CHAPTER 40: THE GHOSTLINE TABLE AND "FLAME#0"

After some hours of journey Raj arrived Secunderabad Railway Station.Hyderabad didn’t greet Raj with comfort.

It greeted him with movement.From the moment he stepped off the train, the air was thick with the hum of ambition,silent startups, loud engines, flashing brand ads on walls of tall buildings. The city wasn’t watching him. It was daring him to be seen.

Raj clutched the strap of his bag tighter.He booked a ride and he stepped into the taxi, checking the invitation card one more time.

Venue: Ghostline Sports Technology Campus – Sector 4

Time: 9:30 AM sharp

Present: Design philosophy, one key model, and origin principle

He didn’t know what "origin principle" meant yet.But the word remained heavy on his mind.

A system notification popped up.

[System Location Detected: Gearline Zone – Creator Tier 2]

You are entering a space reserved for makers. Not marketers.

Passive: "First Impression Echo" Active

– First 30 minutes of presence will shape future references

The taxi drived into a glass-covered complex lined with turf fields and quiet sculptures of legendary cricketers holding gloves, bats, and balls,not in action, but in stillness. Not in celebration, but in focus.

Raj stepped out, adjusting his bag.His name wasn’t on any banner.No one came to greet him.But he felt it.This was a place where people like him were either forgotten or forged.

Inside the main hall, there were twelve seats arranged in a U-Shape manner with a little gap.

It’s not a stage but a table.

Long. Matte black. Clean lines.

No names on the seats , just placeholders marked with initials and design logos.

Raj spotted his:

"RC – Guest 03"

To his left, a logo with jagged lightning bolts, likely from an aggressive speed-based designer.

To his right, an empty placeholder with no logo, just a blank silver circle.

He placed his bag down gently.Didn’t speak.

Didn’t tense.Just took a long breath and waited.

People started coming in.Some are young, some are older.

Two looked no older than Raj, but had the confident walk of funded talent.

A woman with a sharp ponytail adjusted a display tablet and muttered stats like she was reading code.Then came the organizers.

Kiran walked in last, holding a clipboard and a tablet.

He spotted Raj immediately and gave him a slight nod ,not friendly, not cold. Just respectful.

"Welcome, everyone," Kiran began, voice calm but clear. "You’re not here to impress the world."

He let the silence sit.

"You’re here to show it what you’ve already been doing when no one was looking."

A few smiles broke across the table.

Not Raj’s.

He was still busy trying to slow his heartbeat and relieve his nerves.

Kiran continued, "Each of you will present three things: your most complete model, your creator’s mindset, and your answer to one simple question."

Everyone looked up.

"What is your origin?"

Not your brand.Not your product.

Your origin.

Raj’s fingers curled gently over the seam of his bag.

They’re not just here to see what I made.

They want to know why I became someone who makes.

A system notification popped up.

[System Quest Triggered: "Origin Echo"]

Present your founding reason

Not to sell. To stay remembered.

Optional Reward: Title – "Rooted Flame"

Bonus Unlock: Storyline branches depending on emotional honesty

Raj swallowed.This wasn’t going to be a technical showcase.This was personal.

Then, a new person entered the room from the side door.Not Kiran.,not a creator.

Someone in a dark blue shirt, clipboard under one arm, ID badge swinging slightly.

Raj’s chest tightened.

Aditya.

The boy who had once ended Raj’s first cricket dream.Now older,sharper and silent.

He wasn’t here as a designer.

His badge read:

Ghostline Scouting Evaluator – Guest Panel

He was here to judge.

Raj got shocked to see that.

Everyone has their turns a d explained themselves.

When it was Raj’s turn, he didn’t stand up immediately.He opened his bag, placed the glove box carefully in front of him, and rested both hands on the table.

No screen.

No slides.

No promotional tagline.

Just him and the glove.

"I didn’t create this to prove anything," Raj began, voice calm but unshaken. "Not at first."

Some heads turned.

Aditya looked up from his clipboard with no expression.

Raj continued."I built this because I didn’t want someone to feel the way I did,,like their hands weren’t made for the game."

He paused.The room held its breath.

Raj placed the RC-V1 on the table and gently opened the strap.Inside, visible only if someone looked closely, were the stitched words:

"If you remember why you started, you’ll never forget who you are."

"I stitched that line," Raj said, "on the inside. Because players forget."

"Not how to play. But why they started."

"I wanted to build something that didn’t just support a grip. I wanted to support memory."

A system notification popped up:

[System Emotion Trigger – High Clarity Honesty]

Quest Path: Origin Echo – Level 2 Achieved

Title Earned: Rooted Flame

Bonus: Reader Impact +7%

Passive Added: Stitch Memory – Your products now leave emotional imprints

"I don’t come from legacy," Raj added. "No sponsorship. No funded garage. Just a bench, a needle, and reasons I couldn’t ignore anymore."

"I built to stay sane."

"I kept building because people started to feel something."

He stepped back from the table, letting the glove sit between them like a quiet invitation.

The silence afterward wasn’t awkward.

It was heavy and real.

Then a slow clap started from the far side.Someone near the center nodded.

But just before it became comfortable, a voice sliced through.

It’s Aditya.

"If it’s not built for performance," he said, "what makes it any different from emotion sewn onto fabric?"

The room environment shifted.Kiran’s brow twitched slightly, not scolding, but curious.

Raj didn’t rush to answer.Instead, he stepped forward again, looked directly at Aditya, and said:

"Performance isn’t just numbers."

"It’s how long something stays in your hand when you’re losing."

"If you can still trust it when everything else is breaking..."

"That’s performance."

Aditya didn’t react.He looked down and made a mark on his page.

But something in the air had shifted.Raj didn’t need to win the room.He had already earned the one thing harder than applause , the attention.

As Raj sat back down, a small folded note slid quietly under his glove box.He looked up.No one around him moved.He picked it up and opened it.

A single line, handwritten:

"Don’t defend it. Just let them feel it."

There was no name.No handwriting clue.

Just the faint scent of sandalwood.

Raj smiled just a little.

A system notification popped up:

[System Whisper Registered – Origin Validated by Peer Listener]

You’ve been seen by someone you didn’t know was watching.

Passive: Confidence Aura (Silent Type) Activated

Unlock: Questline Available – "Let Them Come to You"

An hour after the session ended, the main hall began to clear.Some creators packed up and left quickly ,confident or disappointed, Raj couldn’t tell. Others lingered, whispering near display boards or offering cautious handshakes.

Raj remained seated, his glove still in front of him.Not because he was waiting.Because he didn’t want to rush away from a place that had finally heard him.

"Kiran wants to see you."

The voice belonged to a junior staffer which was polite with no expression.

Raj followed him down a long corridor lined with framed prototypes from Ghostline’s history of gloves, pads, cleats, even helmets designed by unknown names who’d gone on to change how the game was played.

Each frame carried a single quote beneath it.

One read:

"Tools become stories when the right hands remember the wrong moments."

Raj paused at that one for a second.Then walked on.

In the office, Kiran sat at a minimalist desk with two cups of black coffee.He didn’t smile.He didn’t invite Raj to sit.But his voice was warm.

"You surprised them."

"I wasn’t trying to," Raj replied honestly.

"That’s why it worked," Kiran said. "You weren’t trying to win. You were trying to mean something. That’s rare."

He gestured for Raj to sit.

"You’ve been approved for closed-field testing. A unit of junior pro trainees will wear RC-V1 next week. If feedback is good, we consider mass-prototype modeling under co-branding terms."

Raj blinked."Wait, just like that?"

"Nothing here happens just like that," Kiran said. "You earned it. But now the harder part starts."

Raj frowned. "What’s harder than being seen?"

"Staying seen."

A system notification popped up:

[System Trigger: Brand Validation – Field Test Path Initiated]

New Quest: Proof in Play

Objective: Create two follow-up models within 30 days, incorporating feedback

Bonus: Unlock Ghostline Creator Rank 2

As Raj stood to leave, Kiran added one last thing:"There’s one more person who requested time with you."

Raj turned back and asked:"Who?"

Kiran tapped his tablet once and said:

"They didn’t give a name. Just a code."

’Flame #0.’

Raj froze.Kiran raised an eyebrow. "Sound familiar?"

Raj slowly nodded and said No.

Not familiar.

But hauntingly close.

As he walked out of the building and into the sunset glow outside, Raj’s system chimed quietly.A message, soft and hidden.

[System Alert: Unknown Profile Watching]

"This presence carries a design code similar to your own."

Do not fear it. But do not follow without knowing your flame.

Questline Unlocked: The Zero Thread

Raj didn’t smile.He also did not panic.

Just whispered:

"Let them come."

To be continued...