The photo in Arjun's hand trembled slightly, as if alive. The fire in the image flickered. His older self stood stoic—scorched, tired, yet resolute—clutching the feather like a weapon.
What did I become? What burned down my school? When does this happen?
Rael was gone, disintegrated into cogs and shards. Her last words echoed:
"They're watching this timeline too..."
---
The Echo Device
Later that night, the pendant around his neck burned cold. The metal feather inside the box pulsed again. When Arjun touched the box, it unlocked automatically—this time revealing something new beneath the feather:
A circular disk—a wrist-sized device with shifting layers. Text etched onto its rim:
"Echo Drive – Warning: Only One Use Per Thread"
Arjun hesitated, then slipped it onto his wrist. The disk tightened and activated with a blue glow. A whisper filled the room.
"Temporal Link Established. Thread Three Available.
Choose: Witness / Interfere."
His fingers hovered over the option.
He clicked: Witness.
---
The Flashback of Fire
The room dissolved.
He now stood as a silent observer in a version of his school—burning, just like in the photo. Screams echoed. Smoke swallowed the sky.
From the chaos, his older self emerged, dragging a student to safety.
"Get out! The timeline's collapsing—this one is corrupted!"
Younger Arjun followed the image, stunned. That future self had a mechanical arm—and in his other hand, the feather glowed like a blade.
Suddenly, a figure appeared opposite Older Arjun.
A man with silver eyes, cloaked in black, whose entire body flickered like a broken TV signal.
"Kaladarshi," the man said coldly. "Why fight what's already happened?"
The older Arjun didn't answer. He only raised the feather-sword.
A battle of time echoes erupted—feathers against claws of distorted timelines. The ground shattered like glass, each fragment showing another alternate world.
Then everything paused.
A voice whispered in Arjun's mind:
"This memory has been marked for deletion…"
---
Return to Present
Arjun snapped back into his room, breathless. The Echo Drive had shut down—its glow dead.
Outside his window, the moon returned—but this time, it looked closer. Too close.
He opened the paper Rael gave him again. There were hidden coordinates scribbled in invisible ink, now glowing faintly:
13.0839° N, 80.2700° E – Time Chamber 7 – Next Thread Entry
"That's... in Chennai," Arjun whispered. "A real location."
Do I go there? Do I try to stop what I saw?
---
As Arjun debated his next move, his phone buzzed.
A video had auto-downloaded.
It was from Rael.
In the video, she looked frightened, her face scratched, running down a spiral staircase.
"They found me. They know you accessed Thread Three.
Whatever you do—don't trust the next person who says they're from the Timekeepers.
One of them is already corrupted... and it's someone you know."
Suddenly, the screen went black.
But one last image flickered in: A close-up of a Timekeeper badge—with the initials:
R.S.