Chapter 1 When the Eyes Opened
Rudranath stepped out of his study, the glow of his laptop screen fading behind him as he shut the door. The apartment was silent at 2:43 a.m.—too silent. His steps slowed. Saanvi was standing barefoot outside Aarohi’s bedroom.
Her one hand rested lightly on the wooden door while the other was pressed beside her ear. She was...listening. Rudranath frowned and walked up behind her. His whisper slipped out with a soft chuckle.
“Are you seriously spying on our six-year-old daughter?”
Saanvi flinched and shot him with a glare.
“Shhh.”
She pointed at the door. Rudra’s smile vanished. He leaned in, pressing his ear against the wood. For a second, there was nothing. Then—
“Are you saying this world is fake?”
Rudranath froze. That was Aarohi’s voice. It sounded like she was speaking under a blanket. A thin, snake-like voice giggled, replying to her.
“Yes, my queen. You need to open those closed eyes to see the reality.”
Aarohi fell silent. Then a soft sob broke through the door.
“You said every person has bad in them. I don’t want to see my papa and mama be bad.”
Her whisper rose.
“No! Go Away!”
"Fine then," A different voice purred. Rudranath’s eyes widened. A second voice had somehow entered the room, hissing the words with a sharp, mocking edge.
“Keep your eyes closed, little queen. Run back to your blanket and hide from the truth.”
Aarohi’s voice trembled.
“I don’t want to talk to you. Bring my friend back!”
Rudranath clenched his fists and stepped back from the door. The tips of his ears burned. He could clearly hear his heart beating faster in his chest. Through gritted teeth, he asked Saanvi,
“What’s going on…?”
Saanvi exhaled.
“She has been sleep-talking since her third birthday...”
Rudranath froze. Since her third birthday? Why hadn’t anyone told him? He leaned back against the door. Aarohi was sobbing louder now, and the thin voice returned.
“Don’t you want to punish bad people, my queen?”
A moment of silence lingered before it shattered under the thin whisper.
“Don’t you want us, your friends, to be happy?”
Through her tears, Aarohi finally answered.
“I do!”
“Then open those eyes, my queen! We have been waiting for you to keep your promise since the day you started hearing us.”
The burning tips of Rudranath’s ear turned cold. There was someone in that room with Aarohi. His six-year-old daughter was being whispered to in the dark, under his own roof. Someone was trying to twist her mind.
He grabbed Saanvi’s shoulder, harder than he intended.
“Move…Saanvi!”
Saanvi’s face drained of color. Rudra’s voice was not loud. It didn’t need to be. She had heard that tone only once before, when they had first met. Whenever Rudranath spoke like that, someone always got hurt. She caught his arm on her shoulder.
“Rudra, wait…”
But Rudranath’s gaze was locked on the closed door. His eyes were burning with the same sharp intensity she had seen whenever he stood in the presence of something immoral. He had already decided to break in. His voice stayed calm.
“This is not sleep-talking. Whatever is in there––It won’t be walking out after coming close to my daughter.”
He turned to Saanvi. His sharp jaw caught the dim light from the hallway lamp. She looked into his eyes. This was the same man she had fallen in love with—and, at the same time, feared a little. Her voice trembled.
“What’s in there…?”
Rudranath had already placed his left foot forward, shifting his weight on it to kick the door with his right. Her question made him stop for a moment. He frowned, glancing at his wife.
“Aren’t you hearing the other voices?”
Saanvi’s eyes narrowed.
“Other voices…?”
Rudranath blinked. His lips parted a little, but not a single word came out of his mouth. But the thin voice from the room was still echoing in his ears. He took a deep breath. Before Saanvi could say anything else, his right foot slammed onto the closed door.
Thud!
The lock gave way as the door flew inward. Cold air spilled out, sharp enough to feel as if winter itself lived inside the room. Saanvi wrapped her arms around herself. Every strand of hair on Rudranath’s arm stood on end as they stepped inside.
The room was empty. There was no sign of anyone—not even Aarohi. A smell of fish oil blended with the sweet scent of some unknown flower filled the room. Saanvi stared at the empty bed where their daughter should have been, then fumbled for the wall switch. The instant she flipped it, white light flooded the room.
A scream tore free from Saanvi’s chest.
“Rudra…!”
Her legs faltered. Her eyes fixed on the ceiling as one shaking finger rose to point. Rudranath snapped his head upward. His face drained of color. It was Aarohi—suspended inches below the ceiling. It looked like she was sleeping on her back in the air.
“AAROHI!”
Rudranath’s muscles trembled. The moment he called her name, Aarohi rolled onto her side in mid-air. Her eyes were still closed when her lips parted.
“Papa…?”
“Yes! Papa’s here…no need to worry.”
He answered, looking around. But there was no one else in the room except for the suspended girl. Aarohi forced her eyes open to see her father. The temperature dropped even further in the room. Rudranath’s heart pounded once in his ears, then faded to silence.
“What the f…?”
The words died in his throat. His daughter was still in her pink pajamas, suspending in the air. Her face still carried the innocent smile as always. Nothing had changed—except for her eyes. There were neither the natural whites nor her sea-green irises. Only a hollow cavity stared back at Rudranath from where her eyes should have been.
Black tears seeped from the corners and tracked down her cheeks, thick as ink. She extended her arms downward and suddenly her body dropped. Rudranath skidded to his knees across the floor and caught Aarohi just in time. His shivering arms wrapped tightly around her small frame.
She was cold—too cold. It felt as if she had been trapped in a freezer for decades. Then the lights flickered once and died. Not just in their apartment—outside, through the window, he saw the whole City being swallowed by darkness.
The streetlights snuffed out one after another. The lights in the small windows of other buildings around them went dark. But it wasn’t only the lights. Rudra could still see the rain, yet the tapping sound against the window had vanished.
Saanvi had dragged herself to them. He felt her rush as her hand touched his shoulder. He could feel the shivering in her fingers, yet he never heard her approach.
It felt as if a never-ending silence had closed in around them. Rudranath whispered her name.
“Saanvi…?”
Then he swallowed. He knew his lips had moved. He knew his vocal cords had trembled to form the word, but he couldn’t hear it when it left him. Aarohi moved in his arms.
“Papa? Why are you so warm?”
Rudranath’s pulse quickened. He lowered his head at Aarohi, his jaw hanging open. He could hear her words clearly. But everything other sound was missing.
Then the silence broke, sending tremors of chill through Rudranath’s spine. For the first time in his life, he heard it—multiple screams rising from every direction. Their words tangled together, impossible to make out. But their feeling... he understood that just fine. Every voice carried the same thing: a twisted, gut-churning malice that made his stomach turn.
His embrace tightened around Aarohi, and he placed a palm on her head. But suddenly the thin voice returned, hissing in his ears.
“Stay away from our queen, human!”
A sudden force burst from the narrow space between them, hurling them apart. The whole apartment shook under it as Rudranath and Saanvi skidded across the floor. Rudranath’s back hit the bed’s wooden leg. Saanvi slammed into the book rack beside the bed.
“Argh!”
His head spun. Pain blurred his vision and burned down his spine. Beside him, Saanvi lay unconscious on her chest, a few fallen books resting on her back. Rudranath tried to push himself up. But his biceps gave out. He fell flat against the floor.
“Damn it…”
Then his gaze snapped forward.
Thin black liquid rose upward from the floor, drifting like strands of silk wrapped in a crimson glow. Each strand carried a different screaming voice as it rose. Then they twisted together, merging into a black sphere suspended in the air.
Crimson light bled out of it, bathing the room in red. Aarohi was sitting behind it. Her hollowed eyes fluttered once toward the sphere. From the sphere, four strands instantly stretched out and rushed at Rudranath.
Before he could react, the pointy ends of those strands plunged deep into his flesh—two of them pierced his shoulders while the other two pierced his calves. Blood splattered from the wounds, spreading bone-shattering pain through Rudranath’s muscles.
“AARGH!”
Then the sphere shifted its shape. Black strands stretched outward and twisted to form two hands. Two legs followed. In a heartbeat, it took the shape of a human—almost human. Every part of the creature looked like a human, except for the face. It was completely blank. Eyes, ears, nose, lips—everything was missing from it.
It looked like a living mannequin made of black liquid stood between Rudranath and Aarohi.
The strands that had pierced Rudranath were connected at its tailbone. They looked like four split tails. The creature tilted its head as its tails pulled him up into the air. Every movement sent jolts of pain through him. Rudranath bit his lip to bear the pain, being crucified by those tails.
Aarohi’s voice trembled from behind.
“Don’t hurt papa…”
A soft chuckle vibrated through the creature. It turned its head backward like an owl.
“You have done a great job by shattering the veil, my queen. Please rest now…”
Its voice was not a single tone. Instead, it sounded like multiple voices speaking through it. Then it snapped its fingers. Another blend of voices giggled through the mannequin.
“…You need to save your strength for a better future.”
Aarohi’s eyelids suddenly felt too heavy to keep open. Despite her efforts, her hollow eyes snapped shut as she hit the floor. The lights flickered back to life, flooding the city.
Multiple car alarms rang from outside. Thick black smoke could be seen outside the apartment’s window, coiling upward from the streets. Screams and ambulance sirens filled the air, but the noises were fading out to Rudranath’s ears.
He hissed through clenched teeth.
“Don’t…you…dare touch my daughter…”
He was bleeding heavily from the wounds. His vision had already started dimming at the edges. He tried to grab those tails. But he couldn’t feel enough strength to move a single finger.
The creature pulled him closer. Its head snapped toward Rudranath.
“Dear papa. You have done a great job taking care of our queen.”
It lowered its head a little in front of him, and chuckled.
“But as the queen has awakened…”
It glanced once at unconscious Saanvi on the floor behind Rudranath.
“…You two serve us no purpose.”
The creature coiled its right shoulder backward as its fingers merged together, forming a sharp, pointed end. Rudranath’s breath choked in his throat. Before he could release it, that hand drove through his chest like a spear.
Cough!
Blood oozed out of his dropped jaw like ink from a broken quill. His eyelids were slowly closing down. His fingers trembled as he tried to reach for Aarohi, but they moved only a little before going slack.
A whisper slipped free of his chest.
“Saanvi…I am sorry…”
A soft system voice echoed in Rudranath’s head as the pain in his chest vanished. A faint white interface flickered before his eyes.
[Awakening conditions met.]
[Searching for key.]
The creature’s hand twisted deeper into his chest—and stopped. Everything stopped. The black strands froze mid-air. Rudranath’s fading consciousness snapped back for a single moment.
The world had… paused.
[Lost Key—The Cursed Wisdom—detected in user’s DNA]
[Breaking the seal of Annihitep.]
A white glow seeped out of his every pore. He could feel his strength returning to him slowly. He moved his fingers. Yes, they were moving as he wanted them to. He turned his neck. Saanvi was still unconscious behind him. The mannequin remained frozen like everything else.
He was the only one who could move inside the frozen world.
[Do you accept The Cursed Wisdom?]
[Yes No]
Rudra looked at the glowing screen before his eyes. His jaw tightened.
“Cursed or not…if it helps me to protect my family, then…”
Without further delay, he tapped on the small ‘Yes’ panel on the screen.
