The crowd at Charni Road station roared past them, but to Arjun, the world had narrowed down to a single thread — Mira.
She walked ahead, fast but calm, as if what had just happened on the train meant nothing. Arjun followed, trying to keep up, dodging a paan-stained wall and the buzz of hawkers yelling out tea orders.
"Hey—wait," he called, breathless. "Are you going to explain anything? Those guys… Who the hell were they? Why did they attack me?"
Mira didn't stop walking.
"You really don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
She turned sharply into a narrow alley. Dim and grimy. The noise of the street seemed to muffle as soon as they entered.
"That you're not normal," she said over her shoulder. "That something inside you has started to wake up."
"I don't even know what that something is."
"You will."
---
They reached a rusted iron door behind a shuttered tea stall. Mira placed her hand against the metal. A soft whirr sounded. Hidden mechanisms clicked, and the door creaked open. Behind it, a staircase spiraled downward into darkness.
Arjun hesitated.
"This is sketchy even by horror movie standards."
Mira looked back, expression unreadable. "You can stay up here and keep running. Or you can come with me and finally understand what's happening to you."
He stared into the dark stairwell. The air smelled old, like wet stone and forgotten time. His body buzzed again, that strange warmth in his chest from last night still flickering now and then, like static.
He stepped in.
---
The stairway led to a vast underground chamber lit by rows of soft white bulbs. There were monitors, maps, bookshelves packed with worn leather volumes. A few people moved about quietly — some working on tablets, others flipping through handwritten scrolls.
It looked part-laboratory, part-ancient library.
"What is this place?" Arjun asked.
"A sanctuary," Mira replied. "At least for now."
"For what?"
She turned to him. "For people like you."
Before he could speak, an older man approached. Sharp-eyed, wiry, wearing a kurta with the sleeves rolled up.
"Mira," he said, nodding. Then his gaze fixed on Arjun. "So this is him."
"Him who?" Arjun asked. "Someone better start giving me real answers."
The man studied him. "Tell me. When did it start? The pull in your chest. The heat in your hands."
"Last night," Arjun said. "After I saved a kid from a group of men. I blacked out. When I woke up, something felt… different. Like I had this energy inside me, just waiting to burst."
The man nodded slowly. "It always begins with instinct. Fear, rage, pain… those trigger the spark."
Arjun frowned. "Spark?"
Mira answered. "You're not just some guy, Arjun. You're one of us. Part of something ancient. Buried. Suppressed."
"You're talking like I'm cursed."
"Not cursed," the man said. "Chosen."
---
They led him deeper into the room. On the wall hung a massive, hand-drawn map of the Indian subcontinent, covered with symbols — circles, lines, runes — in red ink.
Mira pointed to a spot near Konkan coast. "This is where it began. Centuries ago. Ananta."
Arjun blinked. "That word again. What does it mean?"
The old man stepped forward. "Ananta is… the Eternal Thread. A source of forgotten power that binds certain people across generations. Those born with its trace carry echoes of an ancient force."
"And I'm one of them?"
"Yes," Mira said. "But your awakening was different. Too sudden. Too raw."
"Why would those men attack me if I didn't even know about any of this?"
"They did know," the man replied. "Which means you've drawn attention. The wrong kind."
Arjun swallowed hard. "So what now? I'm supposed to be some chosen warrior or something?"
"You're supposed to survive first," Mira said. "Then decide what to become."
---
Arjun sat on the edge of a steel bench, head spinning.
A day ago, he was just another 23-year-old tech guy in Mumbai, worrying about rent and late buses. Now, he was apparently a carrier of some buried force — the Ananta — with secret enemies trying to kill him and strangers trying to protect him.
"Why me?" he asked quietly.
Mira sat beside him. For the first time, her voice softened.
"We don't know yet. But I've seen this before. The power inside you… it's not normal. It's loud. Wild. Like something long sealed is trying to break through."
Arjun looked at his hands. They felt heavier somehow.
"Are there more like me?"
"Yes," said the old man. "But fewer than you think. Some vanished. Some were hunted. Some lost control of the gift and became monsters."
Arjun looked up. "And what do you want from me?"
Mira stood. "Nothing. You didn't ask for this. But now that it's awakened, you have two options—learn to control it… or die from it."
A silence passed between them.
Finally, Arjun nodded. "Okay. Teach me. Start from wherever the hell you want. But I'm done running blind."
The old man smiled faintly. "Good. Then your real journey begins now."
---