Books

I never believed in dreams. They were just shadows of stress, echoes of a tired mind or so I thought.

Until Kaashi called me.

The word meant nothing to me back then. Just a whisper I couldn’t shake off, a confusion whether it is a place or a person's name or something else. I tried to ignore it, drown it in deadlines and logic. Until the day he appeared, an ash-covered figure outside my office, staring straight into my soul.

That’s when everything broke open.

I gave up everything, my job, my comfort. Even the approval of the only family I had. And all of this for what? An intuition I couldn’t resist, a name that haunted my sleep, a voice that wasn’t mine yet echoed from within.

Guided by an Aghori who walks through death like it was a doorway and Veda, a strange acquaintance, I crossed into realms untouched by time. But something else crossed my back. Something ancient. Something hungry.

Bruthala, the king of Pataala, walked the Earth again. And he was not alone.

Demons.

Real ones.

And the scariest part was them knowing my name before I even knew their existence.

When they came for me, all seemed lost. But from the shadows of forgotten legends, an unexpected guardian emerged, Shukracharya himself, the demon master with riddles of destiny and war. Not as a foe he is always known as, but a protector. With him came the truth: I wasn’t just called to Kaashi. I was chosen by it.

Only now, after looking back at the wonderful adventure, I understand:

Kaashi is not a place. It is a test. A mirror. A battlefield older than time itself.

Kaashi is not just a city. It is a gate. And I have the key.

I… am its scout.