🌙 The Dream: Two Lives Before
The temple was not of stone, but fire.
Its walls pulsed like embers. The air was thick with ash and chanting in a tongue Isha didn't recognize — but somehow understood.
She stood on burning ground, cloaked in white and gold, her face marked with charcoal streaks. People bowed to her. Feared her.
A crown was being placed on her head.
> High Flame.
The Chosen Vessel.
Bearer of the Unseen Judgement.
She smiled — but it wasn't joy. It was duty. Pain.
In the dream, she knew she would be betrayed by the priests before the moonrise.
She knew she would die again.
But she accepted it.
Then the fire roared. Her eyes in the dream turned black — void, numb, accepting annihilation.
She woke up screaming.
---
🧬 Elsewhere: At the Biology Lab
Mrs. Fernandes ended the call and wiped her forehead.
Then she dialed again — a direct line, encrypted.
When the voice on the other end answered, she said:
> "She surged."
A pause. Then: "Color?"
"Red. Hallway tremor. Partial control."
"Understood. I'll notify the Circle."
---
🏛️ Later That Night — Mumbai, Unmarked Location
Chief Minister Kavi Deshmukh didn't wear his usual political mask in this room.
He was not a politician here.
He was The Holder of the Tenth Flame — leader of the cult known as The Circle of Ash.
Six others joined him — industrialists, bureaucrats, media barons. They sat in silence as he laid out the update.
> "The Heart's Reflection has awakened. Slightly. The seal is weakening."
One of them whispered: "Do the other Pantheon cults know?"
"No," Kavi said sharply. "And they won't. She is our burden. Our secret."
Another leaned forward. "Do you believe she remembers?"
Kavi stared at the flickering map behind them — marked with sigils and flames.
> "Not yet. But when she does… no god, no brotherhood, no nation will be safe."
---
📜 Lore Reveal
The Circle of Ash serves a god known only as Ashkara — The Hidden Ember, The Silent Flame.
Ashkara's followers believe Isha's soul is a divine weapon, forged across many lives, meant to burn gods themselves.
Each god has their own cult, operating in secret — Temples in Disguise — schools, companies, political parties, even social media fronts.
No other god's cult knows about Isha's current reincarnation.
Her presence is being cloaked, contained, and watched.
---
🌘 Meanwhile… Isha
She didn't sleep again that night.
Her eyes, unseen in the mirror, glowed the color of violet fire — not rage, not sorro
w, not fear.
Just one truth:
> She had died before.
And somehow, someone was making her forget.