The morning felt heavier than the night before.
Aditya Varma walked through the palace corridors in silence.
Servants bowed.
Guards stepped aside.
The world continued as it always had.
Normal.
Unaware.
Blind.
But he was no longer part of it.
Not fully.
"…find them."
The words of The Witness echoed in his mind.
Things that do not belong.
He had expected something obvious.
A distortion in the sky.
A crack in reality.
Something unnatural.
But the world remained unchanged.
Perfect.
Too perfect.
Until—
"Your Highness."
Aditya stopped.
A royal attendant approached, bowing deeply.
"There is… something you should see."
Aditya turned slowly.
"…what is it?"
The attendant hesitated.
"…an excavation, my lord."
The site lay beyond the capital.
Far from the order of the palace.
Far from the illusion of control.
The land was scarred.
Dug open.
As if the earth itself had been forced to reveal something it wished to hide.
Scholars.
Workers.
Guards.
All stood at a distance.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Aditya stepped forward.
And then—
He felt it.
A pull.
Subtle.
But undeniable.
Not physical.
Not visible.
But something deeper.
Resonance.
"…so this is it," he murmured.
The Witness stood nearby.
Silent.
Watching.
He had appeared without being seen again.
"You feel it," he said.
Aditya didn't respond.
Because he already knew the answer.
At the center of the excavation—
It stood.
Half-buried in the earth.
Ancient.
Unfamiliar.
A structure of blackened metal and stone intertwined.
Covered in markings that were neither script nor symbol—
But something in between.
It pulsed faintly.
Like a heartbeat.
The moment Aditya saw it—
His breath stopped.
"…I know this."
The words slipped out.
Uncontrolled.
The Witness watched closely.
"…do you?"
Aditya stepped forward.
Slowly.
As if drawn.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
The air thickened.
The world dulled.
The closer he got—
The louder it became.
Not a sound.
But a vibration.
A rhythm.
The same rhythm he had felt beneath the earth.
The same pulse.
The Reaction
The moment his hand touched it—
Everything broke.
The world vanished.
The sky disappeared.
The ground collapsed beneath him.
And he was somewhere else.
A battlefield.
Not Kurukshetra.
Not this world.
Something far worse.
The sky burned.
Machines towered over the land.
Weapons beyond comprehension tore through existence itself.
And in the distance—
A beam of light.
Massive.
Unstoppable.
It felt familiar.
Too familiar.
"…this…"
Aditya whispered.
"…I've seen this before…"
And then—
He saw him.
A figure standing atop a cliff.
Calm.
Unmoving.
Holding a bow.
The air around him trembled.
The sky bent.
The world itself seemed to submit to his presence.
Aditya's heart stopped.
"…that's…"
The figure turned slightly.
And for a brief moment—
Their eyes met.
It was him.
Not Aditya Varma.
Not the prince.
But something else.
Something greater.
Something remembered.
Karna.
The vision shattered.
Aditya was thrown back violently.
The world returned.
The excavation.
The sky.
The people.
His body hit the ground.
Hard.
Gasps echoed around him.
"Your Highness!"
But he didn't hear them.
Because his mind was still there.
Still in that vision.
Still seeing that war.
"…that wasn't the past."
The Witness spoke quietly.
Aditya's breath trembled.
"…what was it?"
A pause.
Then—
"The future."
Silence.
Aditya slowly pushed himself up.
His body felt heavier.
His mind—
Wider.
"…so this cycle…"
he said slowly,
"…doesn't just move backward."
The Witness nodded.
"It moves across time."
Aditya looked at the artifact again.
Now he understood.
This was not just a relic.
It was a warning.
And somewhere in the future—
A war awaited him.
One where he would stand again.
Not as a prince.
But as something the world itself feared.