Aryavart : The Eternal Quest

 night fell over Pantharpur, Arya and his companions stood before the Sealed Library, an ancient fortress of knowledge guarded by layers of divine protection. Towering obsidian doors, etched with shifting celestial runes, loomed before them.

Their guide, a rogue scholar named Varun, adjusted his spectacles and smirked.

"You're lucky I like challenges. No one enters the Sealed Library without permission.""And you can bypass it?" Sachin asked skeptically."No." Varun grinned. "But I know someone who can."

With a flick of his wrist, he produced a small vial of shimmering dust and scattered it into the air. The dust settled against the runes, and for a brief moment, the seals flickered and distorted. The library's defenses were powerful—but not impervious.

"We have minutes before the seals reset," Varun whispered. "Move fast."

The doors groaned open, revealing an endless labyrinth of books, scrolls, and ancient stone tablets. The air was thick with dust and the scent of aged parchment. Torches flickered to life as if sensing their presence.

Arya, Vaishnavi, and Sachin sprinted down the aisles as Varun led them toward the Hall of Fate Records, where the names of all souls touched by destiny were inscribed.

As they approached the massive Celestial Ledger, Arya's heart pounded.

"If Ravi is truly part of fate, her name should be here," Vaishnavi murmured.

Varun placed his hand on a golden slab, and the inscriptions shifted, reorganizing themselves. The pages of the ledger flipped on their own, stopping at a blank section.

Nothing.

The air turned unnaturally cold.

"What the…?" Sachin muttered.Arya's hands clenched into fists. "Her name isn't here."

Not missing. Not obscured.

Erased.

The revelation sent a wave of unease through them. Ravi—who had been watching silently—reached out to touch the blank page. The moment her fingertips grazed the parchment, an invisible shockwave pulsed through the library.

The torches extinguished.The walls shook violently.A deep, ancient voice resonated from the library's core:"Unauthorized presence detected. Activating divine lockdown."

A golden barrier erupted around the Hall of Fate Records, sealing them inside. Books and scrolls flew into the air, pages ripping themselves apart as if the library itself was rejecting them. The celestial runes on the walls blazed with divine power, sending spears of light cascading toward them.

"We need to move—NOW!" Varun shouted, his usually confident tone filled with panic.Arya grabbed Ravi, shielding her from a collapsing bookshelf.Vaishnavi channeled her magic, trying to force open a portal of escape, but the library's energy blocked all outside interference.

Then, from the depths of the archives, figures emerged—not guards, not priests, but shadows shaped like lost souls, their hollow eyes glowing with an eerie blue light.

"They're the spirits of those erased from history," Varun gasped. "The Forgotten Ones."

The spectral entities lunged, their forms shifting unnaturally as they sought to consume the intruders.

Arya unsheathed his sword, cutting through the closest one—only for it to reform instantly, whispering in a voice of a thousand echoes:"Join us… in the void…"

Sachin grabbed a fallen torch and swung it wildly, but the flames had no effect.

"Fire's useless! How do we stop them?!"

Ravi, trembling, clutched Arya's cloak. Then, in a voice that was not entirely her own, she whispered:

"The library won't let us leave… but I can make it forget we were here."

Arya turned to her, eyes wide.

"What do you mean?"Ravi met his gaze, her usual innocence replaced by an unsettling calm. "I don't know how I know… but I can erase us."

Before anyone could protest, Ravi pressed her palm to the ground, and a wave of distortion rippled outward. The walls of the library flickered—for an instant, reality itself seemed to glitch, like a dream on the verge of vanishing.

And then—

They were outside.

The group staggered out of the Sealed Library, their breaths ragged. Behind them, the obsidian doors stood sealed once more, as if they had never been opened.

Varun stared at Ravi, then at Arya.

"That… that wasn't normal."Vaishnavi's eyes darkened. "Nothing about her is."

Arya looked down at Ravi, who clung to his sleeve, her small frame trembling. He crouched beside her, his voice softer than before.

"Ravi… what did you do?"She blinked up at him, eyes filled with confusion. "I… I don't know."

But deep down, Arya felt it.

She hadn't just erased their presence from the library.

For a brief moment, she had erased reality itself.

And whatever force had erased her from history—

It was watching.

The night was thick with tension as Arya and his companions moved through the narrow, winding streets of Pantharpur. The Sealed Library had given them more questions than answers, and an unsettling silence clung to the air.

Then—

A whisper, barely audible.

"You must leave this place… they are watching."

Arya whirled around, hand gripping his sword. From the darkness of an alleyway, the old sage who had fled earlier emerged, his form hunched but his eyes sharp with urgency.

Vaishnavi narrowed her gaze.

"You ran from us before. Why reveal yourself now?"

The sage sighed, his ancient robes shifting with the night breeze.

"Because I hoped I was wrong. But after what you did in the library… there is no doubt now. The child is the one."

Ravi tilted her head, her small fingers gripping Arya's cloak.

"The one?" she asked softly.

The sage hesitated, then slowly knelt before her, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You are… the child born outside of fate. A being neither bound by the Abysses nor the Zeniths."

A hush fell over the group.

Sachin was the first to break the silence.

"What does that even mean?"

The sage exhaled deeply.

"Long before the Abysses and Zeniths waged their eternal war, the universe wrote its own laws. All things—gods, demons, mortals—were bound to the river of fate. But in the oldest texts, a prophecy was whispered in fear… of one who would be born outside of that river, neither written nor erased, a force beyond destiny itself."

Vaishnavi clenched her fists.

"And you think Ravi is that force?"

The sage looked down at the small girl, his expression one of awe and trepidation.

"There is no 'think.' I know."

Ravi blinked, confused. "But… I don't feel special."

The sage's lips trembled.

"That is what makes you most dangerous."A Warning for Arya

The sage turned to Arya, his voice grave.

"Listen carefully, warrior. If you choose to protect her, you will change destiny itself. The war between the Abysses and the Zeniths—"

He paused, shaking his head.

"It will mean nothing compared to what is coming. Even the Abysses will tremble."

Arya's grip tightened around his sword.

"And if I don't protect her?"

The sage's eyes darkened.

"Then the world will shatter in a way even the gods cannot repair."

Before Arya could respond—

Assassination in the Dark

A sharp whistle cut through the night.

The sage's eyes widened in sudden realization.

"No!"

A shadow moved from the rooftops.

An instant later—

A thin, black needle embedded itself in the sage's throat.

His body stiffened.His breath caught.His lifeblood seeped into the dirt.

Arya lunged forward, catching the old man before he collapsed.

"Who did this?!" he growled, eyes scanning the rooftops.

But the assassin was already gone, vanished into the night like a phantom.

The sage's fingers weakly grasped Arya's cloak, his breath fading.

"They… are already here…"

His hand fell limp.

Silence.

Arya closed his eyes, his heart pounding.

Vaishnavi whispered a curse, her hands glowing with magic, but it was too late.

Sachin, pale, turned to Arya.

"What do we do now?"

Arya stood slowly, lifting Ravi into his arms. His eyes burned with determination.

"We run."

The war had already begun.