The year is 2000. The dawn of a new millennium.
From a secluded, understated villa overlooking the Arabian Sea, Adav, now frail but with eyes that still burned with an intense, knowing light, watched the first sunrise of the new century. The world he had inherited, broken by colonialism and marred by conflict, had been painstakingly reshaped by his hand.
India stood as the global hegemon. Its economy was the largest, its technology the most advanced, its people the most prosperous. The Indian Rupee was the de facto global reserve currency. Indian satellites dominated orbital space. Indian cultural exports permeated every society. The United Nations, reformed under Indian influence, operated largely according to India's vision of multilateral cooperation. The Cold War, now a distant memory, had been navigated and leveraged, leaving India not bruised, but ascendant. There was no single empire; there was simply Bharat, a benevolent, powerful architect of the new world order.
In his mind's eye, the Codex displayed a final, triumphant message, its holographic interface glowing with a quiet satisfaction:
[GLOBAL HEGEMONY: ACHIEVED. OBJECTIVE: COMPLETE. PROBABILITY: MAXIMIZED.]
Adav allowed a deep, contented sigh to escape his lips. He had done it. He had taken a nation from the brink of perpetual subjugation and, in less than a century, molded it into the undisputed master of its own destiny and the world's most influential power. The long journey, the countless sacrifices, the decades in the shadows – it had all led to this. The architect's vision was realized. The world was finally as it should be.