# CHAPTER 5 : WHERE AM I?
Kavya Chandan lay on her back, sprawled across rough brown sand near the edge of a deep, gaping ditch. Her eyes blinked slowly—still dazed.
Then she saw it.
A figure in the distance—vague, shadowy—was pulling her toward the pit with a single rope.
Closer.
Closer.
Her brow furrowed. Panic bloomed across her face.
"Who are you?! Why are you pulling me?!" she shouted, voice trembling.
But there was no reply.
The figure didn't stop.
With a sudden jerk, the rope pulled harder, dragging her closer to the ditch's edge.
Above, the sky was a twisted red, swirling like fire, and the moon hung black and dead—an omen.
Unreal.
Wrong.
Her breath quickened. She flailed, trying to grab the rope and tear it away—but it wasn't wrapped around her. It wasn't tied to her at all.
And yet—she was being pulled.
Right to the edge.
"No! No, stop!" she screamed.
And then— She fell.
"Ahhhhh—!"
The world spun.
As she tumbled into the abyss, she saw them— Her mother. Her father. And Agasta.
They stood still, watching from the sky above as if painted into the stars.
"Mom... Dad... Agasta..." she whispered—
And then she hit black.
—
With a sharp gasp, Kavya bolted upright.
She was sitting on a clean, white bed in a strange, unfamiliar room.
The walls around her were smooth and pristine—pure white, with sleek black designs etched like circuitry along their surfaces. Everything shimmered faintly under soft artificial light.
Kavya blinked rapidly, trying to process.
Left. Right. Up. Down.
Everything felt... futuristic.
Too clean. Too quiet.
The room wasn't just white—it was high-tech. The walls pulsed subtly with light. A translucent display flickered to life in the corner as if sensing her movement. Even the air smelled sterile, synthetic.
A soft hiss.
The door to her left slid open automatically.
A humanoid robot entered, walking smoothly on polished feet—its limbs too fluid to be mechanical, but too unnatural to be human.
And beside it...
A boy.
He couldn't have been older than sixteen. His eyes were hidden behind a sleek, high-tech visor that wrapped fully around his face, glowing faintly. His entire outfit shimmered with a blue-black pattern, like a circuit board come alive.
Kavya froze.
"What... is this?" she whispered. "Am I... in heaven?"
She looked at the robot.
Then the boy.
"Is heaven this advanced? I thought there were supposed to be fairies… not robots. And that boy—he looks like he's from the future."
She glanced at her own hands, then around the room again.
"Where... am I?"
Kavya pressed a hand to her forehead and winced. "Ugh… it hurts like hell…"
The little boy took a step forward, pointing at her with his right hand while speaking something in a strange, rhythmic language.
" …yuo hvae ot rset ," the words came out distorted, broken—clearly lost in translation.
Kavya blinked, confused, her mouth scrunching into a duck face. "What?"
Without a word, the robot beside him extended a strange device toward her—something between a microphone and a sleek earpiece.
She hesitated, then took it carefully, turning it over in her palm. It was lightweight, glowing faintly at the seams. Futuristic, but oddly intuitive.
The boy gestured toward her—tapping his own visor, then motioning for her to put it on.
Kavya slowly slipped the earpiece on.
A soft chime rang in her ear. The moment it settled into place, she felt a gentle hum through her jaw, like the device had synced to her body.
Then, the boy spoke again—same language, same calm tone.
But this time, a synthesized voice echoed clearly in her ear:
"You should rest. The doctor said you need at least two or three days to recover."
Kavya's eyes widened.
She looked at the boy. Then at the robot. Then at the device.
Her voice dropped to a whisper. "…Is that because of this microphone?"
The robot gave a soft electronic chime—like a mechanical nod.
Kavya leaned back against the bed, still dazed, but now more alert than ever.
Where was she?
Who were these people?
And how the hell was she still alive?
Kavya Chandan turned her head slowly toward the boy, her curiosity finally pushing past the pain.
"…By the way, how am I here?" she asked.
The boy stood perfectly still, his voice flat but clear through the translator.
"My father brought you here. He picked you up when you were about to be swallowed by the abyss."
Kavya's eyes widened slightly, her breath catching for a moment.
"Your father…?" she repeated. "What was he doing there?"
"He's in charge of Portlio V‑9. He was just patrolling the perimeter when he found you."
"Portlio V‑9…?" she murmured, the name unfamiliar, heavy with meaning.
She looked away for a moment, thoughts spinning.
Then she whispered under her breath, the memory rushing back—
"Oh… the one who grabbed my hand… That was his father…"
The image flashed in her mind: the shadowy figure standing on a floating platform, gliding toward her through the void, reaching out—just before everything faded.
So that wasn't a hallucination… He's real.
To her right, Kavya Chandan noticed something— A wall-sized panel made of deep black glass. Opaque. She couldn't see a thing beyond it.
But just as her conversation with the boy ended— The entire panel shifted to white with a soft shimmer, almost like fog clearing from a screen.
Her breath hitched.
On the other side of the now-transparent glass stood an enormous robot, towering in red and yellow armor. Its face alone filled the entire wall like a titan pressed against the barrier.
Kavya's jaw dropped.
"What the fuck is this…?" she whispered. "It's so massive…"
The robot's neck clicked open, revealing a small, rectangular hatch. With a mechanical hiss, a staircase extended downward, unfolding gracefully until it touched the floor with a muted clang.
Footsteps echoed.
A man descended the stairs slowly—mid-30s, calm posture. He wore a visored screen over his eyes that glowed faintly and had black, noodle-like strands of hair falling just above his shoulders. His attire mirrored the boy's: a sleek, tight, blue-black patterned uniform that looked more tech than fabric.
As soon as his feet touched the floor, the massive robot turned silently and walked away—each step making the ground beneath tremble faintly.
The glass immediately turned back to black—sealing the view.
Kavya stared at the now-empty glass wall, frozen.
Her brain scrambled to process everything.
A city-sized robot. A mysterious man stepping out of it like it was just an elevator. A world more advanced than anything humanity had ever dreamed of.
She placed her hand on her chest.
"I… I can't even grasp what's happening anymore…"
It was too much
Too fast.
Too alien.
And yet— She was still here.
Alive.
Watching.
Kavya slowly raised her hand to her forehead again.
But this time, it wasn't from pain.
It was from pure, overwhelming shock.
Her lips parted, breath unsteady as she stared at the now-blackened glass wall where the massive robot had vanished just seconds ago.
Her voice was barely a whisper—half thought, half disbelief.
"They're not just a hundred years ahead of us in technology…"
She paused, eyes darting across the seamless white walls, the hovering robot, the translation device still humming gently in her ear.
"This is a different timeline altogether."
Her heart thudded harder—not from fear, but from realization.
She wasn't just lost in space.
She was lost in reality.