The air inside the abandoned house had grown unbearably heavy.
Rihan stood frozen, his trembling hand still extended forward—the locket resting in the creature's palm.
For a moment… everything stopped.
The creature didn't attack.
It didn't move.
It simply stared at the locket.
And then—
Rihan's eyes widened in horror.
"No… this can't be…" he whispered, his voice breaking.
The realization hit him like a storm.
That creature… was his father.
His entire body went numb. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't move.
"Rihan! What are you doing?!" Sammy shouted in panic.
But Rihan didn't respond.
Sammy, acting on instinct, quickly grabbed the chemical bottle and threw it onto the creature.
A sharp hiss filled the air.
The creature staggered backward, weakening, its body trembling as if it was losing strength.
But before anyone could understand what was happening—
CRASH!
The entire house began to shake violently.
Glass shattered.
Walls cracked.
Objects started flying across the room.
Sammy was thrown across the floor, slamming hard into a distant wall.
Ajay crashed into another wall, groaning in pain as his leg started bleeding.
"What is happening?!" Ajay shouted, trying to stand.
The creature… hadn't moved.
It was still there.
So who was doing this?
Then—
They felt it.
A presence.
Something far more dangerous.
The entity had arrived.
They couldn't see it.
But it was there.
And it was furious.
Rihan suddenly lifted into the air, as if grabbed by an invisible force.
He gasped, clutching his throat.
"I… can't… breathe…" he choked.
His body struggled mid-air, his face turning pale as something tightened around his neck.
A silent, invisible terror.
But then—
The creature roared.
It stepped forward, as if facing something unseen.
It began fighting.
Not them.
Something else.
The boys could only see the creature—striking, resisting, getting pushed back—
But whatever it was fighting…
remained invisible.
"Run!" the creature growled, its voice strained but urgent.
That one word broke their fear.
Ajay grabbed Rihan as he dropped to the ground, gasping for air.
"Move! NOW!" Ajay shouted.
They didn't hesitate.
They ran.
Behind them, the sounds of a brutal, unseen battle echoed—crashes, growls, and something far worse.
But the creature… was weakening.
And the entity…
was far stronger.
As they reached the stairs, something grabbed their legs from below.
Ajay fell hard.
Sammy was dragged backward.
"What the hell is this?!" Sammy screamed.
An unseen force pulled, pushed, and threw them around like toys.
Somehow, struggling and crawling, they managed to climb further.
In desperation, Ajay's foot hit something on the stairs—
CLICK.
The ground beneath them collapsed.
They fell.
Straight into darkness.
They hit the ground hard.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then slowly, they realized—
They were alive.
They looked around.
It was an underground chamber.
Filled with chemicals. Equipment. Strange containers.
A hidden lab.
"What… is this place…?" Rihan whispered.
But something felt… different.
Safe.
The chaos above had stopped.
And strangely—
The entity wasn't there.
It didn't follow them.
"Why isn't it coming here?" Ajay asked, confused.
No one had an answer.
But one thing was clear—
This place had something… something powerful enough to keep that entity away.
Meanwhile—
Upstairs.
Sammy had gone back.
And now—
He was running for his life.
The entity was chasing him.
Still invisible.
Still deadly.
Sammy's hands shook as he reached into his pocket—
Red chili pepper spray.
He had brought it thinking he might face humans.
Not this.
But now—it was his only chance.
As the force closed in on him—
He sprayed it wildly into the air.
And suddenly—
He saw it.
For the first time.
A horrifying, distorted shape… barely visible.
Something unnatural.
Something evil.
But Sammy was already too weak.
Before he could react—
He was thrown violently into the wall.
His body slid down, unconscious.
And moments later—
He fell through the broken opening…
Into the underground chamber.
Silence.
All three of them were finally together.
Alive.
Safe—for now.
And one truth had become clear—
The creature…
was never their enemy.
It was protecting them all along.
From the real evil.
The entity.
And now, deep underground—
They had only one choice left.
To uncover the secret of this place.
And find a way…
to destroy it.
To be continued ... in next chapter