Where am I?

In a classroom, 40 children were giving a test. The teacher who was proctoring the exams suddenly said, "Five minutes remaining. Last call for supplementary sheets. Tie your sheets first and then continue writing."

"Damn! Who would have thought that the exam would be so lengthy? I have only written answers for four questions while three are still remaining."

"Come On! This is the final exam. Do the teachers want to fail us? I want to enjoy the summer break. I do not want to attend the supplementary classes."

The students were inwardly crying while the teacher had a devious smile on her face.

Among these students was Aman, who was tired, was waiting for the bell to ring so that he could go home. He yawned openly, which brought envious attention from all the other students.

"How can he be like this?"

"Why can he always be so smart?"

"Look! Even the class president is writing like crazy. Why is Aman like this?"

The yawn truly brought glares from the students.

"Look at your own sheet! Time is running!" The teacher shouted.

After a few minutes, the bell rang, and the teacher collected all the answer sheets.

Aman nonchalantly picked up his bag and approached the door when Alice, the class president, patted his shoulder and yelled, "Ahh!! Where are you going? The final exams are over, and summer break has just started! Are you going home right now?"

"Why can't I? What do you want to do with me?"

Jack chimed in and said, "Bro! Let's go to the mall and play games there. I really want to go bowling."

Alice, annoyed by Aman's attitude, said, "Yes! Let's go there! Let's call Anishi there too."

Anishi suddenly came after hearing his name and said, "Okay, bowling is nice, but let's go to movies later in the evening. Aman! Come on, man! I know you are a nerd, but you should show some enthusiasm. Our last year of school has just finished now. We would become college students later. Let's enjoy ourselves. Aren't you sad that this is our last day of school and that we wouldn't be able to meet later in school?"

Aman declined and said, "No! First, I am not a nerd. Second, I didn't sleep properly and want to sleep now! Third, we have our school farewell next week when we will all meet there again And fourth, we four are going to the same university! Not only us four, but many others are also going to the same university! We can meet there and have fun there too!"

Anishi scowled and said, "But our streams are different! We wouldn't be in the same class. Also, your definition of proper sleep is 8 hours of sleep. You would be fine even if you don't sleep for one day, let alone miss one hour. Let's go now!!"

"No, Jake, I am very sleepy right now. I would drop any second now, and I don't want to sleep on the floor."

"No, we are not going to wait for the next week! We are going now!!" Alice yelled again.

"Don't scream! Okay! You all win. At least let me go home for now and meet in the evening at 5? It's noon, and most shops aren't even open right now."

"Good!" All exclaimed

"Thank you for your kindness, your highness. Now can all of you be kind enough to let me go? "

"..."

Aman then paced towards the door to go home.

While he was going, all others were talking about him.

"How can he be like that? He is good but never shows any enthusiasm."

"He is good? I admit that he puts in the most effort, but his efforts do not always give results.

"But he is always in the top 5 in our class and will attend such a good university."

"Were you born yesterday? He is at the top but never first! Can't you see that? And regarding the university, aren't we also going to the same?"

"..."

"He is so disturbed by this fact. He even has a nickname of 'The unlucky consolation prize' because he has never been first."

At that time, Aman wasn't listing all of this and was walking on the road. He always knew about his nickname but never understood why he was like this. He always tries his best and is good to others, but luck never seems to follow him. All the results he has are a result of his hard work.

"Ah! Don't think about it. I will sleep for a bit and go to the arcade later. Anyways what's done is done and cannot be changed."

While crossing the road, he found an old monk. It looked like he came from the mountains and didn't know anything about crossing the street.

Helpful as he is always, Aman asked him whether he would like some help.

The old monk looked at Aman and said, "Oh, Thank you! I came from a nearby village. I never stepped into a city. I wanted to go to the Dharmshala (Ahram) near Karva station. Can you help me?"

Aman thought, 'Huh!? If I assist him, then it would take an hour or two. I just wanted to help him cross the road. Ah! I am already too tired. Even if I try to explain this to my friends, they will not let me cancel today's plans. I was anyways going to assist him. Why am I even thinking about it? Damn, my bad luck!'

"Sure, Sir! Please give me your luggage. I'll carry that too," Aman said to the old man.

Aman never knew that this one decision would change his life forever.

After one hour, when they reached the Karva station, Aman asked, "Sir, do you know where to go from here?"

The old monk calmly replied, "Thank you, my dear child! My friend will come and pick me up from here. You can leave now."

Aman was hesitant to leave him alone and asked, "Sir, do you know when he will come? Or do you have his phone number? I'll call him and ask. It's not good for you to stand and wait for him."

The monk replied, "Oh! There aren't many good kids like you! Don't worry, even if he doesn't come, I have a map with me. He even told me the path many times before I came here." Saying this, he took out a piece of paper with a hand-drawn map. "Thank you, child. But I won't need more of your help."

'Who carries a hand-drawn map nowadays? Although the old monk says he doesn't need my help, I am still hesitant to let him go alone.'

"Sir, I can take you there."

"No need, child! Also, do not follow me."

'Why is he asking me not to follow him? Ah, maybe he is concerned about me. I don't think that I can persuade him. I will follow him from a distance to ensure he goes there safely.'

"Okay, Sir."

Aman pretends to be leaving while the old monk faces the other side and starts moving. Amans waits for a bit to build distance and starts following him. After a few minutes, the old monk reaches an old and abandoned building and walks inside it.

Aman thinks, 'This doesn't look like an Ashram. Ah! I knew I couldn't be lucky. I need to help him.'

Aman follows him inside the building. "The building can't be an Ashram. Even I can make out this. Where did the old monk go? I need to ...."

He was startled. In front of him, the old monk had a knife stuck up to his heart. Another man in black was walking towards him, saying, "You should have died earlier. Your entire clan was killed; why didn't you follow them? Now you are going to die. Oh my my, we have a rat here", and he suddenly looked at Aman.

Aman looked at his face and was shocked to see the void in his eyes. The more Aman looked at his eyes, the more he was looking into the abyss and nothingness in his eyes.

"What the... What is going on? Old Monk, are you safe?"

"My my... that is unexpected. I thought he would run but look, he is concerned for you. Ha Ha Ha!" He said to the old monk.

The man in black said, "A child who is going to die is concerned for the King of Time, Ashoka. Oh my, I have now seen everything in this world. Look here rat, run if you want to live. Maybe if you outrun me, I'll let you live."

At that moment, Aman experienced an extreme adrenaline rush. Aman experienced the 'Fight or Flight' situation for the first time in his life. His entire body screamed at him to run away from the man in black. But he thought, 'I need to live. Would he really let me live? I can report him to the police, but he still says I can run? I don't think that I can do that. Also, the old monk will die. What was his name? Ashoka? I need to save him too! What should I do? Damn, my bad luck!'

At that moment, the man saw your hesitation and said, "Oh! You don't want to? Ah, I see. You understand that you can't outrun me." He suddenly disappears and appears before Aman. He lifts Aman by his collar and says, "You also want to save that king?"

The old monk, Ashoka, yelled, "Let him leave Chun Ma!"

"Why should I?" Chun Ma, the man in black clothing, looked at Aman. "Well, I should just devour him too."

Ashoka looked at Chun Ma and said, "I was going to leave this world quietly on one of the seven holy planets. But I can leave like this now, can I?"

Suddenly Ashoka shined brightly as if he was another sun.

Chun Ma yelled, "No, you still had your power left in you? Stop!!"

Suddenly Aman was teleported to a place. "Where am I?"

"The room looks white. No, the room isn't white! No, there is no room!" Aman screamed as he ran on the white floor. The place seemed to extend into infinity. With both the sky and floor white, Aman couldn't even see the horizon. He screamed, "Where am I?"

Suddenly a voice came, "Kid, you should have left. Why did you follow me?"

Aman turned his head towards the voice and saw a majestic figure. The person had golden silky clothes, a trident tied behind his back and a golden crown. The person looked like a king from an ancient empire. His face was similar. Aman recognized him as he looked identical to the old monk. But there was some difference. The old monk was a tired and short man. But this person looked fierce and was more than ten meters long. Aman realized that this person wasn't a human. Aman got scared but remembered the kind tone of voice Ashoka had, politely asked him,

"Sir, Where am I?"