The bridge was soaked in blood, yet the man standing upon it was calm.
Mirshad faced the sea, his clothes torn, his knuckles bloodied, his heart pounding.
Beyond the mist, the figure still waited—still watching. The Soul Slayer.
The ocean below was not just water. It was war.
He stood in silence, breathing slow, remembering everything—not the battles, not the victories, but faces. Rayyan's smirk. Malik's sarcastic laugh. Baba's quiet nod. His mother's prayers. His father's warm voice. His real friends from childhood—the boys who knew him before the world did, their jokes, their secrets, their dreams. And then Sophia. Her eyes. Her trembling hands. Their unborn children. His voice whispering to her in the dark. All gone. Erased. Vanished. But not forgotten.
"You didn't kill them…" His voice broke the silence. "You took them. And I'm going to bring them back."
He looked down at his hands—trembling, but not from fear. From restraint.
The sea whispered below, not with waves but with voices, calling his name, crying.
He could hear them, feel them, their agony now part of him.
He turned his head slightly, not toward the palace, not toward the world, but toward the memory of it. One breath. One step back. One final whisper—Wait for me… I'm coming.
He ran and leapt, and the sea swallowed him.
Silence followed as he sank deeper, faster, past sunlight, past warmth, until the ocean changed.
The water thickened, the darkness pulsed, and symbols appeared—glowing, moving across his skin.
He wasn't drowning. The sea was not resisting. It was welcoming him. Deeper he went, past bones, past chains, past the ghosts of screams.
Then came the light—not white, not fire, but a portal, a crack in the heart of the ocean. He passed through and landed not on sand, but on obsidian—sharp and shattered. The sky above was gone, replaced by red glyphs swirling in the water. This was not Earth. This was the realm of stolen souls.
Ahead, a figure waited. The Soul Slayer. No longer watching—now smiling. Mirshad stood, his eyes glowing. No words. Only purpose. And he took his first step forward.