I woke up screaming. I jolted upright within my sleeping bag, throat unbelievably dry.

I looked around and I was still underneath the South Kolkata bridge surrounded by my sleeping family and our new friends who were also seeking a better life. My screams didn’t even wake them.

It wasn’t uncommon for people in our situation to have unpleasant dreams and we had long grown accustomed to an odd scream or shout during the long nights. My wife and two children merely mumbled in their sleep, only temporarily disturbed by my cold awakening. It was still the middle of the night and they needed their sleep, it had been a rough week for all of us.

I tried to remember the nightmare, it was growing vaguer by the moment, there was a skeleton, no a man, no a shadow that was trying to eat me or something.

I had been feeling sick for days, growing more tired and weak with every day that passed and yet now I felt, not good exactly but different. I no longer felt sick, simply hollow and empty inside and cold. Something warm in my belly would probably help me feel more human.

I tried to remember more about my nightmare. The grim spectre had gotten close and tried to claim my soul and I had fought it/him?

I won, barely, somehow and because I won, I managed to get something.

What was it?

I had odd memories of another world where a legion of skeletons obeyed me. I tried to shake it off as just a weird nightmare but I could feel that there was something really wrong with me. There was something missing. What was it though? I couldn’t immediately place it.

As I stood up and looked around, I felt empty, cold and hungry, and as I looked at those sleeping, I had the urge to reach out and satisfy my hunger…

My hands were ashen in colour and I couldn’t seem to warm up. I blew on my hands and rubbed them together to get the blood pumping only to find myself noticing the silence within.

My heart wasn’t beating, I wasn’t breathing and I hungered for something I couldn’t name.

I reached out to shake my wife awake and she said “Pranav what’s wrong?”

“There’s something wrong with me. I don’t feel anything.” Even as I said it, I didn’t feel scared, just confused and disoriented, like I wasn’t sure what was real or not any more.

“Pranav you’re so cold.”

I remember suddenly that there was something inside of me that had tried to devour me from within. I somehow knew that it was also inside her and my children and my other family members, cousins mostly and with my new friends. Something that would in time, not just make them sick, like I had been but something that would eat them up like cancer before they died.

There was a way to pull it out of her and into me but I only sort of half remembered it. “I will protect you.” I reached out and pulled the darkness inside of her and into me, in order to protect her and deprive the monster it’s victory.

Adhira’s eyes glazed over for a moment before asking “What was that?”

“I don’t know.” Yet there was a part of me that did know, and pulling the darkness out of her made it easier to remember how to do it without causing me this ache.

I had mana and I had used most of it to cast [Soul Drain] on her to clear her of the effects of a Soul Virus.

It was like there was another person in me, but fragments of one and a monster who dreamt of ascending to Godhood on a tide of blood. He had broken free of the Samsara and he wanted to take everyone else out of the cycle of death and rebirth, with no concern for anyone’s beliefs or values. He was a monster and needed to be stopped but how?

How could I know these things? Was this the work of Lord Vishnu? It was the only explanation that made sense, there was a monster loose upon the world and it was my duty to root out his evil from everyone and free them from his dark curse.

Inside of me was the knowledge of how to draw in mana from the world. If I was to defeat him, I would need to draw deep upon the world’s mana. I breathed in deep and tried to centre my mind as I allowed my fragmented knowledge of [Meditation] to guide me. There was a warmth that seeped into me, that filled a deep emptiness within me. It settled me, like Masala Chai, warm and soothing, with a refreshing aftertaste.

This was power, this was salvation from poverty and sickness, I would save the world. No longer would I have to sleep beneath this bridge simply to save rupees because I could only get part time or short term work. Once I had saved the world, people would line up to thank me and my talents would no longer be wasted on menial work.

I reached out with a thought to my children to pull the darkness out of them too, free them from this cruel creature’s infernal grasp. After taking the darkness out of them, I gained more knowledge as to how to use this strange power for good. Not only could I draw mana from the air itself, I could turn the pollution that marred the very air itself into mana.

I breathed in deeply, focusing on the poison, drawing it into me and changing it into mana.Where before it was like taking small sips of a hot cup of Masala Chai, this was taking rich mouthfuls, savouring the taste, the heat, the sense of satisfaction. With this newfound power, I could save everyone from this strange Soul Virus and the more darkness I consumed, the more I understood my enemy.

His name was Luthor and he was a Lich from another world out for revenge.

I now knew how to raise the dead and command them to do my bidding. I wouldn’t do such a wretched thing as to bind a soul to a corpse as it was contrary to my beliefs. It was Hindu practice to cremate the dead to free their soul from the mortal plane and no matter the cost, I would not perpetrate such an evil upon their mortal remains.

Instead I would draw power from his efforts to use us for his own desires and turn them against him. As soon as he was dead, I would set myself ablaze to cease this unnatural state of being. No I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t leave my family defenceless, more of these monsters may appear. I’d just have to make sure to avoid letting it’s evil infect me. Just because I was now an undead thing, didn’t mean I was evil like him.

I shook my head, it was starting to hurt, I needed to save these people, so my family couldn’t get reinfected.

“Pranav you’re worrying me. What is wrong?”

“It is fine, go back to sleep, my love. I just had a bad dream, I need to go for a walk.”

Adhira didn’t look convinced but the last few days had been hard on her and the kids and after a couple of minutes of cajoling she went back to sleep. I was the one they relied on to provide food and shelter and without me healthy, I couldn’t work and things had gotten even worse for us. We had run desperately low on money and had to borrow from our family, who were also in dire financial straits.

Damn this accursed Lich, infecting me with his damned virus, I hadn’t been able to provide for my family. He would pay dearly for stealing food out of the mouths of my family.

I needed to be stronger, faster, tougher in order to protect my family. There was an easy way to do so and would serve as a way to pay them back for their help over the last few days of sickness. I went from person to person under the bridge taking the darkness within them, taking their traumas into myself along with new memories of necromancy. I didn’t even have to touch them, I just had to be close by and pull upon them a little with [Soul Drain] at the part of them that responded to the thing inside of me. The more of the darkness I took, the more I knew about how to stop this monster. I needed more, all of them were clean now of the corruption but I needed more knowledge, more power to stop him.

I had learned how to cast spells to reshape bone and strengthen them. I tested this new knowledge on myself, using the tip of my pinkie finger of my left hand to test [Strengthen Bone]. It was remarkably easy, all I had to do was focus my mana according to my will along a particular line of creation.

If I was to destroy his minions and free them of their servitude to him, I would need to be stronger, physically, mentally and spiritually. I would need the help of everyone to succeed, more than that, I would need to use everything I could find, to defeat him quickly, he already had an army at his back. I think. I had vague memories of it, building one, it failing and simply making more but it was all so confused.

I left the bridge to try and clear my head, it was getting harder to make the distinction between his memories, my memories and those I had seen glimpses of as I used [Soul Drain].

After leaving the bridge, I took in the poison from the air and turned it into power. It helped clear up my thoughts somewhat.

I looked back to my family and friends and said my silent goodbyes, in my heart, I knew I would not be able to return until I had defeated the monster and I might need to sacrifice everything to win. I had a mission from Brahma to save the world from this abomination but I would not endanger my family by involving them.

Stolen novel; please report.

As I walked through the dark streets I couldn’t help but wonder why I had been chosen. Even without thinking I continued pulling out the poison from the skies and filling myself up with this unnatural power. It was as natural and as unthinking as breathing used to be. The more I took, the better I felt as if a hole inside me I never knew about was being filled.

My thoughts were broken by a man shouting at me, "GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY NOW!". He pointed a gun at my face and, a few dishevelled men appeared out of the shadows, blocking any chance to flee, all of them were poorly dressed and armed with knives. They must be desperate to do this.

I hadn’t even brought any money with me, I had left my wallet behind. I was still only wearing my pants, without a shirt on. I didn’t even feel cold or hot or anything, being undead would take some getting used to. Normally, this situation would be a great concern and take up my whole mind, as I worried about my life and to a lesser extent how my family would manage without me but I didn't feel scared, or worried, only angry at being interrupted. I was on a mission from my god and I WOULD NOT BE STOPPED!

I held out my hands and pulled upon their life force using [Life Drain] and they dropped to their knees around me. I felt a surge of strength within my body, this was much different than simply thinking clearer, this life energy was seeping into me, making my bones denser, my skin tougher, my muscles bigger and it was weird knowing this.

I stopped before any of them died. I didn’t want to kill them after all, just weaken them enough that they couldn’t hurt me.

I took the gun from the leader’s unresisting hands and as I held it, surging with stolen life energy, I wondered as to whether I should kill their leader or not. It would be so easy.

I shook off the thought, it would be against my Bhakti- yoga. The knowledge from the abomination is corrupting my thoughts, I would need to remain vigilant so as not to fall to corruption.

I would follow the Karma Yoga and be selfless in my good works. I would not seek praise or glory, I would simply seek out the evil and defeat it. I just had to keep reminding myself of my true purpose. End the evil, protect my family whatever it costs.

I used [Soul Drain] to cleanse the leader of his evil and of the Soul Virus.

I had flashbacks of his life. I could remember the beatings of a larger man when he was a child, drug use and inappropriate relationships with women. All of them combined to make him more pitiful than evil in my mind. My abilities were growing ever more powerful and disturbing. Everything the abomination used for evil, I would use for good.

I did the same for each of the other men, leaving them laid out on the ground, weak but still alive, having ultimately served a higher purpose.

I continued cleaning the air of this polluted city while quietly but efficiently removing the Soul Virus from anyone I walked by.

As I cleansed the air and the bodies and souls of those around me, I learned more about the abomination; about his powers and his history. He started off as a decent man with a wife and a job teaching children the joys of learning and after he lost his wife, he lost his mind, walking down dark paths and learning as much about the dark arts as he could. Ultimately surrendering the path to enlightenment and unity with the divine in order to retain his mortal body in his unholy goal to destroy the gods themselves.

Knowledge of how to bend the elements to my will merged with my mind, it was if I had remembered something I had learned a long time ago. If I wanted I could create fire from nothing, along with ice and water and move the very earth itself. It was not without cost but the polluted air provided mana as did the snippets of corrupted souls I removed.

I created a small fireball which floated above my hand and a strange revulsion washed through me as I looked as the cleansing fire. I banished it with a thought, right, I was undead and fire was one of the few things that would cleanse the dead and free their spirits. I’d have to be careful around fire and protect myself from it.

I strengthened every bone in my body one by one. It let me get a better feel for this new found power over bone, I had a feeling I would need every advantage in order to win this fight.

I had a general sense of where he was, through a strange kind of connection through my second soul, a pale version of the monster I hunted.

The second soul fed me information, telling me how to store all the dark memories in a Soul Library.

It was a library of horrors, the Soul Virus, attached itself to the soul of it’s host, wrapping itself around the worst possible memories. Memories of rape, murder, unspeakable tragedies and loss all in small little books on a bookshelf in my mind.

As I kept walking in his direction, I learned more and more, not only did I use [Soul Drain] on people now, I also took their mana to make my journey faster.

I had memories of how to create a Bone Dragon but nowhere near enough mana to do so nor did I have the sufficient amount of bones. Not that I would fly on the back of a monster, though it would make my journey much shorter and help me protect more people from the evil. Not enough bones and I knew of no place where I could find them.

I borrowed a cycle rickshaw to speed up my journey instead. He was so far away and I somehow knew he was murdering helpless people. I needed to move faster, be stronger, learn more if I had any hope of destroying him before he murdered even more people.

During my journey, through busy streets and quiet ones, I continued turning pollution into mana, draining mana from nearby people along with cleansing them of the Soul Virus. As I did so the litanies of horrors contained in my Soul Library grew and grew within me. He had infected so many people. I needed to find a way to cleanse more than a person at a time. I needed to draw out his darkness from all of the people I cycled past at a time, so that they could not be infected again.

I searched the second self’s memories and he provided an answer [Energy Drain], normally used to completely drain a target of everything they were, life, soul and mana in a certain range. Now that I was a tireless undead, my speed and stamina on the cycle rickshaw beggared belief.

All I would need to do was to use [Energy Drain] on it’s lowest setting at it’s highest range so that I could save them all. At such a low setting it limited the effect on an individual so it was not fatal to the host but would kill the Virus completely.

I used it briefly and it affected the people around me, killing the Soul Virus completely and feeding my second self with soul fragments, making it more complete and more able to assist me.

I kept moving, draining more and more people at a time as I cycled into Nepal itself.

Even with my inhuman physique boosted by the knowledge of how to increase the body’s power, I could not do anything about the weakness of the cycle itself. The second self had no answers, it had never needed to make a replacement tyre, it suggested using human flesh as a substitute but I vetoed such a grisly suggestion.

Even if it I could fix the tyre, the ground was too rugged and undeveloped to be travelled on cycle quickly or easily. I dismounted and ran, the rough ground meant little to me, though my speed was somewhat slower. I needed to be faster.

Perhaps I was to be Kalkin, I would only need a white horse and I would be able to end all evil.

My Soul Library had expanded drastically, filled with thousands upon thousands of dark and depressing memories.

A handful of Nepalese Armed police try and stop me for some reason and I simply reach out with my power and drain them of their darkness.

They fall down and I look at their unmoving bodies and realise they’re dead and I feel nothing. They were trying to stop Vishnu’s work and were obviously the enemy. I may have used more power than I meant to but I was so powerful now that it was hard to hold back and I needed so much more to succeed.

I was still righteous, I was on a mission from Brahma himself, I needed to do this.

I just needed to cover my face, so that they would not know it was me. I grow a layer of bone armour over my face and chest, now mere bullets would pose little threat to me. It stung, no, that’s not the right word, I feel little pain, it’s more a strange stretching sensation as I grow a literal bone helm, covering everything but my eyes and mouth. The bone plate around my torso, is built by growing my rib bones up and out in layers. I’m heavier but my improved body is barely troubled by this extra weight.

I keep moving. The abomination is getting closer, I can feel him. I can not let anyone or anything stop me. He must be destroyed whatever it takes.

I continue using [Energy Drain] along with [Meditation] and [Poison Conversion] to empower myself, with only one thought in mind, I must kill him.

Along the way I discover that I can detect spirits when I stop and use [Spirit Walk]. I just have to stop for a moment and I can use this new ability to scout ahead for threats and unseen spirits. Whenever I see one, I pull them into me, I’ll take them to Brahma when I ascend, no I mean when I die, I’ll guide them into the Samsara as is my duty.

When I’m on the edge of Nepal and China I run into a particularly odd spirit, it’s soul is black and twisted. When I eat it, I learn it is a tool of the Abomination and know more about his movements than before. I know that he’s in China, killing millions and turning people into monsters for his own benefit.

There’s a rich thrill in eating it, it’s more powerful than anything else I’ve eaten and eating it has deprived the Mad Lich King of one of it’s tools. I will devour all his minions and take from him his power and destroy him utterly. NO one WILL stop ME!. I will feed and grow powerful enough to destroy him and every evil in the world. As is my duty as Kalkin.

A wave of mounted Nepalese cavalrymen attack me with their guns but they are easily stopped, I just drain them of all their energy and they turn into harmless bones. I stop myself before I turn them into dust. After all these people don’t deserve the release into the Samsara and their bones can be of greater use to me.

I use the knowledge given to me from my second self to raise one of their dead horses into a Skeletal Steed. Raising a dead beast to serve me would help its karma for bearing an enemy against me. I mount the Skeletal Steed and direct it with a thought. This would help speed up my progress.

I turn back to look at the fallen soldiers, considering that they had tried to kill me, they deserve to suffer for their crimes. I close my eyes and animate their bones, it pulls at the mana within and I focus harder on all the steps involved needed to turn them from mere skeletons into true Skeleton Knights. This way they can help clear the path for me and atone for their sins against me.

After a minute, I am done and I have half a dozen Skeleton Knights, but they need mounts to be truly useful. I raise their dead horses as well, turning them into Skeletal Steeds. I have my new Skeleton Knights go ahead of me, tasked to clear the path of anyone foolish enough to try and stop me in my holy mission. One is without a mount and trails behind to serve as a rear guard.

Despite my new helpers, there seems to be even more people trying to get in my way. They just keep sending more and more people to try and stop me. They don’t listen when I tell them that I’m on a holy mission to destroy evil. They just keep shooting at me. At one point, I have to cover the gaps in my bone helm as a bullet hits me in the eye and my thoughts get wonky for a moment.

I abandon the body for a second and devour their everything with [Energy Drain] for their crime. I return to the body and repair it using a mix of blood magic and bone magic to regrow the brain where it was damaged. It's surprisingly easy.

It’s a good thing that my soul remembers what I need to do. I am more than a sack of meat that can be destroyed by a lump of metal. I am Kalkin. I will remove the adharma and bring about the Satya Yuga and will destroy those of the nastika who try and stop me.

Due to the constant interference and attacks I must abandon the mortal senses and let my Skeletal Steed carry me as I used [Spirit Walk] to lookout for any threats, human or otherwise. My body is now covered in bone upon my skeletal steed as my soul floats above, taking what I need from the land and it’s people to do what I must to restart the cycle.

For a moment I stop the horse to make necessary adjustments, making it’s bones denser and larger, especially the bones making up it’s legs, to make it a mount truly worthy of Kalkin. After all I now have the form of a demigod, covered in bone, at least 7 feet tall, with unbelievable strength, stamina and immunity from sickness, aging and death and power over the elements and life and death itself.

Soon I will destroy the Abomination and devour his power and grow strong enough to rid the world of all evil.