CHAPTER 19 — WHEN FAITH PANICS
The first riot didn't start with anger.
It started with hope.
Arjun realized that too late.
MORNING WAS STILL NORMAL
The city woke up louder than usual.Cars, motor were on roads making more horns.
More shouting.
More people crowding temples, roadside shrines, traffic-circle idols.
Arjun passed one such shrine on his way to work.
A woman was tying threads around the railing, whispering frantically. A man beside her counted prayer beads so fast his fingers bled.
None of them looked peaceful.
They looked desperate.
THE NEWS BREAKS
At the office, phones buzzed simultaneously.
Someone turned on the TV.
"—reports confirm multiple cases of unexplained miracle failure across the city—"
A video played.
A preacher on a stage, sweat-soaked, arms raised.
"HE WILL ANSWER!" the man shouted.
Nothing happened.
The crowd waited.
Seconds stretched.
Then someone screamed.
The screen cut to chaos.
Arjun felt the mark tighten.
Not heat.
Pressure.
THE FIRST VIOLENCE
It happened near the old flyover.
Arjun wasn't there when it started.
He was there when it spread.
A crowd had gathered around a self-proclaimed healer—a minor god-bearer who used to cure illnesses for a price. He stood trembling on the hood of a car, hands glowing faintly.
"Calm down!" the healer shouted. "Faith takes time!"
A stone hit his shoulder.
Then another.
His glow flickered.
Arjun pushed through the crowd just as the healer screamed.
The glow died.
Not faded.
Cut.
The man collapsed, clutching his chest, eyes wide in disbelief.
"I can't feel Him," he cried. "I can't feel anything—"
The crowd froze.
Then someone yelled, "He lied to us!"
That was enough.
ACTION — UNCONTROLLED
The crowd surged.
Arjun moved without thinking.
He grabbed the nearest attacker and shoved him back, but it was pointless—fear had momentum.
The healer's body convulsed.
Authority backlash.
Untrained god-bearers couldn't survive disconnection.
Arjun's palm burned.
FALSE AUTHORITY DETECTED
STABILITY CRITICAL
He could intervene.
He shouldn't.
He did.
Arjun slammed his palm into the ground.
Not an execution.
A lockdown.
The air thickened, like the moment before a storm.
People staggered, suddenly dizzy.
The healer screamed once—
Then collapsed, unconscious but alive.
The glow did not return.
Silence fell.
For three seconds.
Then panic exploded.
THE CONSEQUENCE
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
People scattered.
Someone pointed at Arjun.
"HE DID SOMETHING!"
Arjun ran.
Not because he was guilty.
Because being seen mattered now.
RUDRA'S INTERVENTION
Rudra dragged him into an alley two blocks away.
"You can't keep doing that," Rudra snapped.
"I didn't kill him," Arjun said.
"You replaced authority again," Rudra shot back. "Twice now."
Arjun wiped sweat from his face. "He was going to die."
"Yes," Rudra said quietly. "And now the Throne noticed you preventing deaths."
That sank in.
Prevention was worse than destruction.
THE GOD THAT SPOKE
The sky darkened unnaturally.
Not clouds.
Attention.
Rudra went still. "Don't look up."
Arjun already had.
Above the city, something shifted—not appearing, not descending—just focusing.
A voice echoed, not aloud, but everywhere at once.
"THIS IS NOT YOUR FUNCTION."
Arjun's knees buckled.
The mark screamed.
AUTHORITY CONFLICT
SOURCE: RECOGNIZED DEITY
RESPONSE: PENDING
The god wasn't dead.
It wasn't silent.
It was angry.
A THREAT, NOT A COMMAND
"YOU INTERRUPT THE ORDER."
Arjun forced himself to stand.
"Your order is breaking people," he said aloud, not knowing why.
Silence.
Then—
"PEOPLE BREAK THEMSELVES."
The presence withdrew.
Not defeated.
Not done.
AFTERMATH — NORMALITY FRACTURES
That night, emergency broadcasts urged calm.
Temples closed "for maintenance."
Social media called it mass hysteria.
But Arjun knew better.
This wasn't collapse.
This was transition.
And transitions always demanded blood.
Back in his room, Arjun examined his palm.
The counter glowed faintly now.
AUTHORITY INTERVENTIONS: 3
Below it, new text appeared.
EXECUTIONER STATUS: UNDER REVIEW
And somewhere far beyond the city—
a Judge opened a sealed record
marked with Mira's name.