"…Five thousand years or something," she said slowly.
For a moment the street noise swallowed the sentence.
Then the girl actually looked at them properly.
Not casually.
Properly.
The way you look at people when your brain is trying to decide whether something is wrong.
Very wrong.
Their faces had gone completely still.
No confusion.
No laughter.
No "good acting" smiles.
Just silence.
And that silence made something uneasy crawl into her stomach.
Nope.
Her brain immediately rejected the entire situation.
She forced a polite, awkward smile.
"…Okay."
She took a slow step backward.
Then another.
Still smiling.
"Yeah I think someone else can help you."
She turned.
Walked three steps.
Then immediately started running.
Fast.
Her sandals slapped against the pavement as she crossed the street, weaving through people and scooters.
Behind her Karna looked at Sahadev.
"…She is escaping."
Sahadev had already started moving.
"तिष्ठ!"
Stop!
The shout followed her across the road.
She heard it.
And ran faster.
Oh hell no.
Two strange men chasing her while shouting Sanskrit was exactly how every crime documentary started.
She turned into a narrower market lane filled with street stalls and people.
Lights.
Noise.
Crowds.
Safer.
Her breathing had become uneven when she finally slowed near a closed shop shutter.
She turned.
And froze.
They had followed her.
Not aggressively.
But fast.
Much faster than normal people.
That alone made her heart start pounding again.
She immediately raised one hand toward them.
"Stop!"
Both men halted instinctively.
There were still several feet between them.
She pulled her phone out quickly.
The screen lit up in her hand.
Karna's eyes narrowed.
"What is that device?"
Sahadev leaned slightly forward, observing.
The girl ignored them.
Her fingers moved quickly across the screen.
Google Translate opened.
Language: Hindi → Sanskrit.
She spoke slowly into the microphone.
"Do not come closer."
The phone processed the sentence.
Then a mechanical voice spoke aloud in Sanskrit.
"कृपया समीपं मा आगच्छताम्।"
Both warriors blinked.
The voice had come from the small glowing object in her hand.
Sahadev stepped forward a fraction, curiosity replacing tension.
"It translates speech."
Karna frowned.
"A speaking instrument."
The girl pointed at the ground between them.
"Distance."
Then she spoke into the phone again.
The device translated once more.
"I said stop following me."
"मम अनुगमनं मा कुरुतम्।"
Karna's brows lowered slightly.
"We meant no harm."
The girl didn't understand.
So Sahadev gestured toward the phone.
Carefully.
Asking permission.
She hesitated.
Then reluctantly stepped forward just enough to hold the phone out at arm's length.
"Speak."
Sahadev leaned toward the device.
"वयं हानिं न करिष्यामः।"
The translator processed the sentence.
Then the phone spoke in Hindi.
"We will not harm you."
The girl stared at the screen.
Then at them.
Then back at the screen again.
Her brain struggled to decide if this was a prank.
Or something much stranger.
She took the phone back quickly.
Then spoke again into it.
This time her voice was sharper.
"Who the hell are you?"
The Sanskrit translation came out of the phone.
"यूयं कः?"
Karna answered immediately.
"I am Karna."
The translator spoke.
"मैं कर्ण हूँ।"
The girl stared at him.
Her expression slowly flattened.
"Right."
She spoke again.
"And you."
The device translated.
Sahadev leaned forward slightly.
"Sahadeva."
The phone translated again.
"मैं सहदेव हूँ।"
The girl closed her eyes for two seconds.
Then opened them again.
Her patience had officially run out.
She spoke into the phone again, faster now.
"You are dressed in armor."
The phone repeated the sentence in Sanskrit.
She pointed directly at Karna.
"You."
Then pointed at Sahadev.
"And you are asking weird questions."
Another translation echoed.
Her voice grew sharper with every sentence.
"You don't speak any normal language."
"आप सामान्य भाषा भी नहीं बोलते।"
"You are speaking Sanskrit for god's sake."
The phone repeated it again.
"Sanskrit is a dead language."
"संस्कृत मृतभाषा अस्ति।"
Her chest rose with a frustrated breath.
"No one speaks Sanskrit in daily life."
"न कोऽपि दैनिकजीवने संस्कृतं वदति।"
She stepped back again.
Creating more distance.
"I am not talking to you unless you explain what is going on."
The phone translated.
"What do you want from me?"
Another translation.
"And do not follow me."
The final sentence came out colder.
"You could be psycho killers for all I know."
The Sanskrit version sounded almost polite.
"यूयं उन्मत्तहन्तारौ अपि भवितुम् शक्नुथः।"
She crossed her arms.
Eyes narrowing.
"Or human traffickers."
Another translation.
"मानवविक्रेतारौ।"
Then her voice turned almost mocking.
"Or maybe you are just delusional people."
The phone spoke calmly.
"कदाचित् यूयं भ्रमितमानसौ।"
Silence followed.
The crowd noise from the market continued around them.
Scooters passing.
Shopkeepers shouting prices.
Someone laughing loudly nearby.
But the three of them stood in a strange quiet bubble in the middle of it.
Karna finally spoke.
Not angry.
Not offended.
Just steady.
"We asked you the year."
The translator repeated his sentence.
The girl looked at him.
Long.
Careful.
Suspicious.
Then she sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"…This is insane."
She looked at the phone again.
Then spoke slowly.
"Fine."
The translator repeated it.
"I will ask one more question."
She pointed at them again.
"If this is some kind of prank or filming…"
Her eyes hardened.
"Tell me now."
The phone translated the threat calmly.
"अद्य एव सत्यं वदत।"
Karna and Sahadev exchanged a brief glance.
Then Sahadev spoke toward the device.
"We are not actors."
The phone translated.
"हम अभिनेता नहीं हैं।"
Sahadev continued.
"We do not belong to this time."
The device processed the sentence.
Then spoke it clearly.
"हम इस समय के नहीं हैं।"
The girl stared at the translation.
Her stomach dropped.
Because the way he said it…
Did not sound like a joke.
And for the first time since this entire conversation began—
She started wondering.
What if they're telling the truth?