Darkness swallowed everything.
One moment Feroz stood in the stone room with Yusuf and Mrs. Aliya—
The next, he was alone in a pitch-black void.
He spun around.
"Mrs. Aliya?"
No answer.
"Yusuf?!"
Still nothing.
His voice echoed, lost in the endless black. The air was cold, biting into his skin like winter wind. The silence was so deep, it made his own heartbeat sound thunderous.
Then—
Whispers.
Soft at first. Then louder.
Dozens of voices. Hundreds. All speaking at once.
"You're not ready."
"You are weak."
"You will fail like your father."
Feroz clenched his fists. "This isn't real."
But it felt real.
Suddenly, the darkness around him twisted and took shape.
Figures stepped out of the shadows.
Cloaked, faceless. The same kind of shadow creatures that had chased him through the streets.
But this time, they weren't just watching.
They attacked.
Feroz raised his arms on instinct—
Boom!
A blast of light exploded from his palms, sending two of the shadows flying. But more came. Ten, twenty, maybe more.
He jumped back, dodging a swipe of a tendril made of darkness.
His breathing was quick, chest burning.
He could feel the power building again—but it was wild, like a storm trapped inside him.
He struck out again—
Another wave of energy.
More shadows fell.
But then—
His vision blurred. His knees wobbled.
He was running out of strength.
One of the shadows lunged—its claws ready to rip into him—
And then—
A voice in his head.
"Don't run from it… Feel it. Let it flow."
Feroz gasped. The voice wasn't his. It was deeper. Calmer. Familiar.
His father's?
The moment he stopped fighting the energy—
It shifted.
It no longer felt like a fire he was trying to control.
It felt like his blood.
Like part of him.
He took a deep breath.
The next shadow came—
And this time, he didn't panic.
He lifted his hand, calm, focused—
And a beam of light shot forward, precise and silent.
It pierced the creature—turning it to smoke.
One by one, he began to fight—not wildly, but with purpose.
Minutes passed. Maybe hours.
Until finally—
The shadows faded.
Feroz dropped to his knees, breathless.
Then, the darkness around him lifted—
And he was back in the stone room.
Mrs. Aliya stood to the side, watching with wide eyes.
Yusuf leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"You lasted longer than I expected," Yusuf said, raising an eyebrow.
Feroz looked up. "Was that… real?"
"Real enough," Yusuf replied. "The shadows were drawn from your mind—your fears, your memories. But the danger was real. If you had failed, you wouldn't have woken up."
Feroz wiped sweat from his brow. "So… did I pass?"
Yusuf nodded slowly. "You've got fire, boy. But raw power means nothing without control. That was just the beginning."
Mrs. Aliya stepped forward, placing a hand on Feroz's shoulder.
"You're stronger than you know," she said softly. "But the Free Masons won't stop. And soon… they'll send more than just shadows."
Yusuf's expression darkened. "They already are. I've seen signs. They know he's alive."
Feroz stood, his body aching but his eyes sharp.
"Then let them come."