Avantika walked a few steps ahead of them, weaving through the thinning evening crowd.
She didn't look back immediately.
But she could feel them following.
Not close.
Exactly the distance she had told them to maintain.
That alone made her trust them slightly more.
The market noise softened as they moved away from the tighter cluster of food stalls and clothing vendors. The main road ahead stretched wide beneath bright electric lights. Cars rushed past in streaks of white and red, engines humming like restless animals.
Avantika stopped near a small clothing shop squeezed between a pharmacy and a mobile repair stall.
She turned around.
Both men halted instantly.
Good.
At least they listened.
She pulled out her phone again and opened the translator.
"This is a clothing shop."
The mechanical Sanskrit voice repeated the sentence.
Karna looked at the glass window where shirts, jackets, and trousers hung from plastic mannequins.
"These garments are… strange."
Avantika almost smiled.
"Welcome to the future."
The translator struggled slightly but delivered the meaning.
She crossed her arms.
"We need to change how you look."
She gestured at Karna's armor.
"That attracts attention."
Several people had already glanced at them.
Not suspicious.
Just curious.
But curiosity could turn into problems very quickly.
She spoke again into the phone.
"If the shopkeeper asks questions…"
The translator echoed the sentence.
"…I will say you are Nepali actors."
Both men watched her silently.
She continued.
"You don't know Hindi."
The phone translated again.
"That will be your cover."
Karna frowned slightly.
"What is Hindi?"
Avantika blinked.
Right.
Another thousand-year language problem.
She sighed.
"Just let me talk."
The phone translated.
"Do not speak unless I give you the device."
Both men nodded.
Avantika pushed open the glass door.
A small bell jingled overhead.
Inside, bright tube lights filled the narrow shop with harsh white light. Rows of neatly folded shirts lined the shelves. The shopkeeper, a middle-aged man with reading glasses resting low on his nose, looked up from behind the counter.
He glanced at Avantika first.
Then at the two men behind her.
His eyebrows lifted slightly.
"Madam?"
Avantika smiled casually.
"Bhaiya, my friends need some clothes."
She gestured behind her.
"They're actors from Nepal."
The shopkeeper looked at Karna again.
The armor definitely complicated the story.
But Delhi shopkeepers had seen stranger things.
He shrugged.
"Size?"
Avantika turned around.
Now she properly looked at them again under the bright shop lights.
And for a moment…
Her brain completely stopped working.
Because earlier, under streetlights and chaos, she had only noticed pieces.
Now she saw everything clearly.
Karna stood tall enough that his head almost seemed too close to the ceiling lights. The armor accentuated the width of his shoulders and chest, but even beneath it his physical build was obvious.
Broad shoulders.
Powerful arms.
Not exaggerated like bodybuilders.
Just solid.
The kind of strength built through years of physical labor and combat.
His waist was narrower, his posture perfectly straight. The balance of his frame made every movement look controlled and efficient.
And his face…
Sharp jawline.
High cheekbones.
Dark eyes that held a strange intensity even when calm.
His skin carried the warm tone of someone who spent most of his life under the sun rather than indoors.
His hair fell to his shoulders, thick and dark, moving slightly whenever he turned his head.
And the earrings.
Heavy golden kundal that caught the light whenever he moved.
Avantika blinked.
Okay.
That man is… extremely attractive.
She shifted her attention to Sahadev.
He stood slightly behind Karna, observing the shop with quiet curiosity.
He was leaner.
More slender.
But the way his arms moved when he adjusted the cloth over his shoulder revealed clear muscle beneath.
Not bulky.
But strong.
Defined.
His posture carried the quiet composure of someone who rarely wasted energy.
His face was calmer than Karna's, softer in some ways but still striking.
Sharp eyes.
Focused.
Thoughtful.
His hair also reached his shoulders, tied loosely behind his head.
And yes—
His ears were pierced too.
Though he wore no earrings.
Avantika suddenly realized she had been staring.
She cleared her throat quickly and turned back to the shopkeeper.
"Something simple."
She gestured.
"Full sleeve shirts."
"Track pants."
The shopkeeper nodded and began pulling clothes from shelves.
Ten minutes later both warriors stood in the small trial room area wearing completely modern clothes.
Karna emerged first.
A plain black long-sleeve shirt stretched slightly across his shoulders. Dark grey track pants replaced the traditional dhoti. The change removed the historical aura but somehow made him look even more intimidating.
Like a warrior who had accidentally walked into a modern gym.
Sahadev stepped out next.
The same style of clothes fit him differently.
Lean.
Effortless.
Avantika looked at them both and nodded slowly.
"Much better."
They looked less like time travelers now.
More like extremely handsome tourists.
The shopkeeper packed their old garments into a bag without asking questions.
Money changed hands.
And the strange new arrangement quietly began.
---
Ten minutes later they sat on small plastic stools beside a roadside tea stall.
Steam rose from tiny glasses of cutting chai.
The city had grown darker now.
Electric lights reflected across the pavement as traffic continued flowing endlessly along the road.
Avantika held the small glass between her fingers, blowing lightly across the surface.
Then she spoke.
"So."
Both men looked at her.
She tapped her chest lightly.
"My name is Avantika."
She opened the translator.
The Sanskrit voice repeated it.
"मम नाम अवन्तिका।"
Karna inclined his head slightly.
"Sutaputra Karna."
Sahadev spoke next.
"Sahadeva."
Avantika nodded.
Then she asked the question that had been sitting in her mind since the beginning.
"When you heard the word Kaliyug…"
The translator repeated the sentence.
"You looked shocked."
Her eyes moved between them.
"What Yuga are you from?"
Karna answered immediately.
"Dwapara."
The translator spoke.
"द्वापरयुग।"
Avantika leaned back slightly.
Her brain quickly calculating numbers.
She spoke again slowly.
"According to the Hindu calendar…"
The translator echoed the sentence.
"The Kali Yuga began after Dwapara."
She took a sip of tea.
Then continued.
"In the Vikram calendar…"
She paused.
"…which is also called the Hindu calendar…"
"The current year is 2083."
The translator delivered the number carefully.
Karna frowned slightly.
Sahadev leaned forward.
Avantika continued.
"Kali Yuga started 3809 years after the Dwapara era ended."
The translator repeated it.
She gestured vaguely around the glowing city.
"So if you are truly from Dwapara…"
Her voice softened slightly.
"…then more than five thousand years have passed."
Neither warrior spoke.
The noise of traffic filled the silence between them.
Sahadev looked up slowly.
Five thousand years.
Empires.
Generations.
Entire civilizations.
Gone.
Dust.
Avantika watched their reactions carefully.
Still hiding the one thing she refused to reveal.
Because deep inside her mind, another thought quietly echoed.
I know exactly who you are.
But she didn't say it.
Not yet.
The less they knew about what she knew…
The better.
Instead she asked another simple question.
"What was the name of your country?"
Karna answered without hesitation.
"Aryavarta."
The translator spoke.
Avantika nodded slowly.
Then gestured toward the road.
"This place…"
She said calmly.
"…is called Bharat."
The night wind moved through the quiet tea stall.
And beneath the electric lights of a twenty-first-century city…
Two warriors from a forgotten age sat drinking cutting chai.
Trying to understand a world five thousand years beyond their own.
While the girl sitting across from them quietly kept one enormous secret locked inside her mind.