The sky was clear, and the sun rose slowly as if witnessing the start of a new chapter.
Trucks halted before the palace's massive iron gate —
a gate carved with a roaring royal lion.
Shouts erupted here and there.
TAHARA neared the fountain. "Let's throw a tea party here like on TV."
MESNAS approached him. "Not with clothes like the ones you're wearing."
AYOUB, laughing behind TAHARA, "You just earned a direct hit."
ZARIOUH stepped forward from behind them. "I'll take the largest room."
OBASO, standing beside him, replied, "All rooms are the same size."
"Where's the fun in that?" ZARIOUH grumbled.
MIZYANI stood staring at the palace as if he'd discovered a lost treasure: "I can raise a horse here now."
GHAZLANE touched the walls with the curious hand of a child: "I can't believe it… We'll live here… is this real?"
MAYNO only smiled… calm, but with a reverent look in his eyes for the place.
ADEL offered a short phrase: "A palace fit for… what we might become."
SAMA, still embarrassed, kept to herself beside SOLIMON.
As for MOHITO, he didn't lift his head at all.
He looked at the ground as if it were something he knew better than all this newness.
MORASAMI was strapped to his back, its weight noticeable… a weight that was more than metal.
SOLIMON turned to him: "What do you think? Not bad… right?"
MOHITO raised his gaze slowly and stared at the palace for a moment.
The place was beautiful… orderly… vast…
But he didn't see a gaudy palace — only a vast gray new room.
He answered in a calm, barely audible, emotionless voice: "A place… to start again from."
SOLIMON fell silent — he knew him well.
SHOUTNA stood on the stairs, watching them all. He raised his voice:
"Listen carefully! Here we will live.
Here we will train. And from here… the new phase begins."
Everyone cheered. Except MOHITO
He watched his shadow on the ground. The sword's shadow was longer than his own.
He whispered to himself: "Beginnings… always resemble endings."
Then he finally lifted his head and looked at the palace with the eyes of a man not returning to a place… but stepping into destiny.
Inside, the palace radiated the same elegance and order that marked its stately façade.
Vast halls, luxurious furnishings, and artworks in the corners — everything arranged carefully to meet the finest needs.
The ground floor was allocated to the girls, while the spacious rooms upstairs were distributed among the boys.
In the main reception hall, where crystal chandeliers scattered golden light over ivory walls, two people sat in silence.
One reclined comfortably with a leg crossed; the other was immersed in an old book.
When ZARIOUH entered with the others, he immediately recoiled and took a defensive stance. "What is this?!"
The others moved forward and discovered the surprise.
"What are BOW and AXE doing here?" GHAZLANE inquired of SHOUTNA, who stood calmly.
"They are the most recent additions to our group. You must adapt to their presence," SHOUTNA answered in his usual commanding tone.
"Adapt to them? They tried to kill us!" AYOUB burst out angrily.
"Wars of the past must remain where they are. Clinging to them will only stop us from moving forward," SHOUTNA replied calmly but firmly.
MASIN cut in, standing and moving toward them: "We are not here to befriend you or beg for your protection.
We share the same objective, nothing more. All we ask is that you do not stand in our way, because we will destroy that organization that abandoned us like its trash."
"I am MASIN, and this is YASSIN," YASSIN added as he joined his brother.
MIZYANI stepped forward and extended his hand as a gesture of peace:
"We are honored by your joining." He shook MASIN's hand while everyone's eyes oscillated between suspicion and curiosity.
"Choose your rooms and rest. We will continue the discussion later," SHOUTNA ended the exchange, heading toward the exit and leaving everyone in the reception with new arrivals who might tilt the balance of the game.
*****************
That night… everyone gathered around the great table to celebrate their new headquarters. MASIN and YASSIN joined the feast, but two remained confined to their rooms:
SALMA and MOHITO.
"Isn't SALMA coming?" SOLIMON asked GHAZLANE.
"She doesn't feel well," GHAZLANE replied softly.
"And MOHITO?" ZAKI interjected.
OBASO answered: "He's not hungry either."
"Are they really, okay?" AYOUB wondered.
"I'll check on SALMA," SOLIMON stood up from the table.
"And MOHITO?" AYOUB asked.
"It's better to leave him be; he's not fond of gatherings," SOLIMON said as he left.
Tension hovered over the table.
"Let us continue our meal," SHOUTNA said calmly.
Downstairs… SAMA's room was tightly closed, as if she remained captive to that cold cell in the lab.
The air inside was heavy, carrying broken breaths and whispers of pain.
SOLIMON knocked gently, waiting patiently.
When SALMA opened… her swollen eyes told a story of pain deeper than words.
"May I come in?" SOLIMON asked in a low voice.
She stepped aside for him, and he entered slowly, then reached out toward the light switch.
"I really don't like dark rooms…" he said, trying to thread a note of lightness into the suffocating air.
But SAMA kept staring at the floor, as if afraid that raising her head would make whatever remained inside her collapse.
SOLIMON stopped and looked at her for a long moment… sorrow plain in his eyes.
"You know… You don't have to carry all of this alone."
She lifted her head with difficulty, as if resisting the weight of an entire world.
"You are truly… kind-hearted."
She hesitated for a moment, then continued in a broken voice:
"If we had met you earlier… my sister would have loved you so much."
A silent gasp escaped her, as if the air refused to enter her chest.
"Whenever I remember… it feels like everything passed so fast.
I didn't comprehend what happened… I can't—" she swallowed her tears "—I can't forgive myself for what happened to her."
She glanced around her small room, as though searching the corners for her sister's shadow.
"DO YOU KNOW… my sister and I once dreamed we would live in a palace like this. A childish dream… maybe naive." She gave a pained smile.
"We grew up in the poor neighborhoods of TZARIA. We were left alone after our parents abandoned us.
I used to sell cigarettes in the streets… I endured the cold and insults so that I could return to her."
She lowered her voice, as if confessing something that hurt:
"She always greeted me with a smile… despite hunger, despite illness, despite everything.
We would scrape together a little money—just enough to one day buy a small house."
She sighed and whispered:
"All we dreamed of… was a warm place. A place we wouldn't fear losing."
SOLIMON bowed his head in turn, as if her words had reopened an old wound… a wound that he knew well, the kind of loss that becomes an unhealing scar.
"You're all strong… whenever I look at you, I see myself as a burden upon you," SAMA added
"I am no different from you," SOLIMON replied sadly.
SOLIMON left his head and started talking:
"I lived in a small, peaceful village… I had an older brother and a younger sister… my father was a carpenter and my mother a housewife… we were happy…" His voice trembled.
"Then the civil war came… the army deemed our village part of the rebellion… I saw my parents being killed before my eyes and could do nothing. I only watched." SOLIMON gripped his hands in remorse.
"Then they took us — and my siblings — to the organization… and the real hell began."
He closed his eyes for a moment, then continued:
"We tried to revolt under my older brother's leadership, but it was a massacre…
My little sister died. She died without ever seeing the outside world again." He sighed.
"My brother and I managed to escape, but soldiers chased us.
My brother told me to flee alone: 'You must survive at all costs…' Those were his last words as he stayed behind trying to hold them off." SOLIMON bit his teeth, remembering he only ran.
SAMA watched SOLIMON steadily.
He fell silent, then whispered: "I ran through the dark forest until I collapsed exhausted.
Then I saw him… a boy with a black mask and red eyes.
I thought it was the end… I lost consciousness.
To wake up to the sound of voices and a strange smell… the boy sat on the couch watching me.
When he noticed I was awake, he ran out of the room.
Then five people came with him… the HOUNDS. I sat on the bed suspiciously."
"BORBAKI approached me: he said I was the last survivor of the lab, and that they found me by chance while trying to break in.
All that remained of the lab was my weapon ."
"Then the masked person came closer… I was terrified, they laughed and told him to take off his mask.
It was MOHITO.
He was the one who found me in the forest and protected me.
He told me softly: 'You are safe now.'"
"I wondered then: Is there truly safety in this world?
I asked them to leave me alone for a while…
And I went back to sleep thinking of all I had lost.
Then… their laughter rose." SOLIMON smiled with nostalgia.
"I stepped out of my room to find them gathered, eating soup.
CLAY asked me: 'Do you want some?' and MOHITO whispered: 'I don't think he's ready for it.'"
"He was truly different then."
SOLIMON looked up as if reliving the moment.
"That soup was the worst thing I've ever eaten… as if it were cooked in hell.
Yet despite that bitter taste and my urge to vomit… it brought comfort.
Tears fell from my eyes without my control… I couldn't stop myself as I cried like a small child.
MOHITO stepped toward me slowly… without saying anything, he just stood by my side while everyone watched from behind — as if to tell me: 'I am here.'"
"Then I regained what I had lost… a place I could call home."
He continued heavily: "But what SHOUTNA told you happened… we lost BORBAKI.
We all fell into despair, especially MOHITO.
That's why this time I had to be the one to lend him a hand.
"I moved forward as my brother told me, as BORBAKI taught me, and as MOHITO helped me."
SOLIMON turned to SAMA and held her hand.
"SAMA… I want you to live. If you ever feel helpless, we will all lend you support…so let us be the pillar you lean on."
SAMA looked at SOLIMON with tear-filled eyes: "Please… help me to live."
Suddenly… the door shook violently, and two people tumbled into the room at once, crashing to the floor in a noisy chaos that shattered the silence.
"Damn it! I told you not to push me!" MESNAS groaned as he got up, shooting ZAKI an obvious look of accusation.
Both of them lifted their heads toward SOLIMON and SAMA…
They froze, then said together in one awkward, trembling voice:
"Uh… sorry!"
SOLIMON looked at them, his face red, struggling to steady his voice:
"Since… since when have you two been here?"
MESNAS gave a sly smirk as he brushed the dust off his clothes:
"Trust me… You don't want to know."
"Damn both of you!" SOLIMON shouted, embarrassment boiling over to the point he didn't know where to hide his face.
Within moments, everyone had gathered at the door.
"What's going on here?" AYOUB asked, surprised at the chaos before him.
SAMA stood to the side, cheeks burning with embarrassment, while SOLIMON held MESNAS and ZAKI, both of whom pretended innocence and kept repeating their apologies in exaggerated, ridiculous ways.
And when the others heard the short story of what had happened… they all burst into laughter.
A warm, genuine laughter… the kind that felt like the warmth of a home SAMA hadn't known in a very long time.
SOLIMON extended his hand to her gently:
"Come… let's go eat together."
SAMA looked at his outstretched hand, then at the smiling faces around her…
For the first time, she felt this wasn't another cell, nor a room trapping her alone.
She smiled shyly, then took his hand.
and walked out with them…
A small step outside the room, but to her, it felt like the first step out of the darkness entirely.
Upstairs… MOHITO watched the scene.
"Aren't you going to join them?" SHOUTNA asked as he approached.
MOHITO shook his head. "This corner suits me better."
He knew that these shared memories would become the shield to protect them in the coming days… In a world full of darkness, these common moments were the light guiding them to safety.
****************
But safety… was nothing more than a fleeting illusion.
Deep within the organization's main headquarters, inside the secret command chamber — a room that knew no light and recognized no warmth —
THE JOKER stood perfectly still.
Before him, five massive screens flickered in the darkness like the heartbeat of a demon preparing to awaken.
The faces on the screens were distorted… but they didn't need clarity;
Their voices alone were enough to tear apart any semblance of calm.
One of them exploded with rage:
"They destroyed the entire TZARIA headquarters… and killed KLAUS!"
The words burst out like the roar of a wounded beast.
Another voice, cold as needles:
"A small price… compared to what we gained. We finally know… the location of the MIRACLE BOY."
A heavy silence settled, before a third voice spoke — confident, dry, merciless:
"I will handle it personally. I won't allow those insects to tamper with decades of work."
Another leader responded from the adjacent screen:
"Very well, Commander of the Fifth Battalion… the mission is yours.
Our grand plan is nearing completion… and there is no room for error."
Then — as if they suddenly remembered he existed — all eyes turned toward THE JOKER.
"And you?"
The question struck the darkness like a slap.
THE JOKER slowly raised his head…
A strange smile carved itself across his lips — stretched, twisted, and fully revealed:
A smile that did not belong to a human.
"Me?"
He let out a short… fractured laugh.
"I'll simply watch this time. Because I… don't like anyone sharing the spectacle."
He turned his back to the screens, the fading light leaving his face in shadow while his eyes glimmered with a sickly shine.
Then he whispered — a sound barely audible, as if meant for only one person in the world:
"What will you do now… my old friend?"
And outside… behind the fragile walls of temporary peace… something stirred.
Darkness creeping.
A plan sharpening its fangs.
And a war… finally beginning to smile.