SHIVA – Morning Light
The morning sun streamed through the old blue curtains. For the first time in years—centuries, it felt like—Shiva didn't wake up to alarms or biometric scans. Just the clink of steel utensils and the sizzle of oil in the kitchen.
His body was stiff, like it hadn't been used properly in ages. But his mind? Alive. Hyper-aware.
He pulled on his old school uniform—wrinkled shirt, brown pants—and stared at himself again in the mirror. The face of a teenager. The mind of a superintelligence.
His fingers hovered over a notebook. He quickly jotted a note before school:
Find when Bitcoin whitepaper launched. Check online via tuition center.
Plan how to legally own digital assets underage. Research.
Begin sketching Flappy Bird mechanics. Use vector math from memory.
He snapped the notebook shut.
Game time.
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VIDYA – Kitchen Routine
Vidya stirred the aloo sabzi as the news anchor rattled off headlines: power cuts in North Delhi, rising petrol prices, IPL preparations.
Normal things. Familiar.
But her son?
He wasn't acting normal.
He came to the table, sat quietly, and instead of half-heartedly pushing food around his plate like usual, he looked… present.
Like he'd aged ten years overnight.
"How was your sleep?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
He smiled—really smiled. "Peaceful."
That shook her more than any nightmare.
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LAKSHMI – Observation Mode
From across the table, Lakshmi watched her brother with narrowed eyes. Her older brother was usually a boring zombie. But today?
He said "good morning" first.
He helped Baba adjust the loose chair leg.
He even offered her his toast, without sarcasm.
Who is this man and what has he done with my idiot brother?
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SHIVKUMAR – Quiet Admiration
Shivkumar walked his children halfway to school that morning. He worked two jobs: school clerk during the day, bus conductor at night. Yet he always made time for this walk.
Today, his son walked a little slower. Looked around more. Asked questions—about people, buildings, even school politics.
As if he was studying the world.
Shivkumar smiled. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
Shiva met his eyes. "Just… thinking about the future."
His father chuckled. "At eighteen? You should be thinking about passing your board exams first."
Shiva just grinned.
If only you knew, Baba.
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SHIVA – School: Day One
Shiva stepped into his old classroom, greeted by the familiar smell of chalk, musty books, and too many teenage hormones in one space.
People stared. Teachers called roll. Life moved at the speed of paper and blackboards.
He noticed everything:
The outdated syllabus
The broken ceiling fan
The exact timing when the principal walked down the hall (9:42 AM)
The kid two seats over who would one day start a failed startup
It was all… so slow.
But it meant he had time. He had advantage.
During recess, he borrowed a friend's phone—one of those cheap Nokia models.
"Need to check something," he said casually.
In a few minutes, he used the basic browser to confirm it:
> Bitcoin launched Jan 3, 2009. Current exchange rate: 1300 BTC = $1.
A chill ran down his spine.
He had maybe a month or two before the first surge. If he moved fast, he could become the largest private holder on the planet.
He leaned back against the bench, staring up at the dusty fan blades.
Phase One begins.
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SHIVA – Nightfall Plans
Back home, Shiva quietly studied beside his sister while his parents dozed in front of the TV.
He pulled out a rough notebook and began sketching Flappy Bird's mechanics from memory:
Physics: gravity = 9.8 m/s² simplified
Touch input: single-tap jump
Obstacle generation pattern
Score tracking loop
He wrote pseudocode in pencil. By 10 PM, he'd finished a rough blueprint.
He would start building it at the tuition center's computer lab—his only access to decent tech. No one there would suspect a thing.
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