Chapter Six: The Reunion That Wasn't

The beast fell with a final roar that shook the mountain.

Its lion’s head hit the dirt. Wings twitched once, then crumpled like broken flags.

Arjun staggered back.

His chest heaved. His sword-arm hung limp, torn. Blood — his and the creature’s — soaked his shirt, dried in layers over his face, his hands, his knees.

He had no strength left to scream. Only breath.
And the smell of smoke.

Then he saw them.

Four figures, standing in front of his shed. In front of his world.

Anya.
Suraj.
Kartik.
Riya.

He blinked.

They didn’t vanish.


---

? Fractured

Arjun collapsed.

Not from injury — from something deeper. A weight he had carried for six days of battle and three years of isolation.

He hadn't eaten.
Hadn’t slept.
Hadn’t even dreamed.

In his eyes, everything burned.

He remembered the creature’s roar, the slash of its claws, the feeling of bone cracking under his strikes — and still it wouldn’t die. He had buried it, and it came back. Again and again.

Six days of dusk and dawn, hunted like prey, each moment carved into his spine with fear.

He stared at them now… and didn’t move.


---

?‍♂️ “Say Something…”

Kartik stepped forward first.

“Arjun?”

No response.

“Dude. You—”

“Don’t,” Anya said quietly, eyes on Arjun’s face.

He wasn’t looking at them. He was looking through them. Mouth half-open. Knees trembling.

He took a step forward… then stopped.
His hand reached out. Then curled back into a fist.

Suraj finally walked over, slowly, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Arjun flinched so violently he almost fell.

“No one’s gonna hurt you,” Suraj whispered. “You’re safe. It’s over.”

Arjun shook his head, whispering something under his breath.

“What did he say?” Riya asked.

Anya stepped closer, lip trembling. “He said… it’s never over.”


---

?️ The Attempt

By the fire that night, Arjun sat silent.

The others brought food. Water. A blanket.

He didn’t touch them.

His eyes flicked around the shed like it might vanish.

When Anya handed him his own diary, he took it like it might bite him.

Then, suddenly, he spoke.
Fast. Disconnected. Like pieces of thought stitched together by panic.

> “I tried. I tried not to… not to give in. It wouldn’t die. It didn’t stop. The mountain wouldn’t let me leave. I thought it was you calling me. But it wasn’t. It was it. It used your voices. I heard you laugh. Then I woke up bleeding.”



He looked at his hands.

> “I didn’t know what day it was. I don’t remember drinking anything. I think I drank rain. Or my own blood. I don’t know.”



Silence.

Kartik tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat.

Riya looked away.

Suraj’s knuckles turned white.

Only Anya met his eyes.

> “You’re here now,” she said softly.



He looked at her.

And then he cried — soundlessly. Like the mountain had finally cracked.

Chapter end