“Ma'am! Look over here!” Neelima pointed toward a special section. A map of Omega City was drawn there, but it wasn't a map of the present. It showed the future—a future in which the entire city had been reduced to ash.
Bhagya picked up an ancient manuscript floating in the air. “Aanvi, look at this. The Walders already wrote that when science crosses its limits and magic loses its dignity, there will be a system reboot. The silence of this digital cremation ground we're seeing isn't destruction. It's a reset process.”
Aanvi's face flushed with anger. “A reset? You mean we'll all be deleted? Are millions of lives being taken just for an update?”
“That is the bitter truth of balance,” the Walder's voice came from behind them.
Aanvi pulled a small device from her pocket, one she'd built from the remnants of the lab. “I won't let this happen. If we're data, then I'll hack this system. Bhagya, I need the frequency of the mantras that can stabilize time.”
Bhagya opened her Scripture Codex. “This is dangerous, Aanvi. If we tamper with time, we could become trapped in the Void forever.”
“Sir, Ma'am is right!” Neelima said, gathering her courage. “Even if we die here, at least the people of Omega City will have a chance. I don't want to die, but I don't want to be deleted as a file, either!”
Bhagya looked into Neelima's eyes. Alongside the fear there was an astonishing determination. She nodded. “All right. Aanvi, prepare your algorithm. Neelima, you need to connect these energy pillars so they can form a magnetic field.”
For the next several hours, a strange scene unfolded in the Ancient Library. On one side, ancient mantras were being chanted; on the other, the sounds of cutting-edge coding echoed through the halls. Neelima was drenched in sweat as she laid energy cables from one pillar to the next.
“Hurry! The system has detected us!” Aanvi shouted. The library walls began turning red, and a magical sound like a security alarm reverberated through the halls.
Suddenly, the Walder appeared again—but this time, his face was twisted with rage. “You have misused knowledge without my permission! You are unworthy of the Walders' legacy!” He raised his hand and hurled a massive lightning whip toward Bhagya.
Bhagya blocked it with her wand, but the impact was so powerful that it sent her flying. “Aanvi! Don't stop! Complete the code!” Bhagya shouted.
Neelima saw the Walder moving toward Aanvi. Without thinking, she shoved a heavy pillar of light, knocking it over. The scattering light blinded the Walder for a moment. “You insignificant human girl. You dare!” The Walder glared at Neelima.
“I may be insignificant, but I'm a girl from Jamshedpur!” Neelima shouted back. “Stop trying to scare us!”
Aanvi pressed the final Enter button. A deafening blast erupted. The library's lights shifted from white to blue, then to gold. The Walder's body slowly began breaking apart into pixels. “You... You changed the source code. Now you won't be able to go back.” His voice gradually faded away.
The library began to collapse. Massive stones and spheres of data rained down from the ceiling.
“Bhagya! Neelima! Run! The tunnel is opening again!” Aanvi shouted, waving them over.
They sprinted toward the tunnel like mad. Behind them, everything was turning to ash—thousands of years of knowledge, history, and the mysterious Walder. Just as they reached the mouth of the tunnel, the earth shook again and flung them outside.
When they opened their eyes, they were back in the same old ruins of the Research Center. The first rays of dawn were breaking outside. Omega City's lights were stable now, and the strange rustling had stopped.
Aanvi stood and brushed the dust from her torn clothes. The small device was still in her hand. “We did it. We stopped the system from rebooting.”
Neelima sat on the ground, drawing long breaths. “Did we really survive, Ma'am? Was all of that a dream?”
Bhagya looked toward the horizon, where the sun was rising. There was no joy on her face. “We survived, Neelima. But we've awakened the Walders' greatest enemy—the Original Architect. The code Aanvi changed will now alter the fabric of the entire universe.”
Aanvi looked at Bhagya. “Then should we get ready for the next battle?”
Bhagya answered with a faint smile. “Not for the next battle, Aanvi. Now we have to build a new world where magic and science aren't enemies, but neighbors.”
Neelima stood and adjusted her broken glasses. “Whatever happens, Sir, we won't lose this time. After all, we've got the mind of science and the heart of tantra.”
The three of them walked out of the abandoned building. The city was waking, unaware that its fate had changed overnight. But they knew this was only the beginning. What they had seen inside the tunnel was merely a glimpse. The real mystery was still hidden somewhere in the streets of Omega City, where the heartbeat of Version Two could still be heard.
Aanvi turned and looked at the ruins. She thought she heard a voice coming from beneath the rubble. She ignored it, but somewhere in the back of her mind, the Walder's final words continued to echo—“The truth is hidden behind the veil of the past.”
Were Aanvi, Bhagya, and Neelima really just an experiment, or was it the Walder's illusion?
If their existence is “code,” where did their souls come from?
Is the Original Architect truly the creator of this entire universe—or was it created by someone else, too?
After hacking the system, will imbalance now spread throughout the universe?