"to tell you the truth, we aren't the only ones trapped in this nightmare."

viyog's heavy words echoed through the sanctuary, but the cold reality of his statement stretched far beyond this alternate dimension.

back in the real world....

Dr.meera stood inside the sterile, dimly lit hospital ward, staring down at the lifeless, breathing bodies of chandu and darshan.

they looked perfectly fine on the surface, yet they were completely unresposive.

desperate for answers, she turned to the chief medical officer to consult him on the bizarre nature of their condition.

"so, doctor.... what is your assessment of this?" meera asked, her voice tight with concern.

the chief doctor sighed heavily, looking over the medical charts.

"look, Dr.meera. cases exactly like this are spiking across india day by day. honestly, we have absolutely no idea what the underlying cause is."

he began walking down the corridor, meera keeping pace beside him.

"but just like these two boys... there are currently 1016 people across the country in this exact same state.

every single one of their organs is healthy. yet, they are in deep, unbreakable unconcious state."

meera gasped doctor stopped , his expression growing grim.

"worse then that; out of those 1016 patients, 712 of them have been asleep for over a year now. the higher-ups have issued a strict one week deadline for them.

if they don't wake up within this week...."

he shook his head solemnly. "they will be legally declared brain-dead and sent to be buried."

meera covered her mouth, her heart sinking. "oh my god..."

"alright, doctor," the chief doctor said, checking his watch.

"keep a close  eye on these boys. i'll take my leave now." 

with that, he stepped into his car and drove away, leaving meera alone with the crushing weight of the ticking clock.

***

meanwhile, back inside the surreal dimension....

the fire crackled softly as darshan tried to process the fragments of information they had been given.

he turned to the viyog. 

"mr.viyog.... when you rescued us from that nightmare, how did you manage to save chandu brfore me..?

i watched him turn into glitching monster right in front of my eyes....how..?"

sarunya stepped in, leaning against a wooden piller.

"we don't know the exact mechanics of it either. but the thing you two were trapped inside is what we call a hollow bubble glass bubble."

she walked over and sat down directly across from them, her sharp eyes locking onto theirs. 

"it's a hollow, pocket dimension. we still don't fully  understand how the timeline shifts or functions inside those bubbles."

as she explained the high-concept theory, she noticed darshan and chandu weren't exactly focusing on the science.

instead, both boys weree wearing goofy smiles, completely mesmerized by her  looks as she spoke.

sarunya caught them staring out of the corner of her eye. her expression instantly turned deadly cold.

"if you to keep looking at me like that, i will personally slice both of your noses off."

darshan and chandu immediately flinched, their smiles vanishing as they quickly  scrambled backward in fear.

"oh... sorry!"

they stammered in unison.

clearing her throat, sarunya resumed her serious tone.

"as i was saying... it's a fact that you were trapped inside a localized illusion loop. to break from it, someone has to physically shatter that bubble from the outside, which is what mr.viyog did."

she paused, her gaze turning thoughtful.

"but as for the complete inner workings of those loop dimensions.... only piecus knows the absolute truth about them."

hearing the unfamiliar name, chandu and darshan blinked in confusion, leaning forward.

"piecus?" they asked together "who is piecus?"

TO BE CONTINUED.....