White.
Not blinding—
devouring.
The world dissolved into it.
Trees. River. Sky. Sound.
All swallowed.
Zoya wasn't falling.
She wasn't standing.
She wasn't anywhere.
Just weightless white.
She screamed—
"MANRAJ!"
But her voice didn't echo.
It didn't even exist.
Her lungs expanded but no sound came out.
The light had taken reality hostage.
And somewhere inside it—
something cracked.
Not aloud—
inside her Silence.
A fracture like an old scar tearing open.
She gasped sharply, clutching her own throat.
"Azhar—!" she choked, turning blindly. "Azhar—can you hear—"
A shadow flared behind her—
thin, shaking, unstable.
Azhar stumbled into the white, coughing violently, shadows flickering around him like dying moths.
"Zoya—stay close—this isn't… this isn't normal light—"
He doubled over, one knee hitting the nonexistent floor.
Zoya grabbed him.
Her fingers trembled.
"A-Azhar—where's Manraj? Where is he?!"
Azhar didn't answer.
He lifted his head—eyes wide, horrified.
Because ahead of them…
a shape floated.
Small.
Human.
Arched backward, limbs loose, hair drifting weightlessly.
Manraj.
His chest burned with white-amber-silver light, but dimming… flickering like a candle drowning in its own wax.
Zoya lunged—
But something invisible slammed her back.
Hard.
She hit the white ground with a crack of pain.
Azhar gritted his teeth.
"A barrier—!"
"No—NO—NO—" Zoya scrambled back up, slamming her palms against the unseen wall.
"MANRAJ! WAKE UP—COME BACK—OPEN YOUR EYES—!"
But Manraj didn't move.
The light around him twisted—
condensed—
folded inward like a funnel around his body.
Azhar's eyes narrowed.
"The entity—
it's not gone—
it's trying to pull him out of this plane—"
Zoya's pulse stopped.
"WHAT?!"
Azhar's voice cracked with urgency.
"This isn't light—IT'S EXTRACTION."
A tremor rolled through the white void—
a vibration that rattled their bones.
The guardian's voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere:
"YOU HAVE REFUSED THE ROOT."
Zoya spun around.
"Show yourself—!"
It didn't.
It didn't need to.
The white shuddered like a living thing.
And a second voice—
distorted, desperate, furious—
ripped through the void:
"ERYTH—
YOU CANNOT DENY ME—"
Zoya froze.
The entity.
It was inside the light.
Inside him.
Azhar staggered forward, forcing his shadows to anchor around his wrists.
"Zoya—your Silence—NOW—break the barrier—!"
She raised her hands—
silence gathering like a storm inside her lungs—
But the white light pulsed.
And Zoya collapsed to her knees, clutching her head.
Her Silence screamed inside her skull—
panicked, refusing, recoiling from the barrier.
"N-no—why—why won't it work—?!"
Azhar swore under his breath.
"Because this barrier isn't made of sound or shadow—this is ROOT-PULL—only one thing can open it—"
He looked directly at Manraj.
"—MANRAJ HIMSELF."
Zoya's heart imploded.
"He can't—Azhar, he's unconscious—he's—he's being—"
Her voice broke.
"—he's being TAKEN."
Azhar didn't sugarcoat.
"Yes."
"DO SOMETHING!" she screamed at him.
He clenched his fists.
"I CAN'T—NOT AGAIN—NOT AGAIN—!"
Shadows exploded from his hands—
—but dissolved the moment they touched the barrier.
Zoya slammed her fists against the wall.
"MANRAJ—PLEASE—WAKE UP—COME BACK—PLEASE—!!"
Nothing.
His fingers twitched once—
then went still.
His chestlight dimmed—
then thinned—
then began to pull upward toward the void ceiling.
Azhar whispered, voice shaking:
"It's stripping his core…"
Zoya's throat closed.
"No… no no no no—Manraj—listen to me—listen to ME—you chose yourself—YOU CHOSE YOURSELF—DON'T LET IT UNMAKE YOU—"
The funnel of light tightened around his chest.
A thin line of liquid light lifted upward—
like his soul being reeled out of him.
Azhar slammed both fists against the barrier, teeth gritted.
"MANRAJ—! WAKE UP—! YOU'RE BEING ERASED—!"
Zoya's eyes widened.
Erased.
As in—
his existence
his identity
his fire
his silence
his choices
her memory of him—
gone.
"No no NO—Manraj—MANRAJ—LOOK AT ME—DON'T LEAVE—DON'T GO—!!"
Her screams did nothing.
Until—
Until his lips moved.
Barely.
"…Z…o…ya…"
Her breath shattered.
"YES—YES—MANRAJ—YES—I'M HERE—LOOK—LOOK AT ME—!"
His eyes fluttered.
Glowed.
Dimmed.
Azhar whispered:
"He's fighting—"
The river-entity's voice stabbed the void:
"STOP."
Manraj's body jerked.
The light constricted.
But Zoya slammed both palms against the barrier and did something she had never done:
She let her Silence bleed.
Every emotion
every panic
every memory
every ounce of love
fear
anger
raw truth—
poured into her Silence.
It attacked the barrier like a living creature.
The barrier cracked.
Azhar stared.
"How—how did you—"
"BECAUSE HE IS MINE!" she screamed, her voice shattering the void.
The crack split wider.
The entity roared, furious.
The guardian trembled.
And Manraj—
opened his eyes.
Not Eryth.
Not fire.
Not silence.
Manraj.
He reached toward Zoya—
fingers trembling, burning with three colors.
And whispered:
"I… choose… you."
The white void detonated.
Light shattered like glass.
The barrier exploded.
Azhar was thrown backward.
Zoya was flung into Manraj—
and everything collapsed in a storm of color.
Then—
Darkness.
Real.
Heavy.
Physical.
The world returned.
The river roared.
The guardian's shadow loomed.
Zoya gasped for breath—
Manraj lay unconscious against her chest—
but alive.
Azhar rose, trembling.
And above them, the water-entity reformed, screaming with rage.
"ERYTH— YOU DEFY THE ROOT—
YOU DEFY YOUR ORIGIN—
YOU DEFY ME—"
Zoya stood in front of Manraj.
Azhar summoned what shadow he had left.
For the first time—
the entity lost its shape.
The river boiled.
The night shook.
And Zoya whispered:
"Then come for him again.
See what happens."
The river-entity charged.
The guardian stepped forward.
The night cracked open
and the real fight began.