The air smelled of iron and dust.
Sahil knelt on the cold stone floor, his trembling fingers brushing against the boy's still hand. The child's eyes were wide open glassy, lifeless staring into nothing. The faint light from the shattered ceiling flickered across his small face, painting shadows that seemed to move when Sahil blinked.
He whispered, voice cracking,
"...He's gone. He's really gone..."
Then louder, almost a scream—
"Why… why did this happen!?"
His voice echoed through the empty corridor, crashing against the walls before dying into silence. It was the kind of silence that didn't just fill a place it consumed it. The smell of smoke and wet stone lingered. Every breath Sahil took burned his throat like ash.
He fell to his knees completely now, fists pressed against the ground.
A sob escaped his throat.
A real one.
The kind that comes only when something inside you finally breaks.
"Harun… where are you, man…?" he whispered. "I can't… I can't do this alone…"
No answer. Only the faint sound of dripping water somewhere deep inside the ruins.
Then a faint hum.
Barely audible.
It came from the child's chest.
Sahil's tear-streaked eyes widened.
The boy's body… was fading.
A faint blue light traced along his veins, and within seconds, his whole form began to dissolve — turning into dust, floating upwards like glowing sand.
"What the hell?!" Sahil stumbled back, heart pounding in his chest.
The child's body was gone.
But something remained.
A small, dull stone hovered where the boy had been — its surface cracked, glowing faintly like the last ember in a dying fire. It pulsed once… twice… and then shot forward before Sahil could react.
"Wha..AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The stone slammed into his palm.
The impact was blinding a searing, electric pain that ripped through his veins and straight into his bones. Sahil screamed, gripping his arm, watching veins of light crawl up toward his shoulder. The mark on his hand burned bright jagged and glowing a faint greenish-white.
His voice broke. "Get it out! GET IT OUT!"
But the stone… melted into him.
Like liquid fire sinking beneath his skin.
Then silence again.
Sahil collapsed, gasping for air.
His hand was trembling violently, the mark still glowing.
He tried to move his fingers they felt heavier, as if something inside was resisting.
He looked up. The whole hall was trembling now.
Cracks began forming on the ceiling, and with every pulse from the mark, the world around him seemed to shatter a little more.
"No… no, no, no" he muttered, backing away.
But the ground was splitting open.
He could hear it the sound of something enormous breaking apart deep below.
Then
The walls began to collapse.
Sahil ran.
He didn't even know where.
Only that he needed to get out.
---
Scene Shift The Other Side of the Ruins
Darkness.
Harun's breath fogged in the air.
He was alone, standing in a long corridor filled with broken stone pillars and flickering torches that barely held onto life. Every flame seemed to dance like it wanted to escape.
He called out, voice echoing:
"Sahil! Where are you!?"
No answer.
Only the sound of his own heartbeat.
The silence was suffocating thicker than air.
Each step echoed too loud, like the world was listening.
Then…
A sound.
Faint, distant a scream.
A woman's voice.
"Help! Someone please..HELP ME!"
Harun's head snapped toward the sound. Without thinking, he ran.
The hallway twisted, the shadows bending unnaturally, almost alive. Every torch he passed flickered out the moment he crossed it, plunging the path behind him into total darkness.
The scream came again, closer this time.
He burst into a wide chamber broken statues, scattered debris, and at the center…
A girl.
Cornered against the wall, hands raised in terror.
Standing before her was a creature unlike anything Harun had ever seen.
It was tall nearly twice his height and entirely made of stone. Its body was cracked, but every fracture pulsed faintly with red light, as though molten veins ran beneath the surface. Its face was no face at all — just an uneven slab with two glowing red slits where eyes should be.
The creature moved with heavy, grinding steps, raising a jagged arm made of rock.
Harun's blood ran cold.
"What… the hell is that thing?"
The girl screamed again, and the creature lunged.
Without thinking, Harun grabbed a loose rock from the ground and threw it.
"HEY! Leave her alone!"
The stone struck the creature's shoulder barely even scratched it. But it turned, now facing him.
Its head tilted slightly, a low growl echoing from deep inside its chest — like the sound of stones grinding together.
"Oh, great," Harun muttered under his breath. "I got its attention…"
The creature charged.
Harun dove aside, the ground exploding where he had just stood. Debris cut across his cheek. He scrambled to his feet, eyes darting around for a weapon.
"Think… think…" he muttered. "What do I have…?"
"Check my purse!" the girl screamed.
Harun turned to her, startled.
"What!?"
"There's a brass knuckle..please! Use it!"
He looked around frantically.
"Where's your purse!?"
"Over there by the pillar!"
Harun turned, saw a small leather bag half-buried in dust.
But before he could reach it
The creature swung again.
He barely dodged the arm smashed into the wall, sending a shockwave through the floor. Harun stumbled, rolled, and sprinted toward the purse.
He dove for it, unzipped it with trembling hands and there it was.
A dull brass knuckle, worn but solid.
"Alright," he muttered, slipping it onto his fingers. "Let's see if this works…"
The creature turned again, glowing red cracks burning brighter.
It charged.
Harun ducked beneath its swing and drove his fist forward pure instinct guiding him.
The brass knuckle connected with the creature's chest, right where one of the glowing stones was embedded.
CRACK.
The impact sent a shock through Harun's arm and the creature staggered back, cracks spreading outward like a spider web.
The girl shouted, "You hit its core! Do it again!"
Harun clenched his teeth. "Got it!"
He rushed forward dodged a swipe leaped, and slammed his fist again, harder this time.
CRASH!
The glowing core inside the creature shattered.
The red light flickered violently and then died.
The creature froze.
Then… slowly began to crumble.
Piece by piece, until it collapsed into a heap of lifeless stone.
Harun stood there, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his forehead.
His knuckles hurt like hell.
But he'd done it.
He turned toward the girl, smiling faintly.
"Hey… you okay?"
No answer.
He frowned and looked around.
"...Hey?"
But she was gone.
The air was still.
Completely still.
Only the purse remained, lying on the floor where he'd dropped it.
Harun's heartbeat quickened.
"What the where'd she go?"
He turned in a slow circle. The shadows around him seemed to pulse.
"This… doesn't make sense…"
He looked down at his hand.
The brass knuckle glinted faintly.
"She left this behind…"
Then a sound.
A faint crack.
The ground beneath him trembled.
The walls of the chamber began to shatter.
Dust rained from above.
A divine, echoing voice filled the air not male, not female just ancient.
"Bearer of the Stone…"
Harun froze. "Wh-what…?"
The rubble behind him exploded, and from the remains of the creature's chest, a small shard of stone floated upward, glowing white.
It hovered for a moment then darted straight toward him.
"Wait NO!"
The shard slammed into his forearm.
Pain.
Pure, burning pain.
Like molten metal poured into his veins.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He fell to his knees, gripping his arm. The veins along his forearm glowed bright white, the skin almost translucent. The stone embedded itself deep within, pulsing rhythmically like it had found a new heart.
Harun gasped, tears in his eyes.
"Why why is it burning!?"
The divine voice whispered again.
"Awaken… the bearer of light…"
Then everything shattered.
The chamber began to collapse.
Stone pillars fell like dominoes.
Harun stumbled toward the exit the world around him fracturing into dust and white light.
The sound of collapsing stone roared behind him like thunder.
Sahil ran through the dark corridors, lungs burning, every breath tasting of dust and blood. The mark on his palm glowed brighter with each heartbeat veins of greenish light snaking up his forearm like living vines under his skin.
The ruins were coming apart. Cracks raced along the walls, the floor heaving beneath him. It was as though the world itself was being torn open from the inside.
He stumbled, nearly fell, but kept running.
"Where… is the exit?" he gasped.
He turned a corner and froze.
The passage ahead split in two directions both cloaked in darkness. The air was heavy, humming faintly, like the walls were breathing.
The mark on his hand pulsed again.
And for a moment, the path to the right glowed faintly green.
Sahil hesitated.
Then nodded to himself. "Fine. Lead the way."
He sprinted right.
The light from his palm lit the path ahead, revealing carvings on the walls ancient, twisted symbols that seemed to move when he looked directly at them. They whispered faintly, like a thousand voices murmuring in languages no human should understand.
Sahil pressed his hand to his ear. "Stop it… shut up…"
But the whispers only grew louder.
Then, through the chaos a sound.
A voice.
"SAHIL!"
His eyes widened.
"Harun!?"
The voice was faint but clear echoing from somewhere ahead.
He ran faster.
His heart pounded with something between hope and fear.
Every torch he passed flickered to life as if responding to his pulse, casting dancing shadows on the stone walls.
Finally, he reached a massive gate half-broken, carved with intricate runes. It pulsed faintly with the same greenish hue as his hand.
Sahil pressed his palm against it.
The mark reacted instantly light erupted from his hand, shooting into the carvings. The gate trembled, groaned, and slowly began to open, dust raining down like ancient snow.
A gust of cold air swept past him as he stepped through.
And there
Through the settling dust
Harun.
Standing at the far end of the chamber, arm glowing faint white, breathing hard, eyes wide in disbelief.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Only the faint echoes of the collapsing ruins filled the silence.
Then Harun whispered, voice shaky:
"...You too?"
Sahil lifted his glowing palm.
"Yeah. I guess… whatever this is, it chose both of us."
Harun's eyes flicked to the veins of light crawling up Sahil's arm, then back to his own forearm where the white stone pulse throbbed beneath his skin.
"Mine… burns like fire," Harun muttered. "Yours looks different."
Sahil nodded, swallowing hard. "Feels like it's eating me from the inside."
Before they could say more
The ground shook violently.
Cracks split across the floor between them, forming glowing patterns white from Harun's side, green from Sahil's. The two colors crawled toward each other, meeting at the center.
And when they touched
A blast of light erupted.
The air trembled.
Both Harun and Sahil were thrown back, shielding their eyes.
From the intersection of the lights rose a faint silhouette tall, featureless, formed entirely of shifting stone dust and light. It had no face, only a deep hollow where eyes should have been.
The voice from before divine, echoing, emotionless filled the chamber.
"Two bearers... bound by the same fracture.
The Light of the Arm…
The Mark of the Palm…
Together, you shall awaken the Stone Within."
Harun shouted, "What are you!?"
But the voice ignored him.
"One shall wield the strength of release…
The other, the will of restraint.
Together… balance shall breathe again."
The chamber rumbled. The light being shattered into thousands of fragments that scattered like fireflies, embedding into the walls.
Then silence.
The marks on both their arms pulsed one final time before fading into a faint shimmer beneath the skin dormant, but alive.
Harun exhaled shakily. "Did that just happen?"
Sahil's breathing was uneven, sweat dripping from his forehead. "I think… yeah."
He looked at his palm again the faint glow still lingering.
"What do you think it meant by 'release' and 'restraint'?"
Harun shook his head. "I don't know. But whatever it was… it's not over."
Suddenly the sound of cracking stone again.
The walls behind them began collapsing inward, the gate they'd entered through sealing itself with blinding light. They had nowhere else to run.
"Damn it!" Harun shouted. "There's got to be another way!"
Sahil looked around frantically.
Then his mark pulsed again.
He raised his palm instinctively. A burst of green energy shot out, striking a section of the far wall. The stone cracked revealing a narrow passage glowing faintly.
Harun's eyes widened.
"Did you just"
"Don't ask," Sahil snapped. "Just move!"
The two dashed through the opening just as the ceiling behind them collapsed completely, sealing the chamber in total ruin.
They ran until the sound of destruction faded.
Finally, the corridor opened into a wide space a dome-shaped chamber lit by faint bluish crystals embedded in the walls. The air here felt different still, yet alive.
Harun dropped to his knees, exhausted.
Sahil leaned against the wall, panting.
For a few moments, neither spoke.
Only their ragged breathing filled the air.
Then Harun whispered,
"What… the hell is happening to us?"
Sahil's voice was low. "I think… we're part of something ancient."
Harun glanced at him. "You mean cursed."
Sahil gave a faint smirk. "Maybe the two are the same thing."
They both laughed weakly, but it was something.
Then from the far end of the chamber a soft hum.
A circular emblem on the ground began to glow, white and green intertwining like smoke. The same symbol that had appeared when their marks met.
Harun and Sahil exchanged a glance.
No words were needed.
They stepped closer side by side as the symbol flared to life beneath their feet.
And then, just before everything turned to light
The same divine voice whispered again, fading into the dark:
"Your journey has begun.
The stones have chosen.
The world will remember the name… of the Stone Bearers."
White.
Green.
Silence.