CHAPTER 81: THE ONES WHO BURN IN THE DARK

They called it the Shadow Pool.

Not in the official system records. Not on the visible roster charts. But in quiet corners of the Capital Flame Circuit, under murmurs exchanged by instructors and thread analysts, it had a name. And that name was always spoken like a warning.

The Shadow Pool wasn’t for under performers.It was for unwanted talent.

Candidates too inconsistent to promote, too dangerous to drop, too volatile to fit the mold. A handful of players who burned with brilliance,but burned everything around them when they weren’t handled right.

And now, Raj had been asked to lead them.

Not in theory.Not later.Now.

The message came during cooldown after his alliance match with Trisha.

He’d barely toweled off, heart still beating with residual precision from that final soft stroke past Ishan, when the system pulsed something deeper, colder.

⟐ SYSTEM DECISION REQUEST ⟐

▸ Subject: RC-042 – Raj

▸ Offer: Flame Preview Squad (Tier 1) – Open

▸ Condition: Must lead Project F7 – Special Taskforce Assignment

▸ Squad Status: Experimental

▸ Player Type: Flame Instability Candidates

▸ Clearance: Confidential

▸ Result: You may decline without consequence

▸ Comment:

"Some candidates are lights.Some are storms.These are lightning strikes with no sky to land in.Will your silence still reach them?"

Raj didn’t respond right away.He stood inside the flame dome lobby for twenty minutes after everyone else had left, the halls echoing with the kind of pressure no match could recreate. A different silence. Not his.

The kind that asked:

Can you still lead when even the system doesn’t believe in who you’re leading?

He pressed [ACCEPT].

Not out of pride.But because someone had to and silence, when left to burn without purpose, turned dangerous in the wrong hands.

The location wasn’t listed on the public map.

Field Omega was buried past the south tunnels, where discarded training gear collected dust and ventilation fans rattled like dying machines. A single dome stood with no crest with paint peeling, light half-dead.

Raj stepped through the side gate and scanned the nameplate.

PROJECT F7 – CLASSIFIED

ACCESS LEVEL: 5

"DO NOT INTERFERE. DO NOT PROMISE. DO NOT EXPECT."

A tall man in tactical grey waited just beyond the gate. Face lean. Eyes hollow. Uniform unmarked.

"You’re the anchor," he said flatly.

Raj nodded.

"You’ve accepted something you can’t return," the man continued.

"I’m aware."

He handed Raj a digital tablet. "They’re inside. You’ve got seventy-two hours to determine if they deserve oxygen or just more rope."

Then he walked off.No handshake.No encouragement.Just weight.

Raj looked down at the tablet.Five names.

All flagged with a red flame next to their file IDs.

Each one a match the system couldn’t manage—and hoped would disappear before contracts came due.

Inside the dome, the light was lower. Not by design. Just by neglect.The turf had patches.The nets were uneven.

But the silence wasn’t empty,It was thick.

Five players stood apart—not huddled. Not warming up. Just watching him.

The kind of watch that measured whether he was going to preach, posture, or pretend.

Raj didn’t do any of the three.He stood still.

Then introduced himself without raising his voice.

"I’m not here to fix you," he said. "I’m here because the system thinks you might still carry thread. If you want to prove them wrong, I’ll walk out."

No one replied.Then, one voice cut the stillness.

"You’re the guy from the Echo Scrim."

Raj looked to the left.A lean girl in loose gloves, hair tied back messily. Sharp shoulders. Uneven eyes. Her name appeared in his system overlay.

Anika Dev. RC-058.

Bowler.

System Tag: Unstable Torque Pattern. Flame Drift: Hostile.

"I watched that clip," she continued. "You stitched a squad that didn’t flinch even when you stepped out of it."

Raj said nothing.

She added, "That won’t work here."

He met her gaze. "Good. I’m not here to stitch you. I’m here to watch if you try to pull anything apart."

A scoff came from the back.Raj turned.

Another profile glowed red.

Devraj S. RC-051.

Batter.

System Tag: Tempo Contaminant.

Thread Sync Failure: 92%.

Flame Penalty Active.

He leaned against a rusted cage with a lazy grin. "So what’s the pitch? You coach us back to decency? Get a hero badge? Join the main circuit again with our names stitched to your myth?"

Raj walked toward him.Stopped one meter away.

"I don’t need your names," he said.

Then turned around and spoke to all five.

"I only need one thing. In seventy-two hours, we’ll be given a shadow match. It won’t be recorded. No scouts. Just system audit. You want out? Play like wildfires. You want to survive? Play like you know the thread might break if you pull wrong."

He didn’t shout.He didn’t charm.He just gave them an option the system no longer had the patience to offer:

Try again.

Anika was the first to speak after he left the floor open.

"When’s practice?"

Raj smiled faintly.

"You just started."

For the next hour, he didn’t correct.He observed.

Anika threw with spin she couldn’t always control but when it landed, it cut sharper than anything he’d seen since Zoya’s tight line drills.

Devraj swung lazily until the stakes shifted mid-session, and his footwork suddenly became dangerous.

Two others never spoke—twins, fielders, who moved as mirrors. Not fast. Not flashy. But never out of place.

And the fifth?

She didn’t even touch a ball.She sat alone by the side net, head down.But her system overlay flashed something that made Raj pause.

Name: Minal Arora.

RC-072.

Keeper.

System Tag: Flame Lockout – Voice Trauma.

Speech: Inactive.

Hands: Reactive Buffer.

History: Trauma Response Penalty (Confidential)

She didn’t look up the whole time.But she watched everything and she understood something no coach had explained:

The thread didn’t always need words.Dometimes, silence was the only thing holding someone together.

By the end of the day, no one had left.No one had refused drills and no one had cracked.

Raj closed his tablet and marked a note.

"They don’t need saving.They just need someone who doesn’t treat fire like a liability."

By morning, the atmosphere inside Dome Omega had changed. No banners. No fans. Just weight.

Raj didn’t have to say anything to feel it.

The five players—Anika, Devraj, the twins Nikil and Nishil, and the quiet one, Minal—stood lined up at the edge of the turf. Each wore the same black uniform without numbers, without crest.

The only thing that differentiated them was the tension they carried in their shoulders. A mix of defiance and fear. The kind only candidates at the edge of deletion carried.

The system flickered to life in the center of the dome.

⟐ SHADOW MATCH INITIATED ⟐

▸ Format: 7 Overs

▸ Opponents: Circuit Trial Team E

▸ Conditions: No public audience

▸ Visibility: Internal System Metrics Only

▸ Evaluation: Flame Thread Durability / Behavior Under Pressure

▸ Penalty Clause Active:

"Loss with behavioral instability = Player Archive Transfer (Suspension Tier)"

Comment:

"You are not being tested for skill. You are being measured for erasability."

Raj handed Minal the gloves first.He didn’t ask if she was ready.He trusted her silence.

To Devraj, he gave the first batting position.

"You’ve got three overs," he said, "but treat the first ball like your contract."

Devraj shrugged.But his eyes narrowed.To the twins, he pointed toward square and mid-off.

"Cover. Intercept. No glory. Just thread."

And to Anika?

He paused, then simply nodded.

"Open with fire."

She smirked. "I was planning to."

The match began under synthetic lights.

Circuit Team E wasn’t elite, but they were balanced. Confident. All structure and rhythm. The kind of players who trained to break early-game chaos and suppress emotion.

They didn’t expect a real contest and they especially didn’t expect Devraj to hit two boundaries in the opening over.

The first a sweep.

The second—so clean the ball bounced off the inner net wall before the fielders could blink.

No celebration from Raj.Just silence—and a slow nod toward mid-stump, where Minal tapped her gloves in rhythm.

By over three, Devraj had twenty-six runs.

But he didn’t swing wild.He rotated strike.

The system flagged it instantly.

⟐ BEHAVIORAL STABILITY SPIKE DETECTED ⟐

▸ RC-051 Thread Sync Increased

▸ Penalty Lift: Pending

Then came the fifth over.Anika’s turn to bowl.

First ball: wide.

Second: edge, single.

Third: over-pitched, four.

Frustration rose.Raj walked halfway to the circle.She didn’t look at him.But he said just one word.

"Shape."

She closed her eyes.Reset her wrist.

Next ball—leg-cutter.

Wicket.

The system responded within seconds.

Thread Instability Drift Reversed

▸ RC-058: Reclassified – Active Flame Carrier (Probation)

▸ Confidence Pattern Rewritten

Anika didn’t cheer.She just ran a hand down her sleeve and whispered, "Shape held."

The twins?

They spoke once the whole match.It came after a throw from Nikil bounced low and Nishil caught it off-spin, saving a four.

As they reset field positions, one of them muttered, "Stitch?"

The other replied, "Stitched."

Raj smiled to himself.They were already threading.

No captain needed.

Final over.Match tied.Circuit E needed five to win.

Anika bowled. Minal behind the stumps.

The first four balls: singles and dots.

Fifth ball—risky loft.Fielder ran.

Nikil caught it.But didn’t celebrate.He threw it back without looking—he knew where Nishil would be.

Last ball.

Two runs needed.

Anika adjusted her grip.Bowled it slow.

The batter charged.

Missed.Minal caught it and didn’t throw.

She waited.The runner hesitated.

Minal stepped forward—tagged him mid-pitch.

Wicket.

Match over.Raj exhaled.The silence didn’t roar.It stood tall.

The system activated immediately.

⟐ SHADOW MATCH COMPLETE ⟐

▸ Result: Victory

▸ Flame Drift: Stable

▸ Behavior Ratings: Positive Across All Five Players

▸ Archive Suspension Cancelled

▸ Candidates Reinstated to Developmental List

▸ RC-042 Evaluation: Passed

Comment:

"You stitched thread where we had prepared a burn notice.You held silence in fire that others refused to walk through."

Raj turned to his team.

"Not mine anymore," he said. "Yours."

They didn’t thank him.They didn’t need to.

Because they had earned a place back in the world not because of grace.But because their fire had finally found hands willing to hold it without flinching.

The next morning, Raj was summoned.Not to the circuit boardroom.

But to the back field.The same place where discarded gear collected dust and evaluation boards were scrubbed.

Waiting there was a tall figure in a half-buttoned uniform, tablet in hand.

She didn’t speak first.She just handed him a new slate.

Flame Preview Squad Update

▸ RC-042: Promoted

▸ Role: Squad Anchor – Development Division

▸ Secondary Assignment: F7 Candidates Optional Integration

Admin Comment:

"You may choose to walk forward alone. Or let those you rescued walk beside you."

Personal Note from Director Darpan:

"We expected containment.We received leadership.Whatever thread you’re stitching,it’s not in the system design and maybe that’s exactly what we need."

Raj lowered the slate.The instructor met his gaze.

"You’ll be scrutinized harder now," she said. "Not for mistakes but because you didn’t break the ones who were supposed to break."

Raj simply said, "Then they can watch."

The instructor nodded once.Then walked away.

He returned to Dome Omega that evening.

Not to lead.Not to test.Just to say it out loud.

To all five of them.

"You’re cleared."

The reactions were muted.

Anika rolled her eyes. "Took them long enough."

Devraj grinned. "They’ll hate that I’m back."

Nikil and Nishil nodded together.

Minal smiled—not with her mouth, but with her eyes.

Then Raj said one more thing.

"You don’t have to stay with me. You can move to other circuits now. Start clean."

There was silence.Then Minal stepped forward.Pulled out her slate.Typed a sentence.Then turned it toward him.

"We didn’t survive your silence to go back to noise."

That night, Raj sat outside the dome alone, tablet in hand, system pulsing.

A new message.

⟐ SYSTEM SUMMARY ⟐

▸ Status: Complete

▸ Candidates Saved: 5

▸ System Penalty Overturned: 100%

▸ Leadership Classification: Evolved Anchor Flame

▸ Trait Gained: Ashfire Thread

Trait Description:

"You do not lead the brightest.You teach the ones left behind to carry fire in the dark."

Raj closed the message.Then smiled softly

Because this time, the silence belonged to all of them.

TO BE CONTINUED.....