Fracture Time

Darkness swallowed Aarav whole. His breath echoed inside the pod, shallow and uneven. He pressed his palms against the cold glass, his heart hammering. Outside, the girl stood rigid, her golden eyes locked onto the monstrous figure that had been chasing them.

Then—

A deafening shriek.

The creature lunged.

A blinding flash of blue light erupted from the pod's interior, enveloping Aarav before he could react. The world outside the glass shimmered like a distorted hologram. For a moment, he felt weightless—suspended between reality and something else entirely.

And then—

Silence.

Aarav gasped as he tumbled forward, hitting solid ground. He groaned, blinking rapidly. His surroundings blurred into focus. He was no longer in the prison-like corridor. The metallic walls, the pods, the girl—gone.

Instead, he found himself standing on an empty street.

The city from the mirror stretched before him, its neon-lit towers glowing against an inky sky. Hovering vehicles zipped overhead, leaving behind faint trails of blue light. The air smelled metallic, artificial. It was a futuristic metropolis—alive and buzzing—yet eerily deserted.

Aarav turned in circles, trying to make sense of what had happened. The pod… the girl… the creature. Had he been transported? Was this still part of the same world?

A sudden voice behind him made him freeze.

"You made it through."

He spun around.

The girl was there. Same silver hair. Same glowing golden eyes. But something about her felt… different.

Her suit, once sleek and pulsing with blue energy, was tattered. Scratches marred her face, as if she had been through a battle. But what unsettled Aarav most was the way she looked at him.

Like she had known him for a long time.

Aarav swallowed hard. "What is this place?"

She exhaled. "A fracture."

"A… what?"

The girl studied him for a moment before stepping closer. "This city exists outside of time. It's a broken reflection, a place where lost things end up." Her gaze darkened. "And you… You shouldn't be here."

Aarav's head spun. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

The girl didn't answer immediately. Instead, she gestured toward a towering skyscraper in the distance. It was unlike the others—jagged, dark, its structure shifting like it was barely holding itself together. Lightning crackled around it.

"They're looking for you," she said.

Aarav tensed. "Who?"

"The Watchers." Her voice was almost a whisper.

Something about the name sent a chill down his spine. He had seen one of them before—that faceless, machine-like thing in the corridor.

Aarav clenched his fists. "Why me? What do they want?"

The girl's golden eyes flickered. "Because you don't belong in this timeline."

Aarav took a shaky step back. "What are you talking about?"

She hesitated, as if choosing her words carefully. "The Aarav Sharma from this world… he disappeared a long time ago."

Aarav's blood ran cold.

He barely had time to process what she meant before a loud whirring noise filled the air. The buildings around them trembled. A shadow loomed overhead.

A massive drone-like machine hovered above them, its sleek black exterior pulsing with red energy. It let out a deep, mechanical hum, scanning the streets below.

The girl's expression hardened. "They've found us."

Aarav's pulse spiked. "What do we do?"

She grabbed his wrist. "Run."

And just like that, they were sprinting through the fractured city, the Watchers closing in.