around, trembling, ready to fight.
The rabbit's eyes met Vayu's, the moment their eyes met, Vayu's eyes glowed red and he lunged forward and the rabbit died in an instant. A ring appeared out of the rabbit, enlarged itself and a glowing portal materialized before him. His body leapt inside automatically, and the red glow faded from his eyes.
Next came a deer and just like before, Vayu's body copied its movements—running, leaping, dodging—until their eyes met and the red light. As the light came he turned feral, after killing the deer, a new portal and he got Transported again. This cycle repeated over and over. Animal after animal, each one teaching his body something new, the more he killed the intense the glow became.
Until he arrived before a wolf pack. There were a total of sixteen wolves. They formed a tight circle around him, growling, their fangs bared towards him. As Vayu looked at them, his eyes flared red once more and he charged. The pack leader howled and all sixteen wolves attacked at once. Vayu's body fought wildly, but the wolves were fast, coordinated, relentless. He barely kept up and when an opening appeared, he turned and sprinted—throwing himself back through the portal he had come from, escaping with his life barely.
Vayu lost consciousness again.
When he woke up once again, he felt pain, real pain. It was the first time in a very, very long time that he had truly felt anything in his body. But even through the ache, he realized something else, he had regained control, over his body, his limbs responded to his will, his breath felt his own and his heartbeat echoed through his chest softly and above all he felt hungry extremely hungry. Driven by hunger, Vayu walked toward the forest. The ground felt warm beneath his bare feet, each step reminding him he was alive once more. A cool breeze brushed against his face, stirring sensations he had long forgotten existed. Inside the forest, he found a long, sturdy stick which had a sharp edge, he gripped it tightly like a weapon.
Though he didn't know it, his eyes were glowing softly but instead of red, a hypnotic blue glowed in his eyes, then he saw
a rabbit once again. The same creature he had hunted in that strange cycle…but this time, things were different. The rabbit turned toward him, but it didn't flee, it didn't twitch, it simply stared into his glowing blue eyes, frozen—enticed by his eyes. Vayu approached slowly, intending to kill it for food. But as he stepped closer, the rabbit suddenly bowed. Its tiny body pressed to the ground in a gesture of absolute submission. Vayu stopped, confused because this was not fear, it was as if he was bowing towards a holy being.
Something deep within him stirred and he no longer felt the urge to kill the creature anymore. Vayu continued walking through the forest, this time, when his eyes met the creatures around him, he didn't turn feral, the animals did, but not in rage—in worship. One by one, beasts lowered their heads before him Deer, boars, birds, foxes—every creature fell into a dazed trance, bowing as if greeting a king. They followed behind him silently as he passed through the forest.
One by one eleven days passed, then he met the same wolf pack that had once almost killed him. The leader saw him and raised his head to howl… but paused as confusion flashed in its eyes. It looked away breaking eye contact, then looked back—and the moment its gaze locked with Vayu's glowing blue eyes, it too fell into the same daze. The wolf howled once again, this time the pack did not attacked they slowly joined the group following Vayu and that glow in his eyes intensified.
Vayu wasn't trying to lead them. He only wanted food. But with every step he took, more animals joined and the more animals joined, the stronger the glow in his eyes became. Soon, even demonic beasts were drawn in, bewitched by his gaze. They came , they bowed, they submitted. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew one thing. When this effect ended, he would be torn apart. Days later, even legendary creatures emerged from hidden dens and ancient caves. One after another, they joined the procession. At one point, Vayu realized— Every animal on this planet was following him. After more days of walking, he finally saw it:
A massive portal.
He knew instinctively that this portal would lead him out… but the portal seemed dead. Unlike the earlier portals, this one had many empty slots, ring. He finally understood, every time he killed an animal, a ring-shaped fragment appeared from their bodies and activated the next portal. This final portal had remained locked because he had spared all the animals.
He stared sadly at the gate as he wanted to leave and go back to his family. As he felt sad the countless creatures behind him suddenly groaned, as if feeling his sorrow as their own. Then the ground trembled a dragon, ancient and colossal, stepped forward, it understood what Vayu wanted. The dragon lifted its head toward Vayu, then turned to the beasts and let out a thunderous roar—as if giving a command. The world fell silent, the dragon then lowered its head before Vayu, bowing deeply, as if asking to be patted on its head. Vayu hesitated… then placed his hand on its head.
Instantly, the dragon's body dissolved into smoke, its spirit rushed into Vayu and the some landed on Vayu, being absorbed by him. Its genes fused with his, marking his back with a glowing dragon-shaped ring. One by one, every animal surged forward. But instead of devouring him, their spirits flowed into his body. Their genes did not fight for dominance.
They merged with him, strengthening him, evolving him, reshaping him.
But still one problem remained, the portal was far above him, floating across a deep valley and to get in he needed to fly.
The moment he thought about that, he felt intense pain in his back as his skin ripped apart and a pair of wings burst from his back, stretching wide and powerful. Even he was shocked, he tried to fly… and immediately lost control, as he fell into the valley. He braced for impact as he felt the ground nearing him, but the moment his body touched the ground he only felt a dull pain. He stared in disbelief as his body felt too strong to be broken by such a fall. After days of practice, he finally learned to fly.
He soared upward, reached the portal, his hand reached outward, as soon as he touched it—
He vanished.