“I want to protect her,” he whispered, pulling Nila into a tight embrace.
“URRGHHH!” A sharp, guttural sound cut through the air.
The voice echoed in his ears—familiar, but wrong. He froze. His eyes flew open.
No...
Standing before him—was Chandra.
His jaw dropped in disbelief. His arms trembled. A strange warmth trickled down his hand. Wet. Sticky.
Blood.
She growled again, her voice twisted in pain. Her body collapsed forward, heavy in his arms. His knees buckled under the weight. He caught her instinctively, holding her close.
What… what’s happening?
His mind couldn’t comprehend it. Panic surged. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think. His eyes, wide and unblinking, locked onto the bleeding woman in his arms.
Blood bubbled from her lips as she coughed, trembling violently. Her hands gripped his, shaking, desperate… fading.
He was shaking too—paralyzed by the horror. The shock.
Her breath became shallow. Then shallower.She inhaled once—deeply.
And stopped.
Her hand slipped from his, falling to the ground with a thud.
Her eyes—still open—fixed on him, glassy and unblinking.
………
A gasp of wind blew through the trees, brushing the branches as if urging the leaves to dance to its haunting melody. One leaf broke free, fluttering gently, only to land in a pool of blood. Slowly, the crimson soaked into its delicate veins.
The sight caught Harsha’s eyes.
"NI... NILAAAAA!!!" He screamed, his voice tearing through the night.
He couldn’t accept it.The person he had just vowed to protect—was gone.
He clutched her lifeless body to his chest, crying out with raw, primal pain, desperate for a miracle, hoping that holding her tight enough might bring her back.
"NILAAAAAAA!!!"His voice echoed through the sky, stirring the thunder.
Every corner of the palace heard it. Servants, guards, nobles—they all rushed to the scene.
The King arrived in a panic. He dropped to his knees beside Harsha, confused, breathless—then froze as his eyes landed on Chandra, standing eerily still.
"WHY?!" 
Harsha roared, lifting his tear-soaked face to Chandra, fury blazing in his eyes.
She didn’t move. Until—her left hand twitched. Slowly, she raised it to her face.
Then— "HAHAHAHA!" A wicked laugh burst from her lips as she brushed her hair away.
"HOW DARE THAT LOWLIFE SLUT TRY TO TAKE WHAT’S MINE?!" she screamed, holding out the blood-stained knife for all to see.
The blood still dripped from its edge, falling to the ground between her and Harsha.
The King recoiled in horror. He stumbled backward, disbelief washing over him. His queen... his beloved Chandra…
 She had betrayed him—not only with another man—but by committing murder.
"YOUUUU SLUUUUUTTTTT!!!" Chandra shrieked again, waving the knife above her head in madness.
SPLASH. A single drop of blood landed on Harsha’s cheek.
"I love you too..." Nila’s final words echoed in his memory.
No... no... no...He tightened his hold on Nila’s body, his tears falling onto her still, pale forehead.
Nothing could be done. She was gone.
With trembling hands, he brushed her silky hair away from her face and kissed her cold forehead—one last time.
Gently, he laid her down on the blood-soaked ground.
The sky turned black .Thunder roared. Lightning struck in the distance, shaking the earth beneath them.
Harsha stood—his eyes filled not with sorrow, but wrath. A different energy radiated from him.
Everyone froze, their eyes wide in disbelief.
The very air trembled as a flash of lightning lit up the scene—revealing not Harsha anymore—but the towering presence of Sage Durva.
THUD.The knife slipped from Chandra’s hand.
Her jaw dropped. Her eyes widened in terror.
"D-Durva...?" She could barely speak.
………
The wild wind howled through the palace as thunder crashed down upon the earth. It was a war between the sky and the ground—a storm summoned not by nature, but by rage itself.
“YOU! Who is obsessed with beauty!” The voice roared louder than the storm. It was no longer Harsha standing there, but Sage Durva—his divine form revealed, cloaked in blinding light and righteous fury.
“I, Durva, in my name and power, curse you, Chandra!” His voice echoed across the heavens, shaking the skies.
You will lose the very beauty you treasure so dearly!
Lightning split the sky once more. The ground trembled violently.
Chandra dropped to her knees as the earth beneath her quaked. The skies began to weep, heavy rain pouring down like the tears of the gods.
Panic broke out.
Servants screamed. Guards shouted, trying to maintain order—but the palace grounds were chaos.
Amid the madness, one sound pierced through louder than even the thunder:
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" A scream—raw, tortured
It echoed through the night, bouncing off every wall, ripping through every heart.
The curse had begun. And there would be no turning back.
………..
The rain blurred her vision as she desperately wiped her eyes, trying to see clearly.
Her once flawless skin—soft and radiant—was now withered, stretched over sharp bones. Wrinkles lined her hands like cracks in old parchment. Her legs, once full and graceful, now resembled brittle sticks, trembling under her weight.
Panicked, she touched her fingers—thin and trembling. She reached for her face.
Her once-plump cheeks had sunken in like hollow shells. Her eyes, once bright and enchanting, were now deep, shadowed hollows.
She turned slowly, catching her reflection in a puddle of water.
Where once stood a breathtaking angel, now stared back at a frail, aged woman.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!”Her scream tore through the storm as she clutched her hair—only for a clump of it, now streaked white, to come away in her hand
.
NO! NO! My beauty… my skin… my hair!!
She fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
“YOUUU! YOU DID THIS TO ME!!” she shrieked at Durva. “YOU DECEIVED ME!”
Sage Durva’s eyes blazed. “Blinded by your vanity, you let darkness consume you. You took an innocent life!” His voice cracked like thunder.
“This is no deception—this is justice.”
“YOOOUUU…!” she screamed, unable to accept the truth, her pride breaking with her body.
Her spine, once proud and straight, had bent. Her strength was fading. Her breath, shallow.
“No… no… no…” She shook her head, refusing the reality as tears mixed with the rain.
In a final fit of rage, she slammed her hands to the ground—but the earth was littered with sharp stones.
CRACK.
A gasp of pain—her hand had struck jagged edges. Blood began to pour from her palm, mixing with the rain.
But she didn’t stop. She kept pounding the ground—screaming, weeping, broken.
The storm raged on, but none could outcry her despair.
………..
He turned around, his arms cradling the lifeless body of his love.
“It’s time for us to go,” he whispered softly, voice trembling with sorrow.
But then—A sudden silence.
The kind of silence that doesn’t comfort, but stabs.
His breath caught. Something wasn’t right.
A strange chill crept down his spine, coiling in his gut like a warning. Slowly, cautiously, he turned—
And froze.
She was standing. Chandra.Her posture was twisted, drenched in blood, her eyes burning like wild fire.In her shaking hand, she held the blade—now pointed directly at him.
“YOU DIDN’T WIN!!” she howled, a voice soaked in madness and hate.
Before he could react—
“URRRGGHHHH!!” A piercing scream tore through the night.
It was all over in seconds.
Chandra had turned the blade on herself.
She fell to her knees as a torrent of blood poured from the deep gash in her neck, mingling with the stormwater, creating a pool of red around her. Her body trembled, then collapsed.
But even as her life slipped away… her eyes never looked away from Durva.
And what shocked him most—
Was the smile.
Not of regret.
Not of sorrow.
But a smile twisted with pure, unholy evil.