CHAPTER 11 — THE THRONE RESPONDS
That night when Arjun slept he dreamed of chains. "He said to himself I can't believe it! Where am I standing."
They were everywhere—coiled through darkness, stretched across the sky, embedded in the earth like veins of iron. At first he thought they were meant to bind him, to wrap around his limbs and drag him down.But they weren't tightening.They were snapping.
One by one, the chains shattered with thunderous cracks, fragments dissolving into ash before they could hit the ground. With every break, the air grew heavier, denser, as if reality itself was holding its breath. He looked here and there but stood alone in an endless void watching him back.
Then after sometime the Throne appeared, as he walked few steps. It was closer than before.
Not far away in time and space Nor existing only as an idea, not as a physical thing.
Close enough that he could feel its weight pressing against his skin.
It rose from nothingness—vast, impossible, carved from concepts rather than stone. Its surface shifted constantly: obsidian melting into gold, gold eroding into bone, bone unraveling into light. Symbols crawled across it, forming and unforming faster than thought.
No figure was sat upon it. Yet it was undeniably occupied.
After watching and thinking about it for a while,Then the Throne spoke to him.
Not with sound, but with certainty that invaded his mind and rearranged it.
"YOU ARE INEFFICIENT."
The words struck him like a verdict already decided.
Arjun clenched his fists. Fear surged—but beneath it, something else burned. Defiance. Stubborn and human. His heart started racing like a horse and sweating like melting ice because of heat and pressure applied by throne in surrounding.
He somehow managed to say "I..I won't rule," . His voice echoed weakly in the vastness, but it was his. "I won't sit above people and decide their worth."
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then—
"YOU WILL FUNCTION."
Pain exploded through his hand.
Arjun gasped, dropping to one knee as fire tore through his palm. The mark—the Eye—burned open again, skin splitting as blood flowed freely this time, dripping into the void below and vanishing before it could fall. Ooch! Noo.Damn! Hell..!Not agaiiin..!
He screamed, clutching his hand to his chest,He felt it like a nuts bitten to him on his palm.
The Throne did reacted "Oops!,you can't tolerate this,so disgusting and want throne..Hehe.
It analyzed past things and said "YOU REJECT WORSHIP."
Arjun saw Images flooded his mind: kneeling masses, temples collapsing, prayers dissolving into dust before reaching him.
"YOU REJECT FALSE GODHOOD."
Again he saw crowns shatter. Thrones topple. Gods screaming as belief abandoned them.
"ACCEPTABLE."
Arjun froze,no movement,his breath caught painfully in his lungs.
Throne asked him,"Acceptable?"
The Throne shifted it's position.
The vast structure groaned, segments realigning with the sound of continents grinding together. The symbols across its surface rearranged, erasing old meanings, carving new ones deeper than stone.
"NEW DESIGNATION INITIATED."
Arjun shook his head violently. "I..No. I didn't agree to anything. I won't be part of this."
The Throne did not answer his protest.
It branded him.
A new word burned itself into his palm, beneath the Eye—letters formed from pain and command, searing themselves into his flesh and deeper still, into something behind his soul.
EXECUTIONER..!
The word pulsed once and more times also with it came understanding—and horror.
He saw his purpose not as lawgiver, not as savior, but as correction. As removal. As the blade that fell when systems failed, when gods broke their own rules, when belief rotted into corruption.
He would not be worshiped.
He would be sent.
Arjun screamed.
The void shattered.
He woke up thrashing, lungs burning as if he had been drowning. Sweat soaked his clothes. His scream echoed against stone walls before collapsing into ragged breaths.
Rudra was already there.
He stood frozen beside Arjun's bedroll, eyes locked on Arjun's hand.
The mark was visible even in the dim light—raw, glowing faintly, the Eye half-open as if watching them both. Beneath it, the word burned dark and unmistakable.
EXECUTIONER.
Rudra's face drained of color.
"Oh no..," he whispered.
Arjun followed his gaze, dread crawling up his spine as he saw it. "What… what did it do to me?"
Rudra swallowed hard.
His hands trembled—just slightly, but enough to be noticed.
"You didn't escape godhood," he said quietly.
Arjun's chest tightened. "Then what am I?"
Rudra met his eyes.
There was no comfort there. No reassurance. Only truth sharpened by fear.
"You were reassigned."
Thunder rolled outside—not from the sky, but from somewhere far higher, far deeper. The air vibrated with distant approval.
Arjun clenched his bleeding palm, the word burning against his skin.
An Executioner did not choose.
He was deployed.