CHAPTER - 01 "WAS IT ALL A DREAM?"

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Narik just woke up from what seemed like a bad dream. He’d been having such dreams for a couple of weeks now, and they only seemed to be getting more intense with time.

What was making Narik anxious was the fact that these dreams seemed to be a continuous series. Every night, the dream started exactly where it had ended the previous night.

So, what exactly were these dreams about? What was the story behind them?

Narik couldn’t remember the exact details,

 but he could recall a cold, chilling place with stormy winds. He often found himself stuck in a storm, climbing a massive mountain completely covered in snow.

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As Narik got ready for his office, he couldn’t help but keep thinking about his strange dreams. He hadn’t slept peacefully in over a week because of them.

At work, Narik couldn’t focus. His thoughts revolved around that frozen mountain, trying to figure out if it was connected to him in some way or if it just kept appearing randomly.

What startled him the most was how strangely familiar the place in his dreams felt. He tried researching references from his dreams, but he couldn’t find anything.

"It was a tiring day," Narik said to himself.

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Living alone in his apartment, Narik ate the dinner he had prepared after returning home from the office and went to sleep, utterly exhausted.

The next morning, Narik woke up feeling surprised, but in a good way—he hadn’t had any weird dreams for the first time in two weeks.

He left his apartment and headed to the office. 

Everything seemed normal until he noticed something unusual. Along the way, 

he encountered unfamiliar places—stores, houses, and even hotels that he didn’t recognize.

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"Maybe it’s just a different route I don’t know," Narik thought to himself.

"Is this a shortcut? Or is the main route blocked or something?" Narik asked the driver.

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"This is actually the only way to your office, sir," the driver replied.

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Narik, already confused, became even more bewildered when he saw the same streets he crossed daily, now with completely different names.

When he finally reached the office, he couldn’t resist asking his colleagues if they had noticed anything unusual.

His colleague looked surprised after listening to Narik. 

Taking a moment to think, he said,

 "You’ve been looking tired and stressed these past few days. You should take a vacation for a few days. Working 10-hour days without a break can be exhausting."

He further clarified,

 "Nothing has changed. Everything is exactly the same as it’s always been—the street names, the buildings, all of it."

"You might want to book an appointment with a therapist if you think you need it," his colleague added.

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Narik, now even more confused, was left questioning whether it was all just in his mind or something far stranger.

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Just when Narik was deeply lost in thought about all the strange things he’d been encountering,

 he realized that his dreams, the mountain, and everything that had happened today might be connected somehow.

All of a sudden, Narik found himself in the middle of the main street. Before he could react, a car speeding towards him struck him.

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The next moment, he found himself lying on his own bed.

"What? Was this all a dream?" Narik said with a sigh.

"My dreams are getting wilder," he added.

He got up from his bed,

 his mind still processing what had just happened. Even after waking up, he had a strange feeling that it wasn’t just a dream.

To clear his doubts, he called the colleague he had spoken with in his dream.

 He also went out to check the stores, houses, buildings, and streets he’d seen.

Everything was normal, just as it should be. Now, Narik was sure it had all been a dream.

But as he reached home and was leaving for the office, he noticed a book in his office bag that he didn’t remember buying.

 He was certain no one had gifted it to him either.

His heart almost skipped a beat when he read the title: "THE MYSTERY OF THE FROZEN MOUNTAIN" and saw the author’s name.

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"Am I still dreaming? It says this book is written by me," Narik murmured in disbelief.

What was even more shocking was the image on the cover—it looked eerily similar to the mountain he’d been seeing in his dreams for weeks.

Narik opened the book to read it, but all the pages inside were blank.

"I seriously need to book an appointment with a therapist, or maybe take a vacation, because I think I’m losing my mind," Narik said to himself.

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Narik was left in a feeling of disbelief as he stared at the pages of the book thinking about the mystery of the strange mountain.

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***END OF THE CHAPTER***