Ashes of Dharma

He had watched from the beginning.

Not a god.

Not a demon.

Not a being.

A witness.

Before form.

Before sound.

Before breath.

Not creator. Not destroyer.

Just the one who never blinked.

The old texts hinted at him:

"The Eye Behind Flame."

"The Quiet That Waits for Even Silence to Settle."

"The One Who Never Forgot."

And now, as the last sparks of divinity faded...

He stirred.

Aarav felt it—not in the air, but in the absence of it.

A stillness that went deeper than stillness.

A gaze that didn't observe him, but truth itself.

He sat alone atop the final mountain, eyes closed, body soft, spine free.

And the Witness spoke.

Not in voice.

In being.

"You have walked breath.

Burned fear.

Remembered.

Released.

And yet—"

"You still carry a name."

Aarav exhaled.

Because he understood.

The final gate was not beyond gods.

It was beyond self.