After being discharged from the hospital, Shaurya wasted no time. The moment he stepped out, his excitement carried him straight back to the laboratory. With a bright, almost childlike eagerness, he called out,
"I found it… the Shard of Preservation!"
The entire room stilled.
According to ancient records and old mythologies, the Shard of Creation was the only one ever discovered in the past. Covered in long inscriptions and riddled with mysteries, it became the foundation of humanity's greatest advancements. Decoding even a fraction of it had propelled human civilization centuries ahead.
But those very inscriptions spoke of two other shards: the Shard of Perseverance and the Shard of Destruction. Their existence was long debated, dismissed by sceptics as myths.
And yet, now, against all odds, the Shard of preservation had surfaced.
Even now, only twenty percent of Shard of creation's secrets had been unravelled, yet that fraction alone had reshaped history.
And now… another had been found.
But Shaurya's triumphant return carried a shadow. His expression dimmed as he unlocked the briefcase and opened it slowly. Inside lay the shard.
It was small. Too small.
No inscriptions covered its surface, unlike the Shard of Creation, and yet… its resonance was undeniable. The aura it gave off hummed in tune with the Shard of Creation, confirming it was no ordinary relic. Confusion spread among the scientists. Why was it diminished? Incomplete?
Still, there was no time for doubt. Humanity had taken another step forward. If one shard could surface again, the others would follow. With technology advancing, it wouldn't take another 250 years to locate them. Perhaps only a decade. Perhaps less.
Ironically, this shard wasn't even discovered through brilliance or planning—it was the result of a landslide that brought it closer to the surface, allowing sensors to pick it up. A stroke of chance that might change everything.
As the shard was carefully sealed and prepared to be sent to the Central Laboratory for deeper testing and verification, the lab erupted in celebration. Bonuses were promised, holidays announced, voices filled with laughter and relief.
But Shaurya stood apart. Alone. Silent. His gaze drifted into empty space.
Elsa noticed. She walked over, her steps hesitant, her voice soft with concern.
"What's the matter, Shaurya?"
He blinked, pulled back from the void of his thoughts. His voice was low, urgent, and laced with something unsettled.
"Nothing… it's just—this time, it felt different. Nothing like a panic attack, but different."
Elsa tilted her head, curiosity sparking.
"How so?"
His breath hitched slightly as he recalled it.
"The sky… it turned black. The ground beneath me vanished, and I was falling into nothingness. It was as if I had slipped into another dimension. My voice echoed but reached nowhere, swallowed whole. Then, out of that darkness, I found —something like a cube. And then… someone whispered. A voice I couldn't recognize, not humanly. Yet, after all that, I didn't even panic. I just… froze there. That's never happened to me before. And after that I don't know the Shard was in my hand."
Elsa's eyes widened, surprise flashing before worry softened her tone.
"That's… unsettling. I think it might be linked to the Shard of Perseverance. You know, in the early days, there were theories that the shards possessed some form of consciousness. Most dismissed the idea later, but… maybe we were wrong."
The night had grown cold. The winds curled around the empty streets, carrying with them the faint smell of rain and dust. Shaurya walked with slow, heavy steps, his shoulders slouched, his mind dulled from the hours of forced celebration.
Parties never suited him. The noise, the endless chatter, the smiles that felt painted on—it all drained him. His body was tired, but his spirit even more so. Every step toward home felt like a release, a promise of silence.
He pulled his jacket tighter as a gust of wind brushed past, chilling his sweat-damp skin. The city was unusually quiet, the lamps casting long shadows on the pavement. His breath fogged faintly in the air.
And then he stopped.
Down a narrow alley, something stirred.
At first, he thought it was just the night playing tricks—shadows crawling along the walls with every flicker of the streetlights.". The darkness there wasn't the usual kind. It was deeper, heavier, pulling the light inward until it seemed to vanish altogether. Space folded like crumpled paper, creating a patch of nothing.
Shaurya's brows knit together. His chest tightened. He blinked twice, rubbed his eyes. I'm too tired. It's nothing. Just fatigue.
As if to reassure himself, he glanced around. Two pedestrians were walking from the opposite side. They strolled past the alley without even a glance, their faces calm, their steps casual.
They didn't see it.
Shaurya let out a shaky breath. Maybe it was his imagination. He turned to leave—
And froze.
A sound rose from the alley.
At first, it was a sigh, faint and dragging, like a dying breath. Then it shifted into a whisper, words too low to catch, brushing against his ear as if someone leaned close behind him. His skin prickled. He spun around—no one was there.
Before he could think further, the whisper melted again—this time into a whistle.
A soft, sweet melody.
It should have been harmless, even pleasant. Yet the moment the tune reached him, a wave of cold surged through his body. His skin crawled, his breath caught, and his heart thumped painfully in his chest. Despite its sweetness, every note of the whistle screamed danger, clawing at instincts older than reason.
The melody grew clearer, lilting like a lullaby. Shaurya stood frozen, his body refusing to move. His mind screamed at him to turn away, to run, yet his feet carried him forward instead—step by step toward the alley.
The whistle stopped.
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Shaurya's throat went dry. He leaned closer to the warped darkness. The cold wind from earlier now felt sharper, biting into his skin. His breath fogged heavier, his fingers trembled.
And then, with no warning, the air yanked him forward.
The ground vanished beneath him. His body lurched, weightless. His last glimpse of the world was the warped alley shrinking behind him.
Then everything turned black.
Only the sweet, haunting whistle remained, echoing inside his ears.
This was the night his fate was sealed.
TO BE COUNTINUED...........