Chapter 11:
Whispers of D energy
D3 Protocol
Zero leaned in, her gaze sharp and cold as winter ice.“I’m Zero. You won’t be leaving until you’ve fully recovered. After all… you’re in CAFE.”
Her words cut deep. I averted my eyes, but the gloom stayed with me. Why wouldn’t it? Helplessness had always been my constant state.
Not just now. Not just because I was lying in this place, trapped.
From the debts I couldn’t help my family repay…To the fact I couldn’t even recover my father’s body.
“I’ve always been helpless. And now, abducted by some organization called CAFE…I don’t even know how Mom is doing.I don’t even know if Naman’s alive.I… I want to kill them all. Everyone in this place—Wait. What am I thinking?”
Zero sighed, pulling out the cigarette from her lips.“Don’t look at me like that, kid. You’re not going anywhere, but I can send for your friend. He’s alive. CAFE isn’t the worst thing in the world. Be grateful you weren’t dragged here during the time of RED.”
“…T-thank you,” I whispered.
“Don’t thank me. Just answer—how did you do it?”
“Do… what?”
“Don’t play dumb. You fought a top-tier A-ranker. Not just anyone—Number 25, at the very peak of A-rank. A rookie B-ranker would’ve fainted from a single strike. The rest of your batch did. But you… you withstood three of his blows. How?” Her tone carried the weight of suspicion.
“I… don’t know. It felt like I wasn’t controlling my body. And I didn’t even feel tired.”Zero leaned back in her chair, smoke curling from her lips.
“So you really have no idea what was happening to you.”
“But… while fighting him, I felt something. Pressure, like a weight pressing down on me.”
“That was Number 25’s D Aura. He’s skilled with it. Though, honestly, he relied more on raw strength against your batch.”“Raw strength? Even without powers, he was that strong?” The thought gnawed at me. Why am I here? I just wanted an ordinary life. What the hell is happening to me? Don’t I deserve at least that much?
And then—
YOU DESERVE IT. WHO SAID YOU DON’T?THE ONLY WAY TO CLAIM IT IS—
KILL.KILL EVERYTHING THAT STANDS IN YOUR WAY.YOU WANT TO LIVE, DON’T YOU?
“Hey. Number 102.”
I didn’t respond.
“Hey.”
“Yes?” I finally muttered.
“What were you just thinking?” Zero’s eyes narrowed.
“Nothing. Just… Mom.” The lie slipped out easily.
“I want to ask something,” I said quickly.
“Ask.”
“When I was being scanned, they found a tiny white particle in my pocket.”
Zero tilted her head, cigarette smoldering between her fingers.
“And where exactly did you find that particle?”
“Behind my house. There’s a dead-end alley. I found it there. The scanner said it was a fragment of D Energy.”
Her eyes widened. The cigarette slipped from her hand “…You found a D Energy fragment in an alley?” Her voice spiked with disbelief.
“Please don’t hurt me! I really just found it there! They said it was leftovers from the cleanup team!” I blurted in panic.
“How long did you keep it?” she pressed, lighting another cigarette with shaky hands.“Um… maybe three weeks?”
“You carried a fragment of D Energy… for three weeks… and you’re perfectly fine?” Her voice faltered.
“What do you mean? What is this D Energy?” I asked, my face twisted in confusion.Zero exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing through the smoke.
“Listen. You’ve heard of D Aura, right? its like a river, running close to your nerves system. D Energy is different—it’s the ocean, swallowing everything. It can’t be controlled. It drowns its host, strips away reason, leaves only a monster behind.
What you found was a bone fragment from a D Energy beast. They fight among themselves sometimes, leaving trails of blood… and fragments.
Normally, even being near D Energy is unbearable. Carrying it too long causes sickness… sometimes permanent distortions of the body. And yet—you survived three weeks without a mark.”
Her words hung in the air like smoke.
Meanwhile, in Sirsa—Yash’s hometown
“So this was the last victim’s house?” asked SI Akshay.
“Yes, sir. This is Yash’s residence,” replied ASI Arjun.
The two sat in a car parked behind the house’s back alley. Dusk bled into night.
“We’ve been at this for three weeks and found nothing. What’s happening here? People don’t just vanish.” Akshay slammed the dashboard in frustration.
“What can we do, sir? Maybe we should leave this to CID. It’s a state-level matter now.”
Akshay’s glare was sharp enough to cut glass.
“And sit back while civilians disappear? What if it were your family, Arjun?”
“umm what can I say now sir.”
“But curfew’s about to start. Even police aren’t allowed on the streets at night. Let’s move. Sir” Arjun asked.
Akshay lit a cigarette. But before they could drive off—
Scratch. Thud.
Something fell.
“Stop the car,” Akshay ordered, voice tense.Zero’s warning replayed in Yash’s head.“Wherever D Energy beasts fight or leave fragments, mutated creatures gather. If that alley hasn’t been cleaned… it’s a monster magnet.”
“Anyone there?” Akshay shouted. “Arjun, see anything?”
“This alley… it’s strange. White fragments are scattered everywhere.”
“What?” Akshay turned—and froze. The ground glittered with tiny bone-like shards, streaked with dark trails of blood.
“…What happened here?” he whispered, voice shaking.
Both men stood frozen in that cursed dead end, unaware of the nightmare already watching them.
—END OF THE CHAPTER—
Her words cut deep. I averted my eyes, but the gloom stayed with me. Why wouldn’t it? Helplessness had always been my constant state.
Not just now. Not just because I was lying in this place, trapped.
From the debts I couldn’t help my family repay…To the fact I couldn’t even recover my father’s body.
“I’ve always been helpless. And now, abducted by some organization called CAFE…I don’t even know how Mom is doing.I don’t even know if Naman’s alive.I… I want to kill them all. Everyone in this place—Wait. What am I thinking?”
Zero sighed, pulling out the cigarette from her lips.“Don’t look at me like that, kid. You’re not going anywhere, but I can send for your friend. He’s alive. CAFE isn’t the worst thing in the world. Be grateful you weren’t dragged here during the time of RED.”
“…T-thank you,” I whispered.
“Don’t thank me. Just answer—how did you do it?”
“Do… what?”
“Don’t play dumb. You fought a top-tier A-ranker. Not just anyone—Number 25, at the very peak of A-rank. A rookie B-ranker would’ve fainted from a single strike. The rest of your batch did. But you… you withstood three of his blows. How?” Her tone carried the weight of suspicion.
“I… don’t know. It felt like I wasn’t controlling my body. And I didn’t even feel tired.”Zero leaned back in her chair, smoke curling from her lips.
“So you really have no idea what was happening to you.”
“But… while fighting him, I felt something. Pressure, like a weight pressing down on me.”
“That was Number 25’s D Aura. He’s skilled with it. Though, honestly, he relied more on raw strength against your batch.”“Raw strength? Even without powers, he was that strong?” The thought gnawed at me. Why am I here? I just wanted an ordinary life. What the hell is happening to me? Don’t I deserve at least that much?
And then—
YOU DESERVE IT. WHO SAID YOU DON’T?THE ONLY WAY TO CLAIM IT IS—
KILL.KILL EVERYTHING THAT STANDS IN YOUR WAY.YOU WANT TO LIVE, DON’T YOU?
“Hey. Number 102.”
I didn’t respond.
“Hey.”
“Yes?” I finally muttered.
“What were you just thinking?” Zero’s eyes narrowed.
“Nothing. Just… Mom.” The lie slipped out easily.
“I want to ask something,” I said quickly.
“Ask.”
“When I was being scanned, they found a tiny white particle in my pocket.”
Zero tilted her head, cigarette smoldering between her fingers.
“And where exactly did you find that particle?”
“Behind my house. There’s a dead-end alley. I found it there. The scanner said it was a fragment of D Energy.”
Her eyes widened. The cigarette slipped from her hand “…You found a D Energy fragment in an alley?” Her voice spiked with disbelief.
“Please don’t hurt me! I really just found it there! They said it was leftovers from the cleanup team!” I blurted in panic.
“How long did you keep it?” she pressed, lighting another cigarette with shaky hands.“Um… maybe three weeks?”
“You carried a fragment of D Energy… for three weeks… and you’re perfectly fine?” Her voice faltered.
“What do you mean? What is this D Energy?” I asked, my face twisted in confusion.Zero exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing through the smoke.
“Listen. You’ve heard of D Aura, right? its like a river, running close to your nerves system. D Energy is different—it’s the ocean, swallowing everything. It can’t be controlled. It drowns its host, strips away reason, leaves only a monster behind.
What you found was a bone fragment from a D Energy beast. They fight among themselves sometimes, leaving trails of blood… and fragments.
Normally, even being near D Energy is unbearable. Carrying it too long causes sickness… sometimes permanent distortions of the body. And yet—you survived three weeks without a mark.”
Her words hung in the air like smoke.
Meanwhile, in Sirsa—Yash’s hometown
“So this was the last victim’s house?” asked SI Akshay.
“Yes, sir. This is Yash’s residence,” replied ASI Arjun.
The two sat in a car parked behind the house’s back alley. Dusk bled into night.
“We’ve been at this for three weeks and found nothing. What’s happening here? People don’t just vanish.” Akshay slammed the dashboard in frustration.
“What can we do, sir? Maybe we should leave this to CID. It’s a state-level matter now.”
Akshay’s glare was sharp enough to cut glass.
“And sit back while civilians disappear? What if it were your family, Arjun?”
“umm what can I say now sir.”
“But curfew’s about to start. Even police aren’t allowed on the streets at night. Let’s move. Sir” Arjun asked.
Akshay lit a cigarette. But before they could drive off—
Scratch. Thud.
Something fell.
“Stop the car,” Akshay ordered, voice tense.Zero’s warning replayed in Yash’s head.“Wherever D Energy beasts fight or leave fragments, mutated creatures gather. If that alley hasn’t been cleaned… it’s a monster magnet.”
“Anyone there?” Akshay shouted. “Arjun, see anything?”
“This alley… it’s strange. White fragments are scattered everywhere.”
“What?” Akshay turned—and froze. The ground glittered with tiny bone-like shards, streaked with dark trails of blood.
“…What happened here?” he whispered, voice shaking.
Both men stood frozen in that cursed dead end, unaware of the nightmare already watching them.
—END OF THE CHAPTER—
Word notes:
Sirsa is a indian city located in haryana.
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