Bhagya,"*gasped*".Awoke in fear....panting.
He felt goosebumps all over his body; feeling pain of his flesh being eaten.
As soon as he awoke he was in same horizon,his survival instincts kicked in, he didn't looked back and started running in one of the random direction...He only knew one thing if he looked back he would see his death again.
He runs endlessly till his stamina goes out,[Bhagya Stops].
His breath ran out, gasping, afraid to look back,exhausted, his mind refused to let go of...
The endless white.
The starving faces.
The crowd.
The feeling of being eaten.
He shut his eyes tightly.
"Run."
The thought came before reason.
Without looking behind him, Bhagya leapt to his feet and ran.
The white ground stretched endlessly beneath him.
No mountains, No trees, No sky.
Only an infinite sea of emptiness that seemed to swallow every direction.
His footsteps were the only sound; He ran until his chest burned; His legs screamed.
His throat felt like someone is choking him.
Still he ran.
Every heartbeat echoed inside his ears.
They're behind me.
Don't stop.
Don't look back.
His breathing became ragged, but fear pushed him forward long after his strength had begun to fail.
Eventually...His pace slowed.
His body refused to move another step.
He bent over, desperately trying to catch his breath.
"No..."
[he whispered.]
"They're still there..."
His hands trembled.
Slowly...Very slowly...Bhagya gathered every ounce of courage left inside him.
He turned.
Nothing.
The endless horizon remained perfectly still.
No cannibals, No footprints, No movement.
Only silence.
Hope flickered.
"Maybe...Maybe they had given up...Maybe—"
A sharp whistle was heard.
Before he could understand the sound, something struck his leg with crushing force.
Bhagya collapsed in agony...He noticed.
A black arrow had pierced through his calf, pinning him to the ground.
"Shit!!!!..."
[In pain]
His voice cracked.
He frantically started observing the horizon.
Nobody, Not a single soul.
The silence returned....Too silent...His breathing grew faster.
"...Who's there?"
No answer.
Only the sound of his own heartbeat.
Then...A footprint appeared.
One...Then another.
Pressed into the white earth by something invisible.
Each step came closer.
Slow....Measured...Patient.
Bhagya's body froze.
His eyes followed the footprints until they stopped only a few feet away.
Nothing stood there, Yet he could feel it.
Someone...or something...was watching him.
A warm breath brushed against his ear.
Everything went dark.
Bhagya gasped awake.
The white horizon...Again.
His eyes widened,"No..."He stumbled backward, "No! No! Not again!"
He spun in circles.
There was no trace of the invisible hunter, No arrow, No blood...Only the endless white.
He laughed;A broken, exhausted laugh.
"I'm alive..."
The laugh vanished almost instantly.
"No..."
he corrected himself.
"I'm trapped."
This time he refused to run in a straight line.
He changed direction every few minutes.
He walked backwards; He erased his own footprints; He crawled; He circled around invisible landmarks only he imagined.
"If something is hunting me..."he muttered, "...then let it try."
Minutes passed, Nothing happened.
For the first time...The silence almost felt comforting.
Then—
A stone rolled, Bhagya turned instantly.
Nothing.
Another stone rolled behind him, He turned again.
Still nothing.
His breathing quickened,He began walking faster.
Then running; Then sprinting.
Without warning, the white ground beneath his feet crumbled.
He fell into darkness.
White horizon...Again.
Bhagya dropped to his knees.His hands dug into the ground,"...How many times?",There was no answer.Only silence.He remained there for hours.
Eventually...He stood, "If running kills me..."
he whispered,"then I'll walk."
Step.
Step.
Step.
Far in the distance...
Something broke the endless emptiness.
A smoke.
A Small,Wooden house.
Smoke drifted from its chimney.
Warm light spilled through its windows.
Bhagya stared in disbelief. The first thought that crossed his mind was a Life.
He ran toward it.The closer he came...The more ordinary it looked.
An old woman opened the door before he could knock.
"Oh, dear child," she said warmly,"You look exhausted."
Bhagya could barely speak, "I... I need help."
"Come inside."
The warmth embraced him immediately, A fire crackled peacefully, A family sat around a wooden table.
Children laughed.
Fresh food filled the room with a comforting aroma.For the first time since arriving...
Bhagya felt safe, The old woman placed a bowl before him.
"You must be starving."
His hands shook as he reached for it.
The room fell silent.
Every person at the table slowly turned toward him, Smiling, Without blinking.
The old woman's smile widened.
"So are we."
The lights vanished
Bhagya awoke screaming...Again.
His body collapsed onto the white ground.
He no longer knew whether minutes or days had passed.The world refused to answer.
It only reset.He began walking aimlessly.
Then...
He saw someone.
A young man sprinting across the horizon.
"Hey!", Bhagya shouted.
"Wait!"
The stranger never looked back.Bhagya chased him with every ounce of strength he had left.
Finally...He caught up.
The man stopped.
Slowly...He turned around.
Bhagya's heart stopped.It was himself.
The other Bhagya's clothes were torn.
His face was pale.His eyes carried an exhaustion beyond imagination.
He smiled faintly, "You still remember how to hope."
Bhagya took a hesitant step forward,"Who... are you?"
The other Bhagya looked into the endless white sky.
"I forgot how many times..."
His body began to fade.
"But you will too."
The wind scattered him into white dust.
Bhagya stood alone.
Then he noticed them....Bodies....One...Ten...a hundred.
Stretching farther than his eyes could follow.
Every single one...Had his face.
Some looked emotionless...Some looked terrified.
Some reached toward the empty sky as though begging for someone to save them.
Bhagya stumbled backward.
His breathing became frantic.
"No...No...This can't..."
His voice disappeared; He slowly looked upward...The endless white sky remained unchanged.
Yet...
From somewhere beyond it...A laugh echoed.
Exactly like someone was enjoying a show, they were in ecstasy, they were enjoying something thrilling.
It was as though someone had been watching from the very beginning.
Bhagya clenched his fists...his face became blank...his eyes were empty, For the first time since entering the White Horizon...His fear gave way to something else.
He came to different ideas, different conclusions but the most convincing was that...Someone had created this place and trapped many people here and was enjoying the bloodshed caused here.
Anger was filling and eating bhagya from inside and someday...Bhagya swore silently...He would find them and make them pay the price for the sins they have committed.
As it is said,"Blood begets blood"
The laughter continued.
And the cycle began once more.