Chhadma stepped closer to the millstone.
His body felt heavy—not from exhaustion, but from everything he had carried in life.The taunts.The loneliness.The betrayals.And now this endless, brutal journey.
He was done running.
Staring at the stone, he placed his hand on it and whispered,
"I wish… I could be alone. And at peace."
The moment his skin touched the stone—
The symbols shifted.
Every carving began to move, rearranging itself as if alive.The writings started glowing.
The cave trembled.
Cracks raced across the walls.The ravine began collapsing.
Chhadma ran.
Not forward.Not backward.
Just away.
Before he could reach anywhere—
A blinding light swallowed everything.
And a voice echoed, calm and absolute:
"Granted."
When Chhadma regained consciousness, silence surrounded him.
He opened his eyes.
Ancient temple ruins lay around him—broken pillars, weathered stone—all standing on the top of a mountain.
Massive walls surrounded the ruins, forming an enormous maze.So vast that he couldn't see where it ended.
He sat up slowly.
"Is this… heaven?""Or hell?"
Or maybe—
A dream.
He noticed something else.
His bag was gone.Everything he had carried from the start—gone.
Strangely, hunger was gone too.So was exhaustion.
No pain.No thirst.
"This must be a dream," he concluded.
To test it, he jumped off the mountain.
He woke up.
In the same place.
Alive.
Unharmed.
He stared at the sky in silence.
Then he turned toward the maze.
There was only one option.
Escape.
Inside the maze, everything returned—hunger, thirst, fear, anger, loneliness.
Every emotion intensified.
Every turn tested his mind.
Still, he kept going.
Again.And again.And again.
After failing thousands of times—
On the 10,003rd attempt, he escaped.
He was back in the mountains.
This time, a road lay ahead.
Relief washed over him.
"All of it was hallucination," he told himself.
He decided to go home.
Hours passed.
Hunger struck again.
He opened his bag—
Nothing.
He searched the mountains.
This time, he found greenery.A lake near the foothills.
No fruits—only berries.
He ate some, packed the rest, filled water, and moved on.
For days, he traveled through forests and green land, sometimes finding roads to move faster.
Then—
He saw it.
The same ruins.
This time, without a maze.
Curiosity pulled him closer.
The closer he walked, the farther it seemed.
Food finished.Water ran out.
The ruins still appeared near.
Going back felt pointless.
He kept walking.
The environment changed.
Green faded.Dry land spread.
Soon—
Only sand.
A desert.
No mountains.No trees.
Just endless dunes.
Still, the ruins stood ahead.
"Two hours," he told himself."Just two hours."
Then—
A voice.
"Where are you going, traveler?"
A shiver ran through his body.
He turned around.
Nothing.
He turned back—
The ruins stood right in front of him.
Heart pounding, he stepped inside.
The same symbols.The same unknown language.
At the center—
The same millstone.
Immovable.
On top of it lay a scroll.
He picked it up.
Opened it.
He couldn't read a single word.
Confused, he placed it back and explored further.
Suddenly—
The ground began sinking.
Panic surged.
He rushed back toward the millstone—
The scroll transformed into light.
It surged forward—
Straight into his head.
A white flash filled his vision.