When Karthik was thinking about what kind of decision he should make—either leave the city with his sister and forget the past or fight for justice for their parents—although he wanted to fight for justice, he felt that, even if the authorities couldn't help him, he would have to fight alone. However, he knew that if he did that, the person who caused this would create many problems for them and would even try to silence them for further difficulties.
Just when he was thinking about all of this, he suddenly found a book with a golden pattern engraved on it, glowing with letters that spelled "destiny." He was first shocked; for a moment, he didn't even know where this book had come from. He had been sitting there for at least two hours, but he hadn't even seen it. The letters glowing with a dazzling light were even more surprising. He paused for a moment, looked at the book again, and asked himself if it was a new product or something. Why was this book here? Did Jasmine bring it? But he hadn't seen her bring any books recently—she didn't even come out of her room.
Karthik thought for a moment and decided to study the book first to see if there was anything special about it. He slowly reached out to the book, and after holding it, he was amused to see that seven characters were engraved in it, shining brightly. When Karthik saw this, he suddenly murmured the words unknowingly. After a little checking here and there, he didn't find anything unusual about the book other than the glowing characters engraved in it.
Then he tried to open the book and see the contents, but he couldn't even open it. He was amused and said to himself, "Is it a book or a dummy book like a toy?" After trying for some time, he let go. He was about to put the book on the bookshelf when it suddenly slipped from his hand and fell toward his leg with a "DHUM!" sound. "Ahhhhh!" he exclaimed. He grimaced in pain when he looked at the book that had fallen on his foot, and there was a red mark with a small amount of blood oozing from his leg. He burst out in a rage with foul language. "Tch, mother f***er!" After holding his foot and jumping around for a moment, he finally calmed down and looked at his swollen leg, which was bulging as if a car had run over it. He was extremely angry and said in pain, "Why the hell was this book even brought here? I can't even open it! Is it for a show?" He was about to throw the book out when he suddenly realized the book was glowing even more dazzlingly all over. He was shocked and stood frozen in place for a moment because the scene in front of him was very shocking. After the book had dropped on his foot, injuring it, it also had a little blood spilled on it. When it came into contact with his blood, it was as if the blood-sucking monster within it had finally awakened.
Karthik panicked when he witnessed this. Suddenly, he jumped backward and hid behind the sofa. He didn't know what happened, but he understood that this book was not ordinary. After waiting for some time, nothing happened. He rose from the ground behind the sofa and looked toward the book, which had fallen. After some time observing it, he finally mustered the courage and moved toward the book. When he bent down to pick it up, he didn't notice any changes, and after picking it up, he realized that he could now open the book. When he tried to open it, it didn't feel hard anymore and opened easily. But in the next moment, the book glowed with a dazzling golden light, covering the entire room, and all the text written in it glowed with golden letters, suddenly appearing before his eyes. He was amazed, wondering how the text was directly moving out from the book. Before he could even think about it, all the knowledge engraved on the first page of the book moved toward him and suddenly surged into his brain.
He tried to resist, but his efforts were all in vain, and the knowledge merged with his brain, accompanied by a painful sensation. After all the knowledge was merged, the room fell silent again, and Karthik collapsed on the floor, lying unconscious.
When Jasmine heard all the commotion, she was startled and came to look outside. She found her brother lying unconscious on the ground. Scared, she ran towards him and tried to lift him up. She lifted her brother and moved him toward the sofa, gently putting him down. After that, she tried to wake him up. "Brother, wake up! What happened to you? Why are you injured?" she said in a panicked voice, but he didn't show any signs of waking up. So she sat next to him, applying medicine to his swollen foot and bandaging it.
After treating her brother's wound, she sat next to him and waited patiently for him to wake up.
In the meantime, Karthik was in his consciousness space. The consciousness space is like a realm where thoughts exist, and everything that exists needs a space to exist in. Karthik looked around, stunned, and thought, "What is this place? Where am I?" He thought for a moment, and suddenly an idea came to his mind. He wondered, "Am I dead? Is this heaven? No, I can't die; I have my sister to take care of. If I die, she will be left alone." Just then, Karthik was brainstorming about these things when a voice echoed to him. When he heard this familiar voice, he looked up and found nothing, but the voice kept coming. It said, "Don't look around; you will not be able to find me. And don't worry, you are not dead. This is your soul consciousness space." Karthik said, "Consciousness space? What is this? Who are you?" The voice responded, "The soul consciousness space is a space created within oneself when a being is born and has a consciousness."
As for who I am, the mysterious voice suddenly smiled and said, "You are me. I am you. I am also your future self." Karthik asked, "My future self?" The voice confirmed, "Yes, I am here to remind you: don't make the same mistakes that I made in my past, and remember to cherish what you have right now. In the future, there will be a disaster that will affect all of humanity; many lives will be lost. Remember to protect her well. All the information about the first calamity is in the first page of the Book of Destiny that you absorbed. It will help you through this first calamity. The key to surviving these calamities is the 'Universal Clash' online game."
"No matter what, you have to become stronger in this game before the calamity appears. My destiny has already occurred; I can't change it, but you have the chance, so try as much as you can to change it. After this, you will receive much information related to the first beta version. That's all I have to say to you. All the best." After that, the voice went silent.
Karthik felt so mesmerized and confused after hearing what his future self had said. He thought he could even ask any questions, but before he could think of what to ask, the voice was already gone. After listening to the voice, he wondered to himself what was coming and what would happen in the future. "Is it really a disaster that's coming? How do I gain the power to protect my sister and myself?" His thoughts were racing in his mind. After some time, when he managed to calm down, he looked around and found a page full of text. When he approached it, he saw that it was the page from that book. When he tried to touch it, all the information in it suddenly appeared in his mind. After gaining the information, he finally understood what to do next.
After that, he suddenly closed his eyes in the consciousness space and woke up in the hall where he was before.