The Mahindra Thar groaned, its engine coughing thick black smoke as it clawed up the final, vertical stretch of the Himalayan foothills. Below them, the world was gone—swallowed by a roiling sea of red mist that looked like a lung filled with blood.

Arjun sat in the passenger seat, his hand gripped so tightly on the grab handle that the leather creaked. Every few seconds, his gaze flickered to the backseat.