"Some people enter a room. Prince entered a reality."
Silence weighed on the room like fog.Nasir stared at Prince with a mixture of disbelief and something close to fear.
Not fear of Prince—fear of what Prince implied.
Prince steadied his breathing and glanced around the room again.Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with thick tomes bound in dark leather.Strange diagrams hung above a wooden desk.The air smelled faintly of ink, paper, and something metallic.
Nothing familiar.Nothing from home.
"Tell me," Prince said finally, "where am I?"
Nasir did not answer immediately.He watched Prince as if trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces.
"You're in my room," he said slowly.His voice could have been mistaken for calm—if not for the way his fingers tightened around the windowsill.
"This is the city of Irsia. The capital of the Northern Province."He paused."And this world is called—"
Before he could speak the name,the incense flame in the altar flickered again.
A pulse.A vibration behind the air.
Nasir's eyes widened.He fell silent immediately.
Prince frowned.
"What was that?"
Nasir hesitated.When he spoke again, his voice was quieter.
"…I can't say the name of the world."
"Why not?"
Nasir looked away."When I try, it feels like something is… listening."
Prince felt a cold shiver run through him.
Something listening.
He thought back to the vision.The number.The throne.The whisper from a place beyond sense.
You were written into existence.
He forced his mind away.
"What am I doing here?" Prince asked.
Nasir was silent.Then he spoke carefully:
"You don't belong here.Your body, your presence…It doesn't match the world's record."
Prince blinked.
"The world's… record?"
Nasir nodded.
"This world keeps track of everything—birth, identity, fate.Even commoners have a thread woven into the Veil.But you…"
He stepped closer, eyes searching Prince's face.
"You have no thread.You appear the same as me,yet the world doesn't react to you.As if you were added silently."
Prince swallowed.
"Added?"
Nasir nodded again.
"Like a note slipped onto a page that was already printed."
Prince's heartbeat echoed in his ears.
That was impossible.That was absurd.
But everything around him screamed that it wasn't.
"So what does that make me?"
Nasir opened his mouth—and closed it again.
"I don't know," he admitted."But when you collapsed… the pressure you released—"
Prince could still feel it.A heavy, cold sensation lingering at the back of his mind.As though something inside him had cracked open,letting the unknown leak into the world.
"What happened to me?" Prince asked."What did you see?"
Nasir hesitated.Then, almost reluctantly:
"…A shadow behind you."
Prince felt goosebumps rise on his skin.
"A shadow?"
"Not yours," Nasir whispered."Something that shouldn't exist in this room.Something that didn't respect the walls, floor, or light."
Prince felt his throat tighten.
Then Nasir said, in a breath barely louder than air:
"It looked… like a throne."
A chill pierced the room.
Prince's lips parted.
A throne.
He had seen the same thing.For an instant.Behind closed eyes.
"What does that mean?" Prince asked.
Nasir shook his head.
"I don't know."He hesitated."Not fully."
Prince waited.
Nasir continued.
"But there are stories…about beings who sit on conceptual thrones.Entities who exist above the Veils.Above fate.Above the world itself."
Prince's pulse quickened.
"And you think I—?"
"No," Nasir said sharply."Not yet."
Prince frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Nasir took a breath, calming himself.
"This world… it is structured by Veils.Layers of reality.Only people who ascend paths—artistic, mystical, spiritual—touch even the surface."
"And me?"
"You…"Nasir looked at him as if studying an anomaly."You touched something deeper.Something even high-sequence mystics wouldn't dare approach."
Prince's heart pounded.
He barely understood what was happening.He was just a normal boy.A student.Someone who fell asleep in India and woke up…
…here.
But the whispers, the pressure, the shadows—
Nothing about this felt normal.
Nasir suddenly stepped closer.
He lowered his voice urgently.
"Something brought you here without permission.Something pulled you through the Veils.Not even children of fate can do that."
Prince felt the room grow colder.
"So what do I do now?" he whispered.
Nasir stared at him with an unreadable expression.
"…You survive."
Prince blinked.
"That's it?"
Nasir nodded slowly.
"You survive.And you learn.And you pretend to be me."
Prince's breath caught.
"What?"
Nasir took a step back, as though distancing himself.
"You look like me.My mother will be home soon.If she sees two of us—If anyone sees two of us—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't have to.
Prince understood instantly.
This world did not tolerate anomalies.Something was watching.Something that punished "errors" in the world's story.
And Prince was the biggest error of all.
Nasir took a slow breath.
"You will take my place," he said quietly."I'll disappear."
Prince's mouth went dry.
"Disappear?Where will you go?"
Nasir's eyes darkened.
"I'll hide.For now."
Prince stared.
"But why?"
Nasir's voice lowered even further, barely audible.
"Because I saw something when you collapsed."
Prince's heart thudded.
"What did you see?"
Nasir whispered, trembling for the first time:
"…The Veil looked at you."
Prince froze.
Nasir continued, voice tight with fear:
"The Veil never looks at anyone.The Veil never Acknowledges anyone."
He swallowed.
"But it looked at you."
Prince felt the floor tilt beneath him.
"What does that mean?" he whispered.
Nasir closed his eyes.
"It means," he said,"that you are not a visitor."
His eyes opened again—and for the first time, Prince saw something like awe.
"You are a problem the world cannot understand."
Prince stared.
Nasir stepped closer, voice trembling:
"And problems… become either disasters…"
He paused.
"Or gods."
The incense flame flickered violently.
The room trembled.
And the Veil—though invisible—shivered around them both.
End of Chapter 2