The voice was my mother’s.
I knew it wasn’t her, but knowing that should have made the moment easier to understand. Instead, everything inside me went still for one impossible second, as though the sound had reached somewhere deeper than memory. The rain, the ruined buildings, and the creatures hidden behind the windows all seemed to disappear beneath those two words.
"Don’t come home."
Nyelle stepped closer to me.
"That isn’t her."
"I know."
The figure smiled.
Its face remained mostly hidden beneath the rain, but I could see enough now to know it wasn’t human in any ordinary sense. Its skin was too pale, its movements too controlled, and its blue eyes carried the same unnatural light I’d seen beneath the city and inside the ancient structures.
The stranger raised his weapon.
"Don’t answer it."
The figure’s smile disappeared.
Then it spoke again.
"Nyelle."
My sister froze.
The voice changed.
This time, it sounded like mine.
"Run."
Nyelle’s face tightened, and I immediately grabbed her hand.
"Don’t listen."
The figure took another step forward.
Every window around us seemed to darken at once. Then something moved behind the glass, first one shape and then another, until dozens of pale forms stood watching from inside the ruined buildings. They didn’t attack or make a sound; they simply watched us.
The stranger noticed them too.
"They’re waiting."
"For what?"
His eyes remained fixed on the figure.
"For you."
The figure tilted its head.
"You came looking for your sister."
I tightened my grip around the pipe.
"Who are you?"
It smiled again.
"You’ve asked that before."
The voice was no longer my mother’s.
It was the deeper voice from beneath the water, the same voice that had spoken my name in the underground chamber and recognized something inside me that I still couldn’t understand.
My right hand suddenly went cold.
The System appeared.
«[IDENTITY CONFLICT DETECTED.]»
The message vanished before I could process it.
Another appeared.
«[VOICE SOURCE: UNSTABLE.]»
I looked at the figure.
"You’re using voices."
It didn’t respond.
Instead, its attention shifted toward Nyelle.
"She remembers."
Nyelle’s breathing changed.
The stranger stepped forward.
"Leave her out of this."
The figure turned toward him.
"You were there."
The stranger stopped.
"You watched."
His weapon lowered slightly.
"I did."
"You failed."
Something shifted in the stranger’s expression, something close to pain that disappeared almost as quickly as it came. He had spent every conversation with us controlling what he said, but the accusation seemed to remove that control for a moment.
The figure continued.
"You watched them open the door."
"I tried to stop them."
"No."
Its voice remained quiet.
"You tried to understand them."
The stranger said nothing.
I looked at him.
"What is it talking about?"
He didn’t answer.
The figure turned back toward me.
"He wanted to know what you were."
My grip tightened.
"Twenty-four years ago."
"Yes."
"Why?"
The figure smiled.
"Because your mother already knew."
Nyelle stepped forward.
"Knew what?"
The figure looked at her.
"That he wasn’t supposed to wake."
The street seemed to freeze around us.
I stared at it.
"What does that mean?"
The figure didn’t answer.
Instead, every creature watching from the surrounding buildings suddenly turned toward my apartment. A low growl rolled through the street, spreading from one building to another until the entire neighborhood seemed to vibrate with it.
Then they moved.
Not toward us.
Toward home.
Hundreds of pale shapes rushed across rooftops, through broken windows, and along the streets. Their movements were too coordinated to be random, and none of them looked back at us as they disappeared toward the apartment.
The stranger looked toward my building.
"It’s starting."
"What is?"
He grabbed my shoulder.
"We leave."
I pulled away.
"No."
"Veyric"
"If they’re going there, that’s where I need to be."
The stranger stared at me.
"That’s exactly what it wants."
I looked at the figure.
It hadn’t moved.
It was simply watching me.
Then I understood.
The creatures weren’t attacking us.
They were moving ahead of us.
Clearing the way.
Or surrounding something.
My right hand burned.
The System appeared.
«[PRIMARY PATHWAY: ACTIVE.]»
Then another message followed.
«[DISTANCE: 1.2 KILOMETERS.]»
The number changed.
1.1.
1.0.
Something was moving toward us from the direction of the apartment.
Not the creatures.
Something else.
I raised the pipe.
"Everyone back."
Nyelle looked at me.
"What?"
"Something’s coming."
The figure suddenly stepped aside.
For the first time, I saw what stood behind it.
A silver line ran down the center of the street, disappearing beneath the rain. At its far end stood a woman with long dark hair and a pale coat, one hand resting against the wall of a ruined building as though she had been waiting there for us.
Nyelle stopped breathing.
I knew why before she said it.
"Mom."
The woman turned.
I caught Nyelle before she could run.
"Wait."
"That’s her."
"You don’t know that."
"I know her."
Her voice broke.
The woman lifted her head.
For a moment, her face remained hidden beneath her hair. Then lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating her features for just long enough to make recognition undeniable.
My mother’s face.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
Alive.
My hand went numb around the pipe.
Nyelle whispered, "Mom..."
The woman looked directly at us.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Then she shook her head once.
Twice.
She mouthed something, but the rain swallowed the words before they reached us.
The figure beside us smiled.
I watched my mother’s lips move again.
This time, I understood.
Run.
The silver line beneath her feet suddenly shattered.
The woman disappeared.
Nyelle screamed.
I lunged forward, but the stranger caught me before I could reach the empty street.
"Don’t!"
"Let me go!"
"She isn’t here!"
"You saw her!"
"I saw the image!"
His grip tightened.
"That’s what the structure wants you to see."
I fought against him for another second before stopping.
Because he was right about one thing.
My mother hadn’t moved like a real person.
She had appeared exactly where the silver line wanted her to appear, and the moment she delivered the warning, the structure had taken her away.
The old phone vibrated.
I pulled it out with shaking fingers.
One new message appeared.
«THAT WASN’T YOUR MOTHER.»
I stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
«BUT SHE WAS TRYING TO WARN YOU.»
My eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
No reply came.
The screen went dark.
The figure ahead began walking toward us.
The stranger released my arm.
"Now we run."
I looked toward the apartment.
The creatures had already surrounded the building. Every window was filled with pale blue eyes, while something moved behind the upper floors with a weight that made the glass tremble.
And somewhere inside that building, something was waiting.
Something that had been waiting since the first morning.
I tightened my grip around the pipe.
"Not away."
Nyelle looked at me.
"Then where?"
I looked down.
The silver line beneath our feet had reappeared.
But this time, it wasn’t pointing toward my apartment.
It was pointing beneath us.
Straight into the ground.
The System appeared.
«[ALTERNATE ENTRY DETECTED.]»
I stared at the message.
Another appeared.
«[PRIMARY PATHWAY: SURFACE ACCESS DENIED.]»
Then the final line formed.
«[SECONDARY PATHWAY: OPEN.]»
I looked at Nyelle.
She understood before I spoke.
"We go underneath."
The stranger’s face tightened.
"That’s where this started."
I shook my head.
"No."
I looked toward the apartment, surrounded by creatures and pale blue eyes.
"That’s where they wanted us to think it started."
The ground beneath us cracked.
Blue light spilled through the opening, illuminating the rain from below. Something beneath the street struck the pavement once, then again, and the sound was followed by a low vibration that passed through my bones.
Then a voice rose from beneath our feet.
My voice.
Quiet.
Terrified.
"Veyric..."
I stared into the blue-lit opening.
The voice whispered again.
"Don’t let me out."