Third person's pov:

'This is a dream.....don't worry, it's just a dream' Ishika recited in her mind. She was in a huge dilemma, she wanted to believe that it was dream but she knew.....it was real. The broken cup pieces were a proof of it. She crossed her legs and sat on the ground, looking down at the grass, contemplating her existence and her decision of agreeing to her stupid friends, but most of all she regretted giving them the idea of trying out such a risky thing. Did her mind go to eat grass when she gave them such suggestion?

She wanted to cry. If this was really true then will she be stuck in this time forever? The coffee had spilled all over the ground and the cup was broken, how will she get back to her own timeline? And if this is really the time "God" as people claim then people must be speaking in Sanskrit! Oh, what will she do if she would not be able to communicate with anyone? And even if she finds a way to do that, no one would believe her story of time travel and would declare that she is crazy. She was in between of a mental breakdown when small tear droplets finally rolled freely down her soft, delicate cheeks as she sat there, in the middle of a forest, losing hope about meeting her loved ones ever again.

Meanwhile, back in 2024, Ishika's friends still surrounded the time travelling table with wide eyes and an amazed expression. They couldn't believe that she actually went back thousands of years. They stood there anxiously waiting for her return, they had so many questions in their minds- how does it feel when you are travelling back in time? Did you see some know king? Did you see Krishna? They could not wait to find out about her experience.

CLANG-DONG

The doorbell chimed which caused their attention to go towards the newcomer, it was none other than Nagare, the owner of the café. He looked at them confused and enquired with a sceptical look in his eyes "Why are you all huddled around that table? And where is Ishika? She isn't gonna come today or something?" All of them looked at each other, communicating through eyes. They had completely forgotten to tell Nagare about the experiment they were going to do.

"Well....dear....you see...." Kei fumbled over her words, not knowing how to break the news to him. "Come on darling, tell me, we don't have all day" Nagare squinted his eyes at his beloved. She never acted this way, it was a very rare sight to see her stuttering like that 'something is definitely wrong' he thought and turned to Kazu "You tell me Kazu, what's going on?" he asked her knowing that she would answer him "Nagare....don't be mad at us....well..we-we decided to do an experiment and see how far behind in time we can go" she explained, she stopped for a second and took a deep breath "And we decided that it would Ishika who will be our subject for this test" she bit her lip and waited.

Nagare stood there shocked, he couldn't believe what she said "Wait what? What did you just- What? And-and exactly how far back has she gone?" he questions in a panicked state. The others got really nervous after seeing his reaction, why did he look so scared? "Well...I suggested she should go to Dwaparyug....about...5000 or 5500 years ago?" Aahan sheepishly admits.

"WHAT?!!"

Everyone was shocked by the sudden outburst of Nagare, they stared at him wide eyed as he rushed to Aahan and shook him by his shoulders "Tell me you are joking Aahan" he says in a threatening tone scaring the poor boy who could only shake his head as a 'no'. "Oh my God! Oh my God........what were you all even thinking?! Why didn't you ask me before going on with this extremely foolish and childish plan of yours?! Do you even know how dangerous this is?! She might not ever come back! Like never!" he exclaimed with extreme worry prominent in his tone, once his words finally sunk into their heads they looked at him with fear "What-what do you mean Nagare? It is not that serious why are you saying this?" Kei asked breathlessly panic gripping her poor ill heart. Nagare sighed after seeing his wife's reaction, he took a deep breath and facepalmed "How long has it been since she travelled? Please tell me that it hasn't been too long"

Kazu checked the time and gulped "Well, I think it has almost been 15 minutes?" she slowly said, this caused everyone to pause, 15 minutes was too much and coffee takes less than ten minutes. Nagare went into a frenzy of fear. He paced around as he started the gears of his mind to find some solution. "What will happen now?" Hirai spoke up and for the first time since they had known her, they could hear her voice tremble.

The café owner sighed and said "Well there is this book I haven't told anyone about, it holds the secrets of the café....when my father passed the ownership to me he said that this book should only be used when there is some big trouble....and Ishika being stuck five thousand years back seems like it" his tone was somber, the seriousness on his face made them realise how grave their mistake was and immediately agreed to look through the book.

Back to Ishika

Ishika walked around the forest trying to find a way out. She had decided that it was useless to just sit and cry so she got up around an hour ago and had been walking ever since. 'It is going to get dark soon' she thought when she looked up at the sky, it was almost the time for sunset. She had to make haste if she wanted to get out because staying in the forest would be really dangerous.

After walking for almost another hour or so, she finally saw light. Her eyes widen as hope arose in her heart, she was finally going to get out of this jungle! She rushed towards the shimmering lights and finally, she took a deep breath as relief flooded into her body. She saw huge city walls and people chatting while entering or leaving. She was about to go to the entrance but stopped as a thought suddenly struck her 'I am wearing a dress' she facepalmed. After all the hard work she did to find this city, she can't even enter because she is dressed in a futuristic attire which will surely get her thrown into the jail for being an "intruder". Ishika bit her lip and started thinking for a way to get inside. She would not be able to mingle among the people due to he clothes so that idea has to be crossed out. After a lot of thinking and planning she came to a conclusion that she should enter the city in the middle of the night. According to her knowledge about sneaking into places as shown in bollywood movies, midnight is the best time.

She nodded to herself and started walking towards a scheduled area near the city wall which was far enough to not be caught and also away from the forest. She found a comfortable spot next to a big banyan tree and sat down, leaning her back toward the tree to get some rest. It was a hectic day and she still did not want believe that she actually transported to this time. She took a deep breath as her eyes started fluttering due to the tiredness. Finally her eyes closed as she fell into a dreamless slumber, which was ironic since she really wanted all this to be a dream.

Later, when she finally woke up she saw that the sky was pitch black confirming that it was very late around midnight. She stretched her sore arms and legs and got up ready to sneak in. It was the first time she was going to do something so risky, it gave her a sense of thrill, she felt blood flowing quickly as her heartbeat fastened. She slowly started making her way toward the gate and looked around to make sure no one was there. She walked a little closer to see if the guards were awake or not. To her luck they were sound asleep, she fist pumped quietly and tip toed towards the entrance. Once again she made sure that the guards were asleep and then entered the city. Once she was inside she did a little victory dance and turned to see the the city. Her eyes glimmered when she took in the beauty of the city. Even in the darkness of the night it seemed as if the city was shimmering and glowing in front of her, the coldness of night suddenly vanished and was replaced by a welcoming warmth.

Ishika walked further inside the city, looking around at the amazing architecture and beautiful farms. She did not know where she was going, she was just happy that finally she was in the guarded city away from any kind of danger. But her happiness could not last long as she heard a deep intimidating voice which made her whole body freeze and chills to run up her spine. Well, it seems she was fucked.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my city?"

Author's note:

Hey guys! Finally I am back with a new chapter, it was supposed to be published a while back but I was stuck at one part which took me too much time. But now that it is out do vote and comment your favourite part!

❧FOLLOW•VOTE•COMMENT☙