Chapter 1: Shadows Beneath Mumbai
The alleys and streets of Mumbai wore a strange silence that night. Darkness clung to every corner as if secrets were being whispered to the walls. Streetlights flickered weakly, like tired sentinels about to collapse from exhaustion. And amidst those roads, there was a narrow lane.
At the end of that lane stood an old warehouse. Rust had eaten into its doors. When the wind blew through the broken slats, the creaking of the hinges sounded like the mourning of an ancient tale.
Inside the warehouse, time seemed to stand still.
Sitting on a broken stool was a tall figure cloaked in a black trench coat.
Yuvaan Mehra. A man whose eyes had sunk into shadows. His face was drenched in sweat—not from heat, but from the weight of a horrifying truth that had clawed into his mind just hours ago.
"I am the one... the one who was betrayed by my own gang and given a false death..." he thought to himself.
His hand moved to his chest, where he had discovered something for the first time—a tiny chip. An invisible device. It contained a voice recorder and an encrypted location tracker. That was where it all began.
Suddenly, a metallic voice echoed in his ears.
[VOICE: Metallic, Unknown Source] "Welcome back... Agent 313. Your reward is ready."
Yuvaan stiffened.
"That voice... I've never heard it before. But it just called me 'Agent'? I was just a middle-class guy... What have I become?"
A digital screen floated mid-air before him. The voice returned.
"Your first reward: 'Spectra-Mic' — An advanced sonic frequency analyzer, capable of detecting the truth hidden behind any word."
He stared at the screen. Another file opened.
"CASE: SANGAM – The Doctor Who Never Existed."
In the depths of this city's darkness, some secrets are never meant to see the light. And some secrets... aren't merely hidden—they're maps to another world.
This is the story of a boy... whom the world believed dead. But he wasn't just killed—he was transformed. Into something that could sense death itself. Yuvaan Mehra was not just a name... he was about to become a legend.
In the corner of the warehouse lay an old, dust-covered diary. Yuvaan picked it up.
He whispered to himself, "This diary might belong to my father... or the one who made me what I am."
The first page read: "Project Black Nest – Confidential."
As he flipped the pages, a small photograph slipped out—a young girl, with an innocent smile but eyes full of pain—pain he recognized.
He spotted a name inside the diary: Dr. Rehaan Arora.
Yuvaan's mind raced. "That name... I've heard it before. A place where the line between life and death fades. Did this doctor bring me back to life? Or kill me to make something else out of me?"
The screen reactivated.
[VOICE] "You have 72 hours. Find the girl. Her memory holds the map to The Ark."
Yuvaan shot up.
"Who is this girl? And what is 'The Ark'?"
(The Ark... a place only mentioned in one ancient book—"Codex Umbra"—a manuscript visible only to those touched by the shadow of death.)
Scene Shift: Kalina Medical Institute
CCTV footage in the security room glitched. A tall, faceless figure wrapped in fabric appeared.
A frightened guard stammered, "Sir, an unknown entity has entered. Human readings are not matching."
Inside the control room sat Mr. Vaidya, a former RAW analyst, eyes sunken with a grief so deep it felt like he had burned his own family with his own hands.
He muttered coldly, "Agent 313 is back. And this time... his mission is personal."
Scene Shift: Mumbai's Underworld
Yuvaan approached one of his old contacts—Vikrant. Once a black-market hacker, now a fugitive.
Vikrant spoke nervously, "Yuvaan bhai... you were... you were dead!"
Yuvaan, his tone icy: "Dying is easy, Vikrant. Coming back is hard. I need a girl. Don't know her name, but she had a tattoo. A butterfly."
Vikrant typed rapidly, images flashing on his screen. One stopped.
"Name: Kiara Fernandes – Former psychiatric patient, missing since 2017."
Yuvaan's eyes locked on the screen.
"That's her. But she's not just missing... it's like she never existed at all."
And so began the journey... where memory was a weapon, and every face a mask.
The warehouse lights flickered. The chip activated. A hologram appeared—Kiara standing in the middle of a forest. Her eyes held no tears... only fear.
Kiara (hologram): "If you're seeing this Yuvaan... it means you've returned. But remember... what you seek is already seeking you."
Yuvaan (shocked): "Kiara... you know me?"
Scene Shift: Churchgate Underground Metro Tunnel (Abandoned since 2008)
Once bustling with commuters, now it was a resting place for memories... and lost files.
A shadow moved through the tunnel, holding an ancient device. Its signal matched Yuvaan's chip.
The first secret was just the beginning. Each case was a puzzle, each piece tied to a different pain. Yuvaan M
ehra's death wasn't the end of his identity—it was the beginning of a new era.
TO BE CONTINUED...