Chapter 1
Agnira ran, clutching Kael in her arms. His frail legs couldn’t carry him, and behind her, Arin — her seventeen-year-old brother — stumbled over roots, sweat and blood streaking his face.
She looked back as she ran, and terror flooded her chest. The forest was alive with fire and screams. Flames licked the trees, sparks rained down like angry fireflies, and cannon blasts shook the ground beneath her feet. Fire arrows streaked through the night, hissing as they struck branches. Rudrakot’s armed forces were here — and it looked like they would erase her village from the map of Shastragarh. Her legs kept moving, but her mind flashed back to just a few hours earlier.
It was Diwali.
She had been stringing marigolds across the haveli courtyard. Kael sat beside her, threading each flower with meticulous care.
Agnira had felt so proud of him. Born with weak legs, that could not support him and having lost their mother at birth, Kael had every reason to give up — but he never did. He devoured every book in the school and local library, sharpening his mind like a blade. At just eleven, he was known as one of the brightest boys in the colony. Their father often said that if not for his legs, the boy would one day lead armies.
A loud tremor had broken her thoughts that evening — a rumble so strong it made the flowers tremble. She looked up in alarm.
Outside, Arin was bursting firecrackers with his friends. She had almost dismissed it as noise from the celebrations when another tremor hit — stronger, followed by a deep, thunderous sound. Kael looked up at her, eyes wide. Agnira ran outside.
“Arin!” she shouted. Her brother and his friends stopped, confusion written on their faces. Another shockwave rippled through the earth. The festive night was cracking open.
Then she saw her father in the distance — the Captain of their colony’s guard — running toward her, panic in his eyes.
“Baba! What’s happening? The tremors—”
“Run, Agni!” he panted, gripping her shoulders. “Take your brothers and go to the forest. They’re coming! They’ll kill every last one of us. Run!”
She froze. “Who’s coming? What—”
“Run, child!” her father’s friend — the colony’s financial officer — shouted as another explosion tore through the air. The world had turned to chaos. People were screaming, fleeing.
“But Baba, you—”
“The captain drowns with the ship,” her father said softly, almost smiling. “I will protect my people from these Rudrakot monsters. Don’t worry, we’ll meet soon. Now go. Protect your brothers.”
Before she could protest, he turned and ran toward the roar of battle. A sinister feeling hit her, almost like a punch in her gut, that this was perhaps the last time she would see her father alive.
Agnira ran back into the haveli, grabbed Kael, hoisted him onto her back, and raced toward the forest with Arin close behind.
Now, the past and present collided in her mind — the sound of blasts, the burning sky, and her brothers’ ragged breathing. Then came the sharp whistle of an arrow. A scream.
She turned. Arin was down.
A flaming arrow was lodged deep in his spine. Pulling it out would kill him. Leaving it in meant the poison would. The skin around the wound was already turning blue.
“Run, Didi!” Arin croaked, his voice shaking with pain.
“No. You’ll be fine, Arin. I’ll carry you too—”
The thunder of hooves cut her off. The Rudrakot soldiers were close.
“Didi,” Arin gasped. “Carrying me will slow you down. You’ll doom Kael and yourself. Please... don’t make my death meaningless.”
“Arin, no!” Kael cried, tears streaming down his face.
Arin’s lips trembled into a faint smile. “Kael... I will die sooner or later. But you — you must live. Go.”
The horses were almost upon them. Agnira could see the gleam of armor through the flames.
The choice before her felt crueler than death itself. Which brother would she save? Which heartbeat would she silence with her choice?
For a heartbeat, she froze — one brother on her back, one bleeding on the ground. Her lungs burned. Her legs trembled. Her heart began to break.
The sound of hooves grew louder, pounding like a countdown. She had seconds. Two brothers. One choice.
Who do you think Agnira will save?? Comment below!
