The Pulse tore through the sky like a living storm.
A spiraling column of silver-blue energy shot upward from the crater where the Vault had collapsed. Every piece of ruined stone around Kashyap levitated, trembling as if gravity itself was afraid to touch the light.
Mandakini shielded her eyes. "This is not just a signal… it's a memory flood."
Kashyap staggered; his head felt split in two. The Pulse wasn't noise—
it was recognition.
Visions crashed into him:
A battlefield floating in darkness.
A thousand shadow-selves of Kashyap fighting through timelines.
A woman—a version of Mandakini—bleeding,shouting warnings across collapsing universes.
An explosion that erased a reality.
And above it all, a voice:
"Kashyap. Your return has broken the pattern."
He fell to his knees, hands clutching the cracked ground.
Mandakini reached for him—but froze.
Because the Pulse turned toward her.
It curved like a sentient tide, wrapping around her body. Her hair lifted in the electric wind. Her eyes glowed with reflections of infinite worlds.
Vayu whispered, "It's reading her."
Agastya corrected softly, "No… it's obeying her."
Mandakini's breath grew sharp, her voice layered with echoes:
"I… remember this place."
Kashyap looked up at her, fear and awe mixing in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Mandakini's gaze snapped to his—bright, shaking, ancient.
"I have walked this city before. Not in this life… not in this timeline… but I have."
The Pulse rumbled in approval.
The others stepped back as Mandakini stepped forward, into the light without hesitation, as if her soul recognized the energy's call.
The ground split beneath them, revealing a hidden platform—
a perfect metallic ring covered in runes.
Agastya gasped. "A Transversal Gate. An inter-reality transit anchor."
The Pulse flared again—this time forming shapes.
A figure materialized in the light—
not the projection from the Vault,but a full-bodied echo of a man.
A man who shared Kashyap's face.
Older.
Harder.
Scarred across the jaw.
Eyes burning with a knowledge Kashyap had never carried.
Mandakini's breath hitched.
The figure spoke in a calm, devastatingly familiar tone:
"Kashyap… you have finally returned. And you are late."
Everyone froze.
Kashyap rose slowly, fists tight. "Who are you?"
The echo smiled gently, tragically.
"I am the version of you that failed."
Silence.
Even the wind seemed afraid to move.
The echo continued:
"You think this is your first time discovering the multiverse?
You think this journey starts here?"
He shook his head.
"You and Mandakini have lived this path a thousand times before.
Each time,reality breaks because one of you dies."
Mandakini stepped closer to the light. "Then show us what we became."
The echo reached out.
Mandakini's body jerked—
Kashyap lunged forward—
The Pulse exploded—
And a surge of shared memory ripped through both of them:
Mandakini in a red cloak, standing on a collapsing bridge of stars.
Kashyap fighting three versions of himself in a fractured timeline.
A doorway made of black fire.
A promise between them in another life:
"If we fall, we return. If we return, we rise."
The light dimmed.
Kashyap and Mandakini gasped, shaken, breathing hard, but standing together.
The echo faded, whispering:
"Choose carefully this time.
The collapse is already in motion."
The Pulse collapsed inward—
And the ring beneath them activated with a devastating hum.
Runes lit up.
The ground vibrated.
Reality bent like molten glass.
Nirbhay shouted, "Everyone back! The Gate is opening!"
Kashyap grabbed Mandakini's hand.
She squeezed back, steady, fearless.
The ring exploded into pure light—
And in a heartbeat—
Kashyap and Mandakini were gone.
The team stared at the empty space.
Vayu exhaled shakily. "They entered the Gate."
Agastya nodded, pale and sweating. "Not entered… they were chosen."
Viraj looked at the dying Pulse.
"So where did the Gate send them?"
Agastya swallowed.
"Somewhere no one has ever returned from."