Chapter 6 : The Smoke of Delhi

The swirling vortex of light receded, and suddenly, Aarav stumbled onto hard, sun-scorched ground. Heat slammed into him like a wall. Dust coated his skin instantly. He gasped for breath, blinking against the harsh sunlight. The air was thick with smoke, the distant scent of burnt wood and sweat. Horns blared in the distance. Someone shouted in Urdu. Someone else screamed.

He had arrived.

The chrono-band on his wrist blinked and displayed the date: 12 August 1947.

Three days before India's Independence.

The streets were chaos. People rushed back and forth, some dragging carts of belongings, others simply running with the clothes on their backs. British soldiers marched nearby, their stiff uniforms at odds with the panic surrounding them. Flyers littered the streets—some celebrating freedom, others warning of violence.

Partition, Aarav remembered. The British are leaving, and the country is splitting in two. Millions will flee their homes. Families torn apart. Blood will flow.

This was the world he had to navigate.

He ducked into an alleyway and pulled the time marker from his pocket. It blinked once, then projected a small, floating map—a narrow beam of blue light forming a 3D structure in midair. A red pulse marked his target:

The Dominion Node Location: Near Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi. Time to activation: 36 hours.

He had a deadline.

Aarav wandered through the narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk. Rickshaws rattled past. Street vendors shouted prices. Temples rang bells alongside the distant call of the azaan. But underneath it all, tension simmered.

He watched as two men argued loudly over a religious symbol scratched into a wall. A group of armed young men passed by, and the crowd grew quieter. Children played in the dirt, oblivious to the storm brewing around them.

The time marker pulsed again. Aarav followed it, navigating the maze-like alleys until it brought him to a modest two-story building with faded green shutters. The building looked abandoned, but the marker insisted: This was the place.

He approached cautiously and pushed the door open. It creaked loudly.

Inside, the air was stale. Dust covered every surface. An old radio sat in the corner, its wires chewed through. But in the back, hidden behind a curtain, Aarav found it: a trapdoor.

He hesitated. The marker blinked rapidly.

He opened it.

The tunnel beneath the house was far colder. Metallic. Too modern.

Dominion tech.

Blue lights ran along the walls. A faint hum echoed from below. Aarav moved carefully, crowbar in hand.

He reached a chamber with a rounded dome, at the center of which stood the Node.

It looked like a lotus made of chrome, its petals slowly rotating. Wires ran out from it like roots. A panel blinked with Dominion code—strange symbols Aarav was starting to recognize. He stepped closer, examining the interface.

Security Locked. Chrono-key Required.

He cursed. The Node wouldn't open without a second code—likely one held by a Dominion agent already in this timeline.

He needed to find them.

And fast.

Outside, as he stepped back into the street, the world had shifted. Smoke rose in the distance. People were screaming. Something had happened.

He rushed toward the commotion.

A marketplace had been set ablaze. Stalls burned, carts overturned. A temple's steps were stained red. The crowd surged around him, but then he heard it—a voice shouting in clear English:

"Check the bodies! The boy's here somewhere! He's ours!"

Aarav ducked instinctively. Dominion agents.

He slipped away into the chaos, heart racing. But someone grabbed his arm.

"Are you mad? You'll be killed out here!"

A girl pulled him into a narrow stairwell. She was about his age, with sharp eyes and a scarf covering her hair. She didn't let go until they were safely inside a half-ruined library.

"Who are you?" Aarav asked.

"My name's Isha," she said. "You were about to walk into a massacre. Come with me if you want answers."

Isha led him through the dusty corridors of the library. She explained quickly: her father was a historian, one of many who had noticed strange events happening across different eras. He had discovered traces of the Dominion—"men in black" who erased people, edited memories, corrupted revolutions.

"He died trying to stop them," she said. "But he left his notes. I think he knew someone like you would come."

She handed him a folder. Inside were sketches of the Dominion Nodes, diagrams that matched what Aarav had seen. And a name:

Agent Kepler.

"He's here," she said. "Masquerading as a British officer. He's the one activating the Node."

Aarav nodded. "Then we stop him."

They spent the night preparing. Aarav shared everything he knew about the Dominion. Isha studied the time marker, learning quickly. By morning, they were ready.

The marker guided them to the heart of Delhi's British quarter—a building flying the Union Jack, guarded by armed men.

"Kepler's in there," Aarav said.

Isha nodded. "Then we get him out."

She handed Aarav a stolen uniform. Together, they infiltrated the building, posing as errand staff. Inside, they found Kepler in a private chamber, speaking into a device.

"The Node activates in twelve hours. The timeline will fracture on schedule. Resistance is eliminated."

Aarav acted.

He tackled Kepler, smashing the device. The man fought back, stronger than expected. Not quite human. His eyes glowed faintly.

"You don't belong here," Kepler hissed. "You are a threat to time itself."

"Maybe," Aarav said. "But I'm not the one rewriting history."

With Isha's help, he overpowered the agent and recovered the chrono-key.

Back at the Node, Aarav inserted the key.

The petals opened.

Inside pulsed a sphere of raw energy—the Dominion's anchor in this era. He set the overload code, backed away, and grabbed Isha's hand.

"Ready?"

"Let's change history," she said.

They ran as the chamber glowed brighter.

Behind them, the Node exploded.

The sky shifted.

The smoke cleared.

Outside, the chaos had stopped. People no longer ran. The market was intact. No one seemed to remember the violence that had just occurred.

The Node's influence had been erased.

Aarav turned to Isha. "We did it."

She smiled. "For now."

His chrono-band blinked.

Next Node: Coordinates Encrypted. Awaiting calibration.

He looked toward the horizon.

The journey wasn't over.

But in this moment, it was enough.