January 25, 2005
It began as an ordinary day for me, as most days within the serene, ancient walls of the Himalayan sanctum of Kamar-Taj.
My morning ritual was complete: hours of quiet contemplation, precise mystical exercises, and the rhythmic brewing of a perfect cup of tea. Yet, the night had something far from ordinary in store for me.
As the full moon crested its highest point, painting the snow-capped peaks with an ethereal silver, and then began its slow, inevitable dip towards the horizon, I felt it.
A disturbance.
Not the usual, thrumming presence of the Great Beast in the mountains—his ancient existence was a well-known constant, a deep, resonant whisper woven into the very fabric of these highest peaks.
This was new.
A sharp, violent tear in the delicate fabric of existence itself. It was a chaotic signature, a momentary supernova flaring in the astral plane, vibrating with an energy I had searched for across decades, across continents, but found no trace of until now.
And as if to confirm my deepest intuitions weren't an illusion, the ripple appeared again, stronger this time, demanding my full attention. Snapping myself from my reverie,
I quickly cast my senses, tracing the raw, vibrant energy. One end of the path shimmered, leading to a void far beyond my current reach, a place of pure, unknowable nothingness.
But the other end, bright and insistent, pointed undeniably westward, across the planet.
Quick on my feet, my consciousness pierced the veil of distance. I traced the energy, following its erratic pulse, and found myself observing a mundane classroom filled with unsuspecting children.
The trace of the phenomenal energy lingered, coalescing around a small boy who lay unconscious in the middle of the room.
My presence, cloaked within a separate dimensional space, observed all the happenings around him. He now carried the distinct, lingering presence of the very energy I had traced, a beacon in the mundane.
I watched everything that happened to the boy over the next few days, a silent, unseen guardian.
I saw the hospital, the worried parents, the casual diagnoses. I felt the subtle shifts in his aura, the chaotic influx of foreign energies settling within him.
Only after days of careful observation, when the immediate, volatile storm within his being began to calm, was I assured that he would not be a cause for our world's destruction.
It was then that I ventured deeper, tracing the threads of his very origins, and discovered a familiar, ancient lineage woven into his existence.
He was, undeiably, the grandson of the ex-saint of the Rameshwaram temple and a descendant of Akshara.
When I saw him later, confiding the impossible truth of time travel to his grandmother, my relief was palpable.
Her presence, a potent spiritual anchor, brought a profound sense of peace. With her watchful eye now firmly upon him, I was completely relieved that this boy, this anomaly, would not be a world-ending presence.
My mission was momentarily complete. With a final, lingering glance, I decided to return to Kamar-Taj, content to observe from a distance, knowing the true journey for young Rudra had only just begun.
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After I returned to Kamar-Taj, I thought back to the very first time I had felt the presence of that unique energy signature.
It was the beginning of autumn in 1973 when I felt a faint trace of this energy.
At the time, I didn't pay it much attention, dismissing it as a fleeting anomaly because it was so weak, it hardly registered a presence if not for the trace of intense emotions that stirred a slight ripple in the Astral plane.
But that casual thought process of mine did not last long. Even that minuscule ripple caused two beings to act, entities of immense power that are tied to the fundamental existence of our universe.
The actions of those two, though seemingly minute alterations in the past, changed the timeline of the world to a possibility that even the 'Eye of Agamoto' had not shown me.
The repercussions of their actions, while perhaps minor for them, could have led to the possible extinction of human civilization, unless someone powerful or resourceful enough intervened. Unfortunately for my peace, I had to be the one to clean up that mess.
All of this because of a trace of energy so weak it could not even kill a child. For that reason, I had kept a vigilant eye on this energy signature for decades, searching for its source.
And now, I had finally found it. As much as I did not want to doubt or attack a mere child, I prepared myself for the possibility of him being a threat, thus keeping him under close observation.
Unfortunately for my immediate plans, a few months later, he ventured into a place beyond my jurisdiction, a domain belonging to someone else where even I dared not casually extend my observations without serious repercussions. So, I waited for him to leave that sacred forest, and this wait extended for over two years.
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After the boy left the forest, I continued my observations of him. My past two years had been spent contemplating the full process of his time travel and the profound ripples caused by his very existence.
The complex process of how and why such a phenomenon came about, and what measures I should take to ensure cosmic balance, occupied my thoughts.
It was the very next day after he returned to New York when I felt that familiar energy once again flare, capturing my attention with renewed intensity.
Finally, I decided it was time to pay him a visit in person, not before having a quick peek at future possibilities to avoid any catastrophe. Though what I saw turned out to be a much more entertaining possibility, one which I decided to follow with great interest.