The journey into the salt flats was a harsh, silent pilgrimage. They walked through the biting, toxic winds, following the coordinates from Atri's data-packet. The mountainous terrain of Parashurama's canyon home gave way to a vast, dead sea of crystalline white, a landscape so flat and featureless it felt like walking on another planet. The ground crunched under their boots, the salt-laced air stinging their eyes and raw skin.
Kalpit felt the shift in the world's energy with every step. Parashurama's domain had been a place of raw, primal power—the earth's Prana, wild and untamed. Out here, the energy was different. It was dead. Suppressed. A faint, ever-present hum of MAYA's control signal saturated the very air, a stark reminder of the enemy's omnipresent reach.
They spoke little. Anasuya was in full soldier mode, her senses on high alert, constantly scanning the empty horizon for threats. Kalpit was turned inward, contemplating the impossible weight of their new mission. Forty-eight hours. The number was a drumbeat of doom in his mind.
He could feel the new power Parashurama had gifted him, the spark from Vidyudabhi, resting in his Manipura. It was not a burning fire, but a dormant seed of immense potential, a single, perfect note of devastating power held in reserve. It was a terrifying responsibility.
After hours of walking, a shimmer appeared on the horizon. As they drew closer, the shimmer resolved into a shape: a small, impossibly sleek sub-orbital skiff, resting silently on the salt. Its hull was a single, seamless piece of matte black alloy that drank the meager light, designed to be invisible to both eye and radar.
"Atri is as good as his word," Anasuya breathed, a note of relief in her voice.
As they approached, a ramp silently lowered. The interior was spartan: two crash-couches and a single, advanced holographic display that flickered to life as they entered.
<"Welcome, operatives,">> a calm, synthesized female voice spoke. It was the skiff's on-board AI. <"Designation: 'Garuda'. Bio-signatures confirmed. Kalki. Anasuya. Secure for immediate departure. Destination: Sector Gamma-9, AsuraCorp Spire Zero.">>
The ramp closed, sealing them in a quiet, climate-controlled bubble. They strapped themselves into the couches. There were no windows, no controls. Only the holographic map, which now showed their position and a bright, aggressive red line charting their course.
<"Primary drive charging. Quantum-lift engines online. Sub-orbital burn in three... two... one...">>
There was no roar of engines, no bone-jarring vibration. Just a sensation of immense, irresistible pressure as the grav-inertial dampeners fought to keep them from being turned into paste. A deep VMMMMMM sound resonated through the hull.
The holographic map showed their icon moving at a speed that defied belief. They were screaming across the salt flats just meters above the ground, faster than sound. Within a minute, they began to ascend, the red line on the map arcing sharply upwards.
"We're leaving the atmosphere," Anasuya noted, her knuckles white on her restraints despite her training.
The pressure intensified. They were going vertical. Kalpit watched the altimeter on the display spin like a broken clock. Ten kilometers. Fifty. One hundred. They were in the void.
The pressure eased, replaced by the faint hum of the life support. The map shifted to a global view. They were in low orbit, a black scar streaking across the brown, hazy curve of the planet, invisible to the vast network of orbital sensors that Kali commanded.
<"In-flight time to destination: forty-five minutes,">> the Garuda AI reported calmly.
For the first time since the ordeal began, they were safe from immediate pursuit. They were in a sterile, technological bubble, hurtling toward their next impossible task. The contrast to Parashurama's elemental world was dizzying. Kalpit felt like he'd just time-traveled ten thousand years.
Anasuya used the time to check the satchel Parashurama had given her. She laid the contents out on the floor between them. They were not what Kalpit had expected. There were no glowing gems or enchanted weapons.
There was a series of smooth, dark river stones, each carved with a single, complex Sanskrit rune. There was a small, tightly-woven leather pouch that seemed to absorb the light, emanating a profound silence. There were several small, dried husks of a plant he didn't recognize, and a finely-wrought copper amulet, shaped like a seven-pointed star.
"Ancient tech," Anasuya said, picking up one of the runed stones. "I've only read about these. They're called 'Mantra-shilas'. They hold a single, powerful mantra, stored as a resonant frequency. You channel your Prana into it, and it releases the effect. This one..." She traced the rune. "...is the 'Stambha' rune. Paralysis. A stasis field."
She picked up the silent leather pouch. "And this is a 'Tamas' pouch. It doesn't just block sound. It blocks Prana signatures. Hide something in here, and to a psychic or an energy sensor, it simply ceases to exist. Crude, but effective against modern security."
The "supplies" were a puzzle box of lost arts. They were not direct weapons, but tools for a mind that could think laterally. A mind like the one that had defeated Parashurama's spar. A glitch's toolkit.
Kalpit picked up the copper amulet. It felt warm to the touch. "And this?"
"I don't know," Anasuya admitted. "My knowledge has its limits. But everything he gave us will have a purpose."
As she spoke, the Garuda's calm voice cut in. <"Atmospheric re-entry beginning. Descending toward target zone. Hostile weather patterns detected. Expect turbulence.">>
The map zoomed in on their destination: a storm-wracked peninsula, perpetually shrouded in a super-storm of Kali's own design, a natural deterrent to supplement its technological defenses.
<"Engaging stealth field. The storm will mask our final approach, but their short-range sensors will be active. Landing zone is a service platform three kilometers from the Spire's base. From there, you will be on your own.">>
The gentle hum of the engines was replaced by the roar of super-heated air as they plunged back into the atmosphere. The small skiff began to shake violently, tossed about by winds that could tear metal apart.
Through it all, Kalpit felt a strange calm. He had faced a god's fury and an immortal's trials. A storm, even a continent-sized one, seemed like a simple, honest challenge.
He focused his mind, turning to the new weapon in his arsenal, a gift from another kind of teacher.
"Atri," he subvocalized, the comms Vashistha had established connecting him directly to the Saptarishi network. "Are you there?"
<"Always,">> the Rishi's voice came back instantly, clear and sharp. <"The Garuda is my design. Beautiful, isn't she? Now, listen closely. Spire Zero is more than a transmitter. It's a server farm and a research facility. I've been mapping its network architecture. It's a fortress. But every fortress has a sewer grate.">>
A detailed, 3D blueprint of a massive, kilometers-high tower of black metal and glowing lights filled the Garuda's main display. It was a spear of adharma stabbing into a permanently grey sky.
<"The loyalty patch is being broadcast from the central transmitter at the very top of the spire,">> Atri explained, highlighting the pinnacle of the structure. <"But the program itself is stored and compiled in a secure server core, deep in the sublevels. You have two options: fight your way to the top and destroy the antenna—loud, bloody, and almost certain to fail. Or… you find a way to the bottom and delete the program at its source.">>
The path of the warrior, or the path of the glitch.
"Give me the path to the bottom," Kalpit said without hesitation.
<"Good choice,">> Atri replied. <"That's the sewer grate I was talking about. Sublevel 5. An old, decommissioned geothermal vent. It's still connected to the ocean for coolant. Kali's network barely even registers it as part of the facility. If you can get to it, you can get inside without triggering a single primary alarm. There's just one problem.">>
"There's always one," Anasuya muttered.
<"The access point is fifty meters underwater. In the middle of a super-storm.">>
The Garuda gave a final, violent lurch as it broke through the lowest layer of storm clouds. There were no windows, but they could hear the roar of the wind and the percussive impact of hail against the hull.
<"ETA to landing zone: two minutes,">> the skiff's AI announced. <"Good luck, operatives.">>
The race against time was over. The infiltration, a mission into the very heart of Kali's power, had begun.