Shadow & Storm

The Room

Arjun stared at the screen.

The exact room where the hacker had accessed the university network was the same room where his father had been teaching the elective class.

The same classroom where Ananya had been sitting beside him.

His expression became serious.

"Are you sure?"

Ashok nodded.

"Completely sure."

Vijay turned toward the screen.

"The access happened during the class."

Arjun's eyes narrowed.

"During the class?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

Ashok checked the records.

"Approximately twenty minutes."

Arjun's mind immediately went back to the classroom.

The crowded room.

The unfamiliar faces.

The students who had suddenly appeared for the elective.

The girls who had been looking at him.

Ananya sitting beside him.

The professor teaching at the front.

And someone...

Someone in that classroom had accessed the university system.

Someone had been close enough to watch everything.

Arjun's expression darkened.

"Can you identify the device?"

Ashok nodded.

"We're trying."

"Do it."

Vijay began working on another system.

"There's a problem."

"What?"

"The device didn't connect directly to the university network."

Arjun frowned.

"Then how did it access the system?"

"It used a secondary device."

"Meaning?"

"A phone, tablet, or another computer connected to the university network."

Ashok looked at him.

"The hacker was physically inside the classroom."

Arjun stared at the screen.

The room suddenly felt much smaller in his memory.

Someone had been there.

Someone had been watching.

Someone had known exactly what they were doing.

Arjun suddenly remembered something.

"Wait."

Vijay and Ashok looked at him.

"What?"

Arjun thought back to the class.

The professor had asked the students a question.

Everyone had been sitting quietly.

Ananya had answered.

He had received a message from Vijay.

Then the class had ended.

Nothing unusual.

Or so he had thought.

But there had been so many unfamiliar faces.

Students from different departments.

Students who had never attended the class before.

Arjun's eyes narrowed.

"Can you get the attendance list?"

Vijay looked at him.

"Why?"

"Everyone who attended that class."

Ashok immediately understood.

"You think the hacker was one of the students?"

"I don't know."

"But you suspect it."

Arjun nodded.

"Find the list."

Vijay opened the university records.

After a few seconds, he frowned.

"This is strange."

"What?"

"There's no proper attendance record for this class."

Arjun looked at him.

"Why?"

"It was an elective."

"That doesn't mean there shouldn't be attendance."

Vijay checked again.

"Most of the students registered for the subject."

"Most?"

"Yes."

Arjun stared at the screen.

"How many students were actually in the room?"

"Approximately sixty."

"And how many were officially registered?"

"Thirty-two."

The room became silent.

Arjun's expression changed.

Almost half the students in the classroom had not officially registered for the subject.

The same class where the hacker had accessed the university system.

The same class where Ananya had been sitting.

Arjun slowly clenched his fist.

"Find out who they were."

Ashok nodded.

"We'll need the classroom cameras."

Arjun immediately looked at him.

"Cameras?"

"The university has security cameras in the corridor."

"Can you access them?"

Ashok smiled slightly.

"That's what you pay us for."

Back in the university, Ananya was sitting in the library.

She had tried to focus on her studies.

But she couldn't.

Her mind kept returning to the same thing.

The mysterious hacker.

The messages.

The forum comment.

And the fact that the hacker might be inside the university.

She opened the gaming application.

StormKnight was still online.

She sent him a message.

ShadowFlame: Are you really busy?

Arjun saw the message.

He was standing in the office while Vijay and Ashok searched through the university's security footage.

He replied:

StormKnight: Yes.

Ananya frowned.

ShadowFlame: You seem more distracted than usual.

Arjun paused.

She was right.

StormKnight: Something came up.

ShadowFlame: Is everything okay?

Arjun stared at the message.

He wanted to tell her.

But he couldn't.

StormKnight: Yes.

Ananya looked at the reply.

She didn't believe him.

StormKnight had never sounded like this before.

Something was happening.

And for the first time...

She began to wonder whether the mysterious hacker was connected to him too.

Vijay suddenly called out.

"Arjun."

Arjun immediately turned toward him.

"What did you find?"

Vijay had opened a video recording.

The footage showed the corridor outside the classroom.

Students were entering one by one.

The video had been recorded during the elective class.

Vijay paused the footage.

"There."

Arjun walked closer.

A student was standing near the classroom entrance.

He was wearing a dark hoodie.

His face was partially covered by a mask.

Arjun frowned.

"Why is he wearing a mask inside the university?"

"Maybe he was sick."

"Maybe."

Vijay continued the footage.

The student entered the classroom.

A few minutes later, he came out.

Then he entered again.

Ashok checked the time.

"That's when the hacker accessed the system."

Arjun stared at the screen.

"Can you identify him?"

"Not from this angle."

The student had kept his head lowered.

His face was never clearly visible.

Vijay continued watching.

Then suddenly—

The student stopped.

He looked directly toward the security camera.

Arjun froze.

The student had noticed the camera.

And for a brief moment...

It seemed as though he was looking directly at them.

Ashok paused the footage.

The room became silent.

Arjun stared at the frozen image.

The student slowly raised his hand.

And pointed toward the camera.

The student slowly raised his hand.

And pointed directly toward the security camera.

The footage froze.

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Arjun stared at the screen.

The student's face was still hidden beneath the hood and mask.

But the gesture was unmistakable.

He knew about the camera.

And he knew someone might be watching the footage later.

Vijay slowly leaned back.

"That's not normal."

Ashok nodded.

"Definitely not."

Arjun's eyes remained fixed on the screen.

"Play it again."

Vijay replayed the footage.

The student entered the corridor.

Stopped.

Looked directly at the camera.

Then pointed at it.

And walked away.

Arjun watched it again.

Then again.

The gesture seemed deliberate.

"Can you enhance the image?"

Ashok nodded.

"Let me try."

He began working on the footage.

The image became clearer.

The student was wearing a dark hoodie.

A black mask covered the lower half of his face.

His hair was partly visible.

But his face remained impossible to identify.

Ashok shook his head.

"Still not enough."

Arjun frowned.

"Can you identify the clothes?"

"Maybe."

Ashok zoomed in.

There was a small logo on the sleeve.

A silver symbol.

Vijay looked at it carefully.

"I've seen that before."

Arjun turned toward him.

"Where?"

Vijay opened another screen.

"Wait."

He searched through several files.

Then he stopped.

"Here."

He showed Arjun the screen.

A similar symbol appeared in an old gaming forum.

Arjun's eyes narrowed.

"What is that?"

Vijay read the information.

"An old gaming clan."

"Name?"

Vijay scrolled down.

NIGHTFALL

Arjun stared at the name.

"Nightfall?"

Ashok nodded.

"It was a competitive gaming group."

"Was?"

"They disappeared several years ago."

Arjun looked at him.

"Why?"

"Nobody knows."

Vijay continued reading.

"Some members left. Some accounts were deleted. The group simply disappeared."

Arjun stared at the image of the symbol.

"Find the members."

Ashok looked at him.

"That's going to take time."

"Then start now."

Meanwhile, Ananya was still in the library.

She had tried to continue studying.

But she couldn't concentrate.

Her phone was still open to the game.

StormKnight was online.

But he hadn't sent another message.

She typed:

ShadowFlame: Are you really okay?

This time, the reply took longer.

StormKnight: Yes.

Ananya frowned.

ShadowFlame: You're lying.

Arjun stared at the message.

For the first time, he didn't know what to reply.

He typed something.

Deleted it.

Typed again.

Deleted that too.

Finally, he wrote:

StormKnight: Why do you think that?

Ananya smiled slightly.

ShadowFlame: Because I know you.

Arjun stopped.

The words affected him more than he expected.

She knew StormKnight.

But she didn't know Arjun.

And yet, somehow...

She had noticed that something was wrong.

He replied:

StormKnight: You don't know me that well.

Ananya stared at the screen.

ShadowFlame: Maybe I know more than you think.

Arjun looked at the message.

For a moment, he wondered whether she was talking about the game.

Or something else.

Before he could reply, another message arrived.

ShadowFlame: Did something happen?

Arjun stared at the screen.

He couldn't tell her about the hacker.

Not yet.

So he replied:

StormKnight: Just work.

Ananya frowned.

ShadowFlame: You're hiding something.

Arjun's eyes narrowed.

The words felt strangely familiar.

Then another message appeared.

ShadowFlame: You are not the only one who is hiding a secret.

Arjun froze.

That was the exact message the hacker had sent Ananya.

He stared at the screen.

YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO IS HIDING A SECRET.

Why had Ananya repeated those exact words?

Had she received the same message?

Or was this simply a coincidence?

Arjun immediately typed:

StormKnight: What do you mean?

There was no reply.

He waited.

Nothing.

He sent another message.

StormKnight: Shadow?

Still nothing.

At that exact moment, Ananya's phone vibrated.

A new message appeared.

Not from StormKnight.

UNKNOWN NUMBER

She opened it.

YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TOLD HIM.

Ananya's heart stopped.

She stared at the message.

She had not told StormKnight anything.

Then another message appeared.

NOW HE KNOWS YOU ARE AFRAID.

Ananya immediately looked around the library.

The room was quiet.

Students were studying.

Nobody seemed to be watching her.

Her fingers tightened around the phone.

She typed:

WHO ARE YOU?

The message was seen.

A reply appeared.

YOU ALREADY KNOW ME.

Ananya's heart began beating faster.

She looked around again.

The person was here.

Or at least...

They wanted her to think so.

Another message arrived.

LOOK BEHIND YOU.

Ananya froze.

She slowly turned around.

There was a row of students behind her.

A boy was sitting several tables away.

He was wearing a dark hoodie.

Ananya stared at him.

The boy slowly looked up.

Their eyes met.

Ananya's breath caught.

The boy immediately closed his laptop.

Then stood up.

Ananya rose from her chair.

"Hey!"

The boy began walking away.

Ananya grabbed her bag and followed him.

The boy walked quickly through the library exit.

Ananya followed.

"Wait!"

He didn't stop.

She increased her pace.

The boy turned into a corridor.

When Ananya reached the corner—

He was gone.

She looked around.

There were two directions.

Left.

Right.

No one.

Ananya stood still.

Her phone vibrated again.

She looked down.

YOU'RE GETTING CLOSER.

Her expression changed.

Then another message appeared.

BUT YOU'RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE.

Ananya stared at the screen.

The hacker had been playing with her.

The boy in the hoodie might have been nothing more than a distraction.

But if so...

Why had he been carrying a laptop?

And why had he closed it the moment she saw him?

Back at IN TECH, Ashok suddenly looked up.

"Arjun."

Arjun turned toward him.

"What?"

"I found the Nightfall members."

Vijay immediately moved closer.

"How many?"

"Five original members."

Arjun looked at the list.

"Names?"

Ashok opened the file.

"Four of them are inactive."

Arjun frowned.

"And the fifth?"

Ashok looked at the screen.

His expression slowly changed.

"That's the problem."

Arjun stepped closer.

"What?"

Ashok turned the monitor toward him.

The fifth member's account was still active.

The username appeared on the screen.

NIGHTFALL_07

Arjun stared at it.

"Can you identify him?"

Ashok nodded slowly.

"We're trying."

Then the screen suddenly went black.

A message appeared.

STOP LOOKING.

Vijay froze.

Ashok stared at the screen.

Then another line appeared.

OR YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW.

Arjun's expression became cold.

He stepped closer to the monitor.

"Trace it."

Ashok immediately began typing.

The message disappeared.

The system went offline.

But this time—

Arjun smiled faintly.

Vijay looked at him.

"Why are you smiling?"

Arjun stared at the black screen.

"Because he made a mistake."

"What mistake?"

Arjun's eyes narrowed.

"He reacted."

12 HOURS REMAINING.

The countdown continued.

But now Arjun finally had a name.

Or at least...

A username.

NIGHTFALL_07

And somewhere inside the university...

The person behind that username was watching.