Avinashura

The night had been ordinary until the bodies fell from the sky.

One after another, four bloodied corpses crashed onto the crowded street below.

THUD.

CRACK.

A parked bike toppled sideways as blood splattered across the wet asphalt. People screamed and stumbled backwards in horror while shattered glass skidded across the road.

For a second, the entire street froze.

Then chaos erupted.

“Move back!”

“Oh God—!”

“Someone call an ambulance!”

A young man standing near a tea stall stared at the bodies in disbelief. Their clothes were torn apart as though they had been caught in an explosion. One of them was a businessman often seen on television. Another looked like private security.

None of them looked normal.

Their faces were twisted in terror.

As if they had seen something unimaginable before dying.

Then someone in the crowd suddenly pointed upward with trembling hands.

“LOOK UP THERE!!”

The young man instinctively raised his head.

And his breath stopped.

Floating high above the street, illuminated by flashes of distant lightning, was something that should not have existed.

Humanoid.

Massive.

Not large enough to tower over buildings, but unnaturally built, with a body that looked carved from dark stone and war itself. Faint crimson markings pulsed beneath its skin like molten cracks beneath rock.

Long black hair drifted around it despite the still night air.

Its glowing eyes burned like embers in darkness.

Ancient ornaments and fragments of broken armour hung across its body, giving it the appearance of a forgotten warrior dragged out of mythology. Slight curved horns rose from its head — subtle, but enough to make the thing feel deeply inhuman.

The creature hovered motionlessly above the city.

Not struggling to stay airborne.

Not posing.

Simply watching.

And somehow that calmness made it worse.

Tiny fragments of concrete and shattered glass slowly floated upward around it as if gravity itself bent in its presence.

The young man felt a chill crawl down his spine.

The creature looked across the terrified crowd below with complete superiority.

Like a king observing insects.

A child nearby began crying uncontrollably.

Cars reversed into one another trying to escape while people shoved and trampled each other in blind panic.

But the creature never moved.

Its glowing eyes slowly shifted toward the city stretching endlessly behind the crowd.

Then it spoke.

“Pathetic.”

Its voice was deep and ancient, carrying across the entire street like distant thunder.

And suddenly, the noise died.

The creature’s burning eyes swept over the city once more.

Then—

A sharp metallic sound cut through the silence.

The young man near the tea stall dropped his bag and pulled out a sleek black mask no larger than his palm.

People around him stared in confusion.

“Wait…”

“No way…”

He pressed the mask against his face.

Blue lines of light exploded across its surface instantly.

SHHHK.

Nanometal spread across his body like liquid steel. Black and silver armour locked into place over his chest and arms while streams of glowing blue energy pulsed beneath the plating.

Mechanical wings burst outward behind him before reshaping into stabilisers.

The crowd gasped.

“ASTRA!”

“It’s Astra!”

“Oh my God, Astra’s here!”

Panic transformed into desperate hope.

Phones immediately rose into the air recording everything. Children pointed excitedly toward the sky as people began cheering.

Everyone knew Astra.

The most advanced superhero on Earth.

The man whose technology could track missiles across continents.

The man who had stopped terrorist attacks before they happened.

The man who once dismantled an entire criminal network in under six hours.

If Astra was here…

Then maybe humanity still had a chance.

High above the street, the creature watched silently.

Blue thrusters ignited beneath Astra’s feet as he slowly rose into the air. Holographic streams of data flickered across his visor while countless scans analysed the being before him.

Then, for the first time since appearing—

The creature moved.

Its burning eyes locked directly onto Astra.

Something about that gaze made Astra’s heartbeat slow.

Not fear.

Instinct.

The kind warriors feel standing before something ancient enough to not care about death.

Astra’s calm voice echoed through the streets.

“Unknown entity detected. Threat level classification pending.”

A brief pause followed.

Then warnings suddenly flooded his visor.

WARNING.

ERROR.

ERROR.

UNIDENTIFIABLE LIFEFORM.

Astra froze for half a second.

That had never happened before.

Data flooded his display faster than the suit could process it.

Energy composition unknown.

Heat resistance immeasurable.

Biological structure unreadable.

Every scan returned the same result.

ERROR.

For the first time in years, the AI inside the suit spoke on its own.

“Threat assessment impossible.”

Astra narrowed his eyes behind the helmet.

Impossible.

There was no such thing as impossible.

Blue energy surged violently across his armour as weapon systems unfolded across his shoulders and arms with rapid mechanical clicks.

The crowd erupted into cheers again.

“He’s attacking!”

“Get that thing, Astra!”

Astra thrust his hand forward.

A blinding beam of concentrated energy tore through the night sky and slammed directly into the creature.

BOOOOOOM.

Blue-white light flooded the rooftop. Nearby windows shattered from the shockwave as overturned cars screeched across the road below.

Smoke engulfed the creature entirely.

Astra didn’t stop.

Missiles launched from hidden compartments behind him, streaking upward before detonating inside the smoke one after another.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

The sky trembled.

Dozens of floating laser arrays emerged around Astra, unleashing continuous streams of burning light powerful enough to melt armoured vehicles within seconds.

The entire street glowed blue.

For a brief moment—

Humanity believed.

Then the smoke slowly parted.

And the creature remained exactly where it had been.

Unmoved.

Not a scratch marked its body.

The lasers exploded harmlessly against its skin like sparks against stone.

The creature tilted its head slightly, almost curious.

As if it genuinely could not understand why the insect before it kept struggling.

The cheering below weakened.

“That’s impossible…”

“No damage…?”

Inside the helmet, warning systems screamed endlessly.

POWER OUTPUT EXCEEDED.

CORE TEMPERATURE RISING.

TARGET UNAFFECTED.

Astra’s breathing slowed.

For the first time in years—

He hesitated.

The creature noticed.

And smiled.

Then it moved again.

Not with explosive speed.

Not dramatically.

It simply took one step through the air—

And the distance between them vanished instantly.

Astra’s eyes widened.

His suit reacted automatically, firing point-blank shockwaves powerful enough to rip apart tanks.

The creature walked through them.

Its massive hand suddenly wrapped around Astra’s throat.

CRACK.

The crowd below screamed.

Warning alerts flooded Astra’s visor as he struggled violently against the grip.

ARMOUR INTEGRITY FAILING.

The creature lifted him effortlessly into the air like a broken toy.

For the first time, Astra’s composure cracked.

Not fear for himself.

Fear for everyone watching.

With trembling fingers, he activated an emergency public transmission.

His voice echoed across nearby phones, vehicle speakers, and live broadcasts.

One word.

“…Void.”

The creature’s burning eyes narrowed slightly.

Then its grip tightened.

CRUNCH.

The helmet shattered.

Blood sprayed across the creature’s hand as Astra’s body went limp instantly.

The cheering below died with him.

The creature stared at the corpse for a moment.

Unimpressed.

Then it casually threw the body downward.

Astra’s corpse crashed into the street with a sickening impact.

And for the first time that night—

The city understood it was completely helpless.

The creature looked down at Astra’s broken body lying motionless below.

Nobody moved.

The cheering was gone.

Only silence and trembling fear remained.

The creature looked down at the shattered streets below.

Then it spoke.

“Look at yourselves.”

Its calm voice echoed through the ruined street.

“One death… and your world collapses into fear.”

People unconsciously stepped backwards.

The creature’s burning eyes drifted across the crowd slowly.

“You call yourselves civilised.”

“But beneath your laws… your governments… your heroes…”

Its glowing markings pulsed faintly beneath its skin.

“…you are still creatures that bow before power.”

A cold wind swept through the street as shattered glass slowly floated upward around it.

“That is the truth your kind has feared since the beginning of existence.”

The creature looked toward Astra’s corpse lying motionless below.

“The strong stand above the weak.”

Its gaze returned to the crowd.

“And I stand above them all.”

Its eyes glowed brighter.

“When every living creature on this planet trembles at my existence…”

“…then this world will finally understand what true power looks like.”

Then the creature vanished.

One second it stood above the city.

The next—

Nothing remained.

But the night did not end.

Across the country, people in positions of power began dying.

Politicians.

Crime lords.

Military officers.

Underground fighters.

Some vanished from locked rooms.

Some disappeared mid-convoy.

And before dawn, their bodies began falling from the sky.

The night itself seemed to rain corpses.

Fear spread faster than the news channels could report it.

As the first light of sunrise touched the horizon, the creature suddenly appeared inside a dark empty room.

The glowing markings across its body slowly faded.

Its massive frame twisted unnaturally, shrinking piece by piece until only a normal human figure remained.

A young man.

He stumbled forward slightly before collapsing onto a bed.

Seconds later, silence filled the room.

Then morning came.

A phone suddenly began ringing beside him.

The young man groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

Still half asleep, he answered the call.

“Prahal!” a frightened voice said immediately. “Have you seen the news? Are you okay? Please come home quickly… I’m scared.”

Prahal frowned in confusion as he sat upright.

“Nithya… what happened?” he asked. “Why are you this scared? What’s in the news?”

He grabbed the remote beside him and switched on the television.

Every channel showed the same thing.

Bodies.

Blood.

Destroyed streets.

Blurry footage of the creature floating above the city.

Prahal froze.

His eyes widened in genuine shock.

“What the hell is this…?” he whispered into the phone.