"Who am I? " asked Ravi to no one in particular. He was standing somewhere he didn't know.  Ravi looked around him. There was nothing except darkness. Suddenly from nowhere an old man appeared and a light blazed on top of them blinding Ravi. Ravi squeezed his eyes and slowly opened them, letting it adjust.

"You are the chosen one" replied the old man. He was wearing a black suit and his voice cracking. Ravi looked around, seeing the light getting swallowed by darkness.

"Why am I here? " anger was swelling up inside him.

"Where am I? " asked Ravi. He was searching his brain for memories. Memories of his past.

"You are gonna save the world " came from the old man.

Ravi realized he had no memory. He had forgotten his past. Anger was swelling inside him with every passing second.

"Who are you? " asked Ravi loudly

"Why am I here? " this time more loudly

The old man replied "Ravi! "

"Ravi! "

Ravi woke up with a sudden jerk. He looked around and found himself in his room.

"You are in your room, Ravi"

Ravi recognized this voice. It was Maya, his best friend. Maya had come to live with Ravi during the holidays as her parents went to the UK but she was trapped there due to the lockdown. He searched for the source. It was from behind him.

"You had it again? " asked Maya

"Ya, pretty realistic one this time" replied Ravi.

"C'mon man, you are having it for two days" said Maya slowly walking towards the door.

"I am gonna tell to aunty"

"No! Please don't. They are already worked out due to stupid LyssaVi"

Ravi's parents were scientists, working on LyssaV136 and Ravi hates this virus a lot.

"Please don't tell them Maya"

"Okay, but promise me you will get yourself checked up"

"Okay great, promise"

"Go get ready. Got a lot to talk"

"About what? "

"Just get up"

"Don't tell me it's about LyssaVi again. I am not in a mood"

"I will tell you while eating. Now just go" said Maya and left the room.

"Great" said Ravi and got out of his bed. It was already eight o clock when he got up. He went to the washroom and did the usual things.

By the time he came out it was eight fifty. He went down to the kitchen, picked up his plate with breakfast and went to the living hall to watch TV. He found Maya there and also his parents with serious looks.

"What happened? "

"Sit down Ravi" said his father.

"Got a lot to talk " this came from his mother

He sat down on the sofa and started eating his breakfast.

"Now can I know what's going on?"

"Ya, sure" this came from Maya

"How does she know? Does she know? "

"I don't know Ravi. I was waiting for you"

"Listen you both" this was Ravi's father. "The whole agenda is about you two"

"What! " said Ravi and Maya in unison

"Wait, why us? " Ravi asked

"Just listen to your father Ravi" this came from Ravi's mother. "You continue honey "

"Ya, okay" said father " we secretly took your blood samples " he was cut off by Maya.

"When? "

"How? "This was Ravi.

"Just listen to your father, Ravi" said Ravi's mom.

"There will be a question answer time" this came from his father. "We secretly took your blood sample and did some experiment on it with LyssaVi136. There was an interesting discovery." They both, Ravi's mother and father, looked at each other.

"You two are immune to LyssaVi136" said Ravi's mom. Ravi and Maya looked at each other with looks full of confusion and worriedness.

"Don't tell us you are going to experiment on us" said Maya. "Not us " said Ravi's father.

"It's them" this came from Ravi's mother. Suddenly everything black out. Ravi felt something like a needle going in his neck. The light suddenly blazed blinding Ravi. His eyes started to adjust. He saw army men wearing masks and looked like aliens and something was written on their chest with bold letters. It slowly became visible. It was written

... W.I.C.K.E.D...

He was shocked by what he saw. His vision was slowly getting blurred. He was losing consciousness. One man stepped out and held Ravi. The man said

..."W.I.C.K.E.D is good"...

Ravi was shocked by what he heard. The next moment he passed out.

By the time he woke up he found him in nowhere, just sitting on a chair. He felt like he had at least slept for weeks.  "Who am I? " asked Ravi to no one in particular. He was sitting somewhere he didn't know.  Ravi looked around him. There was nothing except darkness. Suddenly from nowhere an old man appeared and a light blazed on top of them blinding Ravi. Ravi squeezed his eyes and slowly opened them, letting it adjust.

"You are the chosen one" replied the old man. He was wearing a black suit and his voice cracking. Ravi looked around, seeing the light getting swallowed by darkness.

"Why am I here? " anger was swelling up inside him.

"Where am I? " asked Ravi. He was searching his brain for memories. Memories of his past.

"You are gonna save the world " came from the old man.

Ravi realized he had no memory. He had forgotten his past. Anger was swelling inside him with every passing second.

"Who are you? " asked Ravi loudly

"Why am I here? " this time more loudly

Whatever was happening he felt it was familiar.

"You are a part of W.I.C.K.E.D" came from old man

Ravi gave him a look.

"What? "

"Yes,  you are a part of W.I.C.K.E.D. It stands for World In Catastrophe : Killzone Experiment Department " said the old man. "You will understand everything slowly just do whatever we say"

Ravi couldn't understand what the old man was saying.

"W.I.C.K.E.D is good. Just believe us. " said the old man and vanished. Ravi couldn't believe what he saw. Now he was left with no one in the room. He didn't know who he was. The old man called him Ravi so he thought his name was Ravi. Suddenly the light went out and he again found himself in darkness

Chapter Two: Future and Present

This time Ravi woke up with light blazing on his face and sand below him.The light was so bright that it could cause sunburns. He closed his eyes and slowly let them open to adjust but it couldn't. His eyes were burning and he had to open and close his eyes again and again. 'Where am I?' was the first question that his mind asked him. He slowly stood up. He found his body sore and stiff like a rusted robot. He looked around searching for existence of life to take help from, but found nothing except sand and barren land stretched out for miles and cloudless sky. Where was he, was he in the middle of some desert? A lot of things were going through his mind. Searching for answers to his questions. Suddenly he saw movement somewhere distant. He didn't know what it was, but it looked like a human figure. He started running towards it. Whatever it maybe he had to deal with it.

It took him fifteen minutes to reach a distance from which he could see who was making the movement. Slowly the figure became clear. It was a girl. From behind her there stood a boy. They were running towards him. He guessed that they had come to rescue him but his instinct told him that they were in the same boat as him. He again started running towards them. He didn't know where he was getting all the energy from but that wasn't the question he wanted to get an answer to.

It took him another fifteen minutes to reach them. They weren't running anymore, just walking like nothing had ever happened. The boy came forward with a shocking expression on his face. He murmured something that Ravi couldn't figure out. Then the girl reached with the same shocking expression as the boy. They, the boy and girl, looked at each other without changing their expression.

"Who are you? " Ravi asked

"It should be our question" came from the girl.

"Why are you here?" Asked the boy

"How shall I know why I am here and who are you? "

"I think you are out numbered" came from the girl.

"Don't tell us and we will break your face and bury you here" came from the boy who took a step forward, tightening his fist to punch Ravi.

"Cool down Alby" said the girl holding Alby back from his solder " I guess he is like us"

" I am Ravi and…… I " he paused, searching his memory for where he came from. He realized he had no memories of his past.

"What happened? ” came from the boy

"I don't remember myself" Ravi searched his mind for solid memories but none came. Now his mind was hurting and he was in tears. He couldn't remember his past.

"So you are a Newbie" said Alby "What to do about him Gwen"

"What is this place? " came from Ravi who was struggling to remember his past.

"What's that in your hand? " came from  Gwen who observed some black color band on Ravi's wrist. Ravi hadn't observed it when he woke up.

"Something is written on it, something in green" this came from Alby

" Ravi check it" ordered Gwen. Ravi was shocked to hear Gwen calling him so casually. He bought the band near his eyes. He was shocked by what he saw. He remained in the same position for a few seconds.

"What is it?" came from Alby

"Wicked" Ravi read it aloud

"This never happened before" said Gwen.

"What has never happened before? " came from Ravi

"This…… " said Alby but Ravi couldn't hear anything. He saw Alby's lips moving but couldn't hear anything.

"Alby, I can't hear anything" said Ravi but Alby continued speaking. 'What happened to Alby? ' he thought but soon realized that Gwen was also saying something but he couldn't hear anything. 'What was happening? ' he thought and suddenly everything was slowly getting blurred.

"Guys I am not able to see you " said Ravi and passed out.

Ravi woke up to find himself again in darkness. 'Was that a dream?' Ravi thought. He was still sitting on that same chair in the same room where he talked with the old man. Thinking about the old man brought back a few pieces of his memories about what he said.

Suddenly from nowhere the old man again reappeared but this time with a different suit. The light again blazed blinding Ravi.

"How was it?" the old man asked.

"What 'How was it'? " asked Ravi with anger swelling in him

"The dream" the old man replied as if it was usual

"How do you know about the dream? " asked Ravi " Does this mean you are somehow manipulating my mind? " said Ravi with anger he couldn't control

"We knew, you are as intelligent as we thought " said the old man "Remember boy what I said to you"

"You manipulate my mind and ask me if I remember your that stupid lecture" shouted Ravi.

"Wicked is good" said the old man and vanished without any trace but this time the light didn't go out. Ravi couldn't understand what was happening and how he was here and suddenly a gas filled the room knocking him out of his breath. Again everything went blurred but Ravi could make out some men carrying him out of the room and suddenly everything went dark. Ravi again found himself in darkness but this one was way more silenced than any other.