## Chapter 24: *"The Hollow Man"*
> _"When the vessel is full, the self evaporates. What remains walks in silence."_
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The silence after Majid's transformation was thick — like smoke you could taste.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
They just stared at him.
At what he had become.
His eyes were still black. Smooth. Empty.
But there was something behind them now.
Something watching.
He tilted his head slowly, like a bird examining an unfamiliar object.
— Why are you looking at me like that? he asked.
His voice was wrong.
It wasn't deep all the time anymore — it shifted. Sometimes it was Majid's. Sometimes it was something else.
Sometimes it was many things at once.
Rana took a cautious step forward.
— Who are you?
Majid blinked slowly.
Then smiled.
A slow, unsettling curve of the lips.
— I am Majid.
— But not quite.
— Not yet.
— Or maybe… not ever again.
Layla tightened her grip on the scroll she was holding.
— You're not him.
Majid turned to look at her.
His expression didn't change.
— I am more than him.
Samir, who had been silent since the mirror touched him, finally spoke.
— It has him.
Majid laughed.
Not loud.
Not cruel.
Just… wrong.
Like laughter echoing through a tunnel too long to measure.
— No, Samir.
— He has me.
— I let him in.
— And now we walk together.
Fatima backed away slowly.
— We need to contain him.
Majid sighed.
— Containment is for prisoners.
— I am not a prisoner.
— I am a doorway.
And as if on cue, the air around him shimmered.
The spirals carved into the walls began to glow again.
Faintly.
Softly.
Like breathing.
Rana stepped between him and the others.
Her voice was steady.
— Majid, fight this.
— Whoever you are inside… don't let go.
For a moment, his expression flickered.
Just for a second.
There was pain in his eyes.
Real pain.
Then it vanished.
— I already did.
He looked down at his hands.
Turned one palm up.
Watched as the spiral-shaped mark pulsed beneath his skin.
— Letting go was the ritual.
— The rest… is just waiting.
Layla whispered:
— For what?
Majid looked at her.
And said simply:
— For the others.
Silence fell again.
Then, softly, from somewhere behind them, came a sound.
A knock.
Three times.
From the stone wall.
No one had gone near it.
No one had touched it.
But it knocked again.
Louder this time.
Fatima turned pale.
— That room is empty.
Rana turned slowly.
— Then who's knocking?
Majid smiled.
Again.
— Maybe someone wants in.
Or…
He paused.
— Maybe someone wants out.