The end of an era isn't necessarily dying. Sometimes it's the final truth no one wanted to live to tell.
Location: Kalbadevi – 11:43 PM
The press stank of stale ink and burnt metal. Dust motes swirled like spirits in the glare of torches. This had once been where propaganda was being printed for Devraj More's first syndicate.
Now it was a grave. And the door creaked open.
Arpan clutched the map. Samruddhi led, gun in hand. Karishma stayed on the side, fingers quivering on a live feed link to their encrypted comms.
Underneath their feet: three sublevels of catacombs.
Central: the YUGANTA device.
And time was bleeding.
Scene Shift – Control Room, 3rd Sublevel
Anvaya observed them entering.
He stood next to the central console. City lights flashed across a hundred screens. Sirens. shouting crowds. Social media mayhem. He'd uploaded fake clips of Arpan and Samruddhi shooting civilians in the middle of a riot.
Mumbai was already on fire with paranoia.
"They will get to the device," one of his lieutenants cautioned.
Anvaya did not flinch.
"That's the idea."
He turned a dial on the console.
A voice started playing into their ears—encrypted, soothing, recognizable.
"Welcome, Arpan.
Welcome, Samruddhi.".
If you've come to stop the end, you're already part of it."
Flashback – Arpan, Age 10
A child finds his father's gun in a drawer.
Devraj walks in. Says nothing.
Just kneels beside him and whispers:
"Every king kills three things before he earns his name:
His fear.
His doubt.
And the only person who could ever love him without reason."
Arpan never forgot that.
Back to Present – Level 2: Blood Trail
Samruddhi and Arpan hurried down a corridor now strewn with new corpses.
Old guards.
Old enemies.
All shot with one bullet to the temple.
Message clear: This isn't war. It's purification.
Karishma accessed a malfunctioning camera feed.
Anvaya stood on the screen, four children standing behind him.
One was armed.
One was carrying a notebook.
One had matches.
The other. had nothing in his hands.
"What does it mean?" she breathed.
Samruddhi replied without pause.
"It means they're not soldiers. They're parables.
Scene: Device Room – Level 3
The chamber opened like the heart of a beast.
A steel dome sat on the center platform. Lights blinked red and white.
On its side, etched in brass:
YUGANTA – Cycle Breaker Protocol
Trigger: Biometric DNA – Compatible Only With: S. JADHAV / A. MORE
Samruddhi stared.
"I'm the detonator. But he—" she looked at Arpan, "—you're the equalizer."
Karishma's voice cracked over the comms.
"We just received confirmation from Intelligence Bureau. The YUGANTA protocol is not a bomb—it's a truth virus. A data package that reveals all the lies the Mores ever funded. All the bribes. All the deaths. All the deals."
Arpan blinked.
"So if we activate it—"
Samruddhi nodded.
"—we bring down the underworld by telling everybody what really constructed it."
Interruption – Bullet Through the Door
BOOM.
A bullet smashed into the chamber wall. Concrete shattered. Alarms wailed.
Anvaya entered, gun pointed.
Unmasked.
Young. Serene. Lovely in that frightening, manicured manner anger becomes when it's repressed for too long.
"You made it to the throne," he whispered.
Arpan leveled his weapon. "Step back."
Anvaya didn't.
"You really believe truth rescues people? No. It destroys hope. Do you realize what the world does when it gets a glimpse of what drove you to be king?"
He addressed Samruddhi.
"And when they get a look at what they programmed you to do?"
She lowered her gun.
"I already know.
Anvaya smiled, broken and bitter.
"I'm the only one in this room who didn't get a piece of heaven passed down to me. I had to construct my fury. Brick by brick. You two were chiseled. I was burned."
Gunfire – Quick, Brutal
Karishma opened fire from the stairwell.
Anvaya dodged.
Returned fire. Shot her in the leg.
Samruddhi charged forward—tackled him.
Fists. Elbows. Blood.
Arpan grabbed the biometric panel.
"NOW!" he yelled.
Samruddhi dragged Anvaya into a chokehold—her hand crashed down on the scanner.
A blade from his jacket sliced thinly into her side.
She didn't move.
The device beeped.
YUGANTA SEQUENCE INITIATED.
Uploading: 1%.
Last Scene – Chamber Flooding With Sirens
Karishma crawled to the console, re-established comms.
Screens flickered across Mumbai.
Audio files. Videos. Paper trails.
The virus propagated like vengeance in bloom.
Anvaya was pinned under Samruddhi's knee, coughing up blood.
"You didn't kill me," he hissed.
"No," she whispered.
"We just made you irrelevant."
Arpan headed for the exit.
"Let's go. The city has to survive us now."
To be continued…