🕯️ Nightfall. Samudra Desh.
Avantika was restless.
She tossed and turned on her bed of soft sea-silk cushions. The sound of waves outside was usually her comfort — but tonight… the tide whispered too loud.
Suddenly, a voice slithered through her dream:
"She will betray you. She always was the stronger one…"
Avantika, in her dream, saw Devsena, standing proud, flames crackling around her.
And behind Devsena — lay a battlefield of water, scorched dry.
"She doesn't want you back.
She wants to rule… alone."
Avantika tried to run, to scream.
But her legs wouldn't move.
"Stop her before she stops you…"
She awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat. The waves outside? Crashing wildly.
⚔️ Meanwhile, in Vanyadesh…
Devsena was packing weapons into a satchel.
"Where are we going?" Veer asked, gripping his own blade.
"The ruins of the old Rambaganj palace.
There's something there… something that will explain everything."
Veer nodded, though concern etched his face.
"And what if the enemy is watching?"
Devsena's blade hissed in response, flames flickering.
"Let them watch. I want them to see who they're dealing with."
They left under moonlight, two shadows racing through the sands.
But behind them… in the palace towers…
someone was watching.
🌊 Samudra Temple Ruins: Avantika's Song
Compelled by an invisible force — and haunted by the dream — Avantika returned to the underwater shrine.
This was where the Queen of Samudra Desh had found her as a baby.
She sang again — this time softly, shakily.
"Who are you, sister of fire…
Do you burn or do you break?"
And the water around her began to swirl… revealing images carved into the stone:
Two infants.
A woman crying.
A flaming sigil… and a watery wave parting them.
She touched the wall.
Her mark glowed.
Suddenly, her song echoed back — but it wasn't her voice.
It was Devsena's.
"Who are you, sister of water…
Do you drown or do you rise?"
Avantika stepped back in shock.
They were connected again.
But the voice from her dream echoed too.
"She'll drown you if you don't strike first…"
🧿 In the Shadows…
The traitor girl watched Avantika from the coral caves above.
She whispered to the sea mist:
"The dream is planted. The poison is working."
Back in Vanyadesh, a masked rider galloped toward Devsena's path.
Two sisters.
Two blades.
One lie.