The rain had slackened to a steady drizzle when Arjun stepped out into Vastra City's neon night. The city pulsed around him with a paradoxical calm—the glass towers flickered with advertisements promising salvation in light, while the shadows beneath hummed with dangers whispered in forgotten tongues.
He tightened his grip on the relic chip, its faint warmth a reminder of the power coursing beneath the surface of all he'd known. Around him, Ishani, Vijay, and Zara moved like ghosts through the crowd, alert to every flicker of surveillance and every whispered rumor that might lead their enemies to them.
"We need to secure the next shard tonight," Ishani said, her eyes sharp in the glow of shifting holo-screens. "Shikara's operatives are already closing in on the Celestial Vessel. If they get it first, the balance tips."
Vijay nodded grimly. "And Tara D'Silva won't hesitate to unleash the myth-binder again if it means stopping us."
Arjun swallowed hard. "Why me? Why am I the one carrying these shards, caught in the middle?"
Zara's gaze softened for a fleeting moment. "Because you're more connected to the myths than you realize. Your ancestors encoded this legacy in you, a thread weaving the past with the future. You may feel like a pawn, but you are also a key."
Their plan was clear: infiltrate the Shikara Federation's floating fortress, bypass security rituals, and retrieve the Celestial Vessel—a relic said to hold the breath of a sky god and the power to bend space-time.
Hours later, cloaked beneath tempest clouds and shifting shadows, the group approached the fortress. The air tasted of ozone and ancient magic, the hum of technology entwining with soft echoes of forgotten incantations.
Ishani whispered, "Stay together. Trust no one outside this circle."
Inside the labyrinth of glass and steel, Arjun's pulse matched the flickering lights, electronic and arcane intertwining. Every step brought them closer to revelation—and devastation.
Suddenly, alarms shattered the silence. Red light washed over crystalline walls as automated defenders awoke. The myth-binder's shadow loomed in the distance, relentless and woven from nightmares and circuits.
"Move!" Vijay commanded. "The relic isn't just power—it's a beacon. They'll stop at nothing."
As they raced through corridors alive with hums of ancient song and digital war, Arjun understood. Legends were no longer stories told to children—they were the blueprint of reality itself, and he was its unwilling architect.
Tonight, the chase would turn deadly. The myths demanded their due. And only those willing to embrace both myth and machine could hope to survive.
End of Chapter 7