Umay dragged the mop behind her, each movement heavy with exhaustion. The laboratory floor was a vast expanse of gleaming white tiles, so polished that the overhead lights danced on the surface, reflecting her own image back at her with every step. She was just a cleaner here, but once, her dreams had been written in the stars. Instead of spending her life with a dust cloth and a bucket of detergent, she had wanted to explore the sky. She had dreamed of being a scientist, of researching distant planets… but her mother's constant belittling and her father's alcohol-soaked disappointments had dragged her down to this very spot.
She thought about how her mother treated her. "It's impossible for someone like you to be a scientist," she would say at every opportunity, her eyes filled with a contempt that withered Umay's dreams one by one. "You're just a cleaner; you need to accept that." Growing up under the shadow of a narcissist, Umay felt perpetually inadequate. Her mother's perfectionist demands meant nothing was ever good enough; every failure was a source of shame.
And then there was her father—a man lost to the grip of alcohol and irresponsibility. Umay remembered the tension he brought home while drunk. Her mother's constant screaming, her father's indifferent shrugs… to escape the crossfire, Umay had retreated into books. Sci-fi novels and space adventures were her only windows to another world. But in reality, she was trapped within the walls of her own home, struggling to find her identity between her mother's bullying and her father's neglect.
As she moved through the lab corridors, she could hear the frantic footsteps of the scientists. There was talk of a massive experiment today: the "Artificial Wormhole" project. She didn't know the details; she didn't need to. She was just the cleaning girl. Yet, deep down, the dream flickered—the hope that one day she would stand in that lab not to clean it, but as one of them.
She paused in front of a door. Inside, the work was intense. Monitors flickered, and lights shifted rapidly. When she tried to peek inside, a lab assistant shot her a sharp look. "This is an experiment zone! Stay out!" Umay lowered her head and stepped back silently. But at that exact moment, a forceful impact from behind knocked her off balance. A scientist rushing past had dropped his bag and accidentally shoved her.
Trying to catch herself, she took an involuntary step back.
And in that heartbeat… everything changed.
The air vibrated, a powerful gravitational wave rising from beneath the floor. A vortex opened before her eyes—pitch black but filled with shimmering, glowing specks. It was like a deep, soul-crushing void. Suddenly, her body was yanked forward. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. She reached out, but there was nothing to hold onto.
And then… she fell.
When Umay opened her eyes, the sky was brilliant and the air felt incredibly pure. Plants shimmered in a thousand different shades. The air was fresh, yet it left a slight sting in her lungs as she inhaled. Trying to sit up, she realized she was on a hard, slippery surface. The ground was a grayish-blue with a strange, internal glow.
She looked around. Enormous trees, flowers with giant petals, branches weeping toward the ground, and neon vegetation… this was definitely not Earth.
As she tried to stand, her knees gave way. It was as if her muscles had forgotten how to move. Fear knotted in her stomach. What had happened? That vortex… that lab…
Umay saw moving shadows appearing around her. They looked like human silhouettes, but they were massive—at least seven feet tall. They had purple skin, and their muscular bodies were covered in something that looked like armor. As they approached, her heart hammered against her ribs. She tried to crawl away like a baby, but her damn muscles had sworn not to move, acting just like her great-uncle's know-it-all wife who expected everything to be brought to her feet.
Should she run? But how? What would they do to her? Her mother's voice rang in her ears: "I've raised a sacrificial lamb." It seemed this time, she truly was the lamb.
One of them looked larger and more powerful than the rest. His eyes were ice-blue, his expression grim. Hair reached down to his shoulders, swaying in the breeze. They were speaking among themselves, but she couldn't understand a word.
They began to inspect her, scanning her with their eyes and whispering. Then, one of them shrugged, approached her, and grabbed her arm, hauling her up. He began to drag her. Stumbling like a toddler learning to walk, she let the creature lead her away. Great, she thought, I'm about to become an alien shish kebab. Or a pit roast. Or maybe a stew. Even in the middle of this nightmare, she felt a pang of hunger.
Her inner voice chimed in: "Wow, girl, how can you make your own mouth water? We're dying here! How do you know they'll eat you? Maybe they'll put you in a wedding dress, assault you for days, and then kill you. Maybe they need a virgin sacrifice. Maybe the whole tribe will have their way with you on an altar stone 24/7, and your only concern is food?" Umay snapped back at her inner voice—the one that had been unapologetically boy-crazy since puberty: "You slut, your concerns aren't exactly better than mine. Why is there no fear in your voice when you say these things?" She gave up arguing with herself and tried to focus on the abnormality of the situation. If only she had just done her job and gone home. Her curiosity always got her into trouble, but this time, she had stepped into something much deeper.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked, but of course, there was no reply. They dragged her toward an area surrounded by massive stone structures.
Hours later, Umay was sitting on her knees inside a large tent. There were other women around her, also brought from Earth. Umay didn't know them, but it was clear they had come here willingly. They were all beautiful—tall, with perfect features, like models. And then there was Umay… freckled, short, and a bit curvy. She looked entirely out of place beside them.
The air in the tent was heavy with a strange scent—sweet, like an exotic plant. The women whispered to one another; some were frantic, while others seemed composed, as if they had known this was coming.
"What is happening here?" Umay whispered. No one answered. One woman shot her a dirty look; another turned away. However, in the center of the tent, a woman dressed differently—with long auburn hair and sharp features—was watching Umay closely.
"How did someone like you end up here?" the woman asked. Her voice was soft but carried a weight of seriousness and knowledge.
Umay turned to her in desperation. "What do you mean? I came here by mistake! Please, get me out of here! Let me go!" Her eyes flashed with panic. "Why am I here? What are you going to do to me?"
Zuhal answered calmly. "Umay, please calm down. Your fear is normal, but panicking won't help. This is a new place for you, but you can be safe here."
"How can I be safe? Why did they bring me here? What do they want from me?" Umay's voice trembled. "Take me back, please!"
Zuhal placed a hand on Umay's shoulder. "Listen to me. There is an experiment here. We've made a deal with the Maku tribe. Women like you will help us build a new life here. But for that, you must first be calm."
Umay took a deep breath, her eyes still clouded with terror. "But I… I don't want this! I just want to go home!"
Zuhal replied patiently, "I understand. This is a difficult situation. But the best thing you can do right now is accept the reality and protect yourself. If you listen to me, I can help you. You aren't alone; the other women are just like you."
Umay saw the sincerity in Zuhal's eyes. The fear eased slightly, but the uncertainty remained. "So, what should I do?" she asked, her voice steadier.
Zuhal smiled. "First, you must stay here. Meet the other women and get their support. We can get through this together. Believe that everything will be okay."
As Umay tried to focus on Zuhal's words, a wave of unrest spread through the tent. The other women were watching the Maku women prepare.
Zuhal leaned in, gently taking Umay's hand. "Now, we are going to perform a procedure so you can understand the Maku language. It's a mandatory step. You must accept this."
Umay's eyes widened. "What do you mean by 'procedure'? What are they going to do to me?"
"This procedure will transfer the Maku language directly into your brain," Zuhal explained. "Through electrodes placed on your head, you'll be able to understand them. It's essential for communication."
Umay shook her head in distress. "Is it dangerous? What if something goes wrong? Will they keep me here?"
"No, this has been done many times successfully. The Maku want to communicate with us. Understanding them is vital for survival."
Umay took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll try. But they won't really hurt me, will they?"
Zuhal smiled encouragingly. "Trust me, everything will be fine. I'm right here with you."
Soon, the women were placed on stone benches one by one. When it was Umay's turn, her heart raced. A Maku woman approached with a device and sat her down. Umay looked at the others; they were all undergoing the same thing.
As the thin electrodes were placed on her head, Umay closed her eyes. I have to do this, she thought. To survive.
She felt a slight electric current. It was uncomfortable at first, but she began to adjust. Her fear was slowly being replaced by curiosity. What does the Maku language sound like?
Zuhal held her hand. "Stay calm. It'll only take a few minutes."
Suddenly, a vibration hummed through her skull. Voices and words began to echo in her mind. Short, long, hot, cold… Simple words flickered and vanished.
"Do you see? It's starting," Zuhal said, watching her expression. "You're receiving the basic vocabulary now. In a few minutes, you'll understand complex sentences."
"Yes! I feel it! But it's so weird!" Umay exclaimed. "Like something is spinning in my head."
When Umay finally stepped out of the heavy leather doors of the tent, the sky of Adife hit her like a physical blow. The sun filtered through purple clouds, illuminating a pinkish-blue atmosphere with a strange fluorescent glow. The air was denser than Earth's; the sweet, tart scent that filled her lungs made her dizzy.
The landscape defied every law of physics she knew. The tribe looked like a marriage between primitive savagery and impossible technology. Pulsing blue crystals were mounted atop tents made of massive tree trunks and raw hides. Umay realized these weren't just decorations; heavy stone slabs floated in the air, and water climbed upward through flumes against gravity, all moved by the invisible energy of those crystals.
The warriors and tribespeople had gathered in the square. The women from Earth were being displayed like rare artifacts. The Maku warriors were imposing; their skin ranged from deep purple to lilac, shimmering with a metallic sheen under the sun. The selection process was moving with a disturbing politeness, far from the barbaric haggling Umay had expected.
Umay shrank into herself. The artificial dictionary in her head began to translate the whispers around her. A warrior looked at her, tilting his head thoughtfully. The words automatically formed in her mind: "Unproductive. Weak. Flawed." The man gave a slight smirk and turned toward a tall, model-like woman nearby.
Umay pulled her shoulders in instinctively. "I guess nobody wants me," she muttered. She had been a mop on her own world, and here, she was just an excess.
Zuhal stood a few steps away, watching this silent rejection with a look of crushing pity. Finally, the elder Maku man—the Chief—spoke. His voice echoed like thunder in her mind:
"This count is off. We have one female more than the agreement specified."
Kena, one of the tribal women, stepped toward Umay. The contempt in her eyes was so similar to Umay's mother that it made the girl feel sick. Kena spoke in the guttural tones of the Maku tongue:
"This one… is short and stout. She looks like a genetic error. There is no room in her womb for a strong lineage."
Umay's cheeks flushed, not with anger, but with the ancient heat of humiliation. The Chief made his decision after a moment's gaze:
"Then give her to Avex. To the warrior of the mountain."
A dead silence fell over the square. Several warriors glanced at each other and recoiled. Zuhal's face turned as white as chalk. Umay swallowed hard, feeling the tension. "Who is Avex?"
In the Shadow of the Cursed Warrior
Zuhal grabbed Umay's arm and dragged her toward her own tent as if she were whisking away a criminal. Zuhal's husband, Hakhshi, was waiting at the entrance. He whispered a command to his wife: "Prepare her for Avex. Another person losing their mind won't do him any good. We must be on the mountain path before the evening glow fades. The Chief does not like to be kept waiting."
Inside the tent, Umay stood still, the weight of the words "genetic error" still crushing her. Again? she thought. Am I the unwanted one again?
With trembling hands, Zuhal placed a heavy, fur-lined cloak over Umay's shoulders. "Take this. On the mountain slopes, the wind will chill you to the bone."
Umay frowned, her voice turning sharp. "I still don't understand why they gave me to that man. Who is Avex? Why did everyone look at me like I was about to die?"
Zuhal took a deep breath, avoiding her eyes. "Umay, it's not really my place to explain, and I don't have time to break it to you slowly while you're still reeling from all this. Kena is the tribe's seer, and she clearly doesn't want you here. If they let you stay, they'll blame you for every bit of bad luck. That's why Chief Rakı is sending you away. Going to Avex is the best way—at least he can protect you. He was once the shining star of this tribe. But when he was just a child… there was a terrible accident. Avex fell into a fire during an energy explosion. Half of his body was horribly burned; his purple skin turned coal-black."
For the first time, Umay's heart ached with a pain that went beyond fear.
"No matter how strong he became, when people saw the scars on his face, they believed he was cursed," Zuhal continued, her voice trembling. "Long ago, the Chief offered him his daughter as a reward for his loyalty in the tribal wars. But the first night the girl saw Avex's face, she lost her mind from terror and took her own life before the marriage could even begin. Since that day, the tribe avoids him and even his shadow. He lives like a monster in the solitude of the mountain."
Umay stood up abruptly. "Great! I was swinging a mop in a lab, and now you're sending me to my death to tame a monster! Why is my destiny always about cleaning up someone else's disappointments?"
Zuhal silently fastened the cloak around Umay's neck. Her gaze was solemn. "Maku men do not harm their mates, Umay. But Avex… he is just a forgotten soul. Perhaps sending you to him isn't a punishment, but your trial in this world."
Umay pulled the cloak tightly around her. "A trial… I just wanted to go home."
Zuhal spoke one last time, her voice hanging in the air like a warning: "Avex's fate was sealed in that fire the moment he was born. But your fate is being written anew here, in this alien land. If you want to survive, you must find the wounded child beneath—not the monster within. Otherwise, that mountain will swallow you whole."