As the sun whispered a silent goodbye to the day, the football ground echoed with curses—bold and unapologetic—as if a new species of Ronaldo and Messi had emerged, one that relied more on insults than actual footwork. The game had ended, but the debate over who had played worse was far from over.
"And I don’t care if he wants to score or doesn’t want to pass the ball, I don’t want to lose," Ayaan grumbled, running a hand through his sweat-drenched hair. "I mean, it’s embarrassing being Ayaan Mishra and losing."
Nishkarsh, still catching his breath, chuckled. "It’s not his fault, bro. He’s in ninth grade. Maybe try mixing your ego with some sympathy?"
Ayaan scoffed, taking a long sip from his water bottle. "I don’t know, man. It’s embarrassing. Even the girls passing by would have noticed me—my team—losing."
Nishkarsh shrugged. "So what can I do, huh? I’m already not in a good mood."
Ayaan side-eyed him. "What now? Did you somehow score worse than a zero?"
"You don’t know, bro… Avn—"
"Stop. Stop. I don’t wanna hear it." Ayaan groaned, already rubbing his temples. "Not again about her. Bro, let her go. She’s already someone’s girlfriend."
"I know! Did I say something?" Nishkarsh shot back, offended. "I was just saying—Kanak isn’t good for her."
Ayaan exhaled sharply. "I don’t want to know. Just shut up. It’s too much. She doesn’t even know you exist, bro."
"Tch. Last pre-boards, she told me the answer to Social Science, Section B, Question 11—‘The emergence of what is directly connected to the rise of political parties?’" Nishkarsh recited dramatically, then sighed. "Answer: Representative democracies. It even sounded good from her voice."
Ayaan gagged. "Ew, ew. You sound so desperate—like, bro, who the hell—wait—" He cut himself off mid-sentence, raising his eyebrows at a flash of movement in the distance. "Is that pixel-sized stalker—"
Nishkarsh followed his gaze. Vyani was sprinting off somewhere, her speed bordering on unnatural. He shook his head. "Geez. She’s always running."
"I can’t believe you, Tis. I don’t want to run in this state. I’m already on my period, but you just have to teach me something right now! Of all the world’s days, now!" Vyani ranted in her mind, her frustration sharp as she followed him.
Tis hovered beside her, listening to her , as he can read her mind, unfazed. “No, not at all. You sleep like a freaking dead person after doing this and that with your books. I’m not waking you up for training that’s giving me no profit. It’s on you.”
“But you are my Yaharu! It’s yours too!” She yelled in her brain.
“But I won’t die if I don’t find the Black Hucia, so yeah.” Tis sighed nonchalantly
“I was literally out with Shiksha, looking for a good coaching center.”
“I don’t care. We’re going to the Middle World right now so you can learn something, and we won’t be a thousand steps behind that thief of a fuck.”
Vyani bit back her complaints, silently following him as they reached a secluded spot. In a blink, she climbed the heavenly stairs with him, stepping into the Middle World.
Pressing her forehead against the red thread on her wrist, she felt a shiver run down her spine as warmth seeped into her skin. In the next moment, a dark green, foam-like cloud unfurled from her body, swirling like a restless storm. As they entered the Middle World, the fog thickened, wrapping them in a peculiar, ominous darkness.
Tis watched her, arms crossed. "You feel that? That’s the Hucia waiting for you to do something."
Vyani nodded, her fingers twitching. "So, I just… tell it what to do? Like by saying?"
Tis sighed. “It’s not that simple. The Hucia is power itself—it doesn’t follow words. It follows intent.”
Vyani frowned. “Intent?”
“Your body and mind have to think the same thing at the same time, and you have to perform an action that reinforces it. You don’t just say ‘destroy’ and expect it to listen. You make it listen. Let’s try with you destroying that stone. Think of something—some shape, anything that can crush it,” Tis said, letting a stone hover slightly above the swirling green clouds.
Vyani took a deep breath and raised her hand toward the boulder. In her mind, she focused on creating a massive stone, one strong enough to shatter the other. She imagined the impact—the crack, the dust, the collapse. As she lifted her hand, she willed it into existence.
“Shatter."
The dark green thing pulsed, but instead of striking the rock, it twisted and lashed backward, nearly hitting her instead. She yelped and ducked as it disappeared into the darkness behind them.
Tis groaned. “You’re not controlling it. You’re just letting it out like a wild human.”
Vyani scowled. “I am controlling it! And it’s wild animals, not humans.”
“No, humans are wilder, and you’re just releasing it. If you don’t make the Hucia an extension of yourself, it’ll do whatever it wants.”
Gritting her teeth, Vyani tried again. She pressed her forehead to the kalawa, feeling the Hucia coil inside her like an untamed current. This time, she steadied her breath, aligning her body and thoughts. She envisioned the same stone—not just in words, but in form, in weight, in movement. She raised her hand, pushing her intent into it.
“Break.”
The massive stone she had imagined twisted forward, surging toward the rock. A second of silence—then a crack split through the air, and the boulder shattered into jagged pieces.
Vyani’s chest heaved.
Tis smirked. “Better. Now, do it again.”
“How? Do I have to press my forehead against this kalawa every time I want to attack?”
“It’s like the power button, and you’re the controller,” Tis said sternly.
Vyani sighed and pressed her forehead against the red thread once more, steadying her breath as the dark green cloud surged around her. This time, she thought of something sharper, stronger. As she raised her hand, the shape materialized—a massive, razor-edged stone. She willed it forward, and in an instant, the boulder before her shattered completely, proof that she was finally getting a grip on the Hucia.
Tis nodded approvingly. “Now you’re starting to understand.”
Vyani wiped the sweat from her forehead. “So, all this power is just about thinking and moving the right way?”
“It’s more than that.” Tis stepped closer, his eyes dark and unreadable. “The Hucia isn’t just about destruction. It can do so much more if you know how to use it.”
She looked up, intrigued. “Like what?”
“You can defend yourself by creating anything you want, using that brain of yours.” He snapped his fingers, and a dark forest-green net-like shield appeared. “You can make objects, twist them into something unrecognizable. You can transfer them—move them from one place to another.”
Vyani’s mind raced. “Does it only come in one color?”
Tis glared at her.
She glanced down at her hands, flexing her fingers. “But these things look like VFX. I’m surprised they actually destroy things.”
“The Hucia isn’t some god granting miracles. Don’t take it for granted. Practice whenever you can. Focus on what you want it to create—a shield, something sharp for attack, or something powerful, like water, to flood everything away.”
“But it looks like VFX—like a hologram, to be honest. And what if I accidentally destroy a building?”
"It can only destroy things that aren’t human-made."
"You’re kidding me. What if the thief throws a building at me?"
"I’ll handle it. That’s why you have me. You just have to fight with the powers she creates from her Hucia. And she knows how to use it enough to cause a fake earthquake, so she probably knows how to kill people easily."
Vyani sighed. "I swear, I don’t get time to watch K-dramas, and I’m just sixteen. Meanwhile, this woman—who knows how old—has the time to destroy the world."
Tis snorted. "Facts."
A moment later, he sighed. "Your mother just realized you aren’t home yet. You’re done for today."
Vyani panicked. "Oh my god, time is slower here—" She bolted down the heavenly stairs. It was already 8 PM. She knew she was about to face hell.
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