“Do you ever feel like the world is… hiding something?” Aarav asked, kicking a loose stone down the blackened slope.

Kabir smirked. “Yeah. Mostly my math marks.”

“I’m serious,” Aarav said, stopping. The wind carried a strange warmth, even though the sun had already begun to dip behind the jagged horizon. “Like there’s something bigger. Something we’re not meant to see.”

Kabir looked up at the volcano ahead of them—silent, enormous, almost breathing. “And you think that,” he pointed, “is hiding it?”

Aarav nodded. “Why else would it be here?”

Kabir laughed. “Because… geology?”

But even he didn’t sound convinced.

They weren’t supposed to be there.

The village elders had warned them: “No one climbs the mountain after dusk.”

Not because it was dangerous—but because “it listens.”

Kabir had rolled his eyes when he heard that.

Now, as they stood at the edge of the crater, he wasn’t laughing anymore.

“Do you hear that?” Aarav whispered.

Kabir froze. The air… it wasn’t silent. It hummed. Low. Rhythmic. Like a heartbeat buried deep beneath the earth.

“It’s just lava or something,” Kabir said, though his voice betrayed him.

Aarav stepped closer to the edge. The glow from within painted his face gold and shadow. “No… it’s not random.”

Kabir hesitated. “Then what is it?”

Aarav turned to him, eyes wide—not scared, but alive.

“It’s… talking.”

Kabir almost walked away.

Almost.

But something pulled him forward. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was fear of missing something that couldn’t be explained later.

Or maybe… the volcano had already started listening to them.

“Okay,” Kabir said, forcing a grin. “Let’s say it’s talking. What’s it saying, genius?”

Aarav leaned over the edge, eyes fixed into the molten depths.

“It’s asking a question.”

Kabir laughed nervously. “Of course it is. What kind of question?”

Aarav didn’t respond immediately.

When he did, his voice had changed.

Quieter. Slower.

“Why… are you separate?”

Kabir frowned. “Separate from what?”

Aarav turned to him.

“Everything.”

The ground trembled—not violently, but deliberately. Like a response.

Kabir took a step back. “Okay, that’s not normal.”

Aarav smiled faintly. “Maybe we’re the ones who aren’t normal.”

“Stop being weird and tell me what’s happening!”

Aarav pointed into the crater. “Look.”

Kabir hesitated… then leaned forward.

At first, he saw nothing but molten rock.

Then—

Shapes.

Not physical shapes, but patterns. Like thoughts forming in liquid fire. Spirals. Waves. Infinite reflections collapsing into each other.

Kabir gasped. “What… is that?”

Aarav whispered, “I think… it’s everything.”

Kabir blinked—and suddenly—

He wasn’t standing by the volcano anymore.

He was… somewhere else.

Everywhere else.

Stars weren’t above him—they were inside him. Time didn’t move—it folded. He could see moments overlapping, merging, dissolving.

And in the center of it all…

A voice.

Not heard.

Felt.

“You believe you are two.”

Kabir tried to speak, but his thoughts echoed instead. We are two.

“Then why do you think the same thought right now?”

Kabir froze.

Because Aarav was there too.

Not beside him—but within the same space.

And Aarav was thinking the same thing.

This isn’t possible.

The voice pulsed again.

“You are not explorers.”

A pause.

“You are fragments remembering.”

Kabir’s chest tightened. “Aarav… I don’t like this.”

Aarav didn’t respond.

Kabir turned—

And for a moment—

Aarav’s face flickered.

Not into something monstrous.

But into something… familiar in a terrifying way.

Like looking into a mirror that knew more than you did.

“Say something!” Kabir shouted.

Aarav finally spoke.

But his voice… wasn’t just his.

“What if we were never two people?”

Kabir stepped back. “Stop it.”

“What if…” Aarav continued, eyes glowing faintly with the fire below, “we’re just one thing… experiencing itself twice?”

The ground shook again.

Harder this time.

Kabir stumbled. “We need to leave. Now.”

Aarav didn’t move.

Instead, he extended his hand.

“Come closer,” he said softly. “You’ll understand.”

Kabir hesitated.

Every instinct screamed run.

But something deeper… something older… whispered:

You’ve already been here before.

Kabir slowly reached out his hand.

Their fingers touched.

And in that instant—

The volcano roared.

The sky cracked.

Reality—

shifted.

And then—

Everything went silent.

The next morning, the villagers found only one set of footprints leading up the volcano.

None coming back.

But sometimes… when the wind is just right—

You can hear two voices echoing from the crater.

Arguing.

Laughing.

And asking the same question…

“If we were one all along… then who is the one that’s still watching?”

Neelesh Vishwakarma

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