When Johan’s footsteps had faded into the distance, Fahim stood frozen, watching until the corridor swallowed the boy’s shadow. The stairwell humd with the low throb of the hospital—distant monitors, the muffled rush of air—yet the space felt vast and empty around the fallen man.
Fahim’s gaze dropped to Shahryel’s still form. The body lay crumpled against the tiles, an unnatural, final stillness about it. Blood had darkened the floor in a small, ugly pool. For a long second Fahim only blinked.
"Huh?"
He rubbed his face as if trying to wake from a bad dream, then let out a rough laugh that had more disbelief than humor in it. "Ah, man. That boy just killed him and then ran. Are you telling to take care of this?"
The question hovered in the quiet. Fahim looked at the other three bodyguards sprawled in the dust, unconscious or worse—faces slack, breaths shallow. The responsibility landed on him like a weight.
He sighed, the sound heavy. "Anyway, I should at least do this much for him. If it wasn’t for that boy we all would have died."
Fahim crouched and checked Shahryel for a pulse—one, two—none. He swallowed, steadying himself. Practicality took over the shock; there were actions to perform, reports to make, explanations to prepare. The hospital would beco a cri scene, and he would be the man who’d been there first.
He rose slowly, shoulders tight, and shook his head as if to clear the fog. "Seriously, he didn’t even tell his na."
The corridor seed to breathe in around him—an empty, echoing reminder that the world could change in a single breath, and that so debts were paid in blood and silence.
Note: With this bonus Chapter, Arc 1 of MORPHORCE "The Awakening" is now complete! This first arc focused on Johan’s painful transformation, his recovery, and his baptism by fire into the Awakened world. He’s officially taken his first dark step onto the path of survival.
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