I do not remember the exact moment when everything changed.
Just moments earlier, I had been standing before that fracture in the darkness, feeling its weight pressing against my thoughts, as though something behind it was trying to seep into me. Then… suddenly, everything vanished. There was no transition, no fall, no movement… only an abrupt shift in reality.
I opened my eyes slowly.
The air felt different.
Cold… but not a natural cold. It was deep, ancient, as though the place had never known life. I tried to breathe deeply, but the air felt heavy, thick — as if I were breathing inside a dream drowned in shadows.
Shapes began to form gradually around me.
Walls.
Tall.
Black.
Stretching upward without end.
There was no visible ceiling, only layers of darkness stacked upon one another, as if the sky itself had suffocated.
I turned slowly.
Corridors.
Many of them.
Branching.
Twisting at impossible angles, as though the place had been built according to laws that did not belong to this world.
I realized immediately.
A maze.
But not an ordinary one.
The walls were not still. They moved slowly, like something breathing. The ground beneath my feet trembled faintly, as though a quiet pulse traveled through the place.
"The Devil's Maze."
The voice came from everywhere.
It was neither near nor far.
It felt like part of the place itself.
I turned quickly.
No one.
"Where am I?"
My voice came out uncertain, unfamiliar, as though it did not belong to me.
"A test..."
The whisper slipped through the darkness.
Then, after a pause:
"A correction."
A chill crawled through my body.
I took a single step forward.
Immediately, the maze moved.
The corridor behind me sealed silently, while another passage opened to my right. I hadn't moved — but the maze was moving for me.
"Why am I here?"
Silence lingered.
Then:
"Because you are beginning to understand."
That did not comfort me.
I started walking.
Each step echoed faintly. The walls began to reveal markings — symbols carved deep into the surface.
Circles.
Intersecting lines.
Ancient symbols.
I recognized them immediately.
The laboratory.
The ritual chamber.
The "Veil" files.
But these symbols moved slowly… as if alive.
Then I heard it.
Footsteps.
Behind me.
I froze.
Turned quickly.
Nothing.
Silence.
Then again.
A step.
Closer.
"Who's there?"
My voice echoed strangely.
No answer.
Then—
"Simon…"
My heart stopped.
That voice…
"Simon…"
Sarah.
I turned instantly toward the sound.
A corridor opened before me.
I did not hesitate.
I walked toward it.
The corridor narrowed gradually. The air grew warmer. A strange calm began to settle inside me.
The corridor ended.
And I saw her.
Sarah.
Standing in the center of a wide chamber.
Alive.
Unharmed.
My breath caught.
"This… is impossible…"
She smiled softly.
"You finally made it."
I stepped forward slowly.
"You're… alive…"
She tilted her head slightly.
"Were you expecting me to remain dead?"
Something felt wrong.
But it was her.
Her voice.
Her gaze.
Everything.
"I saw you… die…"
"Maybe you only saw what they wanted you to see."
"Who?"
She stepped closer.
"Those behind the veil."
My breathing quickened.
"They killed you."
She shook her head slowly.
"No, Simon…"
Her voice softened.
"They saved me."
I frowned.
"That's impossible."
"You always believed they were your enemies."
She spoke gently.
"But what if they weren't?"
My thoughts grew heavy.
"I don't understand…"
She moved closer.
"Do you remember the river?"
"Yes…"
"You remember drowning."
I nodded slowly.
"But do you remember who saved you?"
I hesitated.
I didn't remember.
"They did…"
She whispered.
Pain throbbed in my head.
Fragments surfaced.
Water.
Darkness.
A hand pulling me.
Then… nothing.
"They erased your memory."
She spoke softly.
"So you would fear them."
The maze shifted around us.
The walls breathed.
Moved.
"And I…"
I whispered.
"I tried to stop them…"
She shook her head.
"No…"
"You tried to understand them."
Something inside me began to change.
"And when I refused…"
She paused.
"You locked me in."
The memory returned.
The laboratory.
Her screams.
The door closing.
"I… hurt you…"
She smiled gently.
"No…"
"You saved me."
I froze.
"How?"
"You kept me away from them."
"But they wanted you."
"Because I could hear them."
Fear flickered inside me.
"The women…"
"Yes…"
"They heard them first."
"But they disappeared…"
"They didn't disappear."
She stepped closer.
"They crossed."
"Crossed what?"
She looked at me slowly.
"The veil."
The darkness around us began to dissolve.
"They were not victims…"
"They were chosen."
My heart trembled.
"And you…"
She stepped closer.
"You were the key."
The maze faded gradually.
Only darkness remained.
But this time…
It felt calm.
"Let them guide you…"
She whispered.
I nodded slowly.
"Yes…"
The whispers returned.
Soft.
Gentle.
Then suddenly—
Sarah tightened her grip on my hand.
Her smile changed.
Her eyes darkened unnaturally.
The whispers behind me grew louder.
No longer calm.
Hungry.
She leaned closer.
"You took too long, Simon…"
Cold spread through my veins.
I tried to pull my hand away.
She didn't let go.
"We've been waiting for you…"
The shadows began to move.
Shapes formed.
Soft laughter echoed.
Then suddenly—
I saw faces.
Women.
The missing women.
Their eyes were open.
But they were neither alive…
Nor dead.
Something in between.
"They are your family now…"
Sarah whispered.
The world spun around me.
"Sarah… this isn't real…"
She smiled.
But her smile was terrifying.
"Reality… is what we accept."
She leaned closer.
"And now… you belong to us."
At that moment—
I heard another voice.
Faint.
Distant.
"Simon… don't trust her…"
I froze.
Turned quickly.
No one.
Sarah's expression changed suddenly.
And in that moment…
I realized…
The maze had not ended.
It had only just begun.
The voice faded as quickly as it appeared.
"Simon… don't trust her…"
The words echoed faintly in my mind, like a memory dissolving into silence. I turned slowly, my eyes searching the darkness, my heartbeat growing louder with each passing second.
There was no one.
Only shadows.
Only the faint breathing of the unseen maze.
Sarah's grip tightened around my wrist.
Her fingers felt colder now, unnaturally cold, as if her skin had lost all warmth. I looked at her, and for a moment, I almost failed to recognize the face before me.
Her smile remained — but something inside it had shifted.
It was no longer comforting.
It was patient.
Watching.
Waiting.
"You heard something, didn't you?" she asked softly.
Her voice was gentle, but I sensed something beneath it — something sharp.
"I… I thought I did."
She tilted her head slightly.
"You shouldn't listen to everything you hear here, Simon."
The shadows behind her shifted.
The faces of the women flickered again, emerging faintly in the darkness. Their eyes followed me, hollow yet aware, silent yet filled with unspoken words.
"You're afraid," Sarah whispered.
"I'm not afraid," I said, though my voice betrayed me.
She stepped closer.
"You don't need to be."
Her hand moved slowly to my chest, resting above my heart. Her touch sent a chill through me, but at the same time, an odd calm spread inside my mind.
"They're not your enemies."
The whispers returned.
Soft.
Layered.
Voices overlapping, like distant prayers spoken underwater.
"Simon…"
"Simon…"
"We waited…"
My breathing slowed.
My thoughts grew heavy.
"Why me?" I asked quietly.
Sarah's eyes darkened slightly.
"Because you were always meant to find us."
The shadows began to form shapes again.
This time, clearer.
The women stepped forward slowly.
Their movements were unnatural, too smooth, like figures drifting through water. Their eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, reflecting something unseen.
I recognized some of them.
Faces from the village.
Women who had disappeared.
Women who had died.
Yet here they stood.
Not alive.
Not dead.
Something else.
"They crossed," Sarah whispered again.
"They became more."
The air around me felt thicker.
My thoughts blurred further.
"What… what happens now?"
Sarah smiled gently.
"Now… you walk with us."
The ground beneath my feet shifted.
The darkness parted slowly, revealing a new corridor ahead. Unlike the others, this one was narrower, darker, as though it led deeper into something far older than the maze itself.
"Where does it lead?" I asked.
"To the truth."
The whispers grew louder.
The women moved behind me.
Sarah stepped forward, guiding me.
I hesitated for a moment.
That voice…
The warning…
But the memory was already fading.
Like a dream slipping away.
I took a step forward.
Then another.
The corridor grew darker.
The walls pulsed faintly.
Symbols appeared again, glowing softly.
But these symbols were different.
They shifted constantly, rearranging themselves, forming shapes I almost understood.
The air grew colder.
Then warmer.
Then colder again.
Reality itself seemed unstable.
"You're close," Sarah whispered.
"Close to what?"
"To remembering."
A faint pain formed in my head.
Images flickered.
The village.
Fire.
Screams.
Sarah crying.
A man standing in the shadows.
A familiar figure.
But the image vanished before I could understand.
"Who was that?" I asked.
Sarah didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she stopped walking.
The corridor opened into a vast chamber.
The space was enormous, far larger than anything the maze should contain. The ceiling stretched into darkness, and in the center stood a circular structure carved into the ground.
A ritual circle.
Symbols burned faintly across its surface.
The women moved toward it slowly.
Sarah turned to face me.
"This is where it begins."
My chest tightened.
"What begins?"
She stepped backward into the circle.
"Your awakening."
The whispers became louder.
The women surrounded the circle.
Their eyes glowing.
Their voices merging.
"Simon…"
"Simon…"
"Simon…"
I felt dizzy.
The symbols began to glow brighter.
The ground trembled.
Sarah extended her hand toward me.
"Come."
I stepped forward slowly.
Something inside me resisted.
But another part of me…
Wanted to know.
Wanted to understand.
I stepped into the circle.
Immediately, the whispers exploded inside my mind.
Images flooded my thoughts.
The village.
The cult.
The symbol.
"Qurban Al-Shaytan."
The name echoed.
I saw faces.
Men in dark robes.
Fire.
Women screaming.
Sarah crying.
And then—
A man stepped forward.
His face became clearer.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
My breath caught.
"Impossible…"
The image sharpened.
Sarah's brother.
Standing among them.
Watching.
Smiling.
The truth struck me like lightning.
I staggered backward.
"No…"
Sarah watched me silently.
"You see now."
The whispers grew louder.
"You see the truth."
My mind spun.
"Your brother… he—"
Sarah's expression darkened.
"He led them."
The ground shook violently.
The circle glowed brighter.
"And now…"
She stepped closer.
"You must choose."
The whispers rose into a deafening chorus.
"Join us…"
"Remember…"
"Become…"
My vision blurred.
My thoughts fractured.
And then—
The shadows behind me moved.
Something else had entered the chamber.
Something darker.
Something watching.
And I realized…
I was not the only one being tested.
The real enemy…
had just arrived..
The next chapter will follow...