Chapter 1 – The End Before the BeginningJanuary 1, 2045 – 10:27 PMBattlefield Z-13, Northern India – Final Defense Zone

  Ashu stood at the edge of the burning city, his breath ragged beneath his cracked helmet. The sky was a canvas of smoke and ash, streaked with fshes of bioelectric discharge as monstrous figures tore through the st line of humanity’s defenses.

  “This is Ashu…” he whispered hoarsely into the battered wrist-recorder strapped to his arm. “If anyone hears this… if this even makes it somewhere—” he coughed, wiping blood from his lips, “—I’m sorry. I wasn’t enough.”

  The city behind him was colpsing, towers gutted, streets flooded with the cries of the damned.

  SYSTEM ALERT: VOID CORE STABILITY – 14%ENERGY CORE CRITICAL. SHUTDOWN IN: 1:52

  Ashu let out a bitter chuckle. “Figures. Still counting down.”

  In the distance, a massive shape loomed, lumbering forward through the smoke. It wasn’t human anymore. Cws where arms should be. Bone ptes fusing over muscle. An abomination of flesh, virus, and Void.

  SYSTEM ALERT: HOSTILE APPROACHING. CLASS: SSS. SURVIVAL CHANCE: 0.01%

  Ashu tightened his grip on the broken bde in his hand. “Same odds as st time, huh?”

  A voice echoed faintly in his mind—a memory. Riya’s voice, warm and defiant.

  “You’re not supposed to fight alone, Ashu. We’re your family. Let us in.”

  His eyes softened, just for a heartbeat. Then hardened again. “I failed you all,” he whispered. “But maybe… this doesn’t have to be the end.”

  The monstrous figure opened its maw, a distorted voice trembling out:

  “Ashu… Void… belongs to us.”

  Ashu raised the bde, his stance steady despite the tremble in his limbs. “Not yet.” He pressed a sequence on the wristpad. “Vortex Pulse—go.”

  The core in his chest fred, a blinding surge of violet light erupting from within.

  SYSTEM WARNING: ENERGY OVERLOAD. CORE DETONATION IMMINENT.

  “Then take it with you,” Ashu growled.

  The st thing he saw was the abomination’s face twisting in surprise before the explosion consumed them both in an implosion of light and void.

  Darkness.

  Silence.

  Then—a pulse.

  VOID CORE ACTIVATION DETECTED.REINCARNATION PROTOCOL TRIGGERED.TARGET: DECEMBER 1, 2019.SPIRITUAL TRANSFER IN: 3… 2… 1…

  Ashu gasped awake, heart hammering, lungs sucking in air as if he’d been drowning. He sat bolt upright, sweat soaking his skin, blinking rapidly at the ceiling above him.

  No smoke. No arms. Just… an old ceiling fan spinning zily above a cracked lightbulb.

  He scrambled out of bed, stumbling toward the window. Outside, the city was alive. Neon signs flickering. Cars honking. Delhi breathing, unaware of what awaited.

  “No way…” he whispered. His reflection in the window stared back: younger, smoother skin, no scars. “This… this is my old apartment.”

  A soft chime echoed in his mind.

  SYSTEM ALERT: REINCARNATION SUCCESSFUL.DATE: DECEMBER 1, 2019.TIME UNTIL OUTBREAK: 40 DAYS.

  Ashu looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers. “I’m back…” His chest rose and fell with a mixture of wonder and dread.

  He turned to the small desk cluttered with old notebooks and receipts. Grabbing a pen, he flipped open a bnk page.

  “Riya. Neel. Imran. Aanya.” He wrote each name with a hard press of the pen. “Raj. Veer. Priya.”

  He underlined them twice.

  “I have forty days to get them ready.” He stared at the words. “This time… they live.”

  Ashu clenched the pen tight.

  “This time, I won’t be too te.”

  ?? End of Chapter 1