Episode 12:
Alok woke with a start.
His alarm hadn't gone off yet, but something had ripped him from sleep like a cold hand dragging him out of a nightmare that refused to fade.
The images clung to him: the endless corridor, the sound of chains scraping stone, and those eyes yellow and inhuman, watching him from the dark.
He reached for his pendant.
It was ice-cold.
Almost mocking him.
Alok splashed water on his face and stared into the mirror. His reflection looked unfamiliar skin pale, eyes sunken, lips dry.
"What the hell is happening to me?" he muttered.
At school, the world went on as if nothing was wrong.
Laughter, gossip, the clatter of desks normal noise from a world that didn't feel real anymore.
Alok sat in silence, staring blankly at his notebook. Everything around him seemed distant, like a movie he'd already seen.
Mihiri, the girl in front of him, turned around.
Her brow furrowed. "You look like a zombie. Did you even sleep last night?"
"I… tried," he said with a weak smile.
She frowned but didn't push it. Maybe she saw something in his eyes that made her stop.
When lunch came, Alok slipped away from the noise.
He sat beneath the old banyan tree behind the field, where the breeze carried the sound of distant laughter.
For a moment, it was peaceful.
Then he saw them again.
Across the fence, at the edge of the forest, stood a dark figure.
Unmoving. Silent.
Those same yellow eyes stared straight at him.
Alok's breath hitched. His pulse quickened.
He blinked
and the figure was gone.
The laughter of passing classmates broke the tension, but the fear didn't leave him.
"Am I… going insane?" he whispered.
That night, the silence in his room felt alive.
He placed the shard and pendant on his desk, their faint gleam the only light in the dark.
He clenched his fists. "Why me?"
His voice trembled with anger. "Why am I seeing this? What do you want from me?"
The shard vibrated softly.
A hum low, sorrowful filled the air.
Then, glowing letters appeared in front of him, etched into the dark like divine script:
"You are chosen."
Alok stumbled back, heart pounding. "Chosen? For what?!"
The letters flared brighter, the light searing into his eyes.
"To inherit… the Dark Holder."
The words burned into his mind.
Then came the pain.
A crushing, suffocating agony that tore through his chest.
He fell to his knees, gasping. Visions stormed his thoughts
A sky torn apart by fire.
A figure bound in chains of shadow.
Screaming voices calling his name from worlds he had never seen.
Falling stars. Blood. Darkness.
When it finally ended, Alok lay trembling on the cold floor.
His breath came in ragged gasps. His heart felt like it was no longer his own.
The pendant on his chest pulsed faintly warm now, alive.
Beating in rhythm with him.
He turned toward the window.
Outside, beyond the glass, two yellow eyes stared back.
Closer than before.
And this time…
They were smiling.