At The Threshold of Time

1.

'We're running late, hurry up,' Shivali held their hotel room door open for Divya, who rushed out of it, stuffing a bunch of papers in a white folder.

'I'm really going to UOK this year,' Divya said, smiling at her phone, as they got onto the elevator leading down, for what seemed to Shivali the millionth time since last night, when she had first received her acceptance letter.

'I wish I could study with you, this city is amazing,' Shivali also said, for the millionth time since last night, pouting at the elevator mirror, tucking her hair behind her ear, so it fell just below her shoulders.

'Auroli is only three hours away, you can come every weekend if you want,' Divya comforted her as they walked out into the lobby. 'Besides, UOK only provides for anthropology, they don't have law here.'

Shivali nodded and shrugged. 'I still wish I could though.'

They proceeded on to greet the rest of their friends. The lobby was filled with the excited chatter of all the senior year students of Shivali's school as they discussed their plans for the day.

Shivali had come to the city of Kalad, near their hometown Auroli, on a farewell trip hosted by her school, for the weekend. But the trip itself was not the only reason for their excitement. It was because this place was Kalad, the home to the one of the recently discovered mysteries that had taken India by the storm. Since this discovery two months ago, Kalad had become one of the ten most visited tourist spots in the entirety of India, at least, according to the cultural magazine Divya would read to Shivali every month.

As they boarded their tour bus, Divya began shoving papers from her folder into Shivali's lap, jabbering on about the case. Last night, Shivali had admitted that she knew absolutely nothing about this mystery, except for some doomsday theory that was linked to it by some yogi baba.

According to Divya's research, it all began when a skeleton was found on the outskirts of Kalad while digging for a bore well. But on looking further into it, the skeleton was found to match perfectly with that of one of the people buried in the royal cemetery, down to the DNA.

This raised various speculations worldwide in science and history communities alike, including that of doppelgängers, or of occult magic. The doomsday theory of Shivali also fit into this category.

But things turned more complicated than ever, when the body buried in the cemetery was found to be not a part of the royal family. In fact, the woman had no trace in the entire history of the kingdom at all.

Since then, people came up with their own stories, each growing in ridiculousness, about experiences they'd had similar to this. Movies about cloning that led to global disasters became all the rage. People flocked over to the cemetery in such amounts that it had to be closed off to the public, for the researchers' sake. The next place people chose was the Baland Mahal. Baland Mahal, which had served as home to thirteen generations of the Devar dynasty, also happened to be the place Shivali and her class had reached, by the time Divya had ended this impromptu presentation.

It took the class ten minutes to weave through the crowd, before Shivali found herself entering the high, spike embedded iron gates of Baland Mahal. The teachers insisted on hiring guides, but the students convinced them otherwise— the fortress was so paltry, you couldn't get lost even if you wanted to— and splitting into groups of two and three, everyone went their own directions, excited to discover— what exactly, no one knew for sure.

Divya dug out a wrinkled up paper from her folder and waved it in Shivali's face. 'I have a list of places we will visit, arranged in order,' she told her.

Divya had spent every free moment of hers since they'd learnt about the trip, planning for this very day. Guided by her, Shivali moved along, pretending to be impressed by what she saw.