Is this your world?

"What happened Adi?", Bhadra asked with concern when he saw Aditya exclaim, he thought Aditya was hurt.

Of course, Aditya would lose his composure when he heard Tya's voice, although it sounded adorable, it was no different than a horror genre film experience for Aditya. It was more realistic and frightening.

When Bhadra saw that Aditya was not replying, he grew more distressed as he shouted loudly, calling the school nurse. Jatin had already run towards her office.

When the nurse came running when she heard the shouts, she saw Aditya was conscious but looked worse than when he was sleeping. He was sweating all over so much so that he looked like he was drenched in cold water. His fingers were also slightly trembling as he sat upright. Though his eyes were open, one could see he was not mindful of his surroundings.

Aditya looked at his friends and the nurse and calmed down for a bit, maybe it was just a hallucination, an aftermath effect of the accident. But just then shattering Aditya's last hope,

"Why are you reacting like this? Are you facing some trouble? Why don't you tell me what are you scared of? I might be able to help you." Tya assured Aditya in his characteristic delightful voice.

Even in his fright, Aditya couldn't help roll his eyes and retort 'no shit' when he heard these words. But surprisingly Tya's words calmed down Aditya as he thought, well at least it's better hearing this voice than that high pitch, an icy voice of ghosts in films which feel like iron nails are been dragged over a rock surface.

Aditya looked at Bhadra and others, he noted that the nurse was checking his pulse which had started coming back to normal quickly. He nodded towards Bhadra while he spoke to the nurse, "Nurse, am alright, I feel tired, can I go to my room to get some rest."

the nurse was not satisfied at all, just now Bhadra had promised a big donation for her cough, cough… she meant, for the clinic, if Aditya went back to his room, wouldn't it be a waste, so she adamantly opposed Aditya's discharge on the basis that he was showing signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome and that he had to stay in the clinic for further check-up and observation.

Only when Bhadra guaranteed that the donation would not change that Aditya was allowed to go back to his room. It was 11:00 in the night, Aditya had been unconscious for more than 4 hours, he did not feel unwell or sleepy actually, on the other hand, he felt very energetic which was a favourable departure from his condition from two weeks ago.

But right what Aditya was more concerned was not what happened to his body but what was happening to his mind, so he bid Bhadra and Jatin good night and told them that he would explain what happened to him the next day as he walked to his room. Bhadra reminded Aditya that though the incident did not result in any injuries other than Aditya's case, many students and their parents were shaken psychologically and mentally, so Aditya might be in a bit of trouble if he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. He also told Aditya that the pond was checked but, no signs of electrocution were found.

Aditya was surprised at this news but had no mind to pay attention to this as he had a more pressing issue to deal with right now. So he unlocked his room and locked it from the inside securely as sat on his bed.

"Wow, I like your world, it is so different from mine, but I feel that I have seen this world somewhere but I forgot where I have seen," Tya spoke without any concern.

Aditya cursed inside as he heard Tya's words, this ghost really forgets a lot of things. He calmed himself down as he spoke to Tya in his mind by means of thoughts, "Tya, we have to get some things clear first, you have to answer all my question honestly and as detailed as possible, okay?"

"mmhm..." Tya replied Aditya could already imagine his round face nodding while it wobbled. Aditya took a deep breath as he prepared to be disappointed as he started asking questions.

"Who are you?"

"Tya"

"before that"

"I don't remember" (Aditya almost face-palmed himself)

"what do you remember? I want all the information."

"Hmm, let me think" (Aditya could imagine Tya performing the 'great thinker' pose)

"I have been like this since I can remember."

"What did you do when you had not met me?"

"I studied."

"Studied? What did you study?" Aditya sat upright when he thought he was getting somewhere.

"Everything."

"What is 'everything'? I want explanations"

"Everything means everything? I left nothing unstudied." (this time Aditya face-palmed himself)

Aditya thought hard back to his conversation with Tya to find some clues. His face lit as he asked, "when I first met you, you said that I absorbed your energy for two weeks, how did you know what a week means?"

"Hmm, let me think" (great thinker pose)

"Yes, I remember, I learned some new knowledge some time ago, so I knew what a week meant?"

"When did you learn this new knowledge?", Aditya asked.

"two weeks ago."

Countless swear words almost escaped Aditya's mouth, but he forcefully suppressed them. This Q&A session was really testing on his nerves.

Wait, Aditya thought back to his sleeping problem which started 14 days ago. Previously he did not connect these two events, but now if he could not see the coincidences then he was not Aditya.

Two weeks ago, he had started experiencing a long duration of sleep accompanied by increasing mental abilities like calculative skills and memory skills. Tya had said that it had learned new knowledge two weeks ago and that he was a demon as he had absorbed its energy. Doesn't that point out to the theory that he had developed his mental faculties by absorbing Tya's energy?

Aditya took a deep breath as he asked, "Tya since you said that you have learned some new knowledge, can you describe your experience to the best of your abilities."

"Hmm, let me think, I was alone in my world, I did not remember why I existed the way I was, I only knew that I had to survive for I have a very important purpose of existence, but I can't remember what the purpose was, the world I live in is very lonely, sometimes I questioned my very existence and thought maybe it was better to 'not exist' but my purpose kept me continuing to exist. In your language, I may have existed at least for millions of years or so I felt, I am not sure."

Aditya's anger had long disappeared as his eyes reddened when he heard Tya's life experience. What kind of a painful life it was to be lonely for a countless number of years, so long that you forget who you are or why you exist? But still, you have to exist for a purpose which you have long forgotten. He could not fathom what kind of pain Tya had experienced.

"So, how did you manage to survive?" Aditya softly asked. He had gained a lot of awe and respect for Tya.

"I studied, I learned that as long as I am concentrated on anything I could escape the pain of being alone, so I would observe every part of my world again and again until I start observing another object. I never stopped observing and the studying process." Tya replied as though it was not a big deal but these words sent waves in Aditya's heart.

Aditya was shocked at the method used by Tya, even humans when they were totally concentrated on one thing they liked, they tend to forget the passing of time and be surprised when they find them so much time had passed. Even Aditya had that experience especially when he was learning car mechanics due to his passion for cars. But spending a few hours without knowing the passing of time and spending many years are totally different concepts.

The only parallel that Aditya could think of was those sages of ancient who were immortal would just sit and do tapas (spiritual discipline) for many years so much so that anthills would form around and cover them. His mother would narrate their stories to Aditya when he was young as she explained that it was possible to be concentrated on one thing for very long. Of course, she had told these stories to encourage Aditya to study as he did not like sitting in front of books and studying for a long duration when he was a kid.

Aditya knew that he could not take Tya's words as true blindly but he trusted Tya wholeheartedly for some unknown reason. The trust felt between Aditya and Tya was mutual. Tya trusted Aditya blindly but Aditya also believed Tya. This was really marvellous when you observe the fact that they had met just a few hours ago.

"So, how did you come in contact with me?" Aditya asked with interest, his immature heart and young mind showed its flexibility, this fact could be proved by Aditya's quick acceptance of the fact that he was hearing words inside his head and he took it as real without much deliberation.

"When I was studying a special structure for a very long time, I felt some kind of connection with the black space, so I trusted my instincts and dived into the black space, it was like an abyss. After that, I found that I ended up here. Even now I don't know where is here? Then, I felt some form of a bond formation with you which automatically started transferring my energy to you. I tried to stop it but couldn't, I tried to contact you but failed. If the energy transfer had not stopped today, I think I would have disappeared in another 4 weeks." Tya spoke as if it is matter-of-fact, no fear could be felt from him as if he didn't mind transferring its energy to Aditya.

Aditya was shocked when he heard these words, now he could confirm that his super abilities had come from Tya. He also knew that if today's accident didn't happen, Tya would have disappeared in another four weeks. Aditya's mind did not even think of the possibilities of more superpowers if he could continue the energy transfer for four more weeks, but rather he felt glad that Tya didn't disappear. How could he expect to gain power based on the death of such a pure individual?

"I am sorry that I absorbed your energy, is there any way you could take back your energy, I didn't know that it was your energy that gave me these abilities the last few days. But could you lend me your energy for sometime after which you could take it back" Aditya apologized without any obstruction. But Aditya was not a hypocrite who would speak morals like 'take your energy back now' because he knew that his parents' rescue currently depended on these powers, so he would not agree if Tya wanted the power back immediately.

"No, I can sense that the energy has been completely absorbed by you and became a part of you, also as long as I am present in this world, the energy would be accumulated again. Also, I am greatly thankful that you stopped absorbing my energy after two weeks, otherwise the consequence for me would have been dire. I am already thankful that you are not taking my energy anymore." Tya replied cheerfully

Aditya blushed with shame when he heard Tya thanking him, when did he ever know of Tya's existence to even do anything about that energy transfer. But he still did not correct it because it was better for Tya to feel grateful to him rather than wrathful. He asked, "How did the energy transfer stop, can you explain from your perspective?"

"Sure, I felt blue energy spheres bombarding the energy transfer bond between you and me causing it to break," Tya replied with excitement.

Aditya was now sure that the electric shock he suffered somehow stopped this process and saved Tya. He further asked, "Then how are you able to communicate with me now?" this was the most pressing question for him.

"Even though you have completely absorbed my energy and made it yours, it still was a part of me. So, in a sense you have absorbed a part of me which created a new bond between us through which we can communicate, this new bond was also possible through those blue energy charged spheres. So the scenario where I would be totally absorbed into you and become a part of you has changed into where both of us exist independently but are connected irrevocably." Tya cutely explained with a smile ignorant of the fact that giant waves arose in Aditya's heart.