Chapter 3 — The Boy Who Measured Gods
Sriharikota. 03:42 AM.
Arvind Rao did not grow up believing in miracles.
He grew up dismantling them.
Ten Years Earlier
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
His grandfather had been a Sanskrit professor.
Not a priest.
A logician.
The old man never said, "Believe."
He said, "Decode."
When Arvind was twelve, he had asked:
"If gods exist, why don't we measure them?"
His grandfather had smiled faintly.
"In the Vedas, gods are not people. They are functions."
Agni — transformation.
Vayu — motion.
Indra — force dominance.
"Study long enough," the old man said,
"and you'll realise myth is compressed science."
Three months later, his grandfather died.
Arvind inherited two things:
A small house.
Handwritten annotations on Rigveda margins linking mantras to vibration mathematics.
He never forgot the equations scribbled beside sacred verses.
Present
ISRO's propulsion division considered him obsessive.
He considered them slow.
He had two doctorates:
Plasma propulsion
Signal harmonics
But his private research was older.
He believed ancient India had mapped layered reality through consciousness experiments.
Not religion.
Repeatable observation.
And now—
The Lokas were bleeding.
His RTA interface flickered.
▣ USER STATUS – ARVIND RAO
Stage: Bhuloka – Sovereign
Cognitive Index: 14.8
Spiritual Sensitivity: 4.1 (Rising)
Karmic Deviation: 0.009
Remaining Projections: 2
The increase in Spiritual Sensitivity concerned him.
It meant resonance shift.
He preferred neutrality.
He pulled up satellite overlays of Varanasi.
Thermal distortion.
Magnetic fluctuation.
Below that—
A second anomaly.
Not at the Ghat.
Elsewhere.
He activated Karmic Vision again.
Golden threads expanded across North India.
He searched for abnormal density.
There.
A cluster near an abandoned textile mill.
Threads bent unnaturally inward.
Asura-Loka bleed: 31%.
That was deliberate.
He initiated projection.
If textile mill anomaly ignored for 72 hours?
→ First Asura-class entity stabilises in Bhuloka
→ 200+ ritual deaths
→ Stage Five escalation
Projection ends.
His jaw tightened slightly.
So the Varanasi event was only bait.
He initiated second projection.
If anomaly disrupted quietly using local police raid?
→ Ritual incomplete
→ Leader escapes
→ Network exposure within 3 days
Projection ends.
Better.
He sent another anonymous alert.
"Illegal chemical activity reported. Possible extremist gathering."
Efficient.
Indirect.
Untraceable.
Varanasi — Textile Mill Basement
Candles arranged in seven concentric circles.
A man stood at the centre.
Tall.
Calm.
Forehead marked not with tilak—
But geometric script.
Acharya Vritra Sen.
Former Indology professor.
Disappeared six months ago.
He closed his eyes.
Around him, followers chanted distorted Vedic fragments.
He did not look mad.
He looked analytical.
"The Sapta-Loka are not heavens," he said softly.
"They are ladders."
He pressed his palm into sacrificial ash.
"Tonight we test the fifth rung."
Above the mill, police sirens began approaching.
Vritra paused.
Smiled faintly.
"So. There is another observer."
Interesting.
He gestured.
The ritual destabilised intentionally.
The candles extinguished simultaneously.
The followers panicked.
But Vritra walked calmly into shadow before authorities arrived.
Back in Sriharikota—
Arvind watched live satellite micro-fluctuations.
Asura bleed dropped from 31% to 18%.
Leader escaped.
As predicted.
But now—
Thread mapping expanded.
He could see network connections.
Delhi.
Kolkata.
Kathmandu.
Not a random cult.
Structured.
Strategic.
Someone else was mapping Lokas too.
His interface pulsed unexpectedly.
▣ ALERT
External Consciousness Spike Detected
Source: Varanasi Region
Probability of Counter-Observer: 62%
Arvind stared at the probability number.
62% chance someone else was analysing causality patterns.
That meant:
The enemy was not emotional.
Not blind fanatic.
Calculated.
He felt something unfamiliar.
Interest.
For the first time—
This was not just dimensional bleed.
It was competition.
He opened one final projection for the night.
If direct confrontation occurs within 3 days?
The golden threads shattered violently.
Projection unstable.
Result obscured.
That had never happened before.
His eyes narrowed.
The system could not see past certain entities.
Meaning:
The opponent might already be touching Stage Five.
He closed the interface.
For now.
The sky above India shimmered faintly.
In Norway, lightning struck a stone circle again.
In China, underground seismic lines pulsed.
In Rome, a cathedral candle burned sideways.
Global resonance rising.
Two minds now observing the same board.
One hidden in a space agency.
One hidden in ritual shadow.
Neither revealing themselves.
The Lokas were opening.
But the true war would not be between gods.
It would be between architects.
And neither intended to lose.