---
The groups stood watching the dark—thick smoke rising in the distance.
There was silence for a while before Ankit spoke, breaking the silence, his voice trembling, "What was that?"
Nobody answered—they just watched as if they couldn't hear anything.
"We should go and check what happened," Akshat said as he gathered some courage.
"Are you an idiot? You want us to go there?" Tehsin shouted at Akshat, not from anger but from fear and worry.
"Akshat is right, someone might be in need of help," Mayank said, putting his hand on Akshat's shoulder.
"I am not going," Dhanprabha muttered as she moved a few steps back.
"I will go with you," Aryaraj said, looking at Mayank. His fingers trembled, but he still spoke in a confident tone.
"Are you three serious? Do you even understand what the situation is?" Gautam said, worry reflecting on his face.
"Yes, I have decided," Mayank replied, looking straight into Gautam's eyes.
"Fine," Gautam sighed, "but let's do a thing."
"What?" Akshat asked.
"Let's divide into two groups. One group goes to check what happened, and the second stays behind here," Gautam said.
"Sounds good enough," Mayank agreed.
"Then after reaching there, Group A calls Group B to notify them. If Group B doesn't get any call in 20 minutes, it means there is some problem, and they will come help Group A," Gautam continued.
"It's a good plan," Aryaraj said as he patted Gautam's back.
"So, who wants to be in Group A?" Akshat asked as he raised his hand.
Only Aryaraj and Mayank raised their hands beside him. For a moment, nobody else raised their hand or said anything.
Then Narayan raised his hand—still sitting on the bench. "Me, I will go with you all." His hand trembled a bit, but he controlled it.
Following him, Jasmine and Ritika raised their hands too.
"Then it's decide—" Akshat began before Mayank cut him off.
"You are not coming," Mayank said, looking straight at Narayan.
"Why?" Narayan asked calmly.
"You are still tired from teleporting everyone, and you might not be of any help in this condition. You should stay here till you recover," Mayank said, his voice sounding a bit harsh.
"Fine," Narayan said as he relaxed on the bench and stretched his legs.
"Okay then, now it's decided—Mayank, Akshat, Jasmine, Ritika, and me. The five of us will go. And if you all don't receive any call from us in 20 minutes, you can come," Aryaraj said, breaking the tension.
"Jasmine, Ritika… do you both really want to go?" Dhanprabha questioned, her voice trembling with worry.
"Yeah, they might need my barriers," Jasmine replied, trying to calm her.
"I wanna test my power," Ritika said, a bit excited.
"You really are different," Tehsin breathed out as she patted Ritika's back.
Ankit picked Zero from the ground, who had been trembling since he heard the sound, and said, "Call us after reaching there."
Group A departed as the others stood there watching their backs.
Ankit then went to the bench and sat near Narayan.
"What do you think we should do?" Ankit asked Narayan while running his hand through Zero's soft fur.
"Wait," Narayan said without any expression.
"Angry at Mayank?" Ankit teased.
Narayan thought while patting Zero, I should be with them… but I would be useless right now.
"Nah, just worried," Narayan said as he took Zero in his hands. "They would be fine, right?"
---
Group A slowly walked toward the highway. Aryaraj was in front and Mayank at the end.
"Why don't you run there?" Akshat asked Aryaraj, trying to distract himself from useless thoughts.
"We should be together," Aryaraj replied, keeping his eyes in front as if scanning the area.
The road was new, as if built a week or two ago. On both sides, a few trees stood. It was more like a path connecting the temple to the highway.
After reaching the highway, they started walking left—from where the smoke had risen.
Near the highway, there weren't many buildings—a few hotels and two unfinished constructions. The unfinished buildings cast faint shadows on the road.
On the way, Mayank kept gazing around cautiously. He stared at the unfinished buildings and thought,
What is this feeling… like someone is watching us? Am I being too sensitive or is there—
"Mayank—Mayank—MAYANK!" Jasmine screamed.
"What?" Mayank said, startled.
"Aryaraj's been calling you for a minute! Where are you lost?" Jasmine said, a bit frustrated.
"Sorry, I was thinking something," Mayank apologized.
"We are gonna reach soon. Can you summon some of your weapons?" Aryaraj requested.
"Okay," Mayank replied, summoning two flaming daggers revolving around him.
They continued. Soon they could see the area, and the sight startled them, but they kept moving closer.
Jasmine gasped as she saw the scene.
An army vehicle lay shattered on the road, its remaining parts burning with thick smoke rising—some areas still on fire. There was no sign of any soldier, as if they had turned to ashes.
"Was it an explosion?" Akshat mumbled, looking at the burning vehicle.
"Aghh… L… look…" Jasmine stammered as she pointed at a burned, black foot near the vehicle.
"Wh… what happened here…" Ritika questioned, her legs trembling.
In all this chaos, Mayank felt something. He closed his eyes and said, "Wait… do you hear it?"
"What?" Aryaraj panicked a bit.
"Faint breathing… maybe behind the vehicle," Mayank replied.
Everyone was shocked but didn't argue.
"Let's check," Akshat said calmly.
They walked behind the vehicle.
A single soldier lay there—burned in places, missing a hand, his face half melted, his uniform nearly destroyed.
Aryaraj rushed to him and checked his breathing.
"He's alive," Aryaraj said.
"R… R…" the soldier muttered, but his voice was drowned by the burning sounds.
"What?" Aryaraj asked, bringing his ear close.
A few meters away, Mayank clutched his chest as a strange sensation traveled from his heart to his head. His breathing grew heavy.
His daggers turned to ashes and disappeared.
Nobody noticed him.
The soldier whispered,
"R… run…"
and then stopped breathing.
"What… hey, you can't leave us—wake up… hey…" Aryaraj shook him desperately, but the man's hands grew cold.
"Is… is he dead…" Akshat asked, his voice trembling.
"What do we do now…" Ritika mumbled, looking away from the disturbing sight.
"I… I will call the others… they might worry," Jasmine said hesitantly as she stepped back and took out her phone.
She walked a little away, nearly tripped over a pebble, and hit a broken part of the vehicle.
The others stayed focused on the dead soldier.
Mayank lowered his hand from his chest.
His pupils shrank.
Five flaming swords appeared, revolving around him rapidly—yet he stood motionless.
Aryaraj stared at the dead soldier.
Would it have been different if we came early… could we have saved at least him?
A little away, Jasmine called Dhanprabha.
"Hello… umm… I think it's safe here," Jasmine said, turning back. "The explosion was maybe from an army vehicle."
(Then it's safe for us to come?) Dhanprabha asked.
"Ye—"
The phone fell from Jasmine's hands as she screamed.
"Aryaraj, MOVE!"
Aryaraj turned—
A flaming sword flew toward him at high speed, slicing through the air with a sharp whoosh.
A blue barrier appeared just in time, taking the hit.
Crack-k!
The barrier shattered, but it gave Aryaraj enough time to dodge slightly.
The sword missed Aryaraj by mere inches before plunging into the dead soldier's body and flinging it a few meters away.
Ritika rushed to Aryaraj.
Jasmine's eyes shifted to where the sword came from.
"MAYANK—what are you doing?!" Akshat yelled.
Mayank didn't respond. The swords spun faster, his face emotionless, his eyes empty.
Ritika's fingers crackled with lightning—her instincts screaming danger. A sudden charge ran up her spine, making her hair stand on end.
"Not gonna reply?" Akshat said, clenching his fists and reinforcing his body.His muscles tightened, and a thin layer of invisible force shimmered around him.
---
Meanwhile, the call had cut suddenly, sparking panic.
"Something is wrong… why did she cut the call like that?" Dhanprabha said, panicking.
"We should go. Something has happened," Gautam said.
Narayan and Ankit both stood up.
"I am going first, you all come fast," Narayan said, handing Zero to Ankit.
"Okay," Gautam replied.
They watched as Narayan vanished—this time with a faint zoom.
"I knew something was wrong," Tehsin said sharply.
"Please be safe… till we arrive…" Ankit thought as he held Zero tightly.
---
To be continued…