As Aman locked eyes with the figure, a violent jolt surged through his spine, making him jump physically. The stranger smile widened. It wasn.t a normal look; it felt as if the man wasn't looking at Aman, but was peering deep inside his soul, reading the pages of his life.
"Long time no see friend" the man whispered. The voice didn.t seem to travel through the air; it vibrated directly inside Aman's head. Aman froze, his medical mind screaming in protest. " This is impossible. I just opened the man's chest. I saw his heart. There is no biological way he could recover this fast, let alone stand here in the street".
He blinked rubbing his eyes to clear the heat induced fog. When he opened them again, the temple gates were empty. The ashen haired man was gone. He spun around, looking for the black dog, but the sidewalk was deserted. only the distant toiling of the bells remained.
" Eh, i must be working too much," Aman muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. " Hallucinations, i just need sleep." he forced himself to walk towards the shop, bought the batteries, and headed back to his apartment, desperately trying to convince himself that his mind was just playing tricks on him.
He moved with a forced normalcy, " as if a new set of batteries could fix the fact that his reality was fraying at the edges". "Dumb mortals" the voice hissed again " as if a battery can restart the time he has already lost". When Aman finally reached his front door and stepped inside, he was met with a sudden, sharp smack to the back of his head.
"Ouch! What the" he jumped like a startled cat, spinning around to find Sophie standing there her arms crossed. "Where were you ? she demanded. Aman let out a heavy ragged sigh and plopped down onto his sofa, his legs feeling like jelly. "You scared the life out of me! What the hell are you even doing weirdo?. How did you get in"" Can't i even check on my dear friend?" she asked .
Her tone was light, but there was a sharp searching look in her blue eyes, as if she had a hunch that something was fundamentally off. " Of course you can just, call me next time. Don't ambush me in the dark ," he grumbled " why are you so jumpy Aman? you're usually the most stoic person i know," she said stepping closer.
"It's nothing. Work is just catching up to me. I need to rest. Look, be a good friend and prepare me some tea, will you ? Sophie rolled her eyes, a familiar, mischievous glint returning to her gaze. "Hey , I'm your colleague, not your servant! But fine, what would you do without me anyway?" She turned towards the kitchen, but as Aman closed his eyes and sank into the cushions, her path changed. instead of heading for the stove, she drifted silently towards his bookshelf.
Her hand reached out, bypassing the medical journals and the textbooks, landing unerringly on the Black Book. A slow knowing smile spread across her face. In the dim light of the room, her blue eyes seemed to glow with a faint , predatory light. She traced her finger over the center of the cover, where a small, jagged symbol had been carved into the leather.
It was the mark of a snake biting it's own tail.
Aman remained oblivious to the silent drama unfolding in his bookshelf. Exhaustion had finally claimed him, and he lay on the sofa in a daze. waiting for the familiar comfort of Sophie's tea. Behind the swinging door of the kitchen, Sophie moved with a terrifying grace.
Aman's kitchen was a minimalist haven , utensils were kept in obsessive order, from the ceramic mugs, to the cast iron pans. The wooden cabinet were stacked with spices, fresh vegetables, and a hidden stash of premium whiskey. It was a room of logic and nourishment. As the water began to boil, Sophie reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small shriveled plant. It looked dead, brittle and brown, like something plucked from a grave.
But the moment she dropped into the boiling water, the liquid transformed. it didn't turn brown like tea: it bled a vibrant unnatural green. The plant melted instantly, dissolving like a sugar into a solution, Not even a bloodhound could have detected the change in scent. in the living room, the "fever of fate" finally pulled Aman under.
As he drifted into sleep, the electric jolt that had been humming in his veins since the surgery returned with a vengeance. It settled in his wrist, stinging like a thousand needles. Suddenly Aman felt weightless. He was floating among clouds that felt thick and suffocating when he looked down, didn't see the city of Banaras he saw a vast, endless ocean of red.
It was the color of fresh arterial blood. The red began to fade, and gravity reclaimed him. He fell through the crimson mist, screaming silently, until he slammed into a hard, tiled floor. The scene shifted instantly. He was back in the operating theater.
The room was freezing. The shadows were longer, darker. He looked across the table, expecting to see Sophie's reassuring presence, but he was alone. It was just him and the monk like patient. Aman's eyes drifted to the patient's arm. The skin was pale, not the healthy paleness of a living man, but a translucent, ghostly white.
And there etched into the patient's wrist, was the mark. It was a snake, it's scales shimmering with a metallic sheen. But the most disturbing part wasn.t the serpent itself; it was the eyes. The snake had deep piercing blue eyes, the exact same shade as Sophie's