Location: Earth's Upper Atmosphere – 172,000 ft
A satellite blinked.
Then fried.
Then a dozen more.
Across low orbit, a solar storm erupted—violent, intense, targeted. The kind of flare that should have taken days to reach Earth?
It didn't.
Kael was no longer bound by rules of space. His rage pulled solar mass faster than it should have traveled. He had become a conduit, a direct siphon from the Sun's fury.
New Delhi – 2:27 PM
The power grid crashed. Planes rerouted mid-air. Auroras shimmered at the equator, visible in full daylight.
People screamed.
Then came the heat.
Not atmospheric—radiative. Invisible waves that melted glass, buckled metal, and ignited rooftops. Not from above.
From one point in the city.
Kael.
He walked alone through Connaught Place, eyes closed, absorbing light directly into his chest.
His veins pulsed gold. His hair floated unnaturally, lifted by pure heat convection. Cars burst into flames as he passed.
"If the Earth won't kneel," he muttered,"then I'll make the Sun stand above it."
He raised his arm—
And a pillar of plasma erupted from the ground, piercing clouds, slicing a helicopter in half.
Meanwhile: Aarav – City Outskirts
He ran through a wrecked street, people screaming around him.
His skin glowed faintly—just flickers. Not heat, not fire.
Starlight.
He had begun feeling them—the stars.
Some pulsed to his heartbeat. Others whispered through the static in the air. He could see radiation, not visually, but like a second sense.
He stopped.
Above him, the sky cracked like glass.
Aarav looked up and saw Kael's solar pillar erupting in the distance.
"He's doing it again," Aarav whispered."And this time... he's not holding back."
His fingers twitched.
The space around his palm flexed—a warping shimmer, as if light was stalling near his skin. He blinked, shook his head, then ran.
Meanwhile: Nyra – River Bridge
She stood on a narrow bridge, surrounded by swirling waters.
She had summoned the tide against the current. The river was surging toward Kael's direction—unwillingly.
But she was forcing it.
She could feel the Moon's pain. The solar flare had disturbed it too. The gravitational link felt frantic.
She whispered.
"Stay with me."
The water split into two torrents, rising on either side of her like serpents of tide.
She turned her eyes toward the burning city skyline and began walking—on the water, her hair lifted by wind, eyes glowing sea-blue.
Collision Course
Aarav reached the center first.
Kael was floating ten feet above the ground now, the space around him humming with energy. Burned concrete surrounded him in a perfect ring.
"You came alone?" Kael asked, disappointed.
Aarav didn't answer.
He just stepped forward.
The moment he did, the ground beneath him curved—literally bent downward, as if gravity had shifted around his body.
Kael noticed. His grin faded.
"What did you do?"Aarav: "Nothing. Yet."
Suddenly—Kael lunged.
Their fight was invisible to the human eye. Only the destruction could be seen: shockwaves exploding outward, traffic lights melting, buildings cracking as pure force collided.
Kael blasted flares in wide arcs.
Aarav bent the trajectories—light rerouted, pulled sideways like it was falling into miniature black holes around his limbs.
They clashed in mid-air.
And the city suffered.
Final Sequence of Chapter: Nyra Arrives
As the two fought in the air, Kael gripped Aarav by the throat, slammed him into a building, and prepared a final solar pulse.
"You're not ready," he snarled.
Suddenly—
A wave.
A full river slammed upward from the ground, freezing in mid-air, coiling like a serpent and striking Kael full-force. He tumbled midair, thrown back.
Nyra landed on the rooftop.
Face to face with Kael.She looked at Aarav.
"You're not dying today."
Kael stood, face burned, furious.
The three stood in a triangle of power, the air trembling.
A storm of moonlight, starlight, and solar fire was coming.