Ajal's Embrace

Ajal, a Malay word that literally means "appointed time of death" or simply "death". It refers to the predestined moment when a person's life ends-a concept rooted in many Eastern and Islamic cultural understandings, where death is seen not as random, but as something already written or fated.
In this story, Ajal is given form-it becomes a mysterious entity that appears when a character is emotionally or mentally unstable. But even in its fictional, haunting presence, the name still holds its original, literal meaning: Death.
It is the inevitable, the final moment, the thing no one can escape-only now, it watches, waits, and sometimes whispers.
The year is 3070. The world is not much different from today. In the regions of Indrapurnama and Kelamsuri, a revolutionary device has been developed-a wristwatch injected into a person's pulse from birth. Known as Vitacore, this device monitors and maintains a person's physical and mental well-being with the help of artificial intelligence.
This e-book features six flash fiction stories, introducing readers to Maira, Melati, Gibran, and Maya-characters standing at the edge of sanity, caught between life and death, haunted by a mysterious entity known as Ajal.
Set in a futuristic world filled with advanced technologies like Vitacore and AI projects capable of understanding human emotions-but ultimately failing to control them-this collection explores the psychological depth of human trauma, emotional manipulation, unrequited love, and the yearning to be understood, even by a non-human entity.
Perfect for readers who are drawn to:
Dark and introspective sci-fi, existential crises, explorations of suicide, trauma, tragic love, and deeply empathetic portrayals of marginalised characters.
Trigger Warning:
This work contains themes of suicide, emotional abuse, and mental distress. Recommended for mature readers prepared to face the emotional wounds carried by the characters within this small but intense collection.
This is a work of self-translation by Morzen herself. The original work is called 'Dakapan Ajal', written in Malay.

Morzen is a young Malaysian writer with a heart drawn to stories about the unseen, the unheard, and the unspoken. With a background in scriptwriting, she uses her words not just to tell stories, but to understand the human condition—especially those trapped between silence and survival. "Ajal's Embrace" is her debut, written not to impress, but to embrace. She writes not as someone who has all the answers, but as someone still searching, healing, and quietly hoping.