The clock had struck past one.
Midnight had seeped into the bones of the hills.
The room was silent—but not still.
There was something in the air.
Something dense… heavy… watching.
Arvika sat on the edge of the bed, staring at Tanishka's face.
No.
That wasn't Tanishka.
Not anymore.
The smile was twisted. The eyes, void.
The very way she breathed felt… unnatural.
Arvika whispered,
"Who are you?"
Tanishka didn't speak.
She turned her face slowly toward the window and smiled.
A smile not meant for anyone.
A smile meant to haunt.
---
At the break of dawn, Arvika slipped out of the hotel.
The fog outside Kolakham was thicker than ever, as if trying to hold her back.
Her destination:
The forsaken temple Dharani Uncle had told her about—a place that stood on cursed ground, untouched by time, feared by even the oldest villagers.
The path there was dead.
Not quiet—dead.
Trees leaned inward like they were listening.
The air tasted like metal.
No birds.
No wind.
Just… silence.
At last, it emerged.
A decaying temple swallowed by vines and shadow.
Its roof cracked, its idols broken, its door half-hanging like an open mouth.
At the entrance, an old stone plaque read:
> "Step inside, and the shadow knows your name."
Arvika felt her legs hesitate.
Her breath caught.
But she had no choice.
She had to bring her friend back.
---
Inside, the walls bled fear.
Paintings of twisted faces, screaming mouths, blood-soaked gods.
Symbols no one should ever read.
Eyes that weren't painted—but stared back.
The cold was not just cold—it was hollow.
Empty.
In the center was a blackened altar. Burned. Cracked. Marked.
On it rested a torn scripture.
Faded… yet alive.
Its letters flickered as if pulsing with a heartbeat.
It described the forbidden ritual—
"Sheel-Mantra-Sindoor."
Three sacred components…
But one brutal cost:
> The one who chants must bleed.
A sacrifice in blood…
To buy back a stolen soul.
Arvika opened the scripture.
Her hands trembled.
But she pulled out a small blade.
One cut. One drop. One prayer.
She began to chant.
The temple moaned.
Walls shuddered.
Dust fell like ash.
The ground trembled beneath her knees.
Something ancient had woken.
Something angry.
---
And then...
It came.
From the mist…
From behind the altar…
From within her friend's flesh.
It wore Tanishka's face, but not her soul.
Its voice was not human.
It cracked, growled, slithered.
"You think you can cast me out?"
"This body… this heart… her very soul—it's mine now."
"She screamed, you know… when I first slipped in."
Arvika clenched her jaw, ignoring the words.
She poured more blood onto the scripture and kept chanting.
Tears ran down her cheeks,
but her voice never broke.
Suddenly, the shadows around her twisted—like claws.
The candle she'd lit blew out in an unseen gust.
The creature screamed—
"NO! SHE'S MINE!"
The temple pulsed.
The walls cracked.
A high-pitched ringing filled the room.
And then—
Silence.
A blinding light burst from the altar.
And the thing that had worn Tanishka like a mask…
vanished.
Her friend collapsed to the ground—limp.
---
An hour later…
Arvika stirred.
The ritual was over.
Tanishka… was waking up.
Confused.
Tearful.
Exhausted.
She blinked slowly and whispered:
"Friend… how… how did I get here?"
Arvika didn't answer.
She only crawled forward and embraced her tightly.
Her tears stained her friend's cold skin.
Tanishka was back.
For now.
But as they walked out of the ruined temple, something stirred beneath the altar.
One page of the cursed scripture fluttered in the wind, revealing a line that had been hidden in dried blood:
> "Once touched by shadow...
the soul never stays clean.
It returns.
It always returns."
---
(To be continued...)