The mansion seemed to hold its breath. Shadows stretched across the polished floors, long, twisting ribbons that clung to corners and crevices like dark memories. The chandeliers above—grand, opulent, gilded in gold—flickered with a faint uncertainty, their light hesitant, wary, as though even crystal and flame could sense the storm coiling within the hall. Every footstep echoed unnaturally, bouncing against the walls lined with centuries of portraits whose eyes seemed suddenly to follow every movement. Each sigh, each rustle of silk or whisper of velvet, carried a weight far greater than its volume, a prelude to the revelation that was about to shatter the meticulously curated calm.
They were waiting for her. Every figure, from the oldest aunt to the youngest servant, all the family, guards, and lingering guests who had survived the shock of the previous display, held themselves in rigid anticipation. Even the walls seemed watchful, breathing quietly with the collective pulse of the room, as if centuries of secrets had suddenly awoken and were pressing in on the present. Conversation, once polite and cautious, now existed only as fragile fragments—murmurs too timid to rise above the oppressive quiet. Laughter had evaporated, leaving only the memory of joy, suspended in the heavy air like a candle flame threatening to die.
Then she appeared.
Maya. Black silk cascading over her small frame, gloves brushing delicately against her wrists, braid swinging like a pendulum of shadow. She paused at the threshold, one slender foot crossing lightly over the marble, eyes scanning the hall with deliberate calculation. Her gaze, unblinking and fathomless, captured everything: every trembling guest, every polished surface, every weaponized glance of fear or curiosity. The room held itself in tense equilibrium, unwilling to act yet unable to look away.
A voice, shaky and brittle with authority strained by desperation, broke the tension. "Tell us the truth! We… we need to know. What happened in the past?"
The words echoed faintly, swallowed by the cavernous hall. But Maya said nothing. Her silence was the shield she had carried all her life, forged in years of torment, of pain too immense for words. Silence had protected her, held her together, allowed her to survive when every other resource failed.
Ohi, stepping forward with deliberate precision, produced a small vial from beneath his coat. The liquid inside shimmered in the chandelier's light, catching and refracting it into sharp, silver streaks. "The truth serum," he announced, voice sharp, almost accusatory, the syllables cutting through the room like a blade. "We have the right to know. You will speak."
Maya's jaw tightened. Her voice, when it came, was a whisper, low and cutting, sharper than any sword: "You have no right."
Naya's tremulous voice followed, reaching across the distance like a fragile bridge. "Maya… we need to understand. Please. Just this once."
Maya shook her head, imperceptibly, the slightest tilt of her chin carrying volumes of defiance. Her body spoke before her words could. her feet shifting back instinctively.
every muscle taut, every movement a careful choreography of control and resistance. She radiated the quiet storm of years survived and horrors endured, a presence that threatened to unravel anyone who came too close.
Rahi stepped forward, desperation bleeding through his composure. "There's no need to force her," he implored, voice low and urgent, quivering under the weight of fear and love intertwined. "Please… don't do this to her. You don't know what you're doing. You will regret it. Please, don't."
Before the words could settle, before the weight of their plea had fully registered, a shadow separated from the darkness. Anik. Silent, deliberate, his presence a blade of steel in calm disguise. He moved forward, stopping precisely between Maya and the assembly. "Maya," he said quietly, voice even, but carrying an unspoken threat that coiled around the room. "Don't make us do this the hard way."
And then something inside her snapped.
She ran.
Black silk and bare feet, fluid as smoke, streaking across the hall. The marble underfoot seemed to bend beneath her as she moved, yet her heart pounded a frantic rhythm of fear and fury. Chairs toppled, servants shouted, gasps punctuated the chaos, everyone tryed to reach her , but Maya was a force beyond ordinary interception.
"Maya!" Fahad's voice rang, but she was gone before it could reach her.
At the corridor's end, Anik intercepted her. His arms, unyielding and strong, wrapped around her waist.
"No!" Maya's voice sliced through the room, raw and shattered. "I won't! Don't touch me!"
She twisted, kicked, struggled against the grip, but Anik's hold was absolute. His voice softened, the first hint of fracture in his otherwise steel calm. "Why are you running?"
"Because you're going to kill me!" she spat, the words a tempest, carrying every suppressed memory, every scar etched into her soul.
A servant handed him the vial. Anik's gloved fingers tightened around it, pressing it toward her lips.
"Maya… please," Naya whispered, a quiver threading through the syllables.
The serum touched her tongue, burning, invasive, a liquid authority that sought to strip her mind bare. Maya fought, twisting and writhing, but Anik's hand covered her mouth, firm and unyielding. "Swallow," he whispered, voice trembling now with the weight of reluctant obedience to duty.
And then—her defenses began to falter. Her knees buckled, striking the marble with a dull echo, breath ragged, pupils widening, lips trembling. The invisible fingers of the serum tugged at the corners of her mind, pulling memories, emotions, and truths into the open, unrelenting.
Anik knelt beside her, hands gripping her shoulders as though anchoring both of them to a fragile reality. "Maya… why did you run? Why… what happened in the past?"
Her voice rose, faint, hollow, fractured. "I was… one year old. Too young to remember. But I do."
A stunned silence fell across the hall, thick and suffocating. Each word carried the weight of decades of cruelty, every syllable a dagger into the fragile calm of the assembly.
Fahad's voice broke, incredulous. "One… year? How… how could you remember that?"
"My nanny's name was Meyl," she whispered. "She sang me lullabies, smiled when she picked me up that night… I didn't know she was taking me away forever."
A chill ran like ice across the room. Shadows stretched unnaturally, twisting along walls and ceilings. Guests who thought themselves immune to fear shivered involuntarily.
"She kidnapped me. Took me to a place they called The Holo of Fair."
Gasps erupted, hands flew to mouths. Even those who had prepared themselves for horror were unprepared for the innocence so violently stolen.
"They locked me in a glass cell," she continued, voice trembling yet piercing. "With chimera creatures. Beasts. Silence. No name… only a number. 17B."
Raya's tears fell silently, tiny drops that spattered the marble floor, each a fragile echo of horror.
"I tried to escape once," Maya whispered, her voice cracking under the weight. "They broke my legs. Every time I ran, they tortured me differently. Once… they gave me candy. Then they broke my fingers. Every escape… was a lesson in pain."
Naya's hands covered her mouth, whimpering softly.
"They locked me with the monsters. I wanted to live, even for one pain-free moment. I ran barefoot over wires. But they caught me. Injected needles into my back. Told me I'd never run again."
A single tear slid down Rahi's cheek.
"But I ran anyway," Maya murmured, voice almost spectral, distant yet heavy with presence.
"One day, I broke through the chamber. I didn't care if I died. I just wanted to see the sky. To feel freedom. And then… I met him. A boy."
Her voice faltered, touched briefly with fragile warmth.
"His name was Arib. He wasn't one of them. He wasn't a test subject. He was… kind. Hid me in a vent. Brought water. Stole bandages for my wounds."
Fahim whispered, reverent, broken: "He saved you…"
"He found me by the riverbank. Never asked about my past, my wounds, my captivity. He simply… helped me breathe. Taught me to survive, to stay human."
"But they found out." Fahad's voice trembled. "Please, Maya, stop talking…"
"They captured us," she said, her words sharp, cold. "Every corridor, every metallic echo, every shadow—was their domain. And then… they made me watch while they poisoned him. I couldn't look away. I had to see. My eyes forced open."
Farhan turned away, shuddering, unable to witness the unfolding nightmare.
"I screamed, begged, prayed until my throat bled. I promised… I would never run. Over and over. But they forced me to watch. Until he died in front of me."
Her body carried the enormity of years of horror.
"And then… they laughed," her voice hollow, mechanical. "Said it was the cost of kindness."
Sobs broke out across the hall, subtle, collective. Perhaps Naya's. Perhaps every soul present, forced to bear witness to a child's life ripped apart.
"That day I realized… love is danger. I made a mistake. I loved him. I Broke the rule.so, i Paid the price by killing him. … they left Arib's body in my cell for three days mabe four days . He was cold, so Cold. Silent. I called to him. But, He never answered."
Her lips quivered. "I buried him with my own hands, behind the wire. With him… I buried the last piece of myself. That piece that could feel love, could give love… gone for a mitake ."
The hall shuddered, silence deepened into an almost physical pressure.
"They turned me into a thing ," she whispered, mechanical now, distant, a shadow speaking through flesh. "I feel nothing. Love. Hate. Color. Smell. Taste… all are taken from me And I let them take .I Believed I'd die if I resisted. I believed that i would die if i didn't. "
As the serum's effect waned, her voice sharpened, cold, regal: "This house… it is just another lab. And you…" Her gaze swept the hall, freezing every soul. "…you are no different from them. Prettier faces. Same cages."
She staggered to her feet, each word a shard of ice through the assembled, "You wanted the story. Now carry it. Never regret what you all doing. "
She stood without any emotion but everyone is.... shattring into sobs.
Mahi stepped forward, trembling, tears streaming. "Maya, please—"
Maya flinched violently. Words snapped through the hall like steel wires. "Don't touch me! Please. "
Her eyes rolled back, her body went limp, folding into black silk like smoke retreating into shadow. She collapsed, unconscious, leaving the hall in stunned silence.
The chandeliers dimmed. The marble floor reflected the faces of those who had borne witness, pale and stricken. Every wall, every painting, every carved figure seemed to bow under the weight of her revelation. The mansion, magnificent and eternal, now felt hollow, as though the light itself recoiled in respect for the child who had survived, endured, and emerged… untouchable.
No one dared move. No one dared speak. The hall, once alive with music, chatter, and curated perfection, now only bore witness to the raw, unflinching truth of one girl's survival, and the shadow she had become.