"What nonsense are you talking about? Just a moment ago you said you escaped from there… and now you're saying you died in that explosion! None of this makes any sense!"
Kagraj shouted in anger, his voice echoing sharply through the cave.
Vipul, however, didn't react the same way.
Instead… he smiled.
"You're right," he said calmly. "We did escape… because I wanted to save my wife."
There was a pause.
"But I made a mistake."
The air shifted.
"While destroying those infected… one of them attacked me. It was just a small moment… but enough. I knew what it meant."
His voice dropped, heavy with inevitability.
"I knew… that within days, I would become one of them."
Silence.
"So… I pretended to escape with my wife," he continued. "I acted like everything was fine… but that night, I went back to the lab alone."
Kagraj's expression slowly changed.
"I had already made my decision," Vipul said, his eyes distant. "I was going to erase everything… completely. And I knew that with the kind of experiments we had conducted there… once the lab was destroyed, nothing would survive."
His voice grew darker.
"That night, I planted bombs all over the lab… every corner, every section. And then I overloaded the reactor."
"For a few seconds… everything was silent."
"…and then it began to heat up."
"Within moments, the entire lab would have turned into ashes."
Vipul's fists tightened.
"But at the very last moment…"
His voice cracked.
"…my wife found me."
The pain in his eyes was undeniable now.
"She came looking for me… and by then, it was too late."
A long pause.
"We didn't have time to run."
"And just like that…"
"…both of us… were reduced to ashes along with that lab."
The cave fell into complete silence.
Vipul slowly wiped the tears from his eyes, his fingers trembling slightly as memories of Veena flooded back.
For a moment, even Kagraj had nothing to say.
Kakbhushundi stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on Vipul's shoulder, softly stroking his head like a guardian calming a wounded soul.
"I'm sorry, Devdoot… I didn't mean to reopen your wounds."
Vipul took a deep breath and forced a faint smile.
"It's alright, Kakbhushundi," he said quietly. "But I'm sure… there's a reason why you made me relive all this. If you tell me why… it'll help me understand things better."
The warmth in Kakbhushundi's expression faded.
His face turned serious again.
"Yes… there is a reason."
He looked ahead, his gaze distant—as if seeing beyond time itself.
"In your world… that experiment failed. It was destroyed."
"But you already know… our world isn't the only one."
Vipul frowned slightly.
"There are many worlds… similar to yours," Kakbhushundi continued. "Parallel worlds… existing in different timelines… different cycles of time."
"Not just one… but countless Earths exist across different universes."
"And on each of those Earths…"
"…your experiment happened."
Vipul's eyes widened.
"But the result… wasn't always the same."
The words hit him like a shockwave.
He stood up instantly.
"You mean… there's a parallel world where this virus actually escaped… and spread across the world?"
His voice carried both fear… and realization.
"I'm right… aren't I?"
Kakbhushundi looked at him… and slowly nodded.
A simple gesture—
But it was enough.
Vipul felt the ground beneath him disappear.
"Then… that world must be nothing more than a pile of decay by now…" he whispered, his voice hollow.
Kakbhushundi nodded again.
"Yes… it is."
"But in that world…"
He paused.
"…one human survived."
Vipul looked up, stunned.
"Just one."
"Can you imagine it?" Kakbhushundi's voice deepened. "A single human… fighting against billions of zombies."
"Born from a single mistake… a failed experiment… a broken creation."
"The only one in that entire world… who can neither die… nor turn into one of them."
The weight of that existence was unimaginable.
Vipul slowly sank back, his mind struggling to grasp it.
"Then… his life must be nothing but suffering," he said quietly. "Watching people turn into those horrifying creatures right in front of him… we can't even begin to understand what he must be going through."
He looked back at Kakbhushundi, his eyes sharp now.
"But what does this story have to do with me? With my story… and with why I'm here?"
For a brief moment, Kakbhushundi didn't answer.
Instead… he asked another question.
"Why are you here?"
The directness of it caught Vipul off guard.
He hesitated… then answered,
"I was sent here by the gods. They want you to use your powers… to bring someone to Earth… someone who can help that child from the prophecy in the future."
He paused, then added,
"And they said… you already know who that person is."
Kakbhushundi smiled.
A calm… knowing smile.
"Devdoot… your story and mine… are about the same person."
Vipul froze.
"I am to bring that boy… from that universe's timeline… into this one."
"That… is my task."
The words struck like lightning.
Vipul's eyes widened in shock.
"What?!"
He stepped forward, his voice rising,
"You're saying you're going to interfere with the timeline itself?!"
His tone turned urgent… almost panicked.
"Do you even understand the consequences of tampering with time?!"
The tension in the cave spiked instantly.
"I thought your powers were limited to traveling across time… observing… shifting between parallel worlds!"
"But if you interfere—if you disrupt the laws of time and space—do you have any idea what could happen?!"
His voice echoed, filled with intensity.
"One small disturbance… and countless timelines could be affected!"
"Entire realities could collapse… or worse—new, unstable timelines could be created!"
"Two different Earths could collide… worlds could merge… or everything could be wiped out!"
Vipul's breathing grew heavier.
His eyes burned with fear… and frustration.
"So tell me, Kakbhushundi…"
His voice dropped, sharp and piercing—
"Are you trying to save the world…?"
"…or destroy it?"