Kartik never believed in miracles.
Sure, he bowed respectfully at temples and touched his mother's feet on festivals, but deep inside, he thought myths were just beautiful stories — not realities.The real world was made of studies, cricket matches, and Instagram reels.
Until today.
It began in the mountains of Kedarnath, on a foggy morning when destiny quietly reached out to him.
He had wandered away from the crowded temple steps, chasing a strange glimmer between two giant rocks. There, hidden by centuries of moss and silence, stood an ancient Shiva Lingam — cracked, forgotten, yet pulsing faintly with warmth.
He should have walked away.
But something inside him — some instinct older than logic — made him kneel and touch the sacred stone.
The moment his fingers brushed the cold surface, the world shattered.
A thunderous sound, too deep to hear, tore through the air.The ground dissolved.The sky spun into a whirlpool of darkness.
Kartik felt himself being yanked out of existence — pulled through a tunnel of howling wind, fire, and silence.
And then, nothing.
When he opened his eyes, he was nowhere.
No earth. No sky. No stars. Only an endless, bottomless void.
The silence was so pure it roared.
But beneath that silence, something pulsed — a sound older than time, a vibration deep and infinite:
"Om."
Kartik drifted, weightless, a speck of dust in a cosmic ocean.
Panic rose in his throat — until a flicker of light appeared in the endless blackness.
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At first, it was a spark, a trembling point of pure energy.
Then, it grew — swelling, blazing, splitting the darkness apart like a sword.
From the heart of the light, three forms began to emerge — colossal, radiant, awe-inspiring.
The first shimmered gold, seated upon an infinite lotus blooming from the void.His four arms moved in slow, graceful circles, weaving unseen patterns through the emptiness.
Brahma — the Creator.
The second floated serenely above a sea of endless blue, his skin gleaming like a moonlit river.Coiled serpents formed a throne beneath him, and in his calm gaze, Kartik felt the endless patience of eternity.
Vishnu — the Preserver.
The third...The third burst forth in a blaze of black flame and silver light.
A figure wrapped in fire, ash swirling around his form, the dance of beginnings and endings flickering in every movement.A third eye burned upon his forehead — the eye that sees beyond all illusions.
Mahesh. Shiva. The Destroyer.
Kartik stared, tears streaming down his face without him realizing.
This wasn’t a story.This wasn’t a prayer.This was the birth of reality itself.
The Tridev stood silent, their presence alone shaping the void into meaning.
Brahma's golden aura began to hum softly.Vishnu's ocean of light shimmered gently.Shiva's fire whispered at the edges of space.
And then — all three turned together, sensing something... someone.
Their cosmic eyes locked onto Kartik.
He gasped — every part of his soul trembled under their gaze.It wasn’t anger he saw — nor confusion.It was something deeper:
Curiosity. Recognition. Wonder.
The Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer observed him — a mortal speck standing in the midst of the universe's first breath.
Brahma’s many faces shifted, murmuring thoughts only he could hear.
Vishnu’s eyes softened, as though he understood something Kartik himself did not.
And Shiva — Shiva tilted his head slightly, a smile of cosmic mystery playing on his lips.
Slowly, gracefully, the Tridev began approaching him.
With every step — or perhaps without stepping at all — their presence grew closer, heavier, more immense.
The fabric of the void quivered.
Kartik's heartbeat hammered in his ears, yet he could not move.
The Tridev were drawing near, their forms expanding and yet shrinking — becoming something he could almost understand, almost touch.
A thought — or was it a voice? — rippled across the darkness:
"What are you, traveler of time?""Why are you here, before the first dawn?"
Kartik opened his mouth to speak —But in that moment, the light surrounding the Tridev flared so brightly that the void itself seemed to crack open.
End of Chapter 1.