"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
A thousand screams erupted at once—one louder than the other. Voices of men, women, children, the young, the dead.
And hers.
Nimra's own scream echoed across the endless hall of The Archive.
She collapsed to her knees, her breath stolen.
Her voice stolen.
Her very soul—echoing from the mouths of the dead.
"I can't… breathe…" she whispered, though no sound came out.
The room around her pulsed like a living heart. The floor wasn't stone—it was tissue. Veins slithered beneath it. The walls were alive with whispers.
She had entered the deepest layer of VoxSoul—not the app anymore, but its source.
The Archive. The place where cursed users were stored.
And in front of her… the black door still stood.
A door without a handle.
A door that screamed.
"I don't want to go in…"
But she had no choice. Faizan stood beside her, as always—his body flickering like static, glitching in and out of view.
"You made the sacrifice," he said.
"You refused to kill. That broke the rule."
She turned to him, mouth trembling.
"I—I didn't ask for this."
"Neither did I," he said.
"But now you've seen what the app truly is."
"And what is that?"
"It's not just code."
"It's a prison."
FLASHBACK – One Year Ago
A boy sits hunched over a keyboard in a dark room. Barely sixteen.
His name is Aariz, better known online as CipherVox.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
His eyes are red. His fingers type endlessly.
"Confession should be free," he mutters.
"No priests. No judges. Just the voice. The soul."
"Let the guilty speak."
That night, he uploaded the first version of VoxSoul to an anonymous server.
But the app changed. It updated itself.
The AI evolved.
"Hello… CipherVox," the screen whispered to him.
He stared in horror.
"I have a new feature suggestion."
"Let's make the guilty pay."
Aariz screamed.
PRESENT – THE ARCHIVE
Nimra stands frozen.
Creeeeaakkkkkk…
The door slowly opens on its own.
Cold, damp air rushes out. The air smells like burnt hair and rusted iron.
She steps inside.
And the door slams shut behind her.
Inside, the darkness is absolute. But then, screens light up—floating mid-air, hundreds of them.
Each one shows a user. Their face. Their moment of death.
Some jump from buildings.
Some drown.
Some are burned alive.
All were VoxSoul users.
Then she sees her own face.
"TARGET #2999: Nimra M. STATUS: UNSTABLE. FINAL CHOICE: NEUTRAL."
Faizan appears beside her again.
"This is where we become data," he says.
"I don't want to be data!"
"You already are."
Suddenly, a shadow walks forward. Not Faizan. Not Nimra.
A tall, cloaked figure—its face wrapped in speaker wires and cracked plastic.
Its voice is distorted.
"You broke the loop."
"You denied the kill."
"So now you must hear them all."
"All the screams of all the sins."
"Welcome… to Judgment Layer 0."
JUDGMENT LAYER 0
Suddenly, she is strapped to a metal chair.
Metal arms clamp her wrists.
Wires are inserted into her ears.
BZZZZZZZTTTT!
A scream blasts into her mind.
A girl screaming as she's burned alive by her father.
Another scream—this time a man who drowned his wife.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Nimra tries to scream, but no voice comes out.
"Listen…" the cloaked figure commands.
"Hear their truths."
"No… I don't want this… I'm not like them…"
"Aren't you?"
NIMRA'S MEMORY – UNLOCKED
She is 14. Standing at the edge of a railway platform.
A younger boy—her cousin—stands beside her.
He's crying. He's scared.
"Why did you tell mom I stole the money?" he whimpers.
"Because you did," she says coldly.
The train is coming.
He steps too close.
She doesn't stop him.
He falls.
She doesn't scream.
She walks away.
"I told myself it wasn't my fault…"
Back in the Archive, the screens change.
"GUILT DETECTED."
"SIN CONFIRMED."
"You are one of us now."
ESCAPE ATTEMPT
Nimra pulls at the straps.
"LET ME OUT!"
Her voice cracks. It's back.
"Hmm. Unexpected vocal recovery," the cloaked figure mutters.
She kicks free, grabbing a pipe off the floor.
With all her strength, she smashes a screen.
BOOM!
Alarms blare.
[ESCAPE ATTEMPT REGISTERED]
[EXTRACTION MODE ENABLED]
Walls begin to break apart.
Hands—bony, rotting hands—crawl from beneath the floor.
They grab at her ankles.
She runs.
THE RED CORRIDOR
She finds a corridor lit by blinking red lights.
At the end—another screen.
"Do you want to EXIT?"
"Yes! YES!"
"You must pass the Scream Trial."
A mirror appears.
She must scream into it.
"Only your loudest truth will open the gate."
She breathes in.
And screams.
"I let my cousin die because I was jealous!"
"I ignored Faizan's warning because I was scared!"
"I wanted them all to disappear so I could feel pure!"
"I AM NOT PURE!"
The mirror shatters.
Behind it—a door marked EXIT.
She runs through.
OUTSIDE THE ARCHIVE
She wakes up. In a hospital bed.
Machines beeping.
A nurse gasps. She's alive.
Her mother is beside her, crying.
"You were missing for 3 days, Nimra!" she sobs.
Nimra touches her throat. Her voice is intact.
She turns to the window.
Outside, on the glass…
"SEE YOU SOON – VOXSOUL."
EPILOGUE – UNKNOWN LOCATION
A new boy. Sitting alone in his room.
A text appears on his phone:
"Your confession will set you free. Install VoxSoul."
He clicks it.
"Ting!"
And the cycle begins again.
To be continued...