Chapter 3: The Descent

Aryan's breath came in shallow gasps as he stood frozen, staring at the streak of brilliant silver and blue cutting through the night sky. The world around him seemed to hold its breath, the distant rustling of leaves and chirping of insects fading into silence. The asteroid—if that's what it was—grew larger with each passing second, a blazing beacon of raw, untamed power descending toward the earth.

His heart pounded against his ribs, a primal fear gripping his chest. He had read about meteors before, had seen them in movies, but this… this was different. It wasn't just a distant shooting star flashing across the sky. This was real, immediate, and terrifying.

The air around him began to vibrate, a low hum resonating through the ruins, making the ancient stone beneath his feet tremble. A gust of wind swept through the clearing, carrying with it the scent of burning metal and something else—something he couldn't quite place. It was almost…electric.

His mind screamed at him to move, to run, to get as far away as possible, but his body refused to obey. He was rooted to the spot, unable to tear his eyes away from the descending celestial object. It was beautiful in a way that defied logic—an otherworldly glow radiating from its surface, swirling patterns of energy trailing behind it like the tail of a comet.

For a moment, Aryan forgot everything. The pain, the loneliness, the weight of his failures—all of it seemed so small compared to the cosmic force hurtling toward him. And yet, deep inside, something stirred. A flicker of something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Hope?

No. That was ridiculous. What hope could possibly come from a falling rock from space?

And then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the asteroid shifted course. It was still coming down, but its trajectory wasn't random—it was precise. Almost… deliberate.

The realization sent a fresh wave of panic through Aryan. This wasn't just a meteor crashing to Earth. This wasn't some cosmic accident. Whatever this was, it was heading straight for him.

His paralysis shattered. His instincts screamed at him to move, and finally, he did. He turned on his heel and sprinted, his feet pounding against the uneven stone of the ruins. His breath came in ragged gasps, his muscles screaming in protest as he pushed himself forward. But no matter how fast he ran, the light behind him only grew brighter, the hum turning into a deafening roar.

A sudden shockwave sent him sprawling forward, the force of it knocking the air from his lungs. He hit the ground hard, his palms scraping against rough stone. The world around him exploded in a blinding flash of light, a sound like thunder tearing through the night. He squeezed his eyes shut, throwing his arms over his head as debris rained down around him.

And then… silence.

For a long moment, he didn't dare move. His ears were ringing, his skin tingling from the residual energy still crackling in the air. Slowly, cautiously, he lifted his head.

The impact had left a smoking crater in the center of the ruins. The stone around it was scorched black, steam rising in thin wisps from the earth. And there, at the heart of the destruction, lay the source of the celestial descent.

It wasn't just a rock.

Aryan's breath hitched. It was a fragment of something—metallic, glowing faintly with an eerie blue light. Strange symbols etched into its surface pulsed like a heartbeat, their glow fading and brightening in a rhythmic pattern. The energy radiating from it was unlike anything he had ever felt, an invisible force pressing against his skin, setting every nerve in his body alight.

His fingers trembled as he reached out, an irresistible pull drawing him closer. Every instinct screamed at him to stop, to turn back, to run. But he couldn't. He didn't want to.

Because for the first time in what felt like forever, Aryan didn't feel like a failure.

He felt like something was finally reaching out to him.

Something… calling him.

His fingertips brushed against the surface of the glowing fragment, and in that instant, the world around him shattered.

A blinding surge of energy shot through his body, white-hot and overwhelming. His vision blurred, his mind flooded with incomprehensible images—stars burning, galaxies colliding, shadows moving in the void. He felt as though he was being torn apart and remade all at once, his very essence unraveling before being woven back together with something else… something powerful.

He gasped, stumbling back as the light faded, his body trembling from the sheer force of what had just happened. His skin tingled, his veins humming with an unfamiliar sensation. He looked down at his hands, expecting them to be burned, but they weren't. They were the same.

And yet… they weren't.

Something had changed.

Aryan staggered to his feet, his heart racing. The whispers of self-doubt, of failure, of loneliness… they were still there, but they felt distant now, like echoes of a life that no longer belonged to him. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he wasn't drowning in the weight of his past.

He wasn't just Aryan Verma, the failure.

He was something more.

And whatever had just happened to him…

It was only the beginning.

END OF CHAPTER 3