The eye-shaped door slowly opened.
There was nothing behind it.
Only darkness.
Not the scary darkness of the Threshold.
Not the darkness beneath the Black Tree.
This darkness felt...
quiet.
Suleiman stood beside the door.
"You may go."
Feroz looked inside.
"That's it?"
Suleiman smiled.
"Yes."
"No warning?"
"You already know enough."
Feroz sighed.
"You people really don't like giving straight answers."
Suleiman laughed softly.
"If I give you every answer, you will stop looking."
Feroz shook his head.
"I'm starting to hate this place."
"No."
Suleiman looked at him calmly.
"You are starting to understand it."
Feroz took a deep breath.
Then he walked inside.
The moment he stepped through...
The door disappeared.
Feroz quickly turned around.
Nothing.
No door.
No walls.
No room.
He stood in a huge white place.
The ground was smooth like polished stone.
The sky was pale.
There were no trees.
No mountains.
No buildings.
Nothing.
Only silence.
Feroz slowly walked forward.
"Hello?"
No answer.
Then...
Tap.
A small sound echoed.
Like a drop of water.
Another one followed.
Tap.
Tap.
Circles appeared on the white ground.
But there was no water.
Only ripples spreading across the stone.
Feroz slowly reached out.
The moment his fingers touched one ripple—
Everything changed.
He was standing inside the orphanage.
His heart skipped.
Children were laughing outside.
The smell of food filled the air.
The old hallway looked exactly the same.
Every wall.
Every window.
Every step.
Then he heard a voice.
"Feroz."
He froze.
Mrs. Aliya.
She walked toward him with a gentle smile.
"There you are."
"I've been looking for you."
Feroz couldn't move.
His eyes became wet.
"...You're not real."
Mrs. Aliya smiled.
"Then why can you see me?"
She came closer.
She gently touched his face.
Her hand was warm.
Exactly like he remembered.
For one moment...
Feroz wanted to believe it.
He wanted to stay.
He wanted to forget everything.
The Free Masons.
The Threshold.
Vaheen.
The Tree.
Everything.
Then...
Suleiman's words came back to him.
Looking is not the same as seeing.
Feroz closed his eyes.
When he opened them again...
He stopped looking at Mrs. Aliya.
Instead...
He looked around the room.
Everything looked perfect.
Too perfect.
The orphanage had never looked like this.
The walls were too clean.
The windows were not broken.
Nothing was old.
Nothing was damaged.
This was not his memory.
It was the memory he wished he had.
Feroz looked back at Mrs. Aliya.
"You are not my memory."
"You are my wish."
Mrs. Aliya became silent.
Her smile slowly disappeared.
Then...
Her body broke apart into countless golden lights.
The orphanage disappeared.
Feroz stood on the white ground again.
More ripples spread around him.
Inside every ripple...
He saw a memory.
Haroon laughing.
Yusuf drawing symbols.
Ayan sitting by the river.
Then...
He saw Vaheen.
Standing under the Black Tree.
Watching him.
Feroz looked away.
"I know you're trying to distract me."
A new voice answered.
"No."
"This place does not distract."
"It reveals."
Feroz turned.
An old woman was sitting beside a small wooden table.
Two cups of tea rested on it.
She smiled kindly.
"Come."
Feroz slowly walked over.
"You were waiting for me too?"
The old woman laughed.
"A little."
She pointed to the empty chair.
"Sit."
Feroz sat down.
"My name is Mariam."
The name meant nothing to him.
But...
The mark on his arm became warm.
Only for a second.
Mariam noticed.
"You felt it."
Feroz looked at his arm.
"Yes."
She nodded.
"Blood remembers."
Feroz immediately asked,
"Did you know my father?"
Mariam smiled.
"I knew someone who asked the same question."
"Qadir?"
She slowly shook her head.
"No."
"Rahim."
Feroz's eyes widened.
"You knew Rahim?"
"Yes."
"I taught him."
Silence filled the white world.
Feroz leaned forward.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"Is he alive?"
"I believe he is."
"What did he see beyond the Tree?"
Mariam looked far into the empty distance.
"When Rahim came here..."
"He believed monsters lived beyond the Tree."
She looked back at Feroz.
"When he returned..."
"He was no longer afraid of monsters."
"He was afraid of people."
Feroz felt cold.
"What does that mean?"
Mariam stood up.
"You will learn."
She pointed ahead.
Far away...
A single wooden door stood alone.
No walls.
No house.
Just one door.
Many eyes were carved into it.
Every eye was closed.
Mariam spoke softly.
"The next lesson is not about your memories."
"It is about why you remember them."
Feroz looked at the lonely door.
As he took one step toward it...
One carved eye slowly opened.
And it was looking directly at him.