Chapter 1
Nandi Kumar:
The year is 3025, a millennium from today. You've lived many lives, and in this one, you're a doctor. One day, you're on a flight to Egypt to perform brain surgery when news breaks that the plane is about to crash. Panic erupts, but everyone has a parachute. You quickly put yours on. Suddenly, the plane rips in half mid-air. Many are incinerated in the blast. In front of you are two children whose parents perished in the fiery wreckage. You grab them and tell them, "We have to jump!" They're terrified and, due to the rapid descent, pass out. You can't risk their lives any longer, so you leap from the plane.
The plane plummets, burning and exploding. You're high above it, watching the inferno fall, and you open your parachute, drifting away to avoid the flames. The plane crashes somewhere in the vast desert, and you land alone, miles from anywhere. The horrifying scene of everyone dying before your eyes leaves you deeply shaken. You start heading towards the crash site, hoping rescuers will arrive soon. As you approach the fiery wreckage, a man, his lower body severed, crawls towards you, calling out, "Help me! Help me!" Despite being a doctor, you're helpless in his condition. He's alive and in agony. Unable to bear his suffering, you grab a sharp piece of the plane's debris and quickly end his life to spare him further pain.
The Desert Storm and the Mysterious Watch
You continue onward, but then a colossal desert storm, like a dust tsunami, barrels towards you. You shield yourself under a large piece of the plane's wreckage, but the storm's force is immense, lifting the debris into the air. You cling to a large part of it, and you're swept up, spinning wildly in the tempest. More plane parts fly towards you, threatening to collide. You manage to dodge them, but your hand gets cut.
Suddenly, a golden glowing object hurtles towards you and strikes your stomach. It's an old, unremarkable watch. You don't pay it much attention, but it instantly sticks to your hand. A voice echoes in your mind: "Set its time to zero quickly! Set its time to zero! Set it! Set it!" You hesitate; if you let go of the plane part, you'll be lost in the storm, and more debris could hit you. The watch's voice insists, "If you don't do it now, you'll die in 20 seconds!" You take the risk and let go of the plane.
Time Stops and the Genie Appears
The storm's force sends you spinning wildly through the air, but your focus is on the watch's dial. It has 13 numbers, and the starting hand, which looks like a devil's face, is on 13. You struggle to move the hand to zero. The moment you set it to zero, time—and everything around you—freezes. You're suspended in mid-air, unable to move or speak, only able to sense that everything has stopped and your brain is still functioning.
Then, smoke billows from the watch, shifting between white, green, black, and gold. The smoke begins to take the shape of a person—the very person your soul loves. This creature speaks to you telepathically, "My master, you've seen Aladdin, right? So, let's skip the introductions. You may ask me for any of 13 wishes. Remember the rules: no bringing the dead back to life, no making someone fall in love with you, and no wishing for more wishes, haha. Now, tell me, what's your first wish? Given your situation, my master, it's pretty obvious. Do you want to be saved?"
You think to yourself, I'm shocked, but that can wait. "My first wish," you project mentally, "is to become invincible right now, this instant!"
"Wow, my master!" the creature replies. "Instead of wishing to be saved, you wished for power that will save you! Nice one, my master! From now on, you are invincible." As he speaks, the watch hand moves to 1, and everything resumes.
Beyond Earth and a Familiar Face
You feel incredibly light. Debris and pebbles bounce off you, tickling you. You step onto a piece of plane wreckage and jump with full force. The power is so immense that you launch yourself high into the air, crossing the atmosphere and reaching outer space.
You think, Isn't this power a bit too much? You feel no fear or dizziness at this altitude, and you can breathe perfectly fine. The only problem is that while you can travel to and from space, there's no way back. You just float there.
After a long time, you ask the watch, "Is anyone there? Listen, Genie? Genie? Bro, come out! Bro!"
A voice grumbles, "Punch! Isn't it too soon? You're annoying me already! Who are you, sister? Can't you be quiet? Are you going to use all your wishes today? I granted such a dangerous wish; let me rest a bit, sister!"
Then, he emerges from the watch and takes the form of the person you like the most. You don't know who this person is or what his real form looks like, but he appears as a young man with a long topknot and is wearing a sherwani, looking Indian. He says, "My name isn't Genie, sister. Call me Nandi. You can call me Nandi." You've never heard that name before, so you say, "Nandi? That's a strange name." He asks your name, and you reply, "Purvi." He says, "Good. Anyway, what's your wish? Hurry!"
A Shocking Revelation
Just then, a satellite orbiting Earth appears, approaching you. You get an idea: you can push off it to return to Earth. You tell Nandi, "It's fine, you can go to sleep now. My work is done."
He instantly becomes agitated, exclaiming, "What the hell! Seriously! Absolutely!" He then looks at the satellite, and when he sees his reflection in it, he notices that his form is exactly like his actual face in this life, just with different, royal-like clothing. At that moment, he doesn't fully grasp it and retreats back into the watch.
You then push off the satellite and head towards Earth. All your actions are captured by the satellite, and the information reaches Earth faster than you do.
Meanwhile, inside the watch, in a dark, black void, Nandi, in the form of a white ball of energy, remembers the face he saw. He suddenly realizes he's seen that face before—it was his actual, real face! He can't stop himself; everything comes flooding back to him. Crying, he bursts out of the watch and embraces you as you fall through the air. Seeing him cry and hug you, you start punching him. But since he's essentially in a dust-like form, your punches pass right through him. You yell, "Pervert! Scoundrel! Let go of me!"
He lets go and looks at you intently. You've had many lives, so your face is entirely different, but he recognizes you. You are the reason he lives, his love, his half-power, his goddess, his Radha, his everything. The one he waited a thousand years for is finally before his eyes. But he's bound by rules and can't tell you anything about himself except his name. He can't share the truth. But he's finally back with you, and nothing could be better.
Earthfall and a Cryptic Suggestion
As you land in a barren part of Russia, an entire army, with helicopters and military vehicles, is already there. Announcements blare in different languages, demanding to know who you are, threatening attack if you don't comply, and promising no harm if you pose none.
You yell back, "My name is Dr. Purvi! I'm from India, and I'm a plane crash victim. I suddenly got these powers, and I have no idea what they are, but they're incredibly dangerous! Even a nuclear attack might not harm me; I think I've become invincible! So, please, don't fight me unnecessarily. I know my life will be very different now, but I value peace. Please leave me alone for some time." With that, you jump at hypersonic speed, controlling your power, and vanish, appearing somewhere far away. Your speed is so great that everyone thinks you teleported, and no radar can detect your location.
You find yourself in a city, sitting alone by a river, under a bridge. Nandi sits beside you and advises, "Please, make your next wish to remember some of your past lives."
You retort, "Scoundrel, go back inside! Come out when I call you!"
He pleads, "Please, please 🥺."
You ask, "Why? Why would I wish for past lives? I can't even handle this life. What would I do knowing about the past?"
He can't say anything because of the rules. Then you say, "Okay, I've decided my second wish..."
