...

  "What a joke! I was sent all this way just to kill a brainless insect?!"

  Tushar adjusted his glasses and stepped inside through the shattered section of the wall, as the door remained sealed.

  "Tushar!"

  All the fear and terror within Trisha vanished into thin air the moment she saw her younger brother.

  "Honestly, Didi! You really start thinking you're some legendary leader sometimes. Are two stones worth more than your life?!"

  Trisha lowered her head. She felt a wave of emotion, but looking at him, she managed a small smile.

  "Yes, yes! I am very important. Now, come on, save me already."

  "Fine, fine! Just hold onto your weed."

  Trisha rolled her eyes as if she weren't currently in a monster's grasp, even though she was. She raised her hands towards the ceiling of the lab, and green vines erupted from her hands, snaring the overhead HVAC cables that were bolted securely to the structure.

  Suddenly, a massive portal opened beneath the millipede. The portal began to violently suck the monster in. With a high-pitched screech, the beast resisted with everything it had, tightening its grip on Trisha.

  "Aaagh!"

  The vines began to fray, the tension reaching a breaking point. Seeing this, the brother and sister exchanged a look of urgent desperation.

  "Didi!!"

  "Tushar! Quickly! Open a portal behind me!"

  "But—"

  "No buts! Just do it!"

  Tushar hated the idea of opening a portal behind her; his portals often connected to dangerous dimensions that could chill one's very soul.

  But if he knew one thing, it was that Trisha's calculations had never been wrong—even if they were off by a few decimal points, they were never fundamentally flawed.

  He opened a portal behind Trisha. It looked like a bottomless abyss, so deep that anyone who fell in would never rise again.

  The monster's grip finally slackened as the opposing force of Trisha's portal began to pull her in the other direction. Trisha secured herself by lashing more vines onto the overhead cables.

  The energy generated by two portals opening simultaneously shook the lab like an earthquake.

  Finally, the millipede's hold on Trisha broke, and it vanished into the portal that resembled the gaping maw of a giant octopus.

  "Tushar!!"

  Without missing a single millisecond, Tushar snapped the portal behind Trisha shut. Trisha used all her strength to propel herself forward and succeeded.

  On the other side of the closing portal, a fragment of a nail fell into the abyss...

  Tushar rushed over and caught Trisha, gently setting her on her feet.

  "Are you okay, Didi?"

  "Yes, yes, little brother!"

  Trisha said, laughing. She was laughing so much that Tushar narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

  "Alright, that's enough. Let me see your hand."

  Trisha made a face, but seeing that Tushar was genuinely serious, she chuckled.

  "Fine! Just a broken fingernail. Better than losing the whole hand, right?"

  Exhaling a long breath, Tushar scanned her from head to toe. Her demeanor suggested she was telling the truth. He nodded, satisfied. Trisha affectionately ruffled his hair, but he just rolled his eyes and made a face. After all, he had to maintain his 'cool brother' persona.

  "Didi, you're ruining my hair!"

  "Oh, look at the great Sir! Always acting so tough."

  Trisha shook her head and gave him a playful, not too hard, thunk on the head. But then her gaze fell on the vault behind them, and her sense of responsibility returned.

  "Tushar, wait a minute. I need to check the vault to confirm everything is in its place."

  "You're overthinking now. Let's just get out of here."

  "Just two minutes, Tushar!"

  Trisha hurried to the vault. It was a massive room that looked like glass from the outside but wasn't. Breaking in was nearly impossible due to the surrounding electric circuits. Only two people knew the access code, and one of them was currently punching it into the lock.

  ?°?°?°?°?

  Raghav felt strange.

  Very strange.

  The woman sitting across from him made him feel instinctively uneasy. He didn't know why. It could have been the design of the room, her piercing gaze, or the unnaturally quiet atmosphere.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The sound of guns coming from outside was not the reason at all, because ever since he had regained consciousness, he had been hearing this sound continuously.

  "Raghav? Right?"

  "Ji! (Yes!) ..."

  Raghav nodded, but he was struggling with how to address her. 'Aunty'? That felt awkward and didn't fit her personality.

  The word 'Ma'am' kept circling in his mind, but he wasn't sure if it was appropriate.

  Yet, unexpected words came out of the mouth of the woman in saree in front of him.

  "Pranali."

  "Ji? (Pardon?)"

  "My name is Pranali. Ji's child!"

  "Ji ji ...(OK)."

  This time, Pranali thought it best to rub her forehead. These rows of ji ji seemed strange. As if the boy standing in front, dressed like a Kalminar employee, didn't know how to say anything other than "ji."

  "Do you only know one word?"

  "Ji? (Pardon?)"

  『Oh God! this boy!』

  Pranali's eyebrows furrowed, not in anger, but in the very fact that she was angry: why couldn't she be angry at this boy?! When he was really bothering her.

  "How many languages are there in India?"

  Raghav was confused. Why was she asking him General Knowledge of India? What kind of test was this?

  『First, there was a cunning wolf hungry for my life. Then a monster that ran at the sight of meat. Now this... Is she deciding whether to kill me based on a quiz?』

  The thought made him shiver. Luckily, his GK was solid.

  "There are over sixteen hundred, but only twenty-two are officially recognized."

  Pranali burst into laughter. Raghav had no idea what was funny about that answer.

  "Hmm. So you do know words other than 'Ji.' That's good."

  Finally, Raghav realized the situation. It was just his own nervousness causing the awkwardness.

  "That... I... I'm sorry..."

  Pranali chuckled again, seeing how flustered the boy was just because she was the Manager of Kaalminar. She stood up, walked over, and patted the back of the chocolate-eyed boy who was looking at her in confusion.

  "It's okay, I understand. Stop being afraid of me. Don't you think I'm around your mother's age?"

  "Ji...(Yes...)"

  And Pranali laughed again. Raghav, too, scratched his head, wondering why he was repeatedly letting such stupidity escape his body. Perhaps the laughter helped him relax a little.

  "It's fine. Everyone calls me Pranali Ma'am. You can too."

  "Ji... I mean, okay."

  Pranali nodded, a silent assurance that she understood he didn't need to be so restless. Raghav could feel it too. She returned to her desk and slid one of two glasses of water toward him.

  "Sit down and have some water."

  Raghav picked up the glass but then paused. He slowly set it back down.

  "Forgive me, Ma'am! But this is your glass..."

  The woman's eyebrows rose as she heard it. Then, upon closer inspection, she saw that it was indeed her glass. She then slid the glass to her left toward him.

  "You're very sharp-eyed. How did you know?"

  Raghav took the glass and sat on a chair, for him it was as clear as glass as if the name was written on the glass.

  "It's simple. If you look at both, the water in the one on your right is slightly lower than the one on the left. More importantly, the glass you gave me was right next to you, while the one on your left was still in the table's glass holder. I just made a guess."

  Pranali looked at him with surprise, as if his explanation had gone over her head, though it hadn't.

  "Hmm. Sangharsh was right."

  "Ji?"

  A deep breath. Pranali thought it best not to comment on his 'ji'. Not all habits are worth changing; some become their identity, making them different from others. And perhaps this habit of Raghav's didn't seem so bad to Pranali anymore.

  "Take this. From today, this is your assignment."

  Raghav caught the A4-sized envelope she tossed his way.

  "What is this? What am I supposed to do?"

  "The Kaalmani and the Ojasutra. One is priceless, the other precious. Someone has made them disappear. You have to find them. Other Guild members are on the case, but you will be working for me."

  "Me?!"

  Raghav couldn't believe he was being given such a task. Pranali could see the shock written all over his face.

  "Yes, you. You have potential. All the information you need is in the documents inside that envelope. Good luck!"

  "And also, I'll send a soldier from the AHSF to assist you. Now, go!"

  Pranali returned to her work, immediately becoming busy with phone calls. Raghav opened his mouth to say something but couldn't find the words. Then, a thought he had forgotten earlier resurfaced.

  "Ma'am?"

  "Mhm?"

  "Ma'am... have you seen a glowing blue and gold butterfly?"

  Prathya's eyes immediately shifted from the long list of messages on her phone to the chocolate-eyed boy.

  『So, that butterfly wasn't a stranger to him.』

  "Yes, I have. I'll have it sent to you. But..."

  "But?"

  Pranali's eyes made it clear she wanted to know more. And Raghav knew how to read eyes.

  "What do you know about that butterfly...?"

  "...Not much. Just that... it's magical, and somehow it understands what I say."

  Raghav did not say anything more than this and the person in front also did not want to hear anything more than this.

  "Fine. You may leave."

  "Ji."

  Raghav walked away, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders. He was finally getting his butterfly back.

  And one realization he had while talking to the Manager was that the story he had read in Sanskrit in that old mansion's library...

  Its genre was Mystery....

  ?°?°?°?°?

  When Trisha entered the code, the lock beeped and turned green. The heavy iron door, covered in sensors and machinery, slid open. The siblings stepped inside.

  The vault was filled with various tools, weapons, armor, herbs, books, and priceless gems. The Ojasutra used to be here, but today it remained a mystery... In its place sat a dagger.

  In the center of the vault stood a pedestal-like table surrounded by a grid of laser lights. Inside a glass case sat a black dagger with blue and gold engravings on its scabbard.

  "Everything seems to be in order," Trisha said with relief.

  Suddenly, a crackling sound came from the circuit outside the vault, as if the sensors were trying to pick up something they couldn't quite catch. Trisha rushed over, but nothing looked out of place. Yet, something felt wrong.

  "I'm sure I heard a sound—"

  Before she could finish the thought, the laser lights began flashing with a rapid beep, followed by the sharp sound of shattering glass.

  "Who's there?!"

  Tushar ran to the center of the vault. What he saw made him question if he was in a nightmare or reality. The central display case was shattered. It was completely empty.

  Trisha arrived, and her eyes widened in shock. What she was seeing was impossible to believe.

  Red alarm lights pulsed, and a blaring siren filled the vault.

  "T-Tushar... what do we do now?"

  Tushar couldn't answer.

  The most valuable item in the vault, the ‘Kālay dagger’ , was gone.

  To be continued...