I opened my eyes to a familiar ceiling, the sight of which I hadn't witnessed for over the last few years, in the memories of my previous life. My life was already in the dumps during my early childhood, but it all started to go down into a spiral of regret and despair after my elder sister, born and brought up in Alik, was sent to Devi Saraswati's temple as a part of our family's tradition.

She was now here after a week at the Ashrama, sitting on a chair beside my bed, smiling down at me. It has already changed, huh?

I sat up, with my jaws on the floor watching her expression. She's always been gloomy and inexpressive, trying to shoulder everything on her own. She never said it aloud, but I knew she deeply cared for me, and have been trying her best to give me an opportunity to leave this isolated and empty house where I was hidden practically all my life. Only my mother knew the coordinates to this location, and was responsible for transporting supplies and my family members in whenever it was required.

It's reminding me of the bad memories again.

"Good morning, Arvind." Somi, my elder sister smiled so bright that it dazzled me.

She and my mother are the only ones who have talked to me till now in this current life. Even my father is not allowed to see us, since we never knew what kind of commands the six families could have given him.

He too was isolated just like me, until his father died and made him the head of the Sapta family. Somi has told me that our father got to meet grandfather only a couple of times.

Until we become the head, the male heirs are hidden meticulously, so that no danger befell us because of our curse at the hands of the six families.

"Aren't you excited? She'll be arriving soon..." Somi said, touching just below my eye, picking up an eyelash that had broken off the edge of my eyelid. Putting it over my fist, she mumbled something, blew it away as if a birthday candle.

"The wish is made. You'll find a cute and kind girl soon, who'll stay with you until you become the head..." she said, with the last part laced in sadness.

"Does it even work if you tell your wish out aloud? And wasn't I supposed to make the wish since it's my eyelash?" I complained with a little smile. She has changed this much in the course of a week? She wasn't this expressive before... what happened?

"Ofcourse it will work! I have become Kalpa's guardian now, and she'll definitely make it come true, I just know it..." she said happily, but there was still a darkness hidden behind her words.

Kalpa's guardian?? Her????

I started sweating. Last iteration, it was me who was her guardian. What happened this time??? If it goes on like this, she'll have to face that monster in the future instead of me!! I can't let that happen!!!

"What happened? What are you thinking about?" She asked innocently, not knowing how much the world had changed before I even started my journey again.

"No, it's nothing... Your wish, I know it will come true too." I remembered Avanti's face as she disappeared into the chasm between dimensions in the fight to defend Kalpa and tried to keep up my poker face. She's indeed kind and pretty, but she could have lived a different, a normal life, if she wasn't fated to arrive at our house when she was only ten.

We are supposed to live together, isolated here, until it's time for me to leave and go out into the world as the Sapta family's head. After that we would never meet again, since any contact will only give the other families chances to make me hurt my own family.

We had received Kalpa's help last life, and had embarked on a journey later to grow stronger as her guardian, changing our fate but dying early in the process.

To think that we had fallen this low. From Ekah, to Sapta... from the highest to the lowest point in the hierarchy between the seven families.

I inspected my sister's expression closely, the new additions- slight green highlights at the end of her long chocolate hair and green sparkles over her brown eyes didn't look out of place that much, highlighting her beauty instead. Last life, she was never chosen as the guardian, neither did she return to my house after a week at the Ashrama. She had directly went to Saraswati Devi's temple and stayed there till obscurity without returning once to meet me. Being shunned by her own friend Ariya who she grew up with in Alik, back at the Ashrama, broke her heart and she never returned to the place again. She could have just come back to the family... why did she have to...?

I have two years before two of the seven are taken out again, making me the new...

Fuck.

In my previous life, Ariya and another of the seven had died, passing on the guardian's duties to me and Avanti two years from now. But this time, if Somi was the guardian... wasn't she in grave danger?

Why?? What happened? Regressing back had no advantages at all... what am I supposed to do now if all I know never comes to pass?

My head was already melting into a pool of overcooked spaghetti because of all the thoughts of what-ifs and possibilities that might take form in this life.

"How are things with Ariya?" I asked fearing the worst had already come to pass, but still with a little bit of hope, since I got to see her again like this. How many years was it? After how long did I see her? This body had seen her just a week ago, but this mind ... it's been so so long.

"Everything's fine with her. She had been down because of some arguments with her other friend..? Yeah, we can say that, so I had to stay with her till the last moment trying to console her. She'll bounce back soon." she said after giving it a thought, "Another thing happened..." she stopped herself, suddenly getting red behind the ears and making me surprised, "Let's not talk about that today. It will hurt a little for me. Sorry..."

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That. Exactly that. Something has happened!!!! It will hurt a little? What happened to make her embarrassed like that? What if she runs away because of that? For now, it's better to stay at the Ashrama than the temple. I'll need to know what had transpired there.

"Don't go to the temple... stay at the Ashrama, and with us, please..." I mumbled getting increasingly emotional, as I tried to put out the words, again feeling glad that her fate has also been changed somehow. This won't be the last time we meet then. That temple, she needs to stay as far as she can from there.

"I will again go back to the Ashrama after seventeen days, so don't worry. Since Kalpa made me her guardian, I think I don't need to join the temple for now, not until my Guardian duties are completed. Father has already sent out word to the temple, so they won't be bothering me for the time being." she said with a sigh of relief.

"That's fine then. But didn't you say that something bad happened?" I asked meekly.

She sighed looking away. "Your senses are surprisingly perceptive. But not everything was bad to be honest. I made some good memories! But the sad parts were also really overwhelming." she said, clearly impressed, "Lots of things happened in just a week."

"Really?" I asked, curious to know how much things had changed there, compared to what I had already heard from the seniors in my previous run, after I had arrived at the Ashrama two years later from now, being chosen as the new guardian.

She started describing a totally different story than what I knew.

Millions of Asuras at the Vrata? A fight between Ahara and Ashwatthama? Rahu force teleporting students across four Lokas? She hid a lot of things, and started carefully choosing her words after watching how confused I was.

"Whoa, Narada saved you? And there was a different team who summoned Garuda's incarnation to fight Vritra!!!??? This is crazy!! What is up with your batch?" I shouted, a bit too excited. If so many things have changed, then don't we have a chance? Maybe I won't have certain advantages, but wasn't all this going in a completely different direction than last time? I have to carefully choose what kind of role I want to play in this life so that we can ultimately have a fighting chance in that final act.

I got upset after hearing how her two teammates were never going to return back to Satya. Along with lots of students who lost all their lives being teleported to the outer space dimension of Bhuvar Loka, where the immortals, gods, Rahu and Ketu were fighting.

Rahu... what did he do last time? He was hell bent on destroying the Maya barriers between the Lokas, so that they could infiltrate Satya Marta. But it already looks like someone has developed a way to transfer millions of Asuras right into the Ashrama, as well as techniques to forcibly teleport people to random locations.

Did someone regress with me too? These developments weren't seen in the previous run so who is the main factor that led to these changes?

Still, my goal hasn't changed. Kalpa was destroyed last time and I can't let it happen again.

The new safe havens for humanity, I will make sure that they are realised till completion.

My sister has made some good memories this time back at the Ashrama. The changes in her expressions reminded me of the way I had changed in my last life, after meeting Avanti.

A: "Didii.."

S: "What now?"

"You met someone didn't you?" I asked the obvious. I'm already around twenty years old mentally, and have experienced it once too. These are very known signs.

But I also remembered her curse.

S: "Yeah, I did."

A: "But your curse..."

S: "For now, I know how I feel. He knows too. We both have communicated honestly, and it is enough for me."

Did they not meet last time? I was glad that she had an anchor this time, but it was simply too pitiful. There was a huge difference between not experiencing it ever, and falling in love without getting it realised. It probably hurts even more than simple one sided love, when both the parties felt the same.

"Forget about me and start getting ready. She'll be arriving in just a few hours. Don't be rude to her okay? You already know about her circumstances..."

I felt really nervous, thinking back on it. It felt like we will be meeting again only a few hours after she died, while also feeling like it was eons between the two occurrences. Being connected to the Almighty Preserver seems to have taken a huge toll on my mentality and sense of time.

I got up and entered the washroom to brush my teeth and take a bath. It was a well furnished house, having no windows or an entrance. All the heirs before me have gone through this process, growing up with their future significant other and producing heirs after reaching adulthood. Due to mysterious circumstances, the two children are always conceived two years apart, and the current head disappears when the new heir is born. People have tried extending their lives by delaying the process, but when the current heir reaches 25 even without a new heir, the head automatically disappears.

I sighed helplessly. I was ten years old now, and after 15 years...

According to my mother, father had stayed together with us until I was a few months old, but had to leave because of his duties as the head. It apparently concerns Kalpa and needed to be done in collaboration with the other six families, but I don't yet know the details, since I never got to get old enough.

"You're looking quite presentable!" Somi smiled brightly watching me get embarrassed.

Our heads snapped toward the room where the teleportation Aksharas were etched into the floor when the sound of them getting activated reached our ears.

My heart started beating fast, pondering over the possibilities this life can take. Will it end just like last time? Will I be able to grow up with her again? Did I even remember the life before the last one while making the choices? Or is this the first time?

The door of the teleportation room opened and my mother came out with another figure following close behind.

My heart crumpled up as soon as I saw the new comer's face.

"No... who are you???" I almost shouted out.

My sister sensed something was wrong and placed her hand over my mouth stopping me from escalating the situation further. Both my mother and the girl were shocked. Tears were building up in the corner of her eyes.

What is happening? Who is this? What happened to Avanti????

"What is wrong with you?" My sister whispered aggressively beside my ears, "I told you beforehand not to be rude. I'll be really angry if you don't calm down right now!!"

"Who is that?? I thought... I thought it would be Avanti..." I muttered softly not believing my eyes. My world was crashing down in front of my eyes.

"Who's that? Her name is Divyani. We don't know anybody named Avanti... where did you get this name from??" Somi clarified.

The girl my age had already started crying in the arms of my mother, who herself was confused considering my actions. I was not like that usually.

"Somi, take care of Divyani. You've already met her before haven't you?" My mother said angrily, "I need to have a talk with my stupid son."

"Come Divyani, let me take me to your room. Mom, I'll need to leave within two hours for the Gurukul in Alik. Take care of this fast. I'll show her around in the meantime and help her unpack." I heard my sister suddenly from my front. Wasn't she behind me right now?

The next thing I remembered was my mother's angry face as she took me into the living room for a thorough scolding.