What began as an ordinary celebration of innovation became the most extraordinary event in history. Xpecto 2025, IIT Mandi's annual tech fest, promised to dazzle with futuristic ideas and cutting-edge creations. But what unfolded over those fateful days transcended human comprehension.
On the first day, attendees gathered with anticipation under the theme quot;Time Glitch.quot; Little did they know how eerily prophetic that title would become. By the evening, reports began to surface: clocks on campus skipped seconds, reversed hours, and some even stopped altogether. A faint hum reverberated across the grounds, growing louder with each passing moment.
It all started during the keynote presentation, where a team of students unveiled their project—a time-distortion simulation designed to model theoretical time loops. As the audience leaned in with awe, the screen flickered, and a blinding flash engulfed the hall. When the light subsided, something was unmistakably different. "We looked at our watches, and they were spinning backward," one attendee reported. "The campus Wi-Fi displayed timestamps from decades ago, and no one could send a message beyond the perimeter."
By the second day, the festival grounds were unrecognizable. Some described seeing duplicate versions of themselves wandering aimlessly. Others claimed they encountered future or past versions of friends. One group reported being unable to leave the Messier Marathon arena, trapped in what they called a "time loop" where the stars in the sky rearranged themselves in infinite combinations.
The most harrowing tale came from FrostHack participants, who claimed that every time they solved a problem, the challenge reappeared with slight variations. “It was as if the competition was alive, adapting to keep us there,” one coder recalled.
In Robowars, the battles escalated beyond control. Robots that were programmed to fight according to commands began moving autonomously, seemingly evolving strategies beyond their design. “It was like they were no longer bound by our reality,” said an engineer who watched in stunned silence as her bot rebuilt itself mid-battle.
Even mundane spaces weren’t spared. In the food court, plates filled and emptied themselves repeatedly. Attendees reported hearing whispers in languages they didn’t recognize, as though the air itself was filled with fragments of different timelines converging at once.
Years later, Xpecto 2025 remains an enigma, its story retold as both a cautionary tale and a testament to human ingenuity. Was it an accident? Or was it a glimpse into what happens when humanity pushes the boundaries of innovation too far?
