The divine scrolls rained down like burning petals of law, filling the sky with searing gold. Each one carried an unspoken command: submit. They coiled into barriers, spears, sentences—not metaphors, but literal lines of divine law.
Sharvaka hovered at the center of it all, arms outstretched, chanting in a language that unmade itself as it was spoken.
Below, Astha drew a circle in the soot with his boot.
"Naira. Luv. Help me anchor this. We're writing a law of our own."
---
[The Forbidden Syllables]
Vaayutal burned white.
Smritidhaara coiled, its flaming blade igniting mid-air as if drawn by the tension.
Astha pulled out an obsidian tablet, cracked and half-erased—retrieved long ago from the Vault of Forsaken Tongues. Upon it shimmered only four legible syllables:
"Vya," "Na," "Tra," "Ka."
The roots of the forbidden Veda—the "Mantra-Veda."
Luv frowned. "You sure you're not losing it?"
"I might be," Astha replied. "But the gods started it. I'm just replying… in their tongue."
Naira stepped beside him, fingers weaving counter-structures into the air.
"A new script... to overwrite a divine one. If this fails, we're erased. Not killed—forgotten."
"Then let's be remembered for the attempt."
---
[The Rebellion Script Awakens]
Astha knelt in the burning black soil and pressed his palm into the ground.
He spoke:
"First syllable: Vya. Meaning: Cut."
The air fractured.
Reality warped in a perfect circle around him. The scrolls above halted—stuttering, like a skipped heartbeat. Even Sharvaka's chant hiccuped.
Luv's eyes widened.
"He's actually disrupting divine law."
Astha stood again.
"Second syllable: Na. Meaning: Refuse."
The chains of judgment cracking toward them withered into ash.
Sharvaka's voice rose in pitch.
"What you speak is forbidden! That script was buried before time began!"
"Then I'm digging it up," Astha replied.
"Third syllable: Tra. Meaning: Remake."
The fire in Smritidhaara turned blue. The mantra tattoo across Astha's chest bled upward into his throat, leaving a trail of searing ash. His voice shook the valley now—not with sound, but meaning.
"Final syllable: Ka. Meaning…"
His lips paused.
Then whispered.
"God."
The four syllables combined—Vya-Na-Tra-Ka.
And the world shuddered.
---
[Sharvaka Breaks]
Sharvaka's cloak tore. His executioner sigils cracked.
"You do not understand what you invoke…"
He charged—this time desperate.
But Astha didn't move.
Luv was already mid-air, coated in lightning, his silver armor glowing with divine resonance.
"I'll buy you time."
He struck—blades of thunder clashing against Sharvaka's scythe.
Each impact sounded like bells being shattered.
Below, Astha raised Vaayutal.
"Smritidhaara… Etch it."
The flaming chain slithered through the air, spelling out the four syllables around the dome.
The Rebellion Script was written.
"From now on," Astha declared, "This is the law."
---
Reality Collapses, Then Reforms
The divine scrolls above burst into golden dust.
Sharvaka screamed—not in pain, but in rage. His divine connection was severed, forcibly overwritten.
He fell.
Astha didn't let him land.
With a flick of his arm, Smritidhaara shot forward, slicing through the air, wrapping Sharvaka mid-fall in blue fire and binding him mid-air.
"You're done being a weapon."
Sharvaka coughed blood.
"You just broke the first seal."
"Good," Astha replied coldly. "Let's break the rest."
---
The Aftermath:
The dust settled.
Luv floated back to the ground, electricity crackling off his fingertips, breath sharp.
Naira leaned against the side of the valley, drained but smiling.
Sharvaka knelt in the center of the carved circle, no longer a divine executioner—just a man.
Astha looked toward the horizon.
"We just rewrote a god's decree."
Luv raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And now… they're going to notice."