"Why are you here so early?"
The voice came from somewhere in the darkness.
The space around Tanvir was pitch black, yet it wasn't empty. Countless stars floated in the distance, shining softly. Massive black holes twisted silently among them, bending the light around their endless gravity.
It was dark…
Yet strangely beautiful.
Tanvir slowly turned his head left and right, trying to locate the person who had spoken.
His mind was still foggy.
Where was he?
And more importantly…
Wasn't he just killed?
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"…Is this heaven?"
A soft chuckle echoed through the cosmic void.
"Oh my… do you like this place that much?"
The voice sounded amused.
"But no… this is not heaven."
A pause followed.
"This is my personal space."
The voice continued calmly.
"Come. Sit down. Let's have a chat."
Tanvir frowned slightly.
Sit?
Where exactly was he supposed to sit?
As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but stars and endless space.
He kept muttering under his breath as he looked around.
"There's nowhere to—"
Then suddenly—
Comfort.
A strange sensation spread beneath him.
Tanvir froze.
His body jolted in shock.
He looked down.
Somehow…
He was sitting on a brown sofa.
In front of him stood a monitor screen.
On the screen, a video game was running.
Pixelated explosions.
Moving characters.
A battlefield unfolding inside the digital world.
Tanvir blinked.
Slowly, he raised his hands.
And froze again.
A game controller rested in his palms.
His mind went blank.
Tanvir's eyes widened so much it almost looked like they would pop out of their sockets.
Then slowly…
He turned his head to the left.
And his breath stopped.
Someone was sitting beside him.
Someone familiar.
Too familiar.
It was him.
Tanvir.
But younger.
Much younger.
If someone had told him this was his ten-year-old self, he wouldn't have argued.
The younger Tanvir held a controller casually in his hands, his eyes calmly watching the game on the screen.
Unlike the battered, exhausted Tanvir—
This version looked peaceful.
Unburdened.
Sharp.
Then the younger boy paused the game.
He slowly turned his head.
Their eyes met.
"…Who are you?" Tanvir asked cautiously.
The younger Tanvir stared at him for a moment.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Not in confusion.
In disappointment.
"Can't you see?"
His voice was calm.
Clear.
Almost teacher-like.
"Or have you gone blind along the way?"
He leaned back into the sofa, his expression thoughtful.
"You've changed a lot."
His gaze scanned Tanvir's broken spirit rather than his body.
"And not for the better."
The younger Tanvir lifted the controller slightly.
"You died out there."
He said it as if stating an obvious fact.
"But instead of disappearing…"
He looked directly into Tanvir's eyes.
"…you ended up here."
The cosmic space around them flickered slightly.
Stars shifting.
Black holes slowly turning.
The younger Tanvir sighed softly.
"Honestly…"
He looked back at the monitor screen.
"I expected you to last longer."
Then he glanced sideways again.
"But I suppose this is what happens when someone forgets who they used to be."
The room fell silent.
Then the younger Tanvir spoke again.
His tone calm.
Wise.
And strangely heavy for a child.
"So tell me, Tanvir…"
He rested the controller on his lap.
"Do you want to understand why you lost?"
"Lost? Why do you think I lost?"
Tanvir looked at his younger self calmly.
"If you think I lost because I died…"
He paused for a moment.
"Then I would say I won."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"I kept my promise."
For a brief moment, a small smile formed on the younger Tanvir's lips after hearing those words.
But he quickly hid it.
His expression hardened again.
"Dying for someone you've known for only two years."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Is your life really that cheap?"
Tanvir leaned back on the sofa, relaxing his body as if the question didn't bother him at all.
"Happiness can't be measured by time," he replied calmly.
"It's something special… something that cannot be measured."
The younger Tanvir studied him carefully.
"Really?"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Is Shivaay truly that important to you?"
Tanvir exhaled slowly.
Then he leaned deeper into the sofa, staring at the cosmic darkness around them.
"I think you already know everything about my life."
His voice became quieter.
"But if you want to hear it from my own mouth…"
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Then fine. Here it goes."
"Ten years."
"For ten years I lived like an orphan… even though I had a father."
His fingers tightened slightly around the controller.
"Every day I watched my classmates go home with their fathers… with their families."
His voice became heavier.
"Every parents–teachers meeting… every school function… every small occasion…"
He laughed bitterly.
"All the other kids had their fathers sitting beside them."
"My father's seat…"
He paused.
"…was always empty."
A long silence followed.
"And my mother…"
His gaze drifted toward the stars.
"I don't even know what she looked like."
"There wasn't a single picture of her."
"The only thing I knew… was that she was deaf and mute."
He shook his head slowly.
"I don't know how a man like him could ever have loved someone like my mother."
His voice became colder.
"Maybe she was extremely beautiful."
"Or maybe she was rich."
"That's probably why he married her."
His jaw tightened.
"She died the same day I was born."
A cold laugh escaped his lips.
"And when I turned five…"
"The truth came out."
His eyes darkened.
"That piece of trash killed my mother."
"He raised me only to show the world he was innocent."
"I was sent to an orphanage."
"And just like that…"
He looked down.
"I became the son of a criminal."
Silence filled the cosmic space.
"When I turned sixteen, I heard the news."
"My last remaining family…"
"…died behind prison bars."
He looked at his younger self.
"And that was the day I officially became an orphan."
Tanvir sighed.
"But I inherited money."
"A ridiculous amount of money."
"So much that I could eat, sleep, and live comfortably for the rest of my life without doing anything."
He smiled faintly.
"So tell me."
"What does a sixteen-year-old boy really need?"
"Some would say family."
"Some would say friends."
"Some would say happiness."
He looked down at his hands.
"All I had…"
"…was money."
His voice dropped lower.
"I thought about ending my life."
"But then…"
A small warmth appeared in his eyes.
"…like a shining star…"
"He appeared."
"My friend."
He corrected himself immediately.
"No."
"My brother."
"Shivaay."
"The moment he came into my life…"
He looked toward the stars again.
"…I realized something."
"Life is beautiful."
His smile grew softer.
"I imagined our future."
"When we grew older…"
"We would build houses close to each other."
"Our wives would be friends."
"Our children would grow up together."
"That's all I ever wanted."
The smile slowly disappeared.
"But then…"
"The Game began."
"Shivaay became stronger."
"And I…"
He clenched his fist.
"I became pathetic."
"My weakness…"
"…led him to his grave."
His voice became firm.
"And from that moment…"
"I decided something."
"I will become the strongest."
"So that I can protect the people I love."
"No matter the cost."
"Even if it costs my life."
He looked directly at his younger self.
"If I had a million lives…"
"I would do it a million times."
Then he shook his head.
"No."
"If I can do it once…"
"I can do it countless times."
The younger Tanvir suddenly laughed.
"Hahaha…"
He looked genuinely pleased.
"You really have changed."
He leaned forward slightly.
"I'm very satisfied with your answer."
Then his expression turned serious again.
"Now I will give you mine."
He tapped the armrest of the sofa slowly.
"Inner Ruin is not something ordinary."
His eyes gleamed.
"It is something extraordinary."
Tanvir frowned.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Tell me more."
The younger Tanvir shook his head.
"No."
"In this system… everything must be earned."
"You earned this much."
"That's why you're here."
"But…"
He leaned closer.
"I can give you one piece of advice."
"There is someone out there who knows many things."
"A living loophole."
His voice dropped into a whisper.
"Find him."
Then he smiled.
"And as for who I am…"
The younger Tanvir leaned forward and gently pressed his finger against Tanvir's forehead.
His voice echoed through the void.
"Now we are…"
"…Quantum."
Suddenly—
Tanvir felt his body moving.
Faster than anything he had ever experienced.
Stars flashed past him.
Galaxies formed and collapsed.
He saw atoms colliding…
Particles creating light…
Black holes being born.
Entire universes unfolding before his eyes.
And he realized something.
He was not just moving through space.
He was moving through existence itself.