Ahmaya and Ayani are stuck in Patallok, unable to open the portal and return to Earth. They are aware that something worse is taking place on Earth.
.
Ayani's father stands amidst the chaos; his serpent energy covers him in waves of indigo flame, but even his power pales against the onslaught of Gyanwati's army of shadows, the warriors born of smoke, fury, and forgotten curses. One by one, his kin fall—grabbed by unconsciousness and taken to the Patallok one by one.
His fists tremble. His heart—raging. His eyes are wet; he is still fighting, with tears that glisten even amid his storm of strikes. Deep guilt embraces him; each strike he delivers ignites with anger.
Helplessly, he watches as darkness defeats his friends and warriors, their bodies disappearing as if they are nobody. The serpent within him cries with grief, but he does not stop. He cannot. He gathers his sorrow and transforms it into a wave of blue energy, surging forward like a river.
And then—he moves towards her.
Gyanwati stands tall at the heart of the battlefield, with laughter curling on her lips like poison. Her aura is laced with green fire, and her eyes gleam with cruel command. Around her, shadow-soldiers move like extensions of her will, intercepting any who dare come close. And those who make it past? One glance from her verdant eyes and they crumble.
Ayani's father roars from the depths of his soul and charges.
His eyes are full of tears as he races through the fallen, and then—he leaps. From his hand, a blade emerges, forged of blue light, sharp, glistening like a diamond drawn from the sky. He brings the sword to her neck, his body trembling, eyes locked into hers—eyes he once knew. "Leave them. Leave them at once."
Gyanwati smirks. "Do you really think they can be saved now?" she whispers, unfazed, the blade still pressed against her skin.
A single tear escapes Ayani's father's eye. "This… this is not the Gyanwati I knew."
She laughs low, almost sweet, but with venom underlined. Her sudden power surge sends a pulse of energy that breaks the diamond blade and transforms it into shimmering dust. She moves forward, her breath warm against his face; she draws a dagger. She runs its tip up against one of his eyes.
"You're right," she whispers, her voice filled with rage and heartbreak. "I am not the Gyanwati you once knew… I am the Gyanwati you made."
Her gaze pierces into his soul.
"This… all of this… is happening because of you. You brought them here.You summoned your precious Aokmas to face me," she sneers. "Me?" She lets out a bitter laugh, wild and triumphant. "You thought they could defeat me? You endangered them selfishly. Just like you always did."
Ayani's father falls to his knees, his energy flickering…..
"Take me," he pleads, voice hollow. "Take my powers instead. Take me."
Gyanwati pauses. She lowers her dagger and tilts her head.
"Of course, I will when the right time comes." She answers coldly.
The battlefield is now eerily silent. The shadows have withdrawn, taking with them the last of his kin. He could not stop the tragedy. All his friends, his sacred Aokmas, have vanished.
As the mists begin to retreat, Gyanwati steps toward him one final time.
"I'm leaving your wife… for now," she says. "Don't worry, spend what precious little time you have left with her. A few days. That's all. Then I'll return… for her."
Ayani's father barely looks up. He speaks in a low voice.
"Where is my daughter?"
Gyanwati smiles, her eyes gleaming.
"She's with me. Safe. I won't harm her."
She leans closer, voice dipped in mockery.
"Don't worry about her; just spend some good time with your wife."
But before they can utter another word, a storm roars into existence.
Ayani's mother, his wife, the lioness, steps between them, her fury igniting the sky. Her hands rise, and from them bursts a cyclone, laced with thunder, hurled directly at Gyanwati.
Gyanwati halts it mid-air with a flick of her hand.
"Hushhhh, dear," she taunts, her voice silk and steel. "Do you wish to come with us now? Or are you just here to make noise?"
Without warning Gyanwati summons a weapon, a bow, acquired from cursed roots of the underworld. She chants some hymn, her voice echoing with power. A single arrow emerges, glowing dark green. She draws the bowstring.
It flies. It strikes.
The impact flings Ayani's mother backward, causing her body to crash into the ground with a sound akin to earth splitting. Blood blooms across her side.
"No!" Ayani's father cries, dashing to her side. He gathers her in his arms, and without a moment's pause, he lifts her and sprints toward shelter, toward home, or anywhere safe enough to tend to her wounds. The arrow missed a fatal point, or it can be said that Gyanwati knowingly missed it.
And in the distance, Gyanwati vanishes into the mists once more, laughing.