THE SECRET ROOM OF A FALLEN PRINCE

The Room That Should Not Exist
The doorway of rippling light closed behind Kedar like a curtain of water turning to stone.The air in this chamber was colder than the rest of the palace—heavy, old, suffocating, like the room had been locked for centuries.
Kedar took one step forward.It echoed unnaturally, like the room was hollow beneath the floor.
Mayan walked in behind him, his footsteps silent.
The chamber was circular, small, almost intimate.Lit not by torches, but by floating shards of pale light—shards shaped like broken mirror pieces.
Each piece reflected a different image.
None of them were Kedar’s.
Some showed a child prince sitting alone.Others showed a teenager training with frustration twisting his face.Many showed a shadowed figure looming behind him—never fully visible.
Kedar glanced at Mayan.
“These are your memories.”
Mayan smiled faintly.“No, Kedar. These are the memories the palace refused to forget.”

---
The Throne of Mirrors
At the center stood a smaller throne—simple, carved of bone-white stone. Unlike the grand throne outside, this one felt intimate, personal.
Mayan brushed dust from its seat.
> “This was mine. My true throne.The one I used before the curse… before everything twisted.”


Kedar circled it slowly.
“Why keep this room sealed?”
Mayan’s eyes softened—not sadness, but a nostalgic ache.
> “Because it shows truth. And truth is a terrible thing.”


He snapped his fingers lightly.
The floating mirror-shards rearranged themselves into a circular pattern, forming a hovering ring around the throne.
Images played across them more clearly now—
A king scolding the prince harshly.
The prince training, failing, training again.
Courtiers whispering behind his back.
A child prince kneeling, bruised, head bowed.

Kedar spoke quietly.
“You weren’t lazy.”
Mayan’s voice was calm, but carried an old bitterness.
> “I was… misunderstood. Fragile.Born without the strength a king desired.Born with a gift for illusions, a gift the kingdom feared.”


One shard showed the prince being dragged by guards from the palace garden.Another showed the king turning away as the boy screamed for him.
Kedar’s jaw tightened.
“That wasn’t exile.That was abandonment.”
Mayan gave a sad smile.
> “A prince with a soft heart is a liability, Kedar.And I… was very soft.”



---
The First Ripple of Horror
The room quivered.The walls pulsed with dull crimson light—like veins swelling beneath stone.
Kedar turned.
“Mayan… what’s happening?”
The illusionist prince didn’t answer.
Instead, his expression went blank—eyes unfocused, as though listening to something Kedar couldn’t hear.
Then—
The mirrors cracked.
Not shattered.Cracked—hairline fractures like spiderwebs creeping across their surfaces.
The images within distorted—
The king’s face melted into shadow.
The prince’s childhood home burned.
A dark silhouette loomed over the young prince, whispering something that made the boy tremble.

Kedar’s breath hitched.
“That shadow… it’s the same dark force you mentioned.”
Mayan finally spoke—voice lower, edged with something almost feral.
> “Yes. My father’s enemies were not the ones who cursed my homeland.The darkness that sought me…is the same darkness now stalking you.”


Kedar felt a chill in his bones.
“Why? Why does it want us?”
Mayan looked at him with a tragic calm.
> “Because we are the same, Kedar.Two broken heirs of ruined legacies.”



---
The Apparition
Without warning, the room dimmed further.
A figure stepped out of one of the cracked mirror-shards—Made of black smoke and burning orange eyes.
It was child-sized.
The young prince.
But twisted.
Eyes hollow.Limbs thin and jagged.Face stretched into a perpetual silent scream.
Kedar instinctively stepped in front of Mayan.
“What is that?!”
Mayan whispered:
> “A part of me… left behind.The fear I never faced.”


The apparition moved closer, tilting its head, bones cracking unnaturally.It smelled like old ash and tears.
Kedar summoned prana, ready to strike—
Mayan held out a hand sharply.
> “No. If you fight it… it multiplies.”


The creature opened its mouth—
And screamed.
Not sound.Not vibration.But fear itself.
Kedar staggered, knees buckling.The scream filled his head with pounding visions—
His friends dying in fog.
Guru Parshu’s blood pouring onto sacred soil.
Shakti calling his name as she vanished.
A shadow standing over a burning village.
A child crying in the ruins.

Kedar clenched his fists, grounding himself.
“This is an illusion—this isn’t real—”
Mayan’s voice was urgent now.
> “It is half-real.Illusion given flesh by the palace’s curse.”


The creature lunged.
Kedar dodged, barely.

---
Mayan’s Breaking
The apparition turned toward Mayan now, crawling unnaturally fast across the floor.
The prince flew backward, hitting the throne.
For the first time—Mayan looked afraid.
Genuinely afraid.
> “I sealed this creature away…”“Why is it free—!?”


He raised a hand to cast an illusion—
But the creature touched his cheek.
A surge of dark energy erupted, throwing Mayan to the floor.
He gasped, trembling.
Kedar grabbed Mayan and pulled him back.
“Mayan! What did that thing do to you?”
The prince’s eyes flickered in and out like a glitching flame.
> “It unlocked a memory I buried…A memory I never wanted to see again…”


Kedar steadied him, voice firm.
“Mayan. What memory?”
The prince looked at him with hollow, breaking eyes.
> “The night I met the dark force.”


The mirror-shards cracked further.The walls shook violently.The apparition crawled back into the mirrors.
And all the light in the room went out.
To be continued........