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Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction created for entertainment and reading purposes. The characters, events, places, and situations depicted are fictional unless otherwise stated, and any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased, or real events or places is purely coincidental. The story may contain fictional situations, themes, or material that may not be suitable for every reader. Some images accompanying this story may be generated using Google Gemini and may be fictional, stylized, or interpretive and may not accurately represent real people, places, objects, or events.

Verra was puzzled. He looked at the cart driver and asked, “Is he always like this? Not minding anything at all, just doing his work?”

Looking at the strange question from Verra, she replied, “Hmm, it’s confusing to say why he is like that. Sometimes he does that. He doesn’t really care about most of the things that happen outside of his work, and he has been a supporter of me for a very long time, so yeah, he is like that. Don’t mind him. Let’s skip talking about him. Why don’t you introduce yourselves? What I’m seeing right now are two young boys sitting in front of me,” said the woman.

To this, Verra leaned forward and introduced himself.

“I am Verra from Kamala village.”

Venky gave Verra a side-eye, murmuring to himself about how Verra had changed after seeing the woman.

Interrupting him, the woman started to talk.

“Kamala village? We came from that village. But I haven’t heard anyone saying that someone left the village. Leaving the village is a big thing, you know,” said the woman.

“Maybe it is, but it is slightly changing,” said Verra sarcastically.

“Whatever it is, who is your father?” asked the woman.

“I am the son of Rana Tackrey,” said Verra proudly.

The woman interrupted him again. “Wait, you are the son of Rana Tackrey? A young guy like you is the son of Rana Tackrey? Now don’t tell me you came from the future,” said the woman.

In a confused state, Verra and Venky looked at the woman and said, “Whatever you said has some truth to it. He is indeed the son of Rana Tackrey, and Rana Tackrey is his grandfather,” said Venky.

The woman, who was laughing while imagining things, suddenly became serious and stared at them. “Are you really making fun of me now? According to how you are describing it, now you will say you are from 1920 or 1921, won’t you?” the woman asked.

To this, Venky and Verra looked at each other first and then looked at the woman with confused faces.

“It is true. Currently, it is 1921,” they said.

“Oh, come on! You must be joking,” she said, describing how they were making fun of her. “According to me, it’s 1898, but you guys are telling me you’re from 1921. It’s just funny to me. I think you guys must be making fun of me, or you are trying to scare me,” said the woman.

“No, we’re not joking. It is truly 1921, not 1898,” said Venky.

For a second, everyone became silent.

The woman broke the silence. “Whatever the year it is, if we are talking, it means we are in the same year. So let’s stop this prank and joke. Why don’t you introduce yourself?” she asked, pointing towards Venky.

“Yeah, it must be true. If we are all talking right now, we are in the same year. I almost got scared. Jeez,” said Verra.

Venky continued introducing himself. “I am Venky Sharma from the same village, son of Unli Sharma.”

“Now we’re talking! You know, we got some Sharmas here. I’m myself a Sharma here, you know,” said the woman.

“You also have Sharma as a surname?” asked Venky.

“Yes, I have Sharma as my surname,” the woman said, laughing.

(As these conversations continued throughout their journey, nothing much happened to cause a problem.)

At the other scene

A dark figure entered the room where another figure was sitting on a big chair. The chair was facing backwards towards the wall, while the figure sitting on it was murmuring to himself, “We will do it. We will do it.”

As the figure who entered spoke, they got another two people to join the army.

The dark figure who was on the chair stopped murmuring and started speaking to the other dark figure.

“Isn’t it really good news, Bodhi? We are getting two new people added to our army,” he said. “Let them do their job. Our plan did indeed work very well.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Bodhi.

He bowed to him and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Back to the cart

As we switched back to the cart, which was nearing its destination, Venky spoke.

“By the way, we introduced ourselves and had a good conversation, but I didn’t get to know who you are and what your name is. Can you introduce yourself?” Venky asked the woman.

“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself since I was lost in the conversation. Let me introduce myself. I am Kamala Sharma,” said the woman.

“Kamala Sharma? Your name is Kamala Sharma? It is the same name as my father’s sister,” said Venky.

“What an odd situation we are in. Your father’s sister had the same name as mine. That’s truly an odd situation,” said Kamala.

Verra interrupted Venky and Kamala.

“It is true. His father’s sister had the same name, but the thing is, she was lost in the woods when she was, you know, eighteen. So they never found her.”

“Oh, my bad,” Kamala said, putting her hands over her mouth. “My bad. Sorry for you. But only if we had been there, we would have saved her from getting lost,” said Kamala.

“You think so?” Verra asked Kamala.

“Yes, indeed. It is true. If we had been there, we would have really saved her, you know,” said Kamala.

As they were discussing the situation, the cart came to a halt in front of a huge tree spanning miles.

Kamala looked outside and said, “Well, I think we have come to our destination. We have come to our village. Let’s get down.”

“Village? I don’t see any village here. Where is it? I’m seeing only a big tree, you know,” Verra asked.

“That’s right. You can’t see the village. To see it, you need to enter the tree. That is where it is,” Kamala told Verra.