The room was silent now.
Mirshad sat motionless, his hands resting on his lap. The call had ended, but the weight of it still lingered. His family's voices, their emotions, their pride—everything he had longed to hear, finally spoken.
But it had come at a cost.
The years he had lost. The moments he had missed.
Tears welled up in his eyes. He didn't fight them. He didn't stop them.
Then—warmth.
A presence beside him. Arms wrapping around him. Holding him.
Sophia.
She didn't speak right away. She just held him, as if her touch alone could carry the weight he was holding.
Finally, in a soft whisper, she spoke.
"You are not alone anymore."
Her voice was steady, unwavering.
"You have your brothers. You have your family. You have me."
She rested her forehead against his.
"And tomorrow, your parents will be here. You'll see them. You'll stand before them—not as the boy they once knew, but as the man you've become. And they will see what I see. The greatest man this world has ever known."
Mirshad exhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. The storm inside him began to settle. His breathing slowed. His heart steadied.
Then, without a word, he wiped his tears, stood up, and took Sophia's hand in his. They left the room together.
Sophia turned toward the kitchen, but Mirshad hesitated at the door.
He looked beyond the underground base, toward the open space outside.
His brothers were moving, preparing for what was coming. They were focused, determined. He watched them in silence, his chest tightening.
Then, slowly, he stepped outside.
The wind was gentle tonight. The waves lapped softly at the sand, the scent of salt and earth mixing in the cool air.
Mirshad walked toward the shoreline, his footsteps light against the sand. He didn't know where he was going—only that he needed to move.
His mind wasn't in the present.
It wasn't on the meeting.
It wasn't on the world.
It was in the past.
A past that had led him here.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it with a flick of his fingers. The glow of the ember reflected in his eyes as he took a slow drag, exhaling into the night.
Then—he sat down on the sand.
His gaze drifted upward, toward the stars.
And the memories came.
He was a teenager
It was a night like this one. The air was heavy. The darkness endless.
He had been in Baba's house. A place of safety. A place of love.
But that night—there had been intruders.
Mirshad could still remember the way he saw the people's. The way his heart had pounded in his chest.
The fear.
And then—something inside him had awakened.
His body had moved before his mind could process it. A force he had never felt before had surged through his veins. And in an instant—he had changed.
Strength beyond reason. Speed beyond logic. A presence inside him that was not his own.
It had been the first time. The first moment he had felt what he truly was.
And now, sitting on this island, smoking in the darkness, he realized—
That was the moment that had led him here.
The turning point.
The beginning of everything.
A tear slid down his cheek, but he wiped it away before it could fall.
He took another drag from his cigarette. Then another.
One.
Two.
Three.
His mind was blank now. His body felt light, almost weightless.
He wasn't thinking about the world.
He wasn't thinking about the meeting.
He was just… existing.
He stood up again, walking along the shoreline. Forward. Backward. His hands in his pockets. His gaze still on the sky.
And then—
A voice behind him.
Soft, but clear.
"Mirshad?"
He stopped walking.
Slowly, he turned his head.
And there, standing in the moonlight, watching him with eyes filled with something he couldn't yet name—
Was Sophia.