Chapter 8 — Into the Black Room
The echoes of Lin Xuan's revelations still lingered in Vaibhav's mind like a drumbeat. Alicia had already been sent to Anika for training, her aura flickering with uncertainty as Anika began putting her through brutal exercises. But Vaibhav's path was different. Lin Xuan had plans for him—plans that felt heavier than the steel walls closing around them.
"Follow me," Lin Xuan said, his voice calm yet edged with something cold.
Prabhat fell into step behind him, silent as always, his dark eyes fixed straight ahead. Vaibhav hesitated, his palms sweating, but forced his legs to move.
The corridor beneath Lin Xuan's estate was unlike anything Vaibhav had ever seen. The walls were lined with smooth obsidian plates streaked with veins of glowing blue. The air hummed faintly, as though the entire structure was alive. At the far end stood a massive crystalline lift, its panels glinting like frozen starlight. Lin Xuan pressed his palm against a sigil; the door slid open with a hiss.
Inside, the lift was cold and cavernous, its floor transparent enough for Vaibhav to glimpse descending layers of metal and crystal beneath them. The ride began silently, but the sensation of depth grew heavier with every second. It wasn't just going underground. It was sinking into something older, something hidden.
"How deep are we going?" Vaibhav whispered.
Lin Xuan's eyes stayed on the faint glow of the control panel. "Deep enough that no one can hear you scream."
Vaibhav swallowed hard. He looked toward Prabhat for reassurance, but the man's expression didn't change—his gaze was fixed downward, like he'd seen this a hundred times before.
The lift finally shuddered to a halt. The door opened into a corridor of glass and steel, its walls thrumming with pulses of light like veins. The scent of ozone hit Vaibhav's nose, sharp and sterile.
They walked until they reached a massive door of interlocked crystalline panels. Lin Xuan raised his hand; the panels shifted and folded in on themselves like origami, revealing an expansive lab.
Vaibhav's breath caught. The laboratory was vast, filled with rows of glimmering instruments and translucent pods holding swirling energies. Strange runes hovered in the air, suspended like holograms. But it wasn't the technology that froze him—it was the sight at the far wall.
His bullies.
The same faces from school, the same sneers he'd endured for years—now tied to reinforced chairs, heads slumped, unconscious. For a moment, Vaibhav couldn't breathe.
"You… brought them here?" Vaibhav asked, his voice barely audible.
"They're nothing more than weights you've carried on your back," Lin Xuan said simply. "But this isn't about them."
Lin Xuan led him past the restrained figures to a pitch-black door at the far end. It was unlike the others—no glow, no sigils, no locks. Just darkness, as though the door itself was a piece of night cut from the world.
"This," Lin Xuan said, "is where you'll begin."
Vaibhav stared at it. "What's in there?"
Lin Xuan turned to face him fully, his gaze like tempered steel. "You need to improve your willpower. Without it, you'll never control what's inside you. Remember this, Vaibhav: the strongest souls often come from the darkest places. They become strong by torturing themselves, physically and mentally. But what makes them truly unbreakable is that they never lose themselves. They don't give up." His voice dropped, softer but sharper. "Neither will you. Hold yourself."
The words carved themselves into Vaibhav's mind. He clenched his fists, trembling. "And if I… can't?"
"Then you're not the one I thought you were," Lin Xuan replied.
Prabhat finally spoke, his voice low, almost a growl. "Once you enter, there's no turning back until it's done."
Vaibhav's chest rose and fell. He stepped toward the door. It opened with no sound, swallowing him in absolute blackness.
The darkness inside was total. It wasn't the absence of light—it was a presence, heavy and suffocating, like velvet over his eyes and lungs. Vaibhav raised a hand and couldn't see his own fingers. His breath echoed unnaturally loud.
Then the pain started.
It wasn't sharp at first, but dull—like an ache in the bones. A whisper slithered through the dark. "You're just a loser."
A shape emerged—Alicia. Her eyes were empty, her face twisted. She stepped close, a knife glinting faintly in her hand. Before Vaibhav could speak, she stabbed him. A hot lance of pain tore through his side.
"You're nothing," she hissed.
Vaibhav gasped, stumbling back—but the wound sealed itself in an instant, leaving only the echo of agony. Another figure emerged: Yan'er, her expression cruel. She stabbed him too. Then Anika appeared, silent, her blade sinking into him again and again. Every cut was real. Every burn of pain felt endless.
"Alicia… Sister Yan'er… Sister Anika… why?" he choked, his voice breaking.
Then a new shape appeared—a boy his age, eyes soft but full of sadness. Shinosuke Nohara. His only friend.
"Shin-chan," Vaibhav whispered, relief flooding him.
But Shinosuke's face hardened. "Vyuk… you should just die. You're worthless. Give up." His voice cracked like a whip.
"No," Vaibhav said, backing away. "Not you too…"
More figures came—his family, their faces twisted into mockeries. They circled him, stabbing, clawing, whispering every fear he'd ever buried. "Failure." "Weakling." "Burden." The pain became a storm. He fell to his knees, blood and darkness blending.
He wanted to give up. He wanted it to stop.
Then, through the chaos, a voice—warm, steady. A memory.
"Vaibhi," his brother had said once, "no matter what happens I will always be with you. Even if I am in hell, I'll kill the king of hell and come to be with you."
The words lit something in Vaibhav's chest, a tiny spark. He clenched his fists, trembling. "No," he growled. "I won't… I won't give up…"
Another blade came down. He caught it with his bare hand. Blood ran down his palm, but he didn't let go. The illusions pressed harder, but the spark grew into a flame. He stood, swaying, and faced them.
"You're not real," he snarled. "You're not them."
For the first time, the figures faltered.
The darkness pressed closer, but Vaibhav's eyes burned with a light not his own.
And somewhere, outside the door, Lin Xuan watched the readouts of the black room, his expression unreadable. "Let's see," he murmured to Prabhat. "Whether the boy breaks… or becomes something else."
Prabhat's eyes glinted. "He won't break."
Inside, Vaibhav roared against the dark.