Previously:The Brown State is engulfed in flames. Empowered by The Master's chilling stadium speech, a fanatic mob of ordinary citizens has begun dragging corrupt religious elites into the burning streets to be slaughtered. Meanwhile, Detective Hirey uncovers a horrifying pattern in the recent murders, linking them to a single, untraceable mastermind. In the shadows of his bedroom, Z finally reveals the terrifying scale of his revolution to Huzaifa, pulling his best friend past the point of no return.
The Rooftop. The Brown State.
From the edge of the highest building, the Brown State looked like a bleeding wound. Thick black smoke rose into the night sky. The streets below glowed with the angry orange fire of a burning city.
A man stood at the edge. He wore a clean white cloak. The hood was pulled up to hide his face. On the back of the cloak was a golden symbol—the mark of the Supreme State.
The heavy metal door of the rooftop clicked open.
"Hello, Commander Zaar," a calm, loyal voice spoke over the howling wind. "The moment the Organization told me you had crossed the border, I came. Sorry I am late."
Ezekiel, the Personal Assistant who had stood silently next to Dustin days ago, stepped onto the roof. He stopped exactly one step behind the cloaked man.
Commander Zaar let out a low laugh. He didn't turn around. He just pointed at the burning city below.
"How beautiful this is. Do you see it, Ezekiel?" Zaar's voice shook with dark amazement. "Everything is burning. The system is falling apart. The people are destroying themselves. This is the birth of a whole new era. It is... art."
Ezekiel adjusted his glasses. His face showed no emotion. "Commander, I believe you are not seeing how bad this situation is. Our biggest pawn in this state is gone. Kirat is dead."
Ezekiel stepped closer to the edge. "Scholar Kirat was our anchor. He controlled the whole state through religion while secretly working for us. With him murdered, the crowds have lost their god. If hope is gone, they will fight against everyone. Who is going to control this state now?"
Commander Zaar turned his head slightly. A cruel smile was visible under his white hood.
"Zerath is the most successful creation we have ever made in End of Beginning," Zaar replied smoothly. "He is perfect. A master of mind control. I am sure he has a plan to turn these broken people into an army, and they will be much more loyal to the Supreme State than Kirat ever was."
"A creation who is currently hunting down his own creators?" Ezekiel asked, his tone dropping. "Do I need to remind you, Commander... I know of another 'perfect creation'. One who went rogue seventy years ago. He killed almost all of the Supreme State's leaders before he was stopped."
The smile vanished from Commander Zaar's face. The air on the roof seemed to freeze.
"We crushed that creation," Zaar hissed, his voice turning deadly. "We buried him, and we changed history to make him the ultimate villain. Winners write the history books, Ezekiel. And we won."
Zaar turned fully, his eyes burning with total power.
"If Zerath tries to play shady games, or if he truly believes he is the 'Chosen One'... we will wipe him out just like we did the last one. Keep a close eye on him, Ezekiel. Let's see what our little weapon does next."
"Yes, sir," Ezekiel bowed his head.
Z's Room.
"...Scholar Kirat has died along with the remaining religious leaders. Sanctuaries are on fire. The mob is growing more violent by the hour. Complete chaos has taken over the capital. The question remains: where are the police?"
Huzaifa lifted the remote and shut off the small television. The room fell into a heavy silence.
"I don't get it," Huzaifa whispered. He walked back and forth, running his hands through his hair. "Why Kirat? He was the most innocent, holy man in the city! Now that he's gone, people are losing their minds. Crime is going to skyrocket! What the hell are you going to do next, Z?"
Z sat perfectly still in his chair. The medical drip was taped to his pale hand.
He didn't speak. He simply picked up a thick, black folder from the table and pushed it across the wood.
Huzaifa stopped walking. He picked up the file and opened it.
His eyes went wide. His face turned pale as he flipped through the pages. Secret bank papers. Contracts for killers. Plans for city bombings.
"Oh my god," Huzaifa choked out, dropping the file back onto the table. "He... he was behind them all?"
"Data from the past six years," Z said. His empty eyes locked onto Huzaifa's shocked face. "Over five thousand people dead. Terrorist attacks. Bombings in the poor areas. The murder of innocent lives, including children. And the 'saint' Kirat planned every single one to keep his political power through fear."
Huzaifa fell back into his chair, his mind spinning. "But Z... exposing him leaves a huge hole! Religion and faith are the pillars of this society! There are still thousands who blindly follow him. You just destroyed their whole reality!"
"A fake religion is the best way for a human mind to escape," Z said, his voice dropping into a slow, creepy rhythm. "And a mind that wants to escape reality... will easily accept a new religion."
Z leaned forward, the shadows catching the sharp angles of his face.
"A new religion will be born, Huzaifa. New followers will kneel. We are destroying the old to build the new. Everything will start over from the beginning and will end there."
"But why did we have to break it in the first place?" Huzaifa pleaded. He was scared by how big Z's plan was. "Everything could have stayed the way it was. We could have just taken revenge on the doctors and left it at that!"
"Because this time," Z whispered, a dark, scary smile curving his lips, "we will control everything."
"What about the Supreme State?" Huzaifa asked, his voice shaking. "Do you honestly think they will let you take their territory?"
Z's smile grew wider. It was the smile of a hunter watching a trap close.
"Just watch."
The sound of the front door opening downstairs shattered the tension.
"I'm home!" Hirey's voice echoed up the stairs.
Instantly, the scary feeling in the room vanished. Z's back bent. His eyes lost their sharp, deadly focus, becoming cloudy and heavy. He dragged himself to the bed and fell onto the mattress, closing his eyes. The Master backed away, leaving the broken shell behind.
Hirey pushed the bedroom door open. The lights were off, except for a pale, flickering bulb in the corner.
"Oh, Huzaifa. How are you doing?" Hirey asked, throwing her coat onto a chair. She looked extremely tired. She was carrying the weight of a burning city on her shoulders.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm good," Huzaifa stuttered, avoiding her eyes. He quickly moved toward the door. "I was just checking on Z. I have to leave now."
He almost ran out of the room, desperate to escape the crazy double life of this house.
Hirey sighed. She walked to the edge of the bed and sat down next to Z.
He looked so small under the heavy blankets. The tube connected to his arm. She reached out and gently stroked his hair. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she looked at the boy she had left behind for a badge.
"Sleep, my love," Hirey whispered, a tear slipping down her cheek. "Sleep. You need rest from this tiring world."
Suddenly, Z moved.
Without opening his eyes, his arms shot out. He grabbed Hirey and pulled her down against his chest, hiding his face in her stomach. He held onto her with a tight, desperate grip, as if he were falling off a cliff and she was the only rope.
Hirey gasped. She shifted so she could wrap her arms around his shaking shoulders. She began to pet his hair, holding him not like a man, but like a scared six-year-old child who had finally found a safe place to hide.
Z started to cry. It wasn't a quiet cry; it was a deep, painful sob of pure heartbreak.
"They're gone..." Z cried into her shirt. His voice was muffled, high-pitched, and completely broken. "Mom... Dad... my brother... my sister... they are all gone!"
Hirey squeezed her eyes shut. Her own tears fell freely into his dark hair.
"He took them away!" Z cried in his sleep, shaking weakly against her. "The cycle has started! Save me, Hirey! Do something! Everyone is going to die! Please... save us... please!"
"I'm here," Hirey choked out, holding him tighter, trying to calm his panic. "No one is here, Z. No one can harm you anymore. I will protect you from everything, I swear."
"Easy, my love... easy. I'm here."
Slowly, the wild shaking stopped. Z's breathing slowed down as his deep tiredness pulled the 'Innocent' back into a dreamless sleep.
Hirey carefully pulled herself out of his grip. She stood up, looking down at his tear-stained face.
A storm of thoughts spun in her smart mind. Something was deeply wrong. His trauma was too heavy. The changes in his personality were too extreme.
She pulled out her phone and dialed a number, stepping out into the hallway.
"Hello, Dr. David? It's Detective Hirey," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I need you to look at Z. Off the record. I think he is suffering from deep hidden trauma and severe sadness... maybe something worse. Yes. Tomorrow. Thank you."
She hung up, looking back at the closed bedroom door.
Let's see what is actually going on inside your head, Z.
The Midnight Café. 2:00 P.M.
The rain hit hard against the windows of the empty diner.
Hirey sat in the corner booth, staring at her black coffee. She hadn't touched it.
A shadow moved past the window. A moment later, the bell above the door rang. A figure wearing a heavy black coat walked in. He didn't look at her. He slid into the seat directly behind hers, so they were sitting back-to-back, separated only by the high leather seat.
Hirey's hand naturally moved to the gun hidden under her jacket.
"So," Hirey said, her voice hard and strict, staring straight ahead at the diner wall. "You said you knew who was behind the mob. Tell me what you know."
"You know him very well, Detective," a cold, deep voice spoke from the booth behind her.
Hirey froze. The rhythm, the tone... it was so familiar, but changed into something evil. It sent a chill straight down her spine.
"Stop playing games with me," Hirey hissed, unbuttoning her gun holster. "Tell me everything you know, right now, or I swear I will turn around and shoot you where you sit."
A low laugh came from behind the leather seat.
"You can try, Detective," the voice joked gently. "Shoot me, and your only clue to the truth dies with me. Are you really that stupid?"
Hirey grounded her teeth. She took her hand off her gun. "Talk."
"Listen to me carefully," the Informant said, his tone dropping into a deadly serious whisper. "The Supreme State has deep roots in this city. Scholar Kirat? He was working for them. And every single person connected to his rise, and every doctor connected to a specific experiment... is being murdered right now."
"What?" Hirey frowned, her detective mind racing to connect the dots. "What kind of experiment?"
"End of Beginning," the cold voice replied. "Every ten years, the Supreme State runs a secret experiment on unborn babies. They change their bodies and minds before they are even born. They try to make them perfectly strong. Mentally unbroken. They try to build gods."
Hirey felt the breath leave her lungs. Before they are born?
"Kirat was an early test subject," the Informant continued. "And the person behind the mob tonight... the person controlling the destruction of this state... I suspect he is one of those creations."
Hirey's mind flashed to Dr. Abd's basement. To the 19 murdered leaders.
"For now, all you need to know is that someone is pulling the strings. The family members who committed those murders? They were just puppets."
A pale hand reached around the side of the booth and dropped a silver USB drive onto Hirey's table.
"Here. This pen drive has the raw security video from Dr. Abd's basement," the voice said. "Look closely at the eyes of Abd's wife and children. There was someone else in that room."
Hirey stared at the drive. Anger flared in her chest.
"Stop this nonsense!" Hirey slapped her hand onto the table, shaking her coffee cup. "Why are you telling me ghost stories about perfect humans and secret experiments?! Why should I believe a word you say?"
"Do you have any other choice, Detective?" The voice was full of total pride. "If you don't want to believe me, fine. Keep firing your arrows into the dark and pray they hit a target. But I am your only hope of stopping this."
She heard his heavy coat move. The man was standing up.
"Nineteen are dead. Five left to go," the Informant said, walking toward the diner door. "You better catch him before he finishes his list. Good luck, Detective."
Hirey immediately turned around to look.
She caught a quick look at the man walking out the door, stepping into the pouring rain. Her heart skipped a beat.
Same height. Same build. Same scary, calm walk.
"Z...?" she whispered to the empty diner.
She looked back at the USB drive on the table. One moment you are a broken child crying in my arms. The next moment... are you this? Who are you, Z?
She grabbed the drive and ran out of the diner, rushing back to her makeshift office in Z's house. She needed a computer. Now.
The Elite District. 4:00 A.M.
Dr. Joseph, a top brain doctor and close friend of the late Dr. Nawaz, was deeply asleep in his highly secure mansion.
The security system was perfect. The doors were locked. The guards were walking outside.
Yet, inside the master bedroom, the shadows gathered at the foot of the bed.
The air grew freezing cold.
A figure wearing a black mask stepped out of the dark, holding a shining surgical knife. He looked down at the sleeping doctor, his twentieth target. The next piece to be removed from the board before handing the political power over to Huzaifa.
The Masked Man leaned forward, his face inches from the doctor's ear.
"Wake up, Doctor," The Master whispered. "It is time for your surgery."