Somewhere deep in a jungle of withered trees, a lone wooden hut stood.
Outside the hut was a structure made of wooden logs, by stacking them on top of each other.
Inside the hut, soft sobs echoed. A man knelt on the floor, clutching a lifeless woman in his arms, his head resting on hers as he wept.
"Diya..." His voice trembled, breaking under the weight of her name. "Why... why you?"
Tears streamed down his scarred face, falling onto her pale cheeks. His body shook violently, as grief overtook him.
"Ahhh God, how could you do this to me? His voice cracked, in agony.
"Isn't everything you've taken from me enough? So now... now you took her too."
"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?" he screamed in pain, revealing his deranged face and neck full of scars and his blood red eyes.
Silence followed, except for the rustle of the wind. His cries faded into quiet sobs.
"Diya..." he whispered, his voice hoarse and broken. "How... How am I supposed to live without you? How?" His grip tightened around her lifeless body. "Just once... please wake up. Tell me this is all a bad dream." His words were barely audible, choked by the lump in his throat.
He didn't care about the snot trailing down his face or his swollen eyes. "You promised," he muttered. "You promised we'd have a happy ending. A little house... a garden... a barn."
He groaned, vividly remembering the days they spend together.
"Rahul," she called, with her soft, soothing voice.
"When it's all over, we'll build a wooden house in a forest. A garden, where we'll walk every morning. A small barn with hens—I'll check for eggs every day."
"A small barn, where I'll feed hens and check for new eggs."
She spun around, looking at him. "Would you live there with me?"
Rahul, lying in the shade of a tree, smiled. "Of course. Don't even dream of going alone. I'll be with you. Always," he stood up and replied, hugging the lady.
"WHAT NOW?" Rahul screamed at the top of his lungs, snapped, back in reality.
"Without you, everything withered away. All the chickens died, the trees dried up, the flowers withered. Without you, I..."
He broke down, holding her close as the sun dipped below the horizon. The crimson light faded, giving way to a dark, empty night, while he was still lamenting over her loss.
She was covered in a white blanket, only her blonde hair visible, hanging down as he laid her on the platform for her death rites.
He laid her down with care, his fingers lingering for a moment. Then, he turned back inside into the room. On the table, he picked up a rolled-up scroll tied with a red ribbon.
But as he picked up the scroll, his sight fell onto the book beneath it. Anger surged inside him, as fury boiled inside him.
The veins all over his body bulged as if they would burst at any moment.
Clenching his fists, he slammed them down onto the book. _
Yet that one book remained intact, without a single scratch.
It's all your fault," he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "You took her. You took my everything."
Panting, he glared at the cursed object. "I'll destroy you," he whispered, trembling with rage. "Just like you destroyed me."
"I-I..."Grabbing the scroll and the book, he stumbled outside. "You killed her. You devoured her!" he shouted at the book, holding it high in his hands.
He took out the scroll, untied the ribbon, gripped the scroll tightly with both hands, poised to tear it apart. But His fingers trembled, and his chest heaved with the weight of indecision. His heart screamed at him to stop—that this would be the last time he would ever see Diya.
His grief drowned out the plea. The pain, the emptiness, the anger—all of it demanded vengeance.
Biting his lips hard, thrusting his teeth into them as blood gushed out and his tears turned red, he chose vengeance and tore the scroll, setting the platform on fire with Diya.
"Diya... goodbye," he whispered, his voice hollow.
Quickly, he picked up the book and threw it into the Samadhi fire.
But then—
The wind rose and rushed into the fire, setting it ablaze more intensely. Soon, the book rose into the air, levitating inside the fire, Its pages fluttered wildly.
"What the—?" Rahul staggered back, eyes wide with disbelief.
Inky shadows oozed from the book, twisting and writhing like living things. Their screeches pierced the air, sending chills down his spine.
"Aaaaah!" Rahul screamed in fear, scrambling backward, his hands slipping on the dirt. But the shadow was fast. It's mouth gaped open, ink dripping like venom. Ready to devour him
Every time they tried to leave the Samadhi's periphery, the flames burned them.
Before Rahul could react, it grabbed him, dragging him inside the Samadhi.
"Ahhh..." He screamed in pain as his body burned bit by bit inside the fire, still being dragged by the huge black hand.
"Diya!" he cried, panic flooding his voice, as he watched the flames burn the black hand. "Even now, you're saving me. How helpless I am, still relying on you, even after you're gone..." Rahul's voice broke, trembling with regret. "I'm sorry, Diya, but I can't do this anymore. I've had enough."
With a resigned breath, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of fire scrolls, the edges crinkled and worn.
Biting through the ribbons, he whispered, "I'm coming with you."
A smile, fragile but genuine, broke through his grief as he tore the scrolls.
KABOOM.
The explosion rocked the jungle, with a huge flash.
When the dust settled, only ashes remained. The platform was gone. The hut was gone. Everything... gone.
Except for one thing.
In the swirling embers, a single book lay half-burnt, its edges glowing with the embers of fire still attached to it.
But soon, a huge amount of sparkling, colorful power rushed inside the book as it started to vibrate intensely.
< Boom.> Another explosion.
The dust clouds settled again, revealing a new, shining book and a half-burnt one.
The air hummed with energy as both the books vibrated violently. Suddenly—Woosh. Two beams of light descended from the heavens, enveloping the books.
The books spun faster and faster around each other until—Boom. They vanished.
Due to this swirling, fire emerged from the embers of the destroyed Samadhi, spreading violently. It consumed the hut, the dead garden, and the empty barn.
The dried forest soon got enveloped by the fire, burning endlessly for months, until the fire finally calmed, leaving sizzling wood, flying ashes, a burnt pendant, and dead memories.
------------------------------------------>
Somewhere, in a distant apartment stairwell.
An old cardboard box lay in a corner of the staircase to the terrace, filled with various books.
A sudden flash illuminated the space. When it faded, a pristine book rested atop the pile.
It was a new, shiny book, as if it had just come out of the publishing machine.