Steam swallowed the narrow alley like a living fog.
Kaal Aryav and Mira Vanya stood bent forward, hands on their knees, lungs burning, hearts racing. The city of Lohgarh never slept—but it watched. Machines hissed from hidden pipes. Metal walls vibrated with distant engines. Somewhere above them, drones hummed like mechanical insects searching for prey.
Mira broke the silence first.
"They won't stop," she said, her voice low but steady. "Once the Yantra Sangh marks someone… they don't forget."
Kaal lifted his head. His eyes were hollow with confusion, fear, and something deeper—something ancient.
"I don't even know what I am," he whispered. "How can they hunt something that doesn't exist?"
Searchlights cut through the steam above them. Shadows of drones passed over broken rooftops. Mira grabbed his wrist and pulled him deeper into the maze of pipes and iron bridges.
They hid behind rusted steam conduits as mechanical footsteps echoed nearby.
"Void anomaly not located," a metallic voice announced from a patrol unit. "Continue search protocol."
Kaal's chest burned.
The mechanical heart inside him pulsed faster, darker, heavier—like it was trying to speak in a language only his soul could understand.
Mira noticed the faint glow through his torn clothes.
"Your heart…" she whispered. "It's not normal."
Kaal gave a broken smile.
"Nothing about me is."
They moved again—through crowds, through markets, through the living machinery of Lohgarh. Steam trains roared past on elevated rails. Airships drifted between factory towers. Neon lights reflected off oil-slicked streets. Robotic vendors sold food beside flesh merchants selling mechanical limbs. Humans and machines blended into one breathing organism.
"This city doesn't care what you are," Mira said quietly. "Only what you're worth."
She led him to a hidden clinic buried between two collapsed factories.
A faded sign hung above the door:
Dr. Ishaan — Mechanic & Fleshsmith
Inside, the air smelled of oil, blood, and steam. Mechanical arms hung from the ceiling. Artificial organs floated in liquid tanks. Old tools lined the walls like relics of a forgotten religion.
The old doctor looked at Kaal's chest and froze.
"What are you, child?" he asked softly.
The scanner hovered over Kaal's chest.
Symbols appeared.
Unknown patterns.
Energy signatures that didn't match any known Aether tech.
The doctor's face turned pale.
"This technology doesn't exist in Aethrapur," he whispered.
"Then where is it from?" Mira asked.
The doctor swallowed.
"From nowhere… or beyond."
The words shattered something inside Kaal.
Images flooded his mind.
A burning temple.
Chains around his body.
A woman crying.
A giant black core.
A voice echoing through darkness:
"You are the key."
He fell to his knees, clutching his head.
"Make it stop…" he begged.
Mira knelt beside him and held him.
"You're not alone," she said.
And for the first time since waking in this world, the darkness inside him slowed.
Outside the clinic, a figure watched from the rooftop.
A mask.
A single eye symbol.
Gupta Drishti.
Above Lohgarh, screens lit up across buildings.
Kaal's face appeared in red light.
VOID ANOMALY — CAPTURE ALIVE
Deep within the upper layers, in a silent golden chamber, a half-machine figure stood before glowing machinery.
Acharya Virek.
"The Void Child has awakened," a voice said.
Virek's mechanical eyes glowed.
"Prepare the sanctification protocol," he replied calmly.
"The Mahashunya Yantra demands him."
Back in the clinic, Doctor Ishaan looked at them with fear.
"If they find you here," he said, "this place will burn."
Mira turned to Kaal.
"We leave Lohgarh tonight."
"Where do we go?" he asked.
She looked toward the lower levels of the city—toward the forbidden depths.
"Down."
They stood before a massive sealed gate marked with ancient symbols:
Patala Veins Entry
Black fog rose from below like breath from a sleeping monster.
"If we go there," Mira said, "we may not come back."
Kaal stared into the darkness.
"I don't even know if I belong here anyway."
And together, they stepped toward the abyss.
Thus began the descent into darkness.