The forest slowly thinned as Yusuf led Feroz toward the mountains. The air grew colder, sharper, and every breath felt heavier than the last.
Feroz kept walking, but his mind was no longer in the present.
The image wouldn't leave him.
A body under a tree.People whispering.Police calling a family.
"Was that really me?" Feroz finally asked, his voice low.
Yusuf did not stop walking. "It is one possible future."
Feroz swallowed hard. "A future where I fail."
"Yes," Yusuf said honestly. "Or where you choose something… irreversible."
They reached a narrow cave hidden behind thick vines. Yusuf pushed them aside, revealing darkness inside.
"This will be your shelter," Yusuf said. "And your prison."
Feroz looked at him. "Prison?"
"You will not leave until you learn control. The Free Masons can sense your power now. Every time you lose balance, they get closer."
Inside the cave, strange symbols covered the walls. Some were cracked, some burned, as if something terrible had happened here before.
Feroz touched one. A sharp pain shot through his hand.
He pulled back quickly. "What is this place?"
Yusuf's face darkened. "Where your father once trained."
Feroz froze. "My father was here?"
"Yes," Yusuf said. "After your mother died giving birth to you… your father broke. He came here to learn how to protect you."
Feroz felt his chest tighten. He had never known his mother. Now her loss felt real, deep, and painful.
"Did it help him?" Feroz asked.
Yusuf hesitated. "It helped him survive. But survival is not the same as peace."
That night, Feroz couldn't sleep.
The cave was quiet, but his thoughts were loud.
Suddenly, the air shifted.
The mark on his arm began to glow faintly.
And far away, in the city, beneath a quiet tree in a park—
Someone watched.
Someone waited.
And the future took one step closer