The world was gone. Mirshad stood on the empty highway, surrounded by a silence so deep it felt like the earth itself had stopped breathing.
Cities, homes, skies, even the air—dead. No birds, no animals, not even the faintest hum of insects.
Only a dry wind brushed against the skin, whispering over a graveyard Earth. Sirius beeped inside the car. "Alert: 99.7% of Earth's human presence has vanished. All life signals terminated or undetectable."
His grip on the steering wheel tightened, sweat sliding down his temple. "No… no, they can't be…" He spun the car around and slammed his foot against the pedal.
The palace gates were closed, the guard posts abandoned. Not a single sound, not a single movement. He honked once, then again. Silence. His heart thundered. He jumped out, pushed the gates open himself, and rushed in.
The main doors groaned as he forced them wide, his voice echoing through the emptiness. "Rayyan?! Malik?! Maa?! Sophia?!" No answer—only his own words coming back to him like a cruel mockery. He ran through hallways, past rooms and corridors, calling every name he knew, but the air swallowed his voice whole.
Then—faint. A sob. Fragile, like it could break in the air.
He followed it. At the far end, a door half-open. He pushed it wide and saw her. Sophia. Crouched in the corner, hands shaking, eyes swollen, body trembling as she cried.
The moment she saw him, she ran into his arms, collapsing against him, her tears drenching his shirt. "They're gone… they're all gone…" she sobbed. He held her so tightly it hurt. "What happened? Where is everyone?" But she couldn't answer. She clung to him like the last solid thing in the world.
He walked her to the main hall, her fingers locked around his arm. "Don't leave me alone. Please… don't." His voice was steady for her, even if his soul was breaking. "I won't. I promise. I'm here. Nothing will touch you." He fetched her water, brought it to her lips, coaxing her to drink. "Breathe. Calm down. I'm with you. You're safe." She took broken breaths, and finally, her voice returned.
"After you left… I heard something. It wasn't a sound. It was… a feeling. Like the air itself turned black. And then something stepped out. A figure. Surrounded by screaming souls. Not a man. Not a monster. Something worse. He walked slowly, touching things… and everything he touched turned to ash.
Then he reached them. Rayyan, Malik, Amir, Jabir, Maa, Papa… one by one… they screamed your name. But he took them. Not like death. He absorbed them. They went into him… like they never existed."
Mirshad dropped to his knees. Tears hit the floor, heavy and unrelenting. "No… no… no please… not them…" The palace trembled under the weight of his grief. Chandeliers swung. Paintings crashed to the ground. Cracks split the marble beneath his hands. Sophia crawled to him, gripping his arm, her own tears falling fast. "Please… calm down… I can't lose you too. You're all I have left. You're the only one who can stop this."
His voice was barely a whisper. "Why didn't he take you…?" She lowered her eyes, her hand resting on her stomach. "Because… our children protected me. He touched me… and he burned. And I heard them. They whispered, 'Maa, don't be scared. He can't touch you.' They saved me, Mirshad… our babies saved me."
He stared at her, his tears mixing with the heat rising inside him. Slowly, he stood. His jaw locked, his fists trembled. "How do I fight something I can't see? How do I save people who left no trace? How do you punch emptiness…?"
His breath deepened, his eyes fixed on the unseen horizon. And then, like a promise to himself and a curse to the enemy, he whispered, "I will return everything he took. No matter what it costs. And I will show him what pain really means."