Time: 1500 IST, 2100
Location: A Techno - mutant jungle, 45 km from Amaravathi
The Skiff crash -landed with a shuddering halt against the roots of a Monstrous banyan tree, its vines twitching like the limbs of a slumbering beast. Gaint leaves breathed steam. The jungle shimmered with unnatural life flowers blinked like cameras, frogs pulsed neon.
"Myra, remind me again why we trusted a scroll written in pre-classical Samskrit to guid us through a forest that looks like it ate Jurassic Park?" Raghu muttered, wiping blood from his brow.
Myra, her khaki jacket torn and eyes gleaming with adrenaline, shot him a crooked grin. "Because adventure, Captain."
Chitti stumbled out of the skiff, leaves stuck to its sensors. 'Adventure aa? Naa spice spray turned into mosquito repellent ra! Smells like jungle perfume now!"
Vishnu collapsed to the ground,panting. "Even
my songs ran out of breath. This place is cursed!"
"Then stop singing about it," Pinkki snapped, swatting a glowing insect. "You're attracting more bugs than romance."
"My romance is in the air!" he declared.
"Your romance stinks like old sambhar!" she retorted.
Hanush stood silently, scanning the terrain, eyes faintly glowing. Mythili crouched beside him, rubbing herbal oil into a bite mark on his arm.
Suddenly, a high-pitched hum cut through the thick air.
"Myra," Raghu said, voice tight, "tell me you didn't hear that."
But she had. From above, drones descended again—sleeker, faster, deadlier. Devmani's black insignia glinted under their wings.
"Scatter!" Raghu shouted.
The crew dove behind roots. Lasers seared through branches, cutting down flora in flashes of white heat.
Chitti screamed, "Naa jungle disco started ra!" and launched a spice-bomb that blinded a drone in a puff of turmeric.
Hanush leapt from a tree and punched a drone straight into the mud. Mythili threw a vial of acid-ivy, wrapping another in burning vines. Pinkki's hands trembled as she pulled a blade—but a vine coiled around her ankle and yanked her into the thicket.
"Pinkki!" Vishnu shouted, voice cracking.
He darted after her, slashing through the vines. "You touch her, you forest freaks, and I'll make chutney out of your roots!"
Mythili followed, chanting softly, scattering herbs that cleared a path. They found Pinkki pinned under a giant tendril, gasping, skin flushed.
Vishnu cut her free with trembling hands. "You okay?"
She looked at him, for once soft. "I'm alive. Thanks to you, pirate."
He grinned. "Only you can call me that and make it sound like a compliment."
Meanwhile, Myra dragged Raghu to a hollow log. Blood seeped from a laser graze on his ribs.
"I don't play. I survive."
She pressed herbs from Mythili's bag into the wound. "well, try surviving without dying next time."
He winced but smiled. "Was that worry, Vedanth?"
"You wish."
The moment hung, too tender to break. Until--
Vedantha's hologram flickered to life from Myra's pad, eyes frantic.
"Myra. The Arc isn't just in india. it's connected to relics across the world. Be careful
A monstrous roar cut him off
they turned. A hulking beast of twisted metal and mutated bark emerged from the clearing, steam hissing from its mouth.
Everyone froze.
Raghu tightened his grip on his karambit.
" Run. Now."