A mundane morning in a small area of Lucknow, a twenty-year-old boy named Niko wakes up from his sleep. Niko had a fair complexion, brown eyes, light golden hair, stood about five feet nine inches tall, and had a decent build. He lived in a rented room, attended college, and also worked part-time at a company.
Upon waking up, the first thing he does is fetch water (because where he lived, water was scarce). After that, he completes his morning routine and then prepares for college in his small room. Niko's room was so tiny that if two beds were placed in it, there wouldn't be any space left to stand.
A little while later, Niko locks his room and heads to college. Niko was a second-year student. He didn't talk to anyone either at college or his company. In class, he would sit alone, away from everyone. Niko was good at studies, but due to not having enough time to study properly, he wasn't the top student. If he had the time to study properly, he would undoubtedly be the best.
Even his professors knew this, which is why he was favored by all of them. After college, Niko would return to his room. He quickly prepares his meal, gets ready, and heads to his job.
He promptly arrives at his company and begins his work. He had a positive image in the company, but he had no idea about this. He thought everyone considered him arrogant because he had the highest part-time salary and didn't talk to anyone, just focused on his work.
Suddenly, a colleague comes to call him. His colleague says, "The boss has called you to his office." Niko signals with a nod and says, "Okay." Then he walks towards the boss's office. Upon reaching, he enters and says, "Boss, you called?" The boss says, "Come in, Niko, sit down."
Niko immediately sits on the chair opposite the boss's table and asks seriously, "Is there a problem, sir?"
His boss says, "Yes, Niko, there is a problem, a very big problem."
Niko asks, "What happened, sir?"
The boss says, "Niko, our company has recently suffered a huge loss. To compensate for this loss, we are forced to delay the salaries of several sections. I regret to say that your section is also one of them."
Niko says, "But sir, all my expenses are covered by this salary. If I don't get my salary on time, my entire lifestyle will be disrupted."
The boss says, "But if I give you your salary on time and not to others, they might go on strike. So, I'm sorry but your salary will also be delayed, just for a week. Please manage somehow, you will definitely get your salary after that."
After that, Niko doesn't ask any more questions and quietly leaves. After finishing work, Niko heads home. Returning to his room, he changes his clothes and sits down to study. After studying, Niko takes out his personal diary and starts writing.
Niko writes, "Today marks two years since I left home. When I left, I came with the hope that whatever the world was like, it would be better than my home. But now it seems the whole world is the same. Although no one here hates me like my family did, this world cannot be called better than my home. This world is selfish and can crush anyone for its own gain."
The next morning, Niko gets ready and heads to college. In college, he sits alone as always. Niko spoke so little that many students in his class thought he couldn't speak at all. Soon, their college day ends. Niko quickly returns to his room, then as usual, gets ready and heads to his company.
At night, when Niko returns to his room and sits down to study, there is a knock on the door. Niko gets up and opens the door to see his landlord's daughter, Sakshi, standing there with a book in her hand. Sakshi extends the book towards Niko and says, "This is your book. Professor Mahesh gave it to me to return to you."
Niko takes the book and says, "Thank you." For a moment, they both stand silently, as if they both wanted to say something but didn't have the courage to speak. Finally, Sakshi says, "I'll be going now." Hearing this, Niko snaps out of his thoughts and says, "Alright, thank you... again."
As Sakshi turns to leave, a look of regret comes over Niko's face, but he quickly composes himself and closes the door. Sakshi glances back at Niko's closed door, tears welling up in her eyes, and quietly leaves.
Two years ago, when Niko first came here, he met Sakshi. Even then, he didn't talk to anyone, but Sakshi was one of the few people he did talk to. They both attended the same college and class, and even lived in the same house.
Sakshi was a very good girl and didn't judge anyone quickly, which gave Niko the courage to talk to her. Gradually, Sakshi fell in love with Niko and after a year and a half, she finally confessed her feelings to him. But Niko turned her down and told her to stay away from him. The reason behind this was that Niko's life was unstable.
His life was hanging by a thread that could break at any moment, and girls like Sakshi were very rare—someone who liked him for his heart rather than his money, looks, or fame. Such a girl undoubtedly deserved a much better partner who could keep her happy.
The next day, Niko had to pay his college fees, but since he hadn't received his salary yet, he couldn't pay. He asked the college principal for a week's extension, but the principal clearly said that if he didn't pay the fees on time, he would be fined.
Niko tried to explain that his salary was delayed by a week, so he couldn't pay on time, but the principal didn't agree. Just then, one of Niko's professors arrived and said, "I trust this boy. He will pay the fees after a week."
Hearing this, Niko didn't know how to thank his professor. The principal agreed at the professor's request but warned that if Niko was even a day late after a week, he would be fined.
After this, Niko left because everything was resolved, and he returned to his normal life. Gradually, a week passed, and after quickly finishing his work, he went to his boss's office.
At the office, he met the secretary and said, "I need to meet the boss." The secretary was a bit surprised because she had never heard Niko speak before. The secretary said, "The boss has gone to Mumbai for an important meeting for two days."
Hearing this, Niko was shocked. He then asked the secretary, "Today I was supposed to receive my salary. Can you tell me what happened to it?" The secretary said, "I don't know anything about it." Hearing this, Niko went home, troubled.
Two days later, Niko came early and sat in front of the boss's office without working. After waiting for about three to four hours, the boss finally called him into the office.
Upon being called, Niko immediately asked about his salary. The boss said, "Look, Niko, things are not going as planned. The purpose of my two-day meeting was to figure out how to cover the company's losses, so we have delayed your section's salary for another week. But this time, I promise you will get your salary next week."
Hearing this, Niko felt as if his mind was spinning. He said, "But sir, you already delayed my salary by a week, and now you are delaying it again." The boss said, "Look, Niko, many others' salaries are delayed too, and no one else is making a fuss like you. So just wait a little longer. Staying calm is in your best interest right now. We are not withholding anyone's salary on purpose. Alright, you can go now."
Niko reluctantly left. After returning from the company, Niko was very troubled. He was walking near a bridge, lost in thought, with tears streaming down his face. His mind was filled with the words his boss had said. He was so angry at his boss that he wanted to kill him.
At that moment, a van was passing by on the bridge, but suddenly, some intoxicated boys came speeding in the wrong lane on a bike, right in front of the van. The van driver swerved the steering wheel sharply to avoid the accident, directing it towards the railing where Niko was walking. Because Niko was unaware, the van driver honked loudly.
The sound of the horn snapped Niko back to reality, and as he saw the van approaching, he jumped back. The van driver managed to brake in time, but in the chaos, Niko fell off the bridge railing. Below the bridge was a river, and Niko fell straight into it.
As soon as he hit the water, Niko sank deep. He struggled and surfaced for a moment, but the current pushed him back down. He struggled even more, but the current kept dragging him under.
Niko surfaced again but before he could take a breath, the waves pushed him down once more. Despite his efforts, he couldn't reach the surface again. Gradually, his body went numb, and darkness enveloped his vision. Eventually, he stopped moving, and his body began to sink deeper.
A faint light appeared before his eyes but soon turned completely dark.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck from the clouds, hitting the river directly.
As it falls into the river, the electric waves spread throughout the water like the roots of a tree, and one of those waves strikes Niko's right arm just below his shoulder, giving him a massive electric shock. This shock causes a second body, like a soul, to emerge from his original body.
The age of his second body starts to decrease rapidly, and as this happens, his first body begins to disappear. Within moments, Niko's second body becomes seven years younger, and his first body completely vanishes. Immediately after this, there is an explosion of light from Niko's second body, and then everything goes quiet.
Suddenly, Niko hears a faint voice, "Neeraj, Neeraj, hey, wake up man, the teacher is coming." At that moment, Niko wakes up with a jolt. Sitting beside him is a boy of about 14-15 years old, who suddenly shouts, "Hey! You scared me, idiot. What's wrong with you?" Niko asks the boy, "Who are you?"
The boy speaks in a very strange manner, "Are you out of your mind or what?" When Niko looks around, he finds himself in a classroom among thirteen to fourteen-year-old kids. Niko suddenly stands up on his bench in panic. This draws the attention of all the children towards him.
When Niko looks at all the children, he sees that they are all wearing a school uniform. When he looks at himself, he realizes he is also wearing the same uniform. The boy sitting next to him asks, "Neeraj, what's wrong?" The most surprising thing for Niko wasn't that this boy was calling him by his real name (Niko's real name is Neeraj. He had changed his name after leaving home.), but that this boy's face and voice seemed familiar to him. Not just this boy, but the entire room and the children sitting here all seemed familiar to him.
Some boys try to approach Niko, but he gets scared and shouts loudly, "Don't come near me," and runs out of the class. As soon as he exits the class, Niko realizes that he knows not only the class but the entire place. He knew all the pathways here. Niko immediately starts running.
Some teachers try to stop him on the way, but none of them can catch him, and he runs straight out of the school. As soon as he comes out, Niko realizes that this is his own city where he used to live in his childhood, but how did he suddenly come here? And why did those children look so familiar? How did that boy know his real name? And the biggest question: just a minute ago, he was drowning in the river. How did he suddenly get here?
Then Niko vaguely remembers that lightning struck him, but he was underwater, so how could lightning strike him? While thinking about all this, some teachers come out of the school. Seeing them, Niko starts running again. After running some distance, Niko realizes that something is wrong. Niko is running much faster than usual.
Suddenly, his speed increases so much that Niko can't control it. He is running on a road, and the cars passing by him feel like trains passing at five hundred kilometers per hour. Niko, despite wanting to, can't slow down his speed.
Suddenly, a truck appears in front of him. To avoid the truck, Niko turns to the right, but due to the high speed, his foot slips. As one foot slips, the other foot hits the ground with a jerk, and this causes Niko's body to catapult fifty to sixty meters into the air. After being thrown so high into the air, Niko sees that he is about to fall on the roof of a building.
Niko closes his eyes, but his body lands on the building's roof on his fingers and toes and, after sliding back a bit, comes to a stop by itself. This building was still under construction, so no one was there. This gave Niko a bit of comfort. Then Niko goes to the railing of the building, looks down at the city, and says to himself, "What exactly is happening to me?"