EPISODE FOUR:FUTURE DISASTER

Karan slowly lowered his feet to the ground, gripping the armrests of the wheelchair before pushing himself upward. For the first time since the accident, his legs held his weight. He stood completely upright. His eyes still flared with that terrifying, otherworldly glow as he accidentally channeled his newfound strength, lifting Kiran effortlessly into the air with just one hand. Realizing his own strength, he gently set his grandfather back down on the floor. Kiran rushed forward, wrapping his arms around him as tears of joy spilled down his face.

"Thank you so much, Grandpa," Karan whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. "I can walk again."

"I am so proud of you, my grandchild," Kiran said, his eyes shining with tears. "You represent the culmination of all our family's hard work."

Karan smiled, but Kiran’s expression quickly turned serious as he looked over his notes. "I’ve analyzed the readings from your cellular reaction. Your acquired abilities are entirely rooted in gravitational manipulation. You can control gravity itself, move heavy objects, and your eyes glow when you channel it. But there’s a surprising one—you can jump to extreme heights."

Karan stared at his hands, completely shocked by the revelation.

Meanwhile, inside the main house, Vaani and Durga were busy cleaning up Karan's temporary room. As Durga lifted the mattress to smooth out the sheets, her fingers brushed against a sleek, metallic device. She pulled it out, staring at it with intense confusion.

"Oh, look, it has a picture," Vaani said, leaning over Durga’s shoulder.

As Durga tapped the screen, the display flickered to life, revealing a crystal-clear wallpaper of Karan and Krisha smiling happily together.

"This is the most high-definition picture I have ever seen in my life," Durga murmured, completely bewildered.

Vaani’s eyes drifted toward the top of the screen, completely freezing when she read the digital dashboard display. The internal clock of the phone was locked onto its original timeline. "July 5, 2026..."

Durga’s face paled as a sudden, deep fear washed over her. She quickly shook her head, trying to rationalize it. "You know your uncle is a brilliant researcher, beta. I'm sure... I'm sure it's just nothing."

To test the boundaries of these dangerous new abilities, Kiran drove Karan out to a vast, completely deserted field on the outskirts of the city.

"Now, try to jump," Kiran instructed, stepping back.

Karan nodded, bending his knees and focusing the gravitational pull beneath his feet. With a sudden burst of energy, he launched himself into the air, soaring so high into the sky that he briefly disappeared from view. However, unable to control the descent, he came crashing heavily back down into the dirt.

Kiran rushed over to him in a panic. "Are you alright? It's real, Karan. But we absolutely have to find a way for you to safely control this energy."

Karan nodded painfully, dusting himself off.

**2026 LABORATORY**

Back in the original timeline, the 72-hour mark had finally arrived. Krisha slipped into the dark, abandoned laboratory, clutching a small suitcase tightly in her hand. The room was still a mess from the thugs' raid, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she sank to her knees in the center of the floor.

*My parents tried to kill you, Karan,* she thought desperately, her heart breaking in the silence. *When they couldn't find you, they locked me inside the house for two long days. But today makes exactly seventy-two hours since you left. I managed to break out of the house... please, please come back to me.*

**1971 NIGHT**

After spending hours in the field helping Karan master his gravitational control, Kiran and Karan finally returned home. The moment Karan went to the guestroom, Durga cornered Kiran in the hallway, her face tight with anger and fear.

"I know how much you love your scientific research, Kiran, but this is pure insanity!" Durga hissed.

"Durga, please listen to me," Kiran pleaded softly. "He is my future grandson. He came all this way because he desperately needed my help."

"All I see is you and that boy trying to play God!" Durga snapped. "Messing with the past always destroys the future!"

Kiran smiled gently, reaching out to take her trembling hands in his. "Not if we leave the past completely untouched, my love. He isn't changing a single thing, so nothing bad will happen. Besides, he is leaving first thing in the morning."

"This is bad, Kiran," Durga whispered, shaking her head. "Earlier today, Vaani—the shy girl who has never once wanted to date or marry anyone—came and confessed to me that she believes Karan is her true lover."

Kiran gasped, completely shocked. He quickly tried to dismiss it. "Vaani will be alright, Durga. And Karan will be gone tomorrow."

In the guestroom, Karan sat by the open window, staring fondly at the photo of Krisha on his phone screen. *I miss you so much, my Krisha,* he thought, a gentle smile playing on his lips. *I can't wait to see you tomorrow.*

Glancing across the courtyard, he noticed Vaani secretly peeking at him through her curtains. When she saw him look up, she panicked and quickly shut her window. Amused, Karan decided to test his powers. With a single, silent leap, he floated across the gap and landed perfectly on her balcony.

He tapped gently on the glass. Vaani pulled the curtain back, her jaw dropping in utter surprise as she unlocked the door.

Down in the laboratory, Kiran was preparing to lock up for the night when his eyes fell upon the futuristic book Karan had brought with him—the biography written by Govind Oberoi. Curious, Kiran flipped through the pages, but his expression rapidly darkened as he read the fabricated accounts of his own life.

"He framed me in November 1973..." Kiran muttered, his voice trembling with a sudden, toxic rage. "And I was killed in December. He took everything from me." His eyes flared with a dangerous obsession. "I will kill you, Govind, before you ever get the chance to steal my hard work!"

Driven mad by the revelation of his fate, Kiran snatched a piece of paper, scribbled a frantic note for Karan, and dropped it on the desk. He hurried over to the makeshift wheelchair time machine he had built the night before. Sitting in the seat, he pulled the levers. The air warped violently, and within seconds, Kiran blurred into nothingness, hurtling through time toward the year 1973.

**THE BALCONY**

"How—how did you do that?" Vaani stammered, looking from the balcony down to the empty courtyard below. "You were just over there!"

Karan merely smiled, stepping closer. "This will be our little secret, Vaani darling."

Vaani’s cheeks flushed completely red. She stepped back, trying to hide her racing heart. "How can you say such shameless words to me? It's true what they say... you really are from the future. People from the future have absolutely no manners!"

Karan let out a rich laugh. "We have perfectly fine manners. We’re just not as painfully shy as you are. So tell me, why are you blushing so much?"

"What? Why would I be doing that?" Vaani nervously stammered, looking away. "You're not my boyfriend."

"I know you want me, Vaani," Karan said softly, a playful confidence in his eyes. "And I want you too. Let's be boyfriend and girlfriend."

Vaani's breath hitched as she realized something. "Auntie told you what I said earlier, didn't she?" When she saw Karan's genuinely confused expression, her shyness melted into something deeper. "It's not 'want,' Karan... it's love."

At that very moment, Kiran was tearing through the volatile currents of time and space, desperately fighting to reach 1973. Because he had built the machine in a single night, he lacked the advanced materials to construct a protective suit.

Without any protection, the raw temporal energy tore into him. Blinding silver lightning cracked against his flesh, searing his body as he let out blood-curdling screams of pure agony.

With a final, violent jolt, the machine crashed into the laboratory of 1973. Kiran collapsed to the floor, panting heavily. As he looked down at his hands, he gasped in horror—the temporal radiation had permanently altered his cellular structure, turning his entire skin into a cold, metallic silver.

Through the cracked doorway of the lab, the silver-skinned Kiran looked into the main house. There, he saw his own 1973 self, completely normal and healthy, peacefully having lunch with Durga. Clutching his fists in anger, the future version of Kiran turned away, slipping out into the shadows toward the empty fields to test what the temporal radiation had done to his own body.

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