CHAPTER 7 : UNKNOWN STIRRED
1359 Words
CHAPTER 7 : Unknown Stirred
The forest thinned just enough to reveal it—stone half-swallowed by roots and dead leaves, tucked beneath a snarl of rhododendron bushes like something the mountain had tried, and failed, to forget.
Yash stopped walking so abruptly that Aarav nearly collided into his back.
“What the f**k man ” Aarav irritated look up to yash “Did the forest finally jump out?”
Yash didn’t answer.
He was staring.
So we all followed his gaze.
It wasn’t big.
Not dramatic.
No towering idol or carved guardians.
Just a low stone platform, its surface cracked and stained. Vermilion streaks ran down the rock in uneven lines, darkened by age until they looked disturbingly like old blood that had decided not to wash away.
Withered marigolds lay scattered at its base, petals curled inward, brown and brittle.
Someone had tried to clean the place once—long ago. Ash still clung to the stone in faint smudges. Incense sticks, burned down to nothing, lay snapped and abandoned like offerings that hadn’t been enough.
The air felt… wrong here.
Not colder exactly. Just heavier. As if sound itself had learned better than to linger.
Vani lowered her phone without saying a word.
“This wasn’t here before,” Aarav muttered abd glanced back to his screen .
I turned back the way we’d come.
Trees. Fog. No landmarks. No path that looked familiar.
“Maybe you just missed it,” I said lightly.
“Shrines tend to do that. Pop up when you’re not paying attention. Very on-brand for haunted mountains.”
Yash crouched slowly in front of the stone.
Not for the camera.
Not for drama.
Instinct.
His fingers hovered above the shrine, not touching, as if even the idea of contact needed permission. His lips moved soundlessly.
The rudraksha beads slid through his fingers, faster now, tighter.
“This isn’t decorative,” he said mumbled. “It’s a boundary.”
“Between what and what?” Vani asked.
Yash didn’t look up. “Between ‘alive’ and ‘still lucky.’”
I let out a short laugh that died almost immediately. “You really know how to sell a destination.”
and stepped closer.
Someone had been worshipping here.
Recently.
Not daily.
Not lovingly.
Desperately.
Vani swallowed. “Looks abandoned.”
“That’s the point,” Yash said. “You don’t come back here once it works.”
Vani frowned. “Works how?”
Yash finally looked at her. His eyes were darker than usual. Sharper. “It doesn’t protect you forever. It protects you once.”
Silence stretched.
A leaf fell from somewhere above and landed on the stone with a sound far too loud.
I cleared my throat. “Okay. So. Hypothetically. If this thing works once, and we’re planning to go in anyway, shouldn’t we… I don’t know. Use it?”
Yash nodded in agree.
Then he handed me the incense like it was a loaded weapon.
“Light it,” he said. “Properly.”
I looked at the thin stick, then at my lighter.
“You know this thing runs on the same fuel I use to ruin my lungs, right?”
“That doesn’t make it less sacred.”
“It kind of does,” I murmured , flicked the lighter anyway.
The flame bloomed—sharp, blue-orange—and held the incense over it.
The tip caught slowly, glowing red, smoke unfurling upward in a thin, obedient line.
At the same time, out of pure habit, I brought my cigarette to my lips and lit that too.
Two flames.
Two kinds of offerings.
Yash inhaled sharply with wider eyes on me . “Vihaan—”
“What?” I said around the cigarette. “Multitasking. Even gods appreciate efficiency.”
Aarav burst out laughing. “Bro just invented combo worship.”
Vani didn’t laugh.
She stared at the incense smoke like it might suddenly spell RUN in the air.
I waved the stick toward the stone shrine, exaggeratedly solemn. “Dear ancient mountain spirit s***h forest deity s***h angry ghost landlord—”
The ground shifted.
Not violently. Not enough to knock us down.
Just enough.
The stone beneath my boots vibrated. A low, deep tremor rolled through the earth, subtle as a breath taken by something very large.
The incense smoke jerked sideways.
My cigarette ash fell—straight down.
No wind.
Silence slammed into us.
Aarav’s laugh died halfway. “Okay. That wasn’t funny timing.”
Yash grabbed my wrist hard and angry looked at me. “Put it out. Now.”
I stared at him. “Relax. It’s probably—” before i completed my reassurance to him .
The mountain answered.
A deep, distant sound echoed from somewhere far beneath us.
Not a roar.
Not thunder.
More like… something turning over in its sleep.
Vani’s face was drained of color. “Did the… did the mountain just move?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Mountains don’t move. That’s kind of their whole personality.”
Another tremor rippled through the ground—stronger this time. The leaves shook. Dust trickled from the shrine’s cracks.
Somewhere deeper in the forest, birds exploded into flight.
Yash’s voice dropped. “You instigated something up.”
I opened my mouth to joke—
“ f**k ,—no, no, no—this doesn’t make sense.” Aarav cursed out loudly and yanked the controller closer to his chest.
And that’s when the drone feed froze
“What?” I asked.
He spun the screen toward us and his hand shaked .
The drone camera showed the forest canopy ahead—fog curling between trees, branches tangled like ribs.
Except—
“The shrine isn’t there,” Aarav murmured slowly .
Vani leaned in. “What do you mean isn’t there?”
“I mean it’s not in the footage.” His fingers flew over the controls. “I flew this exact path before we entered . I would’ve seen a stone platform. I mark landmarks.”
Yash’s jaw tightened. “Show the recording.”
Aarav scrubbed backward through the video.
Trees.
Fog.
Roots.
Rocks.
No shrine.
My smile faded just a little. “Maybe you were distracted. You do crash things.”
“I don’t miss structures,” Aarav snapped. “Not ones this close to the trail.”
Another deep vibration rolled through the ground.
This one felt… aware.
Vani stepped back until her shoulders hit my chest. “Vihaan, stop smiling.”
I realized I still was.
I took the cigarette from my lips and stared at it, then at the incense.
“Well,” I said lightly, flicking ash away, “on the bright side—if this is a cursed mountain, at least we made a memorable first impression.”
Yash turned on me, eyes sharp. “This isn’t funny.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s why it’s hilarious.”
But my hand shook as I stubbed the cigarette out against a rock.
Above us, the drone suddenly lurched.
Aarav swore. “Wind? No—there’s no wind—why is it drifting?”
On the screen, the drone tilted sideways, camera spinning slightly as if something unseen had brushed past it.
Then—
Static.
Just for half a second.
Then the feed returned.
The forest looked… closer.
Too close.
Branches filled the frame like grasping fingers.
Yash exhaled slowly. “Bring it back. Now.”
“I’m trying,” Aarav said, panic creeping into his voice. “Controls are lagging.”
Vani grabbed my arm. Her fingers were ice-cold. “Vihaan… I don’t like this.”
I forced a relief smile , even as my chest felt tight and put my arm on her shoulder . “Hey. Worst case scenario, we become a warning story villagers tell tourists.
The ground pulsed again.
Deeper.
Stronger.
I looked back to ahead of path with serious.
" whatever it's ,need to expose now "
Third's POV
Far below, something ancient stirred fully.
Somewhere in the heart of the mountain, Abhay opened his eyes.
And he was not pleased.
- Writer
