Trace of Blood, Path of Time

The team of five archaeologists were making their way across the ruins of Dhanushkodi to find clues about the methods of construction of the legendary Ram Setu. Svetlana, the team leader of the mission, led the group on this expedition. After carefully examining and collecting various samples for research, she and her team dived underwater for further examination. According to the plans made earlier, they each took on their sections of the bridge to carefully examine the structure. Svetlana was very optimistic that she and her team would be able to find some major breakthroughs in this mission. Little did she know that the breakthrough she was expecting to find would be very different from what she expected and not one she could imagine even in her wildest dreams!

Svetlana and her team explored without much success for about two hours with a small break in between dives. The day ended without significant progress. However, this did not dampen Svetlana or her team’s optimism. If the mystery was decoded so soon, then the ASI would not have sent their best team of researchers. The second day of exploring also failed to yield many results, but the third day finally saw a change.

While exploring underwater, Svetlana and her teammates were a bit further apart than the previous days to have a bit more coverage. She unknowingly touched something that would soon change her life forever. The stone, which was blended with the other stone structure of the bridge, soon sank to the bottom of the seabed. Svetlana was shocked but soon recovered and tried to follow the sinking stone, but it soon disappeared. After a while of searching in the murky waters, she found it hidden behind some seagrass meadows.

Svetlana tried to pick the stone to examine it but it was heavier and sharper than it looked. It cut straight through her gloves and a bit of blood seeped through and fell on the stone.

This seemed to activate some form of chain reaction. The stone felt light and dull now, but Svetlana felt her mind spin. Images and knowledge engraved themselves into her brain, faster than she could process them. She lost any awareness of her surroundings, lost in her mind. She had no idea anymore who she was, just the feeling that she was a small, singular being in a vast universe, being pulled hither-thither with no control as to where she was going. It seemed like just a moment but also like an eternity. Like when a dying star has a last moment of brilliance in the form of supernova explosion before it simply becomes dead like a neutron star or a black hole. But she did not want to die. She instinctively felt that she had to hold on and wait out this tide of information explosion, else she would really die. Just when she felt that her brain would really explode and that she would die, she suddenly felt herself back to awareness. Is this what an out-of-body experience feels like, she asked herself. Trying to reorient herself, she felt a strange strength in her as well as a lethargy.

Svetlana suddenly saw her four team members coming toward her, their bodies radiating their unease at being unable to find her. She took a deep breath from her mouthpiece and swam towards her teammates meeting them midway and signalling them that she is fine and that to swim up to break the surface.

Svetlana was in a completely blank state as she was swimming up towards the surface. In no time, they all broke through the water level and took off their mouthpieces and masks. Svetlana was drowned in their questions and asked them to calm down while she explained. But even as she said this, Svetlana did not know how to explain what happened to her. To buy time to organise her thoughts, she briefly explained the strange occurrence of the stone breaking apart from the bridge structure and trying to find it without success, and while doing so she lost track of time. The others expressed their understanding and jokingly rebuked her for losing track of time and worrying them. Then they discussed about the different ways with which they could search for the stone to examine it closely.

Svetlana listened and nodded absentmindedly, her mind miles away. For some reason, she strangely felt as if she was in two places at once while she was recounting part of her experience. Now the feeling was getting stronger. She shook her head trying to clear it. Her teammates clearly noticed her distracted state and owed this to her strange discovery, and planned to rest and discuss the rest of the details later in their hotel.

Meanwhile Svetlana was feeling increasingly disoriented and dizzy. She somehow held onto herself till she reached the hotel and soon collapsed onto her bed. Reclining proved to be a mistake; the change in posture sent the room into a wild spin and she finally surrendered to the darkness. Upon waking or regaining her sense of self, she felt better but immediately noticed something wrong.

Earlier she was in the hotel room, but now she was in a completely different place. It was in the middle of nowhere full of dense trees and wildlife. Svetlana felt confused and scared. Have I somehow been kidnapped, she thought to herself. But that did not feel right with her. The air was too cool, the humidity also felt wrong near the coast, and most importantly, there wasn’t enough time for anyone to kidnap her. With daylight swiftly fading and sounds of the nocturnal animals increasing, she felt even more panicked and just wished she could somehow go back to her hotel room. Next, she really found herself back in the hotel room. Svetlana wondered if she was hallucinating or going insane. She wondered if some malicious person has somehow fed her hallucinogenic drugs. What else could be the explanation for this strange occurrence. Then she thought back to her underwater escapade and how things have become increasingly strange for her since then. She wondered if this was somehow linked to this strange occurrence. She started to think back on what she felt during the entire ordeal. At first, they felt hard to grasp, just out of reach, tantalising one to remember and have that Eureka moment. But as she decided to fully concentrate on what happened to her at that time, she felt as if her mind was expanding, her brain cells increasing and she in turn comprehending things and concepts which had earlier seemed elusive. She seemed to see the subtle, delicate and interconnected strings which were everywhere- from objects to living beings, swaying gently. She gently plucked the string coming from her and fading into the surroundings. Her string seemed to be completely different from others’ and she instinctively knew that it would allow her to manipulate her own string at will.

She tugged the string, connecting it to the immediate surrounding of the room and twirled the string backwards. Immediately, she felt the surroundings blur and she was alone as if in a transparent bubble, observing from the position of a bystander. She saw the earlier renovations of the hotel, the earlier dharamshala instead of the hotel, and previously it was just a cottage-like structure with plain land for farming. Svetlana twirled the string faster and the scenes moved faster, no longer so distinct. She finally stopped when she saw the previously seen similar forest. She unwrapped the string and it was like watching the scenes in a movie in fast-forward motion. She stopped when it reached the dharamshala and carefully observed. A newspaper discarded in the room revealed the date to be 12th of July 1894. “Ah…the British Raj period”, thought Svetlana to herself “The language barrier should not be too drastic, but I still should not risk enquiring impulsively”.

A closer look at the room revealed that the room contained a simple mattress, a fireplace with a rifle hanging across the wall. Near the mattress was a small alcove equipped with an oil lamp. Svetlana could smell the kerosene from the oil lamp. There was a small window near the top for ventilation. The single room seemed to be prepared for a VIP customer, who luckily for Svetlana did not seem to have arrived yet.

However, her luck seemed to have been exhausted as she heard footsteps down the corridor coming in her direction. She quickly concentrated to imagine the strings again but could not achieve her earlier state of mind. She grew agitated as she had maybe less than ten seconds to disappear back into her current timeline. “Yes, that’s right. My timeline, that is if I have not already gone insane and am imagining the whole thing. Focus, Svetu! Have the existential crisis later. I can’t let anyone see me here in this timeline. Not only would that raise questions about my very different attire but also my appearance here would likely antagonise people, either being labelled as a thief, or even worse a rebel against the British rule, which would undoubtedly lead to torture and eventually execution. Come on, I beg you, strings…where are you!? Oh God Ram, Lord Vishnu please save me!”

Maybe the Gods listened to her prayers or at least helped her to calm down quickly and focus upon the strings. Svetlana unravelled the string deftly and finally returned to the present. She finally heaved a sigh of relief, collapsed on the floor, adrenaline and strength fading, and burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

After this minor breakdown, she was calm with a single-minded focus upon learning more about this time-travel thing. She took out one of the new diaries she brought along and was ready to burn the night lamp. After a night of theorising and short practicals, Svetlana finally had some understanding of the time-travelling powers she seemed to have gained.

“Firstly, the stone which broke apart from the rest of the structure seems to be the main cause of the newly awakened power. Pieces of evidence in favour seem to be the fact that my hand which was injured, had no trace of injury whatsoever after the time-travelling power was awakened, then there is the strange weight issue, and most importantly the fact that I started feeling those weird indescribable sensations around that time.”

“Secondly, the more I exercise my powers, the easier they are to use.”

“Thirdly, the strings can only be used to travel backwards in time. I cannot travel into the future at all.”

“Fourth, if I connect the strings to an object to see and travel into its past, I will land in the location of the object at that time, no matter its current location. Moreover, I will only be able to go to the past of the connected object as far back as its existence in the universe.”

“Fifth, nested loops in time travel are complicated and messy. Not advisable. At all.”

“Sixth, with my current ability, space-time travel is not possible on its own. If I attach my string to a place, then I can go back to the past of that place only. However, space-time travel is possible with the help of a ‘crutch’ like attaching myself to an object which was in a different location in the past as compared to the present.”

“Ugh….my head is killing me now”, said Svetlana to herself.

But her journey to discovering her newfound time-travelling powers has just begun…