The Journey

He tried rubbing the tattoo. Nothing happened.

'Is this the thing the old man gave me, my power?' he thought.

"But how do I use it?" he wondered, trying to activate the power.

Suddenly, he found himself in a huge cave structure. The surrounding walls were completely black and moving. He was frightened, his instincts screaming that it was a very dangerous place.

Ahead, he saw a ray of light piercing through the tunnel. He thought of going in that direction and, in an instant, he appeared in a green field.

"What happened?" he muttered, confused.

He looked around and saw that he was in a green field. It looked like a vegetable farm, with hills surrounding it.

'Is this my power?'

'Is my power teleportation?' Sanjay wondered. But where had he teleported to? It did not look like an area he knew.

'Can I travel back?' he thought, and tried again.

Once again, he arrived in the dangerous-looking cave.

"Is this space?" he whispered.

It felt like he was in some kind of wormhole or something similar. Again, there was light at the other end. He thought of going toward it and, suddenly, he was back in his room.

"Wow. I can teleport," he exclaimed.

"Yes!" he punched the air triumphantly. Then he thought of appearing in a bank or some place with money. But the fear of being caught by the police and used for scientific experiments stopped him.

He didn't want to risk it. Looking down at his wrist, he noticed something strange. Of the four streaks there, two had disappeared, leaving only two remaining.

"Did two disappear because I did a round trip? So, one time going and one time coming back?" he wondered.

"It's very costly for a teleportation skill," he murmured. Then he remembered the old man had called the skill 'Walker'.

"Is this skill different from what I think?" he asked himself.

He didn't want to take any more risks, but he also wanted to test his power further. As a precaution, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen without his mother noticing. He tucked the knife into the back of his pants and thought about going to a place he knew.

Again, he appeared in the tunnel. Moving toward the light, he once more arrived in the wide vegetable field.

Sanjay was now certain: this was not a teleportation skill. It was something completely different.

He checked his wrist again. One more streak had disappeared. Only one was left.

'So, this is my last chance. I'd better make it count,' he thought.

Sanjay cautiously walked in the direction of the hills, the knife in his hand. He didn't know what kind of world he was in. There could be monsters, or he might even be an alien to the inhabitants of this place.

After thirty minutes of walking and climbing the hill, he finally saw something that made him smile.

It was a village. There were people, and they looked just like him. From his vantage point, he could see the entire village with tiny houses made of wood.

"Did I travel to some kind of medieval period?" he wondered.

"They might just be very, very poor," he mused, noticing that there wasn't a single cement structure in the village. "At least there should be a government building somewhere," he thought, but there wasn't.

He descended the hill and approached the village gate. As soon as he stepped closer, the people started staring at him.

"Why is everyone staring at me? Did I do something wrong?" he thought, his grip tightening on the knife in his hand.

As he stood there, unsure of what to do, an old villager stepped forward.

"Hello, young master. May I know where you came from?" the old villager asked with a smile.

"Sir, I was just traveling and got lost. Can you tell me where I am?" Sanjay asked politely.

Hearing himself addressed as "sir," the old man smiled and replied, "Young master, you are in Shantivan village."

"Shantivan village? What a weird name. Am I still on Earth?" Sanjay thought to himself.

"Sir, if you don't mind, could you give me more information about the location of this place?" Sanjay inquired further.

"Yes, young master. The Shantivan village is situated on the far east of the Indrapath kingdom. The nearest place is Dhavalpur town."

Now Sanjay was certain—he was no longer in the same world. In all of Earth's history, there was no kingdom called Indrapath. He decided to keep quiet and not reveal too much.

Seeing that Sanjay wasn't saying anything, the old man added, "Young master, you can spend the night in our village. You look like someone from the town. Tomorrow, our cart will go there, and we can take you along."

"Thank you, sir. I… I don't have anything to repay you with," Sanjay said, embarrassed that he had brought nothing with him except a knife.

The old man smiled and led him to an empty hut. He introduced himself as the village chief and assured Sanjay that he was completely safe in the village, noting the sharp weapon in the boy's hand.

The knife looked sharp and shiny—such an exotic weapon. Combined with Sanjay's clothes, the chief believed only nobles could afford such luxuries. Having seen his fair share of the world, the old man was convinced Sanjay was from a noble family.

"If this boy returns to his family safely, they will surely reward the village," the chief thought. "Perhaps in my old age, I can help the villagers before I pass."

Sanjay entered the hut. The villagers were very generous; one even brought him boiled rice on a leaf. He accepted it gratefully, thanking the person for their kindness.

He looked around the hut. It had a bed made of straw but no other furniture or decorations. He quickly realized that the villagers assumed he was a young master from a noble family because of his clothes.

"Well, that works for me," he thought. "They won't harm me. Harming someone from a noble family is as good as inviting death in medieval times."

Still, he wasn't sure how medieval this place was. Was it like the 1500s or 1600s on Earth? Tomorrow, when he reached the town, he planned to investigate further. Perhaps he could sell a few things and earn some money—money was invaluable in ancient times.

After locking the door with its almost nonexistent lock, Sanjay thought of returning to his room. He appeared back through the tunnel. Looking at his wrist, he saw that all four streaks had become faint, though the first one was slowly reappearing.

When he glanced at the clock, he was shocked. He had spent nearly three hours in that world, but only thirty minutes had passed here. The time ratio was six to one. For every six hours in the medieval world, one hour passed in the modern world.

'I can almost live a double life,' he thought, his mind racing with possibilities.

But the most pressing question was how to benefit from that world. He considered bringing back jewelry, gemstones, gold, or intricately designed items. However, selling such items in the modern world would be tricky. Carbon dating technology could expose him as a fraud.

He decided to think more carefully tomorrow when he reached the town. For now, it was still evening in the medieval world. The villagers had already eaten dinner and would wake up early.

He still had one and a half hours to gather something of value in medieval times.

Sanjay quickly got to work, brainstorming items that might be valuable. Without common internet access in that time, he faced difficulties determining what would be useful.

He packed a new packet of salt, sugar, two bars of soap, and some old clothes his mother had stored in the cupboard for years. Thankfully, his mother was engrossed in her favorite daily soap, sparing him from having to explain his actions.

As for the missing items, he promised himself he would replace them once he earned some money.

Sanjay scratched off all the dates from the back of the packets and packed everything into his school backpack.

Now, he just needed to wait for the streak to return. There was still one and a half hours before the villagers would wake up.

He hoped that he would get there on time. If the villagers woke up and found him missing from his hut, only to see him emerge from the same hut hours later, they might think he was a witch or something.

After two hours, the streak finally returned, and he disappeared.

Sanjay appeared in the hut and saw sunlight streaming through the window. Was he too late? He checked the nonexistent lock and found it still intact—nobody had opened the door.

Sanjay placed his bag in the hut and slowly opened the door. He could see the villagers busy with their daily lives. Only when he stepped outside did people start staring at him.

"Hello, young master. We were waiting for you to wake up. The carriage is ready to go," the village chief said with a smile.

"Sure, sir. I'm already ready. Let's go," Sanjay replied, grabbing his bag from the hut and following the chief.

The chief noticed a strange object on the young man's back but didn't say anything. He didn't want to meddle in others' affairs, even though the object had mysteriously appeared when the young master was alone the previous day.

Sanjay saw three or four carts, all loaded with different types of vegetables and rice, presumably to sell at the town market.

Sanjay sat on the carriage with the village chief as they began their journey. The road was in terrible condition, especially without the invention of shock absorbers.

A few hours later...

"Young master, we have arrived," the village chief said.

Sanjay had finally reached the nearby town.

He regretted not bringing a cushion or something to sit on. After six hours of a tedious journey, his back felt almost broken.

He got down from the cart and saw the medieval town, just like the ones he had always seen on TV and in movies.