Where am I?
Pain.
No cry.
No tears.
No sound.
Only pain—enough to knock someone out. That much pain.
First, there was only pain. Deep, twisting, burning. It curled through his chest and sank into his bones. It was endless. Shrieks tried to form inside him—but no sound came. Only agony.
Then it started.
A small sound. A whisper of air escaping his throat.
The whisper stretched, trembling.
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, silent, 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 scared 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, bones setting, muscles pulling themselves together from nothing.
He screamed again.
The pain was not just in his body. It was in his mind. In his soul. Images flashed—faces, places, memories—but none belonged to him. Each one screamed silently inside his head.
His heart pounded, but it wasn't just fear.
It was existential agony.
He didn't understand who he was.
He didn't understand what he was becoming.
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 had become 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.
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 her assignment.
"Varna, how are you doing this? I don't understand any of it," she 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. One year and you're still in the friend zone. Change it."
"Justin, it's not like that. I told you," Kala replied.
Justin dragged Asif away, waved goodbye, and went the other way.
Kala turned to Varna. "Let's go home."
They walked together, footsteps echoing on the empty street. Streetlights flickered. Shadows stretched long and black.
"Kala… it's a weird name, no?" Varna asked.
"Haaa… yeah. But I like it," Kala said.
"Varna… Kala means black, right?"
"Yes. But there's another meaning," Kala said.
"What is it? Tell me," Varna asked.
The street reached its end. Kala stopped. "I'll walk with you till 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 hand emerged from the top of a wall in the distance, hidden in the shadows. Sharp nails scraped the leaves aside to see.
Watching Kala and Varna from afar.
There were three of them.
They moved silently, unseen—yet they could 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 is no proof it's him or not."
"I'm sure this time. I can sense it," came a low voice from a creepy, crawling thing that showed itself in the moonlight.
"Okay. But we need confirmation before calling the leader."
The other one looked at the crawling creature, then placed his leg on it, pinning it down. The intimidating sound made the second voice falter.
"We can't be sure with his sense and luck. He might be sensing a lowly demon—or even Lucifer himself. I'm not risking my life for nothing."
"Stop it… we need to confirm first. Then we call the leader."
The leg was removed. The creature crawled back to 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 eyes shone from the shadows atop a high wall.
Then they vanished—melting into darkness....