Bright, warm sunlight fell on Kai's eyes.
His eyelids flickered before opening slowly.
He stayed still for some more time.
Not because of laziness, but to check.
"Dream?"
The word came out almost in denial.
No. It had not been fake.
Chair in the corner.
His gaze stopped there. The frame was still bent.
He got up and walked toward it, pressing the twisted metal with his fingers.
Cold. Solid.
But the room sounded unchanged. No other breathing.
Hallucinations didn't leave marks.
His right hand moved to his chest next.
And the strange warmth still lingering in the room also argued in Kai's favor.
Still, there was no being other than him.
Even if there had been, it didn't matter.
He had already announced his 'Death.'
Kai left the bed and stretched a bit.
Then a sound came.
From him.
Hunger.
Loud enough to sound like a cry for help.
"Photosynthesis would be a better option."
Kai couldn't help but submit to hunger. Annoying, but important for survival.
Unfortunately, even the kitchen seemed to be asking for food. Kai headed outside to buy something.
And for that, he didn't have to leave the building, as there was a general store on the ground floor.
Kai stopped in front of it.
Shutter down. Closed.
He was about to head toward another shop outside when he saw a familiar face approaching.
"Oh! Just opening, just opening." An old man in his early sixties came forward with keys in hand. "I was praying and forgot the time." He rubbed the top of his head and laughed softly. "White hair has some side effects too."
He lifted the shutter.
"Bread and jam," Kai said, eyes moving over the racks stacked with packets and bottles.
"Kailash, you are losing weight, child," the old man said while stepping inside. "Office pressure?"
"Maybe."
The old man moved deeper into the shop, opened the refrigerator, and took out a jam bottle.
"Hahaha… working hard is fine. But don't forget your health. After all, that's the thing that matters the most. Right?"
"How much?"
Kai's hand moved toward his pocket.
Only air.
Empty.
He stared blankly.
The old man looked at him for a moment, then sighed through his nose.
"Huh… seems I have to note it down again."
He put the bread and jam into a polythene bag and handed it over to Kai.
Kai's legs stopped just before his room door.
He peeked in through the gap first.
No trace of Davan. No voice.
After confirming Azhim's absence, he entered.
The first thing he did was prepare breakfast.
Bread. Jam. Nothing that required thought.
"Oh? What's this? It seems like something new."
The voice came from inside the room.
No.
From inside Kai.
Kai coughed out the bite of bread he had just taken. Beat his chest twice before the voice came again.
"Can I have some?"
Azhim's upper body popped out from Kai's chest. One arm reached toward the bread.
For one second, Kai only stared.
Before Kai could even settle into his usual don't-care expression, Azhim added, glancing at his panting face,
"Never mind."
He took the bread anyway.
Bit into it.
Then froze.
His eyes lowered slightly.
Sweetness spread across his tongue. Soft bread. Jam spreading across it like revelation.
For a moment, his whole face changed.
Then he grabbed another sandwich.
Then another.
Then another.
Stuffed them into his mouth one after another.
"Deeze… ah so taystee," Azhim said, speaking through bread with zero dignity.
Kai looked at him.
"It wasn't a dream after all," he said in a low, slow voice.
"Huh… you thought I was in your dream, Kailash?" Azhim replied the moment he finished one sandwich.
Kai's eye twitched once.
"I don't remember telling you my name."
"Yeah? Same. I don't remember asking for your name." Azhim moved lazily, his body flowing in a way that made him look less like a man and more like a thought refusing shape. "Maybe because of a weak memory… of yours."
Then he grinned.
"What do you think the 'knowledge' in my title is for? It's not there to brag."
Kai's eyes flickered twice.
Then he sighed and grabbed another bread slice, applying jam with slow, resigned movements.
…
Somewhere in the Western Himalayas.
Between mountain peaks that cut through a white sea, there stood a village untouched by ordinary winds. It was surrounded by clouds that avoided even touching its boundaries, like servants guarding a throne without daring to look at it directly.
At its center stood the Chandravanshi fortress, carved from quarried stone.
Ancient. Vast. Divine.
Pillars lined with faded symbols. Courtyards beneath the clean sky held armies of natural warriors in training. Some meditated, but far beyond simple meditation—some inside fire, some in mid-air, some while enduring the bites of poisonous animals.
No wasted movement. No unnecessary shouting. Quiet—almost silence.
The instructors stood with the stiffness of drawn bows.
Then an old man dressed in ancient yogic robes appeared on the long corridor.
Backs straightened without command.
Respect came first, followed by quiet fear.
Crack.
A thunderbolt struck the altar-like platform nearby, exploding dust and wind outward.
One of the instructors rushed toward it.
A piece of paper lay at the center of the smoking stone.
Delivered by lightning.
He picked it up and quickly brought it to the old man.
The writing was in red. Too dark to be ink. Too thick to be anything else.
The old man lifted it before his eyes and read.
Only two lines.
I have lost that 'Maharathi' Davan, and if I am not wrong, it has already been released.
I am your sinner. I will not ask for forgiveness or show you my face until the day I bring that Davan and his master before you.
The old man crushed the paper in his palm.
His face did not change much. Only a slight nod. Anger mixed with pity.
"Parjanya," he said slowly. "When will you grow?"
He said it as if asking himself.
Then he signaled one of the instructors.
"Find him."
He handed over what remained of the letter and returned his gaze to the training ground.
…
"Where are we going?" Azhim asked while straightening himself against Kai's back. No longer a giant, but more like a parasite attached to him.
Kai stepped into the corridor and locked the room's door.
He didn't answer. Refusing to acknowledge that he now had a new roommate—more like a bodymate. Or a parasite.
Azhim didn't seem bothered by being ignored. If anything, he looked interested in testing Kai's patience.
"Shopping? Man, we are bodymates now. Better to act like it. At least for seven days. It's not that long."
"Huh… then why not split the bills?" Kai said flatly. "And it is a long time."
"Sign the contract and I will," Azhim replied immediately, even before Kai had finished speaking.
Then he leaned closer.
"And that way, I won't have to worry about making good memories with you."
With that, he posed in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable.
Especially another man.
Kai ignored that too.
"Others can't see you, right?" he asked while stepping into the corridor.
"True."
Azhim drifted beside him for a moment, then passed through him, then came half out again—as if he hadn't found a good spot to stay still. Or was secretly doing it just to annoy Kai.
The corridor was quiet. Most people were either at work or busy with daily chores, leaving it rather empty. But it was still full of sound—utensils being washed, pressure cookers hissing, cartoon laughter coming from a neighboring flat.
Azhim moved his head with each sound, listening with open curiosity.
"So now humans have gone on to imprison themselves in these structures," he murmured.
"Without needing to kill each other? Interesting."
"Maybe they're laughing at you," Kai said.
Azhim grinned.
"At least you can float far from me, right?"
"Yes."
He then started descending the stairs one after another, though part of him remained intentionally connected to Kai through a tail-like shape.
"Far enough to annoy you. Not far enough to leave you alone in this world."
Azhim winked awkwardly at Kai.
"Unfortunate."
"For you?" Azhim's smile deepened. "Certainly."
Kai kept walking.
Step after step.
No hurry. Enough time to waste. No interest.
But his eyes shifted once toward the half-formed thing floating at his side.
Still there.
Still real.
And somehow already speaking as if it had a place in his life.
The staircase turned.
Sunlight from the building entrance spilled upward in pale strips.
Kai descended into it without changing expression.
Azhim followed, half-inside him, half-beside him—like a thought that had refused to remain a thought.