Vikram steadied himself, though his hands trembled so violently he almost couldn't untie the sacred cloth from around his wrist. He spread it across the floor in front of the mandap—an ancient reevavanshi sigil embroidered into it, glowing faintly under the flickering lamps.
"Lay her here," he whispered.
Yuvaan nodded and, with a gentleness that didn't match the bruises carving his body, lifted Kiara from Bhoomi's arms. Her skin was ice cold. Her breath barely there. The blue creeping up her neck had already reached her jawline.
"Kiara…" he breathed, brushing her hair away from her face. "I'm right here."
Her eyelashes fluttered weakly, as if she could hear him from somewhere far… far away.
Vikram knelt beside them, his face grave.
"Yuvaan. Once this begins, it cannot be stopped. Her soul is drifting… you must pull it back before Trishanku takes her."
Yuvaan didn't look away from Kiara even for a second.
"I won't let her go."
Vikram hesitated—pain, regret, fear all tangled in his eyes.
"Place your hand over her heart."
Yuvaan did.
And the moment his palm touched her fading heartbeat…
the air in the room changed.
A low hum rose, subtle at first, then building, vibrating through the walls, the floor, their bones. The diya flames elongated, bowing toward Kiara as if pulled by some unseen force.
Vikram placed his hand over Yuvaan's back.
"Close your eyes. Call your power from within. Every drop. Every shadow. Every spark."
Yuvaan inhaled—slow, determined.
The ground beneath him glowed.
Black and silver energy coiled out of him like smoke, rising from his spine, his arms, the center of his forehead. The markings of Kaal—those ancient, cursed sigils—flashed faintly beneath his skin as if awakening one last time.
Kiara's body shimmered, flickering between this world and the next.
Kajal took a trembling step forward.
"She's disappearing…" her voice cracked. "Yuvaan—hurry…"
Yuvaan's jaw clenched.
"I know," he whispered.
Vikram's voice grew firmer.
"Now compress it… your power… compress every ounce of it into one single point… push it into her."
Yuvaan grit his teeth—pain ripping through him like fire. His breath hitched. His fingers shook violently over Kiara's heart as the energy within him twisted, folded, collapsed inward.
He felt his strength draining… his darkness dissolving…
his power—the very thing that had once defined him—dimming like a dying flame.
Kiara's body glowed faintly, light blooming beneath his palm.
Bhoomi sobbed harder.
Varun clutched the pillar to stay upright.
Chandrika whispered prayers through trembling lips.
Kajal pressed a hand to her mouth as tears streamed down, realization hitting her like a blade.
She had brought her daughter to the edge of death.
And this boy—this boy she had tried to kill—was giving his life away to bring Kiara back.
Vikram's voice thundered.
"Yuvaan! Hold on—don't break—just a little more—"
But Yuvaan's body bent forward sharply, chest heaving, sweat rolling down his forehead.
His vision blurred.
His heartbeat faltered.
His knees almost buckled.
Yet he never lifted his hand from Kiara.
"Come back to me…" he whispered, voice shaking.
"Kiara… please… come back."
Kiara's fading form flickered once…
Twice…
Then—
A tiny pulse of warm light beat beneath Yuvaan's hand.
Kiara's heart was responding.
The Jeevan Mani was forming.
And Yuvaan's life was slipping.
The glow beneath Yuvaan's hand deepened—soft at first, a tender warmth blooming through Kiara's still chest. Then it grew brighter, brighter still, until the entire mandap was bathed in a pale, ethereal light.
Vikram whispered in awe, barely able to breathe.
"It's forming… the Jeevan Mani is forming…"
The silver threads of Yuvaan's power coiled tighter, twisting into a bright sphere just above Kiara's heart—fragile, trembling, pulsing like a newborn star.
But the more the Mani formed, the weaker Yuvaan became.
His shoulders shook.
His breath stuttered.
His skin grew paler with every passing second.
"Hold on," Vikram murmured desperately. "Just a little longer—"
But Yuvaan barely heard him anymore.
Because as the light grew… something else shifted.
The world around Kiara's body flickered.
And suddenly—
Kiara's soul found itself standing barefoot on a barren, grey expanse.
A sky that wasn't sky.
A wind that wasn't wind.
Everything silent… suspended… empty.
Trishanku.
A realm where nothing lived…
nothing died…
nothing moved.
Time itself was trapped.
Kiara looked around, disoriented.
Her voice echoed strangely as she whispered, "Where… am I…?"
Her hands passed through the mist that curled around her ankles. There was no ground, yet she stood. No horizon, yet she could see endlessly. The air tasted like ash. Her chest felt hollow.
"Is this… death…?"
Her voice trembled.
She turned slowly—alone, alone in a world made of silence.
Until—
A sound.
Soft. Distant.
A heartbeat.
No—
not a heartbeat.
A voice.
Her heart jolted, recognition striking her like lightning.
Kiara…
Her breath hitched.
That voice…
that softness…
that ache…
It was him.
Yuvaan.
She spun around, searching the endless void.
"Yuvaan?" she whispered. "Yuvaan… where are you…?"
The mist stirred.
Again, faint… strained… breaking.
Kiara… come back… please… come back to me…
Kiara's eyes filled with tears instantly.
"Yuvaan… I'm here… I'm right here…"
She ran—feet never touching anything—hands stretching forward as if she could grasp the voice itself.
"Don't leave," she cried. "Don't let go—"
And then—
A flash.
Far ahead, cutting through the darkness like a blade of sunlight, a doorway appeared.
Golden. Radiant. Alive.
A doorway of light.
It pulsed with warmth—calling her, pulling her, beating like a heart she knew better than her own.
Kiara's breath caught.
"That's… him," she whispered.
She took a trembling step—
But the realm fought back.
The ground dissolved beneath her feet, pulling her down. The mist thickened into chains, winding around her wrists, her ankles, her waist, dragging her backward into the grey emptiness again.
"No—no—let me go!" Kiara struggled, tears streaming.
But the chains tightened.
She gasped, her voice cracking as she screamed:
"YUVAAN!"
And somewhere far, far away—
He heard her.
Yuvaan's eyes snapped open… barely.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His body shivered violently. Vikram was yelling something, but it was fading into the background.
Yuvaan's gaze fixed on Kiara's faintly glowing form.
"I'm here," he whispered, forcing the last drop of power through trembling fingers.
"Kiara… I'm right here… follow my voice…"
In Trishanku, the light doorway pulsed—bright, warm, alive.
A lifeline.
A promise.
A way home.
Kiara reached toward it with every last breath of her soul.
"Yuvaan… I'm coming…"
And the Jeevan Mani—
small, bright, perfect—
finally solidified over her heart.
A single, pure pulse of light burst outward from it—
connecting her world to his.