Midnight fell like a curtain of sorrow, the stars silent and the sky unmoving, as if the universe itself was waiting for something it could not name. Inside the healing chamber Mirshad lay still, the man who had bent storms, shaken mountains, and remade the world, now reduced to quiet breath and unmoving eyes. The heartbeat monitor slowed, slower still, until it gave its final cry — a flat, merciless line that seemed to cut through every soul on the island. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeep. The sound of the end. A doctor's hand slipped from his tools, another dropped to his knees. They tried everything — surges, injections, every code they knew — but nothing answered. No vitals, no pulse, no soul resonance. "He's gone," a voice whispered, and for a moment even the air forgot how to move. Outside, the doctors stepped into the corridor and their eyes told the story before their mouths could. Sophia was already standing, her voice breaking, "What happened?" They didn't speak, they only gave the nod that broke her knees. "No… no, no, no…" Her scream tore through the hall. Rayyan froze where he stood, Jabir shook his head as if trying to wake from a nightmare, Malik sat down hard on the floor without a word, Amir smashed his fist into the wall until bone split, and Baba — who had never bowed to fear or death — dropped to his knees and whispered, "Ya Allah… not him." The island fell into a silence that felt like mourning itself had taken form.
Thirty minutes passed and Sophia had not left the glass, her palm pressed against it, her voice shaking into the stillness. "Come back to me… please…" The brothers scattered through the hall, some praying, some pacing, some too broken to move. Outside, the world slept, unaware its guardian had fallen. Then the wind shifted. The ocean stilled. The sky trembled. The earth beneath them began to hum as every tree bent as though bowing, every bird burst into flight, every animal vanished into hiding. Screens flickered, walls shivered, a deep vibration filled the air — not from the chamber but from far beyond the sky. And then, it began. A glow at his chest, small at first, gold and warm like a hidden ember. It spread to his arms, his spine, his veins, until his entire body blazed with light. Without opening his eyes, he rose from the bed, limbs falling open in surrender to something older than time. Machines burst in showers of sparks, the chamber walls cracked, alarms died, and then it came — not his scream, but the scream of the world. A sound not born of lungs but of stars, ripping across the sky in a single, endless roar. It shook the trees, split clouds, raced into space, bounced from planet to planet, slipped past galaxies. Satellites recorded it. Scientists froze before their screens. Newsrooms flickered with static before a voice cut through: "A cosmic burst has been recorded… a scream beyond known science… it is not human." The universe itself had cried out, because something had returned.
Inside the island the light grew too bright to bear. The family could only watch from outside as his body floated higher, the glow pouring off him like liquid fire. Then it ended. Silence dropped heavy as stone. His body lowered gently back to the bed, the glow sinking into his skin. The machines blinked awake. Beep. Beep. Beep. Sophia was through the door before anyone could stop her, throwing herself beside him, her head on his chest, her hands clutching his. "Come back to me… please…" His fingers twitched. His chest filled. And then, as though the world had been holding its breath for this, his lips parted. "I'm here…" The room erupted. Amir burst in, tears spilling freely. Rayyan gripped Malik and shook him in disbelief. Jabir slid to the floor laughing through sobs. Baba kissed his forehead over and over, whispering "Alhamdulillah… my son… my son…" Sophia held his face between her hands, whispering, "You came back to me…"
Outside, no announcement was needed. In every city, the night sky flickered with a strange, warm light, and hearts that did not know why suddenly felt lighter. Around the world a message was carried without words — He was gone for thirty minutes, but death could not hold him. And so, in every language, the people gave him new names — The One Who Rose, The Deathless Flame, The Father of Tomorrow, The Flame That Time Couldn't Touch. And in the whispers of children and the prayers of the old came the truest one of all — He went to the other side, and returned with the universe behind him.