Chapter Three : The Mountain That Wasn't There

Riya was the first to speak.
“…Wasn’t this supposed to be under a bridge?”
The words hung in the cold, crisp morning air.
Anya clutched her backpack tighter, eyes wide as she turned in a slow circle. The narrow space beneath the flyover, once littered with gravel and trash, had vanished. In its place: tall pine trees, grass wet with dew, and an endless sky that felt too blue to be real.
“Okay. I’m officially freaking out now,” Kartik muttered, eyes darting around. “This is some Narnia-level nonsense.”
They had all stepped into Arjun’s small cardboard hut — his secret space — just moments ago. But now they were on a mountain plain, surrounded by unfamiliar nature, as if the world had blinked and changed its skin.
Suraj tried to stay calm. “We don’t panic. Not yet.”
He pulled out his phone.
No signal.
He looked up. “We need to figure out what this is. Maybe… some kind of dream?”
Ajay knelt down and touched the dirt. “Does this feel like a dream to you?”
No one answered.
The group began walking toward a clearing they spotted ahead, careful not to separate. Even the air here felt different — lighter, yet somehow heavier on the chest. The sun was rising behind the peaks now, casting long golden rays across the valley.
They found an old firepit, surrounded by stones and the remnants of a shelter made from branches and leaves. Whoever had lived here — survived here — had been alone.
It felt ancient… and recent at the same time.
“This makes no sense,” Anya said quietly. “It’s like we just… skipped time or jumped places. But I swear, we were just in Mumbai five minutes ago.”
Kartik picked up a wooden spear with a stone tip. “Someone definitely lived here.”
Riya shook her head. “No. Someone still lives here.”
That’s when they heard it.
A distant roar.
Not loud, but unnatural. The kind that curls under your skin and makes your instincts want to run.
Ajay squinted into the trees. “What was that?”
Suraj narrowed his eyes. “We’re not alone.”
The group huddled together as the wind shifted direction.
Unseen to them, far up the mountain ridge, Arjun looked down from behind a tree — taller, scarred, and not the same boy they remembered. His heart thundered in his chest.
“...They’re really here.”

Chapter end