"Your Highness..... I present to you a prestigious artifact that I made in the presence of this court.", A man spoke in a deep and gruff voice never once lifting his cloak.

All the courtesans shared a look of confusion as they gazed at the mysterious individual who stood before them. The man in front of them had entered the court without much description of himself and only stated that whoever looked at the painting he made would be enticed by it.

The man could be no more than 5 feet tall but the painting he had claimed to be made was double his size..... It made things even more intriguing to the court to say the least.

"Alright let's see this painting that you boast about! ", The king stated in a loud and authoritative tone, perched on his high throne.

Within a few seconds, the cloak lifted to reveal the most exotic of masterpieces that the court had seen. The painting was painted in soothing colours with well defined curves and intricate patterns.

What made it different from the other paintings was the abundance of a mixture of patterns that blended and molded themselves into delicate strings of art. The more you looked at it, the more would you slowly sink into fascination.

The court broke from the spell when the creator cleared his throat.....

"I can see that each person here is in love with this masterpiece..... And as much as I like all of you seeing it with fascination, I brought it to gift to our highness!", he stated in a voice that never faultered.

"My Lord....This is no doubt one of a kind but something seems fishy about all of this to me..... The way everyone went in a trance looking at it was deeply unnerving.", The advisor and the childhood friend of the King,Vijayan told the latter in a hushed voice.

"You are stressing yourself for no reason Vijayan....Let this man receive his reward for this good deed and take the painting to my Chambers!", the king ordered the servants.

After a while, the court was dismissed and the King had returned back to his Chambers. He was about to lift up the mahogany covers that covered the marvel when suddenly a hand came to stop his.

"Shivansh.....Do you really not consider me as your advisor and your friend? Do my opinions not matter to you? ", Vijayan asked the King in a fit of rage.

"Vijayan it's nothing like that. You know that I had to reward him for his skills..... Plus the addition to this painting to my collection isn't neccesarily bad."

"You don't understand.....I have this feeling in my gut that something is wrong! Also, how did he know that you love these kinds of paintings? Something tells me he wants to lure you in a trap."

Vijayan reasoned to him but his concerns fell on deaf ears as Shivansh lifted his hand to finally unveil the painting.

The room fell quiet as they both stared for a while, a second turned to a minute and a minute into an hour but they could only helplessly stare at it.....They could only gaze at it as the subtle colours turned to a bright orb, engulfing both the friends into itself......

*______*_______*_______*______*______

"Sir can you hear me? Do you remember what happened to you?", an unfamiliar voice spoke to Shivansh.

"Where am I? What happened?", Shivansh stated in a feeble voice as he slowly adjusted to the bright lights and gazed around the room.

"You are in the Virtual Hospital and you met with an accident.....I am Doctor Srikanth Jha and I treated you.", the voice said from a holographic projection.

"What? H-hospital.... What is that?", Shivansh stated confused as ever.

"Wait.... What century is this?",Vijayan spike regaining his consciousness.

"Uhhh.... The 29th century..... And it's 12th December 2898.....fyi.", Dr. Jha stated.

"Oh no! This is the Ghor Kalyug that the priests told us about! We travelled into this forsaken future! We are doomed.... Humanity will be doomed!" Both the former Royals shouted in unison as they frantically tried to run away from the Holographuc projection of a wide eyed Dr. Jha.

*____________*____________*__________

A large firm named as "Nurturing Future had rose to power by the mid 22nd Century..... All parents send their children to train and be nurtured due to the harsh conditions that the world had.

Two friends, Avni and Ishita sat in silence doing their respective works while the News played distinctly in the background over the television.

They were bought up in the firm and were roommates..... They both worked in separate departments under the firm.Avni was a leading Bio-Genetic Scientist while Ishita was a intern doctor.

"Sometimes I really wonder how would it be like to see beyond this association they brought us up in.....It feels like an orphanage..... Maybe it is one! ", Ishita said as she sat there checking the Patient's file.

"Hmm.... Perhaps that is true..... But let's not forget this is for the betterment of humanity. Our parents sent us here so we could succeed in life....", Avni said without lifting her eyes from her notes she made for her reference.

"Ok whatever miss know it all.... You shoul-"

Ishita was interrupted as the TV flashed the breaking news. She increased the sound as they both listened attentively to the news.

"Two individuals have been caught robbing a bank.... What leaves the govt. flabbergasted is their claims of being the Royals of the kingdom Of Vijayanagar and not knowing that the place they walked into was a bank...... This case is certainly intriguing and we will keep you posted. That was it and keep watching AMC News!"

"Now what was that about?", Avni breathed out.

"You think they are telling the truth?"

"For all we know they are time travellers or maybe a bunch of lunatics fantasizing all about it. It's not our concern."

Shortly after a few days the news displayed yet another breaking news......

"The two lunatics have escaped-"

Knock!

Knock!

The sound came from the window of the two girls.....

"We need your help!", Vijayan spoke out of breath.

"No offense..... But we are by no means getting involved with two lunatics to end up ruining our lives on our own!", Avni stated in a cold tone as she tried to keep her rage in control.

Alas! Neither of them knew that the four of them had their destinies interwined whether they wished for it or not......The two lunatics would soon become the part of this world and nobody was ready for the revelation of where their Threads Of Fate would lead them.