“The problem with rewriting time is that it always writes back.”

Recap of the First Novel:

Viraj, an electrical engineer, accidentally got involved in a secret time-travel experiment run by the eccentric scientist Lucius. What started as a simple fixing of paradoxes spiraled into a full-blown collapse of time itself.

In their desperate attempt to reset reality, they made a bold choice: rewrite time while keeping their memories intact. It worked. Or at least, they thought it did.

But then they saw the Clock Tower.

A structure that had never existed before. A monument to time itself standing right in the middle of their city. A silent reminder that something had gone horribly wrong.

Now, as they try to resume their normal lives, the real consequences of their actions are about to unfold.

Present Day – The New Reality

Viraj groaned, rubbing his temples as he stared at the impossible sight in front of him.

The Clock Tower loomed in the distance, ancient yet futuristic, its golden gears turning in complete silence. It wasn’t there yesterday. And yet… people weren’t reacting to it.

In fact, they acted like it had always been there.

Lucius stood beside him, sipping his coffee like nothing was wrong. That was a lie. Lucius always looked smug, but this time, it was forced.

Viraj exhaled. “Tell me again. What. The hell. Are we looking at?”

Lucius took another slow sip. “A structural anomaly caused by excessive temporal energy.”

Viraj’s eye twitched. “Lucius.”

Lucius sighed, finally turning to him. “Fine. It’s a monument that shouldn’t exist, but somehow does, in a timeline we supposedly fixed. Meaning…”

“Meaning we didn’t actually fix anything.” Viraj finished, his stomach sinking.

Lucius nodded, staring at the clock’s massive glowing hands.

10:10.

It had been frozen at that exact time since they noticed it.

That’s when Viraj’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen.

Unknown Number: “You created the Tower. Now you have to answer for it.”

His heart stopped.

Before he could react, the clock’s hands moved.

Tick.

10:11.

And the world shuddered.

A Glitch in Reality

The streetlights flickered, the air vibrated, and suddenly—Viraj wasn’t standing in the city anymore.

He was in the middle of a battlefield.

Medieval knights, fully armored, clashed with men in tactical military gear. A World War II tank rolled through the streets of what looked like Victorian London. Above them, a steampunk airship hovered in the sky, its cannons aimed at a futuristic drone.

Viraj barely dodged as a knight swung a flaming sword at him.

“LUCIIIIIIUS!!” he screamed, ducking behind a broken telephone booth.

Lucius appeared a second later, dodging a laser blast. “Okay, new theory—time isn’t just broken. It’s BLEEDING.”

Viraj grabbed his collar. “EXPLAIN.”

Lucius grinned, slightly manic. “Different time periods are colliding. The rewrite didn’t just reset history—it smashed it together.”

Viraj’s stomach dropped. “So… this is our fault?”

Lucius grinned wider. “Oh, absolutely.”

Another explosion rocked the street as a Roman chariot burst through a wall, its driver screaming in Latin.

Viraj sighed. “I really hate time travel.”

Then, amidst the chaos, he saw something worse.

A figure standing in the middle of it all.

Dressed in a long, black coat, face obscured, watching them as if they were expected.

And then—

Another text.

Unknown Number: “The Timeborne is coming.”

Viraj’s blood ran cold.

Whatever was happening… this was only the beginning.

To Be Continued…

"The past, present, and future are merging. And somewhere in the chaos… something new is being born."

“Time travel isn’t about fixing the past. It’s about surviving the consequences.”

The Battlefield of Time

Viraj’s breath came in ragged gasps as he crouched behind the broken telephone booth. Around him, the impossible war raged on—knights clashed with cybernetic soldiers, musketeers fired at drone swarms, and a T-Rex (seriously, a freaking T-Rex!) charged through the battlefield, its roar deafening.

He risked a glance at Lucius, who was crouched beside him, grinning like a lunatic.

"Oh, come on, Viraj! You have to admit, this is the coolest apocalypse ever!"

Viraj shot him a glare. "We’re gonna die, Lucius!"

Lucius shrugged. "Oh, definitely. But at least it'll be fun!"

Viraj groaned. "How are you not panicking?!"

Lucius gestured wildly to the chaos. "Because this is incredible! Time isn't just broken—it's COLLAPSING! Every timeline is leaking into the present. It’s like a cosmic buffet of history!"

Viraj wasn’t sure what was worse—the situation, or Lucius’s enthusiasm about it.

Then, he saw the figure again.

Standing amidst the chaos. Watching. Unmoving.

His long black coat billowed despite the still air around him. His face was hidden, but his presence felt… wrong. As if he wasn’t really there.

Viraj nudged Lucius. "Tell me you see him."

Lucius followed his gaze. The moment his eyes landed on the figure, his smile vanished.

"Oh… that's not good."

Viraj’s stomach tightened. "Who is that?"

Lucius exhaled. "I was hoping you wouldn’t ask."

Viraj grabbed him. "LUC—"

The figure turned.

And reality glitched.

The Glitch in Time

Viraj felt his entire body distort, like he was being pulled apart at the molecular level. He saw flashes—moments from different timelines crashing into his mind:

A futuristic city where he wore a lab coat, working on a massive time engine.

A medieval battlefield where he led an army with a sword in hand.

A world where he and Lucius never met—and time remained untouched.

And then—

Silence.

When he blinked, he was somewhere else.

A Place Outside Time

Viraj stumbled, nearly falling onto an impossibly smooth floor. The sky above him was… nothing. No stars, no light, no darkness. Just void.

Lucius was beside him, rubbing his temples.

“Alright. That was new.”

Viraj spun, heart pounding. "Where are we?"

Lucius took a deep breath. "Judging by the complete lack of space-time here? I'd say… nowhere."

Viraj’s head hurt. "Lucius, what does that even mean?!"

Lucius sighed. "It means we've been pulled into a pocket outside time itself. A place where reality doesn’t exist."

Viraj groaned. "Great. Just great. And let me guess—our mysterious friend did this?"

A slow clap echoed through the void.

Viraj and Lucius turned.

The figure stood before them.

No longer distant. No longer watching.

Now, he was here. Right in front of them.

His voice was deep, layered, almost inhuman.

"You have interfered with the natural order of time."

Viraj swallowed. "So… you’re mad about that?"

The figure stepped closer. "I am not mad. I am inevitable."

Lucius crossed his arms. "You know, if I had a rupee for every time someone told me they were inevitable, I’d have—"

Viraj elbowed him. "NOT THE TIME, LUCIUS!"

The figure tilted his head. "Your recklessness has created the Tower. And the Tower has awakened… the Timeborne."

Viraj stiffened. There was that word again.

"Who—" he started, but the figure raised a hand.

Viraj’s body froze. Lucius too.

Not just frozen. Stopped.

Viraj couldn't move. Couldn't blink. Couldn't even think.

Then—

The figure walked past them.

He didn’t move like a person. He moved like a shadow detached from reality itself.

He whispered as he passed.

"Time always finds balance. You rewrote it. Now, it will rewrite you."

And then—

Darkness.

Back to Reality… Sort Of

Viraj gasped as he snapped back into existence.

One second, he was in the void. The next—he was back in the city.

Everything was… normal.

No knights. No tanks. No dinosaurs.

Lucius was beside him, looking equally shaken.

Viraj swallowed hard. "Did we just—"

Lucius nodded. "Yeah. We got erased and rewritten."

Viraj shivered. "Lucius, I don’t think we’re in control anymore."

Lucius sighed. "Oh, we were never in control, Viraj. We were just idiots who thought we were."

Viraj groaned. "So what now?"

Lucius adjusted his coat. "Now? We find out exactly what the hell the Timeborne is… before it finds us."

And somewhere, deep in the city, the Clock Tower chimed.

10:12.

And reality shuddered again.

To Be Continued…

"You don’t break time without consequences. And this time… time is fighting back."

“Time is not a river. It’s an ocean. And when you disturb it, you don’t just make ripples—you awaken what lurks beneath.”

Back to (A Very Wrong) Reality

Viraj still felt like his body didn’t belong. His atoms felt… off, like he’d been glued back together with cheap superglue and bad decisions.

Lucius looked just as rattled, which was never a good sign. The man could face a collapsing multiverse and still sip his coffee like it was a mild inconvenience. But now?

Lucius was quiet.

That scared Viraj more than anything.

They were back in the city. But it wasn’t their city.

It looked the same. Same streets. Same buildings. Same slightly overpriced food stalls. But… something was different. Viraj just couldn’t put his finger on it.

Until he saw the newspaper.

He stopped dead, staring at a stand selling The New Delhi Times. The headline made his blood run cold.

"World Leaders Gather for Annual Time Stabilization Summit – 2097"

Viraj grabbed the paper, scanning the date. February 12, 2097.

"Lucius… tell me I’m reading this wrong."

Lucius peered over. "Well, that depends. Are you reading '2097' as '2025'? Because if so, then yeah. You're reading it wrong."

Viraj’s breath hitched. "Lucius, we just got thrown 72 years into the future."

Lucius rubbed his temples. "Okay. Maybe it’s not that bad."

Viraj shoved the paper in his face. "THERE’S A 'TIME STABILIZATION SUMMIT,' LUC! THAT MEANS TIME TRAVEL IS NORMAL HERE!"

Lucius frowned. "…Oh. Okay, yeah, that’s bad."

The Future That Shouldn’t Exist

They needed answers. Fast.

They blended into the crowd as best they could—Viraj tried not to gawk at hovering cars, holographic billboards, and people casually checking ‘personal quantum stabilizers’ on their wrists.

This world had mastered time.

Lucius tapped his chin. "Well. This is unexpected."

Viraj gritted his teeth. "Lucius, I swear on every physics book ever written, if you say ‘this is fascinating,’ I will punch you into next Tuesday."

Lucius raised a finger. "Technically, in this timeline, next Tuesday might be—"

Viraj punched him in the arm.

Lucius winced. "Okay, deserved."

They needed a plan. But before they could even think, a voice called out—

"Hey! You two!"

Viraj turned, his stomach dropping. A man in a long coat strode toward them. His face was lined with age, but his eyes were sharp. He looked strangely familiar.

Then, the man stared straight at Viraj.

And said something that shattered his brain.

"Viraj Hatwar. I’ve been waiting for you."

Viraj froze. "Excuse me?"

The man smirked. "You don’t recognize me, do you?"

Viraj blinked. Then blinked again.

And then, realization hit him like a freight train.

The man was him.

An older version of himself.

Future Viraj and a Very Bad Truth

Viraj was not handling this well.

"Nope. No. Absolutely not. I refuse. This is a prank. Lucius, tell me this is a prank."

Lucius, for once, looked just as shocked. "I… actually don’t know. And I hate that I don’t know."

Future Viraj chuckled. "Still dramatic, huh? Yeah, I remember being like that."

Viraj grabbed his own hair. "I’M HAVING A CRISIS, FUTURE ME!"

Future Viraj crossed his arms. "Good. Because you should be. You and your idiot scientist friend just broke time worse than ever."

Lucius gasped. "Excuse me, I prefer ‘brilliant scientist friend.’"

Future Viraj ignored him. "You two caused the Timeborne. And now, I have to clean up your mess."

Viraj’s throat was dry. "The Timeborne… what is it?"

Future Viraj’s face darkened. "Not what. Who."

Viraj’s pulse quickened. "Then… who?"

Future Viraj exhaled, looking at the Clock Tower in the distance.

"The Timeborne is what happens when time fights back."

Viraj’s heart hammered. "That’s not an answer!"

Future Viraj turned back to them. "Fine. You want the truth?"

Lucius and Viraj nodded, bracing themselves.

Future Viraj’s eyes were cold. "The Timeborne is coming. Because of you two. And unless you fix this… there won’t be a future left for anyone."

Viraj’s blood ran cold.

Lucius whistled. "Okay. I admit it. This is worse than I expected."

Then, Future Viraj grabbed Viraj’s collar and pulled him close. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"One last thing. Whatever you do… don’t trust the Tower."

And then—

The Clock Tower struck 10:13.

And the world shifted again.

To Be Continued…

"When you break time, time breaks you back. The only question is… which version of you survives?"