Judaiyaan [ON HOLD]

Vikramaditya

Samar, Ruhani, Darshan, and Mahika were brought back to their house in the mountain after the arbitrary execution. The old man ordered the soldiers to help them get back. They surprisingly obeyed him without questioning the order. The commander even apologized to him for taking actions without the old man's concerns. The one that noticed this all was Darshan. He heard all of their conversations. He assumed the old man had an immense power among the soldiers. He should tell Samar about it. They should find out who the man was.

As they reached the house, they put the quartet in the living room. The old man gave an order to five soldiers to keep watch around the house. The young man immediately went to the kitchen to get them some water. Darshan, in a semi conscious state, noticed that the man looked so familiar with the house. He knew exactly where the things were stored, how to use them, as if he had been living in the house for a long time. He stared at Samar. He was not in a good condition either. He would discuss this matter later with him.

"Here, have some water," The old man offered the quartet a glass of water each. They only accepted it and did what the old man told them to do. The water made them feel better. They kept gaining consciousness as they spent a few minutes in silence. Samar, Ruhani, Darshan, and Mahika only stared at two men with a big age gap before them. The pain in their necks prevented them from talking much.

The old man cleared his throat to clear the awkward moment between them. He started introducing himself. "My name is Vikramaditya. I am in charge of the India Liberation Force command. This is Yudhisthira, my aide."

Samar frowned at him when he mentioned a movement's name. He watched him from head to toe. He clearly did not look like a commander. The cane in his hand could be indicating that he was not even capable of bringing himself to walk around. How can this man be a commander? The question kept circulating in his head until the young man relieved him from his thoughts.

"You can't use your real name here. You should come up with some new names."

"Huh?" Darshan scoffed. "Now what is this? What is wrong with our names? And how can you know if they are real or not?"

Yudhisthira smiled. "Too dangerous. We know you are not from this world."

Ruhani and Mahika stared at each other. They actually had the same thought like Samar and Darshan. Both were confused, only Mahika felt a little bit defensive this time. What the hell is the India Liberation Force? Why should India be liberated? Liberated from what? Mahika asked herself. She never heard such a name of a liberation movement in India. Seemed like they were new, at least to her. She did not know whether Samar knew it or not. Her gaze followed Ruhani to stare at Samar. He just held his dizzy head while shaking it, indicating that he refused to talk.

"So, we can't use our names because of safety matters? Then, where are we now?" Mahika finally asked her mind out.

"You are wrong. The question is not where you are. It is when you are," Vikramaditya gave a smile at her. "It is March twenty eight, two thousand fifty three."

Darshan shaped his lips into a big 'O', Mahika froze in her seat, Ruhani stared back at Samar, and Samar felt the pain in his head disappear suddenly. The quartet fell into a long silence while staring at each other. Two thousand fifty three? That sounded so insane. The last thing they remembered was that they just celebrated the new year in 2023. So it meant there was a thirty year span of time from their origin time— ah, it explained all the odds. The environment, the civilians, the way they treated them was different because it was a different time.

"Get some names and be quick. Someone will come and ask for your identities."

Just after the young man that called himself Yudhisthira finished telling that to the quartet, a soldier came in from the front door. He was the one that gave orders for their execution earlier. Two men were following him behind. He must have been a lieutenant or a major. Officer, in general.

"Baba, have you got their names?" He said after giving the old man a salute.

Vikramaditya did not respond. He instead stared at Samar, Ruhani, Darshan, and Mahika one by one. Of course they had no idea about what they should say. The officer sighed and stared at the four, giving them an intimidating look.

"We can't help you if we don't know who you are."

Darshan gulped down. From his sight, there was no one between them that would take an initiative to build a fake scenario and convince the officer. Samar kept his head down, while Mahika and Ruhani were shaking their heads in doubt. So, he felt the need to take the responsibility to save his group. He raised his head to stare at the officer and said,

"I am Yodha. These are my friends, uh..."

He took a pause looking at Mahika for a few seconds before continuing. "Kavya... and..."

His finger moved as he mentioned the others' fake names. Samar and Ruhani were already giving him a furrowed look, telling him to stop doing what he did. But he did not see anything wrong in it. Darshan really thought it was one of their ways to survive. He would do and sacrifice anything to achieve it, though it sounded so wrong and stupid.

"Ishani... and... Kiaan."

Vikramaditya, the old man, smiled at him. He knew the names even before Darshan mentioned them.

**

Amar Trivedi sat on a bench in a park near the headquarters. He did not have the heart to watch the execution of Kiaan and Yodha. He knew the two men were Samar and Darshan, the men who were noticed by his agents in The Eleven Brothers' bunker in Muzaffarnagar. He read the letter before he handed it to Rajpal. It just confirmed all his suspicions regarding the Army conspiracy.

He could not believe that a letter from the future would be evidence of his theory in this case. The mind-map he built since he took over the case now had come to light. Half of it was in line with his hypothesis from the beginning, that those generals used Samar and his friends to test their prototype time machine. He just needed to prove his hypothesis on how they hijacked the ship and managed to travel back safely to India without getting recognized.

The first thing that crossed his mind was his buddy Rajpal. He could not imagine if he found out the truth behind today's scenario. He could not imagine how destroyed he was going to be. He did not expect those generals would execute Kiaan and Yodha in such a short time. He felt he had failed to prevail justice. He should have been working harder and faster so he could at least hold a fair trial for both of them.

"Blaming yourself is easy. But to let yourself be distracted from the main focus is equivalent to betrayal of the idea you believe in."

Amar came back from his long reverie and turned to the right. An old man with white hair and long beard sat there while staring blankly at the lines of trees before them. He did not look bothered even with Amar's adjutant's sudden presence around them. Civilians usually got disturbed by the presence of a soldier with a rifle in their hands. Amar told the adjutant that he was okay.

"You could not and would never be able to bring them back. You can never change it," The old man continued. "Samar and Darshan—no, Kiaan and Yodha need you somewhere else, with different times and circumstances. Be alive for that."

It was such a short conversation. Amar did not say anything. To be frank, he did not know what to say. It was not the first time the stranger paid him a visit and, too, it was not the first time he gave him orders like that. He was also the one telling him about the bunker in Muzaffarnagar. He helped him find evidence of the Army's scandal case. He helped him declare Samar's Uncle Gurdeep mission was a successful one. But he never knew who he was.

The old man rose from his seat with the help of his cane. A smile flashed in his face as he turned to Amar once again. Amar used that to clear his confusion all this time.

"Who are you?" Amar asked.

Only a name that came out as the old man's answer. "Vikramaditya."

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~