Where am I?
Pain…
No cry.
No tears.
No sound.
More like he couldn't cry. He couldn't even make a sound.
Only pain — enough to knock someone unconscious. That much pain.
At first, there was only agony. Deep, twisting, burning. It curled through his chest and sank into his bones. It felt endless. Shrieks tried to form inside him, but no sound came. Only suffering.
Then it started.
A small sound escaped him — barely there. A whisper of air slipping from his throat.
It grew louder.
The whisper stretched, trembling, forming into something between a cry and a roar.
It became a voice.
The voice broke into a scream.
A scream so raw, so jagged, that the forest itself flinched.
Birds froze mid-flight.
Snakes coiled silently, mouths closed.
Deer stopped where they stood.
Even the wind seemed to halt.
He looked down at his hands.
Blood.
He looked further down — what he saw frightened even him. He felt like an outsider in his own body. He didn't remember anything. Just flashes. Flashes of memory.
A body was forming as he watched — skin knitting together, bones setting, muscles pulling themselves into place from nothing.
He screamed again.
"AAAAAAHHH!"
The pain was not just in his body. It was in his mind. In his soul. Images flashed — faces, places, memories — but none of them belonged to him. Each one screamed silently inside his head.
His heart pounded. Blood rushed through his head.
It wasn't just fear.
It was existential agony — pain from being formed.
He didn't understand who he was. He didn't understand what he was becoming.
But there was something — a force — pulling him. Attracting him.
The forest changed.
Green turned gray. Gray turned black.
Shadows deepened unnaturally. Silence swallowed the woods. Birds never chirped again. Snakes never hissed. The forest became haunted by his inhuman scream — never to make a sound again, alive with something that knew him.
He screamed.
Not like a man.
Not like a child.
Not like an animal.
Something not supposed to exist.
Like the earth itself was tearing him apart and rebuilding him.
Years later…
"Varna, I hate this. Why did I choose this subject? It's too hard. I don't even understand cybersecurity."
"Asif, come on… you knew this was going to be hard. London isn't easy for students," Justin said.
Kala finally finished his assignment.
"Varna, how are you doing this? I don't understand any of it," Asif said.
Kala laughed softly. "It takes time. You'll get it eventually."
They stepped out of the fully sealed classroom. Darkness had fallen.
"Oh, it's dark," Varna said.
"Justin, let's go," Asif mumbled.
Justin smirked. "Kala, make a little progress today, okay? It's been years and you're still in the friend zone. Change it."
"Justin, it's not like that. I told you," Kala replied in a low voice.
Justin dragged Asif away, waved goodbye, and went the other way.
Kala turned to Varna. "Let's go home."
They walked together, their footsteps echoing on the empty street. Streetlights flickered. Shadows stretched long and black.
"Kala… it's a weird name, no?" Varna asked.
"Haa… yeah. But I like it," Kala said.
"Kala… it means black, right?"
"Yes. But there's another meaning," Kala replied.
"What is it? Tell me," Varna asked.
The street reached its end. Kala stopped. "I'll walk with you until you reach home."
"Thanks… I'll walk from here. You're going the other way, so go. And tell me the other meaning," Varna said.
"Okay… bye," Kala replied. "I'll tell you next time."
That night…
A figure stood hidden in the shadows. Sharp nails scraped the leaves aside to see.
It was watching Kala and Varna from afar.
There were three of them.
They moved silently — unseen, yet able to see everything.
A whisper carried through the darkness.
"It's him."
"We can't be sure. We've mistaken thousands of people for him. There's no proof it's him."
"I'm sure this time. I can sense it," came a low voice from a creepy, crawling creature that partially revealed itself in the moonlight.
"Okay. But we need confirmation before calling him."
The other one looked at the crawling creature, then placed his foot on it, pinning it down. The intimidating gesture made the second voice falter.
"We can't rely on his senses. He might be sensing a lowly asura — or even Lucifer himself. I'm not risking my life for nothing."
"Stop it… we need to confirm first."
The foot was removed. The creature crawled back beside the other one.
All three watched as Kala and Varna split ways.
"Let's get the girl. Then I'll tell you the plan to confirm whether it's him or not."
Three glowing black eyes shone from the shadows.
Then they vanished — melting into the darkness.
End of Chapter.