Every story begins with a lie. Mine starts with one too… the lie that I was ever a normal human."
Year: 2025 A.D.
Location: Mumbai, India — Horizon International School
The clanging of a school bell.
The buzz of teenage chatter.
The soft rustle of paper and the occasional shout echoing through school corridors.
But to Orion Kael, now living as Aarav Rane, it all sounded… muffled. Like a simulation.
Seventeen years old, pitch-black hair, piercing steel-blue eyes that didn't match his Indian complexion—Aarav looked like any other student. But inside, a war-hardened soul was watching everything, calculating… remembering.
He stared at the boy sitting three benches ahead in physics class — a class clown named Rahil Vastra, always laughing, flirting, mocking teachers. But Aarav didn't laugh. Not even blink.
"General Vaelis… You're here too," he whispered under his breath.
Rahil Vastra. Smiling. Innocent.
But to Orion's fragmented memories, he was the one who betrayed humanity and burned a thousand civilizations. The one who murdered his love. The one who now, for some cosmic reason, had reincarnated too — in a teenager's body.
A chill swept over Aarav's spine. He had confirmed it last night. A trace of Quantum Aura still lingered on Rahil's wrist — hidden from normal vision, but not from someone like Orion, whose Paradox Seed allowed him to perceive quantum patterns and past echoes.
But the mystery wasn't just Rahil.
It was the dream.
Flashback – Midnight
Aarav sat bolt upright in bed, drenched in sweat. A vision flashing in his mind: a ruined city, ancient clocks melting in the sky, and a woman in a red coat whispering:
"He's not alone... They all returned."
Then — she looked at him. Eyes glowing golden.
"Find me before they do."
He had no idea who she was. But her face… it felt familiar.
Then he noticed something terrifying: on his right palm, an emblem was glowing. A symbol he'd seen only once in his past life — the Insignia of the Time Reapers.
They were back too.
Present Day — School Campus
During break, Aarav quietly walked past the canteen. His senses stayed alert — even without the weapons and tech of 9142 NE, he could still detect anomalies in gravitational shifts and neural noise. His Paradox Seed acted like a passive radar. And today… it was buzzing.
Someone was watching him.
He turned sharply.
Nothing. Just students. Lunch. Noise.
But then his eyes caught her.
Sitting under a gulmohar tree, sketchbook in hand.
Aanya Sharma.
Long black hair tied in a ponytail. Fair skin. Hazel eyes with that strange flicker of curiosity. She glanced at him, smiled — and then quickly turned away.
"Why… do you look exactly like her?" Aarav muttered.
She looked like Elara, his love from his past life. Elara, the quantum engineer who died in his arms before he launched the Paradox Seed.
Aanya wasn't her. She couldn't be.
Right?
Later that evening, Aarav visited an old, abandoned observatory outside the city — it had long been sealed after "electrical abnormalities" were reported. He knew better.
This wasn't an observatory.
It was a Temporal Beacon.
One of five devices he and Elara had hidden on Earth in the year 9083 NE, deep in the past to prevent timeline collapses if the Celestians ever discovered time-loop tech.
The beacon was active.
And hacked.
As he entered the decaying chamber, a robotic voice whispered:
"Chrono-signal detected. Paradox Host identified. Beacon unlocked."
Suddenly, the walls lit up with holograms… and a name appeared.
"Aanya Sharma – Temporal Signature: 84% Match to Elara Solin."
"No… it can't be," Aarav whispered.
If Elara had reincarnated too…
Then this wasn't just about revenge anymore.
It was also a race to find her before the Time Reapers did.
And worse… there was one more message blinking red:
"UNKNOWN ENTITY ACCESSING TIMELINE. ORIGIN: OUTSIDE MULTIVERSE."
"CODE NAME: NULL VOID."