The image of my father melting like a candle lit with a blowtorch is seared into my brain.
My mother’s body heaves as she is racked by grief as she clutches my little sister Asha, who is weeping as well. I place one arm around them both, sharing in their grief but not allowing myself to yield to it.
Beside me, I feel the rage in my elder brother Arun as he stares through the gap with clenched jaw and bared teeth. His legs tense and I know he’s about to leave the precarious shelter of this asbestos sheet to take his rage out on that necro-dragon.
He stands no chance.
I clamp my hand on his forearm, gripping it as tightly as I can.
He turns and glares at me, but I keep my grip.
Now, if he tries to run out, he will drag me with him as well. He sees it in my eyes and his rage flickers, not weakening but adjusting.
He nods sharply, acknowledging and I know he will not leave the safety of our shelter, such as it is.
I release his hand, and peer out from around the edge of the asbestos.
Straight into the eyes of the beast.
[WARNING: QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT DETECTED]
Neural Bridge: Forming
Consciousness Transfer: Imminent
Scale: Beyond Current Parameters
System Note: First Contact with the Greater Mind
The dragon’s multiple eyes lock onto mine, and suddenly I’m not under the asbestos sheet anymore.
My consciousness stretches, expands, tears free from my body like a kite string snapping in a storm.
I rocket upward, through the dragon’s eyes, into its vast and ancient mind.
[Neural Expansion Beginning]
Mind State: Transcending
Consciousness Level: Ascending
Warning: Human Parameters Exceeded
Mumbai spreads out below me like a glowing circuit board, its streets rivers of light, its buildings gleaming monuments to human ambition.
Through the dragon’s eyes, I see everything at once: the Crawford Market’s Victorian architecture crumbling under plasma fire, the Gateway of India melting into the Arabian Sea, Dharavi’s endless maze of slums igniting like tissue paper.
[Viewing Permissions: EXPANDED]
Perspective: Alpha Dragon
Height: 3,427 meters
Visual Range: City-wide
Processing: Beyond Human Limits
A storm of my kin—no, not my kin, the dragon’s kin—wheels through Mumbai’s sky. Their wings blot out the stars as they dive and strike with surgical precision.
The Taj Mahal Hotel’s dome collapses inward, its century-old stone flowing like water.
The BSE’s glass facade liquefies, raining molten silicon onto fleeing crowds.
The new World Trade Centre splits vertically, its twin towers peeling apart like burning paper.
[Consciousness Shift: EXPANDING]
Neural Network: Growing
Mind State: Quantum Linked
Warning: Identity Dissolution Risk
But Mumbai is just the beginning. My consciousness splinters, fragments, spreads across a web of connected minds.
Through a thousand dragons’ eyes, I see a thousand cities burning:
New York: The Empire State Building twisted into a spiral of melting steel
Tokyo: Shibuya Crossing becomes a lake of fire
London: Big Ben’s clock face runs like tears down its melting tower
Dubai: The Burj Khalifa snaps like a twig, its broken pieces falling like metal rain
Sydney: The Opera House’s shells crack and peel like burning paper
Rio: Christ the Redeemer’s outstretched arms collapse as green fire consumes the mountain
[Reality Scope: MAXIMUM]
Connected Minds: 7,249 Alpha Dragons
Viewing Nodes: All Major Population Centers
Time Frame: Simultaneous Attack
System Note: Witnessing Historic Moment
Each dragon’s mind adds to the network, a vast crystalline structure of thought and purpose.
I see through all their eyes at once, experience every attack, every kill, every moment of destruction across the globe.
Billions of lives snuffed out in perfectly synchronized violence.
[WARNING: DIMENSIONAL BOUNDARIES WEAKENING]
Reality Layer: Shifting
Consciousness: Expanding Beyond Earth-Prime
Status: Alphaverse Opens
But even this is just one layer, one Earth, one reality.
My consciousness expands further, impossible geometries unfolding in my mind as I touch the greater network.
Through the quantum-entangled hivemind of all Alpha Dragons across all parallel Alpha Earths, I see:
A billion Mumbais.
A trillion New Yorks.
An infinity of Londons.
All burning.
All dying.
All at once.
In this vast network of dragon-minds across the multiverse, something else stirs.
Something vast and dark and cold, its thoughts moving like glaciers, its consciousness spanning not just worlds but entire reality clusters.
It turns its attention toward my insignificant spark of awareness like a star noticing a dust mote.
The thought hits me with the force of a supernova.
Reality bends around that vast consciousness as it reaches for me with casual, cosmic indifference.
I feel like an ant that’s caught the attention of an elephant—
[Emergency Disconnect Initiated]
Consciousness: Retracting
Neural Bridge: Collapsing
Return Status: FORCED
—and then I’m slammed back into my body with the force of a thunderclap. My head rings like a temple bell.
Every nerve burns with remembered cosmic fire.
I taste colors that don’t exist and smell thoughts that haven’t happened yet.
[Physical Status: CRITICAL]
Neural Load: 287% of maximum
Brain Activity: Dangerous Levels
Consciousness: Stabilizing
New Pathways: Forming
“Beta! Beta!” Aai’s voice sounds far away.
I realize she’s holding me, shaking me. “Come back to me! Please!”
“I’m here,” I manage to whisper. My tongue feels like it’s made of lead. “I’m okay, Aai.”
[System Integration: COMPLETE]
Status: Changed
Evolution: Beginning
Mark: Applied
Note: You have been chosen
The sheet of asbestos grows hot above us.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Not burning—asbestos doesn’t burn, thank God—but hot enough to sear.
Arun’s arms around me are shaking.
Or maybe I’m the one shaking. I can’t tell anymore. The melted cotton candy has glued my fingers together, pink sugar mixed with sweat and tears.
[Combat Status: ONGOING]
Threat Level: Maximum
Time Until Death: 43 seconds
System Note: Loop Begins Here
Through the gap I see more people running, burning, dying.
A woman crawls past, her legs gone, leaving a trail of charred meat behind her.
The dragon’s footsteps melt divots in the pavement as it stalks through the carnage.
Its multiple heads swivel with mechanical precision, targeting the few survivors who still think they can escape.
[Final Moments Approaching]
First Death: Imminent
Loop Status: Initializing
Then it stops.
All its heads—dragon and rider, melted together in that impossible way—turn back toward our hiding place.
Steam rises where its claws touch the ground.
The air itself seems to burn.
[Neural Bridge: Reopening]
Final Contact: Initiating
Message: Incoming
recognition/interest/future
The alien thoughts hit me again, but this time they’re different. Focused. Personal.
They dig through my mind like hooks made of ice, examining, assessing, marking something they find there.
Behind the thoughts I feel that vast and cold and patient mind I glimpsed in the network, older than cities, older than civilization itself.
The dragon takes one step toward us.
The asbestos sheet won’t save us if it really wants us dead.
Nothing will.
But then something pulls its attention away—more movement, more prey, more victims to burn.
Its wings spread, blocking out the sky as it launches itself back into the air. The backwash feels like a furnace, hot enough to scorch my lungs through the gaps in our shelter.
We stay there, huddled together, as the screaming slowly dies away. The heat gradually fades.
The smell doesn’t.
“Baba?” Arun’s voice cracks. “Baba?”
But there’s nothing left of our father except a shadow burned into the pavement, like the ones they showed us in school pictures from Hiroshima.
Above us, through the crack that split Mumbai’s sky, more shapes keep pouring through: mountains with wings, bringing death in waves of orange flame.
The cotton candy has left my hand sticky and gross. From somewhere far away, I hear the mechanical music of the carousel, still playing its endless loop as the world burns around it. The painted horses keep prancing in their circle, their shadows dancing in the light of Mumbai’s death.
And somewhere in that vast network of dragon-minds across the alphaverse, something ancient and cold smiles, knowing it has found exactly what it was looking for.
[SYSTEM STATUS: ONLINE]
Player: Vish Naman
Game State: Beginning
Loop Status: Active
Death Count: 0 (First Death Approaching)
[Final Sequence Initiating]
Time Until First Death: 2 minutes, 17 seconds
Tutorial Status: Concluding
System Integration: 94% Complete
Through gaps in our makeshift shelter, I watch Mumbai burn. The dragons move with terrible purpose now, their formations tightening, their attacks becoming more precise. They’re no longer just destroying—they’re hunting. Searching.
“We have to move,” Arun whispers. “They’ll find us if we stay—”
“No.” I grab his arm. My fingers stick to his skin. “The asbestos will keep us safe. If we leave—”
[Knowledge Check: FAILED]
Previous Assumption: Incorrect
True Data: Unlocked
Warning: Asbestos melting point - 1,500°C
Necro-Plasma Temperature - 15,000°C
That’s when I hear it: a sound like reality tearing, but smaller this time. Closer. Personal.
The asbestos sheet above us begins to glow.
The necro-dragon has returned.
[DANGER: IMMEDIATE]
Threat Level: MAXIMUM
Escape Routes: 0
Time Until Impact: 3... 2... 1…
Orange flame punches through our shelter like it’s made of paper.
The asbestos doesn’t just melt—it sublimates, turning directly from solid to vapor.
Toxic fumes fill our lungs as our protection evaporates around us.
[Status Effect: POISON]
Lung Capacity: Reducing
Consciousness: Fading
Pain Level: Maximum
System Note: First death is always the hardest
“Run!” Aai pushes me, trying to shield me with her body.
But there’s nowhere to run.
The dragon looms above us, its merged rider-body pulsing with blinding energy.
Both its heads turn to focus on me with terrible purpose.
[Neural Bridge: Final Contact]
Connection: Established
Message: Downloading
Understanding: 0.001%
recognition/selection/beginning
The thoughts crash into my mind with the force of destiny.
Through the pain and fear, I understand something vast and terrible: this isn’t random.
None of this is random.
I’ve been chosen for something.
But what?
Why?
By whom?
[Recruit Status: UPDATING]
Role: Assigned
Path: Opening
Purpose: [REDACTED]
The System Welcomes You
What–who–is “the System”?
The asbestos starts to glow red-hot above us.
Asha whimpers, pressing her face into Aai's sari.
The fabric still smells of jasmine oil from this morning, when everything was normal.
When Baba was alive.
I want to close my eyes, but I can't stop watching through the gap.
The dragon's talons leave pools of molten concrete with each step.
Its shadow falls over our hiding place, and the temperature rises so high I feel my eyebrows starting to singe.
One massive foot plants itself right in front of our shelter. Steam hisses where drops of molten metal fall from its scales.
Through the gap, I see something that makes no sense: in the liquid metal pooling around its claws, there are reflections of cities I've never seen.
Steel towers taller than anything in Mumbai.
Strange machines flying between crystalline spires.
Armies fighting battles under purple skies.
The visions make my head hurt. Strange words floating in the air, weird visions…
I don’t understand any of it but I do know by now that these can’t be some advertising gimmick.
I squeeze my eyes shut, but they're still there, burning behind my eyelids.
"Aai," Arun whispers, "we need to—"
The asbestos sheet vanishes.
Not burns away, not melts—just vanishes, like it was never there.
The sudden light blinds me.
Heat washes over us like a tsunami.
Above us, the dragon's heads—both dragon and rider-thing—stare down with eyes that glow like dying stars.
Its thoughts hit my mind again, but this time they're different. Focused. Hungry.
And behind those thoughts, I feel something else watching.
Something vast and cold and patient, studying me through the dragon's eyes like a scientist observing an interesting bacterium.
"Run," Aai whispers, pushing me. "Beta, ru—"
She stops and starts to turn, her kohl-lined eyes wide with terror.
I have never seen my mother’s face form that expression before. That look of utter horror.
“Nahi!” Aai’s scream cuts through everything as orange fire fills my world.
Through melting eyes, I watch my world dissolve.
The heat isn't just around us anymore—it's inside us, turning bones to liquid, flesh to smoke.
My hand is still sticky with cotton candy as it melts into my sister's dissolving fingers.
Aai tries to scream but her throat is already gone, turned to vapor in the impossible flames.
The pain is beyond anything I could have imagined.
My skin bubbles and runs like candle wax.
My bones show through as flesh melts away.
The wooden charm around my neck burns into my chest, leaving a mark that will echo across lifetimes.
Through melting eyes, I see Aai and Arun and Asha burning too.
Their bodies come apart in the otherworldly flames, just like Baba’s did.
Just like everyone’s did.
Just like everyone will, again and again, until I learn enough, grow enough, become enough to stop it.
I taste metal.
My teeth soften, run like mercury.
The wooden charm around my neck—the one Baba carved for my seventh birthday—burns into my chest like a brand.
Through the pain, those alien thoughts are still there, watching, measuring, choosing.
As my body comes apart in the dragon fire, I see Mumbai burning through a thousand eyes at once.
The city flows like wax beneath wings of bone and shadow.
The Gateway of India crumbles into the sea.
Dharavi's endless maze of slums ignites like paper.
High-rises fold in on themselves, their glass and steel running like tears.
Above it all, through that crack in the sky, more shapes keep coming.
More dragons.
More riders.
More death.
The carousel music plays on, cheerful and endless, as my consciousness starts to fade.
The last thing I see is the carousel, still turning, its melting horses forever prancing in their endless circle.
The last thing I hear is Asha's final breath beside me, a sound like a broken prayer.
The last thing I feel is purpose—vast and terrible and clear.
Something vast and cold reaches into what's left of my mind, marking me, choosing me, changing me.
As my consciousness fades, I hear the dragon’s final message, not in my mind but in my soul:
welcome/begin/remember
Then everything goes dark.
And somewhere in that darkness, something ancient smiles.
This is how it begins.
This is how it always begins.
[GAME STATE: INITIALIZING]
Player: Vish Naman
Status: Dead
Revival: Pending
Message: The tutorial is complete
Status: Initiating Transfer to Predator Planet
[SYSTEM: FULLY ONLINE]
Tutorial: Complete
First Death: Recorded
Loop: Initializing
Message: Welcome to Predator Planet, Vish Naman
You are now ready to begin basic training.
[Player Status: Vish Naman]
Level: 0
Deaths: 1
Loops: 0
Skills Unlocked:
- Survival Instinct (Level 1)
- Mental Fortitude (Level 1)
- Reality Recognition (Level 1)
Special Status: Marked
Hidden Potential: [CALCULATING...]
Status: The Drop - Loading...