The joy of the world continued, but the palace was quiet. Too quiet.
They had watched the footage. They had seen Mirshad fall into the sea, lightning shattering the sky, billions of souls rising from the water.
But he never returned. And now, they could no longer wait.
In the command room of the palace, Rayyan stood before a large holographic display. Malik, Amir, Jabir, and Baba stood beside him.
On the screen, a red marker blinked. Sirius Signal: Last Known Location. Coordinates Locked. Status: Offline. Rayyan clenched his fist. "He walked into death to bring us all back. We're not just going to sit here and hope." Baba nodded. "The ocean is deep, Rayyan. The kind of deep that no human has ever reached." Rayyan looked straight ahead. "Then we go deeper."
Within twenty-four hours, the brothers had assembled a private search operation unlike anything seen before—deep-sea exploration teams, top-tier drone operators, former Navy sonar experts, and engineers who had mapped the Mariana Trench.
An advanced stealth vessel was prepared, equipped with the best submersibles and sonic pulse systems.
No media, no news, just silence. This wasn't a mission. It was a vow. We're not looking for a body. We're looking for our brother.
At the docks, the ship prepared to depart. Sophia stood with a coat over her shoulders, her eyes calm but heavy. She placed her hand gently over her stomach as the brothers approached. Rayyan stepped forward. "You okay?" Sophia nodded. "Just bring him back. Rayyan smiled softly. "He will. We promise."
The ship cut through storm-touched waters.
Waves crashed hard, but the brothers stood still, watching the horizon.
Inside the control deck, red lights blinked as technicians activated sonar scans and thermal sweeps.
Location: Ocean Trench – Restricted Zone. Depth: 12,400 meters. Final Signal: Sirius Ring – April 22, 8:44 PM.
The commander looked back at the brothers. "This depth… no machine has ever gone beyond it. We can scan, but after this point, even signals get swallowed."
They launched the first submersible. It descended into darkness. Then more. Then even more. Blackness surrounded the cameras. No life. No movement. Just an overwhelming silence that pressed against the screens like a hand.
Hours passed. More drones followed.
Each descended deeper.
And one by one, they lost connection.
A technician spoke. "We found where the Sirius signal ended. There's no interference. It just… stopped."
Rayyan stepped closer. "What do you mean?" The screen zoomed into a final red dot. "We reached the bottom of known oceanic mapping. After this point, nothing exists in our databases.
It's not just signal loss… it's as if the world ends here." The red dot blinked twice. Then turned grey. Signal lost—permanently.
No one spoke. The brothers stood still, watching the void on the screen.
Jabir sat down, defeated.
Amir punched the wall.
Malik gritted his teeth.
Rayyan didn't move. He stared at the screen. At the void. "He's deeper… we haven't reached him yet."
Baba, standing behind them all, whispered, "Because where he is now… no man has ever walked."
Outside, the ocean continued to rage, waves rising like walls.
And deep beneath it all—in a realm beyond reach, beyond signal, beyond time—the trench pulsed faintly, as if holding something sacred, as if guarding a secret.