Chapter 2: The Mountain Below

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2

Professor Rohan Singh’s Diary——

13 July 2045

A week ago, my student Amit Verma sent me an email.

He said they had detected the ruins of a giant ancient structure at a depth of ten thousand metres beneath the sea.

He hoped I could join his underwater archaeology team to lead the research.

Amit and I boarded a small submersible and began our first descent.

As we passed four thousand metres, we were plunged into total darkness.

The silence inside the sub was thick—Amit fiddled nervously with the camera, and I pressed my palm against the cold glass, watching the last glimmers of sunlight fade. My thoughts turned to my family back home, Maa constantly worrying about my deep-sea projects and calling me at odd hours, asking if I’d had my meals. Even at this depth, I half-expected a WhatsApp ping from her, demanding a selfie.

I don’t know how long it was before a faint blue light suddenly flashed outside the glass window.

A huge object appeared directly below us.

It was a gigantic mountain, glowing with a faint blue light, its height beyond description.

It had three sides and a base—a perfect triangular pyramid.

Both Amit and I were so stunned that we couldn’t speak, letting the submersible continue its descent.

Not until three hours later, when the submersible touched bottom, did we snap out of our shock.

Amit was the first to break the silence.

"At our rate of descent, this mountain must be at least three thousand metres tall."

I nodded, my mind racing as I tried to figure out the origin of this mountain.

Suddenly, I noticed strange indentations on the mountain’s surface.

On the mountain were marks left by humans.

They seemed to form some kind of pattern, but the mountain was so vast that it was impossible to see the whole design clearly.

After I pointed it out, Amit also noticed the anomaly and immediately said,

"This submersible is equipped with the most advanced scanner. During our descent, it’s been scanning and modelling the mountain."

As Amit spoke, he brought up the electronic display.

A complete model of the mountain appeared, the patterns on its surface clearly visible.

But in the next instant, a chill ran down my spine and goosebumps erupted all over my skin.

Because the carvings on the mountain were truly bizarre.

There were four images, arranged from top to bottom:

Image 1: A giant triangular mountain floats above an ancient village.

Image 2: The mountain descends, and a group of giant nagas, their scales glinting beneath rough cotton dhotis, foreheads marked with sandalwood tilak, bowed low in reverence.

Image 3: Numerous humans dig into the mountain, throwing the rubble into the sea.

Image 4: A giant as tall as the sky appears, moving the mountain away.

Amit and I exchanged glances. I couldn’t help but ask him,

"Don’t these images seem familiar to you?"

Amit was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and replied,

"Sir, are you talking about the story of Parvat being moved?"

"But if this is the story of Parvat,

then what are those giant nagas in the second image?"